⭐️⭐️⭐️ | A Slow Start, But a Gripping Finish

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Stein started off slow and honestly had a hard time keeping my attention. I considered putting it down a few times, but I try not to DNF books, so I pushed through. Around the 45% mark, things finally started to pick up—and by the time I hit 60%, I was hooked and couldn’t stop reading. The buildup took longer than I’d prefer, but once the story got going, the twists kept me engaged. If you can push through the slow start, the second half is worth the wait.

The book was chilling and made me feel like I needed to look over my shoulder. The story is mainly told from the perspective of Tessa with some glimpses of the past told from Matilda's view. Since we know a bit of what had happened to the girls 10 years ago, the tension builds quickly as the characters in the present arrive at the island. I was reading carefully looking for clues for who to suspect. The tension builds to high as the book nears the end. The story had a few surprise twists that I was surprised by. The book definitely has the feel of the Scream and I Know What You Did movies. I was on edge as the end neared. I liked Tessa as a character and was rooting for her. I think she could be the lead in another story doing research for her podcast. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

1.5 stars.

This had a strong start, but started to go downhill toward the end and it had a lackluster ending.

It was written well, but the plot needed some fixing up. It just didn’t have a lot of depth.

I wish I didn’t see in the middle of me reading this book that it is compared to “The Guest List” because I cannot stand that book and it kind of tainted my reading of this. But even before seeing that comparison online, I came to that conclusion myself, which honestly I think ruins and spoils some things before you even get to reading this novel.

It was very predictable; I guessed who it was right in the beginning. Not so much all the intricacies of what happened, but it’s pretty easy to put the motive all together. It was interesting how everything was all connected, but I had no attachment to any of these characters, so I didn’t feel that shocked and I really didn’t care.

I wish we got to know the other girls better, including her sister Lena. I feel like we barely knew them other than surface level things. I know they haven’t seen each other in a long time, but still. Tessa claims these are her best friends or people she was close with in the past, yet they barely interacted and we knew nothing about them as people or as a friend group.

At first I didn’t realize Caroline and Natalie were two different people, which is really bad. Sure that is partially on me for not paying enough attention, but their personalities barely differentiated, so it was hard to tell them apart.

The random reference to Lena and Irene being friends didn’t need to be in there either because that was barely touched on and was just randomly referenced every once in a while. Even those two didn’t treat each other like friends would. I think it was just supposed to be another connection thrown into the mix.

I didn’t care what happened to any of them other than Tessa. Even by the end I started not to care about her either. She was a fine main character, but nothing super special.

If the author would have taken the time to build up these characters so we could get to know them and love them, this would have been a lot better. Because then we would have been surprised and felt betrayed, or any other emotions we are supposed to have while reading this, that I did not.

There was no need for a romance in this book for Tessa; whether it was having an ex, or who she was going to end up with in the end. It didn’t add anything to the story.

It talked way too much about her podcast and her being canceled. That part of it wasn’t important to the story in my opinion. If she just had a podcast to show she was a crime junky that would be one thing, but there was too much focus on her guilt when we could have been spending time getting to know all the characters better. Even her not wanting to go on the trip didn’t need to be in there because that didn’t affect the story at the end of the novel. Sure, we got more insight to her as a person, but in my opinion she didn’t need to have baggage. She could have just wanted to go because Anneliese was her friend and she wanted to find out more about the four women who were murdered there.

Some spoilers for the end:

I didn’t care about Anneliese because we barely knew anything about her, so when everything was going down I didn’t find it in myself to care. What she did or what happened to her. She had no personality other than she was getting married.

And I’m sorry, leaving your sister is crazy work. I would never do that to my brother ever, even if it was to save my own life. The fact that Tessa barely seemed to give it a second thought and ran to save her own skin, even though Lena told her to, is wild to me. She claims she loves her sister and was close to her, but she didn’t think about saving her at all. Even when she thought about if Lena was still alive or not it was so matter of fact, there was no emotion or concern at all.

It was easy enough to read and the chapters were short which was nice, but I had a lot of issues with this book, so I can’t give it a higher star rating sadly.

I think if the plot was cleaned up more this would have been a solid novel! But we were missing too much about the characters for me to be fully invested. Either cut down on how many were there, or spend more time focusing on them.

