Oh the office party! Lizzie has been unhappy at work- she's really meant to be an artist in London- except for being around Dean who she's worshipped from afar. Turns out, however, that he's in love with Rebecca. Rebecca! And then Rebecca goes missing. This is told from Lizzie's perspective as she finds herself questioning herself and being questioned, You might think you know what's happened but there's a twist or two at the end. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fast entertaining read.

Rating: 1.4/5

I was impressed by Georgina Lees' debut novel, "The Girl Upstairs" and immediately made a note to ensure that I picked up her second book too. Sadly, "After the Party" is not a patch on its predecessor and it makes for a bitterly disappointing reading experience.

When I reviewed "The Girl Upstairs" I felt that it exhibited a surprising level of maturity and dexterity for a new writer, that was only hampered by the fact that it took a little too long to get into its stride. "After the Party" shares the same negative trait of taking a very (very) long time to get going, but has none of the redeeming characteristics of its forerunner. For far too long the pace of the novel is painfully slow and the tone pretty dreary. By the time I reached the halfway point, boredom had long since set in and I was tired of reading Lizzie's delusional ramblings. Even from the early stages it was difficult to be convinced by the storyline or the setting and even when the pace of the narrative did eventually pick up, it was a case of it moving from pointlessly dull to melodramatically ridiculous.

Georgina Lees certainly has the ability to write - she showed that in her debut novel - but there are only glimpses of that talent in "After the Party" and it is best avoided.

As ever, I would still like to convey my thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review. It is a pity I was not in a position to pass more favourable comment on this occasion.

Thank you to HarperCollinsUK for giving me the opportunity to read After the Party. The premise of a woman being in-love with her coworker, but he is oblivious, and then throw a murder into the equation sounds promising. I will say, I definitely was trying to piece together what happens to the disappearance of one of our characters, and who was behind it. I felt myself questioning multiple characters, believing them, and then turning around to question them again. Sadly, I was left feeling frustrated with the protagonist and how the book ends up wrapping up.

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this book. It started out great, rolling along, introducing characters so you could form your own opinion. The crux of the story then came into play and the “party” in question. Then whilst the story progressed more like a whodunnit switching between suspects rapidly. I could cope with the flitting between characters and reasons why they may have committed the crime but the ending was just a little too far fetched for me and the culprit and reasons why felt just a step too far. However it was a decent enough book and thoroughly enjoyable until about the last 15%

Lizzie has worked in the same office as Dean for a few years now and they are friends. Lizzie however has fallen in love with Dean but hasn't plucked up the courage to tell him so. She decides to tell him at the Christmas party after some convincing from her friend Marie. Dean confesses that he is unfortunately is in love with someone else who also works with them - Rebecca. Then the problems begin, Lizzie goes home early from the party - not feeling well and her mum picks her up. Rebecca doesn't make it home and is missing!! Where did she go after the party and how come she never made it home? So many people who could be suspects but the ending is a bit of a shock.
Having read The Girl Upstairs I was looking forward to reading this, although it was good, you didn't really feel anything for any of the characters. Lizzie just seems really confused and lost she had to have someone else telling her what to do or reminding her what she should be doing! Not sure why any of them were friends really, none of them seemed to have anything in common other than they worked at the same place!
Many thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this novel.

The pace of this story really lets it down, pages and pages of nothing really happening. The main character is someone you sort of feel sorry for, but not because anything terrible has happened to her, she just has a rather dreary personality. No idea if that was the intention but it made it a bit of a drag to read at times. I did finish it but it was a bit of a struggle and I’m really not sure it can be accurate categorised as a thriller.

Meh….

I’m sorry, but this just isn’t an exciting book.

I really have no idea why:
a) These women were friends.
b) Why ANY of them wanted Dean. (To be fair, maybe he had a magic penis or something, but I’d think the author would have told us that.)
c) The police officer. I didn’t leave out any words there – I literally mean ‘why the police officer’?!?!? I don’t get it…or him.

Finally, the big reveal was…different. Yep, it was certainly different.

