The Couple in the Photo by Helen Cooper

 

On a normal day at work, Lucy's colleague, Ruth is beaming from her recent honeymoon and sharing photos from her amazing trip to the Maldives. Lucy loves photos and all the happy times they convey, so she is more than happy to look at the pictures. 

While flipping through, Lucy sees a snapshot of Ruth, her new husband and a couple at the resort and is floored to see the man is the husband of her best friend. When Lucy asks about it, Ruth says they are a great couple they met while there. Lucy feels sick. The man is Scott, her best friend Cora's husband, but the woman is NOT Cora. Furthermore, Scott is supposed to be in Tokyo on a business trip. He couldn't be in the Maldives, right?

What follows is a journey and discovery of secrets in a group of a very tight and close friends involving Lucy, her husband Adam and Scott and Cora. They couldn't be closer and their four kids are like siblings. Adam, Scott and Cora were all best friends at university before Lucy entered the picture.  Lucy is torn about digging into the issue knowing it could implode all their lives as they know it. 

Now, my two cents. I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it moved at a breakneck pace. The only thing is I was 49 percent finished and I had it figured out. I was right about the big part, but there was some small surprise at the end, so overall, it was a great read!  Releases in December 2023 but you can preorder now! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher! No review was required. 

The Bride to Be by Daniel Hurst

 

Kate is getting married! Good news, right?  Well, not so fast. She's not 100 percent sure if her groom to be is the one for her.  After all, Mark can be kind of condescencing, resulting in a lot of hurt feelings. She loves Mark but feels that something is missing. It's just not the fairy tale she expected when she dreamed of getting married. 

One day, while in the bridal store, Kate sees another couple and is instantly taken with the man. He seems ideal in the way he treats HIS wife to be. She's convinced that this couple has the perfect life, the one she always dreamed of. 

What follows is a woman's desperate attempt to feel loved and appreciated. WIthout giving anything away, things unravel quickly. So many things happen to the point where it really starts spiraling out of control to where Kate can't even recognize her own life. 

I thought the book had great premise.  For the most part, I coudn't wait to get back to it. But, I think the author attempted a "twist" at the end and it just fell flat for me. Maybe, if I hadn't been expecting something crazy to happen at the end, I would have liked it better, so that may be on me. Overall though, I would say it was entertaining.  Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the opportunity!