THE UNWEDDING captured me from the start. I like stories that hold my attention and keep me in suspense like this one did. Highly recommend.


Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for my gifted copy.

Books set on a remote island always peak my interest quick, so when I started reading I had expected to be hooked immediately. Unfortunately the pacing was a little slow for my liking and it was due to how many characters were in the book.

Author Ally Condie is best known for her young adult novels but The Unwedding is now her first attempt at adult fiction. The Unwedding is a locked room mystery of sorts with it being set at a remote luxury resort at Broken Point in Big Sur, California with a contained cast of characters.

Ellery Wainwright was about to be celebrating her twentieth wedding anniversary with a trip planned to Big Sur when her husband, Luke, decided he’d rather get a divorce. It was Luke who then suggested that Ellery go ahead and take the time and the trip to herself to digest this huge bomb in her life.

After arriving at Broken Point though Ellery finds the one thing she really wouldn’t have wanted at all, a wedding taking place while she mourns her own marriage. Trying to make the best of it all though Ellery continues her solo trip doing her best to avoid the wedding until the night Ellery discovers the body of the groom floating in the pool and finds a mudslide has cut off any chance of help arriving to find the murderer.

As much young adult I do read even now into my adult years Ally Condie’s popular Matched series is one that has continued to remain on my TBR so I had no experience with her work going into The Unwedding. The story did seem to be a solid effort at an adult novel with having an intriguing plot to follow. It did seem there were a lot of characters to follow along with which kind of made the pacing seem a little slow getting to know them all. When finished with this story I would rate this first adult effort at three and a half stars overall and definitely give this author another go into he future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

#1 New York Times bestselling author of YA novels returns with her dazzling adult debut, THE UNWEDDING —a blend of White Lotus and Agatha Christie, a twisty whodunit escapist mystery thriller with a gorgeous, dangerous Big Sur backdrop.

About...

A newly divorced woman whose solo vacation at an exclusive resort unravels when she discovers a dead body on the wedding day, and she may be the only one who can find the killer. While confronting her loss, she is trying to survive a deadly story and solve not one, but two murders.

Ellery Wainwright finds herself on a solo trip after she and her husband were to spend their 20th wedding anniversary at the luxurious Resort at Broken Point, in Big Sur, California. She is lost. They are no longer celebrating. A divorce, before their oldest child's senior year. Three children: Kate, Ethan, and Maddie.

The deposit was non-refundable, and she decided what could be worse than being at one of the most beautiful places on earth for a getaway—from the stunning ocean vistas, spa, luxury accommodations, fine dining, eclectic art collections, and gallery, in addition to the beautiful views, yoga, nature walks, trails, and more.

After all, she did not want Luke to bring his new girlfriend, Imogen, whom he had obtained within a month of the divorce. (five years younger).

She had not counted on a wedding to be held at the resort during her stay and soon finds this place unsettling and eerie. She discovers the body of the groom floating in the pool in the rain, and then before the cops can arrive (due to a mudslide taking out the only road to the resort), leaving everyone trapped with a murderer.

Everyone has a secret at Broken Point, including Ellery!

Something old, something new.
Something borrowed, something blue.
Someone lost, someone wed.
Someone broken, someone dead.

Ellery meets two other guests, Ravi and Nina, who take her under their wings. She also meets the bride-to-be, Olivia (to marry Ben), and the group for the wedding when the only worry is rain. That would be the least of the problems. No one could guess there would be a disaster the day of the wedding and what comes after!

My thoughts...

THE UNWEDDING draws you in immediately with the creative resort maps and illustrations as the novel begins on Friday through Thursday and continues through the days leading up to the murder. Each chapter cleverly opens with the happenings for the day at the resort, a quote, the weather, and the featured art.

I enjoyed the characters of Ellery, Ravi, and Nina and their amateur sleuthing. Not only is there a murder, but a horrible storm bears down on Big Sur, washing out bridges and roads and leaving the guests trapped in this clever locked-room mystery thriller.

The author's writing is lyrical and beautiful, drawing you into her characters, their fears, traumas from the past, loss, pain, death, grief, forgiveness, and the road to healing infused with art. I look forward to seeing what comes next from this author.

Recs...

THE UNWEDDING is for fans of the author and those of Ruth Ware, Sarah Pearse, Alice Feeney, Amber Cowie, Megan Miranda, Shari Lapena, Carol Goodman, and Lisa Jewell.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a gifted digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Pub Date: June 4, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars
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I wanted this to be a 5 star,. It wasn’t quite there but I still really enjoyed it. The setting was perfect and I love a locked door mystery like this, especially bringing together a bunch of strangers. It dragged a bit toward the end and over complicated, but otherwise good.

Ally Condie's transition to adult fiction is seamless with The Unwedding. It's a nicely paced mystery with an interesting, and secretive, collection of characters that all make great suspects, and reveals about them that are often surprising. An enjoyable summer read!

