The Chateau had me interested in the beginning but lost me a little about half way through.
The setting was one aspect of the story that I really enjoyed and the backstories of the 4 friends that return to the Chateau. Multiple POV is always a favourite of mine as well. However, I did not find any of the characters particularly likeable and some of the story felt a little repetitive.

I give The Chateau a 3/5 rating.
Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

A dramatic setting and story for this thriller set in an old chateau in Provence. I was intrigued by the four women invited to the chateau by the 94 year old owner, Seraphine, grandmother of one of the women, Darcy. The suspense begins when Seraphine is found stabbed to death early in the book, and the women must figure out who, what, and why and wonder if they should suspect each other.

The ending came as a shocker with a twist that left me flabbergasted at the dedication to revenge by the murderer. I'm not sure I liked the book's ending as it left me shaking my head in dismay.

This story is about 4 best friends who are reunited in France, brought to a Chateau where they spent their weekends 20 years ago, owned by Seraphine, one of the girl's grandmother. But then Seraphine is found murdered! What secret was the killer trying to keep her from divulging? What secrets do they all have?

This was so twisty and fun! This is a great crossover of family drama and thriller and I ate it up! It did take a hot second to sort out in my brain who was who and how they connected to the other friends. But then we got rolling and I just want to eat popcorn and watch it all unfold! Delightfully twisty right up until the end (even in the epilogue!)!

Thank you @netgalley and @atriabooks for an advance digital copy! All opinions are mine. This is out now!

The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis is a thriller about a dream girls trip to a French chateau. While the girls are there, Seraphine, the grandmother to one of the girls, is murdered. This book is full of twists and extremely bad and frustrating decisions. It kept my attention, but I didn't really enjoy the story itself. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

As someone who enjoys this emerging genre of "some friends go away to a stunning yet creepy estate/villa/mansion in a foreign country," I devoured this book. I loved the characters, the mystery, and also the locations in it. Great mystery book club pick!

I really enjoyed this thriller! It kept me on my toes throughout the story and I was definitely not expecting the ending. The twists throughout I thought were very well done. I enjoyed the audio book with the cast of characters. This will be a great recommendation to patrons who enjoy thrillers and locked-room mysteries.

Four friends convene at a chateau owned by the grandmother that brought them all together, only for a murder to shock them all shortly after their reunion begins. One by one, secrets are uncovered as trust is broken, friends are turned against one another, and a murderer lurks among them. This one started off a little slow, but once it picked up, it was a great thriller and whodunnit wrapped into one.

2 stars!

Bad, bad, bad. The only positive I felt like was the French atmosphere (because I love France) but everything else was a severe let down. There was simply WAY too much going on and in the effort to do something, it really ended up doing nothing. Way too many subplots for an unsatisfactory ending.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really loved this one. It gets thrillery at the end but it’s mostly a drama between these four best friends set in the French countryside and I couldn’t get enough. Read it! I also think I smell a sequel…@jaclyngoldis??

Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Atria Books and NetGalley for my copy!

Thank you to the publisher for a Netgalley of this book.

I enjoyed this book. Did not love it. But it was entertaining. To be honest, the characters were unlikable and I would not have cared who died in the book.

But I liked the setting-- I like locked door mysteries-- and like I said... the book was entertaining.

In this mystery/thriller, four friends who met twenty years before during a semester abroad in the south of France are invited to spend the weekend at the chateau owned by one of the women’s grandmother. But then the grandmother gets murdered while they are there! (Not a spoiler, it happens in the first chapter before going back to the beginning of their trip, as well as the aftermath.) The book is told from the alternating perspectives of all four women, as well as the groundskeeper, all of whom have their own secrets and issues.

This was a fun read that kept me guessing! Loved the setting and it had a great atmosphere, gave me some Ruth Ware/Lucy Foley type vibes. And I also enjoyed the Jewish representation and related plot. Look forward to reading more from Jaclyn Goldis!

I read this for my book club and it was fun guessing who was doing what and what we thought might happen next and what everyone's secrets might be. The setting was gorgeous and the author clearly loved it and described with great affection. We all had a difficult time telling everyone apart and keeping their stories straight, which detracted a bit from the overall plot.

