I wish I had known this was a sequel. It was still pretty good. I would have liked to have read the first one. Nice twists and and the husband was just not good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this book, with my honest review below.

This was a ride I wasn’t quite expecting! The Second Mrs. Strom was a thriller I thought would read as a similarly named title but this was more of an internal power struggle and intrigue between two characters of dubious backgrounds and intentions. While in Paris celebrating their anniversary, Cecilia and Paul are both revealed to be playing a game (or multiple games-it’s unclear if they have the same motivations) with one another. While the present day unfolds we hear internal monologue and see flashbacks to the past which adds some complexity to the present events.

Full of additional characters that act as potential red herrings, this was a more complex (and as a result, sometimes confusing) plot but the twists wrapped everything up quite nicely. With room for a sequel I was left intrigued and thought the payoff was satisfying as events concluded. If you’re a fan of a thriller with deeper waters to swim through, pick this up.

I started this in the morning and finished it that night and it felt like I was in a fever dream? lol. But in a good way. The flashbacks between past and present but past in Cecelia’s POV and the present in Paul’s was so cool because I was trying to figure out what “changed” about her from his pov but all along, she had her reasons. The main part of the book took place in only a day and it was so quick and exciting. I really enjoyed this and would read more by the author. Thank you netgalley & Bookotoure for the arc!

This was my first book by Kaira Rouda. It was an ok read for me- a bit slow at times but overall a good story.

This is a sequel to the nefarious Best Day Ever. Paul is back in all his glory lol. He is now with Cecilia and they are vacationing in Paris. They actually met at Esther's memorial service. So Paul is being Paul, controlling, narcissistic, and downright evil, while Cecilia is playing her part as the loving wife. But watch out Paul. Cecilia has plans of her own and you just might get burned. This book was so good. So well written and so many twists in Paul and Cecilia's scheming. My head was spinning in a good way. I highly recommend this book. You don't have to read the Best Day first, but it helps somewhat to see what an absolute jerk Paul is.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. I greatly appreciate it, and do highly recommend this.

Another well written tense thriller I Karin Ronda..A follow up to Best Day Ever.Paul is as awful as ever there were twists turns and surprises Really enjoyed from first to last.#netgallley #bookouture

After recently reading Best Day Ever, I was excited to see that there was a sequel! This book did not disappoint. This was such a fun, fast paced read. While I did find that I was able to predict pretty early on some of how the story was going to play out, I still really enjoyed the book, and the twists I didn't predict. The characters were well written. I enjoyed the alternating POVs of the characters and the overall plot. I think this is a must read, especially for anyone who has read Best Day Ever.

The second Mrs Strom by Kaira Rouda

This book had me mixed up from Sunday! What a trip!
Cecelia is a woman with nothing. Working for the wealthy and trying to make a name for herself she meets Paul at a funeral for the woman she worked with, when he wisks her away to a life of luxury. Anything she wants she buys, they are Celebrating their first year of marriage in the city of dreams Paris and things are not what they seem. This story is full of lies and deceit… suspicious in every way. Whose side are you on?

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book in advance!

Enjoyed it. Listened and read along. Loved the setting and characters. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

A sequel to one of my favorite books ever??!! Yes please! As a favorite author, Kaira Rouda did not let me down!! This book was epic.

Enter Mr Narcissist, Paul Strom for act two. We disliked him the first time around and now dislike him even more. This time however his wife Cecilia is just as sinister as he is and we are lead on a cat and mouse chase. Each has their own agenda and it's just a matter of who's plan is able to be fully executed.

This amazing book was impossible to put down and I zipped right through it. If you have not read Best Day Ever read that before the Second Mrs Strom to get the full impact of Paul's character.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the digital ARC of this book

The Second Mrs. Strom is a fast paced thriller and is the sequel to Best Day Ever. The character's are thoroughly unlikable, especially Paul Strom....
Plenty of dark humor this thoroughly entertaining novel, you wont be able to put this one down.

Interesting thriller in which nothing is quite what it seems.
There were a few twists I really did not see coming!
I found the American superficial view of Paris a little annoying, but it's probably true.

I am a sucker for husband and wife tropes where you know everything and anything can go wrong. We meet a lovely couple destined to be famous in LA. Paul and Cecilia are a beautiful couple and have enough money to last more than a life time. In this dual timeline plot you’re watching their first anniversary in Paris fall apart and learning of both of their pasts. Paul inherits a large sum of money from a dear friend. At this funeral he happens to meet Cecilia, she’s young, beautiful and kind. It’s love at first site… or is it? Soon each partner is scrutinizing the other and trying to find out the truth. In this twist tale you find little secrets that unravel throughout the story. I enjoyed this read but was hoping for a little more of a shock when the twists were revealed. The dual storyline was well written and developed the characters well.

Goodreads review will be left nearer to publication.

I have enjoyed other novels of Kaira Rouda’s I previous read so I was excited to get an ARC copy of The Second Mrs Strom. The author can count me as a fan!

I did not know going into this that other readers previously met Paul Strom in a “Best Day Ever.” I didn’t feel as if anything was missing or lacking not having read it. We got introduced to Paul who is married to his second wife, Cecilia and they took a romantic trip to Paris to help get their spark back. Paul inherited an enormous fortune and is newly rich. The novel flips between Paul and Cecilia’s point of views in past and present tense. From the get go I did not like Paul and he raised red flags as a narcissist and overall not good guy.