Slow pacing, dull characters, and I hated every single character.

This was a skip for me.

• ARC via Publisher

What was with that ending?!? HATED it!!

After the Party has an intriguing premise - your crush confesses their love for someone else and that person ends up missing. Unfortunately that's where the positivity ends. The novel was filled with detail after detail about what the main character, Lizzie, was doing, how she felt, what other people were doing. I was so bored. It also didn't help that everyone was awful! I hated Lizzie who couldn't make a decision and had to rely on others to think for her. It was a mystery that she was so invested in finding out what had happened with Rebecca, since their interactions showed that they didn't have a friendship or even really liked each other. Then there was Dean (Lizzie's crush). No idea why Lizzie had a crush on him. He had no redeeming qualities at all.

Thank you to Netgallery and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to HarperCollins, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

After the Party by Georgina Lees is a fast-paced thriller that you won't be able to put down! The story revolves around Lizzie, who has had an unrequited crush on her colleague Dean for years. Later, Dean alerts her that he's actually in love with Rebecca, one of Lizzie's best friends. Then, Rebecca goes missing. What could have happened to her? Was she murdered? Who could have committed such a horrendous crime?

Here is a captivating excerpt from the Prologue:

"The moon is high tonight, casting an ominous glow over the dusty blue fields. She moves slowly between the rough tree bark, treading carefully over stray branches and undulating roots masked in trailing ivy and thick weeds. As she moves further and further into the woodland, the misty haze trickles down through bare branches, guiding her to an untouched spot.
This is where she’ll stop. This is where they’ll find her."

Overall, After the Party is a fast-paced thriller with a twist that you'll never see coming! One highlight of this book was the twist, which was one of the best that I have ever read in a thriller before. All I have to say is "well played, author!" I appreciate how the twist was set up. I did take off 1 star, because some of the male characters in this book are absolute garbage. (That's all I can say without spoiling anything.) And I have no idea why the female characters are still in love with them. That makes the female characters equally as bad, in my opinion. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in August!

I did enjoy this book and I kept reading to the end as it kept my interest. I did work out the culprit fairy early in the book although not the ins and outs of it all.

I thought I knew what I was getting based on the cover and title alone but a quick paced thriller is not what this is. After the Party is definitely a drama heavy mystery as opposed to a thrill ride or a story. Think women’s fiction meets murder mystery (which is not a bad thing just a different focus and pace than your typical psychological thriller).

I didn’t find our MC or any of the characters particularly likeable (except Marcus) but I think that’s important because it built mistrust throughout so it was harder to guess where the story was going.

Georgina is a lovely writer, builds tension and atmosphere like the best of em and I can’t fault the writing at all. It’s merely the pace and ending that knocked my rating down.

This story took a long time to get going and then I am sorry to write, it never really rang true! Lizzie adores her work colleague Dean, has been living and working in Norwich all her life but is also a talented artist! She could have a new life and job in London but Lizzie sticks with Dean even though he is in love with her colleague Rebecca who goes missing after a works party night out! Lizzie is rather a sad character and somehow or other her boss allows her to just stay at home and wander about her local village traipsing after Dean! She wanders into the local pub mid afternoon and it is packed? Then later she appears to spend one whole day asleep! Another time she leaves her boots at her mother’s house and drives home in her socks? No, not for me, I tried but in my humble opinion this story totally lacked credibility!

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me really. I did find the story intriguing and the twists in the plot kept me guessing. Like other readers though, I found myself increasingly frustrated with Lizzie and her obsession with Dean who frankly wasn’t a very nice person. The ending did fit with that unhealthy obsessed view but it left me disappointed.

