This book was really good until the end. The ride was interesting but then all of a sudden it’s just over. The build was too much for the ending. I feel that more needed to be done with the ending for this to be a solid thriller. Honestly it was great until then but that killed it for me.

This audio was so good! I became immersed into Ali & Rachel almost immediately. I thought I had it figured out soon after the book started but I also knew it couldn’t have been that obvious! I don’t want to give anything away and spoil this book, but I will say the writing was great and the audio book was just as good. I would definitely recommend it!

This book was such a bore until the last 20% or so. This is mostly full of relationship drama for characters that weren’t very developed. For a “gripping thriller,” it was pretty mundane. Perhaps it would have been better with a prologue of the mystery at the beginning to get an idea of what was to come. I appreciate the audio copy from NetGalley and the publisher and sorry I didn’t enjoy this more.

Married couples Rachel and Jack and Paige and Noah join Will and Ali for their destination wedding in Portugal. After arriving at a beautiful seaside villa, tensions start to rise as secrets, lies, betrayed friendships and infidelity are brought to the forefront. Things quickly escalate and nearly everyone has a devastating secret they will do anything to hide, and as truths threaten to be revealed, it is apparent that some secrets are too big to remain hidden. Secrets are dangerous and by the end of this trip one of them will be dead, the rest of them will be changed forever.
It start out slow, but the middle to end moved much faster.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Ali and Will have planned a destination wedding set in the beautiful Country of Portugal, inviting some of their closest friends Rachel and Jack, and Paige and Noah. Rachel and Noah have been best friends since college and Will is Jacks brother. While Rachel is excited to get to know her future sister in law better, Ali’s antics rub everyone in the group the wrong way. As the weekend unfolds, so do long forgotten secrets that threaten not just the marriages of all three couples but possibly their lives.

This book kept me guessing to the very last pages. A little slow going until about halfway through and very character driven. Just when I thought I had someone figured out there would be a curveball. For a nice quick read full of lies, secrets, and the realization you may not know someone as well as you originally thought pick this book up!

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for this audio arc in exchange for an honest reviews.

I want to thank Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book. Rachel and her husband are in Portugal for her brother in law's wedding to Allie, a girl who is a bit too flirtatious for Rachel's liking. This book was hit and miss for me. I went into this book thinking it was a mystery/thriller, but it was more of a family drama. Rachel is convinced her husband is having an affair with Allie, and isn't sure how to approach the topic.I had a difficult time liking any of the characters, but wanted to see how it was going to end. The ending was a bit grey for me as well. I'm not sure if the ending is actually what happened or if it was all a lie. I did like that the author brought in secondary characters to vouch for the characteristics of the one character. If you like books with endings that let you bring your own interpretations to the table, then this book is for you.

The book was entertaining and the narration was excellent. It only gets 3 stars because the twist in this one is virtually identical to the twist in this author's other book. It felt kind of stale. Had I read this one without knowledge of her other book, the rating would have been higher. But having the same basic thing happen in both books made it less enjoyable.

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones is a book full of couples drama.

"Two couples - Rachel and Jack, Paige and Noah - head to Portugal for the destination wedding of Jack's brother, Will. Will's fiance, Ali, is younger and is determined to have as much fun as she can imagine. As the festivities get underway, secrets come to light. Who can be trusted?

And now someone is dead..."

This is more adults behaving badly drama than thriller. The story is mostly told from Rachel's perspective. She is a "worst case scenario" character. She sees something and makes a big jump in her assumptions. And it's always bad. This is fiction but as a reader you keep telling this character to take it easy and go have some conversations. It's annoying after a while. Jones doesn't really let us know what's happening until the end. And she does that with a wild scene at the wedding reception. A few surprises at the end.

Great audiobook performance from Clare Corbett - I know she had a good time with "Drunk Ali"

Fans of books like Big Little Lies should enjoy the drama here.

There was a lot going on in this book but it kept me interested and guessing how it was going to end. I felt like I was guessing the whole way through whether it should be considered a thriller or family drama. The overall feel was soap opera and the characters were somewhat unlikeable but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I couldn't decide who to root for throughout it. Overall, I liked the book and loved the ending.

