𝘈 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 + 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 = 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦⁣
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The House On Fripp Island is a new family drama by Rebecca Kauffman. ⁣
When Lisa's family wins a stay on Fripp Island, she invites her childhood best friend and her family to accompany them. If they didn't bring enough of their own drama to the island, the locals have secrets too. The events of one weekend will leave them all grappling with what went wrong for years to come.⁣
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First, let me start by saying...do 𝐍𝐎𝐓 be deceived by this cover. It took me til a couple chapters in to realize this is set in the 90s. I was picturing everything so wrong in my head because I assumed it was 50s-60s from the cover art.⁣
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Right at the start, you know someone is not making it off the island alive. It gave me some Big Little Lies vibes with all of the drama, secrets and figuring out who is dead. However, it's not really that suspenseful of a story. It seemed like more of a play-by-play of what each character was doing. Slow build to the death which was surprising but kind of anti-climactic. The ending just dragged from there.⁣
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Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Entertained me on my commute for a couple days. ⁣
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𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 @librofm 𝘢𝘯𝘥 @recordedbooks 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘓𝘊. And to @netgalley for the ARC. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝟸. 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘺 @hmhbooks.

I have one word for this book and that's Wow
I loved everything about the book, the plot, the relationships between the characters everything was just spot on
I'm lacking words to review this book because I'm scared i might spoil it for anyone wanting to read it

In the late 1990s, Lisa and Scott Daly win a trip to Fripp Island in South Carolina. They are allowed to invite another family to join them, so Lisa invites her childhood friend, Poppy Ford, and her husband and two children to join Lisa, Scott, and their two girls. While the Daly family lives a lavish lifestyle, the Ford family is use to pinching pennies. However, Lisa and Scott have problems of their own, and everyone else seems to be holding in secrets. The families embark on their vacation, where secrets will be uncovered, friendships will be formed, and things will be changed forever.

“The House on Fripp Island” was a fairly fast and engaging story. The novel is a decent general fiction read, with a splash of mystery and suspense. I liked the characters, especially the friendship between the two eleven-year-old girls, Alex and Kimmy. The overall writing and style were just okay. I also craved a little more out of the ending. However, for a light, summer read, this fits the bill!

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am trying to think of positive things about this book but I'm kind of coming up short. Probably the best thing about this book is the description of the relationships between the characters. They truly seem authentic. But honestly, that's about it. I was just not a fan of the book at all. The characters were not in the least bit empathetic and I just couldn't scrounge up any positivity about the book at all. I ended up skimming most of it, especially the second half.

I was hopeful that I would love this book, and I was not disappointed! What a wonderful book with an interesting storyline. I loved reading about the relationship between Poppy and Lisa and the dichotomy between their families. I also loved seeing Poppy's family's interactions with each other in comparison with Lisa's family. This was a great story, it was a quick read and at no time was I bored by it. I was curious about how Keats and Roxie (a couple in town) fit into the story--they seemed a little random at first, but then, all of a sudden, it comes together. I very much enjoyed this book and I think you will too. I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley.com and the publisher, in trade for my honest feedback.

If you're looking for a thriller, murder mystery, or even downright decent mystery - this is not the book for you. If you want a commentary on class, wealth, and parenting - maybe this would interest you. In the beginning I had a feeling of deja vu, and this book was reminding me a lot of We Were Liars which I read recently. That book is a solid mystery on top of depictions of wealth, class, and parenting/lack thereof. This book, just fell short of everything it was trying to do. The prologue had such promise and hooked me right away, but it took SEVENTY percent of the story to even get anywhere, which was very frustrating. After the mystery is somewhat "solved", we then are just reading about everyone's lives in the after of the event the story is based around, and it just felt very lackluster and haphazard. I did fly through this book very quickly, but mainly because I just wanted to know what was happening. Otherwise, I wasn't very impressed because the story never really went anywhere, and the most interesting characters were just left out of the ending. There was also a very odd quip about being transgender in the beginning that left a bad taste in my mouth, that was never addressed and nothing ever came back around. All in all, just a very fluffy "thriller" with no real plot or good qualities to it.

I loved this book. Two different families vacationing together both with their children, teenage angst and adults having issues made for a great story amid tragedy. No spoilers here, but I definitely recommend. I for one couldn’t wait to finish, yet I hated for the story to end.

Wow! That's the best word to describe Rebecca Kauffman's dark novel about two families and their vacation together.
She takes two old friends, their husbands and children and puts them into an beachfront getaway that proves to be anything but relaxing. Each person has secrets, and each family has dysfunction. Money doesn't buy happiness, and neither does togetherness. It's a dark tale of secrets and what happens when communication and trust lines break down.

Fripp Island:  three miles of what should be the perfect vacation break locale.  The characters:  Scott and Lisa and their children, and Poppy and John and theirs.  How do they come together?  Scott won a trip to the island in a company raffle.  After having some trouble finding another family with whom to share their good fortune, Lisa invites Poppy and her family along.  Poppy was a friend of Lisa's when she was growing up although their paths have diverged.  But, something is wrong, very wrong.  Readers learn this right away as the beginning of the story is told by someone who was murdered.  What happened? Why?  What are the characters hiding?


Honestly, I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did.  My issue was that I did not like the characters as much as I had hope that I would.  Still, other readers may feel differently and this book does feel like a good summer suspense read.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly this one didn't work for me. I found that it dragged a little, the level of detail at times a little tedious and it lacked the fun kind of drama I expected. It was overly descriptive and boring and one I wouldn't recommend.

