Holy snap! What a roller coaster ride! So many twists and turns that kept me wanting more! Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke once again proved lthey are an amazing duo! Love the characters! Outstanding!

Natalie, Ashley and Lauren are in Tulum Mexico to mend their estranged friendship. Ashley has booked a beautiful resort in Tulum Mexico to help them do just that! On the last night, the unthinkable happens after arguing over past issues and drinking, one of them disappears. The remaining woman have to try and put their differences aside and find their friend. A beautiful story of friendship, secrets and resentment. Will their issues get resolved or just create more deceit?

I would like to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read this. ARC. I would also like to thank my husband for cooking dinner, keeping all the door knocks away from me! I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait for the next one. These ladies are awesome 💕💕💕

3 best friends, or are they?! ... Do you know who your friends are? What they are capable of? The lengths and limits they would go to?

Gripping, intense, thrilling and shocking! This book was amazing! Just when you think you have it all figured out, think you know all the answers, you learn more... piece by piece leaving you not sure of anything at all.

I enjoyed how this book was written from 3 points of view, one for each of the main characters in the book - Ashley, Lauren and Natalie. Read as the story unfolds, from the point of view of one woman at a time, as the story is told bit by bit and jumps back and forth in time - from the day after, to a few days after, to a few days before and even the same day in question. I love how it was written this way.

Even to the very last page this book had be reading late into the night, as I put all the pieces together to solve the final puzzle.

A great read if you love intense thrillers! This is a great book for you!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher Lake Union Publishing for an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Girls Night Out had me hooked from the first sentence and I am deeply looking forward to reading The Good Widow, the debut novel by Lisa Steinke and Liz Fenton. The authors skillfully weave threads of fraught tension and immediate danger into the narrative of a long-standing friendship between three women successfully using multiple point of views and two timelines. Readers are taken on a journey to a mystical part of Mexico beyond the tourist beaches and margaritas. The intriguing setting provides a fascinating backdrop to the machinations of the three women as they ostensibly seek to repair the years of slights and failings that have occurred between them, while avidly pursuing their own self interests. Each woman has a different axe to grind and a different secret to hide. Not all will succeed and no one will escape unscathed. Warning: this book will give you blisters from turning the pages too quickly, especially as it reaches its shocking climax.

Three long-term friends decide to go on a trip to Mexico in hopes that they can mend their differences and reconnect. Their vacation does not turn out like they planned. Instead of reconciliation, they discover that each of them is hiding a secret and one of them goes missing.
This story is told from the point of view of all 3 friends, Lauren, Ashley, and Natalie. The   story slowly reveals each of the women's secrets and insecurities as it unravels the mystery of what happened in Mexico.
Girls Night Out is a good mystery and an excellent story about friendship. Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union publishers for this advanced copy.  The opinions are my own.

Girls’ Night Out is a perfect summer thriller. I loved reading this story told from the perspectives of Natalie, Laurel, and Ashley as the mystery unfolds. I was very impressed with how the authors managed to convey the complexities of female friendships in a way we can all relate. None of the three ladies were perfect. All three had redeeming qualities and serious flaws. That was very realistic. Two of the three were ambitious career women who juggled that with family life and friendship. All were strong women who also had big weaknesses. Again, very relatable. The plot line I had the most problem with was the conflict between Laurel and Ashley. I had a hard time believing that one, but every other situation seemed plausible.
I couldn’t help but compare this book to The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll which I just read a couple months ago. To me, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke did a MUCH better job portraying the quagmire of women and their emotions and relationships, balancing strengths and weaknesses. The characters seemed real and I cared about them and was turning pages quickly to find out what had happened. I enjoyed this writing duo’s last thriller, The Good Widow, but in my humble opinion, they have surpassed it with Girls’ Night Out.

Thank you Lake Union, NetGalley and Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke for the opportunity to read this fun book early!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a free, electronic ARC of this novel.
In a desperate attempt to rekindle their dying friendship, Natalie, Lauren and Ashley take a vacation to Tulum, Mexico, a resort town known for its restorative properties. When Ashley goes missing after a girl’s night out, Lauren and Natalie must try and recover their foggy, alcohol-infused memories, as well as come to terms with their own secrets and feelings, and try to discover what happened to Ashley. Did she run away from her life, as she often talked about? Was she kidnapped by the handsome tour guide, Marco? Or, what’s worse, could Lauren or Natalie have been responsible?
Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, authors of “The Good Widow”, return with “Girls’ Night Out”. The novel, identified as psychological suspense, starts off very slow. In fact, I almost DNF’ed it before I reached the halfway point. Lauren, Natalie and Ashley are grown women who abandon their husbands and families to travel to a resort in Mexico to try and rekindle a friendship that should have been dissolved years ago. Ashley is a completely unlikable character, she is completely selfish, shallow and self-centred and without Lauren and Natalie, she has absolutely no appealing characteristics.
The story is told from all three of the characters’ perspectives, both before Ashley disappears and after. The alternating timelines help build up the plot, and are relatively easy to follow.
It wasn’t until more than halfway through this novel when I actually became engaged in it. The shallow drama between the three women was boring and pedantic, and it wasn’t until Ashley went missing that the story began to draw me in. After the halfway point, I found this novel difficult to put down. I wonder how the authors “co-wrote”. Did one author write the first half and the other the second? Or did they alternate chapters? The novel seemed to be written in two completely separate writing styles.
The ending was satisfying and, although not entirely unpredictable, it brought the novel to a just conclusion.
Initially, I would have given this novel a high three-star rating, but due to the fast-paced, entertaining ending, “Girls’ Night Out” gets a four-star. That being said, I am absolutely desperate for a really good, five-star, pulse-pounding, thought-provoking read. Let’s hope my next read brings me what I seek.