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten is a mystery/thriller that takes place in a remote island. I absolutely love books where the story takes place in an isolated atmosphere and this one did not disappoint.
We first learn of a tragic event that takes place in the remote island to a group of friends who have made it a tradition to getaway once a year to this undisclosed location. Fast forward 10 years and now we learn of Tessa who has been invited to a bachelorette party in a remote yoga retreat. She does not want to go however her life as a podcaster took a turn and she finds herself in need to dig up a good story. This is why she decides to go to the bachelorette party.
Once they arrive, Tessa has a bad feeling about the place but she is determined to find out what really happened 10 years ago even if it means not being able to tell the story!

What I loved about this book is that there is a darkness to the story that is very eerie as Tessa uncovers what truly happened all those years ago and at the realization that now she and her friends might be facing the same danger.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press. All opinions are my own.

After Tessa's true crime podcast fails, one unsolved case still haunts her... the disappearance of four friends a decade ago on a remote rustic island. Now she's been invited to that same island for a friend's bachelorette party and she's hoping to finally find some answers. Cut off from the outside world at the resort owner's insistence and getting closer to the truth, Tessa realizes too late the very real danger they're all in.
I fell in love with this author's writing when I read the Lost Village and although I didn't like this one quite a much, it was still really good. The ominous feel of the isolated island added to the creepy vibe of the book and there were plenty of twists as the story jumped timelines between past and present. I had trouble at first keeping track of the many characters and which timeline I was in, but caught on as the story flowed and then I couldn't put it down.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a dual-timeline story, with one timeline taking place ten years prior, when 4 best friends who meet yearly on an island, the location secret to everyone but them, disappeared. Now, Tessa Nilsson who is a true crime podcaster obsessed with the case, is going to a bachelorette party for her best friend. The party is planned for Baltic Vinyasa, a sleek, sophisticated yoga retreat on a small island off the coast—one with such similar characteristics to the tragedy years ago that it raises the hair on Tessa’s neck. This may be the chance for her to revive her career and find out what happened to the women once and for all.

Normally I love locked island mysteries, but I just could not get into this one. I kept forgetting which timeline each person belonged to. Also, Also, the story was a slow burn for the entire book,, and none of the characters were especially likeable. Overall I give this a 2.5 rounded up to a 3.

Sten always delivers doesn’t she?
The Bachelorette Party was another cleverly plotted book by expert author, Camilla Sten.
It is a fast paced and entertaining thriller that will keep you turning the pages.
Get ready for the tension and suspense of this twisty, addictive book.
This thriller was one I couldn’t put down after I started reading.
The twists were wrenching and the atmosphere was very taut.
The Resting Place is addictive, chilling, and creepy.
An edge-of-your-seat read all packed into this pulse-pounding, amazing novel!

Coined as Scream meets The Guest List I was immediately interested as I’m a big fan of slasher horror vibes mixed with a secluded who-dunnit plot. We follow along four friends Tilly, Anna, Linnea, and Evelina off for their yearly planned met up. Except this time none of them make it home from their nostalgic filled meeting. Now ten years later podcaster Tessa Nilssan may have the chance she has been waiting to solve the case. However when Tessa starts to find clues she soon realizes that another person may have their own plans, ones that involve revenge.
This book was an easy page turner with twist after twist as the story takes readers from past and present events. I was fully sold on the mystery, setting, and even the multiple timelines… so why not a higher rating? Well the longer and farther I got into the book the less I began to care about our characters. The stakes were just a tad not high enough to truly evoke grand feelings in who would perish and who would survive. This overall feeling ultimately took the tension down a notch which ended up impacting the twist ending as I was left feeling lackluster towards it. However, I do think that all that aside this was a pretty solid mystery with an atmospheric setting and will likely be devoured by readers looking for a more easy to consume thriller.

The Bachelorette Party comes out June 10th, 2025. Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3 out of 5 Stars!

Childhood friends Tilly, Anna, Linea, and Eveline meet every year on this remote island off the coast of Sweden to drink, dance, and catch up with one another. The exact location is a secret to everyone but them. It is supposed to be one night of reckless fun, before they go back to their regular life for the year. Fast-forward 10 years; Tessa Nilsson is addicted to the story of four friends who disappeared on their annual trip to a remote island together. As time goes on, Tessa’s addiction to true crime turns into a popular podcast. But now, the podcast has crashed and burned without ever getting the chance to uncover what really happened on that island. But as luck would have it, Anneliese, Tessa’s best friend, wants to have a bachelorette party. And, she wants to have it on the Baltic Vinyasa, a small island off of the coast. Will Tessa be able to figure out what happened to those 4 women? Or, will she succumb to the island too?

