This was a very interesting mystery thriller. There was action, twists, turns, drama, revenge and a good plot. A very dark, intense, intriguing story.

This was my first book by Camilla Sten, and it won’t be my last. The Bachelorette Party was a fast-paced and engaging thriller that kept me guessing the entire time. I found myself constantly trying to piece together the clues and figure out the big reveal, which made it a fun and suspenseful read. It had just the right amount of tension and twists to keep me hooked without feeling overwhelming. A great pick for a summer read, perfect for fans of twisty thrillers with a binge-worthy feel.

This one was a lot of fun!!! I was actually able to correctly guess the small twist…Which is unusual for me! I thought the characters were really good and I found some empathy for them, even the mean ones. This book makes a great poolside read!!! The suspense in this one was written extremely well and had me FLIPPPPPPING the pages so fast!!!I really had an excellent time reading this twisted thriller!

Tessa is attending her oldest friend’s bachelorette party on a secluded island, well known for the four girls who went missing there ten years earlier.

While this wasn’t my favorite thriller, I definitely think this made a good read for summer, with the island setting and the fast paced, page turning mystery. This is a pretty typical complaint I have for thrillers, but I just could not stand our main character!! It felt pretty cruel that she was using this trip as an excuse to unravel a ten year old mystery to mend her ruined career creating true crime podcasts.

A lot of the characters felt redundant and the timeline of the four missing girls wasn’t nearly as interesting to me as the current day persepctive. The twists were pretty blatant and the end was pretty gruesome. Still made for a quick, thrilling read.

I rarely leave 1 star reviews but this unfortunately fell very flat for me. I could only pick it up for 1 chapter or so at a time because the pacing was slow and the characters fell flat. The concept wasn't new or unique and I expected the twist in the storyline. I wished there was more setting elements to better immerse the reader into the scenes and I craved more growth from the characters. I wished for more set up in the beginning and some pieces of the story felt disconnected or out of place. Once the action picked up at the last 75%, you'd already lost me. I just wanted it to be over,

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

There’s something about a remote setting, old friends, and a celebration turned nightmare that instantly pulls me in. I’m a sucker for an isolated setting.
When 4 childhood friends reunite for a bachelorette weekend on a remote island, what starts as a night of celebration quickly turns dark. By morning, one of them is dead and the secrets and lies refuse to stay quiet.
This one gave off major slow burn vibes at first but when things unraveled they REALLY unraveled.

Although this book wasn't really for me, it's not a bad book. I personally had trouble following the different timelines and large cast of characters, but the actual writing itself was very good and easy to understand. This book is more on the slow-burn side of thrillers, and honestly I was a bit bored at times. It's a fun locked-room mystery type of book that's definitely entertaining, but not a literary masterpiece or incredibly unique.

I was able to read the eBook and listen to the audiobook - the narrator Laura Jennings did a good job, but I was so confused about the different timelines and had to really think about what date she said at the beginning of the chapter. This is easier to follow when reading instead of listening, in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio, and the author Camilla Sten for the ARC & ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A decade ago, four childhood friends vanished during a trip to their favorite vacation spot, a remote island in Sweden. Ten years later, another group of four childhood friends travel to the same island for a bachelorette getaway.
Among them is Tessa, who has long been intrigued by the story of the missing friends. The island is now owned by the sister of one of the missing girls, Irene, who has turned it into a yoga retreat. Tessa is on a quest to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance and why Irene would want to own the island. The tension escalates when a someone goes missing and others begin to act strangely.
Tessa starts to lose hope of ever unraveling the mystery of what happened to the others and begins to question whether they will survive this trip themselves.
Thank you to the publisher/author for the opportunity to listen to this complimentary advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is a review of the audiobook.

2012

Isle Blind in the Baltic Sea is a deserted island that has been the location for a group of four young women to visit every year at the same time for the past 11 years. They dance and drink, tell secrets and have a good time. However, this year, they did not return. Their boat was found floating along and it is believed that they were drunk, decided to take the boat out and ended up drowning. This group has been called the Nacka Four.

