A brilliant, deeeply disturbing look into a truly twisted mind.

Paul is taking his wife Mia away for a weekend - he is determined to create the 'best day ever' however things dont quite go to plan....

Its hard to say much about this book without giving away any spoilers. However its safe to say that Rouda has created a truly evil character.

I would strongly reccommend this book!

What an unlikeable character Paul Strom is! He believes himself superior to everyone else and thinks he has planned the perfect murder. Will he get away with it? I do not want to give the plot away but highly recommend this book. An uncomfortable but riveting read; I could not put this down.

WOW... What a fantastic book!
Full of suspense,gripping me at every opportunity. This was my first book by Kaira Rouda and it was excellent. Extremely satisfied after reading this fast paced exciting Mystery, Thriller. Loved getting Into the mind of Paul even though he is a Psychopath.
I would highly recommend this 5 stars book. A favourite read!

A well written and thought out book. I like the way it's written with one of the main characters being the narrator. The story gradually unfolds and we learn more about Paul, his behaviour and his past. Clever twist to turn things on their head.

Really loved this , Read it all on a rainy afternoon with my feet up . This was such an entertaining read , amazingly the main part of the story takes place over just one day as we join Paul and his wife Mia on their way to their weekend cottage . We know that Paul has plans for Mia and how this all unfurls kept me furiously turning the pages . He is such a self obsessed narcissist and really easy to hate , I was rooting for Mia pretty much from the first couple of pages .Absolutely brilliant ...... Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

Paul Strom has spent years building his perfect life: glittering career, beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in the suburbs.
But he also has his secrets. That’s why Paul has promised his wife a romantic weekend getaway. He proclaims this day, a warm Friday in May, will be the best day ever.
I disliked Paul so much that I nearly gave up on the book but I did continue & I’m glad I did as it became absorbing & gripping. It was a book I felt uncomfortable reading & the more that was revealed about Paul the more I disliked him. My overriding thought was why on earth has Mia stayed with him for over ten years & in fact why did she marry him in the first place. The story is told from Paul’s point of view & he sees himself as an upstanding, hardworking, successful charming man, oh my skin is crawling just thinking about him.
I can’t say it was an easy read but it became an absorbing, compelling read that I couldn’t put down in the end until I found out what happened in the final hours of the Best Day Ever.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book as an arc.
Wow, I have met some horrors in my books but Paul Strom is the ultimate psycopath! The book charts a day in the life of Paul and his wife Mia, who are travelling to their beach cottage for a long weekend away together. Paul has planned the 'Best Day Ever' and most of the time I spent my time shouting at Mia to stop being so naive and compliant! This is domestic noir at its blackest.
However, I quickly guessed what was going on and perhaps that is because I read so many of these psychological thrillers. One or two wee twists right enough that I didn't see coming and this was definitely a gripping read.

This book is entirely dictated by the evil perpetrator until the one year later epilogue and it is entirely compelling. The main character starts by appearing to be nothing more than a cocky,self-obsessed salesman but as the tale unfolds, more and more information about his character and his past is fed into the mix. The reader keeps wondering 'what next?'. It is very well written with credible characters.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't the suspense or thriller that I was expecting, nonetheless,it was a story that kept my attention as it unfolded. The book is written to cover one day, a concept I think works well. The characters are all well developed, especially the charismatic husband!

Oh boy, did this book sucker punch me?

For a while I wasn’t sure I was going to like Best Day Ever. It took sooo long to get started and go anywhere and I was starting to get bored them –BAM!

I thought I knew what this book was going to be, bored husband decides to bump off rich wife and solve his money troubles.

I was wrong. Bumping off his wife was Paul’s idea but the book ends up going somewhere else altogether. There are many twists I never saw coming.

Best Day Ever is a cracking thriller, a fantastic example of unreliable narration and very original.

I read this book really quickly,it was the sort of book that I didn't want to put down. The main character Paul Strom who was also the narrator was everything that you would dislike in a person, arrogant, deceitful never spoke an honest word if a lie would do, and a thoroughly bad guy, and that really piqued my interest.Normally I don't really get it when authors write really bad, nasty characters if I don't like them it affects my enjoyment of the book, some thing I think I should adjust my thinking on some times, but I didn't have to adjust my thinking with this character he was like a pantomime villain and I disliked him intensely but also was fascinated by him and really enjoyed having a really bad guy as the main character. Of course I wanted his poor long suffering wife Mia to put him in his place some how, but he always seemed to have the upper hand.I am not going to give the game away by saying any more just that it was really tense and kept me page turning as fast as I could and I had no idea what was going to happen and it was a thrilling read right to the end.thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Firstly had I realised that this book is set in the US I wouldn't have requested it due to a personal preference for British novels.
Paul, the main character is horrible in every way; a manipulative, misogynistic, sociopathic scumbag and reading his narrative while being a clever means of writing was not a pleasant experience. Nonetheless an intriguing, different read.

