Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press Group for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟 💫 3.5/5 stars

The Guilt Trip is a thriller about a group of friends who head off to a destination wedding that ends in murder. Rachel and Jack appear to have the perfect marriage. When they go to the wedding of Jack’s brother and Jack’s former employee, Ali, Rachel begins to question whether her marriage is as solid as she believed. Her close friend, Noah, and his wife, Paige, are also in attendance, and as more secrets are revealed, the question of who died and why gets more and more complicated.

This was an easy, quick read for a hot summer day. It isn’t my favorite by Jones and I did not find the characters to be very likable, but I was still interested in the mystery and the twists and turns of the story. I wanted a little more from the big climax of the story, but Jones did not hold back on the dramatics and juiciness, so kudos.

Overall, this was a quick thriller with some fun twists.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Three couples and a destination wedding in Portugal- what could go wrong? Well, for one thing, the two married couples aren't actually that happily married, the two older women are jealous of the young bride (because she's young) and long held secrets will eventually tumble out. This isn't a suspense novel- or even domestic suspense- but more of a domestic drama. I had a bit of trouble keeping everyone straight at first but once I settled in, well all was fine. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Not a lot of surprises - it will make a good beach read.

I really enjoyed this book. I didn’t want to stop reading once I got started. There were a few twists I didn’t see coming. I would definitely recommend this book!

Will & Ali are having their dream destination wedding in Portugal and 5 of Will's closest friends are all going to go spend some time before the wedding to get to know his bride-to-be a little better. Jack & Rachel and Noah & Paige have all been friends for years. You would think after all ths time there wouldn't be any secrets left within their small circle of friends. But first they uncover a secret about Ali, and then secrets begin revealing themselves about others in the group. Will anyone's marriage last after this wedding weekend is over with?
I am a huge fan of this author's books, and this latest book did not disappoint. It was non-stop suspense from beginning to end. I love how you never really know what to expect with her books... how you can't make snap judgements on anyone or anything, because everything is so fluid. It definitely keeps you on your toes. If you are a fan of suspense, then this is a must-read!

Wow. Three point seven five stars for this one. I would say the first two thirds I read quite quickly as I wasn’t super invested in the characters, especially the two women kind of picking on the new girl in their clique while also being suspicious of the men in their life and if they were cheating. But that last third?! This is why I love Sandie Jones writing. Just when you think you know what is going to happen, the twist comes like a shot in the dark and you can’t put the book down.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc and Minotaur for the paperback copy in exchange for my honest review.

"Rachel and Noah have been friends since they met at university. While they once thought that they might be something more, now, 2 0years later, they are each happily married to other people, Jack and Paige respectively. Jack’s brother Will is getting married, to the dazzling, impulsive Ali, and the group of six travel to Portugal for their destination weekend."

When Rachel learns something about Ali, she feels compelled to confront her and make sure that Will finds out before the wedding. But what is the actual truth ... and who is living the lie ....

This "he said, she said" soap opera of a thriller takes place at a vacation house on the coast of Portugal where it seems that everyone has secrets to hide and jumping to conclusions can get you killed. The book is well-written and engaging - a bit too soapy for me though.

Thank you St. Martin's Press & Minotaur Books for an electronic ARC of The Guilt Trip in exchange for an honest review!

This was my first book by this author. If you love a descriptive and character driven plot, then this is one for you.

I enjoy the getaway-wedding thrillers that we've been seeing a lot of, so this one caught my eye as soon as I heard about it. I liked the twists and turns - never quite knowing who or what to believe. There were a lot of details that seemed unimportant in the moment that later tied back in to the storyline, which is something I really enjoy.

I was a bit confused with the ending because it all happened so quickly. The book is very descriptive and slower moving until maybe the last 10% where it is action-packed. I found myself at times wanting to jump to the next point of dialogue instead of reading another description of a person's past experience or inner thoughts.

I'm glad I got the chance to experience this author's writing style before pub day and look forward to reading more by her!

The Guilt Trip focuses on a group of friends vacationing in an exotic location for a wedding. Insert lots of soap opera drama, adults behaving badly, and a few million secrets for fun! Wait… haven’t I read this book like a million times?! ⁣
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⁣I found this entire book tedious. Not only did I find the plot overdone, but I couldn’t keep any of the characters or couples straight for the first 60% of the book! They were just not unique or memorable enough. ⁣
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⁣Do you enjoy books with lots of backstabbing and infidelity? Do you like a ridiculously long buildup for a single thrilling event? If so, this book might be perfect for you! Unfortunately, it was a miss for me! ⁣
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⁣Two stars! ⭐️⭐️⁣
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⁣Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of The Guilt Trip. It’s available on August 3, 2021.

