Is it just me, or are have there been a lot of books set on remote islands and featuring bachelorette parties as of late? The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten is the latest thriller featuring that particular trope, and unfortunately, this one fell pretty flat for me. The main plot is four friends were murdered there, and ten years later, Tessa is heading to the same island for a bachelorette party, but also hopes to find out what happened to the women in order to create.a podcast and revitalize her career.

Sten's writing is always good; she's great at setting the scenes and pacing her books. However, this story was predictable and felt like a plot that had been done over and over. I nearly put it down a few times but I kept reading because I wanted to see if I guessed the ending correctly (spoiler - I did.)

It was fine. Not my favorite by her, but an okay read. Definitely a 3 star read for me.
Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Received an ARC via NetGalley.

A quick summer read. Not much else to say about it either way. Didn’t love it but didn’t it or find anything specifically wrong with it.

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten is a locked-room thriller that unfortunately was a bit disappointing for me.

The book is told mostly from the point of view of Tessa, a podcaster who is at risk of losing her career after a bad decision caused serious consequences. Tessa has been invited to a bachelorette party on an island where four women were rumoured to have disappeared ten years ago. Tessa has been obsessed with this disappearance since she was a teenager, and sees an opportunity to investigate the mystery.

I was looking forward to reading this book, but it wasn't as enjoyable as I had anticipated.

First of all I found it hard to believe that four women went missing and were rumoured to have last been on an island owned by the father of one of those women, but the police ignored this information and just brushed it off and didn't bother to search it at all. This just struck me as unrealistic, and since it came at the beginning of the novel it unfortunately set my mood for the rest of the book.

I also didn't feel a connection to any of the characters, although I think I could have gotten interested in Matilda's story and that of her friends, if the whole book had been about them and their disappearance.

I also found myself confused at times about the timeline. I didn't document the exact issues, I just recall being confused about the dates, and Tessa's age, and a few other things that I had to really stop and go back to review. It just got confusing, and to be honest, I'm still not sure it all made sense.

In all I found the book relatively predictable, and a bit of a disappointment, but it wasn't the worst book I've read. I think many people will find it enjoyable, it just wasn't the book for me.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

his book was perfectly paced and had a great plot that kept me hooked literally on every single page. i really enjoyed the idea of a current friend group visiting the place of another friend group in the past and their suspicious deaths, and i like tessa would undoubtedly want to get to the bottom of it.

sadly though that is about all i can relate to with tessa and even her friends. they weren’t necessarily characters that wow me or that i can even say i liked at all. a lot of their “personality traits” seemed to be overdone/lowkey repetitive so it didnt make it very enjoyable to read about these characters, but i really did like the plot and how everything played out so its a win for me.

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Pub Date: 6/10
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The Bachelorette Party is going to be one of those books that just hit hard for that beach read list this summer.
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Set on a remote island, The Bachelorette Party is set in a dual timeline ten years apart. One setting is where one group of friends goes missing, the other is during, you guessed it, a bachelorette party where things take an unfortunate turn for the worst. This is a very easy book to follow. Sten also does a fantastic job at creating the perfect atmospheric read and really brings in those more eerie elements to the story. I thought this was more of a slow to steady paced with some parts that had those adrenaline rushing moments. I found the twists to be executed well and I really enjoyed the ending!
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I listened to this one while reading my eBook. Laura Jennings was perfect for this role. I think that she did a fantastic job. One thing I will state (which has nothing to do with the quality of the audiobook) is that I am very grateful to have had the audiobook to listen to the story along with the eBook because there is a large cast of characters that I found myself mixing up quite often. So a recommendation to do both!
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Definitely a book I think thriller lovers will love for the summer!! Be sure to check this one out! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Camilla Sten, MacMillan Audio and St. Martin's Press for the ALC and eARC in exchange for my honest review.
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Favorite place to vacation?
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2025 releases • early release copy • summer beach read • summer slasher • thriller • mystery • dual timeline • podcast • murders • missing persons • beach read • summer 2025 reads • four star read • book recommendations

this book was not for me. I liked the idea of the plot but something felt off about the overall vibe and there were way too many characters to keep track of, let alone connect to or enjoy. there really wasn’t a single likable character in this book, even tessa, who’s perspective we’re given for most of the book. the ending did not surprise me (it was rather predictable in my opinion). unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

I wanted to love this one as I’m a big fan of bachelorette parties that have gone wrong in thrillers, but I found it to be somewhat confusing with the dual timelines and all the characters. Perhaps if they had a bit more personality to tell them apart, I would have enjoyed it more? I’m not sure. But I needed something more and the book failed to deliver on that. I also found the twist too obvious. This doesn’t usually turn me off, but if it IS obvious then something else about the novel (like the characters) need to be spectacular. That’s not the case here. Nevertheless, this is a quick read, and I flew right through it. I may not have loved it but there’s nothing essentially wrong with the book, it just isn’t a favorite like I hoped it would be.

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐

At her most dogged, Tessa reminded me of a Scandinavian Nancy Drew, creeping through dark houses and along cold beachfronts. At her most annoying, I found her to embody everything wrong with the true crime phenomenon and the podcasting industry today - which is very much the point of the author but doesn’t make it any more enjoyable for us.
I really enjoyed the dual mysteries that the story flips between, and the thorough fleshing out of victims and perpetrators. Having multiple groups of girlfriends to keep track of between 2012 and the present day was a little tough though and I could have done with a smaller cast of characters.
I think this would be an easy summer beach mystery to lap up, just not one that’s particularly dense.

I was so excited to receive this book in an advanced reader copy! Thank you to netgalley for proving me to read this book!

I absolutely devoured the story! It was so good and so captivating! I was on the edge of my seat!

