Book Review for Jill Is Not Happy by Kaira Rouda

 

Jill Is Not Happy by Kaira Rouda

Published:  June 10, 2025 by Scarlet

Genre:  Mystery Thriller, Road Trip

Taken from Goodreads:  An ill-fated road trip resurrects a married couple’s darkest secrets in this new thriller from the USA Today bestselling author of Best Day Ever and The Next Wife.

Some secrets keep a couple together.

If you ask Jill Tingley, she’ll tell you she and her husband Jack are college sweethearts living the dream in Southern California. Wealthy, popular and genetically blessed, theirs is an enviable life, though they’ve grown distant in recent years. Newly empty nesting with their daughter Maggie away at college, Jill suggests a road trip to reconnect.

Jack would rather do anything else than drive to Utah with his wife. He’s only stayed in this marriage because of a shared secret, a tragedy in the past he wanted to keep buried. And for his daughter’s sake. But Jack is finished with the charade of his marriage. He’s filing for divorce as soon as they return, no matter what.

But he doesn’t realize what else Jill is hiding.

So begins a cat-and-mouse road trip as a cunning wife—think Ripley in yoga pants—and a reluctant husband match wits and drive each other to the edge. But everything will be fine. Jill still loves Jack and believes he’s the only one for her. She’ll do anything to keep him. Anything. She always has.

 

My Thoughts:  Jill is Not Happy is the type of book that I picked up, hoped to not be able to put it down, and was not disappointed.   I could not put this book down.

As I read, I wanted to know more, I wanted Jill to quit and I wanted Jack to grow a pair.   Jill is the character that I just knew there was more to.  Her attitude had me wondering what her real story was.   Jack, how can I like him?  He is a cheating push-over. I had the need to know what the secret was.

Kaira Rouda is a phenomenal mystery-thriller author.  Jill is Not Happy has been added to my favorite books by Kaira.  This is a book of characters that you will love to hate and a storyline that will keep you turning pages.

Thank you Penzler Publishers for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

 

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon

 

Meet the Author (taken from her website): USA TODAY, Amazon #1 and international bestselling author Kaira Rouda is the author of novels that dig beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. But for Kaira, the journey to authorhood was not a straight arrow–it actually marks her fourth career path. An accomplished business leader and entrepreneur, Kaira started out in marketing where for her work she received multiple Addy, Webby, Telly, Communicator, PRism and WebAwards. When she left her position as vice president of marketing for an Inc. 100 firm and franchisor after filing a class action lawsuit for gender discrimination and sexual harassment, she shifted to the real estate industry, creating Real Living, the first female-focused residential real estate brand. For those efforts she won the Best Entrepreneur from the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and was recognized in Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 50 Fastest-Growing, Women-Led Companies. The experience of building Real Living led to publishing her first book, a work of nonfiction titled Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. From this, Kaira became an expert in public speaking, giving talks around the nation inspiring thousands.

An English major who graduated from magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, Kaira wrote for numerous national magazines and was the society columnist for the Columbus Dispatch for ten years. Yet always in the back of her mind, Kaira had a dream and a voice driving her to pursue a career as a fiction novelist. Her latest novels BEST DAY EVER, THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER, THE NEXT WIFE, SOMEBODY’S HOME, THE WIDOW, BENEATH THE SURFACE, UNDER THE PALMS, THE SECOND MRS STROM – the sequel to Best Day Ever, WHAT THE NANNY SAW, and JILL IS NOT HAPPY (June 2025)  mark a journey for Kaira into the realm of the uber-popular genre of domestic suspense. Reviews have touted her novels as “pure genius” (SheReads.com), “an exceptional psychological thriller” (Publishers Weekly STARRED review) and promising to “keep you at the edge of your seat” (PopSugar). It is clear, one outlet shares, that “Kaira Rouda is the new mistress of domestic suspense” (Bookstr). To date, her novels have been translated into twelve languages, and BENEATH THE SURFACE, has been optioned for feature film.

To date, Kaira’s work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Three of her novels have been named Amazon Editor’s Picks for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. The Next Wife was named a Suspense Magazine’s Best Book of 2021 Award, and a 2022 Silver Falchion for Best Suspense Novel and a 2022 Silver Falchion first runner-up for Best Book of the Year. Beneath the Surface won a Zibby’s Book Award for Best Beach Read. Her next novel, JILL IS NOT HAPPY, has been named a 2025 Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Zibby Media.

Kaira is a founding member of the Killer Author Club, a bi-monthly live show supporting authors. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Author Association, and the International Thriller Writers (ItW). She served as a committee chair for the Edgar Awards 2024, and frequently appears on panels at conferences across the country. Active in the areas of homelessness, food security, and empowering women and girls, in her twenties, as a volunteer, she created the first walk-in emergency shelter for homeless families in Central Ohio. Kaira has received numerous awards for her community service, including the national Kiwanis Service to Mankind Award, the Ohio Sertoma Service to Mankind Award, among many others. Recently, Kaira was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsome to the California Volunteers commission. Kaira lives in Southern California with her family.