Creepy, atmospheric, and impossible to put down. The Bachelorette Party delivers everything I want in a thriller,an isolated setting, a dark past, and secrets that refuse to stay buried. Camilla Sten builds tension masterfully, weaving past and present into a chilling mystery.

The remote Swedish island was the perfect backdrop, and the twists kept coming. I only knocked off half a star because a few side characters felt thin, but the suspense and setting more than made up for it.

#Locked-room thrillers #Survival horror # psychological suspense

I was soooo ready to get messy with The Bachelorette Party! Hoping for a fast-paced, twisty slasher with strong “whodunnit” vibes—something that would keep me guessing and on the edge of my seat!

But unfortunately, this one fell flat for me....Hard.

Four friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina—meet every year. The location of the island is a secret to everyone but them. However, before the last hoorah into adulthood, all four women disappear from the island without a trace. Ten Years Later. Tessa a true crime podcaster, who covers Sweden’s most gruesome cases, could never find the answers behind what happened to these women who disappeared. But now she may have her chance!

Anneliese is Tessa’s best friend, and before she walks down the aisle, she wants to have a bachelorette party. The destination: Baltic Vinyasa, a sleek, sophisticated yoga retreat on a small island off the coast—one with such similar characteristics to the tragedy years ago. Tessa will not pass this up. It’s her last chance to find out what happened to the four women, once and for all.

While the plot had a lot of potential (a true crime podcaster trying to revive an old case, friends with secrets, and a bachelorette weekend ready for drama), the execution didn’t get there. The suspense was minimal, and the story lacked the unpredictability that I usually crave in thrillers. One of the biggest disappointments was how early it became obvious who the killer was. There was no real twist, which made the rest of the book feel like just going through the motions to get to the end rather than a chopping at the bit to figure out what was coming next.

I love a good slasher and live for the gore and drama, but I also need a story that keeps me hooked—and sadly, this one just didn’t. It wasn’t terrible, just underwhelming.

If you're new to the genre or prefer straightforward plots you may still enjoy it. The writing overall was very good. But for seasoned thriller readers looking for surprises, this wouldn't be my rec.

I really enjoyed this one. I love a locked room mystery. This is a multiple timeline locked room mystery told on a remote island at a bachelorette party where 10 years earlier 10 women went missing. This is a quick read that will have you entertained until the end.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's press for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Bachelorette Party
By: Camilla Sten
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub Date: 6/10/25
This book reminded me of a tv show called Harper’s Island that ran for a season back in 2009.
It starts out with a group of 4 friends who party on an island every summer till all four go missing. Many years later a group of six friends go to that same island where there is now a resort for a bachelorette weekend. But things feel off the whole time they’re there. A storm has cut them off from their phones and internet upon waking up on the first morning there is a note from one of their party saying she’s gone back to the mainland but did she? As time goes on they begin to turn on each other. Are they safe?
#camillasten
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The cover and premise called to me as soon as I read and seen this! While I enjoyed this book I didn't hit as hard with me as her other novels. There were so many characters and timelines that I sometimes found myself disengaging
But I will continue to look out for this authors books!

Having been a huge fan of her previous works, there had to be a least favorite, right? This was it. The story foundation made sense and I loved how the two timelines and events were tied together. But it all felt somewhat obvious and that the end result book was just a small layer of what the story could have been. Characters never really stood out or made me feel attached to what was happening to them. The most engaging part of the story, for me, was a side trip during the course of the main story itself. Like I said, there always has to be a least favorite. This was it and I am already looking forward to the next book from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this E-ARC.

I ate this book up!!! I finished it in less than 24 hours and could not put it down! I got absolutely nothing done in my life. I grew up in Sweden so this was a fun book to read since I knew some of the places and names.
It was such a quick fun read. It kept me guessing the entire time.

4 girls have been friends forever. They have a yearly mini vacation where they camp on their friends island. They don’t tell anyone where they are going, it’s a fun little secret. Until they all go missing.
Ten years later, Tessa has always been interested in true crime. Tessa’s sister is friends with the sister of one of the missing girls. They get the opportunity to go to a bachelorette weekend on the island where the 4 girls went missing all those years ago. The island has a brand new yoga retreat that has yet to open but the bachelorette party gets to visit it first.
Will it be the relaxing spa weekend that the bachelorette party has envisioned? Or will more bad things happen on this island? You’ll have to read and find out.

3.5 Stars

Told in a dual timeline, the story focuses on the events of Matilda "Tilly"'s life in 2012 and Tessa's life in 2022. Tessa is invited to her childhood friend's bachelorette party— a four-day yoga retreat on an infamous, remote island. Tessa does not want to go, but as a true-crime podcaster, she can't resist the chance to check out an island from which Matilda and her friends disappeared in 2012.

The Bachelorette Party is a perfect summer beach thriller read. It is fast-paced and full of intrigue.

