this book is one of those books that you have a crime and people know your secrets. They can't live with the fact that justice wasn't done 13 years ago. So cue the opportunity to get someone to tell the truth and confess!!!
This book hooks your from the start and keeps you twisting and turning from one probable suspect to another.
I like the setting if this book, and island, a storm, it's the perfect way to set up an investigation or murder, or maybe it's just an engagement party!
Curl up with a fire and blanket and join us at, The Engagement Party, you gotta see what really happens.
Spoiler alert - someone invites a dead body
Darby doesn't disappoint and I enjoyed the Agatha Christie vibes.

Very enjoyable. Kept me guessing until the end. Not my favorite ending, but still kept my attention.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

Darby Kane is an auto request author for me, I will forever be a fan! The Last Invitation was a miss for me and The Engagement Party was too.

I did love the setting of this book - the isolation and uncertainty of the entire weekend was definitely intriguing. However, I could not connect with any characters, I was not rooting for or against them, just did not like them. Because of that, I was not invested in the mystery.

I can't wait for the release of What the Wife Knew and hoping for a 5 star!

Having read all of Darby Kane's books, I can confidently say that "The Engagement Party" is another thrilling masterpiece. The plot is tightly woven with suspense and unexpected twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. Kane's ability to create complex characters and intricate relationships shines through, making the story both gripping and emotionally engaging. It's a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers!

Thank You NetGalley for this wonderful ebook. I couldn't stop reading it. Filled with murder, mystery, twists and turns, I loved it. The characters were enjoyable, the setting, and the storyline were interesting.

A group of college friends, celebrating their graduation. Only one goes missing and is found murdered days later. Fast Forward 12 years later, the same group of friends is meeting. This time to celebrate an engagement. A few people turn up dead at the venue. Who did it? Can they trust everyone or no one? The secrets start to pour out from the past. Did they know each other as well as they thought they did?

"The Engagement Party" is a blend of mystery, suspense, and secrets. This book's isolated setting of a private island and group of college friends trapped together was the perfect fit for my love of tense and mysterious novels. While I did find the characters unlikable (and not unlikable in the entertaining sort of way I usually enjoy), I was hooked and wanted to know what Emily's disappearance had to do with the group stranded on the island.

With its complex characters, buried secrets, and a killer on the loose, "The Engagement Party" promises to be a thrilling ride that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review this arc honestly.

I’ve read others by this author so I automatically requested it. I will say this one is my least favorite from this author but it’s still not bad (I sound wishy washy here). The story is good, premise and plot and pace too, and these are characters with basically no redeemable qualities; but overall it just reminded me a lot of all the other books that follow this same plot. Enjoyable but not knock your socks off.

I didn't dislike this, but I found the mystery a little drawn out and confusing. Lots of characters and switching view points, but the name change at the end threw me for a loop.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

College friends agree to meet on a isolated island to celebrate the wedding engagement of one of their group. Everyone is hiding something and someone wants the secrets to be told at last. As the body count rises, readers must follow the clues to solve a murder in the past and the murders in the present day. All of the ingredients for a great mystery are present, but the story becomes tedious and, ultimately falls flat.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book! Another good one by this author. I was not expecting the revelations toward the end. I will be recommending this one also! Thank you again to NetGalley.

An isolated island, a group of college friends, and a party form the backdrop to this mystery thriller.

Years have passed when the invitation to an engagement party comes in the mail. Old college friends, bound by secrets and lies, agree to attend and arrive for a weekend meant for celebration. Twelve years have elapsed since their friend Emily Hunt was murdered and the student who was thought to be guilty committed suicide. But this group is about to get a surprise. Someone knows that they have not been telling the truth. And they are about to be exposed.

This novel was full of melodrama, deplorable characters, and far too wordy to hold interest. It reminded me of a bad teenage slasher film. I could not stand these young adults and their behavior. Every bit of this was such a trope including the island setting and the storm. I didn't feel any tension or suspense and only kept reading to find out if all my guesses were right. Predictable and annoying with the ending you expect. I'd pass if I were you.

Thank you to the publisher for the e-book ARC to read and review. I also got the audiobook from the library to follow along and the narrator had a lot of voices to try to make distinct and often fell short. Sadly, this was not for me.

Lessons I Learned from this book:
✔️If you have a bad feeling about old college buddies it’s best to steer clear.
✔️ always listen to your instincts
✔️Maine might not be the ideal place to hold a party
✔️expect the unexpected from Darby Kane

I was kept guessing with this book. There were a lot of voices to keep straight but after awhile it was easy to juggle them.

Darby Kane is a great writer! I gave this one five stars for the awesome plot. The book starts when a violent storm strands a bunch of guests for a party on a remote island. You will not want to miss a minute of this incredible story!

I loved this book! So entertaining with amazing twists. Darby Kane is one of the best thriller writers out there!

As a fan of escape room type games, I love to read books about people who are trapped on an island or in a house and are trying to solve a murder/survive the murderous rampage of a psychopath. This story held my interest throughout and didn't make me roll my eyes like thrillers often do (I judge this genre the toughest), so I was happy.

