A gripping and tense story, all about girls and their friendship, or is there more going on in the back? I highly enjoyed reading this!

The Slumber Party by Shannon Hollinger
Bookouture
Publication: 22 March 2023
5 ⭐️

There are four childhood friends who spend their time together having slumber parties, playing games, and having fun. Then, they grew up, and each girl started harboring secrets that would not only tear their group apart, but themselves as well.

I love when mystery/thriller novels are told through multiple POVs and timelines. It really helps immerse the reader into the lives of the characters and the drama surrounding them. It can sometimes be a difficult skill to manage, and Shannon Hollinger did a fantastic job of doing just that. I honestly can see this book being made into a show or movie, with all the drama, friendships, secrets, and lies. If "The Slumber Party" is brought to the screen, I would definitely watch it!

This was so much fun to read I would definitely recommend this book to others. I can't wait to read more of Hollinger's work!

Thanks, Netgalley and Bookouture, for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reviews are also posted to my Instagram blog (bibliophiles_elite).

This book was intriguing and I wanted to keep reading but the ending and the twists were pretty predictable. It was still a good book but I think the execution could’ve been better. It’s still worth the read!

Shannon, this is a really good one ! I love a mystery with a dual timeline, especially with the past being in a scholastic setting. Interesting premise, and a quick, exciting read.

4.75🌟
The slumber party had me hooked from chapter one, this was incredible with the plot twists and the whole storyline throughout. Each character made me feel something wether it was happiness, anger or sadness they were all impactful in their own ways. The story of 4 bestfriends and their lives after a tragic event felt so fresh from previously books I had read with this plot. It was so close to a 5 star but I had guessed a few of the plot twists but that doesn’t make the book any less than amazing!! I will 100% be reading more Shannon Hollinger in the future.

Mo, Liz, Amy, and Sami are as close as friends can get. They always have the others backs and will defend them until the end. Until the end of senior year and then things take a turn. The girls start keeping secrets from one another, sometimes betraying the others in a terrible way. Prom night it all comes to a terrifying and devastating end. The slumber party that will change their lives forever…well, the ones that live through it.

This is just my kind of book. Told from several perspectives and two timelines, we get to find out all the lies, secrets, and betrayal that each of the girls is guilty of. Then we find out how it has continued to affect them into adulthood…that one fateful night when everything changed.

The Slumber Party by Shannon Hollinger is in the vein of high school friends making lots of bad choices, a bad event happens, they cover it up, and it comes back to bite them years later. Done so many times, but people keep writing and reading it because it makes for such a fun story.

There are multiple points of view and it continually jumps back and forth in time. Hollinger writes it in such a way that I didn’t find it confusing, unlike some other suspense/thrillers that I have read that were written in this style. I did find myself skimming at times when it came to Liz in the present day going on about her kid and life.

But even with the skimming, Hollinger kept the characters interesting enough and the twists and turns coming, so I continued to read late into the night. While there wasn’t anything too earth shattering (and the cousins were not shocking at all), I did find the last chapter with the neighbor pretty chilling.

Thank you Shannon Hollinger, Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC e-book. This book definitely had mystery. It situates 4 best friends and their journey through friendship, growing up and hardships. One does not make it to graduation. By who and how has you guessing how this will turn out the whole story. It definitely kept me on my toes and I did not see the twist at the end even when thinking back the story he definitely planted those seeds throughout. All around a great mystery.

I love these 'school friends keep a secret until they're grown up and then inevitably someone does something dumb and it starts to crumble ' style books. I'm a sucker for the besties, for the nothing-will-ever-break-us characters. But time and life experience changes people and not always for the better.
This story was told in two time frames, with 4 different characters. You'd think it would be confusing but it wasn't. It was well done and kept me intrigued the whole time. Sure, it was fairly predictable with a few surprise twists but that didn't take away from the overall story. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was my first book by Shannon Hollinger and it will NOT be my last.

This was very well-written and loved the multiple points of view and the dual timelines. I love a book about secrets and sins from the past.

If you love a mystery thriller that is fast-paced and full of twists! This is for you!!

A quick, enjoyable read that’s great for anyone dipping their toes into mystery thrillers.

