Synopsis

Something bad happened last night. My best friend Posey is dead. The police think it was a tragic accident. I know she was murdered.
I’ve woken up with the hangover from hell, a stranger in my bed, and I’ve gone viral for the worst reasons.
There’s only one thing stopping me from dying of shame. I need to find a killer.
But after last night, I can’t remember a thing…

My thoughts ….

Molly Malone narrates the novel she has become an internet sensation for all the wrong reasons .
Her friend Posey is also found dead .
Molly tries to piece together her downfall and that of Posey’s death . What was Posey the journalist working on ?
A fast paced novel that unfolds well placing pieces together .
The book has humour , emotional trauma and sadness as the story unfolds.
The author writes about manipulation, wealthy privilege,and the power of social media .
The twists and turns throughout give an enjoyable novel a first for me from this author

Katy Brent does it again! Read my full 5 star review on Instagram. Thank you so much Katy and NetGalley for providing me the opportunity to read this ARC.

An enjoyable read - I enjoyed the author’s debut so was familiar with the style of writing. This was an easy read and an intriguing plot, however there were some plot holes that I felt made the storyline a little far fetched and unrealistic which made it difficult to be completely gripped by the mystery. Some slightly underwhelming reveals led to a disenchanting ending for me where it felt the victims didn’t get the resolution they deserved. I did enjoy it overall and would recommend if you enjoyed the first book it’s a decent follow up and I would read more from the author.

Molly awakens after a drunken night out, to a strange man in her bed and her the star of a sexually explicit video. Then things get worse and now she's solving a murder. Can she figure out the truth from the lies.

This was a fast burn, short read. It doesn't hang about which is good. The plot is interesting and has some clever twists along the way. It also touches on the ways media handles certain things. Mostly the discrepancy of men and women. Would Molly have suffered the way she did had it been the other way round? That aside, the murder was interesting though I did figure out the killer. I liked how the connections came together. Molly has a lot of issues and makes some really questionable decisions yet I did grow to like her in the end. A quick read murder mystery.

What a ride this book was! I rattled through this in 2 days, I couldn't sleep as I needed to know what happened so ended up finishing it at about 5am.

We meet Molly Monroe, she's a journalist working for a tween mag and firmly stuck in a rut of her own making, lacking in the drive and self-confidence to go after what she really wants. She lives with her best friend from uni Posey, also a journalist at a local paper and recently promoted. She seems like she has her life together and is making a success of things in all the ways Molly feels she is not.

Molly attends her works Christmas night out and things unravel pretty spectacularly from there - she celebrates a bit too much, ending up as a trending topic on social media for all the wrong reasons. Before she finds this out though she's already looking for answers to other questions, like who is the guy she woke up beside? Where's Posey gone and why is she not getting in touch?

This book is incredibly well written with a dark humour throughout which I found incredibly relatable. The pace doesn't let up the whole way through and I enjoyed the way we got to see a bit of the aftermath and what happens next for Molly.

This is the first book I have read from this author, I will definitely be looking for her debut and keeping an eye out for any future releases.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Murder After the Night Before follows Molly starting the morning after her work Christmas party. She’s hungover, can’t remember anything about the night before, and a video of her has gone viral. Molly’s day keeps getting worse when she later discovers her roommate and best friend, Posey, dead in her bathroom. Molly is sure that Posey’s death was not an accident but the police refuse to investigate so Molly decides to find out the truth for herself, and Posey.

I was really excited about the concept of this book but was ultimately disappointed with the execution. The cover and description made me think this book was going to be a romp following Molly trying to retrace her steps from the night before to get answers in the same vein as The Hangover. However, I was disappointed that this book is barely about the night she can’t remember and instead is about her trying to solve the mystery of the missing person's case Posey was writing an article about. It also bothered me that Molly would just conveniently start to remember parts of the night before, without anything jogging her memory, when it was necessary to move the plot along.

Another issue I have is the fact that nowhere in the book synopsis is sexual assault mentioned or given a trigger warning, but the reason Molly goes viral is that someone posted a video of her performing a sexually explicit act on the night she can’t remember. This storyline was very dark and while I thought it was handled well it surprised me and I don’t think topics of this nature should be a surprise to readers. Nothing about this book was light-hearted or funny. Even before the start of the book Molly has very low self-worth, doesn’t like her job, and is deeply unhappy. There’s nothing wrong with covering these topics, it just wasn’t what I was expecting from this book.

