Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

This one started off a little slow, really picked up in the last 20% or so. Four women vanish without a trace while on
while on an annual girls trip. 20 years later, a group of friends go to the same island for a Bachelorette party. The first twist is that the owner of the hotel/resort is the sister of one of the first group of women. Something felt off about Irene from the beginning to me but I didn't think she was going to be doing a whole revenge murder spree. Not a bad read overall just be prepared for it to start slow.

Gah i wanted to love this book but sadly didn't. There were a ton of characters to keep up with and honestly....they were all horrible. I didn't find the twist ending that shocking and overall I loved the setting but just didn't love the book.

I enjoy locked in a room thrillers but this one sort of fell short for me. The characters were Blah! You didn’t really get a good sense of any of them. The dual timelines seemed a bit messy. You don’t get a sense of closure either. I really thought there was so much more that could have been done.

The Bachelorette Party follows several timelines and two parties at the Island Blind. Sten weaves together the two stories leading up to brutal murders and coverups. From the beginning Tessa, a murder podcaster who needs to restart her career had thoughts about the 2012 murder and caught the plot for the 2022 murders well before the rest of the other characters. Although there were too many characters, most who were not well fleshed out, the story progressed quickly. Parts of the story were not believable, but Sten had a fine resolution to the story.

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten
Publication Date: June 10
3 stars

Ten years ago, four women disappeared on a remote island during a girl’s weekend. The mystery was never fully solved. Now, a decade later, friends gather on an island for a bachelorette party. Tessa, a true crime podcaster, is convinced the women were murdered and wants to solve the mystery of the four women and the similarities on this island seem too coincidental. Can she solve the case before someone else gets revenge?
I was excited to pick this up, as the cover is beautiful and the premise was intriguing. I found it to be an okay thriller. The first half was slow and there were many characters to track. It took me a while to get through it as I wasn’t fully engaged. The second half picked up in pace and held my attention through the ending. I appreciated the dual timeline as the readers put the pieces of the puzzle together. There was a twist, but it wasn’t that shocking.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Bachelorette Party was a fun, atmospheric thriller with strong writing and a main character I really enjoyed following. Tessa is smart, flawed, and relatable—her obsession with the cold case at the heart of the story gave the plot a compelling urgency, and I liked the way her personal struggles (and podcasting past) added layers to the investigation.

The island setting was eerie and immersive, and Camilla Sten does a great job building a slow sense of dread. It’s got Scream meets The Guest List energy for sure—isolated setting, old secrets, glamorous group dynamics, and of course, murder.

That said, I guessed the twist a little too early, which took some of the oomph out of the reveal. The tension still held, but I was hoping for one more curveball. Still, it’s a solid, well-written mystery with a satisfying pace and mood. Definitely worth a read if you like smart female-led thrillers. And murder.

This book is for anyone who loves girls trips, cold cases, career detours and finding out the truth at all costs. I loved this book!!!

Reading in Between the Wines book review #47/125 for 2025:
Rating: 4 🍷🍷🍷🍷
Book: The Bachelorette Party
Author: Camila Sten
RELEASES on June 10, 2025!!

Sipping thoughts: This story pulled me in, and while I was suspicious of the bad guy, I never imagined they would go so nuts. The mystery was so explosive, and the reason why the girls disappeared was shocking. I love Sten’s writing style, and I want to read another one of her books soon.

Cheers and thank you to @Netgalley and @StMartinsPress for an advanced copy of @TheBacheloretteParty.

#TheBacheloretteParty #CamilaSten #StMartinsPress #NetGalley #ARC #advancedreader #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bokreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

I give this book 3.5 ⭐️

Tessa is a former podcast star who has had something happen to derail her career. She has been invited to Isle Blind for her friend Anneliese’s bachelorette party.

We meet several friends that are also coming on the getaway. Lena, Tessa’s sister, Mikaela, Irene, Adam, Anneliese, and Natalie.

We also have a dual timeline of Matilda, Irene’s sister, who disappeared ten years prior. Along with her four friends. Tessa is hoping to uncover what happened and relaunch her career.

Honestly, I felt like the only characters I really liked were Natalie & Adam.