3.5
The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones begins with a promising scenario. Three couples with lives long intertwined are part of a destination wedding in Portugal. What could possibly go wrong?? Well, there is drama, recriminations, lying, cheating spouses, and various secrets that are revealed. This is mostly a domestic drama, with a bit of suspense that could make it a mild thriller. The characters are basically unlikeable and unbelievable. The plot has a few nice twists, but a confusing path to the conclusion.
The writing is deft and kept the action moving nicely. But this story and characters just did not grab me. I have really enjoyed Sandi Jones’ previous works, so I will continue to look forward to her next novel.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

✨R E V I E W✨


𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗧 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗣 𝗕𝗬 𝗦𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗝𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗦

I was super excited to receive both kindle & audio advanced copies of this upcoming mystery/thriller. I’ve loved listening to suspenseful audiobooks lately driving around & trying to figure out #whodunnit ✨

However, this book unfortunately fell flat for me. Three couples are on a trip to Portugal for Ali & Will’s wedding. In the days leading up to the wedding, the history & secrets between various characters unfold creating a messy web of miscommunication and unraveling of several characters.

👍🏼: I enjoyed the idea of the novel with the destination wedding setting & an interesting plot with each couple somehow intertwined with the next. This was definitely a slow burn for me, but kept me guessing until the end!

👎🏼: The plot became confusing at times with the six characters each difficult to trust with various history, secrets & accusations. The narrator frequently jumped to wild conclusions with no real proof & I had to yell at her a few times 😂 I felt there was lots of build up to a whirlwind ending that I’m still not sure about!! I re-read the ending a few times, but I’m still not sure 🤷🏼‍♀️

Overall, this would be a great summer mystery read, but unfortunately wasn’t my favorite. This was my first book by Sandie Jones & I’d love to try another read by her if anyone has a recommendation! 📖

Thanks to @netgalley @minotaur_books @stmartinspress & @macmillan.audio for both the ALC & ARC of this novel out 8/3!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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I really wanted to enjoy this book, and I did, but not as much as I hoped. But, it's still a fun read. I loved the beginning much more but I felt like the plot was kind of all over the place. It is a thriller so everything you "THINK" is not what it seems and that definitely had me. I also laughed a lot because some of the scenes were just down right hilarious.

If you want a good vacation read that’s a constant will they won’t, they? did they, didn’t they? then this is for you. Candidly, that is not my cup of tea and so this was a miss for me personally but it will delight those of you who love a sexually tense mess.

I couldn’t get into these characters, none of whom were particularly likable in my opinion. It just was a group of people who I didn’t want to hang out with and I felt didn’t really wanna hang out with each other—a very real thing, sure, but not something I want to invest in as a reader. 

The audio book was too intensely narrated for me (lots of yelling, which was on point for the characters and/or the moment but irritated my sensitive ears). So, I switched over to the ARC about a third of the way through. I think certainly some people will appreciate the theatrics of this narrator—just was too much for me.

Publication Date: August 3rd, 2021

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin Press & Macmillan Audio for the granting me an early listen to the audiobook and an ARC.

I have loved Sandie Jones’ other novels, so I couldn’t wait to read and review The Guilt Trip. However, sometimes after a couple great books, an author’s writing will go downhill. I’m glad to say that’s not the case here!

Noah and Rachel and best friends from their university days. Rachel married Jack, and Noah married Paige, and now all 4 are best friends.

Jack’s little brother, Will, is getting married to a girl named Ali. All 4 are invited to the wedding, and they begrudgingly go. Ali is over the top; she dresses provocatively, is flirtatious with the husbands but especially Jack (her soon to be brother-in-law), and she exaggerates every single time she talks. Regardless, everyone hopes that the destination wedding to Portugal will be a fun way to unwind.

This is Sandie Jones writing, so no, it’s not a fun weekend at all.

Tensions grow as Ali first loses her passport, gets drunk on a plane, and begins talking about everyone’s sex life; Paige pokes fun at the bride-to-be, putting Rachel in the precarious position of balancing all the emotions within the group; and Jack and Noah seem to be growing tense after an incident at the beach. It’s the beginning of Rachel’s suspicion towards Ali, as Ali is hanging all over Jack, drinking too much, and leaving clues that she has a relationship with Jack. Rachel has a dark secret of her own, and she can’t help but wonder if Ali knows what it is.

