did not like this at all either. i'm sorry but it was incredibly difficult to get through and just wasn't for me.

I was really excited to read The Last Party. I always love books surrounding a party or event and taking place over a short amount of time. Based on the description, it had all the elements I love in a mystery/thriller. Sadly, it fell very short for me. I considered DNF'ing it several times but decided to keep on with it to find out the ending. (Spoiler, I didn't like the ending...)

To be honest, I was not the target reader for this book. I didn't connect with any of the characters (all in their 50s). There were also a lot of secondary storylines happening, and I felt some weren't developed enough. I wanted to know more about Sybil, more about Celestrial Ranch and the owners, more about Dawn's own relationship with her ex, and more about Dawn's daughter Quinn.

As a whole, it had a lot of potential but I think there was just too much going on. There were a lot of mentions of COVID (the book takes place in mid-2022), vaccines (not just COVID) and more. The night of the actual party didn't even come until around the 60-65% point of the book.

All in all, it was okay for me. 2.5 stars (rounding up to 3 at some points.

Thanks Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have always loved books that have party's or something that brings together old friends for something. This book didn't disappoint. I really enjoyed the writing and just the overall atmosphere of the story.

I really liked this book a lot. The story is written so the reader knows that something is going to happen but there is no way to know what or when. I know I won't go on a "girl's weekend" anytime soon.

3 for neutral. This book really depressed me, as I was super excited to read it, but it just was a bit too all over the place for me or at least my mood. Will definitely update if able to finish at a later date, but did try many times and it just didn’t grab me.

I enjoyed the writing style of this book. Though there were times where I found myself confused I still thought that the book was interesting. I do with that I could have gotten to know the characters better. Overall it was an ok read.

by Cassidy Lucas

Thank you to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks and NetGalley for the #gifted e-arc!

SUMMARY:
Dawn and friends are celebrating Dawn's 50th birthday at Celestial Ranch, a dated but in-touch-with-nature air bnb. The group of friends invited bonded years ago over their neurodiverse children, on various points on the Autism spectrum. Something happened that broke the group apart, so relationships are still strained for the birthday reunion. Checking off items on their "freedom list", the groups takes drugs, but when Dawn comes to, a member of the group is missing and they're only the first.

MY THOUGHTS:
I don't think this book was meant for me. I did not connect with any of the characters and could not relate to their lives. The characters were older than I typically enjoy reading about- women in their 50's are at a different point in their lives than I am in my life I did like the aspect of parents of Autistic children. I think that would make for a strong bond and it was one of the more unique ways a group was connected.

There were mentions of COVID-19 sprinkled throughout this book, which was the first I've read that mentions it! I do have WISH YOU WERE HERE and 56 DAYS on my shelf, but just haven't gotten to them yet.

This book was slow... I felt like nothing ever happened! I was 60% done and the group still hadn't even gotten to the night where they took the drugs and anyone went missing! Also, it felt very long for what little happens.

ANYWAYS, trying to pick my next book! I need one that I know I will love. ONE ITALIAN SUMMER by Rebecca Serle or THE PARIS APARTMENT by Lucy Foley (along with the rest of bookstagram?)

DNF. Things never really got going for this one. Something felt off and nothing was connecting when I was reading. The cover was gorgeous. Also, the idea was great…just didn’t play out.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: April 26, 2022
Dawn is turning fifty years old, and after a tumultuous last few years (from divorce, to raising a special needs daughter, to becoming estranged from her close friends), she is excited to be invited to Celestial Canyon- a secluded property in the California canyons- by her (former) best friend, Mia Meadows. Dawn is hoping for a reunion and a reconciliation with Dawn and the other invitees, and of course, maybe have a drink or two to celebrate her birthday. But what she gets is far more, and far worse, than what she expected, when uninvited guests show up and issues from the past rear their ugly head.
Cassidy Lucas is the pen name for a pair or female authors from Santa Monica, California. “The Last Party” is the pair’s second novel, but it was my introduction to Lucas as a writer and I’m on the fence with how I feel about this story. I did not connect with any of the characters in any substantial way. Dawn was a pushover who willingly complied with narcissistic, self-centred Mia, regardless of what was at risk (even doing ayahuasca), which was completely unbelievable as a fifty-year old woman and mother. I was curious about the backstory of Sybill the psychic but got only tidbits of information, which was disappointing. I thought the author(s) had enough of Sybill to craft an entire novel (and I would’ve gobbled it up!).
The story is told from the perspective of various party goers, so the reader gets to know a little bit about everyone. With the chapters easily labeled, this writing style was easy to follow. This novel touches on the topic of vaccination (not Covid vaccines in this case, just general vaccinations) and reinforces a lot of “special needs stereotypes” a la Jenny McCarthy (such as “vaccines causing autism”, autism being a ‘disease’ that requires a ‘cure’, etc.), although this is portrayed more as the opinions and thoughts of a certain group of people, and not the writers specifically. (It definitely should be noted for trigger value though, for its content related to vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, autism and other neuro-atypical challenges however).
“The Last Party” had good form and style, but the characters lacked substance. Also, there was a lot of sub-storylines in this novel that I would’ve loved to have seen take centre stage in the plot. Overall, I was just invested enough in the ending of the story to plow through and get to the end

