Unpopular opinion: I am struggling to write this review. The overall story had potential: a girl's weekend in Lisbon turns deadly when one goes missing and the other must find out what happens before being blamed for her disappearance. Unfortunately, the rest of the story fell flat for me. The betrayals throughout this story left me feeling yucky. There were plenty of red herrings which kept me reading. But overall, it just didn't work for me.

This was a fun read. Good mystery with enough plot twists to keep a reader on edge. In the end I did get a little annoyed when I started seeing a personal pet-peeve on mine: characters started releasing breaths they didn't know they were holding. This ALWAYS bugs me to no end and I sweat that every single book has it at least once (multiple times in this particular book). But again, this is a personal thing, other readers might not even notice it. Also, Sebastian character (the apartment lender on Airbnb) is the reason why I never have and never will rent someone else's apartment. Just sayin'.

Yes! One of my new favorites. This premise was so exciting and I literally couldn't put it down. The family ate cereal for dinner and nothing got done until I found out what happened.

Orla is looking forward to a weekend away in Lisbon with her girlfriend, Kate. They have tried to take a short vacation together each year but now that Orla is mother to baby Marlow, she can’t help but be reluctant to leave her and her husband.

Kate is in the midst of divorcing her husband, Toby, for cheating on her. She has decided to spend lots of money, putting charges on his credit cards. Orla is worried that she seems to be quite stressed.

Kate wants to go out to a club after dinner and there she starts to participate in some risky behavior. Orla is simply tired and wants to go back to the apartment they have rented. By the time she convinces Kate to do so, both women appear to have had too much to drink. When Orla wakes up the next morning, Kate is missing. Searching everywhere, she cannot find her. She finally enlists the help of the Uber driver who took them to the club the night before and he becomes a great help to her as he knows the area and the type of people who hang out at the club.

This story builds well as the police step in and think Orla may be guilty of doing away with Kate. I really liked Konstandin, the uber driver from Kosovo. The family story he reveals to Kate is heartbreaking and very typical of the horrors that area has seen. Orla was irritating at times saying she wanted to scream and throw things. This was a good book which I enjoyed and I found myself surprised at the perpetrator.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Weekend Away is a tantalizing, suspenseful thriller with so many twists and turns I couldn’t figure out the ending until the last page! I stayed up way past bedtime finishing this one because I was so engrossed in the secrets and lies. Great book - highly recommend!

Whoa - that was a twisty book with a huh? kind of ending.

Orla is a new mom who's finally taking some time for herself and flying from London to Lisbon for a girls' weekend with her old friend Kate. The two go to dinner and hit a nightclub, then Orla wakes up the next morning and Kate is missing. Did something happen to her? Did Orla have anything to do with it?

This was a fun, quick, twisty read. I don't love open endings but I did enjoy this one.

This book was so twisty! I loved it. I loved going through the process of finding out what happened to her friend with Orla. The main character is not an idiot, thank god! The twists just kept coming and I was absolutely here for them.

In the world of COVID I think everyone wants a girls weekend.....but this one is def not the one we are looking for. But it was enjoyable to read this mystery from the safety of my house lol. They storyline was good and kept my attentions and the twists and turns kept me reading...and that ending was NOT what I was expecting! WOW.

Orla and Kate have been friends what seems like forever. Kate, coming off of a fresh divorce, wants to cut loose and plans her perfect weekend away. Orla, although settled happily into her married life with a new baby, agrees to come along like old times. After a wild night, Orla can only remember bits and pieces of what happened. Confused, Orla goes to Kate’s room only to find her not there. As Orla begins to worry and uncover the night before, one question hangs in the air- where is Kate?

Y’all know I love a good thriller. This was more of a whodunnit, but I am here for it. Orla gives me Amanda Knox trial vibes, as she deals with foreign police accusing her of murdering her friend and stacking up the evidence in any way they can. Orla struggles to clear her name, searching out leads that the police seem to be ignoring or missing. Her nervous energy gives this book an urgent tone and makes it hard to put down.

As a character, I loved Orla, but I find her to be a little too trusting. Some of this works out, but some of it doesn’t, and it is this character flaw that causes all of Orla’s problems throughout the novel. As Orla’s life seemingly unravels it becomes more and more apparent that she is always too trusting and it creates a sense of danger in the mind of the reader. Should Orla be trusting the people she’s trusting?

