If you enjoyed Lucy Foley's previous book, The Hunting Party, you'll love her latest release. Written from the various perspectives of the ensemble cast, we follow along as teenage jealousies and long-held resentments eventually assume center stage at a posh wedding. The settings are spooky and isolated, the characters are shady, and there is plenty of drama to go around. This one gave me some serious And Then There Were None vibes with its remote island setting on a dark and stormy night. The style is complex and Foley paints an eerie and foreboding atmosphere throughout. As new information comes to light and dark secrets are illuminated, you’ll be entertained with every twist and turn.

TW: self harm, suicide, drug use, sexual assault

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Life is messy. But no matter what happens, life is only a series of days. You can’t control more than a single day. But you can control one of them. Twenty-four hours can be curated. A wedding day is a neat little parcel of time in which I can create something whole and perfect to be cherished for a lifetime, a pearl from a broken necklace.”

I finished The Guest List in one day! I was lured in by the short chapters, multiple points of view, and the constant wondering (and guessing) of what happened on this tiny island, and for some before they even got there.

A famous TV reality star, Will, and the creator of a magazine, Jules, get married on a tiny Island off the coast of Ireland, only accessible by boat. They are going to have the first wedding at The Folly. Besides the rumors that the island is haunted and has been abandoned for several years they know this is the perfect, secluded place to begin their next chapter. But a storm, 150 guests, lots of alcohol and a few haunting pasts of the wedding attendees all collide to make this day one , not only Will and Jules, but everyone will remember.

“I can put together a perfect day, as long as the guests play along, remember to stay within certain bounds. But if they don’t, the repercussions can last far longer than 24 hours. No one is capable of controlling that sort of fallout.”

I’ll start off my saying book 100% pulled me in to figure out what happened. I liked it for that reason alone. But man, this whole group of characters was completely unlikable and a pretty terrible group of people throughout the story. 

The Guest List is told from multiple POV and loved that Foley put who each character was not just their name at the beginning of each chapter. After the story got going, I did not have a hard time keeping track of who was who at all. After finishing the book, I keep wondering why certain peoples POV was shared and others were not. For instance, I would have loved to hear from Charlie or Will POV at some points in the story to get inside their head. But my biggest thing about this book was that the epilogue did not answer any of my questions at the end ... sooo The Guest List definitely left me wanting more.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

The speed of this story is sort of slow. There's lot of bouncing back and forth between the current time and a few days before. There are interesting ways that some of the characters come together. There are a lot of characters to follow and the story is told by many of them. So, you really must pay attention and keep everything straight. But, when it comes together, it all makes sense. 

Overall, I think it was an interesting read. 3.5

Remind me to never ever go to a wedding on a haunted island during a storm! Haha! This was a VERY fast thriller - entertaining the whole way through because the story is told through multiple points of view. A modern-day whodunnit - maybe I’ve read too many Agatha Christie novels, because I did figure out a couple of the twists before they were revealed. A great summer thriller!!

Jules and Will travel out with 150 of their closest friends and family to celebrate their wedding on a remote island in Ireland.  Little do both of them know that everyone is hiding secrets, and over 48 hours, all of them will come out.  One of the members of the wedding party won't make it out alive.

This was a very taught and intriguing thriller.  I liked the different points of view, and how it added to the suspense by cutting back and forth between characters.  Toward the end, I found some of the secrets a tad predictable and the overall ending a little lackluster.  This is a great book for those looking for a twisty mystery with lots of drama.

*** This ARC was provided by Netgalley for a honest review***

This book was divided into six parts the bride, the plus one, the best man, the wedding planner, the bridesmaid in the body. It’s meant to be a destination wedding of sorts with a group of friends that haven’t been together in a long time. The groom is a rising television star the bride is anal, ambitious magazine publisher. Cell service is spotty on this island with nothing around it but water. As the rehearsal dinner begins and the champagne is popped some feelings start to come out of the woodwork that you wouldn’t necessarily say at a rehearsal dinner.
The book had too many point of views for me. If you aren’t careful and pay attention to the chapter heading you didn’t know who you were reading from. I’m also an impatient reader and it seemed like it took forever for anything exciting to happen as a matter of fact it was over a quarter of the way through the book before anything major happened. 
You have to read carefully as you go through each chapter because small things from each chapter turned into clues to help you solve the puzzle in the end.

Aoife and her husband Freddy are on the verge of making their dreams come true.  They have opened a venue on an island off the coast of Ireland. And their first wedding is a high-profile wedding. The bride is the owner of the hottest new online magazine.  The groom is a handsome reality tv star. Their guests are a group of elite men and women. Aoife knows that a successful event could change their lives forever, but she is finding it difficult to keep the rowdy men and petulant sister-of-the-bride happy.  And then the day of the wedding arrives and the day does not go off without a hitch. But that doesn't compare to the body that is found during the reception. Will they be able to figure out who the killer is before it is too late?