I am a sucker for bachelorette mysteries and thrillers. So, it was an immediate yes to read an Advanced Reader Copy of “The Bachelorette Party” by Camilla Sten. Bachelorette mysteries and thrillers are so fun to read, with standout dynamics between characters and thrilling moments of panic between the characters. “The Bachelorette Party” had those features, but fell short of a mystery easy to figure out.

I really enjoyed reading this book by up to 60%. I was really engaged and waiting for the bomb to drop on all the characters, but when the bomb really did drop, it didn’t have as big an effect as I normally like. I guessed the ending around that point in the book, which made the last part really drag on. I did feel like the clues were very obvious, which is a shame because I think this book and its characters had a lot of potential for something new and exciting.

The main character, Tessa, was really starting to get on my nerves. Even though she lost confidence after her podcast failed, I still expected her to have some basic survival skills when it came to figuring out a mystery. When the time did get tough, she made dumb errors and mistakes. I would like to think that the true-crime podcast host I listen to would have more guidance in the situation that Tessa was in.

Pick up “The Bachelorette Party” by Camilla Sten on June 10th, 2025!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, Camilla Sten, and Netgalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, this had me hooked the entire ride! At first I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character, but as more of her background story developed I began to like her. I enjoyed the “realness” of the ending, with not all being happy go lucky, but still really enjoyed the ending. I would highly recommend if you want a quick, engaging thriller.

Read if you love:
- friend groups - and all their drama
- sisterly bonds - and the lengths sisters go to
- "locked room" mysteries set on remote islands
- screaming "OH MY GOD" to your audiobook

The Bachelorette Party was such a fun, quick read for me - I finished the audiobook within 24 hours (and if I didn't need to get up for work the next day, I would've completed it in one sitting!) Almost a decade ago, four girls - friends since childhood - go missing, and their disappearance is never solved. Present day - a new yoga retreat opens on an exclusive island, and a group of friends go to celebrate their bride to be. But revenge is in the air, and they're stuck on the island with someone ready to take it.

This is your standard, locked room mystery, and if you're a fan of the genre you're going to love this one. It was a solid four stars for me - there wasn't anything super ground breaking about it, and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I felt like there could've been an alternate ending that would've put it over the top. I really liked the complexity of each character - they're all flawed and that is always really fun to read. I liked the way the story unfolded via time hops, local news updates, etc. - the hopping between helped give you enough red herrings and false narratives to keep you on your toes.

It took some time for me to get into this, but it progressively got more and more exciting. It got really crazy there at the end.

I didn’t really care for the MC she but she did feel very human. But I liked the symmetry between the groups of characters from them to now.

I felt like the author did a great job with the setting. It gave off a very beautiful but creepy feel.

I know some people found the time jumps to be jarring, but I actually enjoyed them. It was like little breadcrumbs to keep you engaged in the original mystery.

And just a personal preference here. The chapters were relatively short so it was a perfect read for my lunch breaks.

I found this to be a quick and easy-to-read thriller. At no point was I surprised, and I found the plot twist to be quite predictable.
I loved the setting of this thriller, an island in the middle of the ocean, but I felt it didn't live up to my expectations.
If you’re looking for an easy-to-read, fast-paced thriller, then I would recommend this to you.

As someone who doesn’t normally gravitate towards the thriller/mystery genre, this book solidified my preference for lighthearted and perfectly predictable romance novels. It’s hard to critique a book when you aren’t head over heels for the genre itself but I believe Sten delivered a story for lovers of thrilling stories that has readers questioning each characters’ motive from the very beginning. Jumping between 2012 and 2022, readers are introduced to a collection of characters, each vastly different but in someways exactly the same. While I struggled to read a story that gave me chills and the urge to turn on the light when reading late a night, I think this book succeeded within the genres is was categorized in; both thrilling and mysterious until the very last page. While I’ve not only taken away the fact that this genre is not for me, I’ve also come to the conclusion that when the time comes, a low-key bachelorette party will be the way to go for me. Happy Reading!

It was supposed to be a weekend to remember, but that came to an abrupt halt when one of the girls turned up dead. Secrets are revealed as those on the island aren’t who they say they are.

The Bachelorette Party
by Camilla Sten
Pub Date: Jun 10 2025

This book was very DARK, INTENSE AND CREEPY! Be sure to either read it during the day or have all the lights on at night...oh and don't forget to lock your doors!

Taking place in Sweden, It's a dual timeline locked room mystery - 2012 when a group of 4 friends goes on their annual girls trip to a remote island with no coverage. 2022 when a bachelorette party goes to the same island, which now has a mindfulness resort on it as the first guests.