Wow what a strange story! How does revenge work? Why would you wait to try to get even? When you've only hurt yourself!

I'll start this with the note that I didn't care for Lucas' other book Santa Monica. I found it to be too scattered, too many vital plot lines to follow and characters I didn't care about.

The Last Party. Felt. The. Same.

There was just too much happening/going on. The drugs, the Covid-19 plot line, the cave...it just felt like every idea that made it into the first draft, survived every edit and wound up in the finished version.

Too haphazard, not edited or condensed and not to my liking.

I really had a hard time getting into this book, and figuring out what was going on. There were certain elements that were timely and potentially interesting, but overall this book didn’t work for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a little scattered for my taste with too many messages to focus on. Overall the main story of Dawn and her friends was interesting/entertaining but it took a while to get to it through the side stories going on. It seemed like the authors wanted to address maybe too many things for one book. It touched on COVID and vaccines/anti-vaxxers, climate crisis, fraud, religion, among others. It was hard to tell the message on some of them but the main one that corresponded with Dawn's story was vaccines/anti-vaccines which was interesting because I haven't read about that before.
Dawn is finally reconnected with her old friends from before "the scandal". She's lost everything but she finally got her friends back and they planning an amazing weekend for her 50th birthday. She can't wait to celebrate at a remote AirBNB property. But is something more sinister going on? This was the story that got me. There are several side stories as well and it was just too much for me for one book I think. But what I can say is that this was a sort of thriller sub-genre. I'm coining it right now and a real housewives thriller and if you like reality tv, real housewives series and DrAmA then you'll enjoy this one.

Dawn has been invited to a weekend getaway with friends that have a shared history. The problem is the past friendship ended on a very bad note. I am not sure why she agreed to go on this trip to a remote area with the old friends. Add in a guy who has gone off the deep end and is living in the very woods they are staying in undetected. There were some really good plot ideas in the book, however, it fell a little flat for me.

Warning: Spoilers ahead, because I don’t know how to talk about this book without mentioning them.

I’ll be very honest. I didn’t like this book one bit. In fact, The Last Party gave me very strong wtf is happening here vibes, akin to how I felt reading Leave the World Behind , which is ironically the only book I’ve ever given a 1-star review.

The only reason this book didn’t also get a 1-star review was because the underlying twist (that this group of “friends” represents a fraudulent anti-vaccine forgery ring who got busted) could have actually been a pretty interesting concept, if executed the right way, and I’ve got a soft spot for the batshit crazy, self-appointed-vigilante-justice type of criminals.

But this was just weird, confusing, and uncomfortable - from the faux psychic, to the weird drug use, to all the goats, to the unnecessary commentary on Covid-19, to the hallucinating billionaire in the cave... it was just entirely too much.

I think I managed to comprehend a revenge plot and a suicide (?) but I am still very confused about most of what I just read.

——

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

This book was good, but not great. The author did a great job of the atmospheric vibe of California and really did well with descriptions and her writing was good, but there’s just something missing from the story and her writing. Overall, a good book that went by quickly.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I have not previously read this author and upon seeing the cover I knew I wanted to read it. I love a good psychological thriller however this book was a little hard to get into and I felt at times like I wanted to put it down and walk away.
I did finish it but didn't love it. I will read more by this author as I don't give up on them just because I didn't 'love' one book they've written. Thank you for the chance to read this!

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Harper Perennial and Paperbacks, Harper Paperbacks and #NetGalley for my honest opinion. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

I’m full of questions unfortunately.

There were things that worked, certainly, but many more that didn't. My tired old complaint is this weird fascination authors have with sending people who can't stand one another to isolated vacation spots together - who would accept that invitation? Why is this a trend?