First Date - Sue Watson

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Release Date: 16th October 2020

Hannah wants the traditional romance story and she isn't ashamed of that. She wants three kids, a yellow labrador and family trips to Devon. But since her last dissappointing relationship, she isn't keeping optimistic about that happening. Jas, her best friend and boss, has different ideas though. Since the death of her husband she hasn't committed to anything, but she definitely doesn't want Hannah doing the same. So, the pair drunkenly sign up for a new online dating service and she meets Alex.

Alex is perfect. They want all the same things, they have the same values, they drink the same wine ... and he is gorgeous which helps.

This is a first date to remember.

For a while, Hannahs life becomes all about wine, and dinner, and deep conversations ... and then a mysterious and very sinister bouquet of flowers changes everything.

And from the title of this book, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Alex isn't exactly what he seems to be, but who is exactly who they say they are online anyway? Regardless, this story still manages to put the reader on eggshells around him, the tension building right from the first tiny red flag that was obvious to everyone but Hannah.

Yes - this was predicatable. But we knew from the beginning that this date wasn't going to end well, didn't we? And as obvious as it was, I was very close to being dissapointed when I thought I'd figured out exactly where this story was going - but I was only half right. This book still managed to throw multiple curveballs at me and keep a thick air of mystery right until the end.

Hannah was for the most part, very funny and witty - however her clinginess and willingness to give everything to a man in a matter of days like a lovesick teenager really stopped me from being able to connect fully with her character and become invested in her life. That being said, I know that these are exactly the type of people who are easily manipulated and ignore red flags so I can understand the character being written this way but for me, knowing she was playing right into this mans hands just kept throwing me out of the story.

Until the very end - when this story became suddenly amazing. It changed from the typical story of a scarily controlling man into a terrifingly twisty, convuluted dark tale that I was hooked into.For the first half of this book, I knew everything that was coming at me and it honestly felt like a 2 star read, but it was most definitely worth finishing through for that 5 star ending.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐

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