I was swept right in and kept waiting for what’s next, what’s being hidden and what’s not being said. I kept wanting more with every page. I enjoyed the book and couldn’t put it down. I hoped it would get juicy and it sure did. The second half really picked up the pace and didn’t disappoint. The rollercoaster really got started!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the digital advanced ARC in exchange for my honest review.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔.

I *highly* recommend that you read BEST DAY EVER before reading this sequel so you can have some insight into the character of Paul Strom and his first wife Mia. Plus, it's a killer thriller, so there's that!

Paul has patiently been beside Esther's side, an elderly women who relied on Paul for companionship, until she took her final breath. Finally, he can get his hands on her outrageous fortune. But at Esther's memorial service, he spots someone so beautiful, it takes his breath away. Cecilia helped design the programs for Esther's memorial, and she ends up leaving designs on Paul's heart.

That's exactly what Cecilia planned.

After a whirlwind courtship and marriage, the happy couple are celebrating their first anniversary in Paris when the claws come out on both sides. Paul is exceedingly arrogant and controlling, and Cecilia has played the role of dutiful wife for far too long. Paul has met his match but doesn't yet know it, and seeing Paul's bewilderment as he loses his charismatic hold over his new bride had me cackling. While it may be true that Cecilia wants his money, there is far more to the story.

I'm thrilled to partner with Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse to bring you this early review. THE SECOND MRS. STROM will publish August 16, 2024.

The Second Mrs. Storm is a quick read. The chapters switch point of views, between Paul and Cecilia Storm, but it’s easy to follow the story along. Upon reading the first few pages, I immediately disliked both main characters. Neither had a redeemable quality, and the story felt like I was reading an over the top soap opera, but the authors writing kept me going. After reading I learned Paul is a character from a previous book, and makes reference to his back story. I feel this could be read as a stand-alone and isn’t necessary to read the previous book beforehand in order to follow this one along.

Paul Storm has just come into a huge inheritance. He meets Cecilia and it’s love at first sight. It’s a quick whirlwind romance that leads to marriage. Fate brought them together, or so it seems. Mr and Mrs Storm take their money and leave Florida for the glamorous life in California. Paul plans to become a huge Hollywood producer while Cecilia becomes a stay at home wife and hopefully soon, mom. To celebrate their first wedding anniversary, they spend the week in Paris, where Paul and Cecilia’s secrets come out and each has plans for the other.

Ahh, yes! Our favorite love-to-hate character, Paul Strom, is back and may have finally met his match with his new wife, Cecilia, who’s definitely not as innocent as she first appeared. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and sometimes you have to give people a taste of their own cruel medicine.

Similar to its predecessor, The Second Mrs. Strom is told through the short timeline of the main narrative but also includes flashbacks to the past. The biggest differences between this book and The Best Day Ever are:
- This book includes a more balanced split of POVs between the FMC & MMC.
- While Mia was an innocent victim in Paul’s narcissistic deranged games, Cecilia may be just as unhinged as he is! A true match made in Heaven…. Or seemingly more like the opposite!
- This domestic thriller had many more unexpected and shocking twists and turns! It’ll make your head spin.

Because we get to view situations through both the eyes of Paul & of Cecilia, it adds a multi-layered perspective to the story and in my opinion- gives it an advantage over the first book. This isn’t a book I’d recommend reading as a standalone. Having the backstory of The Best Day is important to really understanding Paul’s character and fully enjoying this deliciously devious follow-up novel.

Will Paul finally get the comeuppance he rightfully deserves? And why does Cecilia want revenge? These questions and more will be answered in this highly anticipated sequel!

4.25 ⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley & Bookouture for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Second Mrs. Strom is a fast paced thriller and is the sequel to Best Day Ever. I could not put this one down. Kaira Rouda is an expert at writing unlikeable characters and Paul Strom is beyond unlikeable. He is a despicable person. I really enjoy that this author uses snark and dark humor. This book entertains from beginning to end. Clear your schedule because you won't be able to put this one down. .

This book right here is jam packed with quotes and expressions of love (or obsession) that will have you reading, and rereading each sentence just to let it absorb a little further into your soul.

It’s weird to describe a book classified as a thriller with such passion and emotion but sometimes books hit a little differently depending on the mood you read them in.

My mood was just right for this one.

Last night I scrolled through my netgalley shelf looking for a book I knew I could get lost in, and that I did. Everything was so life like and the characters both lovable and hatable, layered and raw made them so real.

I am jealous of every person who is yet to read this one as I would love to experience it again and go a tad bit slower so I squeeze every last bit of goodness out of it.

Pre-Order the book, then come check on me, I barely survived that book-coaster 😰

Teaser :

I don’t want the perfect marriage. I want revenge…

If you had met me a year ago, you wouldn’t have noticed me. A beautiful woman, but a struggling nobody in a tiny apartment, invisible…

Meeting Paul changed that.

And now here I am in Paris, after a whirlwind courtship and a stunning beach proposal. I smile at my handsome husband, my eyes shining in the candlelight, my huge diamond ring sparkling on the starched white tablecloth. Other women look at me in envy. They see a couple completely in love.

They’re wrong.

Despite this incredible luxury vacation, my husband and I can’t escape our problems. I can’t get over what he did with that woman just after our wedding, and my bright smile can’t hide the hardness in my heart.

I wonder if Paul knows the truth. That our first meeting, when we fell in love, wasn’t the coincidence he thinks it was. That what I want from him has nothing to do with his money.

And now that he’s wronged me, I’ll stop at nothing to get it…

This is an engrossing page turner with striking imagery and breakneck twists. The author has a crisp writing style which guides readers through this layered and innovative thriller. It was a treat to read.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️