A fast paced thriller that was very entertaining. I really enjoyed the complexity of the friendships between the women.

I'm waffling between a 4 & a 5, so maybe call this a solid 4.5? I really loved it. I was sucked in immediately by the JUICY interpersonal conflicts, and "trapped in a place where a murder happens" is one of my FAVORITE thriller tropes, and this one did not disappoint. Though this one is "trapped in a place and someone disappears and there is blood on the wall and everyone blacked out and doesn't know what happened" but CLOSE ENOUGH.

The Girls Weekend plays on the complicated and sometimes toxic aspects of intense female friendship, especially the type that was bright and intense when you were younger and has now faded. The 5 women reuniting for the weekend were besties in college but now they're almost 40 and life has taken them in all sorts of interesting directions. The queen bee, Sadie, is now a megafamous children's series author with a mansion and the hot Scottish TA she and the main character June competed for way back when. June's also a failed novelist turned community college teacher whose boyfriend has just broken up with her via text, and man the FEELINGS in her POV were TOO REAL. Sadie's cousin Amy is pregnant, hence the reunion, and Em and Kimiko round out the group. Every single woman has some kind of backstory/beef/bitterness where Sadie is confirmed--so of course shit gets real when they all wake up and Sadie is gone and they can't remember anything. There's a lot of dysfunction brewing under the surface.

My favorite thing by far was all the interpersonal entanglements. The conflicts were really good--high stakes but interpersonal, so they felt grounded enough to feel real. The red herrings/tension were excellent because every single person on the estate/in the house that night had a motive to do something to Sadie. Things get VERY intense for poor June. The scene-setting at Sadie's mansion/in the PNW was sumptuous and vivid and perfect. I felt like I was there.

The end was a tiny tick guessable, but still wholly satisfying. If you also enjoy rich assholes trope, complicated female friendships trope, and the trapped in an isolated place where someone did a murder trope, this book should scratch all your itches, as it did mine. I happened to parse this out over about a week, but I could see it being a perfect page-turner--a plane or beach read.

Absolutely loved reading 'The Girls Weekend' by Jody Gehrman. It is a locked room mystery which is my favourite kind of books to read. The story is fast-paced and grabs the readers attention from the start until the very end. Every time I thought I knew who is behind Sadie's disappearance I was wrong, after all, as secrets start to unveil it is clear that everyone had a motive to kill Sadie and thus all of them are suspects.
I couldn't see the end coming and liked how it all unfolded. Overall 4 stars for this enjoyable and entertaining read.

I have never read anything by Jody Gehrman until this now, but I am hooked now! This was such a well written story that kept you guessing the whole time. The characters all play off of each other and keep you guessing the whole time. I read the whole book in one day! I am a Jody Gehrman fan forever now!

After Chandler Baker's The Whisper Network I had no idea I would find another fast paced novel full of strong female characters who I really wanted to root for so soon. The Girls Weekend follows the tradition of great remote house party thrillers and does not disappoint. So many novels lately are filled with flawed women who are desperately unlikeable, The Girls Weekend did not fall into that trap. The women involved are complex and interesting and I found myself liking most of them. (it didn't hurt that they're Gen-Xers who listened to all of the same music in college that I did!)

I found myself developing one theory after another and Jody Gehrman would take that theory, recognize it, and smash it all to pieces. The ending didn't shock me but it didn't feel contrived or implausible, I raced to it and never felt cheated.

Five stars. Enthusiastically.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Jody Gehrman for allowing me to read an advance copy of The Girls Weekend in exchange for my honest review.

The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman is a quickly paced thriller with an entertaining story-line. I had only one problem with The Girls Weekend and that lay in the main character and narrator, June Moody; she’s just not a very likeable gal. At. All. Generally, when reading, I either empathize with a main character or at the very least, can see their point; investing me in their story or plight. I don’t have to love them to love the book. I had a hard time becoming mentally engaged with June; she was at turns weak and whiney and then strong and noble. Make no mistake, I love a flawed character but June just didn’t make sense to me. The other characters, primarily Em and Leo, I really enjoyed, they were well-developed and interesting.

I really liked the way this thriller played out. I had two suspects in mind at the beginning but as everyone’s back stories with Sadie played out, it seems more and more people had a reason to kill Sadie. There are plenty of smoke-screens that kept me guessing, plenty of twists to keep things interesting and a fast-moving plot which made for a page turner, despite my dislike for Jane (Ok, I’ll stop ragging on Jane).

This is a good book for any fan of the thriller/mystery/suspense genre.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Jody Gehrman for providing me with The Girls Weekend in exchange for my honest review.

