I wanted so badly for this to be a winner. It’s been one of my more highly anticipated summer releases. Unfortunately, it just didn’t do it for me. The characters were all extremely unlikeable. At first it felt intentionally over the top and I thought the writing would tighten up and it would serve a purpose. But no, these women are just that bad and the writing is just the writing. Extra, pointless details were simply that and the awkward internal monologues continued. And then there are the flashback diary entries. They gave a clear history of Poppy, but there is almost nothing I hate more than diary entries that contain dialogue because ain’t nobody writing in full blown conversations in their diary. The one thing I hate more is when the bad guy at the end does a Scooby Doo style explanation of what they’ve been up to. So it was a double whammy. All in all, I wanted to keep reading to find out if all of my predictions were correct (they were) but I am so very sad to say that I wouldn’t recommend this one to others now that I’ve made it to the end.

My jaw is on the floor after reading this!! Kudos to the author, I can’t believe this a debut novel. This book had me gripped right from the beginning, I finished it in a few hours because I honestly couldn’t put it down.

This is a revenge thriller, and it is so damn SATISFYING. The women in this book were truly despicable, disgusting humans, and I was rooting for their demise from the beginning. The author did a fantastic job of writing characters that were so horrible that I viscerally felt true hatred towards them. I initially was going to give it four stars because I thought I figured out part of the ending, but nope, this book had me fooled. This can’t be anything less than five stars because the way the story played out was absolutely glorious.

Best friends Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe have been invited to a private island in the Bahamas for a bachelorette party. They haven't spoken to Poppy Greer for 10 years since they finished high school and so they find the invitation a bit odd. Poppy's instagram shows she isn't the girl she used to be in high school. The friends are curious so they decide to accept the invitation. Little did they know what was in store for them on this remote island.

The story is told from each of the character's perspectives. The characters all have their own secrets and are fairly easy to keep track of. The story gives many direct hints and the ending was predictable for me. I usually prefer a giant twist at the end that completely throws me for a loop. This book just didn't have it. Still a fun read and I enjoyed the setting a lot.

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Suspend belief all ye who turn these pages! Once that is accomplished, prepare to be transfixed as you sit on the edge of your seat turning pages and trying to guess what will happen next.

Four women - Chloe, Annibel, Esther, and Tanya - each receive invitations to an all-expenses paid bridal party. Their first class airfare is covered as well. What is puzzling, however, is that Poppy, the bride, is someone that none of them has seen for ten years. Why would she invite them, especially considering their history.

The novel is told from alternating points of view and in both the present and past. It seems that the four guests were a clique in high school and their primary way of having fun was teasing and bullying Poppy. They wonder if Poppy still remembers and that perhaps she wants revenge. They talk it out among themselves and put that thought aside. Poppy is now a highly regarded physician and artist. Why would she focus on old taunts?

The vacation is on an isolated island in the Caribbean. The locale is stunningly beautiful and isolated. The women are wowed. Poppy looks different to them; she is no longer the chubby, awkward girl she once was. She now emanates gravitas and self-assuredness, along with beauty.

What the four women have in common is their shallowness and materialism. None of them appear to have any depth or social conscience. Annibel is a stay-at-home wife with a good looking husband who makes her live on a tight budget. Despite this, she wears expensive designer outfits. Tanya makes her living by setting up parties and entertainment for the rich. Lately, her business has slowed down. Esther has a job in finance, having attained it with the help of her mother who got her an interview with the firm. Chloe is an influencer on social media. She has close to a million followers and is hoping to reach one million shortly. Poppy, on the other hand, has a strong social conscience and volunteers for charitable organizations.

The four women don't know whether to apologize to Poppy for their past actions or act like nothing ever happened. The ball, however, is not in their court. Poppy has her own agenda and it is chilling. The first thing she does is take away their phones. She then finds ways to humiliate each of them through truth and dare and a scavenger hunt that has an underlying meaning, one that is dark and frightening.

I won't say anymore about this novel except that it is chilling to the core. Not only does Poppy remember what happened to her at their hands, she won't let them forget what they did to her.

I don't recommend starting this book in the evening because it's the kind of page turner that might keep you up all night. It is that riveting.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishers for an Advance Reading Copy of this novel.

What a ride! I was pulled in from the very beginning and could not put this down. The concept of an all-expenses-paid, five-star bachelorette party…celebrating someone you bullied? I would have so many questions, but can’t say I wouldn’t get on that jet too.

I loved both the multiple points of view from each woman, none of whom have grown up to live the lives they envisioned, and the diary entries from Poppy. Those simultaneously broke my heart and fed into her desire for revenge. The twist was alluded to on the boat ride to the island, but I chalked up the innocent comment to a misunderstanding on a character's part. Ain't no misunderstandings here. Everything means something. The alternating POV’s and parallel timelines worked well. The twist at the end wasn’t completely unexpected, but it worked! And it was brilliant, and completely satisfying.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this early copy that publishes June 13, 2023. Guaranteed to be a sizzling summer blockbuster!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sian Gilbert & William Morrow for an arc of She Started It in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

This story follows childhood friends Annabel, Esther, Tanya and Chloe who all, out of the blue, receive an invitation to a super posh bachelorette party for another former friend, Poppy, who was kind of the outsider of the friend group, but now she seems to be more well off than all the others. Even though the ladies have not spoken to Poppy in years, they can’t refuse the invitation to an extravagant and relaxing vacation on a remote island. The are just a couple teensy little issues that they discover upon arriving – the location is way more remote than they anticipated with zero cell service and literally no one else was invited. It’s about to get ugly real quick!

With a quickly approaching release date of June 13, 2023, you definitely want to add this twisty girl fight of a thriller to your TBR.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I could not stop swiping the pages and couldn’t read fast enough. This debut was PHENOMENAL. Whoever said Karma is a bitch was 100% right. Revenge is oh so sweet in this twisty, non-stop rollercoaster of a ride.

Sian Gilbert nailed it with her debut and I am absolutely signing up for anything else she writes. The book actually lived up to the description and was not a let down AT ALL. Pacing √ Character Development √ Unpredictable Twists √ Writing Style √ Complete & Total Perfection √√√

One of my favorite thrillers so far this year!

5/5 Stars

This would make a solid beach or airplane read, and I know it will be a popular summer pick. While it was well-written and I was invested in reading to the end, this was a good/fine read for me and not one I loved. The bullying depictions and the later kill scenes are very graphic and hard to read. All of the characters are highly unlikeable and one-dimensional. It was tautly written, however, and has a compelling premise. Overall, I think most readers will enjoy this one more than I did.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my complimentary digital copy.

Four throughly unlikable women go to an island retreat for the hen party of the woman they bullied in school ten years ago. What could possibly go wrong? The problem for me was that the women are so self absorbed, selfish and shallow that they became interchangeable and I really couldn’t tell them apart and didn’t care about them at all. All have sob stories that they feel are significant and excuse their bullying as pranks. Poppy, the bride to be disagrees and plans a weekend of revelations. I wanted to kill them myself and contemplated a quick flight over to hurry the ending of the novel.

A book about a bachelorette party gone wrong on a private island in the Bahamas? Umm, yes please! You do not want to miss out on this debut novel by Sian Gilbert. Fans of Liane Moriarty and Lucy Foley will love this book.

“She Started It” is an exciting thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Annabel, Chloe, Tanya, and Esther have been best friends since childhood but have drifted apart as adults. One day they are all unexpectedly invited to an all-expenses-paid bachelorette party for one of their former schoolmates, Poppy Greer. It has been 10 years since any of them have seen or spoken to Poppy, but who can resist a free vacation in the Caribbean? Three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation should have been a dream-come-true, but as dark secrets emerge, the dream turns into a nightmare.

This was, hands-down, one of the best books I have read all year. I could not put it down and read the entire novel in one sitting. Just when I thought I had figured it all out, there was another shocking twist. What an incredible debut novel. I cannot wait to see what Sian Gilbert does next!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“She Started It,” is going to be the perfect summer beach read! Told from the perspectives of friends, and mean girls, Anabelle, Tanya, Chloe, and Esther, I was hooked from page one.

These friends, or should I say frenemies, are so in their own world, they decide to go on an all expense paid vacation from not only a woman they haven’t seen in ten years, but a woman they used to bully! Bad decision right? It’s no surprise to the reader when Poppy, the woman they used to bully, has more sinister plans for their dream getaway.

I enjoyed the twist and turns of this story and it’s fast pace. I’ve also been longing for a beach vacay, so I loved escaping to this remote island in my mind! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This review will appear on episode 13 of the podcast which drops on June 19th. The review will also appear on the website that same day. (I attached a link, though it won't be "live" until 6/19) Below is the text from the podcast script:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I love books with questionable characters, and this book is filled with them, and while I’d figured out the twist very early in the book, it was still a fun ride - and I loved the ending.

The book is told from the first person points of view of Annabel, Esther, Tanya and Chloe - former BFFs and the high school mean girls - and then spattered amongst these points of view we get high school diary entries from Pappy - the poor soul these four bitches relentlessly bullied.

10-years after they graduated from high school, Annabel, Esther, Tanya and Chloe are still friends. (There are very loose quotes around the word friends.) They care about one another about as much as any vapid, self-absorbed person cares about anyone other than themselves. Much to their surprise, they each receive an invitation to be one of Poppy’s bridesmaids during her upcoming nuptials which means she wants to treat them to an all-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas for her “hen party” (the UK equivalent of a bachelorette party). They haven’t seen Poppy since high school, but for some reason agree to do this. After reading the book, I am certain that I would have tossed the invite and pretended that I didn’t get it simply because of the shame I would have felt over what I’d done to this poor girl. I realize, though, that I am thinking what *I* would do as me - not what I would do if I were an entitled white woman. While some of them see this as a chance to apologize to Poppy, others feel like Poppy has surely forgiven them for what they did to her, otherwise she wouldn’t have invited them on this trip, so they wipe away whatever smidge of guilt might be tickling their conscience and accept the invitation.

When they arrive at the secluded island and meet Poppy, they’re surprised at how good she looks - nothing like the nerdy Poppy they remember from high school. They’re also surprised to learn that she put aside her love of art and pursued a career in medicine. She looks great; she seems friendly - happy to see them even - and right after she takes their phones and locks them away because - as she tells them - she wants them to disconnect and enjoy the weekend (sure she does) the wine begins to flow. 

But wouldn’t you know it, Poppy hasn’t forgotten so easily and it’s not long before old wounds are opened up and dirty secrets that all the women thought they’d hidden away surface, and eventually everyone is at each other’s throat. And then someone disappears, leaving nothing more than a pool of blood in their bungalow, and then another person ends up dead. Is one of them the killer, or did someone follow them to the island to pick them off one by one?

It’s probably no surprise that I figured this one out pretty early on - figuring out the twists in books is like my super power - so the big shocker at the end was nothing more than a confirmation that I had it right all along. So while there was really no big twist for me, this was still a really fun read! I absolutely hated everyone in the book except for Poppy, and the further along I went, the more I hated the “core four” and wanted to give Poppy a big hug and tell her she would be okay. I love a good book about revenge, and this one serves the revenge with a capital R. I really liked how it all played out, and the ending couldn’t have been more perfect.

My first read by this author and I was very pleased and pleasantly surprised! Four girlfriends are invited to an island holiday to celebrate the wedding of an old, somewhat friend. So many twists and turns to figure out!! Every time I feel I have it figured out, another turn and no I do not! The character development is amazing! I cannot wait to read more from this author!
Thank you Scene of the Crime and Harper Collins for the advanced copy!!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for giving me an advanced copy of this book!

This was a very fun revenge story. I think Gilbert nailed the main characters - as more details of what had happened in school with Poppy came out, it became wilder and wilder that they would think they did nothing wrong and should, in fact, fly to a remote island in the Bahamas to be part of her bridal party, but it worked because they were so blindingly not self-aware. It had a similar vibe to the second Knives Out movie with the beachy location and unraveling of the secrets that could destroy the lives of the main characters, and I found it to be a fast and enjoyable read.

Unfortunately this one was a miss for me and if it had contained trigger warnings, it is a book I would not have requested due to subject matter involved.

I liked this overall. I was surprised by how quickly what I had assumed was going to be the finale occurred in the book, but otherwise thought it was pretty predictable. Maybe it’s just because this is the third thriller this year alone that has had the same “twist” so I saw it coming, but even outside of the main surprise everything else felt a bit on the nose. It was genuinely enjoyable though and despite having an idea of what would happen next I had a good time seeing it out.

Four old friends are invited to a private island in the Bahamas for a bridal shower ("hen party"). They sadistically bullied the bride/hostess in high school, and haven't heard from or thought of her since. Her sudden offer of a free, luxury vacation rings only very faint alarm bells for the self-absorbed foursome. Excerpts from the bride's high school diary recount how she was once humilated by her guests, while in the present she toys with them, referring to those past incidents and pushing each of them-- fueled by fancy alcohol-- to reveal her own, devastating secrets. A murder without a body, betrayals revealed, suspicions harbored, and tricksy clues keep the reader guessing and the story moving along. An entertaining whodunit and portrait of narcissism to boot.

What a wild ride for a debut novel ! So many twists and turns in this one. I was able to finish this very quickly as it was so hard to put down. The 4 mean girls are easy to hate from the start. Poor Poppy never stood a chance. A few trigger warnings for suicide, bullying, self harm. A solid 4.5 read ! Highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley and Willam Morrow Publishing for the Arc in exchange for my honest opinion

Unpopular opinion has entered the chat. I wanted to like this book. I really did and I tried. I'll start off by saying I was surprised that this was a debut novel because I do think it's fairly well written, has a good premise, and a great setting. Those three things each earn a star from me. Here's the problem. If you are going to write a book where every character is horrible, you have to find some way to inject a tiny bit of empathy, or even just relatability somewhere. It can be done, but this book didn't do that. Everyone was over-the-top awful and apparently they'd always been that way. It left me feeling uncomfortable and not caring about any of them. Thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for this ARC.

An awesome locked room thriller! Four old school friends receive invitations to be bridesmaids and to an all expense paid trip to an exclusive private island for the hen party of a gal they went to school with. Their concern? The bride is the gal they bullied mercilessly during their school years. They decide to go and bury the hatchet, so to speak. What could go wrong?
Such a great story and, although I guessed the twist pretty early on, a super fun read! Rich, unlikeable characters, short chapters and a storyline told from multiple POV make this a quick read and highly addicting.

Who could turn down an all-expenses-paid tropical vaca?

Annabel, Chloe, Tanya, & Esther definitely should have said “no, thanks” when they received the invitation to Poppy’s bachelorette party, but they couldn’t help themselves. They were curious about how Poppy turned out; after all, it had been a decade since they were all together in school. But once they get to the island, they realize they’ve gotten into much more than they signed on for as secrets from the past & present come to light.

I will say that some of the diary entries from Poppy a decade before the bachelorette party can be disturbing to read: the bullying from these “mean girls” was excessive, & the eventual revenge was meted out mercilessly. The different POVs were crazy to read, giving you a glimpse into each of the women’s minds, & the island setting was perfect.

Thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.