What a delightful vacation to the Mediterranean...complete with murder! I spent the afternoon wishing I was on vacation with them, while being thankful I was not. Most of the characters are not very likable but play their roles exceedingly well, which would easily lend itself to a movie. I did fall in love with Eric! Belle is invited to go on a dream vacation on the Mediterranean with her friend, Summer, whom she is no longer close to, along with Summer’s mother and sister, and several other friends. They are going with Summer’s new “sugar daddy”. Immediately John enforces his rules and restrictions and the fun is over. The story is told on a back and forth timeline, creating the back story as it charges ahead to the conclusion, which wasn’t as much of a surprise as I thought it might be. Great thriller to read and so engaging I read it in one sitting. This is a great read for those of us who are still sheltering in place but dreaming of a yacht in the Mediterranean! Many thanks to Katherine St. John, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an ARC of this engaging read, to be published on June 30th.

What looks like a fun, light-hearted, and incredibly glamorous girls' getaway on a yacht in the Mediterranean takes a dark turn. Belle, the main character, hasn't seen Summer for awhile, but now that Summer is trying to get her very rich boyfriend to marry her, she invites a group of her besties on this very special birthday trip. At first, everything is great, but little by little we see some creepy things -- why, for example, are the women locked in their cabins every night? Great, great beach read!

I’d read two books in a row that I had to force myself through, so I was looking for something that would really pull me in, and this one percent succeeded.

The tone at first seems like we’re reading a fun story of a week on a yacht with Belle’s wealthy friend. Well, Summer isn’t wealthy, but her 63 year-old-boyfriend is. Belle is a semi-successful actress who sometimes still needs to pull shifts bartending to make it. She met Summer in high school and they both met Wendy in college. There’s Claire, Wendy’s pretty, quiet, completely nonthreatening-to-take-the-focus off Summer friend. Summer’s drunken mother who is on her fourth rich husband and Summer’s sister, who is as pretty as Summer, but painfully dumb, and Brittani’s friend, Amythest make up party of women John is taking to the French Riviera. Sounds fun, but the women quickly learn that everything they do will be dictated by John and Summer. They won’t have access to Wifi and are required to sign nondisclosure agreements. If they do ever get to take pictures, everything will be approved by John’s bodyguard/goons before it can be posted to social media.

It doesn’t take long to figure out that Summer has become a truly horrible friend and human being, but, through flashbacks, we begin to suspect she does more than lie and need the attention on herself at all times. In most mysteries of this kind, the tone is threatening and dark. This seems like a story about women who are beautiful and enjoy fashion, but it gets very suspenseful at points. Most important, I liked Belle. She’s nice without being so nice you’d want to puke.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JUNE 30, 2020.

The story has a strong message specifically on betrayal and friendship; How far someone will go to get what they want, the stakes they’re willing to risk, the emotions they are eager to ignore, and lives they’re ready to sacrifice. It is horrible. Belle’s character is familiar, struggling to live life comfortably each day and a good friend. All the characters are well-developed and gave me mixed emotions; do I like him, or do I hate her? The places they visited were described where I could visualize being there myself. It is beautiful. This story is gripping and a real page-turner. It is also twisted and intriguing. I love that it goes back and forth between past and present to give the characters and set of events a more substantial background. Besides, I find it always entertaining to read about people who changed and be ridiculous because of money. I love it.

This turned out to be more that just a “beach read”. In the beginning, the story felt like shallow chic lit. Then midway it took a turn and became much more interesting. The second half is a page turner and kept me reading well into the early morning hours.
Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley.

This is pure summertime fluff, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s compulsive in a trashy, tawdry way. If you’re looking for an escape than this book will provide the perfect getaway.

Summer & Belle were once BFF back in high school, before junior year when Summer moves away. Years later the girls reconnect in LA & they instantly fall back into their friendship. However, time has harden Summer leaving Belle disenchanted with her once best friend. When Summer invites Belle to join her on a luxury yacht of her much older boyfriend, to celebrate her birthday, Belle can’t find a reason to let this opportunity pass her by.
Before Belle even boards the private jet that will whisk Belle and the rest of the party crew to France the cracks & fissures begin to appear.