Overall, this book was so good. The plot twists were crazy and the ending left me shocked. If you’ve read it, we need to talk because I’m still reeling! I gave this book 4 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for the ARC in exchange for my honest review! This book hits shelves on April 13th, make sure to check it out!

Orla and Kate have always vacationed together until Orla got married and had a baby. When Kate suggests they go away for a girls weekend, Orla is excited. She needs a break from being a mommy, and could use some time with her oldest friend.
Staying at an apartment in Lisbon, the girls go out for a night on the town. One thing leads to another, and Orla wakes the next day to a hangover and Kate missing. Now Orla is frantically trying to piece together the events from the night before, to find her friend. Where did Kate go? And why can't Orla remember anything from the night before?

Wow. This is a fast moving thriller that has you sucked in almost immediately. Once Kate is missing, the book becomes a full on quest to find her. Without the aid of the police, Orla is picking up what clues she can to find her friend. What she actually find is alot of deception and horrible people. Definitely a nail bitting read.
This is my first time reading Sarah Alderson, and now I'm hooked. This book is everything you need in a thriller with a last minute twist that is a gut punch.

The Weekend Away by Sarah Alderson is a psychological thriller that will have you holding your breath. New mother Orla is on a girls weekend with her best friend Kate, when Kate disappears. This storyline seems torn from the headlines that resonate with all of us. What would we do far from home if a friend disappeared and we were forced to convince the authorities that a crime had actually taken place?

There are so many twists and turns in this thriller that you won’t be sure of what you know. The story was well-plotted and the characters realistic. This is a haunting novel that will keep you reading far into the night. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.)

Now this was a good thriller. “The Weekend Away” tells the story of two female friends who plan a weekend getaway to Portugal, when one turns up missing. Various motives develop and my thought on the potential assailant(s) shifted multiple times, which I look for in books like these. There were twists and turns and I found myself unable to put the book down during the last half of the book. Good, heart-racing thriller that keeps you guessing until the end. I’d definitely read more books by Alderson. 4 stars ⭐️.

3.5 stars

Orla and Kate have been best friends for a long time. They have also been going away for a girl’s weekend for years but stopped when Orla was going through IVF and when she gave birth to her daughter. But now the time is right, and they are off to Lisbon (not a tropical local like the cover would have you believe)! What could go wrong???

To celebrate, they go out for a fancy dinner and to a club for a night of fun! But the next morning, Orla wakes up and Kate is missing. What is worse is that Orla can barely remember the night before. Trying to find her friend, Orla decides to retrace their steps the night before and, in the process, learns some hard truths. Some very, very, very hard truths.

Add this to the how-well-do-you-know-the-people-in-your-life category. It can also be added to the suspend some belief category. Either way, I found this to be a fast entertaining read which had me guessing and then questioning my suspect list.

I found this to be a fast, captivating read which did not disappoint! If you want a weekend escape, give this book a read!


Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own!

Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com

BFFs Orla and Kate head off on a girls weekend to catch up and recharge their friendship. They’ve drifted apart since Orla and her husband had a baby, while Kate is in the midst of a messy divorce.

Kate’s night out on the town is far different from what Orla expects. Kate takes Orla to a late dinner at an expensive restaurant and then to a club where Kate starts flirting with two men. Kate invites the two men back to their Airbnb over Orla’s drunken protests. The next morning, Orla wakes up with only scattered memories of the previous night and Kate missing. As the hours pass without Kate turning up, Orla sets out to find her friend and figure out what happened. The more Orla looks for Kate, the more secrets she uncovers about her best friend and herself.

