This book started well and seemed interesting, but once the weekend away began , for me it all went downhill. The story went off in directions I wasn’t expecting which was a bit disconcerting. That would have been fine, but the characters relationships seemed false. The weekend was a girls reunion of college friends that, in the main, had not seen much of each other for 20 years. It was hard for me to believe, however, that the characters had ever been friends. I became disinterested in their fate and skimmed through to what I felt was an obvious conclusion. A big miss for me. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for an advance arc of this book.

I think that the idea for this book was a little more generic than I would have liked. A bunch of college girls come together in one house, they are all suspected of murder. I had everything that you could have wanted from a thriller novel! There wasn't anything horribly shocking that made my jaw drop, but it was a good read! It was an easy read, and I enjoyed that I was able to get through it pretty quickly and efficiently without any real issues! This book definitely has a target audience, but I think that the target audience may have seen this before and not enjoy it as much. For someone who does not read that may thriller novels, I was happy with it!

Sadie seems to have it all and June seems a bit jealous of that. A handful of old friends meets up for a weekend reunion and one of them ends up dead. The blame gets shoved around and no one really knows what happens. But they sure figure it out!

I really love how this book portrays life in the social media lifestyle we live! What meets the eye isn't exactly as it seems. I really appreciate that the author understands this and the fact that we could all look a bit closer at our own lives.

Thanks #netgalley for the ARC.

This suspense-filled get together reuniting college girlfriends after 10 years apart was surprising at every turn. Tensions ran high, old jealousies rear their heads, old flames explore the possibility of rekindling, and suddenly the hostess turns up missing and there’s a lot of blood but no one seems to remember exactly what happened the night before. Were they too drunk? Were they drugged? Was she trying to slip away to a new life where her family isn’t always doing battle with her?

The Girls Weekend blends the best of the "beach reads" and mystery/thriller genres. What starts off as a weekend reunion between 5 college friends (and frenemies) quickly turns nightmarish. Old rivalries and disagreements come to the surface and after a blurry, boozy night, piecing together what happened becomes critically important as one of the guests finds herself under increasing suspicion. Highly recommended for readers of all genders who love a tense, fast-paced mystery.

College friends get together after a long separation and one of them goes missing. Everyone is a suspect and the ending feels a bit forced.

The premise of The Girls Weekend is pretty standard for a psychological thriller. 5 friends meet up at a house in the woods for a fun weekend together until things go awry.

Although I enjoy grip lit and had decent hopes for this book, it was a kind of hit and a miss for me. I felt put off initially by the pace and lackluster characters. Not only were they not my kind of people (esp Sadie and June), I didn't really understand what kept them in friendship throughout the years. I mean, common history is one thing, but it really didn't seem like enough glue here to keep these 5 together. Also, a lot of the character development felt surface level and made it hard for me to connect with and/or truly understand what kinds of people we were dealing with... which is important in a book where you are trying to figure out what happened/who did what.

Despite the fact that the story was pretty shallow and that I felt myself eye rollling often at the dialogue and attempted plot turns, there was something car wreck-y about this book that kept me reading to the end. I picked it up and read it in about 3 hours. Sometimes shallow books serve a purpose and this one totally did. For me, it was a great palate cleanser book. I'm dealing with serious pandemic brain and needed something light today Not the deepest book in the world, but I'd totally recommend to anyone looking for a quick and easy summer read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARV in exchange for an honest review.

This started off strong and grabbed me pretty fast. The writing is fun and very readable. But towards the middle it became a little bit of a slog. None of the characters really mattered to me, and it was starting to feel repetitious. Not a terrible book but not great either. There are so many better mysteries that are more worth your time.

Locked room mystery? Yes please! At least when I read the synopsis. Unfortunately, that's the best of it for me. The reality of it was not nearly what I was hoping for. Instead, I ended up with a mystery that was severely lacking in any real suspense and characters that I could not stand. To be honest, I couldn't find enough interest in these people to care much one way or the other. Nevertheless, I do think this book has its target audience who will like it. I just don't happen to be one of them.

I buddy read The Girls Weekend with Julie (JuJu) and she summed it up well..."It definitely wasn’t a deep, thought provoking book, but it kept my attention...like a bad soap opera."  June and her friends make so many bad decisions, one after another.  Once I got over the fact they were never going to do the smart thing, I just settled in for the wild weekend, went with the flow, and enjoyed the story.. June, Sadie, Amy, Kimi, and Em, are 38-ish year old college best friends/frenemies, spending a long weekend at Sadie's estate, for Amy's baby shower. Sadie's husband, who first asked June to marry him before he married Sadie, is staying down at the beach house. But Sadie won, Sadie has it all, wealth from her best selling children's books, Ethan, the guy both Sadie and June fawned over during their college years, something to lord over each and every person there, and an ego that won't let her be bested by anyone else. 

