I really dislike rating a book this low. Two stars is supposed to mean "it was ok" and I guess that's really, truly the best thing I can say about this one. The premise is really difficult to describe, but if I had to, I would say it's about an under-occupied homemaker who, over a weekend wedding, decides that every little thing that everyone else in her friend and family group is doing is in some way related to her, or is "all my fault" and as a result, she runs around making poor decisions, starting drama and ill-advised conversations that ultimately help precipitate a tragedy.

Here's the set up: Rachel is in her late thirties and not pursuing the career of her dreams. Having dedicated her younger years to raising her now-university-aged son, she struggles with feelings of inadequacy, envy and mild dislike directed at her brother-in-law's bride-to-be, Ali. Ali is a career woman, and very beautiful but can come across as somewhat vacuous. And also there's this weird undercurrent between Ali, and Rachel's husband, Jack, who used to be Ali's boss. All those factors culminate to somehow persuade Rachel that the perfectly pleasant Ali is her archenemy who is for unknown reasons (and despite all evidence to the contrary) "out to destroy" her life. It doesn't help matters that Rachel's friend Paige is there to stoke the suspicion that the weird thing that might be going on between Ali and Jack is an affair.

Most of the book is driven by Rachel's suspicions and fevered imagination, as well as a twenty-years-in-the-making and completely unnecessary plot-twist of a drama between Paige's husband, Noah and Rachel. You see, among her other imaginings, Rachel imagines herself in love with Noah who was her college best friend, even while she tells herself that her world will be obliterated if it turns out her husband, Jack is indeed unfaithful with Ali. This double-standard is often remarked upon in Rachel's mind, almost as though it is plot and character inconsistency that the author felt duty-bound to point out, in lieu of having to actually explain.

I kid you not when I say that fully 90% of this book is Rachel concocting farfetched scenarios in her head involving some confluence of her and Noah's drama, and Jack and Ali's drama; and the rest of it is Rachel demonizing Ali simply because she's younger and sexier and holds men in her thrall. It's fine for a character to be unlikeable (and trust me, most of them were) but it's almost unforgivable for them to be ... irrational. And trust me, most of them were.

All in all, I was somewhat let down by this read.

**AUDIOBOOK NOTE: The narrator was good. All the right emotion and inflections at the right time. Honestly, the narrator is what made it possible for me to finish the book at all. **

3 Stars

This book reminded me of The Guest List, by Lucy Foley.

Rachel, Jack, Noah and Paige are a tight friendship group with a lot of history. It started with Rachel and Noah, who have been best friends since college. There was even a brief time when Rachel and Noah considered being more than friends, although they've kept that a secret.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Twenty-years later, Rachel is happily married to Jack, while Noah is married to Paige.

When Jack's little brother, Will, decides on a destination wedding with his young, sexy, flamboyant fiance, Ali, the foursome, with Ali in tow, travel to the beautiful country of Portugal for the event. They figure if nothing else, it'll be a nice little couples retreat for them.

Unfortunately, as they soon learn, it doesn't takes long for drama to arise when Ali is around. It seems to follow her everywhere, and as predicted by the friends, is created before they've even left the airport.

Ok, I enjoyed the first half of this book. After that, things got a little messy. So much repetition, a story that jumps all over the place, and a group of characters that started to become one-dimensional and forgettable. A wedding, flawed characters and a cut up story line. I felt the author really did not know where to go with this wedding that went bizarre.

I found the ending to be disappointing as well.

This one was just not for me. It seemed like nothing happened. I didn’t DNF it because I just kept thinking something was bound to happen. Most of the story was about the main character’s speculation that her husband was cheating on her but with the wrong woman. I was expecting a little more to the story line.

While I didn't absolutely love the ending/resolution of this thriller, I found it to be a VERY enjoyable audiobook listening experience, which is why I'm giving it 4 stars. I'm not sure I would have liked this one as much in hard copy book form, but I can definitely recommend the audiobook.

Though billed as a thriller (and Sandie Jones is certainly a thriller writer), this book has more of a mystery feel to it. In fact, the beginning reads more like contemporary fiction centered on a group of friends traveling to Portugal for one of the couple's weddings. We pretty quickly learn that the main character Rachel's husband Jack does not like the bride. Unfortunately, it's his brother who is marrying her. As the book goes on and we learn more about the characters histories with each other and current trip experiences, we realize there are lots of questions of infidelity.

I don't love vague endings to books and though I'm not totally sure Jones was trying to be vague, I don't feel like I had a true understanding of what happened when the book ended. And based on other spoilers I've read, there are definitely some questions remaining. I felt more confused than anything and had to rewind several times to understand what was going on.