The one knock I will give it is that I have read quite a few novels that were centered around a murder that took place in college within a group of friends, and now we are set in the future with the surviving friends and the consequences finally meeting up with them. It's starting to feel a little played out at this point. Kind of like the unreliable woman narrator after Gone Girl. But if you enjoy that style of writing, then I recommend this one because Darby Kane did a good job.

This one starts right out of the gate, lots of twists and turns and you keep guessing who the killer is and then change your mind. I like this kind of story even if the characters and story are a little cliché. Someone dies, 12 years later remaining friends get together on a remote island and then a big storm strands them on said island. What could go wrong? I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Carlotta Brentan, did an amazing job with all the characters. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

10 million stars out of 5 and I'd give more if it were possible! I've read a few books publishing in 2024 thanks to Thriller Book Lovers Promotions and Engagement Party is one to watch out for as a beloved favorite. Read it if you enjoy Lisa Jewell, Seraphina Nova Glass, Jaime Hendricks and Samantha Bailey books; you sure won't be disappointed. The next book by Darby I'm going to read is Pretty Little Wife and i started it on audio and it is SO CREEPY GOOD! Darby Kane is one author I read even without reading the synopsis. I will read whatever she writes, regardless if it's psyche suspense or a romcom.

Trapped on an island with a group of college friends (and two guests) who are hiding dark secrets from their past, someone seems to know those secrets and be enacting revenge one-by-one… Darby Kane’s latest psychological thriller, The Engagement Party is a tense, gripping mystery that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Twelve years ago

A group of college students on the cusp of graduation have their lives shattered when one of their own is murdered. Emily Hunt was found dead on graduation weekend. Beautiful, popular, and wealthy—the nation became obsessed with the tragic death of this woman with her whole life ahead of her. But the Emily in real life wasn’t so perfect. She played games, especially with men, leading to a number of suspects at the college and even in her own friend group. Another student became the prime suspect in the murder, despite some discrepencies in the case against him. His suicide not long after the police question him seems to confirm that he must have murdered Emily. Her five closest friends—Will, Jake, Cassie, Alex, and Mitch—bonded in the wake of the tragedy where the two students lost their lives, but do they know more than they are saying?

Now

Will and his fiancé Ruthie have invited his closest friends to a private island to celebrate their engagement. Alex and Cassie are now married and a power couple, both having excelled in law school and beyond. Jake doesn’t come—he’s walked away from the group and the terrible memories and secrets they are keeping from so long ago. Mitch has started a successful business with a woman named Sierra who is in love with him. He brings Sierra with to the engagement party for support.

But not long after the six people arrive on the island, things begin to go awry. An alarm alerts them to go to the garage where a vehicle is parked with a dead body in the trunk. None of them admits to doing this, but it has to be one of them. Unless someone else is on the island? Cut off from the mainland in a storm with no cell service, this isn’t the first dead body that will surface. And as the tension mounts, secrets are revealed. Someone knows what happened to Emily all of those years ago and has brought them to this island for revenge. But who?

Review

The Engagement Party felt very different from Darby Kane’s previous thrillers, but not in a bad way. Her previous books tend to largely told from one or two perspectives and explore troubling events surrounding the characters that culminate in a twist. I’d describe her previous books as closer to domestic suspense novels that pack a big punch towards the end. This book differed; it featured many narrators plus information from a set of book notes about Emily’s case. Who wrote those? You’ll find out towards the end of the book. This book is also a locked room style mystery with I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes to it. Fresh and different from Kane’s prior work, but no less gripping.

Short chapters and changing perspectives kept the pace moving quickly. Kane expertly drops twists and reveals throughout to keep the story tense and engaging. Inserted between chapters are excerpts from book notes about Emily and the investigation into her murder. Emily wasn’t as perfect as the media would like her to seem. Emily was alluring but flawed, and often played around with men in her life who she knew she could manipulate. Her death looms over the story, though there are more secrets to be revealed and other mysteries to unveil. By the end, the plot was pulled taut it felt it could snap at any moment (and indeed it does!)

The mystery of who was behind what is happening on the island had me in a chokehold. We learn at the beginning of the book that Ruthie (Will’s fiancé who has an unknown interest in this group of friends) intentionally brought the group to this island with some agenda. But soon it becomes clear that Ruthie doesn’t know what is going on. The weekend has spiraled out of her control, and she realizes that someone else has an agenda. Dead bodies continue to crop up. I wondered who from the group may be behind this. Sierra seems to be the only character we can trust. With quickly changing narrators, the characters are keeping their own secrets from the group and the reader.

Tense, gripping, and atmospheric! This book had vibes of classic locked room mysteries and thrillers about long-buried secret pacts. The ending packs a good twist that I didn’t see coming, and the whodunnit kept me guessing start to finish. A quick and engaging psychological thriller that will have you gripping the book a bit too tightly as you race to the final reveal!

Thank you to William Morrow for my copy. Opinions are my own.

I did not finish. The characters did not have enough backstory and became indistinguishable from each other. I don't plan on reading any other books by this author.

This was the first book I've read by Darby Kane and it was totally bringing me back to my childhood obsession with the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movie series. Set on a private island in Maine, a college reunion between friends celebrating engagement turns into a murder mystery gone wrong. I loved the "whodunit storyline", but didn't really fall in love with the characters. Thank you to #NetGalley as well as Darby Kane and William Morrow for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.