When four friends receive an unexpected invitation, they embark on what seems like a dream getaway. The bride-to-be, once their schoolmate and victim of their past bullying, extends a lavish offer: an all-expenses-paid holiday on a tropical island for her bachelorette party. Blinded by the allure of luxury and reconciliation, the women eagerly accept, oblivious to the lurking dangers.

While initially drawn in by the intrigue of the premise, I found my interest waning as the story progressed. The narrative struggles to maintain momentum as the characters tend to blur together, each sharing a similar voice. The rotating perspectives only added to the confusion, leaving me struggling to untangle their intertwined secrets. Despite promises of hidden truths and impending chaos, the plot stagnated for much of the story's duration, with shallow drama and superficial interactions dominating the narrative and failing to deliver intrigue and excitement.

With only five characters on the island, the outcomes felt predictable, lacking the element of surprise. The deliberate foreshadowing at the beginning further diminished the impact and the twists and turns fell flat, culminating in an anti-climactic ending that may leave readers disillusioned by the lack of originality in the plot's resolution.

She Started It
By Sian Gilbert
Review and Rating 3⭐️

Another day, another locked room (locked island?) thriller. I started reading She Started It, Sian Gilbert’s debut novel with high expectations.
Four childhood best friends receive an invitation from another old friend to an extravagant bachelorette weekend on a private island in the Bahamas. The thing is, none of them have spoken to her in years and are surprised she has invited them. But curiosity ( they’ve checked out her instagram ) gets the best of them and they decide to go. What could possibly go wrong?
The island is completely remote, only accessible by boat, no cell service, no other guests, and their former friend has some dark secrets and games to play.
The story was definitely engaging, and kept me entertained. The characters had a definite mean girls vibe, they were all very catty and horrible, not one redeeming quality to be found! It is definitely not a feel good read but I don’t think it is meant to be. Overall,I enjoyed it and I’m giving it 3 ⭐️.

I want to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Book Rating Key
⭐️ Not Recommended
⭐️⭐️ Readable Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Near Perfect Book
***Note*** I seldom give ⭐️or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ratings. If I feel a book is a ⭐️sometimes I just prefer to not finish reading it and not rate it. As for 5 ⭐️books, I think of those as books I would want to take with me to a deserted island 🏝️, and this means I read a whole lot of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️star books. Happy Reading!

Wow wow wow!! What an exhilarating ride of revenge! This was like mean girls in steroids!! The girls are AWFUL! I hated them all, in the high school section and the grown up section. They’re mean, nasty, hateful, lying, materialistic, selfish women. As we had flashbacks from their current lives to their high school pranks, each one got worse as the book went on! I couldn’t believe the twists at the end! I loved the ending and my only regret is that it took me too long to get to this one!! Highly recommend!

Angsty. This book kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to know more and begging to piece together what was happening. I expected more beach/ocean parts, but it was a great thriller and suspense that left me wanting more.

Toxic female friendship's and an isolated mystery trope, sign me up. This story is medium paced, but kept me engaged, It felt a little like trashy TV at times, but that's what drew me in during the slower parts. There are a few twists, nothing crazy but overall a nice, easy read.

This was a great read and will definitely recommend!! The cover is also so cute. Can’t wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sian Gilbert, and William Morrow for an advance copy of She Started It in exchange for an honest review. We find ourselves meeting a group of girls as they prepare to go to Poppys (an old schoolmates) bachelorette party. This is told in multiple perspectives and we meet each character and find out how they treated Poppy in the past. As the bachelorette party goes on, we see just what some people will go to to deal with their past. I thought I had the book figured out about halfway through but the second half really through me for a loop and I was satisfied with how the book wrapped up (and really didnt guess the ending until the book was almost done). This one is out now and I look forward to reading more of this author in the future. I would look at Trigger Warnings for this one before you pick it up too!

This is like a trashy book - I'm usually not a mean girls supporter but this one I could not resist. So much hype - mostly worth it. It dragged in some areas but the guilty pleasure of this read definitely made up for it!

I wish I could have enjoyed this more. I finished it. It was good but not great. Just ok. This was a slow burn in my opinion

I enjoyed reading this book. While I did have a clue for the twist coming at the end, it was still a very fun read that kept me reading to see if my guess was right. Would recommend for fans of reckless girls by Rachel Hawkins.

I love a good isolated, island thriller and this one is no exception. I also loved the multiple POVs, and the fact that all of the women are completely unlikable. This was a super fast read, in fact I read it in the course of less than 24 hours.

There are some trigger warnings so please look those up if you need to.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When 4 woman, who used to be best friends when they were younger, are invited to a remote island for a bachelorette party they don’t hesitate to say yes. Poppy Greer was a girl they knew when they were teenagers that they haven’t even spoken to in years. Why would she invite them??
This was full of toxic relationships and lots of drama. Overall a great thriller with many twists although a bit far fetched.
I really enjoyed this book!!

Thank you @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is one that I started screaming at the characters at the start of the book. Why would you think someone you were so mean to would invite and pay for a tropical island bachelorette party? Of course if they listened to me then there would be no book.

There women are all unlikable and catty and what made this a hard read for me is the book switches up narrators, but they all had the same voice to me so I was constantly trying to figure out who was narrating the chapter.

This is a slow burn that had me continuing to scream at the characters and second guess what they are thinking. If you are a fan of catty women bullying each other and revenge, then you should check this one out.

Super fun & fast paced Mean girls / Gossip girl type revenge thriller on a tropical island. It was super entertaining but I kept wanting things to pick up in the middle. I really enjoyed how the secrets were unfolded and how each character felt so different. The big reveal at the end was a little predictable but it was a fun read nonetheless. I'm actually really interested in reading more from this author!
Thank you netgalley &sian gilbert for providing me an ARC for my honest opinion.

A weekend with friends , the perfect getaway . This was a nail biting, gripping, intriguing read, the secrets and surprises were mind-blowing. A great Suspense.

What a wild ride of a book. I loved the fact that this was a revenge story. A lot of characters (too many for my liking), with different time lines - it was a lot to take in. But it was entertaining, and crazy, and the end - predictable. But over all a fun book to enjoy on a beach.
TW: Bullying, murder.

This book was fun! I loved the setting and the atmospheric writing, plus I'm a sucker for fucked up female friendships! I did see the main plot twist of the book coming from about a quarter of the way in, but it still managed to be a fun summer thriller. I'll pick up more from this author!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of She Started It by Sian Gilbert in exchange for my honest review and opinion. WOW just WOW ! This book has eveything I love in a psychological thriller! I love that it gripped me from the first page and kept me gasping with all the crazy twists and turns that just kept coming. You will absolutely love this and I recommend that you read this the first chance you get.

If you love locked in thrillers with a beach setting and women with secrets this one is for you. A destination bridal party paid for by someone that the girls were not nice to should have been a red flag. Of course they went anyways. It was a fast read with many twists. One women is looking for revenge.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.