Honestly, I feel like if I read this as a book, it would have received 3 stars from me. But because I enjoyed listening to it and getting to know the characters from the narrator, I'm giving it 4.

Sandie Jones is quickly becoming a must read author for me. I enjoy her writing style so much! The Guilt Trip had so much drama and it held my attention so well. I couldn’t stop listening to this one!! The narration totally added to the storyline. This was such a grippy 5 star read! I HIGHLY recommend this one!!

I have never wanted to be in book's setting as much as I did when it came to The Guilt Trip. This book was so fantastic and I was so drawn in by the characters and the story. Kudos to the writer and the narrator!

I was really expecting to like this unfortunately this one wasn’t for me. The story was very drawn out, I didn’t like any of the characters and I found the narrator to be very annoying .

The Guilt Trip by Sandi Jones is a quick, entertaining domestic thriller full of lies, secrets, and has plenty of twists and turns.

I listened to this on audio, and was immediately sucked in by the narrator. She had a wonderful voice that really brought the story to life. And while this plot was a little bit of a slow burn, it still kept my attention. I’d recommend this one if you’re looking for a lighter, domestic thriller.

A huge thank you to MacMillon Audio for gifting me this copy.

“The Guilt Trip” Audio Book – Narrated by Clare Corbett
Author: Sandie Jones

Wedding Getaway Sloughs into Spewing Volcano of Secrets

Wild at heart; too sexy for her own good; and just plain ditzy; Ali, and her fiancé, Will, are getting married in Portugal and have invited just two other couples to join them for their destination nuptials—his brother, Jack, and spouse, Rachel; along with friends, husband and wife, Noah and Paige.

These six individuals depart to enjoy a fun international adventure and to celebrate the marriage of loved ones, yet no one will return unscathed from this explosive trip of exposed revelations. A love fest it is not.

“The Guilt Trip” is narrated by Rachel—sister-in-law of the bride, Ali, who creates drama, distraction and distrust from the get-go. Initially, Rachel solely defends Ali’s odd behaviors because she is young and naïve.

Although, is Ali truly an ingenue? All may not be as it seems with this silly-acting bribe. Does she have an ulterior motive for the oft-times hurtful things she does and says? Can we, the reader/listener, trust Ali in her bizarre narratives?

This is a story with countless accusations and misdirections before it's final shocking reveal that caught me totally off-guard due to its unexpectedness. If you like intense personal conflict—Who did what? With whom? Where? When?—with lots of juicy gossip and speculation, then “The Guilt Trip,” by Sandie Jones may just be your perfect guilty pleasure.

Furthermore, Sandie Jones’ audio book version of “The Guilt Trip,” is beautifully read by Clare Corbett in her clear and lovely lilting voice. I enjoyed it immensely.

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The Book Maven’s Journal—Reviews for Word Connoisseurs

REVIEWER: J.Hunt
STAR RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️


“The Guilt Trip” Audio Book – Narrated by Clare Corbett
Author: Sandie Jones
Genre: General Fiction | Mysteries & Thrillers
Publication Date: 03 August 2021
Publisher: Macmillan Audio

With Sincerest Appreciation to NetGalley, Author Sandie Jones, and Macmillian Audio for Providing this Advance Publication Copy for Review.

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones is a soap opera filled with secrets. It involves three couples headed for a destination wedding in Portugal. The story kind of ambles along until the last hour or so. Then, suddenly, a twist that I did not see coming at all! The narrator did an awesome job. I really liked her. I will definitely listen to more of this author’s books. Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

If I wanted a soap I would watch one on daytime tv. She’s married to him but is sleeping with this other guy, but he’s in love with someone else. And that’s it. That’s the whole book. And why is it becoming more and more normalized to cheat on your significant other? This is not a good thing. Stop acting like it’s okay. It was boring, and anticlimactic.

The Guilt Trip is a ball of chaos and deceit all wrapped into a destination wedding weekend. A group of friends and family are gathering in Portugal for Ali and Will’s wedding. Will is brother of Jack and the story is narrated through Rachel, Jack's wife.

In this story, you will be infidelity, rekindled romances, secrecy, humor, and lots of lies and misdirection. The result is a car accident, pointing fingers and broken relationships. There was a bunch of lead up to the ending of the book and I feel the author took the right amount of time wrapping things up. It was clearly by design, but I wasn’t fond of Rachel being portrayed as clueless and constantly making excuses for people including her husband. It’s frustrating to me when women are characterized this way.

