24 hours with the delightful Paul. First off, he seems like a nice guy, if a little immodest. But pretty quickly, you realise he's not that nice after all. His wife, Mia, seems to have it all. But has she?
This had me hooked from the first page, and had to finish it the same day. The plot isn't that unusual, but the narrative device is interesting, and creates tension. A fab read. More please!

Best day Ever by Kaira Rouda only took me a day to read but has stayed with me longer than that, mostly because I am unsure what I think about it. I suppose you could say it made me feel unsettled.
Best Day Ever is the story of a married couple set over the course of a day, a study of a marriage. This is a book centred around a single character because he demands that attention and no other character really ever stands a chance of getting your attention.
The book begins with Paul and Mia about to set off for a weekend away at their second home by a beautiful lake.
Paul has carefully planned everything to the point where he has even created a playlist for them to listen to on the journey, a playlist of her favourite songs.
It quickly becomes apparent to the reader that Paul is the only one enjoying himself on ‘the best day ever’ and that all is not as it seems.
Initially, Kaira Rouda ensure that the scene is set for readers to imagine an idyllic scene of a loving couple taking a romantic weekend break away from their children and from the stresses of everyday life.
“I glance at my wife as she climbs into the passenger seat, sunlight bouncing off her shiny blond hair like sparklers lit for the fourth of July, and I am bursting with confidence. Everything as it should be.”
When I first began reading Best Day Ever I thought Mia was a whinging and slightly ungrateful character in the face of all her husband’s effort and that Paul was a misogynistic pig with an inflated sense of his own worth. Whilst my opinion of Mia changed, my opinion of Paul did not.
The first big clue that Paul is not the man he paints himself as if when he is musing about what his wife knows about his character.
“I wonder if Mia thinks I have a dark side. Most likely, as far as she knows, I am just her dear loving husband.”
Paul’s general attitude from the beginning was one that seemed designed by Kaira Rouda to be irritating to any female readers. For example, when talking about cooking:
“Sometimes I’ll help throw something together, but usually Mia is in charge of meals, truth be told. Obviously this makes sense: she is the housewife.”
His attitudes towards the roles of men and women with in a relationship are clearly ones that most people would consider outdated. I can’t remember the last time I read a book where I wanted to punch a fictional character so much.
“Mia, when we first met, may have considered herself above me. She was a copywriter on the creative team and I was just a client services guy. Now she knows what’s what. It didn’t take too long for me to teach her how the world works.”
He believes she has no value outside of that which he gives her.
“At home these days, I am king of our castle and my queen needs to fall back in line. It’s a bit late for Mia to be contemplating finding herself. What could she possibly find that I don’t already provide?”
Paul becomes more and more contemptible the further you delve into the book.
I guessed most of the major twists in Best Day Ever before they happened but that didn’t lesson my enjoyment of the book.
Best Day Ever was a thrilling read.

The book tells the story of a husband a wife on a trip with a plan to have the ‘best day ever’. I found the start of this book was hard work and it was a bit of a struggle to engage me to carry on reading. I persevered purely as I had read a few good reviews of it. When the book came to a really clever twist I was instantly hooked and devoured the rest of it in one sitting. The plot is very clever and well thought out and surprisingly not at all what I expected. It left me thinking about it for some time after I had read the final page.

Wow! Absolutely gripping! I loved the suspense throughout the book that had me hooked till the very last page. Really enjoyed this read it had me on the edge of my seat!

After a slow start wondering where the plot was going, it really keeps you reading. Where did Kaira get the idea for Paul Strom. I hope she never met someone like him. If you want to know what the book is about you must read it - you won't be disappointed.

Best day ever is written from the perspective of a very complex disturbing man and is written so well I could visualise and hear him talking.....
We meet Paul and Mia, seemingly having an ordinary weekend away, but all is not as it seems....

Page by page we learn more and read and read in suspense!!! Def recommend!!!!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2072899816#comment_form

I quite enjoyed this book. It's a nice, quick read and perfect as a holiday read really as you're not required to 'think' too much.