This book was just OK, as thrillers go. It centers around June, who joins her 4 college friends for a weekend in Western Washington after years of estrangement. The house belongs to Sadie, who was a "frenemy" of June's in college, so there is some initial discomfort in taking the trip. The weekend starts out with some foreshadowed conflict between the group, but the real mystery is that the women wake up the next morning to find Sadie gone, with the others having no memory of the previous night. The rest of the book is centered around trying to figure out where Sadie is and what happened.

The mystery part of the book was good- I suspected multiple characters throughout the story, only to be presented with new information that made me change my mind. The story itself is fast-paced.

What didn't work for me was the relationship between the characters, and particularly the lack of information around what made Sadie the villain. I didn't think the author did a good job of making the friendship between these 5 characters believable, or give the reader enough background to truly understand the dynamics between each member of the group. Furthermore, I didn;t find any of these characters all that likable, and often thought that they acted with less maturity than I would expect from women in their late 30's.

Though the book didn't really land for me, I did enjoy the mystery of the story. I found it to be a worthwhile read, but I don't feel that the story was that memorable overall.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

~ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

June gets a text message from one of her oldest friends, Sadie, inviting the group to a baby shower at her house. It's been years since the five of them met, and June doesn't seem too eager to go to that Fearless Five reunion.
They all became friends at college, but their friendship is not as it used to be. June and Sadie were more like frenemies. Sadie was the typical queen B and, even though they are around 38 years old now, June still feels insecure around her.
Em is June's best friend, so she tries to convice her to leave those feelings behind and go to Amy's baby shower.
Once they all meet at Sadie's place, old memories and feelings come out, and June realizes that the so perfect life she thought Sadie has is not what it seems.
On the other hand, they all participate in the activities Sadie has organized, though the atmosphere isn't quite festive, and to top it all, after what looks like a wild party, Sadie disappears. No one remembers what happened the previous night, and a notorious dark red spot on the wall as well as Kimikos's broken nose make it look worst.
The Girls Weekend is quite an enjoyable thriller with some twisted details. Nothing is what it seems.

I haven't read anything by the author and went in blind but was pleasantly surprised.
This was quite a good thriller. Once I picked it up I had to finish it. It's a fast-paced interesting thriller which has you racing to the end of the book wanting to know how the story pans out.
The story is about 'The Fearless Five', a group of college friends who reunite to celebrate a baby shower. And what should have been an innocuous affair turns into something more deadly.
I read a lot of thrillers and hence I wasn't surprised at the ending so that twist did not really work for me. Having said that I still want to reiterate that it was a good read for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Five college friends – and I use the term loosely – get together for a reunion weekend billed as a baby shower. For most of them they haven’t seen each other in years. Old grudges, hurt feelings, and jealousy are all emotions swirling within this little group and centered on the character who is hosting the shower at her lavish home. Those old hurts and jealousies run rampant from the first moment they are all together. One of them disappears after a drunken, drug-filled night. This is the premise of THE GIRLS WEEKEND.

The hostess, Sadie Mactavish, is a famous author, manipulator and control freak.
June Moody is a college professor who has just been dumped.
Kimiko is marijuana dispensary owner.
Amy is the pregnant friend and Em rounds out the crew.

I have to admit there wasn’t one character in the quintet that had any kind of redeeming value as a human. Each of them was annoying in their own way and I had a hard time feeling any compassion or empathy for any of them. The indiscriminate use of drugs and overabundance of alcohol throughout the book was another turnoff for me.

That said, the way the “mystery” evolves, and is told, is top-notch.

I was kept guessing until the last chapters about what happened. It is a very talented author who can take unredeemable characters and somehow weave a very effective, thoughtful and engaging story around them, so kudos to Jody Gehrman for that.

All in all, this was a good read. 4 stars from me and a thanks to Netgalley & Crooked Lane books for a look-see.

I enjoyed this book and read through it in days, but felt that it wasn’t unique enough to stand apart from other thrillers/mysteries in the market.

The Girls’ Weekend is about a group of friends who get together after many years apart for a baby shower. The book’s protagonist June Moody initially opts our because of her long-standing competitive relationship with the host and her friend, Sadie, but decides to go after her boyfriend abruptly dumps her. Right from the start, it’s apparent that all of the women in the group have some sort of parent conflict with Sadie. So when she suddenly disappears after a night of debauchery, everyone is a suspect. To clear her name in the police investigation, Sadie must find out what really happened to her friend and that night that she can’t remember.

I liked that this story flowed well. It was easy to read and I liked the character of June Moody. Since she was a likeable character and Sadie was not, I was really rooting for her throughout the book. I also liked the premise and setting. It reminds me of Agatha Christie’s novels and had a really whodunit feel. The author also has a great sense of humour, which comes out in parts of the book.

But the book was a tad predictable in terms of who the perpetrator was. I also found it hard to believe all of the women were actually good friends. They just seemed to really hate each other and even though, the book made note of their history, I still didn’t buy that their friendship was that solid for them to have a reunion.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book though.