The first 3/4 of this book were really good -- perfect setting, perfect mystery and really well developed characters. And then the mystery started to unfold and it was like everything was oddly connected in one chapter and none of it made sense. I didn't like it. So aside from the ending, I would say this was good and maybe the forced nature of exposing it just didn't work for me? You may have better luck and I still enjoyed a large part of this book.

The Unwedding comes out next week on June 4, 2024 and you can purchase HERE.

"Hey." Ravi had lowered his voice. "Speaking of problems t solve. Mysteries to unravel. Did you know there's a shadov celebrity staying here? We've got to figure out who it is."

Ellery wasn't sure what he was talking about. "A what?" Sh darted a glance at Nina.

"Someone who's sneaky famous," Ravi said. "Who can go unrecognized among the masses, but who wields tremendous power. Like the head of a movie studio who prefers not to be known. Or the founder of LikeMe. Or the person who invented a cryptocurrency that funds an entire nation."

"Oh," Ellery said, a small thrill running through her. "How can you tell that someone like that is here?"

"Don't listen to him," Nina said. "He's always making things up. And the worst part is, he believes them."

"People are not always what they seem." Ravi's eyes searched Ellery's. "Don't you agree?"

"I do," she said. "Everyone has a shadow." Even the waiters with their bright eyes and cheerful voices, even the people across from her, even her best friend, her own husband, herself.

I read Condie’s YA MATCHED series years ago so I was excited to see her move into adult thrillers. I loved the setup of this one and totally could see myself trying to solve mysterious deaths while on vacation. Ellery was a bit annoying with her moping around for her ex-husbands - he seemed like a jerk so I have no idea why she was so hung up! Other than that, I like how the side characters involved themselves as a little scooby band. This feels more cozy mysterty than a thriller but it was still an enjoyable read!

Thank you Netgalley & Grand Central Publishing for an eARC ♥️


Ellery Wainwright's 20th wedding anniversary celebration turns into a desperate fight for survival when she arrives alone at the isolated Resort at Broken Point in Big Sur, California. The luxurious getaway, once a symbol of her perfect life, now feels like a haunting reminder of her shattered dreams.

As she tries to escape her painful reality, a wedding party arrives, taunting her with memories of her own lost love. But when the groom turns up dead in the pool, Ellery realizes she's not the only one with secrets. And as the rain pours down, a mudslide traps the guests, leaving them at the mercy of a killer. With no escape and no signal to call for help, Ellery must navigate the treacherous web of lies and alliances among the stranded guests. Each new death raises the stakes, and Ellery's own dark past threatens to surface.

Ally Condie masterfully crafts a sense of tension and unease from the very beginning, and the isolated setting of the resort adds to the feeling of claustrophobia and dread.

I loved how the story explores the complexities of human relationships and the secrets we keep from each other.

4 stars!

I don't think this book will be for everyone, but it was for me! I never read Ally Condie's Matched series, but I did really love her thriller debut. I think that where this really shined for me was with the main character Ellery. She was so compelling and I was rooting for her and her happiness. I think what I also loved about this book was the setting. The Broken Point Resort felt so real and vivid, and the setting was also helped by Ally Condie's descriptive writing.

I also really liked the supporting cast, including the new friends Ellery meets, the bride, maid of honor, and best man. It was fun to learn more about everyone, and I was surprised to discover how invested I was within a 320 page novel.

My only con was that I think the book fell slightly apart with the mystery reveal. There felt like a lot of random coincidences and a more villain end of novel speech than I expected, which took me out of the parts of the book I really liked. Besides that, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely read more from Ally Condie.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Love a good wedding murder, especially when it’s a destination wedding… everyone out of their safe spaces, thrown together with people they don’t always know or get along with… I enjoyed the added spin of our protagonist practically being a wedding crasher; she knows nobody…

This was quick to pull me in, but didn’t stand up throughout. There are SO many characters and the build up to the end was kind of imbalanced. Parts dragged, pulling me out of the story a little. It just felt so long…

This wasn’t bad! I really enjoyed some of the characters and the mystery is intriguing. I know others will find more to enjoy with this one.

This was my first book by Ally Condie, this is a stranded on a remote island, locked door, type book, I found myself flipping through the pages, but not as fast as I usually do. I liked the idea of the premise, however I felt like the ending and the book fell short for me. I found the characters complex, and likable, but at the same time I felt like too much was going on sometimes, nothing at all. The main character was a recently divorced mother of two, who decides to take the 20th anniversary trip that was planned for her and her now ex-husband. Shortly after arriving at the resort People begin to start missing and later turn up unalive. The storyline is a modern day with flashbacks to the past of the main characters traumatic incident years ago. Overall, the storyline is good, and its fun to watch all the pieces come together at the end. THis book has a variety of emotions, struggles, family and friend connections. If you are looking for a quick read this might not be it, but in my opinion it is still worth the read.