2022

It is Anneliese’s Bachelorette party and they have planned on staying at Blind Isle at a newly constructed boutique hotel that specializes in good food, relaxation and yoga. Six friends have gathered to take the ferry over to the island where they put their cell phones away and relax.

Tessa Nilsson has long been a huge fan of true crime and has for a long time had a successful podcast on that. However, a recent happening has found her podcast crashing and burning leaving Tessa depressed, embarrassed, and low on money. But her sister, also invited, encourages her to go to the party. Tessa is convinced that the Nacka Four were murdered but there has been no proof of it. But she does some sleuthing when she arrives and some clues begin to present themselves convincing her that her feeling is correct. How can she solve this mystery without getting harmed?

I admit that I have become quite bored with this overdone trope. Who in their right mind goes to an isolated place and lets someone take their cell phone? No! The story is OK but not a favorite.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

While I enjoyed this book, I felt like it was lacking. The story was unique but not executed well. Overall I found this one just okay.

This book started off strong, and I was really pulled in to the kissing group of friends. This was a slow burn that was unraveling nicely until it started to pick up speed. I just felt like the plot fell apart and there was way too much going on. It was hard to keep track of everyone because there were so many characters and then with the plot having so much going on it felt chaotic. This book had such a strong start so I’ll still read another book by this author.

Camilla Sten crafts a chilling, character-driven thriller in The Bachelorette Party that plays out like a modern-day And Then There Were None—with more emotional landmines and less warning.

When a group of college friends reunites for a bachelorette weekend on a remote Swedish island, the stage is set for celebration, nostalgia, and rekindled connections. But the moment they step off the boat, a sense of unease lingers. The island is isolated, the cell service is spotty, and the tension between the women crackles just beneath the surface. As old secrets bubble up and buried resentments start to poison the atmosphere, the party spirals into a waking nightmare.

Sten excels at creating an oppressive, almost suffocating atmosphere. The island isn’t just a backdrop—it becomes a character in its own right: cold, claustrophobic, and unforgiving. The pacing is deliberate, drawing readers into the interpersonal dynamics before tightening the screws with expertly timed reveals. Each character is layered and deeply flawed, which makes the unraveling of their friendships as suspenseful as the central mystery itself.

While not packed with high-octane action, this novel thrives on its psychological tension, moral ambiguity, and the way it explores how friendship can decay when it’s built on shaky foundations. It's a slow, simmering burn that eventually erupts in ways both shocking and satisfyingly bleak.

Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware, and locked-room-style thrillers, The Bachelorette Party asks: How well do you really know your friends—and what happens when you're trapped with them and no one can leave?

Tessa Nilsson is struggling. She had been a successful podcaster. Her true crime podcast The Witching Hour, about Sweden’s most notorious cases, was wildly popular. She just bought an apartment. She had a girlfriend. And it all fell apart because of one bad choice. Now she’s unemployed, possibly getting sued, and about to be kicked out of her apartment. So of course, she has to go on a four-day bachelorette party to a private island with a luxury yoga resort. In fact, she wouldn’t go at all, except for one reason. The private island in the archipelago near Stockholm sounds a lot like Isle Blind.

Isle Blind is a place Tessa had been wanting to visit. There is a cold case about four women who had gone missing ten years ago. The police had said that they had clearly had too much to drink and then tried to boat back home. None of the women arrived though. It was thought they had fallen overboard and died in the water. But Tessa didn’t believe that story. She thought that the women had been to Isle Blind, and something had happened on the island. It was a private island, owned by the parents of one of the women who had gone missing. And now Tessa has a chance to go to this private island and investigate what might have happened ten years ago, and with her job situation so dire, she could use a breakout podcast, and this could get her there.