Oh, how I miss Ireland. The Guest List was the kind of book that I needed. Full of mystery, intrigue, and absolutely rotten characters. I loved Aoife (pronounced Eva) and her husband. I also liked Olivia. I tolerated Jules and thought that was behaving a bit like a bridezilla. Especially towards her little sister. I could not stand Will and his friends. The friends, especially, were just overgrown frat boys.  The story weaves in and out from the days leading up to the wedding and the day of the wedding, building anticipation that has been lacking in many thrillers on the shelves right now.  And you better be paying attention because there are so many surprising reveals with this one, your head will spin. - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS. 

Bottom Line - There is a reason why The Guest List is showing up on so many "must-read" lists of the summer. It is a captivating mystery that will hook you from the very first page. 

Details:
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
On Facebook
Pages: 320
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 6.2.2020
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the free book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm sorry to say I didn't like this book at all. I was really disappointed when finished reading it, specially since the premise of the book sounded like a good one.

The plot was very predictable,  characters were either unappealing or not likable at all. I guessed the end of the book when in the middle of it.

Not a book I enjoyed reading.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book!  It is told by various characters, and is the story of a wedding on a remote island.  Is it placid?  No.  Is it charming?  No.  Is everything merry and bright?  Absolutely not.  Will tragedy strike?  Of course.  It is fantastic.

This book had me hooked from the very beginning! I haven't read such a good thriller in a long time. This was a who dunnit kind of book and it kept me on my toes!

Just not my kind of book. Too slow, too many characters, story didn't come fast enough. The slow burn pace and multi character POV chapters may appeal to some readers, but it wasn't enough to keep me interested.

whodunit done RIGHT!  
Chockful of characters, back-stories released in tidbits, hidden motives and unseen connections.
ARC for consideration of Texas Library Association (TLA) Lariat adult fiction reading list 2021 (librarian)
HIGHLY enjoyed and recommended.  Off to read Foley's other books!

Thank you to NetGalley for an Arc of this book!  I was captured right away!  I had no idea throughout where the story was going and even when I did know, I was not 100% sure!  This one kept me on my toys and my jaw dropped a few times, but I won't give that away!  You will have to read to find out!!!!  Thank you again, NetGalley!

There is something about weddings that brings out the best and worst behavior in people, doubly so when it is on a secluded island, or so the premise of this story goes. Due to the wedding of an rising power couple, many people throughout their walks of life have been pulled together to attend their wedding. We know a murder has happened, we are told from the beginning and on the jacket flap. The story flashes back between now and time leading up to the wedding reception evening, also told through multiple points of view.

The atmosphere of this island is fantastic--despite its sinister past and the ominous pretense, I wish I could visit it when we finally visit Ireland. To me, the characters are not meant to be likeable and the author does a good job at this. I could not find myself relating to any of them. If I had to pick one character, I would lean toward Hannah as she is the one I liked the most and could relate the most to throughout the story.

I listened to this book and with the decision to use multiple narrators, it was easy to tell when the story jumped points-of-views or timelines, which I appreciated. Because it is set in Ireland and with cast of characters from throughout the United Kingdom, it was also nice to hear the narrators bring the character's dialects to fruition instead of having to imagine what they sounded like. If you enjoy audiobooks, I do recommend this one. As far as the story itself goes, I found this one well paced. I did not find my mind wondering or wishing that there was not as much build up to the big reveal. I liked the twists and while some were expected--though I think that was planned on the author's part--a few I did not pick up on while listening to it.

I do recommend this book overall--whether reading it or experiencing it through the audiobook format as I did. Ironically, I am reading And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie at the moment too so if you are a fan of it, I think you would like this one too though I have not finished it yet. Reading it is giving me similar vibes with its isolated setting and unlikeable characters.

With an island setting, a celebrity wedding, and a body count, The Guest List would be this summer’s hot beach read if any of us could to go the beach. British author Lucy Foley wrote three unremarkable historical novels before switching genres and landing on the bestseller list with her crackling 2019 thriller The Hunting Party, which read like a cross between Agatha Christie and Donna Tartt. The Guest List wisely sticks to the formula that propelled The Hunting Party to its shocking conclusion: old friends (and frenemies) reunite in a scenic, secluded locale, where they reveal long-buried secrets and avenge ancient grudges over a few action-packed days.

