ARC Review-- 4 Stars

Pub Date: August 13 2024

The wedding of the season is set to occur- a fancy, highfalutin affair to be held at a luxury resort in Los Cabos Mexico. Two of the world's most wealthy couples are joining in marriage, Raj Joshi and Radhika Singh, however before they can say I do, they are tragically murdered. This quickly becomes a whodunnit, investigated and told by our narrator and "plus one", Shaylee (Shay) whom must figure out what happened to the bride and groom to be before her real agenda is found out.

This was a fast paced, quick read for me. It has summertime, vacation, and beach vibes. This would be a perfect book to take with you and read at your leisure this summer. I loved the dual timelines, switching between past and present as well as the twists and turns of the mystery into who murdered the happy couple and why.

I would happily recommend this book to anyone who loves a domestic thriller. Such a great time!

✨Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and William Morrow Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. ✨

Wow!!! This one had me hooked - it was a good quick read and so interesting. I was dying to know what happened next. I love this author too!

Fun, breezy summer read! Shay is the plus one to the wedding of the year only to be throw into the middle of a murder mystery when the bride and groom are found dead the day of the wedding. The characters were pretty silly at times and there were definitely some plot holes, but still a fun read. Thanks to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

What a wonderful who dun it type of read. I was trying to figure things out the whole way through and was surprised at the ending. I have started another book and still find myself thinking of this one which makes it the best type of book.

This was an enjoyable summer thriller set at a wedding in Cabos gone wrong when the bride-and-groom-to-be end up murdered & "the plus one" launches her own investigation to get to the bottom of what went wrong.

The direction of the mystery spends a lot of time with the cartel theory as detailed in the synopsis which wasn't my favorite. Personally I enjoy more contained mysteries with our main cast of characters keeping secrets from one another (which was in this story, but was a bit overshadowed in my opinion). Overall a good time and I'd check out more from this author again in the future.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.

Kept me reading! I had to finish this book as soon as I started reading it! I liked the writing style and the characters were so well described. I was entertained the entire time and didn’t know who did it until the very end. I thought I had it figured out, but nope! Love these types of books!

Although I enjoyed this book, it was very repetitive and read like a typical detective show. The book majorly focuses on the present situation unfolding in Cabo, with some chapters going into the past to provide further context. However, the context from these flashbacks feels so irrelevant and doesn't actually have an impact until the very end when the killer is revealed. As an avid mystery/thriller reader, I like to "play along" with guessing who the suspect is. I could not do that with this book because the context from the past is so vague and mainly focuses on Shay's, the mc, emotions in regards to those interactions. Shay keeps jumping between suspects based on interactions rather than solid evidence, and she is so repetitive in her thinking. The number of times Shay thinks "This suspect has motive because of xyz" is far more than should be included in the book, hence the repetitiveness. With the lack of impactful information, I was a little surprised with the reveal at the end, but it still felt lackluster. The whole Cabo situation ends off on a "cliffhanger" of sort, and the final chapter after that reads like a Where Are They Now? Reunion. which was not satisfying.
I was provided with an uncorrected e-proof version, so I am giving this book the benefit of the doubt and hoping some of this is addressed before it goes to print. This could be a really good book, just needs some TLC!
Thank you to the author for sharing your story with me!

Wow!!!
Very fast paced and SC Lalli did it again! She knows how to draw the reader’s attentions and I love how she incorporates South Asian culture in this book. I am quite familiar with it but not too familiar. That is why I really appreciate that she took the time to really pur those terminologies in.
Honestly, this is a great summer read! I also like how the female main character isn’t dumb. She is very smart and assertive.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

The premise of this book is what drew me to request it (Thanks Scene of The Crime). I wanted to like this book more, but I thought it was way too repetitive on details and too long for what actually happened. I started skimming some parts in the middle and didn't miss a beat. The murderer was narrowed down to three people rather early on, and the main character Shay kept eliminating and reinstating each person as the story went on because of evidence she found, probably to throw the reader off. The ending felt too long, after the murderer reveal, and I definitely skimmed almost that entire section.