This was my first book by both this author and this narrator and while I did enjoy the narration, the boom was just kinda meh. Completely predictable and I kept waiting for a major twist but it never came. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because of the narrator. It reminds me of a soap opera, with everything thrown in and trying to see what will stick.
Rachel and Noah have been friends since uni, despite a one time hook up that they’ve vowed to never repeat or tell anyone about. They are both now married to other people and are headed to Rachel’s brother’s wedding to Ali, a girl who none of them seem to keep in high regard based on rumors and gossip.
The story is told through several POV, and you can’t quite make out which of them is the actual truth. Most of the characters are quite unlikeable and then you realize that they are all intertwined in more ways than they are each willing to admit to, and you think that things will really take off, but it just doesn’t happen.
Who’s lying and who's got what to gain by it?
Thanks to Minotaur books and Netgalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

3.5 stars. Good book. Definitely a lot of lying and misdeeds going on in this group of friends and family. I sort of figured out the who done it, but there were a few curveballs. 3.5 stars if I could. Thank you as always for Netgalley for my early listen on audio book.

Thank you @macmillan.audio @netgalley for ALC of the book. I was really excited to read a story about 3 couples on a destination wedding. This book gave me The Guest List vibes. I was confused with the audiobook with whose perspective the story was coming from. Even just 6 main characters, I was still confused. There’s a lot of twists and turns and the last few chapters packed a lot of info and the epilogue left me more confused then I started.

"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. Clare Corbett's narration is excellent.

A domestic thriller set in Portugal. Rachel and her husband Jack along with her best friend Paige and Paige's husband and Rachel's long time friend Noah have traveled to a resort to celebrate Jack's brother Will and his fiancee Ali.'s wedding.

We know from the start that a death takes place during the weekend. But this is not a locked-room-type thriller, much more a domestic slow burn novel in which the events are detailed though Rachel's eyes. From the start we see how the couples do not get along and it's a guess who will not last the weekend and if it is a murder.

I enjoyed the audiobook reader. - she has a soft English accent and was able to play the voices of all the couples well. The book is well-written and kept me guessing for some time.

I did not enjoy the Rachel character who many, many times thought her eyes were deceiving her, or it was just a dream, or suddenly she would wake up... basically a very passive person who wanted to bury her head in the sand. The end was disappointing and did not fit with the rest of the book in my opinion.

However if you like a twisty thriller, this audiobook will keep you guessing for many hours!

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.

✨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 tons of build up, but the ending whirlwind that I’m still not sure about!! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Overall, this would be a great summer mystery read, but 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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#theguilttrip #netgalleyreview #netgalley #kindleread #mysteryreads #egalley #advancedreaderscopy #ALC #advancedlisteningcopy #summerreading #beachread #beachreading #beachandbooks #summerthrillers #minotaurbooks #stmartinspress #audiobookreview #macmillanaudio #ebookstagram #kindlepaperwhite

I definitely struggled with this one. I was sent the audiobook from Netgalley and had no issue with the narrations. I had issues with the story line and the Cast of characters. I found them annoying and confusing to follow. I think if you are into drama, this a good choice. I was expecting more if a thriller.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this book.

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.

3.5 stars rounded up

Couples Jack & Rachel, and Noah & Paige, travel to Portugal to meet Jack’s brother Will who is to marry Ali. The bride is a bit of a hot mess, but none of them are quite as put together as they think.

Wow, this one was Drama-Rama! Full of unlikeable characters that you get to know through their backstories that come bubbling up in the events that lead up to the wedding. There were several twists, misunderstandings, and a lot of back and forth, which muddled the overall story for me. It was like a soap opera, where I couldn’t NOT know what happened. The ending felt rushed, as there was a lot packed into a small window of time, and I was left confused. It was still an entertaining listen; a quick and bingeable domestic thriller.

This is my first of Sandie Jones’ books, but I have a few of her backlist books on my tbr that I’ll be checking out soon.

Thank you MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

I just don't think this was my thing. Ultimately, I did like this story, but I just feel like the story dragged on and on, and I found myself not finding the characters to be very likeable. I did finish the story, and I liked how it ended up, but getting there was a bit of a chore.