However, also helps my case that bachelorette parties do not need to be a multi-day travel experience. Nothing good ever comes from it! :)

Advanced reader copy provided by Minotaur / St Martin's Press via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This was a fun time albeit hard to follow at times with the large cast of characters. I’ll keep reading from this author in the future but this wasn’t my most favorite of her books.

ok hear me out, this had no point? I was reading on and on to try and get where the plot twist was going & how it was all going to connect in the end, and it simply did the bare minimum…

I was invested in the prologue and the mysterious figure on the island who was unaliving everyone, but when it fast forwarded to five years later, I got bored quickly… there was no introduction to the present day characters nor how they all connected…

that being said, it was a fast paced and bingeable book! I just wanted more from the story to keep my interest! and the lack of diversity and lovable characters just wasn’t doing it for me to root for anyone in this mystery 🙃

#gifted minotaur books

rating: 2 stars
wine pairing: sonoma coast chardonnay

2.5 stars!
Tessa is a disgraced true crime podcaster who sees her chance for redemption when she is invited to a bachelorette party on an island that is famous for four women who went missing there many years ago. Things quickly go awry when the isolated island appears to have secrets it wanted to keep buried.

I have read three of this author’s books. Every time I am sucked in by the premise. But I think this will be my last by her. The setup is good, and then I just am disappointed with the writing. This one had a great start, with the creation of an eerie ambience and promising setting. However, Tessa was completely unlikeable and there were a lot of plot holes. Thanks to @macmillan.audio, @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my review copies.

I was drawn to this beautiful cover and the idea of a fun weekend on an island for a Bachelorette Party. There was much more to this locked room mystery. Where I expected light and airy to start it was darker and tainted by the past. The cast of characters was vast and this led to some confusion for me. There was also two stories happening at the same time, a past mystery and the current mystery. All of this lost me at times.

Thank you Net Galley, Camilla Sten and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to preview this title. The opinions shared are my own.
The Bachelorette Party is expected to be released June 10, 2025.

Isle Blind is a small remote island off of the coast of Sweden. Four girlfriends since they were teenagers would go to the island once a year staying overnight to drink, laugh and dance until the last time when they all disappeared.
Ten years after their disappearance a yoga retreat was about to open on the island. Tessa, a crime fiction podcaster, was invited by her sister to join a group of girls who were going to the island for a bachelorette party. Tessa has always wondered what happened to the missing girls and felt it would help her podcast career. The party was well organized until one of the girls was found brutally murdered. The girls don’t have access to phones or a way off the island and they are fearful as to why this happened and who was the murderer.

Suspense builds in this novel up to the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur books

I found the creepy and unsettling atmosphere enjoyable, but it couldn’t salvage the story. The switching of timelines made it challenging to keep track of the many different characters. The pace was slow, and the ending left me feeling cheated.

My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions are my own.

The Bachelorette Party brings together the eerie isolation of Scream and the layered suspense of The Guest List, weaving a mystery rooted in long-standing friendships, buried secrets, and a remote island that hides more than just good memories. With a dual timeline approach, Camilla Sten introduces readers to four childhood friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea, and Evelina—who vanish without a trace, and Tessa Nilsson, a struggling podcaster desperate to uncover the truth behind their disappearance a decade later.

The premise is gripping: a secret island, an unsolved mystery, and a woman haunted by a cold case that once defined her career. Sten knows how to craft atmosphere and tension, and the setting itself feels like a character—claustrophobic, haunting, and tinged with menace.

However, while the plot had potential, the reading experience felt underwhelming. The writing style made it difficult to fully connect with the characters, and at times, the emotional depth of their friendships or motivations felt surface-level. Despite the dark, intriguing setup, the execution didn’t fully deliver the tension or character complexity one might expect from a thriller of this nature.

For fans of slow-burning mysteries and atmospheric settings, The Bachelorette Party may still offer an enjoyable escape. But for readers looking for a more emotionally engaging or tightly written thriller, this one might fall a bit flat.

I've never heard of this author before, but I was intrigued based on the cover and title so I was happy to dive in. I love a good locked room mystery, everyone pointing finger but not really sure who's to blame.

The premise for this one had me excited for a locked in style atmospheric thriller. And Sten delivered. For being set on a small isolated island Sten provides vivid detail that has you feeling like you're there with the characters. you can feel the cold and smell the salt air. The story itself is fast paced, with tales and pov's from a past timeline interspersed with our current story slowly twin everything together.

There wasn't really anything new or ground breaking to the thriller genre, with most of the twists being fairly predictable. I did enjoy how Tessa's side story played out. There were also a lot of characters to keep up with in the beginning. And I found the majority of them to be unlikeable. Making it hard to connect and empathize with them.

3.5 stars rounded up for the atmosphere and side story.

This was the first time reading this author and I must say I really enjoyed reading this book. I look forward to reading more
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book

The first half of the book was very dull to me. It was jumping back and forth between present day and the missing girls. The second half was a wild ride full of twists and turns. Some twists were quite predictable. The second half of the book got better and more fast paced. The multiple timelines made it confusing at first and there were too many characters to keep straight. Others may enjoy this more it just was not right for me.

This was such a fun story! It started off slow and all of the sudden the plot picked up. I couldn’t keep up with all of the different things happening! The last 5 chapters were very fast paced and exciting. I did find this one a little gory with all of the different details about the murders. Not for me! Overall, I thought this was very well written and exciting.