𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐞𝐬. 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞...𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫.

Honestly, the premise is misleading. When Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe receive an invitation from "old friend" Poppy Greer to her bachelorette party, the invite comes with a first-class plane ticket to three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation on a luxury private island in the Bahamas. But Poppy is not an old friend; she is someone these women made absolutely miserable in their teen years for no other reason than because they could. "Hurt people hurt people" is NOT the premise of this book; these were vapid, shallow mean girls who grew up to become the same type of adult. It's briefly mentioned that they accepted to perhaps make peace with Poppy, but it's clearly evident they accepted to get a free vacation.

Poppy has plans for the crew, and it starts by having them relinquish their cell phones. Cell service is spotty anyway, so what's the harm? Then a series of mean-spirited Truth or Dare questions, disturbing vignettes, and a general sense of malice starts to permeate the pages.

Then the bodies start to drop.

I loved both the multiple points of view from each woman, none of whom have grown up to live the lives they envisioned, and the diary entries from Poppy. Those simultaneously broke my heart and fed into her desire for revenge. The twist was alluded to on the boat ride to the island, but I chalked up the innocent comment to a misunderstanding on a character's part. Ain't no misunderstandings here. Everything means something.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this early copy that publishes June 13, 2023. Guaranteed to be a sizzling summer blockbuster!

What a ride! I was pulled in from the very beginning and could not put this down. The concept of an all-expenses-paid, five-star bachelorette party…celebrating someone you bullied? I would have so many questions, but can’t say I wouldn’t get on that jet too.

The alternating POV’s and parallel timelines worked well. The twist at the end wasn’t completely unexpected, but it worked! And it was brilliant, and completely satisfying.

Picked this out for the cover only as a serious cover judger and within pages I was in deep and had to finish this in one sitting. This has the same thriller vibes as Big Little Lies so I understand the LM comparison. Unpredictable at every twist and turn. This is going to be a new favorite

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

How do I feel about what I just read?

Satisfaction

She Started It, hits on so many relevant topics that kids struggle with these days . Bullying, is no joke and awareness is needed.

Was this book incredibly well written? Yes. However, this book was just so much more than anyone will ever know and deserves a different type of recognition.

Accountability.

Although I believe revenge isn’t always the best plan and we should really leave it up to Karma, I have to say if I was was in a similar situation as our MC, I would most likely do the same.

Does this make me a bad person? Maybe. I’ll let my karma speak for itself.

My biggest question is… how is this a debut?

The talent shines within the pages. The fact that Sian Gilbert took such big risks with a first novel is admirable. The amount of respect I have for this author right now is something I can put into words.

I don’t have to say “I can’t wait to see what this author comes out with next” . I know without one doubt in my mind that I will be purchasing it .

Sian Gilbert, you have just turned my world upside down and I just became your biggest fan ♥️

Teaser :

The party of a lifetime is nothing like what they expected...

Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe are best friends—or were, as children. Despite drifting apart in adulthood, shared secrets have kept them bonded for better or worse, even as their childhood dreams haven’t quite turned out as they’d hoped. Then one day they receive a wholly unexpected—but not entirely unwelcome—invitation from another old friend. Poppy Greer has invited them all to her extravagant bachelorette party: a first-class plane ticket to three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation on a luxe private island in the Bahamas.

None of them has spoken to Poppy in years. But Poppy’s Instagram pics shows that the girl they used to consider the weakest link in their group has definitely made good—and made money. Curiosity gets the better of them. Besides, who can turn down a posh all-expenses-paid vacation on a Caribbean island?

The first-class flight and the island’s accommodations are just as opulent as expected...even if the scenic island proves more remote than they’d anticipated. Quite remote, in fact, with no cell service, and no other guests. The women quickly discover they’ve underestimated Poppy, and each other. As their darkest secrets are revealed, the tropical adventure morphs into a terrifying nightmare.

I love this intense, climactic thriller. I was incredibly invested in the characters and plot. Readers are going to love this incredible novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read and a solid murder mystery about high school bullies coming face to face with the girl they tormented on a private island. Suspense ensues, etc. This was a tiny bit cheesy and predictable, but I still really enjoyed reading it.

Well, this was a pretty eventful book. I didn't particularly like ay of the characters, but perhaps that was part of the point.... not liking them, and being to see the get paid back for the way the way they treated Poppy, effectively ruining/ending her life. I don't want to give too much away, but will say there were a few twists- some I saw coming (no one is EVER dead without a body), and some I never would have guessed. Overall, an entertaining books about a group of females I'd never hope to have in my friend group. 4 out of 5.

I absolutely loved this book.

