I really didn’t know exactly what to expect with this but i really enjoyed it. It was fast paced and super engaging, there were a decent amount of characters and although the dual timelines got a little confusing at times it all wrapped up perfectly

Title: The Bachelorette Party
Author: Camilla Sten
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Kindle Page Count: 304
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Start Date: May 15, 2025
End Date: May 19, 2025
Anticipated Publish Date: June 10, 2025
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Twisty but a bit too drawn out

The Bachelorette Party starts off with an intriguing premise—an off-the-grid getaway with a group of old friends, secrets simmering beneath the surface, and one missing guest. Camilla Sten does a great job creating a claustrophobic, isolated atmosphere, and there are plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing.

That said, while the suspense builds well in the first half, the pacing slows considerably in the middle. Some of the twists felt predictable, and a few character decisions had me scratching my head. I found myself wanting more depth from the main characters to fully invest in their motivations and fears.

The final reveal was satisfying, but it didn’t quite pack the punch I was hoping for. Overall, it’s a decent psychological thriller with solid writing, but it didn’t blow me away. Worth a read if you enjoy slow-burn suspense and group dynamic tension.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

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This is high high anxiety up until the very end! This author is FANTASTIC at building tension and pumping fear into her books. At one point, I was only reading dialogue because I needed to get to the next part! Another great one by Sten! Well structured and pulls the reader in immediately

What a read! This book was set up for me to like it: a bachelorette party that goes awry, secluded island, constantly questioning who you can trust. There is such a huge cast of characters between the two timelines and groups of women we meet that at times, it all kept blending together. I would find myself having to restart a chapter to check which timeline I was in because of the similar names and the fast pacing of the book that had me flipping pages! Some of the twists and surprises felt a bit predictable, especially for someone who reads this genre often, but nonetheless I really enjoyed this one and how it took some common tropes and added more to them. In so many (good!) ways, this felt like a summer slasher film that I shouldn't have been watching at a middle school sleepover.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!!!

Tessa is a true crime podcaster who got interested in true crime after her babysitter disappeared.

She's invited to a Bachelorette Party on an island that she knows is the possible place where everything happened. She boards a boat with her sister and friends from high school to this remote island. Only one resort is on the island and they must turn over their cell phones for a yoga retreat style weekend.

Tessa starts noticing things on the island are more suspicious than she thought. And soon one of their friends is missing. I thought the suspense was great in this book. Slightly predictable in some spots but still a fantastic read.

Bachelorette parties on a secluded island with no phone reception is not an uncommon trope - but this cover is gorgeous and I'm always willing to give a mystery a try! And this one had a great twist - a podcaster who is trying to hold on to her career and get something good and juicy about an old, unsolved mystery of 4 missing women.

But this one lost me really early on. I wanted to love it. I didn't even mind the big cast - two sets of women who are friends with eerily similar names. The location, this craggily old rocky island that now has a resort in the middle of it was great and really set the tone. The creepy feeling of the boat floating and feeling isolated and abandoned was great. The rest, I just didn't connect with it and I wish I did! Sadly, just too many leaps that didn't feel realistic.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

The Bachelorette Party had all the classic summer thriller ingredients. A celebration of old friends, lots of baggage, a remote island, no cell reception, and disappearing characters. Plus, this felt ALOT like a 00’s slasher movie you’d beg your parents to let you rent at Blockbuster and I am not mad about it!

Some twists were easy to clock, but a few genuinely surprised me and honestly, that’s the sweet spot for a summer thriller. I loved how the book leaned into the “who can you trust?” vibes, layering long-buried secrets with the kind of character drama that only intensifies when you’re stuck somewhere with no cell service and rising body count.

If you’re into bachelorette parties that go off the rails, friendships under pressure, and a little blood and gore with your beach read, this one belongs in your summer thriller stack.

Big thanks to @NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the early look! This one is our July 2, just in time for summer getaways!

This book was a wild ride. It had so many twists and turns. The writing was also so well done. I was hooked from the first page.

This one wasn't for me. There were too many characters to keep track of and with the shifting timelines, they were easy to get confused. i did not find anything unique about this thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley! This book was a different premise than others I’ve read despite it including a bachelorette party. I always enjoy the back and forth between characters and timelines. I was a bit shocked by what happened in the ending but it was slightly predictable plot

📖 Book Review 📖 It’s been ten years since four best friends, the Nacka Four, disappeared without a trace. And while everyone assumes they took a boat out and drowned, Tessa has always had a feeling that something happened on the infamous Isle Blind. Now that a resort has been built on this notorious archipelago and she has been invited to a bachelorette party, she cannot pass up the opportunity to dig into her theories. However, it seems this cold case might not be so cold after all as strange things keep happening on this small island. Is Tessa stuck in her own head with her conspiracy theories or is it possible that there is a killer still out there? Camilla Sten writes a twisty summer read that unravels at just the right pace that keeps you turning the pages. The Bachelorette Party is the jaw dropping summer read that will make you want to stay home and indulge in this mystery!

