A group of old friends go visit a secluded island- what could possibly go wrong?
This book is packed with intrigue, suspicion and tension. Some old secrets are revealed which added to the drama quite nicely. The multiple narratives worked well within this novel as it revealed certain tensions within the group which added to the books tense atmosphere. There's a tinge/hint of supernatural in the book and I would have liked the author to have played into it a bit more. The climax of the book for me when it was all finally revealed just didn't quite hit the mark for me after the book's amazing build up. The ending just feel clunky and I didn't feel fully satisfied that it was tied up properly. I do think however it could making an excellent sequel if the author used the same skills in exploring the supernatural side that had been hinted at.

This book started quite slowly but continued to build the atmosphere and suspense. A group of friends left on an island with a lighthouse, amid a few stormy days will always appeal. My biggest issue was none of the characters were particularly likeable. So I didn’t find myself rooting for anyone in particular. The dynamics were interesting, but felt a little drawn out as the book progressed. I’ll be honest and say I found the ending a little unsatisfying. Overall, the book did have a page turning quality to it, and I would still tell people that it’s worth a read.

The Lighthouse centers around 6 university friends having a reunion on a remote island with a newly renovated lighthouse. The cover and my love of lighthouses is what first drew me to this story. I expected spooky and I got it, especially when things (and a person) start to go missing. Gen telling ghost stories only added to the spook factor and mystery.
This is a slow paced book. The friends lives are slowly revealed. One thing that kept me wondering was how did these people become friends in the first place. They all seem to have little in common with each other. And now, to me the friendships are lacking in camaraderie . All I mostly felt was tension between them.
I loved the premise and liked the story. The ending came rather quickly after a secret was revealed.
3.5 stars rounded up

Thanks to netgalley and Avon Books UK for the arc

Loved the premise of this book. Sounded like it was going to be a real tension packed, spooky read. Sadly turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. The plot of 6 friends going away for an isolated weekend has been done multiple times before with varying numbers of people and this didn't really bring anything new to the party. The characters were well drawn but the plot was impossibly slow. No build up of tension, no increasing threat, nothing. Various Americanisms grated, Certain things struck me as highly inplausible.. Why didn't Ben, who said he would arrive on the Saturday turn up? Why would you neck nearly a whole bottle of wine when you were suppodely getting a migraine? Triggers that are well known anyone? Hypertension is not necessarily related to migraines and you would have no idea anyway whether your blood pressure was "through the roof" without measuring it. Your partner is in bed next to you having a hideous nightmare, tossing and turning and you don't notice?
For people who supposedly liked each other they had a funny way of showing it! The ending was rabbit out of a hat with no real connection to the plot and didn't make sense, Rather left field I thought and then suddenly it was all over- oh and by the way a mirror got broke. All very odd and implausible

Kira has been asked to take photographs of a converted lighthouse on a remote Scottish Island for an article in a magazine. She thinks it's the perfect place for a reunion weekend with her friends from University, a place to reconnect and have a good fun weekend.

Their excitement soon turns into unease as there's a strange feeling to the island, is it just because of Genevieve's ghost stories or is it something more? It takes a sinister turn when things start to go missing ... including James!

The book is told in turn from the perspective of Kira, Genevieve and Moira which I think adds to the suspense of the story.

I loved the premise of the book, it's dark and atmospheric with a great mix of characters and I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for ARC

Loved the premise of this novel of 6 friends having a reunion on a remote Scottish island. I have a cl I see group of friends with whom I go away and was interested to see how the social interactions, group dynamics and sorry unfolded.

I found the author's style easy to read, I enjoyed her descriptive passages and how the story was told from the viewpoint of 3 of the friends. I did find the interaction between the friends somewhat stilted at times and did wonder why they were still friends as there did seem to be about of hostility and anger towards each other.

Overall an enjoyable read

I was looking forward to reading this book, the story of six friends who travel to a remote Scottish island to stay in a recently renovated lighthouse. Odd things happen from the moment they arrive and it seems there are several secrets they are hiding from one another.

I started to get worried I would have to stop reading when the story got a bit spooky, as I do not like scary stories, but I was fine! Although there are plenty of dramatic events I wasn't kept awake at night.

There are some great descriptions of the island and weather and it was easy to imagine how desolate and worrying the surroundings were.

There was a fairly good pace to the story, which was told from several characters: points of view, but I felt like the ending was a little rushed.

Six friends travel to a remote island north of the Scottish Highlands for an old school reunion. They've rented the lighthouse - a stunning, now abandoned building that was once notorious for deaths at sea. On the first evening, someone goes missing, The group search all through the night to no avail. But when the five remaining friends return to the lighthouse early the next morning, they are shocked to find James inside, He looks terrified - but won't say a word where he's been.

What a creepy vibe this book had throughout. Six friends got together for an old school reunion, and I expected something to happen to one of them, but not for them to return. Other strange things start happening to the group. The story is told from multiple points of view. This book was not quite what I expected it to be, but I still liked it. I liked that things started to go wrong the moment they set foot on the island. The story has a steady pace. There's plenty of drama, thrills, secrets' and bickering between the friends.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #AvonBooksUK and the author #FranDorricott for my ARC of #TheLighthouse in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and the author for the chance to review.