The main protagonist is a high-functioning psychopath and an absolutely revolting human being. His opinions were quite reminiscent of Patrick Bateman's of American Psycho fame. Not as insane certainly, but certainly has traits of egocentrism and extreme bouts of anger.

I was disappointed with the conclusion however. Rouda sets the reader for a more explosive ending than what we are given and the actual ending is all a bit mediocre.

It's also pretty obvious what is going on fairly early on in this book, but for a quick and easy read, this is one title worth checking out if that's what you're after.

This is quite a slow burner of a book, so much so that I felt I didn't want to carry on with it when I was about 25 – 30% of the way through – but I'm so glad I did.

The scene is being set during the first three quarters of the book – yes, that's a lot of scene setting but it is worth the wait to get a very satisfying ending. Paul is a narcissistic psycho with an ego the size of Greenland. He is a big 'I am' and I quickly came to dislike him. He brags about what a lovely little wifey he has got and what beautiful little boys he has, when in fact, his children are scared of him and his wife has no life because he's such a control freak and has isolated her from all her friends and family. The major part of the book is a car ride from their marital home to their lakeside second home where he is planning 'the best day ever' for his lovely wife, Mia. Paul reflects over parts of his life during that car ride giving the reader an insight into his childhood and relationships with family and past girlfriends. There are lots of little hints in the narrative, such as – “I never did get the blood stain off the band” (watch band) to tease us into thinking he did something really bad in the past.

The final quarter or so of the book becomes tense and fast paced. Things start to unravel so we see the true Paul and the strong Mia emerge. I felt a bit disappointed with the ending as far as Paul is concerned (I wanted nasty things to happen to him,) but after reading the author's notes at the back of the book, there's a hint of the possibility of a second book with Paul's character.

This did not sadly appeal, despite the promise. If it doesn't catch your attention at the start, forget it.

Sorry - could not finish - did not enjoy this book

A well deserved 5 stars! Had me gripped from start to finish. Twisty and gripping throughout, a must read for any fan of this genre!

Creepy, chilling, controlling, and that is character Paul Strom. I loved it . A five star read

Great book that kept me glued to the screen the whole time! What a creepy guy Paul was to observe. I was going to say "unique" and be nice but I had to go for Creepy because the author did such a great job bringing him to life. Thumbs up read!

DNF at 25% (although I did skip to the end to see if I was right about the outcome which I was)

Ok firstly Kaira Rouda's writing skill is not at fault here, good writing. Always good to get that one out the way because when its story and execution that sinks it for you that is ever subjective. So if you like a psychological thriller with a "bad guy" main voice then go for your life. You may love it.

Me? No. I got to 25% having sat through an interminably boring car journey as Paul spouts his life reasoning whilst foreshadowing this Best Day Ever and sniping at his wife Mia, both out loud and underneath. Mia meanwhile is inordinately whiny, keeps having random arbitrary personality changes and generally I was hoping Paul would just throw her out the car, run her over, before plowing into an arctic truck and dying in a fiery ball of hellfire. When that didn't happen and I couldn't bear anymore I read the last bit just in case there was something dramatically twisted in the end but no.

So this one wasn't for me.

I've been totally spoiled by Graeme Cameron's "Normal" and CJ Skuse's "SweetPea" both of which take the premise of a killer or psychopathic main protagonist and make you feel something about them. Those two novels are served equally by their dark heart and their cleverly placed humour. Paul was dull not dark and certainly nobody in this book was particularly funny. Erm caveat: Maybe some of the later characters teased during the car journey might have turned out to be the saviour of my sanity but seriously I simply don't care enough to find out.

Apologies to the author for not liking the story. But it is what it is. I'll try a different book.

Excellent book. Great storyline and wonderful main characters. I would recommend this book.

Really good book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Would definitely read more by this author

Wow, what an uncomfortable book! Having said that, I could not put it down and couldn't wait to hear what the 'loving' husband, Paul Strom, did next. Actually, nothing surprised me with his attitude to money, women and being a control freak - are there really men like that? How the author managed to put so much creepiness into a car journey, I'll never know. Brilliant book, I loved it.