Wow this book is a work of brilliance. The storyline was great. It was a bit hard to get into at first, but with perseverance I read on, glad of course that I did. It's a gripping well written book. A bit confusing at times but it worked well with the main character been a bit of a psychopath. Quite predictable at times but well worth the read. I would recommend this book to everyone. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I found the story to be quite unusual in the way it is told but I soon fell under it's spell and was enthralled as a fly trapped in a spider's web whilst the spider stalked its prey..

An extremely entertaining and satisfying read.

A couple drive to their holiday home by the lakes for the weekend. The husband is sure that they will have an excellent time as long as his wife behaves herself and does as she's told. This book was sinister and creepy from the first page and kept me gripped until the last page. I could not put it down. I would like to thank NetGally and the publisher for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly this isn't working for me, very much struggling with the male protagonist, but likely a case of it's me, not you.

This is a brilliant thriller. The tension is kept up throughout. We get to know Paul, the narrator, gradually, with more and more of his back story being revealed. The psychology behind the characters of him and Mia, his wife, is truely skilful. I absolutely loved it, and read it in just two days. Highly recommended!

Wow. What an fantastic read. My heart was in my mouth the whole time learning about Paul. The seemingly handsome, rich, successful businessman with a beautiful wife, children and home yet we know early on that it's a mask. I read this over 2 days, really couldn't put it down.

Thank you to Netgallery, Grayton and the author fro the advanced copy.

I find this book hard to review, I don't think it's the writing style by the author nor the concept of the story. It's another marmite book - you'll love it or hate it.

For me, I struggled to like the main character - Paul, a narcissist and a very controlling

The book starts with a car journey, that felt like the longest journey Inhad been on. Why? Because Paul, keeps reflecting on past events and it feels like you are in the car going down a one way street and then back to the main journey. This lost my interest quickly and I found myself flicking through pages and missing whole chunks of the book but still able to keep up with events.

The book is written over 24 hours but it's a slow paced 24 hours, I prefer fast reading thrillers. This wasn't one of those. But if you like slow mysteries then this book may be for you.

I won't spoil the end, but it's a turn around and the last few chapters, post the restaurant are to me where the story really pick up pace. But sadly that's the last three chapters.

Overall. It's a not for me book.

Having read the description of this book I was interested to know why the perfect sounding Paul Strom could possibly want to get rid of his wife. With 2 young boys, a great job, a beautiful home – and a second home by the lake for holidays – what could possibly be wrong? After all, he is promising her the Best Day Ever…
There is so much tension crackling between Paul and his wife Mia throughout their car journey to the lake house. Paul cannot understand why Mia is bombarding him with questions when he has promised her that their weekend alone together will be the best day ever. He has it all planned and under control until all of a sudden he doesn’t and events run away with him in a direction he really doesn’t want them to go.
We are drip fed information about Paul – or Poker face Paul as he likes to be known – all told from his deluded point of view. He is a fabulous case study of a narcissist who is so wrapped up in his own version of his life that he cannot even contemplate that someone else could possibly know that the real Paul Strom is nothing like the image he portrays.
Skeletons tumble out of closets as Mia presents him with her knowledge of how he has been living a double life for months and has been planning her demise. His carefully laid plans are totally scuppered by Mia and their neighbour Buck as the realisation dawns that Mia has been making plans of her own and they don’t involve Paul. In typical Paul style, he quickly recalculates and makes alternative arrangements for this to still be HIS Best Day Ever.
I love an unreliable narrator and the more credible a bad guy the better for me. I don’t think they come much more unlikeable than Paul Strom, and I was a bit disappointed by the ending in one respect. However having thought over the outcome, I do wonder whether we could hear more from him in a future novel from this author. That would make for very interesting reading and I would be at the front of the queue to buy a copy of that tale.
Many thanks to Harlequin UK for the advance copy of this title, My review is entirely my own opinion and will appear on my blog www.sandiesbookshelves.blogspot.co.uk and via my goodreads account at www.goodreads.com/sandie_bishop, as well as facebook and twitter.