I really liked the premise of this book when I requested it from Netgalley It didn't disappoint. 6 friends, 5 of which have known each other since University. Hire a cottage on a remote Scottish island next to a lighthouse. The story is told from a different POV for each Chapter, which worked well. Although I was surprised it wasn't told from every character's viewpoint. Unless I missed those.

This was an exciting story that was well told and pulled you in and kept you guessing till the end. Great characters that were relatable and believable

Overall, this was a spooky atmospheric story that was part psychological thriller, part ghost story and a bit of the Famous Five thrown in. I would have liked another twist at the end, but I won't spoil it

Six old friends stay in a converted lighthouse on an uninhabited island. What could possibly go wrong? It begins on the first night when James is seemingly lost, then reappears in a somewhat traumatised state. There’s a good build-up of creepy and potentially supernatural tension in this book and this atmosphere doesn’t let up. I enjoyed this aspect of the story. I didn’t find James’s secret really enough to explain things, and the later revelation, although it does explain certain happenings, I couldn’t quite believe. A good story, even so.

Great premise. Six friends set off to a lovely island complete with a newly refurbished lighthouse, ostensibly to catch up with old friendships, relax and generally chill for a weekend. The story is well written, with excellent descriptions of the island and its atmospheric surroundings. The author uses multiple POVs, although it was a little difficult to differentiate between the voices. From the very beginning, each friend has minor grumbles and inter-acted scratchily with one another, which made me wonder just why they were such close friends, as the author kept reiterating. There was a lot of repetition as each character took centre stage and, for me, the pacing was way too slow. Sadly, I never found any of the expected tension or build-up to a big climax. The ending was muddled and didn't really make a lot of sense. All in all, a disappointing read from a promising start.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Six friends reunite for a weekend stay in a newly renovated lighthouse on a remote island of Scotland. They think it's the perfect opportunity to rekindle their friendship and reminisce about their college days.
But things start going wrong from the beginning. Items are misplaced or vanish, one of the friends disappears but refused to talk about why or what happened, and they learn that the island is steeped in tragedy and death. Soon they start questioning if they really are alone on the island. Is it ghosts? Is someone hiding on the island? Or is the threat much closer to home?

I enjoyed the folklore and ghost stories surrounding the lighthouse. They enhanced the setting and created an ominous atmosphere. Throughout the book, I kept wondering if the strange occurrences were a result of the supernatural. Alas, the rest of the book took a nosedive.

The characterization was good-The individual characters and their personalities were fleshed out pretty well. The problem is none of them seemed to be friends or even acquaintances. They were supposed to be old friends from college, but there wasn't any comradery and their shared history was murky at best and mostly glossed over. You never got a real sense of why they stayed friends or why they became friends in the first place.

Another issue I had was the pacing. The story hinged on lack of communication/withholding of information, and it became quite tedious after awhile. Plus, no dark secrets were revealed which made all the buildup and tension anticlimactic
.
My biggest grievance, though, is the ending. It was a weird and confusing choice that came out of left field and didn't fit in well with the rest of the story. There just wasn't enough context there to make it effective.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When six friends stay on an isolated Scottish island with a lighthouse and cottage for a long weekend they think they are the only ones on the island. Then items start disappearing and they are unable to contact anyone off the island is there ghosts or spirits here from tragedies that happened years ago or are they allowing their nerves to frighten them. As the hours pass everyone seems to be unravelling until they receive a message telling them to LEAVE.
A book that keeps you awake and turning the pages until you get to the last page definately worth a read.

THE LIGHTHOUSE by Fran Dorricott
Publish Date: 3 February 2022

I enjoyed this book with a touch of folklore, with mysterious and creepy bits. The well written novel had atmosphere and descriptions I could picture in my imagination. The dialogue, at times, annoyed and felt overpowering and niggly but all in all I good read.

I give a 4 star rating

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

An intriguing mystery with ghostly elements set in a lighthouse on a remote Scottish island. Six university friends are reuniting for the weekend. There are undercurrents with the new girlfriend, and one another couple have differences of opinion having left their baby for the first time. Only 4 stars from me as I would have liked the individual characters to be more fully developed. Sometimes I had to go back to the start of the chapter to see who was narrating it: they didn’t have distinctive personalities.

Sorry this wasn’t for me it was too slow and didn’t like the characters having said that it was well written and easy to read,

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC

*4 Stars!!

This book follows a group of friends who decide to have their yearly reunion on a deserted island north of the Scottish Highlands in a recently renovated lighthouse. However no sooner have they arrived and settled in other members of the group start to notice that things are disappearing and being moved around there cottage and then there's the feeling of being watched, but there's no time to worry about that as a member of their group disappears only to reappear hours later confused and terrified but unwilling to talk about what happened during those missing hours. The group try to put things behind them and carry on with their weekend as planned but when one of the group starts talking about ghost stories related to the island things on the island become even more bizarre and a threatening message follows. Is one of the group responsible for the terror that follows or has the ghost story got them imagining things.