This was a fun locked door mystery that takes place in the beautiful south of France. Darcy and 3 of her friends have been invited to stay with Seraphine, Darcy’s grandmother. The four girls studied abroad together in college and they would stay with Seraphine on many weekends. Each of the women have a lot going on and everyone needs a break from their regular life. But we find out that each has a hidden agenda for accepting the invitation. All is well until Seraphine is found murdered! Who would do this? And why?

I really liked this story- it had twists I didn’t see coming and completely kept me guessing. One of the women, Jade has lost her grandparents in the Holocaust and she’s very proud of her Jewish heritage, but her young son is bullied for it in present day NYC. This felt so timely for what’s going on in the world today. It broke my heart. Vix is another woman who is going through a difficult breakup and has just survived breast cancer. She was learning to live in her new body after having surgery. The book is definitely more than just your average thriller.

Thank you so much to @atriabooks and @jaclyngoldis for my gifted ebook.

This was such a fun book to read for book club and overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading gothic style thrillers.

A French chateau, a murder whodunnit, and four friends who all have buried secrets and suspect one another... oh, and lots of money at stake. *JUICY*

I found this book captivating, and couldn't put it down. For me, it wasn't predictable, which I love! I read a lot of thriller/mystery, so still being surprised by storylines is just the best feeling. I definitely would read more by this author!

4/5 Stars.

{Ebook copy gifted by Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.]

This one confused me. While I did finish it, I was lost at what genre this book actually was. I expected a thriller, but I found this to be more of a romance with thriller aspects to it? I didn't hate this by any means, but I also would not call it one of my favorite reads of the year. I give it a solid 2.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

I enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure at first because it has quite a few points of view, and sometimes that can be a bit much for me. However, this was fast paced and there were some twists that I didn't see coming.

Rating 4/5

A Chateau in the French countryside, a group of friends reuniting for a mysterious reason, and a shocking murder - all promising ingredients for a successful thriller. I enjoyed the descriptions of the locations, and was propelled by the story throughout. I didn't particularly like any of the characters, though, so I didn't find the big reveals as satisfying as I might have otherwise. I also think there were too many characters, with some unnecessary storylines that could have been combined without losing anything from the plot. I was occasionally taken out of the writing by phrases that felt so timely as to be a little cringe, like all the references to Instagram and millennials. Overall, I thought this was a good thriller, but it wasn't outstanding.

This book was not what I was expecting. It started out a bit slow for me, plus I had a hard time keeping the characters and shifting points-of-view straight because Darcy, Jade, Arabelle, and Vix all sounded the same. And by that I mean rich, privileged women with grudges and chips on their shoulders. Which would be fine, if that was the point of the murder mystery like your basic psychological thriller. But then the author threw in antisemitism, infertility, infidelity, cancer, the Holocaust… like what the heck is going on here? It was too much to keep track of and so much of it had nothing to do with the plot. Not to mention that I saw no disclaimer or trigger warnings for these things, and many of those things are trigger warnings for a lot of readers. That aside, the first 80% of this book dragged, and only did the plot heat up and come to its peak in the last 15-20% of the book, at which point I had almost DNFed about a half-dozen times. Given how many other (better) books are out there with more tightly plotted and thought-out, detailed murder mysteries - locked room style in a glamorous location - are out there, I can’t say I strongly recommend this one if any of the above topics is a trigger for you as a reader.

Darcy and her 3 friends are invited to Darcy’s grandmother’s chateau in France! Sounds amazing!! These girls used to visit the chateau every weekend 20 years ago when they where in school together. It sounds like the perfect getaway but they each come with secrets. And when Darcy’s grandmother ends up murdered, someone will do anything to keep their secret from coming out.

This book had so much potential! 😩 it started out strong but by the end it just fell flat. There seemed to be too much of everything. Almost any type of secret you could think of someone having, someone had it. It got complicated to try and keep everyone straight. And none of the women were very likeable. They all had flaws, which is not a problem, but these flaws made these women just horrible people. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.