Though The Guest List is not as tightly wound as its predecessor, Foley stokes the same tensions between locals and outsiders, nature and civilization, history and memory, while changing enough details to keep readers guessing. Instead of getting snowed in at a hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, the large cast of characters find themselves marooned on an Irish island, the venue for a no-expenses-spared destination wedding. Instead of a posh university, a prestigious boy’s boarding school, where Something Bad happened years before, links them together.

The groom, Will, has gone on to television fame as a Bear Grylls-esque survivalist. His bride, Jules, is a career-minded lifestyle editor and Internet influencer. But they’re less of an odd couple than they initially seem; “I remember being a little surprised when I realized his permanently brown face wasn’t actually due to the constant exposure to the elements but to Sisley’s self-tan, the same one I use,” Jules says of her intended. Their registry includes a £200 scented candle, a delicious detail.

Inis an Amplóra—Cormorant Island, to the English guests—is no tropical paradise. It contains quicksand-like peat bogs, treacherous sea caves, ghost stories, and, of course, cormorants, those avian avatars of greed, bad luck and evil. All three abound on this two-mile-long “lump of granite” moored off the Connemara coast. There’s no cell service, and, while the isolated venue offers every luxury and modern convenience, actual civilization is a turbulent ferry ride away.

The perspective switches between unreliable (and frequently drunk or high) narrators, including Aiofe, the all-seeing wedding planner; Johnno, the loose-cannon best man; Olivia, the emotionally fragile bridesmaid; and Hannah, the middle-class outsider who knows exactly one person among the 150 fur-coated and top-hatted guests. “I’m fascinated by—and a little bit suspicious of—people who have made loads of money,” she confesses. “To me they’re like another species altogether, a breed of sleek and dangerous big cats.”

Everyone’s a potential murderer or murder victim, and the question of whodunit—and to whom—keeps you reading despite some clunky prose and dizzying flashbacks-within-flashbacks. Foley gleefully infuses the familiar apparati of the wedding industrial complex—a debauched stag party, for example, or a cake knife—with foreboding menace. “The bride asked for it to be sharpened specially—madness really, as a knife like this is really meant for cutting through meat,” the chef complains. “It’ll go through that sponge like it’s butter.”

At a time when weddings, vacations, and beaches are off the table for many readers, The Guest List offers a vicarious plus-one. But the novel’s mood of physical and psychological isolation, and the vertiginous house-of-cards atmosphere of carefully cultivated beauty teetering on imminent collapse, feels strangely appropriate for our times.

“Mine is a profession in which you orchestrate happiness,” Aiofe muses. “You can’t control more than a single day. But you can control one of them. Twenty-four hours can be curated. A wedding day is a neat little parcel of time in which you can create something whole and perfect to be cherished for a lifetime, a pearl from a broken necklace.” It’s a fitting metaphor for the fiction writer’s art: holding joy and sorrow, life and death in one’s hand–and getting paid for it.

Foley maintains her crown for being the queen of world building, creating interesting characters who butt up against each other, and absolutely rocking the atmosphere. Didn't think I would love anything more than The Hunting Party, but this did it for me!

I started and stopped this one several times, it took me a bit to get into but once I did I couldn't put it down. The characters are a bit unlikable which was why I had a hard time getting into it but each character has hidden secrets that come out during an exclusive wedding on a remote island. There are sudden twists that surprise the reader and keep you guessing until the end!

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Absolutely loved this suspense. Kept me guessing the entire time, first who was going to end up dead, and then who did it. Very well written.

What a fantastic book. I have been reading a few books lately set on an island, but none used the isolation, the landscape, the dread, as well as The Guest List. It gripped from the very first chapter, and the POV work very well. A posh magazine editor is getting married on a desolate Irish Island to a Bear Griles-like man, a handsome television adventurer. They have invited his mates from his boarding school days. The bride's best man is her friend, with whom she's a little too close—tormenting his wife, an outsider who feels ill at ease and gets nothing but the cold shoulder from these upper-class bores. After watching the bride getting too close and flirting with her husband, she clings to the bride's sister, a gorgeous skinny girl with many problems of her own. So you have the bride, groom, groomsmen, the best man, his wife, the sister, and the woman who owns the island and organizes the party, each telling their story of this wedding weekend, where one of the guests ends up dead. At first, and for a long time, we don't know who the victim is. But we certainly have our preference, because a lot of these people are awful. I loved how this slice of the British upper class was described; it is accurate. Regardless of this thriller never feels exclusive British, you could say that putting a bunch of people on an island and letting a murder take place sounds very Agatha Christie, but that is not how the story is told. It is an exceptionally emotional narrative, delving deep into very recognizable social emotions: envy, jealousy, shame, ambition, shock, self-loathing, stupidity, rage, and revenge. I would so recommend this!