Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman.

When June gets a call from Sadie that it's time to gather the girls and get together again, June is intrigued by cautious. Sadie is everything that June has strived to be, but has always come in second, including June's "one that got away." But despite her reservations, she meets Sadie and the old gang at Sadie's beautiful property. But she never could have expected what could happen next, and why.

This was like a watered down and female version of The Hangover. So much so, that it actually references The Hangover. It wasn't great. The characters, for being on the late side of thirty acted so juvenile and over the top. It's honestly hard for me to believe that women that age would even take time our of their busy lives to see friends that it's clear they barely like in the first place. The plot dragged on, and none of it really hit the target.

The Girls Weekend was a trip to say the least. What would you do if you where ask to go on a weekend trip with
women you don't really like? June has just had a bad break-up, and needs to get away to clear her mind.
Never in a million years did she think a murder would be included in that weekend. This book will keep you guess, because just about everyone has a reason to kill.

A great locked room mystery with interesting characters. A fast-paced read, too! I listened to the audio version and loved the narrator.

e-ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

THE GOOD STUFF:

Really great plot twist! I never fully guessed what was going on until the final reveal, so I would say this book really delivered on the whodunnit front!

Great cast of characters! Everyone had their own personality and I had no problem with remembering who is who.

Also, morally grey characters were very realistic. Everyone had their demons, no matter how big or small.

The suspense! Really nice pace and mood for a thriller, and I was hooked from the first few pages!

THE NOT SO GOOD STUFF:

The romance was meh! It frustrated me to no end, honestly. Like, I didn't even understand why the romantic tension between June and Ethan needed to go as far as it did!

FINAL VERDICT:

A fun, fast-paced thriller that really got me invested in the mystery!

This was a fun read. I enjoyed the mystery and uncovering the friendships and secrets of each of the characters. The plot kept me gripped and I read it in a day. Will definitely recommend to people.

I received this book from Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
A weekend gathering of old friends turns deadly as old wounds, disparities and love relations threaten to tear everything apart. June Moody just wants some comfort and peace from a recent breakup. Little does she know that she's walking into a hornets' nest of avarice, lies, mental illness, addiction and family pathos. Old tensions and jealousy slither to the surface and begs the question; how well do you know your old friends? Quick read, a thriller that you can't put down.

Great read. I liked the characters and the plot really drove me to keep those pages turning.

The hints about the murder were handed out expertly. I guessed the killer pretty early on but with all those hints I kept thinking it was someone else and again someone further than that.

OᐯᗴᖇᐯIᗴᗯ: A baby shower at a lavish estate with a group of friends ends with one of them missing and the rest of them having no memory of the night in question.

ᗰY TᕼOᑌᘜᕼTᔕ: I struggled with this book because I didn't really enjoy any of the characters which made it hard to connect or to want to figure out what happened. The premise of the book is a good one and with more enjoyable characters could have led to a fantastic closed door thriller!

This wasn't a blown out the park thriller but it was a decent read. It you like murder mysteries type stories then this is for you. It didn't keep me on the end of my seat but it did keep my attention enough for me to finish it.

Zero feeling. Not much suspense or mystery at all. Can we get fortysomethings that actually act their age?

Thank you to the publisher for my copy of this one - all opinions are my own.

I must say, I picked this one up thinking I would catch a few chapters before heading out for the day, and literally devoured the entire book in one morning. It was such an engrossing, fast, intense read that I simply had to know what was going to happen next!

This is one of those fast paced, deeply atmospheric suspense books that are PERFECT to curl up with for a cool winter day - complex and messy characters, a whodunnit central plot. twists coming every which way, and an explosive conclusion, it was exactly, exactly what I needed. These are the kinds of thrillers that keep me in love with the genre - and I can't wait for whatever Jody Gehrman writes next.

If your in need of a mystery, thriller, and drama # ' The Girls Weekend's by author # Jody German is a wonderful find. Join in for a reunion of five friends on a island. A reunion that becomes a crime scene.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Jody Gehrman, and # Crooked Lane Books

This was a good book but I figured out the ending way too soon which took away some of the enjoyability of it. Still, a solid plot.

I enjoyed this book, but unfortunately figured out what was happening about halfway through. I do that sometimes, but will continue sharing with my customers as they may not be able to figure it out.

What a, “who done it” mystery for me. I read this book so fast, I know I will re-read. This was a book I had to know what happened, who done it and why. What an exciting read!

The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman is a quick read, despite the story being a slow burn. It does take a while to get to the main part of the story. I read this book in an evening and while I enjoyed it, I felt that I had read it all before. There were parts of the story that were glossed over and really should have had more depth.

5 friends from college reunite for a girls weekend. They have not seen an awful lot of each other recently there is definitely plenty of tension among them. It is a drama filled weekend with lot so of drinking and partying. But when they awaken from one of this nights of drinking one of them hasn’t gone missing and the others have very little memory of what happened. None of these women are very nice people and they all had their reasons for wanting this woman gone.