I really liked the authors description of when they were approaching the island it really made me get a feeling for the island and the lighthouse and the beauty surrounding it. I was slightly disappointed by the ending I think a confirmation that they were right about their theory and a family reunion would have been interesting. I did like that some of the things which had been happening were kind of left for the reader to decide if it was a person or a ghost.

Overall I really enjoyed this book but that being said the pace felt really slow to me and didn't really start to get interesting until the 75% mark and then after that I couldn't put it down. The first 75% was mostly them just snapping at each other for the littlest things and taking things others said the wrong way. I did consider DNF-ing it but glad I didn't. Overall I really liked the book but the last 15% really made the story.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for my honest review.*

Will a group of friends weather the storm of a haunting weekend away? In a tried and trusted formula five old friends from uni, plus the newest girlfriend of one of them, meet up for a reunion weekend on a remote Scottish island that houses just a lighthouse, a cottage, an old ruined shack, and a host of stories and legends about past tragedies and ghostly goings-on. The discovery behind a locked door of a child's bedroom, preserved in 80s' style, the suggestion of watchful, unseen eyes and a spelled-out clear warning to the friends to leave the island causes fear and panic in the group. But does the threat come from outside their circle, or is one of them gaslighitng the others? Their relationship certainly soon fractures as past wrongs are cast up and trust in each other dissolves.
I liked the premise of this story - there's nothing better than an old lighthouse to capture an air of spooky mystery, and the narrative does this from the start. I felt the actual action took too long to get going - there was an awful lot of internal dialogue from the multiple narrators, and too many false starts before things got really sinister. But as the story progresses , the tension ratcheted up nicely and the mystery was satisfactorily resolved.
I think the characters let this story down a little. None were particularly empathetic, and I'd have liked to have seen them grow and develop a bit more through the challenges they faced in the lighthouse, But the survivors left the island as they came on to it without resolving their own issues, which I felt was a missed opportunity.

Five friends from uni days, plus the new girlfriend of one of the chaps, have a reunion at a deserted lighthouse on an island in Scotland. The holiday is a freebie as one the group, Kira, is a photographer and her company want her to take photos and do a review as a new holiday venue.

From the off there is tension and bickering between the group, no one really seems to like anyone else and even the couples have issues. A few of the group feel the lighthouse has a strange atmosphere, so when things start to happen, they imagine the worst in that there must be a presence in the building. Events escalate and there are discoveries, weird events, moody temperaments, secrets and lies.

As a premise this was good, but actual delivery not achieved. It needed to be scarier!

This plot runs the same as a lot of recent offerings, friends with issues and secrets stranded in a deserted place, unable to contact civilisation. Unfortunately, this is not one of the best. With constant bickering, fallings out, and poor personalities, the characters are a sad, boring lot. Far too much repetition of arguments and moody stares.

When events started to unfold it was a disappointment and very imaginative, but not in a good way. There did not seem to be any cohesion between the characters and the outcome, the ending very wild and woolly. The story was too long, if there had been a tidier plot, with less filler it would have improved the book.

Thank you NetGalley.

I feel like for this book to work for you you have to just inherently think that lighthouses are spooky. I went into this wanting a great, creepy, atmospheric read and it really missed the mark for me. I don't feel like the author really set up the setting, I was just told things were scary, or people were worried about this or that, or this or that was happening, but I never saw it. I never felt it. It was just a lighthouse which in and of itself is not scary...but the book treated it like it was.

This is the story of a bunch of friends who go on a long weekend trip together to a remote lighthouse on an island. Now at the beginning we are told that one of the friends was telling ghost stories on the boat ride over and scaring some of the others, but it took forever before we the reader actually got one of these ghost stories. Just telling me there were ghosts stories? Not scary. Doesn't set up a good creepy atmosphere. Having ghost stories told about the island you are going to on the way to the island? Creepy. But only if they are spooky themselves and like I said we are told them! When we did finally get one of these ghost stories? It was...not really a ghost story. Or not a good one. There was not a great setup, no anticipation, nothing that would make you scared like when you sit around a campfire and try and scare each other on a camping trip. I was expecting more of that kind of story, but instead we just got a few lines of facts and...it didn't work for me.

The story was told from various points of view, but they all felt the same. It took a while to remember who everyone was and who was with whom and so on. Really no one really seemed like they liked anyone else, but I was expecting some of the strange behavior to have a reason behind it. If it did we are never told it (and no, I don't just mean that the one lady is an ex-girlfriend of the one guy and so there is some tension there). It was...an odd group of supposed friends.

The ending was really off as well. It didn't make any sense. What happened was completely unnecessary because there was no point. But then again these characters often made decisions throughout the book that made no sense so why would the ending be any different? Overall this story did not work on any level for me. But maybe if you think lighthouses are inherently spooky it would be a better read for you?

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced copy of this book