Jo’s husband Will Carter has been missing for a year, friends are encouraging her to accept that he has gone, for whatever reason. As she’s strapped for cash, with friend Louise’s encouragement she signs up to a website for house sitters so that she can have a much needed change of scene and a cheap break. As she peruses the site, a cottage near Hastings catches her eye and she has a closer look at the internal pictures to see if it’s as pretty as it seems. To her amazement there are photographs of Will on display. She is obviously shocked but also curious as could it lead to answers? So she applies to the owner Suzanne who accepts Jo’s offer to look after her house and care for her pets. The story is told from Jo’s perspective and looks back to her meeting Will and their relationship and the unfolding events in the present.

I like the way that Jo converses with missing Will, often blurting things out to the consternation of those around her. She ‘sees’ him too and so you question her mental health although the stress of Will leaving with no explanation is equally an explanation. I like Jo as a character, as one clumsy girl to another I empathise as she sloshes, spills and trips. Her first date with Will is funny and made me laugh as it reminded me of mine with my future husband when I fell flat on my face tripping over fresh air. It’s dangerous stuff, air. The setting mostly in Sussex is lovely too and Simon who she meets there is also very likeable. The dog, Spangle totally stole my heart. The book is a slow burner which I like and you get hints that Will is not what he seems and that things have occurred in the past which might explain the situation in the present day.

However, I think it falls apart as we reach the conclusion of the book as one event piles on top of another often literally, it has the feel of a farce at times and so I’m disappointed.

Overall, much of the book is very enjoyable, there are some good characters and I hope others will like the ending more than me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

This was an excellent novel that kept me literally entranced. The character depiction was on point and the story was fascinating and well developed.

Good book, kept me entertained during a Sunday afternoon while on lockdown! The pace of the book could have been quicker, I found there was a lot of text that wasn’t needed...reading page after page that had no relevance to story, but overall it was an enjoyable read and an interesting story!

A year after her husband vanished without a trace, Jo is still struggling with his disappearance. Regularly seeing and talking to his apparition, she can't accept not knowing whether he is dead or whether he simply walked away from her.
At her best friend's suggestion, Jo decides to apply for a housesitting job and as she browses the ads, she spots pictures of her husband on the mantelpiece of some woman's home. Determined to get to the bottom of her husband's disappearance, she submits her application and is soon accepted. But is she ready to face the truth?

The story is told from a third-person narrative and is entwined with Jo's first-hand accounts of her relationship with her husband, Will.
I'm a huge fan of Samantha Hayes, so I requested this book blindly, without reading the blurb, and I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed.
OK, so there are a lot of missing husband stories out there, but this one had a really interesting premise and it got me intrigued from the first pages.
The Happy Couple is an easy but captivating read that will have you madly turning the pages.
The first half was steadily building up to the multiple twists at the end. I admit I had guessed a couple of them correctly, so the ending wasn't as shocking as I would have liked it to be, but it didn't stop me from racing through it with bated breath.
The events of the very last pages, however, were a little unbelievable, but I'm happy to overlook it.
I give it 4 stars and highly recommend you check it out as well as any other books from Samanta Hayes.

I was instantly intrigued by the blurb for this book, missing husband/wife stories have been done quite a lot but when done well they can make for a really good read.

I would say that overall I enjoyed this one. I read it very quickly as I couldn't stop turning the pages to figure out what was going on. I did guess parts of the story but others were a complete mystery. The plot is very far-fetched but it's a nice bit of escapism if you're willing to suspend reality for a bit.

An issue I did have is that Jo clearly had some mental health concerns with not knowing what was real and what wasn't, and that was never really addressed at the end. Things like that don't tend to just go away. Also, it was constantly mentioned how 'happy' Jo and Will were as a couple but we as readers never saw that, in flashbacks he was always moody and critical so maybe it would have been nice to see a bit more of the happy times in order to understand why Jo is so upset to lose him.

I would recommend this to readers who want something quick to read but not to be taken too seriously.

You believed your life was perfect, you loved your husband and he loved you. And then he disappeared. Was he killed, rendered an amnesiac, or did he just leave you? A picture of your husband in a stranger’s home leads you to the house in the photograph and a room that appears to have all the answers….if you dare open the door. Shocking to say the least

I wanted to like it, the premise was amazing, but the firsts chapters were always going in circles and repeating every time the same, Will is missing, and Jo cannot grieve and wants to know the truth. But then we have the same plot over and over until the end, and I don't know who I despise the most, Will or Lu, but my god what a waste of a book, Jo was better off with Simon.

I absolutely adore this author so immediately jumped at the chance of being on this blog tour.
This book captured me from the description and I was instantly excited to get stuck in.
I definitely haven't been disappointed, Hayes has another absolutely fantastic variety of characters and a plot which is guaranteed to keep you guessing from the start.
This has kept me constantly guessing about what would happen next and there is absolutely no way I could've predicted it. This has been a fantastic book from start to end.
Hayes has kept me on the edge of my seat and made my jaw drop on more than one occasion. I highly recommend this book alongside all of Hayes books.
This is without a doubt a five star read which is absolutely guaranteed to be a bestseller. I have loved it.