Note: I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. 
 This was a struggle of a read for me, lots of picking up and putting down and having the book stare at me from my ever growing TBR pile. (And even harder for me to rate, I struggled to read the story but it was very well done but it wasn't my type of writing- I'm sticking with 4 stars since it ultimately is a really beautiful book.) So when Barack Obama picked this as his favorite book of 2015, I knew I had to push through and see what the hype was about. I definitely think you have to be in the right mindset for this because it isn't an easy read. The writing is flowery at times and there were parts that I had to read multiple times to fully understand what was happening. The story itself is just wow. This is told in two parts, first from the perspective of Lotto, the husband, and then from Mathilde's perspective. The use of the two parts shows the amount of secrets and deception that can exist in what is seemingly a perfect or happy marriage. I had seen this compared to Gone Girl and at first didn't understand the connection but slowly realized, "oh, yeah, ok, kind of Gone Girl." So similar but different and the people are slightly more likable. So while the writing style itself wasn't exactly my type, I did love the story and was drawn into finding out the secrets that existed in a marriage. 
 Side note- I will say I'm surprised that Obama chose this as his favorite read of 2015, I wouldn't have expected this to be his type of book but more power to him.