However, I did think this book had a few redeeming qualities. I thought it was charmingly British and had well-written supporting characters that were interesting and integral to the plot. I was also impressed that I didn’t guess the plot reveals and was surprised by the ending. This book deals with a lot of hard topics like grief, alcohol abuse, and sexual assault. Readers who are looking for a mystery that is equal parts character-driven and plot-driven covering more hard-hitting topics should check this out.

I listened to this one after release day on audio and had a wild time - our main character wakes up after a works party to an embarrassing video online of the night before and also her friend has been murdered

This one although dealing with a hard subject was written with funny undertones and a lot of humour - it definately put me in mind of if you like Finlay Donovan, Four Aunties series and also Vera Wong.

Loved it and would recommend

4 stars

Thank you NetGalley, HQ and Katy Brent for providing me this ARC.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that I was accepted to read this book. I heard so much about it! 🍷

This story is so absurd, but so well thought about. It's so weird, but I absolutely love it! I've gone through a lot of emotions. There are fun parts, creepy parts, cringey moments... Just imagine having such a bad hangover 😅
I loved the tweets at the beginning of the chapters and the length of chapters.
I gave it four stars because I missed the 'I couldn't put it down feeling'. Overall I loved the book and I can't wait to read the next book by Katy Brent.

4⭐️

A contemporary dark comedy with an embedded thriller and mystery twang! 🩷

I enjoyed this novel. I found it very different to How to Kill Men and Get Away With It, but Brent’s unique dark humour and writing style made a very engaging read.

I liked the chapter length, the tweets at the beginning of the chapters and I think the plot was clever. This book follows Molly Monroe who wakes up with no recollection of the night before, to find that she’s gone viral and is trending on social media for all the wrong reasons. She then finds out her flatmate and best friend Posey is dead and is determined to find the killer when the police deem the death as a tragic accident.

This read was hilariously witty and easy to speed through. I didn’t gel with Molly to begin with, but at around the halfway point I started to and really liked her from then on. Going viral like Molly did must be awful and Brent really painted, what seems to be, a very accurate picture of the effects this has on individuals, but especially women. The fact that Molly could put her own problems aside to try and help provide justice for her bestfriend really showed you the type of person Molly was.

Brent has explored many important topics in this book, such as sexism, friendship and grief and I found this worked incredibly well with the underlying mystery aspect. It was great how the comedy elements also didn’t mask these topics.

What I loved most about this read was the revelations Molly found out and how this book firmly places the question of whether you truly know somebody. From the outside things always look perfect, but things may be different underneath, and I found this idea also very engaging.

If you like a dark comedy, a mystery and a bunch of suspicious characters, then I recommend you check this out. I found myself laughing throughout.

Many thanks to @hqstories, @netgalley and @but_katy_did_it for this ARC of The Murder After the Night Before, which is out now! 💕

⚠️ Please check out the trigger warnings! ⚠️

This book was such a fun ride! While the premise was a bit more sinister than Katy Brent’s first work, I still absolutely loved it. It couples bone chilling murder with lighthearted comedy in just the perfect combination. Molly was a fabulous FMC and I loved her character arc!

The Murder After the Night Before, Katy Brent ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Molly Monroe gets videoed at a work Christmas party and she wakes up to a stinking hangover to find she’s gone viral. The same day she gets sent home from work and comes home to find her flatmate and best friend, Posey, dead in the bathtub. Over the coming days Molly unpicks what happened on that fateful night and discover who killed Posey.

This was exactly the type of book I needed this week, an easy ride which was thrilling at the same time. I loved the way the story unwound as Molly discovered more and more about what happened at her Christmas party and the work that Posey was working on in the days before her death. There was no character that was unimportant in this plot and although I could see the twists coming I still enjoyed it nonetheless!

This was funny, dark whilst also touching on some important social constructs. It covers misogyny, sexual assault, and the truth behind who has real control of the media.

I enjoyed this novel, and if I hadn’t seen the twists coming it would have been a 4 star read for me, but I will definitely be inspired to read more by Katy Brent.