A beautiful, haunting story of friendship and what happens when that friendship is put to the test. A must-read for women of all ages!!!

Girls’ Night Out by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke is a gripping tale of friendship and the cracks that form over time. This book reminds me a bit of what makes Liane Moriarty successful—it’s a deep character study of women and their lives both separate to and in relation to one another, and with a dash of suspense. Readers will find themselves turning the pages, wanting to find out the hidden secrets of these three women that will answer the question, what happened to their friendship??

From the outside Ashley has everything a girl could want—a handsome husband, two lovely daughters, a successful business, a 7,000 square-foot home in California, stunning good looks, and a magnetic personality. But these things that Ashley has that make her enviable also make it hard for her to connect with even those she loves most. Since college Ashley has been best friends with Lauren and Natalie. Now that they are turning 40, the cracks have formed in their friendship. Desperate to save them, Ashley invites her friends on a girls’ trip to Tulum—to reconnect and hopefully say the things they’ve been unable to say for so long.

Natalie is Ashley’s best friend and business partner. It was Natalie’s idea to create the BlowBrush—a combination brush and blow dryer with a patented battery that makes the hair styling process easy for all women. But it was Ashley that used her charms to get the BlowBrush as successful as it is. Now with a huge offer from Revlon to purchase their company, Natalie is ready to get out. The only problem is convincing Ashley to do the same. This argument has caused a divide between the two women, but Natalie is not telling Ashley the real reason she wants to sell the company—the secret she has been keeping from the world. Natalie agrees to the girls’ trip thinking it may give her an opportunity to convince Ashley to sell, but will she be able to tell Ashley the truth?

Lauren is the third friend, the one who feels the most like the third wheel. She isn’t in business with Ashley and Natalie, and she isn’t sure she really has a friendship with Natalie outside of Ashley. Lauren is recently widowed and dealing with her own demons. And something happened between Lauren and Ashley a year ago that has caused them to stop speaking altogether. But Lauren wants to try to reconnect; she wants to try to forgive Ashley. But that may also mean forgiving herself, and facing some darkness she has held onto that she would rather avoid.

The trip is meant to reestablish their friendship—but the reality is, that the secrets they keep and the pain that each other has caused may be difficult to repair. The trip isn’t going at all as planned. And then one night Ashley goes missing, and the torment between the three women is suddenly forgotten… Where is Ashley???

Every woman knows what it is like to feel like the third wheel in a group of three. What’s interesting about the way Liz and Lisa wrote this book is that at times, all three of these women are convinced they are the one left out—the one that is not connecting as well. The authors write masterfully the way our own neuroses contribute to this disconnect. When we should be relaxing and letting people in, we get in our heads about feeling left out, and this increases the space between us.

As the book unfolds, you’ll be convinced you know who the problem is. You’ll see the story told from each woman’s perspective. What I love, though, is that the further in you get, the more you realize that each of them has contributed in equal parts to the situation they are in now. Sometimes its easy to see the other people as at fault, but there are things all of us do to alienate others. Getting over our own demons is needed to be able to not only forgive others, but ask them to forgive us as well. Forgiveness may be the most important theme of this novel, followed closely by secrets. We all have things we are too afraid for others to know. And sometimes revealing those things to the ones closest to us is the hardest thing of all.

Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, and to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this book in advance of publication in exchange for an honest review.

Not really my sort of book. None of the three protagonists were at all likeable or engaging and had terrible friendship values (!) and the plot was not believable, nor the suspense very suspenseful. Having recently spent some time in the area of Mexico in which the book was set, including snorkeling in the cenotes, I was disappointed that the magic of the setting didn't come through. Having said all that it may appeal to younger women as a light holiday read.

Wow. What a ride of a story. This is my first book by these authors. This is a story of three longtime friends who travel to Tulum, Mexico together to try to mend their friendship. I found that the second half of the book picked up speed and I read the last 40% in one day because I had to know what happened.

I received an ARC. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

Such a great read! The ending wasn't what i was expecting..very good.
Been to Mexico many times with girlfriends.. so much can happen there.. :-)


Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an early release of this book

I enjoyed this book and wouldn't have known it was two authors as the writing felt coherent. I enjoyed learning about the relationships between the different characters. and how their relationships had changed over the years.. I enjoyed the ending as it kept me guessing. Overall, an easy enjoyable read.