As things come to a head on Will and Ali’s wedding weekend, your mind will jump to a thousand conclusions and it probably won’t be the correct one. Is Ali as major of a liar as they all believe? Is it Ali doing all the flirting, as Jack claims, or is Jack actually cheating on Rachel with Ali? And what is the secret Rachel is so desperate to hide from everyone?

This is a fun and enjoyable read!

THE GUILT TRIP By Sandie Jones
Thriller fiction
320 pages

Noah, Jack, Paige, and Rachel are 4 friends. They have all been best friends for a long time but Rachel and Noah have been more for 20 + yrs. No one knows them like each other but even the best of friends can be wrong about each other. They all are together for one weekend unto tragedy strikes. What happened and who will be the winner in the end of it all?
Sandie Jones is the queen of thriller, twisted, insane but oh so good books!! This upcoming book had me reading it non-stop. I could put it down for anything!!! This is true of every one of this amazing authors books. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

With her brother-in-law, Will, getting married, Rachel is looking forward to some time away. The location in Portugal is idyllic, even if her best friend Paige is constantly poking fun at the bride-to-be. Ali is a sweet girl if a bit of an over exaggerator. But she’s looking forward to marrying Will; he’s the love of her life. Unfortunately, it all sounds a little too perfect, especially because secrets keep coming, and they don’t stop.

This was a hard cast of characters to like, and Ali was the only one I rooted for. I didn’t really care for Rachel. She spent an excessive amount of time dwelling on certain issues rather than just asking. I can’t picture anyone would torture themselves over what-ifs instead of just having the backbone to ask. Paige was an instigator who just kept feeding into Rachel’s suspicions. Rachel, who goes through life with her head in the sand, lets her keep egging the situation on.

But the thing is, Jones wrote these unlikable characters well. She based this interesting storyline around a challenging cast. While I had a few things figured out, it didn’t dampen my enjoyment of the storyline at all. It’s okay to see the plot twist coming and still enjoy the story. Overall, this was an enjoyable read. Thank you, St. Martin’s, for sending this along.

This is the story of 3 couples. Five have a past connection to each other. They weren’t always the same “social media perfect” couples they were when they arrived to celebrate the wedding of Ali and Will.

At first it doesn’t seem strange that some guests arrived complaining about not wanting to being there. As the story unfolds, readers will learn quickly that past secrets begin to surface and threaten to change everything…in a bad way!

The question is… who is really to blame for things going south, lives being overturned, the “sh!$& hitting the fan”? Can someone in the original friend group prove to be as sinister as Sandie Jones wants you to believe? Or.. is Ali, the newcomer and Will’s fiancé, an awful person with ulterior motives?

In a very drama filled-Jersey Shore vibe… Sandie Jones creates a story that will leave readers shaking their heads at the utter craziness of these flawed characters.

I was expecting a good thriller but this book reminded me more of a soap opera, plus I didn’t like any of the characters. Unfortunately, it was just a big dud for me. Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Absolutely fantastic! I read a lot of thrillers and this had me on my toes until the very end!!! Two thumbs up!,

This could have aptly been titled “The Wedding Nightmare”
2.5 stars rounded up

Three couples leave London together for Portugal where a wedding is to take place for one of them. The whole first half or more of this novel is practically all dialogue between them. It was getting very tedious for me, as I did not find any of them likable characters. The bantering between them got on my nerves. Halfway I was very tempted to DNF this one, and write my review based on my disinterest. I continued however, as I feel obligated to give an honest and objective review on the writing, as I appreciated the complimentary ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

It got better in the latter third of the novel. Some of the secrets that the characters were hiding were revealed, and even the clues that indicated one thing, were not clues to the real story, but misleading, as they were intended to be. Not hard to figure that part out.

The epilogue does not disclose who is making the statement in the epilogue so one has to take a guess as to who it is wrapping this up and the reader is left to guess what actually happens in the wake of the ending.

Not all bad. Make up your own mind and give it a whirl. Many other readers have liked it far more than I have,

This was my first Sandie Jones and I’m very much regretting putting her other books off for so long!! The Guilt Trip is a story about 3 couples with VERY complex relationships. The way the characters were written and their dialogue with eachother was just so real and raw, I loved it so much just because of the relationships. But I guessed the ending less than half way in, but it was still fun to watch everything unravel.