The Bachelorette Party is a story that weaves two timelines together into a slightly predictable locked room thriller. In one timeline, four friends go on a camping trip on an island off the coast of Sweden that ends in tragedy. Ten years later, a woman books her friend's bachelorette party at a new wellness resort that is built on that same island.

While I do really enjoy a thriller with an isolated setting, this didn't quite hit for me until the last 40% and that last 40% wasn't anything particularly shocking or innovative in terms of plot. I had a difficult time rooting for our main character and struggled to connect with any other characters from either timeline. I think there were some issues in terms of the timeline adding up, but I very well could have missed something somewhere along the line. On a positive note, I did like the setting and I think the author did a good job providing the eerie atmosphere!

This fast-paced, locked room mystery set at a bachelorette party had me hooked from the first page! There were definitely some wild twists & the ending wasn't at all what I expected, but it's good if you want a fun & fast read.

Okay… so the premise of this one? SO intriguing. I was all in from the jump. But somewhere along the way, it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It wasn’t bad by any means—it just didn’t fully land the way I hoped it would.

The first half dragged a bit, and I kept waiting for it to find its rhythm. Things did start to pick up in the second half, but by then I’d already figured out most of the twists, which took some of the fun out of it. That said, I was still invested enough to keep going, and I genuinely think it had a lot of potential!

Now… the ending?? I’m still side-eying that sudden new character who showed up out of absolutely nowhere. It felt super random and kind of pulled me out of the story at the worst possible time.

Overall: not a favorite, but I can totally see why others will love it. It just wasn’t fully for me—and that’s okay!

3 stars for The Bachelorette Party. The prologue got me so invested but the book ended being only okay for me. The dual timelines and many characters made it a bit challenging to follow and overall lacked shock value for me. It needed more to be an exciting thriller for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy. The Bachelorette Party hits shelves on June 10, 2025.

I really wanted to love this one, but it just didn’t have the pace I was hoping for. Initially, I was sucked in with the creepy vibes of being on a remote island and wanting to know what happened to the Nacka Four. I thought things would start getting exciting right away, but nothing really happens until closer to the end of the book. I enjoyed that there were two timelines, but then also found myself getting confused on which characters were in the past and which were in the present. Ultimately, the book went in a different direction than I thought it would, and left me with unanswered questions.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

An island getaway… with deadly consequences.
The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten offers a chilling premise—a remote island, long-buried secrets, and a mystery that ties the past and present together. The dual timeline adds intrigue, and the inclusion of journal entries and emails between chapters gives the story an extra layer of suspense.
While the plot starts off strong with an eerie atmosphere and unsettling tension, it does lose momentum about halfway through. The interactions between the group of friends become a bit repetitive, and the mystery unfolds in a fairly predictable manner, especially for seasoned thriller readers. However, despite the familiar tropes, the book maintains a steady pace and delivers a satisfying resolution that ties up loose ends.
For readers who enjoy atmospheric settings and slow-burn mysteries, The Bachelorette Party offers an entertaining escape. It may not break new ground in the thriller genre, but it's a solid choice for those looking for a quick, binge-worthy read.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Dark and creepy locked room mystery set on an isolated island yoga retreat. Tessa and her friends are celebrating a bachelorette weekend on the same island were 4 friends went missing 10 years ago. As a true crime podcaster Tessa has always been interested in that particular case and plans on using this trip to figure out what really happened. I liked this story had a lot of good twists and I enjoyed the dual time line of the stories. Giving this 3/3.5 stars. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3ish stars!

I debated rating this story 2 stars, but felt a little bad about it because there were pieces of the book I did enjoy. The dual POV between 2012 and 2022, seeing two sides of the same story, and a conclusion that pulled it all together were in the positive column! The fact that the drama didnt really get going until about the 60% mark, and the REAL action didnt hit until about 90% made this a slow read for me. When the real action finally hit, it felt rushed and dramatic. The final resolution of the story felt like it was lacking substance for me personally.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:
I’m a sucker for locked-room thrillers and really enjoyed this one, especially a group of friends on a creepy deserted island. Never go on a vacation to a desert island – that would be my advice. The story follows two timelines – ten years ago – a group of four friends disappeared and flip to present day where another group heads to the same island. Why? Why are we going to this creepy island? I thought the pacing, atmospheric vibes and set up of this one was great, I found myself wanting to binge it. This one is perfect for anyone looking for a heart pounding mystery with a slight horror film vibe.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press: Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this intense and exciting thriller!
The book is creative with its two connected stories told over ten years apart. A group of four best friends go to a remote island off the coast of Sweden to camp every year. One year, the women do not return home, and it is assumed they drowned in a drunk boating accident.
Over ten years later, a group of women attend a private bachelorette weekend getaway at a small new luxury resort before it is open to the public. Tessa, a childhood friend of the bride and recently unemployed true crime podcast host, hopes to discover what happened to the four missing women and save her career. As she investigates the island, she discovers there is even more danger and horror than she ever expected.
I enjoyed this book. I had theories, but I wasn't quite sure about the reasoning behind the motives. The book was fast-paced, interesting, and had great tension building as the story went on. There would be glimpses of the women in the past but just enough to not take away from the story in the present time. Tessa was a complex and unique character. Even though she is trying to find a story for her career, she really does seem to care about the people she's researching and her fellow friends.
I love a great secluded destination book. It was fun to read. I think the ending was more gruesome and traumatic than I expected. I had just a few remaining questions in the end, but overall, it was a great thriller, and I'm excited to read more by this author!

This book is the perfect summer slasher! Four friends take their annual trip to a remote island and are never seen again. A podcaster gets an invite to said island for a bachelorette party and she feels if she solves the mystery of the missing four it will be her redemption from her tarnished reputation. The twist and turns of this story make it a great read.