This is an entertaining thriller that’s perfect for a quick read by the pool or at the beach. Orla is a likable main character and the book has lots of lies for her to untangle. This is perfect for fans of the Lifetime channel’s movie mysteries.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Kate and Orla go to Lisbon for a girls weekend. They have been best friends for 20 years. Orla, married and is a new mom and Kate is in going through a divorce.
Kate wants to go out like they did when they were in their 20s - dinner, bars, clubbing- but Orla just wants to stay home and sleep. Orla gives in and they go to dinner then a bar, where they meet two attractive men. Kate's invites them back to the apartment.
Orla wakes the next morning with not much memory of the night before. She discovers that Kate is missing. Orla spends the whole day searching for her.
From there, the search is more uphill. She can't get anyone to take her seriously and she has to go out on her own with the help of her Uber driver to investigate the disappearance,
This is literally a book that you don't find out what happened to Kate until the very end. And I mean the very end. This is a fast, easy read. The last paragraph had my heart pounding.
Thank you NetGalley, Sarah Alderson, Avon and Harpercollins360

The Weekend Away grabbed my attention quickly and kept it through a variety of interesting twists. There were some aspects that seemed a little far fetched but it didn’t take away from the story. I will definitely keep this author on my list to check out!

Orly and Kate have been friends for the past 20 years. You would think that their normal girls weekend to Portugal would be as wonderful as their past trips. What starts as a normal weekend turns into anything but. Orly has to solve a mystery while trying to prove her own innocence. She comes to find that everything she knew and loved was not what she thought and someone she has doubts about may be her only hope. This book had so many twists and turns that it kept me guessing until the last page!! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Weekend Away by Sarah Alderson is a great escape read and an excellent chance to take a book vacation to Lisbon, Portugal.
What I Liked
I love the setting. I have been to Lisbon and can confirm a city that makes an excellent backdrop for a psychological thriller based on a girl's weekend away. The streets are so steep and narrow, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about running through them in the dead of night. And the architecture is beautiful in its old world meets new world way. All along the Iberian Peninsula coast, the Moorish influence is still reflected in the aesthetics and creates much to dream about. I had a wonderful book vacation as I read it, thinking back on my actual time there and exploring the book's sites that are new to me.
I could not put the book down. Even though the ending did not surprise me, I did enjoy many twists along the way and wanted desperately to find out what happened to Kate. Did she pull a Houdini? She has been known to do so. Or did something more nefarious happen to her?
Finding out kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through from beginning to end.
The character development was done so well that I could easily visualize the characters and see them on Lisbon's streets. Konstandin Zeqiri has a very compelling back story that would translate wonderfully into a book where he is the main character. He is the most developed character in this first-person narrated book, which was told by Orla, who was frantically searching for her best friend, Kate. Orla is not developed as well, but she tells the story so her development can be gleaned by the little innuendos or hints she gives at various points.
What I Wish
I felt let down by the ending, wishing it been more of a surprise. There are just so many options that I could think of that would have been a delicious twist, but none came to fruition. Also, the creepy open-ended conclusion really was not that creepy to me. It provided a slight twinge, but nothing in the novel supported the creepiness, so it failed to ring true or have the desired impact.
To Read or Not to Read
If you are looking for a psychological thriller that you can escape with, The Weekend Away is all that and more.

This one is full,of twists and turns that keeps you reading from the very beginning. Two longtime friends, one married with a baby and the other recently divorced go away for a girls weekend to Lisbon. But one disappears soon after they arrive. The rest 9f the story is is spent finding out what happened to her. Just when you think you have it all figured out, you don’t! The ending could just be the biggest surprise of all that might leave the door open for another book.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy to read and review. I definitely recommend this one if you love a good mystery.

Reading Between the Wines book review #38/115 for 2021:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book: The Weekend Away
Author: Sarah Alderson
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
RELEASES on April 13, 2021!!! GET YOUR OWN COPY TODAY!!
Recommended to readers who like a good thrilling mystery with a few twists and reveals.

Sipping thoughts: Reading this book a year after Covid hit us hard, made me yearn to also be able to go on a girl’s weekend with my friends. But let me tell you, if and when I go, I hope I do not have a weekend like Orla! What was supposed to be a nice weekend with her best friend and time away from being a new mother, turns into a horrible nightmare. I loved the pace of this story. I did not feel it dragged or left any unturned stone. While I guessed what happened to Kate then guessed again, lol. I do not feel like it was so farfetched that another reader couldn’t figure it out. I finished this book in just a few days, eager to solve the mystery. The last part was aaagggghhhh!!! It had me shaking my head and smiling at the same time.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley, @sarahaldersonauthor and @Harper360 for an advanced copy of @TheWeekendAway

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