This was a great mystery that remained light hearted while covering some heavy topics. There were a lot of threads to follow without it getting to convoluted and it all tied together perfectly in the end! Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

Another 5 star read from Katy Brent!

I absolutely loved her first book so couldn't wait to get stuck into this one and it did not disappoint!

Fun, easy to follow and hard to put down

Having read, and loved, Katy’s debut I knew I had to jump on this ASAP & it did not disappoint.

I was hooked from the start & I really loved the addition of the subplot with Molly - SUCH an important topic!!

There were a few aspects of the plot I thought I had figured out pretty early on & I suppose to an extend I did however there were twists & turns that kept cropping up and keeping me on my toes - which is always appreciated!

If you enjoyed How To Kill Men & Get Away With It this will definitely be up your street!

Molly wakes up to the worst hangover in the world, with a strange man in her bed, and then is quickly thrust into the worst day of her life. A video lands on social media that could cost her friends, family, and her job. To top it all off, her roommate and best friend is dead. Molly launches into trying to figure out how her friend died, while dealing with trying to remember what happened that fateful night. This story was fast paced with many twists and turns. Great thriller!

After reading and loving Katy Brents debut How to Kill Men And Get Away With It, I couldn't wait to jump into this one, and went in completely blind, and I think that is where I went wrong - my fault and not the book. Looking on Goodreads Im well and truly in the minority, so don't be put off.
I think I was expecting similar vibes, and it certainly starts off that way with the witty humour, and then it takes a different turn which I wasn't expecting.
It's a very current read tackling the toxic side of social media, and I found it a very engaging read. Molly was a great main character, but I wish we found out more of her back story rather than the one chapter at the end. Despite everything you can tell she is a very loyal person.
It's super easy read and I had no problems turning the pages, but I just didn't get that 'Im loving this and cant wait to pick it up feeling' until we got closer to the end.
I was grateful for the shorter chapters, especially after the long chapters in the last book I read.
Overall, I'd give this 3.5⭐️ but again, dont let this put you off if your looking forward to this one as looking at goodreads there are soo many five stars!

It's official, Katy Brent is now an auto-buy author for me! 4.5 ⭐️

SYNOPSIS:

"Something bad happened last night.

I’ve woken up with the hangover from hell, a stranger in my bed, and I’ve gone viral for the worst reasons.

But I can’t remember a thing…

My best friend Posey is dead. The police think it was a tragic accident. I know she was murdered.

There’s only one thing stopping me from dying of shame. I need to find a killer." Goodreads

MY THOUGHTS

⭐️ I adored How to Kill Men and Get Away With It so I was beyond excited to read the new one from Brent, and they didn't disappoint!

⭐️ Brent has an amazing ability to write characters that you deeply care about and root for but are complex and flawed, and in this book, it's Molly Monroe.

⭐️ This book starts with a bang, Molly waking up from the night before, with a man in her bed wondering what happened. I was gripped from then on in!

⭐️ It's jam-packed with plots, twists, and brilliant social commentary about the treatment of women, social media, SA, misogyny, and more - with some humour along the way.

⭐️ I went into this one blind and I would recommend, other than the synopsis above, do so too, it makes for a wild ride.

⭐️ It's fast-paced and I literally consumed this in a few days and have already bought it for a friend's birthday!

I will 100% be reading the next book that Katy Brent releases!

I enjoyed the start of this one and it had me gripped to start with but sadly fell a little flat in the middle. Unfortunately I didn't find the 'revelations' all that convincing about who the murderer was (& why). It just didn't seem very believable to me at all. Also, the name 'Posey' annoyed me throughout 😂 I've given the book 4 stars though as it did explore some interesting themes and kept my interest throughout. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book.

This was an easy 4.5 stars! What a fantastic book, it was filled with so much mystery I literally didn’t know who to trust. There was a huge amount of sadness to this book but Katy Brent certainly knows how to write, there were sections where I laughed out loud. I loved Molly’s character, everything was stacked against her but she was such a hero. There were so many characters I suspected everyone, I particularly enjoyed how everything was revealed.

Beware: this book cause book-hangover and sleep deprivation due to the only-one-more-chapter syndrome.
That said a gripping page turner i thoroughly enjoyed
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine