One Perfect Couple
by Ruth Ware
Summary
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.
My Review
This was my first time reading a book by this author, and I was really excited since I’d heard great things about her work. Unfortunately, it ended up being a big miss for me. The story felt overly drawn out, with the first half of the book dedicated entirely to setup, which made it feel boring and tedious.
This story felt like a mix of Survivor and Love Island but lacked the entertainment and drama I was expecting. It ended up being incredibly boring. The premise had the potential for an exciting summer thriller, but it fell flat. With so many characters, it became difficult to keep track of them, and I didn’t connect with any of them, so I ultimately didn’t care about their fates. The murders were underwhelming, and there was no big reveal at the end, making it feel like a waste of time. The only saving grace was the audiobook narrator, who did an amazing job with different voices and accents for each character. She’s the only reason I kept listening. If I had been reading a physical or digital copy, I probably would have DNF’d it.
There isn’t any spice, but it has a decent amount of language and too much wokeness for my personal taste. It felt like the author had a political agenda with this story, which made it feel preachy with woke nonsense. This was a huge red flag for me because I do not like these elements in my entertainment.
There’s no spice in this story, but it does have quite a bit of foul language and more wokeness than I’m comfortable with. It felt like the author was pushing a political agenda, which made the story come across as preachy and full of woke messaging. This was a major red flag for me, as I prefer to keep these elements out of my entertainment.
I will try this author again with some of her backlist books, but I wouldn’t recommend this particular book.