This was such a binge-able book! While I can't say I was surprised by the way the story unfolded, I was hooked throughout. The thriller sequences had me flying through to see how it would resolve. I enjoyed the setting and overall plot trajectory. It had everything for a quick thriller read and I would absolutely recommend.

A thriller with a happy name means lots of mayhem and in this case, it is so true. Lots of twists and I never knew who to trust.

I don't know why I waited so long to start reading this book. I just finished in one sitting. I really enjoyed the character development and the fact that every character was flawed in some way- except maybe for Lena. I do not always love stories that switch between multiple timelines but it was so well done and only covered details from the past that were critical to the plot.

Would absolutely recommend to anyone who loves a mystery, it definitely kept me guessing until the last few chapters.

This is like a 2.5 ish rounded up? I wanted to love this story. I even loved the sample I read which encouraged me read the full novel.

This story is about a mysterious archipelago - Isle Blind. There was a disappearance of four women from the island. Now, 10 years later, a group of women return. One is a true crime podcaster who wants to learn the real truth.

The real truth is that around 35% i just completely lost interest. I didn't care what happened to the Napa Four. I didn't care what happened to anyone current day. None of the characters held my interest, no change of scenery as they are stuck on an island. It was just bleh for me.

I skimmed through the middle, nothing grabbing my interest, and then read the final five chapters. I also didn't care for the ending. BUT, I do think people will enjoy this book, I just think it wasn't for me.

If you are just here for low stakes, vibes, fun thriller - definitely give this one a shot.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Tessa is begrudgingly getting ready to go to her oldest friend’s bachelorette party on a remote island in Stockholm called Isle Blind. She has lost touch with the girls attending & is in the midst of a huge life change, so this event is really the last thing she wants to be doing. However, as a true crime podcaster, Tessa can’t help but be curious about Isle Blind - the last known location of a group of 4 friends that have never been seen since. It has been 10 years since their alleged murder & Tessa wants to find some answers, so she joins the bachelorette trip. She will soon discover that what awaits them there is even worse than she could have imagined…

Told from the POV of present day & back when the murders took place, this thriller gives off major Scream/The Guest List vibes 🔪 The build up at the beginning was a bit slow, but honestly still flew through this one! The suspense & dread was *chef’s kiss* 👌🏻 The setting was super creepy & described really well. 100% recommend!

3.5 Stars

I liked this book. It was a quick read as I wanted to know what happened and all the action kept my interest. It took me a minute with the time line changes to get myself into that timeline and the characters in it. Overall, it was a wild bacholerette weekend.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for providing an arc of the book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me access this book!

I loved “the resting place” so as soon as I saw a new book by Camilla Sten, I knew I wanted to read it! This one was similar to TRP in that you have an isolated setting with a group of people with a lot of complicated history between them. I liked the dual timelines as they helped give hints at the mystery and the red herrings that were thrown in at times to muddy the waters.

Minor spoilers:

My main dislike was that it was obvious from the flashbacks that none of the bachelorette party guests could be the killer and it would have been interesting if the author had used the characters’ relationships to the deceased women from the earlier crime to make it seem possible that one of the guests could be involved. It seemed a little nonsensical that Mikaela could turn on Tessa so quickly when there were no logical reasons Tessa would have done something, but if there’d been more drama from the past coming up, it would have made sense and made the mystery more exciting.

I enjoyed this one, but found it to be a bit predictable.

The concept of this novel is an interesting one, and I really enjoyed trying to thread the connections together and figure out what was going on.

It is well written, and I found it easy to lose myself in and to buy into the story and the way it was written.

What didn’t quite live up to expectations for me was the suspense. With only two people other than the party on the island and some context clues, it didn’t take much guessing to start figuring out where this was going. The why and how was still a mystery, and surprised me a bit, but the who just felt too predictable and easy.

Overall, it’s a decent easy read read thriller.

This was a quick paced thriller set on a small island in the Baltic Sea near Sweden. The novel is set in two different time periods. First in 2012, four friends traveled to Isle Blind to reconnect, never dreaming that it will be their last time alive. Then in 2022, the island now has a yoga retreat and is open for the first time for a bachelorette party. Tessa is a true crime podcaster who has recently lost her podcast due to an unfortunate and tragic incident. The bachelorette party is her chance to be with her old friends but more importantly it could be a chance for her to learn more about the four murders dubbed the Nacka Four in 2012. This could be her opportunity to restart her podcast. However once on the island her doubts begin to grow as she feels that things are not right. Then one of her friends goes missing and Tessa fears the worst. Will she make it off the island alive or will history repeat itself?

I really enjoyed the pacing of this novel. It was a great escape for the weekend. I did find myself caught up with the friend drama and wanted things to work out for Tessa. I kept guessing as to what actually happened and was definitely surprised when everything was revealed. This is a thrilling thriller with a great setting. I also think the cover is gorgeous and would probably pick it up for that reason alone. A very enjoyable and fast paced read!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.