It doesn't take long to figure out that almost everyone at the estate is messed up. June's boyfriend has just dumped her by text and she has never gotten along with Sadie really. They were more like competition to each other, which helped them both to be better at what they were doing. June still has a crush on Ethan, not having expected him to run to Sadie the minute she turned down his marriage proposal, all those years ago. Kimi likes her drugs and drink, Amy's baby daddy was a one night stand, Em has a secret that Sadie is going to make public, and Dakota seems to hate her mom. Ethan isn't just at the beach house for this weekend but instead he and Sadie are estranged. Then there is the landscaper who lives on the property. Leo has his own secrets that he's not ready to discuss with June or anyone else. 

After an evening of drinking, where all the women seem to have been drugged with something that had them running wild but not remembering what happened, they wake to Sadie missing and blood on the walls and floor. But don't worry, drugged drinks one night, doesn't keep them from drinking more the next night! They also take their time calling the cops, which made no sense to me...so that's where I just zipped my brain and just went along for the ride. Once the cops are involved, June is prime suspect because she had visited Ethan's cabin the first night she was there. But never fear, everybody has a motive for doing harm to manipulative, bossy, greedy, grabby Sadie so this "who done it" is wide open for guessing who did it. 

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

Oh goodness, sorry I'm having bitchfits. I have been reading too many psychological thrillers. I can't find anything good on tv, I'm reading so much, that a book has to absolutely knock my socks off or interest me like Circe to give it a 5 star rating.

This book and again I don't feel like reviewing the books means I have to tell you everything about it. What I did Like was it was a group of girls all fighting (what can I say, I love reality tv, especially when fists are flying). It's just that Sadie, who winds up missing, has about 9 people, maybe 10, that have reason to want to kill her. Sadie may be my sister in disguise, except the number 10 would be much higher. Although I hate to tell about the book, basically the title is what it's about, A Girls Weekend.. I practically knew before reading there would be backstabbing, cheating, betrayals, lies before I even began. Just because a read a stinker before this book, I will be generous and give it 3.75 stars.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for my ARC copy.

I absolutely fell in love with the set up for this book. Girl’s night, alcohol & murder, yes please! There’s nothing more fun then trying to piece things together with the characters on the events that occurred during their black out. I was questioning and doubting everyone for the first 2/3 of the book. It did such a good job that I thought I had predicted what happened and was ultimately way off from the actual answer.

As for the things I didn’t like, I found it hard to sympathize or relate to any of the the characters. i didn’t feel betrayed, hurt, angered or annoyed for any of the things that occurred to the characters. But, I did raise my eyebrows at a few of the shocking news revealed in the book.

I ultimately didn’t like how the last 1/3 of the book played out. I’m happy I didn’t predict the ending, but also unhappy with how it ended and the way it was written. There was a few things in there that didn’t make sense or that I found necessarily needed to be included.

I’d recommend this to anyone who wants a fun read & likes guessing games!

June Moody, a thirty-something college professor reunites with her college girlfriends in the San Juan Islands to celebrate a baby shower together. The hostess is Sadie MacTavish, an incredible wealthy and successful children's book author and a longtime rival of June's. The long weekend seems like a great idea, but quickly old issues surface among the group...and when Sadie goes missing with a messy house and bloodstains as the only clues, things become even more complicated.

I think mystery-thrillers are difficult to review because readers have such differing opinions on what makes for a page-turning read in the genre. For me, a really interesting group of characters and a strong setting are two important factors - unfortunately, I thought both of these were lacking in this title. I genuinely didn't understand why this group wanted to reconnect, so I had a hard time understanding why they chose to spend this time together. This made it hard to buy into the plot.

This was an okay book for me with a very mild recommendation.

Publication Date: 09 June 2020
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

3 ⭐⭐⭐

What could possibly go wrong when a group of five college friends catch up years later for a girls weekend? Other than the host, Sadie a famous author disappearing leaving her phone and bag on the garage floor. There is blood smeared on the walls! Where is Sadie and is she ok?

None of the girls can remember the events of the night before and each of them is unsure that they didn’t hurt Sadie. June has history with Sadies husband and did sneak out to see him on the first night she arrived. This puts June in an awkward an suspecting position.

I was drawn to the cover and title of this book and while it started out quite fast paced , it dulled to a bit of a slow burn a third of the way through for me. While there was a good few twists and turns that kept me wanting to know what happens in the end, I just didn’t connect with the characters or the style of writing.