Thank you to Netgalley, and again, thank you to Scene of The Crime Early Readers Program, which is from William Morrow, for allowing me to read this ARC.

The Plus One by S. C.Lalli is a thriller set in Cabo, Mexico. It is mostly told in the first person perspective of Shay, as we follow along in the story line that has many twists and turns. Joining her boyfriend at a destination wedding, everything goes wrong from the moment Shay arrives. Although this was not one of my favorite reads of the year overall it was a decent read. I would still recommend it to others.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I love the location of this book. I haven't been on a vacation in years, so I always like reading about fun places (especially on someone else's dime). With that being said, it felt very...forced. The ending made up for the middle bit, but there was too much going on and some things overall just seemed too convenient.

3.75 ⭐️ Great summer read! This book was really easy to get into and it picked up pretty quickly. It was full of twists, lies, betrayal and turns that kept me guessing! Some parts did feel a bit drawn out and repetitive but I’d definitely recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC.

I loved this story! I loved the twists and turns, the unreliability of literally everyone, and I loved not being able to predict the murderer. I really enjoyed the setting and the wrap up of this story. What fun

It’s the wedding event of the year and Shay is going with her boyfriend who is also the best man. On an exclusive resort in Mexico, Shay arrives to find that the bride and groom murdered in their suite. As an outsider Shay tries to find out who did it and why.

Really great story, suspenseful and kept me wanting more. Surprised at the ending and it wrapped up well.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC in return for my review!

A beautiful resort in Los Cabos, Mexico should be the perfect destination for the lavish wedding of the year…but it quickly turns into the location of the double murder of the bride Radhika and groom Raj. 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️

Shaylee “Shay” Kapoor, girlfriend of the best man and undercover reporter, is on a mission to uncover the truth about a deadly fire and how the groom’s billionaire father, Mr Joshi, may be involved. Little did Shay know she’d soon be working to uncover who the murderer of the bride and groom is as well; and that the 3 main suspects are to close to home: Caleb, the groom’s best friend & best man,
Zara, sister of the bride or Sean, brother of the groom.

The Plus One wasn’t a thriller in the way where there’s a lot of action but it’s definitely suspense driven, which is nice, but there was a lot going on within the plot. First the corruption of Mr Joshi (Groom’s father) and his involvement in a fire killing multiple people, his company’s possible involvement with the Mexican cartel, and then of course the death and the whodunnit aspect of it.

As you’re reading you’re trying to solve the murder with Shay. The author did a great job of moving the focus from one suspect to another, to where you really believe any of the 3 suspects could have killed the bride and groom. If you read enough suspense/thrillers, or constantly watch ID channel like I do, I think you start developing a sense of figuring things out in books and I’m happy to say, this book kept me guessing until the reveal! There’s a lot happening here which sometimes makes it feel a bit drawn out and you don’t end up loving any specific character (they are all flawed as we humans are). This was my first book by this author and it kept me interested!

**Thank you to NetGalley, Williams Morrow Books and S.C Lalli**

Nothing and nobody is what it seems! That’s my review of this book in a single statement. This story reminded me of a rubberband ball. From start to finish. If you love a thriller that you can’t figure out, this is the book for you.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This definitely had an interesting premise and an unexpected ending. The format was a little odd with some of the back and forth with the wedding, even after it wasn’t happening. I also thought the characters could have been a little more developed, but this was a decent poolside thriller. 3.5/5⭐️rounded up to 4. Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy!!

Talk about a sad balloon.

The Plus One should have been great. Rich people, a fancy wedding, a wedding party full of liars.... Instead this was a long-drawn out and confusing plot. I hated LITERALLY every single person.

Thanks to netGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book

This took me a bit longer to read than normal. It was a good story, but also a tad slow. I felt like there was a lot going on. Clearly the Joshi family is corrupt. So, I'm not surprised that more than one family member was involved in the crimes. I'm not even surprised that a journalist was inestigating, though she clearly crossed some lines to do so. I was a bit shocked that Zara was the killer, however. I would've pegged Mr. Joshi. The book kept you guessing as to what was going on. The suspense of Shay investigating had me on the edge of my seat that she would be caught a few times!