A very enjoyable thriller from a writer who is new to me. Two old friends, their husbands and children go on holiday together to a place in the sun. Secrets and lies, hope and despair and unhappiness all emerge in the course of their four days together and lives are inevitably changed forever! Well-written and engrossing from the start.

I'm in two minds after putting this book down. It was not a bad read but unfortunately, it didn't wow me. I think the thing that bothered me most was the conclusion. It just didn't feel right. I also found the behaviour of some of the characters odd at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I’m keeping this short….this one wasn’t for me. I initially loved the idea of a summer setting on an island, family drama, marriage drama, and potentially drama amongst friends due to socioeconomic issues. When the story began with a prologue being narrated from someone murdered that summer- I was all in. And there was drama on some levels but it was boring drama with unlikeable characters and I just couldn’t bring myself to care about any of them. ⁣
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For me, there was way too many trivial details that caused the story to drag and me to lose interest. I kept going to find out who was murdered but I’ll be honest, I skipped a few chapters to get there and then the ending felt pretty abrupt. On the plus side, I didn’t have it figured out as far as who was killed. If the premise sounds up your alley,

Poppy and Lisa are old friends who have kept close and through a twist of fate Lisa offers Poppy and her family an all expenses paid vacation. John and Poppy have had financial ups and downs . Lisa’s husband works for a company that pursues people who default on loans and makes them pay through legal garnishment. Both families have children around the same age. The youngest are girls who become fast friends, the other children are teenagers one male one female, Ryan and Rae. Sharing a house proves to be a cathartic experience both individually and combined. Rae especially seems to struggle with emotions coming to the surface. She sets her own path and is observer rather than participant. Lisa and Scott were on a destructive path before the vacation and take swipes at each other in passive aggressive ways. John and Poppy are well matched but Poppy is sensitive to the wealth that is apparent at every turn. While Lisa is sensitive to this she does not apologize either. The families settle into a routine and each couple seem to come to an understanding and a truce while sharing the house with the children,to spare the children any unpleasantness. Secret behavior is explained in shocking fashion, and a young girls dreams turn into nightmares. A terrible price is paid. Happy reading

i was given this book from netgalley and publisher for honest opinion and review
i felt like this book was very slow and drawn out. with every single detail needing to be wrote down about the characters.

This book was a novella stretched to novel length by describing every little thing they did, everything they ate, wear, see....you get the idea. On top of this the first 80% was mundane and extremely slow.

Thank you NetGalley and Mariner Books for my ARC. I was drawn to this book because the setting of Fripp Island. I have actually visited the island many times and have enjoyed my time there. Most of the story took place on the Island. The first few pages intrigued me. Unfortunately, the rest of the story was rather slow and dull. There were a few interesting parts sporadically throughout the story, but most of it was overly descriptive and uninteresting. It did pick up slightly toward the end, but ultimately left me feeling very disappointed overall.

Lisa and Poppy, childhood friends, have never lost touch with each other, but their tracks in life separated them. Lisa's family is wealthy, and for them, a vacation to Fripp Island, South Carolina was the kind of thing that happened on a regular basis. Poppy's blue color family had never and would never expect to have such a long expensive vacation and were appreciative and excited for the opportunity to join Lisa's family. The husbands had little in common and eventually went their separate ways, while the children were friendly and began enjoying each other's company. As the story progresses, the secrets that Lisa and her husband are keeping begin coming to light.

This story was very easy to become engrossed in as you follow the members of each family, realizing this summer vacation will change everything. As I neared the end of the book, I felt like each family would return to their separate homes and lives and each unhappy family would continue being unhappy in their own way. I wasn't prepared for the extent of the changes this vacation brought on the families, so the twist at the end was horrifying, sad and shocking all at once - everything that makes a great summer read! Definitely pick this one up if you are looking for a beach read with a bit of shocking suspense at the end!

Summer has officially started. At least for Lisa and Poppy’s families at the House on Fripp Island, “a luscious, jungled little thumbprint of land that contains every shade of green you could imagine, from almost-yellow to almost-black.” Poppy and Lisa’s friendship goes way back to high school and waiting tables before they went on living very different lives. One married for money and the other for love. There is no doubt that Lisa and Scott live a more comfortable life than Poppy and John, but as it turns out they do not necessarily have a happier marriage. Despite their different circumstances and personalities, the two couples and their children are brought together by an eventful week in this luxurious Island.

I didn’t know what to expect from this book but a few pages in and I was immediately hooked! Rebecca Kauffman knows exactly what she is doing and where she wants us to go. The plot is exciting and full of twists. It is very well written and demonstrates the author’s ability to stretch the narrative into different voices, both men and women of different ages and with opposite traits. I was particularly intrigued by the complexity of Lisa’s character and how her insecurities reflected on her daughter’s behavior. But also how the whole story plays with people’s assumptions and judgment. It turns out things are rarely what we perceived them to be. It was a fun book to read despite the tragedy that unfolded. I absolutely recommend it as a summer read!

A huge thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Mariner Books for the advance reading copy.

This review was published on Goodreads and Instagram accounts.
https://www.goodreads.com/mellowbooks
https://www.instagram.com/mellow.books

So, so good. Will have you on the edge of your seat as you try to figure out what happened on what should have been an idyllic vacation between two families. Shady and taunt you will read this book in one gulp. A total must read. Happy reading!