Belle quickly realizes that this dream vacation is a nightmare from hell. Summer’s powerful boyfriend will control all aspects of her movements both on and off the yacht. John dictates what the guests wear, eat, sleep and their ability to communicate with those not on the ship.
There’s scheming, backstabbing and a possible murderer at play.

The last third of the book really becomes a page turner and that’s when this book finally cruises into choppy waters making for thrills and high sea adventures. I enjoyed this book more than I initially thought I would. It’s a perfect summertime escape, best read with a frozen Limoncello.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this fun fueled novel. All opinions are my own.

The ultimate summer beach read!

Between the juicy plot, yacht-in-Europe setting, and alternating time periods, The Lion’s Den was completely binge-worthy!

I really enjoyed the complex female friendships (or should I say frenemieships?), and Summer was so evil, I just couldn’t wait to see what bitchy comment she would make next!

Amazing such a great summer read! Highly recommend. Looking forward to reading the final copy. Cover art is amazing too

WOW!!! Seriously all I can say is wow... this was one of the best books I have read all year. The characters were beyond amazing and the storyline was TOO GOOD. I mean I could not stop reading. Truly bravo!!

Awful social climbers in a yacht and the week long adventure ensures.
Thanks to NetGallery for this digital ARC.

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Belle and Summer have been best friends since high school, and now in their late twenties, Belle is a struggling actress while Summer has found herself a 63 year old sugar daddy. To celebrate Summer’s birthday, she invites several friends to celebrate on her boyfriend’s yacht in the Mediterranean. But as it turns out, the trip is no vacation for Belle. Summer is making the holiday hell, and something isn’t quite right with their pleasure cruise.
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Okay, while there were bits of ridiculousness to this book, I loved it. It was truly the fun novel I needed right now. I enjoyed the writing, the characters (some absolutely terrible) and the ending was so satisfying. I’ve been wanting to read this since it arrived in my mail a couple of months ago, and yesterday was the day (yes, I sat and read the entire thing, Diet Coke in hand). Congratulations @thekatstjohn on a debut that is summer perfection. •
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I have to admit I didn’t even read the description of this book before I requested to read it. I had heard so many people loved this book and to read it ASAP and man am I glad I did. I felt like I was collecting puzzle pieces putting them together as the story went on. Each flash book you learn more about Belle, Summer, and their shared history. I was rooting for Belle the minute I learned her back story, she is an easily relatable person who anyone would connect with. I am so sad about Amythest and would love if there would be a book about her or the other girls who went on Summers birthday trip to France. I had expected this book to be a romance from the cover or a light beach read but to my surprise it was so much more. Their was mystery, suspense, love, heartbreak, and lots of deception. I loved the details put into this book to build an amazing attention gripping story. I think Summer was a monster but one that hides in plain sight who gets ahold of even the sweetest people and knows the chaos they cause. I will be checking out all of Katherine St. John’s other books!

I anticipated that this would be a romp with snarky, vainglorious, social climbing villains! And it was, fabulously so, but it is so much more. Six are invited on a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate their gold digger friends birthday. It turns out to be a tightly controlled ego trip. The gold diggers much, much older billionaires boyfriend controls everything with an iron fist. Without giving too much away as that spoils the fun, there are gobs of twists, turns and surprises that turn this romp into an excellent thriller. Lots of things you didn’t see coming as well as some that are alluded too. Excellent read, it took a little while to immerse but once you’re in, you’re in! Thank you to Netgalley for this opportunity.

Are we ready for the weekend?! I am! I may not be spending my weekend drinking bubbly on a yacht in the Riviera 😒 but it'll do.
𝗚𝘂𝘆𝘀. 𝖨 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 this book! I want to erase my memory and read it again. It's an absolutely perfect beach read. I was drawn into it like a guilty pleasure, disgusted by the exorbitant excess of the super duper rich. Throw in an alternating timeline (😁), a few catty bitches, and a couple murders...I'm hooked.
Isabelle and Summer have been bffs forever. A week on Summer's rich boyfriend's yacht with a gaggle of their friends is supposed to be spent lounging and shopping. Instead, cabins are locked at night and mysterious conversations are overheard. Will Belle and her friends ever make it off that boat?