The ending had an element of surprise but was somewhat predictable at the same time. Not the big whoa didn’t see that coming kind of ending that I was hoping for!

Thank you Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books and Jody Gehrman for the ARC in return for my honest review.

LOVED LOVED LOVED The Girls Weekend!! Exactly the type of book that gets me excited to sit, relax and keep reading until it’s done. From the beginning to the end so many twists and turns that my attention never wavered. Fantastic read! Thank you Net Galley and Crooked Lane Books for an early copy of this bestseller.

Hot Damn! I did not see that end coming at all.

I'm not going to lie. As intrigued as I was about the synopsis of The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman, I did think it was going to be very cut and dry and I would be able to suss out the 'what happened' and 'whodunnit' parts of the book. I was so freaking wrong. There were so many twists and turns with this one, it was unreal. The best part of those twists and turns is that they all made sense based on what was going on. Nothing was too far fetched, and all the scenarios, as outlandish as they were, were actually believable. Insanity my friends, absolute insanity is what was happening all throughout the book. Of course, I think it was insane to go and spend a weekend with people you haven't seen in like 10 years, and who you don't even like, but to each there own I guess.

In any case, if you really enjoy reading a book where you think you have it all figured out, only to keep turning the page and realize that you couldn't be further from the truth, then The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman is the book for you.

*Many thanks to the Publisher for allowing me to read and review this awesome title*

This feels like a good summer book. If you're looking for something with some lovely descriptions and some mild mystery, then this is an accessible, quick read- perfect for that summer day that you just want to kick back and not think too much. That sounds like a dig, but this kind of book serves that purpose perfectly.

None of the characters are particularly likable or well fleshed-out, and it's easy to guess the the "who" in the whodunnit. There's an odd romantic connection that doesn't make much sense to me, and everything is presented in a neat conclusion at the end. It's a great cover though, and I can see this book plopped happily next to frozen drinks this summer.

I tend to love mysterious thrillers like this one. This was a fun chick-lit book but the cattiness was a bit much for me, personally. However, I do know a lot of people who like dramatic scenarios like the ones that occur in this novel and will enjoy it. Thriller fans of novels by Ruth Ware, Shari Lapena, and Lucy Foley should pick this one up and give it a try!

When I read books like this - about a friend reunion - full of past history and past tension - I always try and picture my own group of friends from college. Would we let old arguments take over? Would we let old hurts and pain bubble up? Would one of us go missing???? (No.)

June Moody (who I kept calling Juney Moody) reunites with her 4 college girlfriends at a remote island. While these five ladies all shared that special time between teenage years and real adulthood - 20 years has passed - but old tensions are still there. After a night where they all blackout - was it the strong gin + tonics? - one of the women is missing - and there's blood splatter on the wall. Everyone is a suspect.

I did figure out the real killer quite early on, but this was still a quick little mystery that I enjoyed. The characters ARE a LITTLE annoying at points, but who - as a human - isn't?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was excited to read this book based on the description, but unfortunately it fell short for me.

The Girls Weekend follows June, an English professor in her thirties whose relationship just ended with her boyfriend. Frustrated and feeling down, she decides to give in to her friend Em's insistence that they attend a girls weekend trip at their college friend Sadie's house. Sadie is super wealthy, an accomplished writer, with the perfect husband (who June used to date) and daughter. Sadie has always been June's frenemy, always trying to one up each other, June feels like she's come out on the bottom. Along with their other friends, June and Em head up for the weekend, but quickly discover that not everything is as it seems. Tensions arise, and soon Sadie disappears. The odd thing is, no one has any idea of what happened to her. Is this another one of Sadie's games to try to one up her old friend? Or is something more mysterious at large?

This book was written really well, I did keep reading and wanted to know the end. The beginning did draw me in and I was excited to keep reading, but as it went on, I wasn't as interested. I found the characters very unlikeable. Their problems and feelings seemed very immature, they didn't seem like established adults, but childish. The longer the story went on, the more it was understood that the characters weren't very close, therefore their actions and reactions were selfish. They didn't care about what happened to Sadie, they were out for themselves, which made me not really care about what happened to Sadie. I found the story moved really slowly, there was a lot of feelings and guessing, trying to solve the mystery, but very few actual events. In the end, the story isn't pieced together or flushed out. A lot of aspects were mentioned that weren't touched upon again, and then it ended. I found the end mystery resolution anti climactic. It made me wonder why a lot was added, I think it was way longer than it should've been. I think this story had so much more potential, but fell flat.