But first, she has to endure four days of bachelorette fun, sunrise yoga, mindfulness, and vegan food. And she has to forfeit her phone, tablet, and laptop, as there is no wi-fi on the island. It’s bride-to-be Anneliese, maid of honor Mikaela, Caroline, photographer Natalie, and Tessa’s sister Lena at Baltic Vinyasa, celebrating their years of friendship and the great things that are to come for them.

The resort isn’t officially open yet, so owner Irene and chef Adam are the only staff there for the weekend. The women found out about the place because Lena and Irene were friends. Irene agreed to let them come for the weekend in exchange for good social media chatter, and since the women come with their own photographer, they are certain that they will get plenty of beautiful photos to share. Tessa is happy to be there with her friends, but she is also itching to explore the island, see if she can find anything that could indicate if she really was on Isle Blind, if she really was at the location of four murders. But mostly. she wants to get close to Irene, because it was her younger sister Matilda who was one of the four women Tessa thinks was murdered on this very island.

As the festivities begin and the wine gest poured, Tessa tries to join in and not make it obvious she’s investigating. But as the days go by, there are strange things happening. The small boat that’s kept on the island is see loose out on the water. Caroline has to leave suddenly, leaving just a note. And Tessa finds a bone on the beach that she thinks looks like part of a spine. Irene assures her that’s it from a deer, but Tessa is unsettled. She came to the island thinking that it was the place where four women lost their lives. But what it’s more than just four? How can she be certain that they’ll be safe on an island with such a reputation?

The Bachelorette Party is a chilling story of intrigue and danger that escalates slowly. Author Camilla Sten describes the island and the women with beautiful prose that underlines the ugly crimes that run through this story. It’s told in alternating timelines, mostly in the present but sometimes dipping back ten years, so readers get the whole picture of both get-togethers on Isle Blind and find out what happened to each woman involved.

I listened to The Bachelorette Party on audio, narrated by Laura Jennings. I thought she did a lovely job telling this story, but there were times I struggled to figure out which timeline we were in. I thought that this was a story that would benefit from two narrators, one telling the story of the present day bachelorette party and the other telling the story of ten years ago, to help listeners keep the stories separate. But Sten’s writing is so thorough, so detailed, that having just one voice narrate the entire story is still enjoyable. It just took me a little more work to keep the stories straight.

For a fairly horrific crime story, The Bachelorette Party is beautifully told. I would almost call it horror, but with sophistication. It’s not dark like Nordic noir, but there is a darkness to the perpetrators of these crimes that can’t be denied. This has an honesty about human nature, an inevitability that comes from the jealousy, the rage, the insecurity that we all have. Some characters use that as a fire to survive while others use it to burn down everything they care about. I found this story both disturbing and hopeful, and I look forward to more of Sten’s writing, as she strips away human pretense and shows us with all our flaws and potentials.

Egalleys for The Bachelorette Party were provided by Minotaur Books, and a copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.

This thriller had me from page one! Told in two different time periods, on the same secluded island off the coast of Sweden, four lifelong friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea, and Evelina—reunite every summer. It’s their annual tradition: drink beer, dance beneath the stars, and leave behind the pressures of everyday life. The island’s location is a secret—known only to them Isle Blind. One night of laughter, confessions, and carefree abandon. Then, they vanish from the world, without a trace. Fast forward ten years later.
Tessa Nilsson has spent her life haunted by the unsolved mystery of these four missing women. Tilly used to babysit Tessa, so she was invested in learning what actually happen to the four women. As a teen, she became obsessed. This obsession turned into a passion for true crime. Tessa started a podcast covering Sweden’s darkest crimes. But no matter how far she dug, this case—the one that started it all—remained unsolved. Now, with her podcast in ruins and her credibility in question, the trail has long gone cold. Until now. Tessa’s best friend Anneliese is getting married, and the girls are headed to a luxe yoga retreat for her bachelorette party. The destination? A stylish getaway on a remote island Isle Blind with uncanny similarities to the one from the decade-old disappearance. The plan was to drink cava, stretch through sunrise yoga, and celebrate the bride-to-be. But Tessa also sees an opportunity: one final shot at uncovering the truth about what happened to the four friends. This retreat is own by Tilly's older sister Irene. So Tessa thought she could finally get the answers she was looking for. But someone else on the island has other plans. One motivated not by answers, but by revenge Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Painfully Slow and Disappointingly Flat