Four women accept an invitation to a bachelorette party for a girl they bullied and tormented back in high school. They appear to only accept the invitation selfishly because it is an all-expense paid trip to a private island, for the weekend. Obviously, you know from the very beginning where this revenge thriller is headed, but the plot twist is not what you expect.

It is written from the POV of each woman, and flashes between the present and their memories of that they did to the poor bride, back in high school. At first, I thought the multiple POVs would be hard to follow, but you quickly learn each character's specific personality, way of thinking and way of speaking.

Sian Gilbert has such a way of writing that makes you feel physically uncomfortable when you are reading about the awkward and uncomfortable situations. There was one plot twist, but for the most part, it is a thrilling slow burn. You know from the very beginning that the girls tormented the bride back in high school, but the book keeps you turning pages, as it slowly reveals what they did exactly, to ruin her life.

Shorter review, also on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/gofetchabook/

This book is chaos.

To be clear, I love chaotic thrillers — when they're deftly written. In this case, the chaos overshadowed a decent plot and some excellent tension.

On one hand, I couldn't put this book down. The suspense kept building and the reader can see things escalating, even if the characters deny it. However, the narrative itself — the multiple perspectives and the unnecessarily long diary entries scattered throughout — resulted in underdeveloped and murky characters. At the end of the book, I still couldn't clearly delineate the four main characters, nor could I keep track of who did what and who was keeping which secret. On top of that, they're all selfish and unrepentant.

I was able to detect the twists very early on — before some of the relevant backstory was even introduced — but the suspense still kept me reading. The payoff, though, wasn't there. Had there been stronger character development and more nuance to the plot, I could've loved this book.

I’ve been in an absolute reading rut recently, and this book completely solved it for me—I can’t remember the last time I sped through a book like this.

The concept is fantastic—four women are invited to a hen party on a remote island for the girl they tormented in high school—and the execution is even better. Each POV character has its own distinct voice, and the tension as each woman reveals her own secrets (and what she knows about the others) unravels at a perfect pace. The twists felt fresh and fun, and I loved the emotional undercurrent throughout the book, too, especially when it came to the relationships between the women.

I just loved this book. It was so fun and twisty and fresh and it’ll be perfect on thriller shelves.

Oh boy! Revenge is best served cold! Four best friends and meanest girls you want to throw darts at their faces get bachelorette party invitation which will take place at a private island in Bahamas. All expenses are paid! And wait for it: the bride is the same girl: poor Poppy Greer they’ve tormented and bullied through the high school years. But our mean girls have real memory problems that make them already forget how they treated their friend. They are extremely self absorbed opportunists. There’s no way they can say no to all expenses paid luxurious trip even though they haven’t heard from that girl for 10 years!

I don’t know which one of those women are more despicable, punchable, slap-able, spit-able! You want to chant “ kill those b*tches!”as you keep reading their POVs! Eshter seems like less dislikable one but I cannot say for the rest of them. I don’t how many times I literally cursed at Chloe or dream to slap Annabel against her face or pull Tanya’s hair! The author did a marvelous job by creating most despicable human beings remind us of Blair Waldorf meets Alison DiLaurentis ( quick correction: these four women are million times worse than entire fictional mean girl characters created for TV, they are like Voldemort and Maleficent’s bastard granddaughters !)

Tanya; popular event organizer, dating with a hot guy, Eshter; aspiring workaholic climbing the ladders at finance industry with the help of her privileged family, Annabel; married, stay at home, doing nothing about her college degrees and Chloe; powerful influencer, traveling around the world, living her dreamy life. They seem like they achieved their goals and have their own HEAs but looks can be deceiving!

When they get invitation from Poppy for her special hen party, they thought this was a joke at first but they have every intention to exploit this generous offer. Chloe can upload more social media videos on this holiday which may bring her more sponsorship deals and the other three want to take a break from their extremely busy lives!

Even though the island has no cell service, extra remote, they just focus on having the best of their lives, ignoring to focus on red flags!

Their high school friend Poppy welcomes them with open arms. They cannot believe in how she changed so much. She’s a doctor, looking pretty, powerful, confident. Not the same awkward, geeky, introvert, chubby girl they teased for years! And she has a full plan to spend their holiday with great activities to remind them of the past they’ve buried and never thought about!

They already with their own dirty secrets and if one of them comes out, the entire balance of their fake relationships can fall like dominoes!

When Poppy’s games turn into a different direction they cannot foresee, they realize she has another agenda! But they are four women who are already experienced enough to destroy lives! Four against one! Plus they know how to play dirty! Let the revenge games begin!

I loved the twisty ending, the And Then There Were None meets Gilligan’s Island theme and entire development of riveting revenge plot! I had so much fun!

Special thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for sharing this fascinating book’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest feedback.