Five college friends get together for a baby shower. One of them goes missing and no one remembers what happens. After a night of heavy drinking they wake up to find one of them missing and dried up blood in the house. They all draw a big blank on what happened.

As the story unfolds you suspect almost all characters at some point. With some clues here and there I did sniff out who did it pretty quickly, but with the twists and turns in the book I started doubting it. It was a thrilling read, didn’t bore me for one second. Some characters seem a little flat, but I think that is because it is told from one point of view.

This book was good. A light read that had me guessing who the killer was. Towards the end it did fall a little flat but overall enjoyed the characters, the drama, the twists and back stories on why each character could have did it.

From the first chapter I couldn’t put this down! I quickly found myself interested in these characters. Five college best friends come together for a fun weekend to celebrate ones pregnancy. But after a night of fun partying and drinking, they wake up to the house a mess and don’t remember anything. Were they drugged? And if so, by whom? Also, one character is missing. The character who seems to have pissed off each of the other characters in one way or another so everyone is a suspect or hiding something. This was a quick read for me, twisty and fun, and I enjoyed it a lot! There were secrets galore! Would definitely read more from this author in the future.

I had doubts when I started reading this book that it could be anything other than petty jealousies from college carried over into adulthood, but I was proven wrong. This was an excellently crafted mystery with a surprising depth of character development. This is reminiscent of a classic mystery in which you're given cause to suspect every character and yet it's still a surprising end. I'm never a huge fan of throwing romance into a good mystery, but in this novel it wasn't overdone and so I have very little reason to argue against it.

The Girls Weekend was an intense thriller about a fun weekend gone wrong. June has not seen Sadie, her college friend in years, when Sadie invites their group of 5 to her house for a reunion. She has not seen Kimiko or Amy in years either, but her relationship with them does not compare to the intense rivalry that has plagued June and Sadie's relationship. June begrudgingly decides to go at the persuasion of her friend, Em, who she does stay in touch with. The five girls arrive to Sadie's estate, hoping for a good time. But old tensions surface enough to make everyone uncomfortable. When the host, Sadie, is no where to be found one morning after a night of drinking, everyone in the house is a suspect. Everyone at the estate has possible motive, including the landscaper and Sadie's husband, Ethan. Did Sadie disappear on her own, or did something more sinister go down?

This plot was fresh, but also contained elements of a classic thriller that keep the reader guessing. I enjoyed June' character, but would have loved more detail into Sadie's life. Jodie Gehrman did a great job at putting together a conclusion that is sure to be a shock. This book contains some Gone Girl vibes, and the reader really does not know if the accident is real or orchestrated by the missing Sadie. A bit more character depth would have helped me get more engrossed and attached to the story.

This novel really threw me for a loop. I would have bet my paycheck that the main character who went missing, Sadie, had set up her own disappearance in order to escape her life..... however, that wasn't the case. I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say, this was not the case. I had a hard time putting this down, and conversely, will have an easy time recommending this to others. Nothing like curling up with a twisty, atmospheric suspense novel on these cold North Georgia mountain nights!

A decent read, and enjoyable. Not great but I finished it and didn't take any shortcuts. Engaging and interesting.

What could possibly go wrong with a group of college friends get together for a reunion weekend? Well, in the case of The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman a lot. This was a wonderfully written and the author had a really engaging style that pulled me into the drama and the story. Old gripes and conflicts bubble beneath the surface and when something happens that changes the entire trajectory of the weekend the women find themselves trying hard to come together and make some sense of the mystery that is happening right before their eyes.
I loved this book and was excited to get an copy from NetGalley for review purposes. It was fabulous book with an author who knows how to write. Great suspenseful novel that will be hard for anyone to put down once they start reading it.

Who wouldn’t enjoy a reunion of college girlfriends for a baby shower? Sadie invites everyone to her posh and exclusive San Juan Island home for just such.

Despite the tension prevailing that seems to have cultivated from years of distance between the five, the weekend starts out with fun-filled activities - a spa gathering, kayaking, and so on.

As the first day unwinds, the group partakes in wine and gin and tonics (minus pregnant Amy of course). Soon everyone retires for the night.

But trouble emerges when the gang awakes with strange ideas of what they did after they retired the night before. Add to the mixture that the host seems to be missing. Sadie’s car is gone but her cell phone is found on the garage floor.

Suddenly everyone realizes they are suspect because none are without a history with Sadie. Everyone has reason to possibly want Sadie out of the picture. Everyone is on edge. Everyone trusts no one.

Maybe Sadie’s perfect life wasn’t as perfect as it appeared from the outside.

What a wonderfully convoluted and “salty” mystery that kept me guessing until the very end.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.