Thanks to Crooked Lane books and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read.

This was so much better than I even had anticipated! Four entertaining, fast paced, twisty stars! Perfect escape read for vacation! Thank you so much Netgalley for my advanced readers ecopy!!

A group of women who are mostly friends (maybe frenemies) get together for a reunion, at the large estate owned by queen bee Sadie MacTavish. When Sadie goes missing, they are all suspects… A fun and twist-y read that will definitely have you grabbing for the popcorn!

I loved that this is a closed-room mystery. All of the characters who could be suspects are secluded at the MacTavish estate, and I did enjoy puzzling over who I thought might be to blame! I have to say, these women are definite frenemies. This girls’ weekend definitely brings out some old drama they’d probably rather stay buried!

June is a professor, and from the beginning it is clear she doesn’t want to go to Sadie’s. Why would she? Sadie is married to her ex-boyfriend. Sadie also happens to be a wildly successful author, while June has written a single book that has gone out of print. If I were June, I probably wouldn’t want to go either!

But June has just gone through a pretty awful break-up. The kind of break-up that made me angry just reading about it! And as can happen when we suffer losses, it makes her re-think her invitation to Sadie’s. Afterall, her best friend Em will be there, and Em is sure to help her forget about her troubles. The group is rounded out by their other friends, Amy and Kimiko. All of these women have some skeletons in their closet!

The weekend is a bit rocky from the get go, but June is settling in and even making up with Sadie. When Sadie goes missing after a night none of the women can remember, the light shines straight on them. And when I say everyone is a suspect, I mean it! So many secrets and hidden agendas! It is also pretty fun to see the fragments of the lost night start to piece back together—like a puzzle of their own memories.

And the forgotten night definitely isn’t bought by the police in charge of the investigation! June knows she didn’t do it—or at least she thinks she knows…

Whose secret was salacious enough to murder for?

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.

Thoughts this was a fun book with a lot of twists and turns I didn’t see coming! Definitely a book I’ll recommend to others!

Juicy, sharp-edged and suspenseful thriller. This is an easy, page-turning murder mystery.

Yes, this is the female version of The Hangover, but with murder mystery party vibes. The tension of distrustful women stuck together somewhere beautiful and remote, feels like knives hanging in the air, and I love it. Despite it's seemingly superficial beginning, and simplistic plot, I was smitten with the plot drama and suspense right until the end.

Plot: June Moody is a 38 year old professor, and life adventurer, who takes a hesitant trip to a friends reunion on their stunning lakeside property. The hostess, Sadie, is polished and successful after all these long years, but yields a controlling perfectionism which suffocates those closest to her. She's also a close rival to June. There's June's best friend and trusted confidant, Em; the surly and wild child personality, Kimiko; the pregnant and timid cousin of Sadie's, Amy; Sadie's husband Ethan; their teen daughter, Dakota; and the dreamy hermit groundskeeper, Leo. There's also romantic history between June and Sadie's husband, Ethan, just to spice things up. So, after a night of drunken celebrations, everybody wakes up to a horrific bloodstained sight, strange snippets of memories, and Sadie is missing. The panic and hangover amnesia creates a crackling air of suspicion, as all characters are likely candidates with their pre-existing friction with Sadie. As memories are pieced together, and new evidence emerging every step of the way, the uneasy atmosphere and clever dialogues will have you wrapped up in their spooky world until the end.

There's honestly not much I didn't like here, which says a lot considering many ARC reviews I read tend to waver on the boring or need editing side. So, if you're looking for a super easy weekend or holiday read, this hits all the spots. There's even a bit of raunchy that I found myself smugly smiling to. There's goss, posh, complex relationship dynamics, strong character development, cute friendships, those cutthroat intimidating telepathic exchanges between women's body language that sent delightful chills down my spine. There's amateur sleuth investigation, pristine relaxing views (of the imagination), and that foreboding feeling throughout. This is told in June's POV only, and I think that was a good choice to keep mystery breathing naturally.

Ways to improve: I think the plot was a liiiiittle too convenient for a happy ending, but sweet nonetheless. Perhaps more time spent on this specific relationship dynamic could have made it felt less cliché. I would also maybe double check some of the forensic processes, which questioned the believability of the narrative. Such as, are Sadie's guests all allowed to still stay on the property and walk around freely, even though its a crime scene? (I tried to research this right now but it seems to depend on the nature of crime/type of evidence available, so my bad if people are allowed to stay in a house with a big blood smeared wall!). Blood tests could have also been done to confirm the ladies early suspicions about what they ingested, but maybe this plot hole was conveniently avoided to suit the narrative for longer.


Thank you to Netgalley, Jody Gehrman and Crooked Lane Books for gifting this advanced digital review copy. Opinions expressed here are entirely my own.