Tropical Girl Reads

Harkening to Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, this high-tension and ingenious thriller follows five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them.

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.

This book was one of my most anticipated Ruth Ware books and I have to say, I am a bit disappointed with the book.

One Perfect Couple follows the story of Lyla Santiago, who is a scientist. Her boyfriend Nico is a struggling actor and he gets a part to act in a reality TV show One Perfect Couple. Lyla follows Nico along to an island just off from Indonesia. There are other couples as –Joel and Romi, Santana and Dan, Bayer and Angel and Connor and Zana. A storm comes into the island leaving the others stranded in the island. As they are struggling to survive in the island, there is someone who would want to get rid of them one by one and Lyla must find out who before she herself become the victim.

I had a very hard time finishing the book. The pacing wasn’t great, not much of twists and turns that you would expect normally in a thriller and above all, it wasn’t great. None of the characters are likable in my opinion and I skimmed through the book in the end as I am someone who doesn’t want to DNF the books. The book sounds like Lost TV series except they are in a part of a reality TV show. However, this was OK compared to her last year novel Zero Days which in my opinion wasn’t great.

Just because this book wasn’t great doesn’t mean I am going to stop read Ruth Ware’s books. My favorite to this date is Death of Mrs. Westaway, Turn of the Key and The Woman in Cabin 10 which made me read almost all Ruth Ware’s books. I hope her next book will be better than this one.

Overall worth three stars.

A best-selling author. A mother. A murderer…

Mackenzie Casper is a brilliant student. But she is best known for her mother, a best-selling author whose dark, twisted thrillers have a dedicated worldwide fanbase.

When her mother dies in an accident, fans across the world are left grieving, and the investigators are asking: Was that really an accident?

The day of the memorial service, Mackenzie gets the first mysterious envelope, signed,
From #1 fan. XOXO

Inside are the pages of her mother’s diary that start with the lines:
Want to know a secret?
Love, Mom.

What Mackenzie reads leaves her in shock.
But then comes the second letter.
And the third…

Mackenzie starts her own investigation and stumbles upon secrets that her family has lived with for years.
Quickly, she realizes that her mother’s path to stardom was etched with sinister lies that might have caught up with her.

Sometimes fame is worth a murder. Or worse.
Soon, Mackenzie will come to find out that there are worse things than murder…

This is one of the best thriller books I have ever read. Like literally you wouldn’t be able to put this book down once you start reading this book.

Mackenzie Casper’s mother Elizabeth Casper was a bestselling author, having sold more than million copies under the name EV Renge. But Elizabeth Casper died in an accident. Mackenzie didn’t really have a good relationship with her mother. At the funeral, Mackenzie suddenly receives a series of letters written by her mother. By reading those letters, Mackenzie realizes that her mother might have been involved with something sinister back when she was a student in Nebraska twenty years ago. Mackenzie then set out to investigate on her own about her mother’s past with her friend EJ and uncover many dark secrets about her parents.

This book is filled with so many twists and turns that you would never expect in a typical thriller. The first few chapters were slow paced but towards the middle, the story started getting more interesting and intense. Most of the twists in this book were some crazy twists and the book started been more fast paced by the middle of the book. The story is well written with so many quotes that seem to embed in reader’s mind.

When you are young, you don’t fall for the sweet guys. You fall for the wrong ones.

Beauty and talent can be as much of a blessing as they can be a curse. An apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Sometimes the smallest things in life, so tiny we barely acknowledge them, can change us in the most profound way.”

The characters were all realistic and believable and the only characters that you were able to tolerate were Mackenzie and her friend EJ. The book was easy to follow and read.

The biggest plot twist was the ending–the most unexpected ending that I have ever read. It gave the OMG vibe and it also made me feel fully satisfied with the ending.

This is the first time I have read from this author and am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Completely worth five stars and highly recommended for people who like to read books filled with crazy twists and an unexpected plot twist.

Three identical murder confessions. Three perfect liars…

On a sunny Saturday morning, three women from the exclusive gated community of Magnolia Close walk into their local police station.

One by one, they all confess to the murder of their neighbour.

The officer takes statements from Tasha, the overwhelmed mother also struggling under the weight of caring for her parents. Beth, the quiet one, desperate for another baby but unable to fall pregnant. Georgie, the one whose life seems so dazzlingly glamorous… on the surface.

Each woman has a life – a family – that they don’t want to lose.

Each woman has a reason for wanting Johnny dead.

Each woman claims she killed him.

All of them are lying.

Three motives. Three confessions. Three liars. But what would make these women destroy their perfect lives?

An absolutely gripping, addictive, close-knit community psychological thriller that will have you breathlessly flipping the pages! Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies , The Couple Next Door and The Family Upstairs .

Perfect Wives follows the story of three women–Georgie, Tasha and Beth who live in a neighborhood called Magnolia Close, an exclusive community. Tasha is an overwhelming mother with pressure to take care of her parents, Georgie’s married life doesn’t look as glamorous from inside and Beth is trying hard for another baby. Each of these women have issues with one of their neighbors, Jonny and one night, while drunk, they all confessed on how they would want to get rid of Jonny. With them, there was another woman, Keira, who instruct them how they could kill Jonny. The next day, Jonny was found murdered and now the three women are afraid. Then Keira starts blackmailing the women, claiming that she killed Jonny for them and now they should kill someone in return. The three women will do anything to protect their families and lives at any costs.

This was fast paced filled with so many twists and turns. I couldn’t put the book down. The book is told in the POVs of Georgie, Tasha and Beth and we can find the emotions, thoughts and feelings that each of these women are going through when they heard that Jonny was murdered. Each women had some reason or another as to why they would want to get rid of Georgie. I think the author did a good job of making the reader not to trust any of these women as they are all unreliable characters. And behind the glamorous lives that they seem to be having in the gated community, the author outlined the facade of what each of these women are going through behind closed doors. The ending was so unpredictable and unexpected and I actually did like the ending. This is a perfect psychological and domestic thriller if you are looking for a perfect one to read.

Another thing–being a Sri Lankan, I liked how the author made one of the characters, Tasha a Sri Lankan as it is rare to find a Sri Lankan fictional character in western fiction.

Overall this is worth 4.5 starts.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.