I rarely leave one-star reviews, but The Bachelorette Party tested my patience like no other. The premise sounded promising—drama, secrets, a weekend to remember—but what I got was a drawn-out, meandering story that went absolutely nowhere.

The pacing was excruciatingly slow. Entire chapters passed without anything meaningful happening. Characters sat around, drank wine, and rehashed the same tired conversations without developing or revealing anything interesting. Any tension that could have been built was immediately deflated by the sluggish storytelling and repetitive dialogue.

By the time something finally started to happen, I had long since stopped caring. If you’re looking for a book that pulls you in and keeps you turning pages, this is not it.

📚 E-ARC BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Bachelorette Party By Camilla Sten
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for this #gifted e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

The Bachelorette Party is a deeply suspenseful psychological thriller with locked room vibes and a pervasive sense of unease throughout the pages. My stomach was in knots as I read, and the tension in this book was nearly palpable.

This book began with a bang that got my heart racing in a pretty compelling way, and I was immediately pulled in. The story is told in dual timelines set ten years apart, with a handful of chapters in a third timeline thrown in for additional context. And when Sten revealed the way the alternating timelines eventually tied together, it was with a shocking twist that I did NOT see coming at all.

This was a story about friendship, love, secrets, betrayals, and murder -- with a little bit of gory details at times. There's an underlying true crime element to the book, though it isn't the main plotline of the story. The 2012 storyline is about a group of four girlfriends who take an annual overnight trip to a secret island off the coast of Sweden, but one year they go missing and are never found. The 2022 storyline is about a group of six girlfriends who go to a bachelorette party weekend getaway to a remote island off the coast of Sweden -- yup, the very same island where the four girls disappeared ten years earlier. Tessa is a true crime podcaster in 2022 and she knows all about the 2012 disappearance, so she secretly hopes to have a chance to dig up a little true crime tea while visiting this mysterious island. But she can't shake the feeling that something about the bachelorette party weekend isn't right...

If you're a fan of locked room tropes, remote settings in a "there's no way off the island" kind-of way, and tension-filled suspense that will have you on the edge of your seat, you're going to want to get your hands on The Bachelorette Party. It published June 10th, so it's out now -- don't miss it!

#TheBacheloretteParty #CamillaSten #StMartinsPress #MinotaurBooks #ARCs #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #thrillerreads #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #booklover #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

Four friends, Tilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina, meet every year for a vacation. Ten years ago, each of them packed their bags for a remote island, but no one made it home.
Current day- disgraced podcaster Tessa, is invited to a bachelorette party with her sister and their friends. She is ready for a vacation, and the location happens to be where the four women disappeared a decade ago. She is convinced there is a redemption story in this girls’ weekend.
That is until things begin to go awry. One of the party abruptly leaves, sharing a note saying she will be back in a day. Did she truly leave, or is there something nefarious at work? Is anyone genuinely who they say they are?
This page turner will keep you guessing until the end.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

What a fun read to start the summer with! Sten delivers a fast-paced thriller with dual timelines, a remote island, girl group drama, and lots of good twists and turns along the way. I flew through this one and thought the main character also being a disgraced true crime podcaster was a super interesting addition. Loved it!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC!

First off, I loved Sten's debut novel The Lost Village. However, this one just did not hit the same. I wanted a more sinister story. The ending was a let down.

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I find Camilla Sten really capable of making eerie books! I don't think these are the best thrillers I've ever read but they are always fun and a bit subvertive. If you liked her previous you would like this