Synopsis: On a remote, craggy island nestled off the coast of Sweden, four friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina—meet every year. Best friends since childhood, the idea is to drink beer, dance by the water, and shake off the weight of life's expectations. The location of the island is a secret to everyone but them. One night of reckless fun and secret-sharing, and then they return to their normal lives. Ten years later. Ever since she was a teenager, Tessa Nilsson has been consumed by the story of four friends who disappeared on their annual trip to a remote island together. As her true crime fervor turned into a wildly popular podcast, Tessa urgently covered Sweden’s most gruesome cases, but could never find the answers behind what happened to these women who disappeared, leaving a few maddening clues but no concrete answers. Now Tessa’s podcast has crashed and burned, any chance she had at uncovering the truth vanishing with it.

Many thanks to #StMartinsPress #NetGalley for providing me an E-ARC of this 5 STAR book!

The Bachelorette Party is fast-paced, thrilling and suspenseful. Several old school friends on a remote island for one weekend of relaxing, exercising, bonding before one of them gets married. There is a lot of tension among these women from the start; it seems even when they were younger there were tensions and jealousies and secrets which are still there. Not all of them have kept in touch over the years and their great reunion isn’t going that smoothly.

The main character, Tessa, has just had her podcast career crash, her relationship end, and is obsessed with a 10-year old case where four women on a similar retreat went missing and were never heard from again. Tessa is the picture of an unreliable narrator; you’re never sure what some of her conclusions are based on, and you have to suspend a fair amount of disbelief to make some of the connections between then and now that she makes.

Soon the private island retreat with fun activities and delicious food turns sinister: their cell phones have been confiscated, the boat they need to get off the island has come loose from its mooring, and one of the women is missing. No one, including the owner of the retreat and the chef, seems completely transparent and reliable. The story gets edgier and edgier and you can sense there is some big reveal coming but you have no idea what it could be.

I received an advance copy of The Bachelorette Party from St. Martin’s Press Minotaur Books via NetGalley. It is addictive and will keep you turning pages. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

This reminded me a bit of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer X Girls Trip. It’s a nice, quick read albeit nothing groundbreaking occurs. But she had me with the Swedish-ness and the yoga retreat vibes. It’s a classic unsolved mystery, true crime, podcaster situation. Overall would be a good beach read!

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press|Minotaur Books for providing with ARC via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review *

Wow.

What an adventure! I am trying to think out the best way to express what I just read. The story is still on my mind. I love mystery and thriller novels, especially those that keep you guessing. The Bachelorette Party kept me guessing throughout the novel, and just when I thought I had it figured out, I was proven wrong. The Bachelorette Party was one of those stories where I had to force myself to put the book down, knowing that I would never go to sleep if I didn’t. It was the book that you thought about when you weren't reading it or talking about it with your friends. Every page made me wonder what would happen next with the group. I was curious to see if Tessa would learn what happened to Nacka four all those years ago.

I was drawn to the book because of the cover, the mysterious illustration is what grabbed my attention. After reading the summary, I knew it was the type of thrillers I would like. I didn’t expect it to be as dark as it was. That was one parts of the book, which made it impossible to put the book down. A part of me was hesitant to finish the book because I was worried about how the book might end. Camila Sten done a fantastic job crafting a suspenseful story that will keep your heart pounding half the time. I was on the edge of my seat from the first page to the last. The author also created such compelling characters that it was nearly impossible to dislike them, even though you knew you should.


I liked that the story was told from present time, and past. The emotions portrayed in this book were so vivid that I could see everything that was happening. I loved the setting of the story. This was my first time reading a novel by Camilla Sten, but it won't be my last! I would recommend this book to any thriller fans.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by Camilla Sten, with the audio wonderfully narrated by Laura Jennings. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

Ten years ago, four friends meet every year on a secret remote island off the coast of Sweden. One year, they disappeared. Tessa has been consumed by the story of the missing four and even though she had a true crime podcast, could never figure out what happened to them. Tessa's best friend, Anneliese, is getting married and they decide to have a bachelorette party on the island. Tessa is determined to find out what happened to the women.

I love a locked room mystery and this book had two! Told through dual timelines and multiple POV, this is a suspenseful read with plenty of twists and turns. The remote island setting and lack of cellphones ramped up the tension until the very end. None of the characters are extremely likable and they were almost interchangeable, but that didn't take away from the entertaining ride. I did feel bad for Tessa and was rooting for her to solve the mystery of the missing women. The audio narration was great and added to the enjoyment!