After the Party follows Lizzie, who has been secretly in love with Dean for years. The only problem is, just as it looks as though he might feel the same way, he announces he is in love with Lizzie’s colleague, Rebecca. Then Rebecca goes missing…

I liked the premise here and found the writing very readable, but I struggled with the pace of the book - especially at the beginning - and with forming a connection to Lizzie and the other characters.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Lizzie is a complicated character. She’s an incredibly talented artist but has chosen to work as a project manager at a small agency in her home town. She’s been madly in love with her co-worker Dean for three years but she hasn’t let him know. Finally, urged on by her friend Marie, she decides to tell him at the office Christmas party. It does not go well. As she begins her confession, Dean tells her he is in love with Rebecca, another employee at the agency. Lizzie gets drunk and goes home early. When she wakes in the morning, she learns that Rebecca is missing. Then, hoping to help Dean, she tries to find Rebecca. To the police, especially DI Marcus Williams, she is a suspect.

There are many suspects in this twisty psychological thriller and few of them (if any) are likeable characters. Just when you think Rebecca’s disappearance is solved, there’s another twist. The surprising conclusion is not what you expect and is therefore somewhat disappointing. You’ll see. After the Party is impossible to put down and deserves 5 stars.

Than you to NetGalley, One More Chapter and Georgina Lees for this ARC.

Lizzie a frustrated artist works in an office with friends Marie, Rebecca and Dean. She has been in love/obsessed with Dean for a number of years but is firmly in the "friends zone" with him and cannot summon up the courage to let him know until Marie persuades her to tell him at the Christmas party. Just as she summons up the courage to tell him he tells her he is in love with Rebecca and that they have been arguing as Rebecca wants to move to London and he doesn't.

Lizzie leaves the party drunk and finds out the next day thar Rebecca is missing. Lizzie decides she is going to find out what happened to her.

The story is written in the first person from the perspective of Lizzie and is full of twists trying to work out what happened to Rebecca and who the culprit is if indeed there is a culprit at all. I did Figure it out of sorts in the end.

Whilst on the whole I enjoyed the book I did find the characters frustrating and annoying especially Dean and Marie which made me wonder what Lizzie saw in them. Therefore I struggled to tolerate Lizzie. Whilst I could understand her wanting to find out what happened to Rebecca she had no real backbone seemingly not wanting to believe bad of any of them.

I would still recommend the book as it was a quick read and I may try other books by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley UK, HarperCollins UK and One More Chapter for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

The cover grabbed me and the synopsis drew me in and I had really high hopes for this novel and to be fair there was a lot to like about it.

The plot was good and the writing flowed well, I had my suspicions about what happened 'after the party' but I also had doubts so it kept my interest throughout.

Where I struggled with this one was the love triangle. Lizzie has been in love with Dean for ever and just as she plucks up the courage to tell him of her feelings (don't do it Lizzie!), he beats her to it with a confession of his own - he fancies her friend Rebecca. I'd have been heartbroken too, I get that, but Lizzie's behaviour was more akin with a lovelorn teenager than an adult taking me back to the school playground and making me feel really old.

I did enjoy it but I didn't love it.

Lizzie is in love with her colleague Dean and has been for three years.. Several times they seem to have been on the brink of starting a relationship but Dean always draws back. Lizzie is in despair and decides to try to force his hand by applying for jobs in London but her friend Marie encourages her to declare her feelings for Dean telling her that he's definitely interested. When she does this, he tells her he has feelings for someone else. Then a girl goes missing.

I found this to be an extremely slow book. Nothing happens until about 20% in and most of the story is Lizzie ruminating about her feelings for Dean, The search for the missing girl lacks tension and the denouement is a bit 'off'. I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this book at all. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a fast-paced thriller about the workplace, family, trust, secrets, and lies. In the workplace, protagonist Lizzie has a crush on Dean, Marie just got engaged, and Rebecca is missing. Lizzie contemplates moving to London but her mother abhors the thought of her little girl moving away. When one of them ends up dead, the hunt is on for the killer...but we all know that catching a killer is not as easy as it should be. Go in blind and enjoy this novel...and you may want to consider retirement!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Having enjoyed Georgina’s last book I was really keen to find out whether her latest novel lived up to her brilliant debut. Unfortunately this really didn’t work for me. Lizzie was just too annoying and I didn’t click with her or really care what happened to her. Her constant obsession with Dean just didn’t work for me as it felt forced and obsessive without a natural connection.
Not for me I’m afraid…