I listened to the audio of this book. It has single person narration by Clare Corbett. She did an awesome job!

Sandie Jones had we wondering the whole time who was really being honest. It was entertaining but not as suspenseful as I was hoping.

Thank you to @netgalley and @Macmillanaudio for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
3.5 stars – Rounding to 4 for Goodreads

Five long-time British friends, two of whom are brothers, set off for a weekend in Portugal, for the wedding of one of the brothers to a woman who, the more they find out about her, the less enamored they become.

Rachel, Jack, Noah, and Paige have complex relationships based on their history with one another, but generally enjoy each other's company. Tensions simmer, however, as they interact with the prospective groom--Jack's brother, Will--and the bride-to-be, the self-centered Ali. As the story unfolds, secrets and misunderstandings create unexpected consequences that change their lives forever.

The Guilt Trip is a well-paced suspenseful tale that draws readers and listeners in from its opening scenes, holding them in its grip until the very end.

This one was a DNF for me- I couldn't follow along with the MANY perspectives and it felt really jumbled to me. That being said, I do like the authors writing but this one just wasn't a knock out of the park for me. I'm going to revisit the book instead of the audio soon.

This book reminded me of the soap operas my mom used to watch when I was a kid. Each character was keeping secrets and/or doing awful things and lying to each other, so I strongly disliked everyone until the big reveal. When the "truth" started coming out it got interesting for a while but the ending was so confusing. I see from the questions asked on Goodreads that I'm not the only one who isn't totally sure what happened in the end.

I probably only finished this audiobook because it was loaned to me for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The narration was engaging and there were twists I didn't see coming, but overall I found the inner monologue of the main character repetitive and distracting. It seemed the same ground was gone over many times without advancing the plot -- and then a lot happened kind of all at once at the end. All in all, just meh.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. In my opinion it was a bit slow . There was enough drama but I did not feel the thriller piece. There were a lot of characters to remember. I t was a bit confusing in the beginning but eventually I figured it out.

This book caught my attention because I am in love with Portugal. I also am a fan of Sandie Jones.

Let's start with the characters:
Rachel, Jack, Paige, Noah, Will and Ali.

- Rachel is married to Jack
- Jack is Will's brother
- Will is friends with Noah
-Noah is Rachel's close friend since college.
- Paige is Rachel's best friend, and is married to Noah
and then there is Ali, who is Will's fiance.

Keeping that straight is a thriller in itself!

They all head to a beachfront villa in Portugal for Will's wedding. This is where things get twisty and turvy. Ready? This book includes:

Weddings
Affairs
Drama
Accidents
Lies
Secrets
A funeral ?
Misdirection

The plot moved quickly and there was many revelations to keep you on your toes. However, it with all the characters, I feel it was hard to really develop them. There was so much conversation, that was hard to keep up with who was saying what at times. I also thought there was some holes left at the end of the book. I tend to like my books buttoned up, but then it leaves little room for imagination.

Overall, this is a good beach read with some twists. If you like drama, there is no shortage in this book!

I think that the marketing for this one missed the mark. I'm not sure why it's classified as a mystery/ thriller, as the only thing in common with the genre is a plot twist at the end.
This could be a really pleasant beach read, summer drama fiction. In that case I would not have picked it up, as I know that's not something I usually go for.

Six friends, three couples, a stay at a cliff side villa in Portugal and a weekend of wedding festivities. Amidst all the partying is a tangled web of lies, deceit and suspicious minds. ⁣
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Ok, I'm just going to put it out there = this book was not for me. It felt slow. I was on edge, waiting, wanting, desperately pleading with the book gods, for something good to happen. Given, there was a lot of suspicion, secrets, lies and sneaking around on the part of many of the characters. But this was just one of those books where I honestly did not like a single character. I'm ok with that when it's the kind of characters you love to hate, this was simply not that for me. I hated them all. Period. ⁣
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In all honestly, had this not been on audio, I probably would not have finished it. I didn't really care one way or the other what was really going on, who was lying to who and who did what with whomever. Plus, I was sure I knew exactly what was going on & surprise - I was right. So, no surprise - which is way underwhelming when you have to wait till almost the bitter end for something to actually happen. ⁣
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I don't generally rate books too low but this one just really did not work for me. I almost didn't post this review because I don't want to sound whiny or negative but I strive to be honest and open here. That means, being transparent when I don't love a book. In the end, this is simply my opinion. The great thing about books and reading is that it's 100% a personal and subjective experience. You might love this one. I hope some of you do. Sadly, it just wasn't for me.