I included this title in a recent write-up and will provide details directly to the publisher in the next round of this process.

This was the perfect beach read. I enjoyed every minute, particularly getting to enjoy the luxurious sins of these characters. Its a sexy, steamy read, perfect for the current times. This was the perfect getaway from reality.

This is a solid debut novel with strong writing, it was gripping and a page turner that I kept flipping through because I wanted to find out what happened between the main character Belle, her "best friend" Summer and Summer's ex Eric....but the problems with the book are that it's full of vapid unlikable characters that you don't root for whatsoever....and it's told in alternating order from present day 1 to 10 years ago to day 2 to 2 years ago to day 3 to one year ago...and so on....and it got a little irritating to me.....However the last 70 pages of the book were really strong and had a wicked end that I didn't see coming, which forgave most of all the flaws I had with it. I did really love the end.

This is a quintessential "summer beach book"...its beautifully written and narrated on a boat on the Riviera....and the scenery of the ports are described beautifully.....the book itself just screams summer, and was a welcome distraction from everything happening in the world right now

The Lion’s Den by Katherine St. John was exactly the kind of book I was in the mood for when I got my hands on it! This book is humorous and suspenseful, it’s light, fun, and it keeps you completely entertained from beginning to end. The book is told in past/present timelines leading up to the present day which worked well as we get to learn more about the characters and their shared past.

There’s nothing better than a good satire and even though the some of the characters were unlikeable, I still wanted to know what was going to happen next.

Take a look:

Belle likes to think herself immune to the dizzying effects of fabulous wealth. But when her best friend, Summer, invites her on a glamorous getaway to the Mediterranean aboard her billionaire boyfriend’s yacht, the only sensible answer is yes. Belle hopes the trip will be a much-needed break from her stalled acting career and uniquely humiliating waitressing job, but once she’s aboard the luxurious Lion’s Den, it soon becomes clear this jet-setting holiday is not as advertised.

Belle’s dream vacation quickly devolves into a nightmare as she and the handful of other girls Summer invited are treated more like prisoners than guests by their controlling host-and in one terrifying moment, Belle comes to see Summer for who she truly is: a vicious gold digger who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Belle realizes she’s going to have to keep her wits about her — and her own big secret closely hidden — if she wants to make it off the yacht alive.

I really enjoyed the author’s humorous writing style and the little details about vacationing on a yacht. The closest I have ever come to living lavishly aboard a luxury boat is watching Below Deck on Bravo. I also liked the setting of this book, the gorgeous French Riviera. How could you not love this book!?

There were some twists and turns that I didn’t expect and I was sad when the book was finished. Poorly behaving, selfish rich people plus lies and murder aboard a yacht, what could be better?

Out on May 19, pre-order here!

Paradise it may be, but things are definitely not what Belle expected. For one thing, Summer's rich boyfriend appears to be extremely controlling. And not just of Summer. All of Summer's friends are under strict orders to follow his every instruction. And the friction between Belle and Summer is undeniable!

As the trip wears on, things begin to go from awkward to downright sinister. Belle believes her emails are being read and the guests are locked in their cabins at night. Is it security or is it something darker?

The Lion's Den is a darkly comic and unabashedly fun debut!

Belle is a struggling actress who's almost perpetually broke. She's been friends with Summer since they were teenagers, offering up her couch any time Summer needs a place to stay (which is often).

Summer has made it plain that her goal is to find a rich man to take care of her and she's convinced her new boyfriend is the one. And Belle couldn't be happier for her, at first. But something happens in the weeks leading up to the trip, something that plays out in flashbacks as the story progresses, giving the reader the opportunity to see exactly why things have taken a turn between the once close besties.

I absolutely did not expect this book to take the turn that it did! And I loved it! I will admit, some of the twist was easy to figure out, but only as it became closer to being revealed in the narrative itself. And again, it was not what I expected at all when the book began!

This is the perfect summer read (both for reading in summer AND for reading anytime you want a slice of summer in your life!). The setting is exclusive and the prose is vivid and playful. Highly recommended for anyone in search of a book that's pure, darker, entertainment!

Terrific book. Absolutely loved it. Compelling characters and story line. Kept me interested the entire time.