**4.5 stars**

What a perfect summer mystery! If you’re going on vacation or just wish you were this is the perfect mystery to transport you somewhere else. Honestly I had to google where exactly Big Sur is in California but I sure felt like I was there while reading The Unwedding. I loved Ellery, Ravi, Nina, and all of the other fully realized characters. The resort itself is definitely a character as well. Plus I didn’t have a clue who the killer was. Highly recommend!

My only complaint and the reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is Ellery’s pining over her ex-husband, but what do I know I’ve never been married at all much less for 20 years.

Thanks to the author and publisher for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review.

To the publisher, there was one noticeable continuity error where she describes her son as having big brown eyes then the scene at the lake with the wand he has beautiful blue eyes like the water, I hope that is fixed in the final version.

3.5 stars. Ellery is blindsided when her husband asks for a divorce before their 20th anniversary. She decides to go on their pre-planned anniversary trip so it doesn’t go to waste. She makes a few friends and even crashes a wedding event on site. Trying to have a good time becomes hard to do when she finds a dead body in the pool. It won’t be the first one on the trip either. A bad weather storm prevents anyone from entering/leaving the resort, so Ellery and others on the site work to figure out who is killing guests.

This was a fun read. It was definitely more cozy mystery vibes vs. thriller. I didn’t really have any good theories, just read and learned alongside Ellery - which I didn’t mind! I also appreciated how it wasn’t easy to guess. The ending was longer than needed though, with a lot of dialogue and explaining - plus additional plot added at the end that wasn’t necessary. It kinda felt like a Scooby Doo reveal; however, I enjoyed the ride!

As a fan of Ally Condie's YA books, I was quick to request this book and I enjoyed it. There was a good mystery and it moved at a pretty steady pace. I wasn't exactly sure where things were going to go, so that was a nice surprise! I hate when the endings are obvious and I didn't really see this coming. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really really enjoyed this one! This is a locked-room destination thriller set at a luxury resort on the Big Sur coastline. The main character, Ellery, is vacationing solo on her planned 20th anniversary trip soon after her husband has asked for a divorce. On her first night at the resort, she is invited to dine with some other travelers and they crash an pre-wedding cocktail party. The next morning, a member of the wedding part is found dead, the wedding is called off, and a major storm has cut the resort off from the mainland. Ellery and her new friends are now pulled into the wedding party's drama in a quest to solve the murder. However, new victims start to fall, power/food/and supplies dwindle, and tensions mount in a race for survival.

The author does such an amazing job at creating a sense of foreboding and tension; every.single.interaction between Ellery and other resort guests put me on edge. Who to trust, how the guests might be interconnected, and what to believe was an involving part of the story. The fear and tension was expertly executed, and I could not set this one aside until the mystery was resolved. A highly propulsive thriller with a dream-like setting makes this the perfect book to slip into your pool or beach bag!

I read this one and did the audiobook. This is the review for the Ebook. This is amazing! Our girl is on a vacation that was meant to be for her 20th wedding anniversary but she is recently divorced instead. She is traveling alone. She instantly starts making friends because she is nice and she is starting to enjoy the trip when she finds a corpse in the pool. Oh no! It is the groom from the wedding that was supposed to take place at the resort. So sad!
She wants to know what happened and she is kind of looking into it, when another body is found. Lots and lots secrets about the wedding party are revealed. She also befriends staff and other guests and learns a lot about herself.
It was so beautiful! I especially loved the ending.

As a teenager, I loved Ally Condie’s Matched series so much! So when I saw she wrote an adult novel, I had to read it! The Unwedding has a White Lotus meets Agatha Christie vibe. When the body of the groom at a resort wedding is discovered and a mudslide blocks the roads, it’s clear something horrible is brewing at the Resort at Broken Point. Everyone has a secret and Condie takes the reader on a thrilling ride to discover them!

4.5 ⭐️s!

Really enjoyed this one. First time reading an Ally Condie book and won’t be my last. I thought the pacing was good and the premise was interesting. A thriller/murder mystery set at a luxury Big Sur resort while a wedding is supposed to happen was right up my alley. There was depth to the characters and the banter between them all was great. Couldn’t get enough of Ravi and Nina!

I also loved how she weaved in the FMC, Ellery’s, past and a particular memory of a tragic event throughout the book and the main storyline. And her personal struggles throughout the book I could see being so relatable. I kept wondering how everything was going to connect in the end, and I actually like how we got a ton of answers regarding different things.

Definitely recommend! Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC.

After an unexpected divorce, Ellery attends a luxury resort by herself. Why let their planned vacation go to waste? When she finds a dead body in the pool, a mudslide also traps her and the other guests.

If you like locked door mysteries, this may be for you. It’s got all the perfect makings for a locked room: luxurious resort, mysterious artwork, unlikeable characters, and a woman you root for from the beginning. The middle of book was slow for me but I stuck with it. I really wanted Ellery to make out alright.

“It was easy to forget yourself out here. It was easy to forget what you had done. What you still might do.”

The Unwedding comes out 6/4.