Not really my cup of tea, but it did keep you guessing. The three friends, and their constant repetitive fighting got old fast, and was redundant. They were three grown women, yet their behavior was very high school.

Three (formerly) best friends go on a luxury vacation to Mexico to rest, relax, and repair their relationships. Only two come home. What happened to the third friend? That’s what we try to figure out as we read the story of how these women went from being supportive, life-long friends, to two of them becoming suspects of the third’s disappearance. Through flashbacks, we see how the friendships begin to fracture, with each of the women keeping their own secrets from the others. I think this book would make a fantastic movie or limited series, with the descriptions of the women, clothing, resort, and all of the fantastic sights. Unfortunately, all of those descriptions made me want to rush through the book to understand what happened, and I simply didn’t get to enjoy it as much. I wanted to skim through some of the repetitive arguments and simply cut to the chase. And the end, the small twist? It does pay off---I just wish it hadn’t been such a journey to get there.

The complexities of female friendship are front and center in Fenton and Steinke's newest. Ashley, Natalie and Lauren had been fast friends until a year ago, when Lauren's husband died and Lauren blamed Ashley for his death. Now the three are trying to reconcile by taking a Mexican vacation together. But one morning Natalie wakes up on the beach with no memory of the night before and even worse, Ashley is missing. The story is told from each woman's point of view, jumping between before the night Ashley disappeared to the day after. GIRL'S NIGHT OUT is well written and engaging but all three of the women were annoying and Ashley's personality did not seem to support the description of her relationship with her husband and the absurdity of Lauren blaming Ashley for her husband's death didn't ring true.. GIRL'S NIGHT OUT sucked me in and I kept reading to find out what had happened to Ashley, but I would never want to be friends with any of these women. Sheesh!

Fascinating read. Would recommend to someone looking for a book to escape into. Loved it! Definitely a page turner.

Three friends, two of which are business partners have been close friends for many, many years. Their friendship has fallen on hard times. They decide to go to Tulum, Mexico to revive their friendship. We’ve all heard harrowing stories of things that can happen in Mexico, kidnappings, murders and missing individuals. This is one of those harrowing stories. Sometimes slow it does keep you wondering what if anything will happen to these woman and if they can put their friendships back together.

For any woman who has ever had a girlfriend. . .
Three long-time girlfriends embark on a "girls trip" to Mexico. They get together the last night for a girls' night Out--only something goes horribly wrong. Lauren carries guilt over leaving the party early, Natalie can't remember what happened, and Ashley is missing! Lauren and Natalie embark on a quest to discover what happened to Ashley while re-examining their feelings about what it means to be a friend. When does disagreeing go too far. This book is for any woman who has ever had a love/hate relationship with a girlfriend. As I read it I thought about the petty argument I had last week with my girlfriend. I felt myself laughing, crying, and feeling the same remorse and regret that Natalie and Lauren share over words that should have never been spoken. What happens to Ashley leaves the reader on a journey to discover not only what happened to Ashley; but what will happen to the two remaining friends. Thought provoking, very real, a great summer read.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for the free review copy of this novel. All opinions are my own. 

This will be a perfect beach read for this summer. What's more fun than a reconciliation trip to Mexico that goes horribly wrong for a summer read? I flew through this book in a few hours. I had to know what happened to Ashely.

I love the way Liz and Lisa build the plot slowly through gaps in memory. They know how to build anticipation that keeps the reader wanting to read just one more chapter. I also enjoyed the realness in this story due to the fractions in the friendship. They didn't try to make everything perfect, which helped keep me wanting to read more.

Grls Night Out definetly keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire book. If you have a best friend that you have known 10+ yrs as most of us do then this is the book for you. Natalie, Lauren, and Ashley have all been best friends 20+ yrs and they go on a girl's vacay hoping they can all reconnect. Like with everyone life happens and they've drifted apart in ways. None of them expect what happens when one of them go missing. This book wilk definitely make you think about your own personal friendships and make you want to call your best friend even if just to say i love you. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the oppurtunity to read this book. I will highly recommend this book.

Girls' night out follows Ashley, Lauren and Natalie on their trip to Tulun mexico. The girls, best friends for over 20 years, have had a rough couple of years and their friendship is in desperate need of new- good energie. When they meet a local man, Ashley seems to be glued to his side; instead of rebuilding their friendship. And then, after a very eventful night.. Where is Ashley?

The girls in this book all have their own problems; one is grieving over the loss of her husband, one is afraid she'll lose everything and is holding onto everything for dear life, and the other.. she just needs to get the other let go, in order to get what she really needs.. A fresh start.
The main characters are built well, they all seem to revolve around Ashley and she doesn't seem to mind that at all. When it's time to let go of that.. Alpha-girl thing, Lauren and Natalie first seem a little lost, but pick themselves up wonderfully. Because of that, the struggle to be their own person - so to say- it made all of the events in this book a lot more interesting. It felt super real and I could really connect with the girls.