What it’s got:
Dual timeline
Highschool mystery comes back to haunt
An adult pretty little liars with some suspense borrowed from Sharp Objects

The downsides:
Sometimes predictable plot (a hard genre to make a mark in)
The writing is not my style, personally. This is purely a preference thing.

Will I try the authors future books? For sure.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

Thank you to netgallery for the early review Copy.

I found this book by accident never read this author before but the story of the 4 friends has plenty of twist and turns some u see coming some u don't. Very well written and really enjoyed.

I was looking forward to this book based on the synopsis l. It was hard to follow the multiple characters POV. Last 25% of the book was the best part.

I really love this authors writing. Looking forward to going back and reading her debut book Best Friends Forever. This was a very quick read for me. Less than 8 hours. The friendship between teenage girls was excellently done. The writing was exquisite and flowed easily. The mystery was multi layered. A couple of twists I didn't see coming. Thank You Bookouture and Net Galley for an excellent ARC

Thank you NetGalley for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review

Four best friends have a slumber party on Prom night, but one of them will not live to see the morning. Fast forward ten years, and the three remaining friends have lost touch, but their secret binds them together. When a body is discovered in the woods at the Old Ripley House, the women must face the sins of their past before someone else learns the truth that they tried to hide so long ago.

This story is told through multiple points of view and through dual timelines. This book is full of twists that I didn't see coming and I am still reeling! "The Slumber Party" is fast-paced, psychological, mystery thriller, that I just couldn't put down.

Content Information and Trigger Warnings (SPOILERS)

Sexual abuse (off-page) of minors
Drug and alcohol abuse
Bullying
Mental Health
Violence, including murder and suicide

Liz, Amy, Sami and Mo are best friends; the kind people envied in high school. But they didn’t share everything, as there are some secrets that were too dark to let see the light of day. One night, weeks before high school ended, they gathered for a slumber party at their usual spot. By the end of the night, one of them is dead. The friends haven’t spoken much since that day, and have all moved on with their own lives. But when Liz starts receiving threatening notes, the past they tried so hard to bury comes back.

I was a huge fan of the last Shannon Hollinger book I read (Best Friends Forever), so I jumped at the chance to read her newest one! She told me beforehand, “the obvious twist is not the twist at all”, and boy was that the truth. I was thrilled that I was not able to guess a few of the big twists in this story! As the past and present stories unfold in dual timelines, I was able to see why so many of the characters felt the way they did. But it also makes you wonder, just how well do you know the people closest to you? If you enjoy character-driven stories, short chapters and twists that keep you guessing right up til the very end, check this one out!

“The Slumber Party” releases March 22, 2023! Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and Shannon Hollinger for the ARC.

This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly.

I loved @thiswritersays’ debut novel, Best Friends Forever. It was my favorite read in December 2022! Shannon’s second novel, The Slumber Party, was just as good and she has sealed herself on my must read author list!

The Slumber Party is told from multiple POVs and dual timelines. It’s a story of friendship, secrets, and betrayal. The twists keep coming throughout the book and are shocking.

I highly recommend reading this book when it comes out, as well as Best Friends Forever if you have not read it yet.

Thank you @bookouture and @netgalley for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

This book showcases how the events of one night can change the trajectory of so many young lives forever.

Our leading characters were once a close knit group of friends but we meet them as adults who fell out of touch. The only thing that binds them together now is their secret .

I really enjoyed how the author gave us multiple timelines and POVs. It helped me connect with the characters in both the past and present.
Overall the flow of this book was simple, fast paced and had several intriguing plot twist and turns. It provided everything I would expect from this genre and I look forward to reading more of this authors books!

Thank you NetGalley, Shannon Hollinger and Bookouture for an early copy of this book.

A tight quartet of friends.
But on one terrible night secrets are divulged that forever alter their relationships and their lives.
I figured out half of the secrets but the author sprung a few more on me throughout the narrative.
It’s a sordid read and I relished every page!

A huge thanks to Bookouture for my complimentary copy and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This is my first Shannon Hollinger story and I cannot wait to read more of her books. The book follows four childhood friends that have a slumber party . During that night one of them dies meaning one or all of them is a killer. Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead and that secret comes to light throwing a town into despair. The twists, the turns and the plot was brilliantly executed. Loved it and I want everyone to read it.