While this story was good, it was not something I had to finish right away. While I was reading I kept turning the page to see what happened. I was able to put it down and come back to it without a sense of urgency. The first half is much slower than the second half. I was able to guess some of the plot but not all of it.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own

A twisted and dark fast paced thriller set on a beautiful but secluded island. Tessa and her friends set out for a bachelorette party that they will never forget. But Tessa has her own agenda. She’s trying to fix her life and find answers to a mystery that’s over 10 years old, thinking that would finally get her career back on track. She finds more than she bargained for and now she has to make it out alive to finally reveal what really happened all those years ago.

I really wanted to love this one… I thought the cover was beautiful and the premise of the storyline had SO much potential! But unfortunately… this one just didn’t hit for me 😕

The story moved really slow and had a LOT of characters to keep up with—especially with the dual timelines. 😵‍💫 As an audiobook, it was even harder to follow, and I felt like I missed some of the deeper plotlines because I was just trying to keep the characters straight. 🤷‍♀️

The twists were there, but honestly… kind of predictable. I kept waiting for that mind-blowing moment, but it never quite landed the way I hoped. I loved the idea of Tessa chasing a mystery from the past while trying to make sense of the present—but the execution just didn’t deliver for me. 😔

Oooo this was clever and juicy as fun. Warning, though, this had a lot of characters to catch up with, and it being a locked room mystery and two (yes, two) sets of girls to remember and distinguish. The author did a great job of distinguishing them, but still, it was a lot of keep up with, not to mention trying to figure out the mystery in itself.

On the coast of Sweden at the private Isle Blind island resort, a tragedy happened with a set of BFF girls. Years later, another set of girls embark on a bachelorette party as a few have their own agendas, linking to the first set of girls and that tragedy. I don't want to spoil anything beyond this because the author did so well weaving the links between the two as well as the relationships between girls. I could imagine the author using a cork board with a bunch of characters and pulling and weaving red yarn all over the place and produced this fun locked room mystery.

There were plenty of times where I simply just mush two characters together just to get through (mainly Natalie and Mikaela (? sorry, already forgot the name) and Linnea and Evelina), not to undermine what the author was trying to build. Because there were so so many characters, I didn't get the chemistry in the relationships of most of the girls. But the plot had to move so I was left reading along cautiously trying to remember who was who. It became almost a chore even though I was enjoying the thrilling parts. But don't get me wrong - this was a fun and wild ride!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I'm taking points away from this one for the creation of a complete dope for a main character. I cannot stand when authors - especially female authors - write female characters that are just so dumb. The entire plot was obvious to me from the beginning of the book. Making the main character so dumb really took this whole book down for me. So sad that it went this way, but please stop making female characters so clueless and dumb!

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

ARC REVIEW
Publication Date June 10 2025
The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten is a psychological thriller set on a remote Swedish island. The story follows Tessa, a former true crime podcaster haunted by the mysterious disappearance of four childhood friends during their annual retreat years ago. When her best friend’s bachelorette party is planned at a yoga retreat eerily similar to the site of the tragedy, Tessa sees a chance to uncover the truth.

As the celebration begins, Tessa digs into the island’s unsettling past—only to realize someone is out for revenge.

Thanks to @NetGalley @St. Martin's Press @Minotaur Books for the advanced copy!

First off—how stunning is this cover? It radiates summer vibes and immediately drew me in. The story alternates between past and present timelines, which I found a bit confusing at times, especially with the large cast of characters. Some of the twists were predictable, but if you’re a fan of isolated settings with a creepy, slasher-movie feel, this one might be the perfect pick.

This book was phenomenal. The story itself was engrossing, but it also kept me thinking the entire time. It's been a really long time since I've found myself thinking about who the villain is or what's really happening. I was legit driving and found myself about this story and the cast of characters, and who I felt was trustworthy and who was up to no good.

This story is set in Sweden, and alternates between the past, in May of 2012, and the present, of May 2022. My only criticism of this was when I wished it had just been called "Before" or something, because this, only being ten years apart, I kept misreading it. The story primarily follows Tessa's POV, and she's a podcaster who is down on her luck. Attending a friend's bachelorette party on a small island is barely on her list of things she wants to do, but she is slightly more motivated when she realizes she could have a possible chance at redemption if she can uncover what happened to the four women who went missing ten years prior.

There are so many things I enjoyed about this book. First, it made me think. I somewhat guessed parts of how this would end up, but I still wasn't always right, and I always appreciate when an author can thoughtfully trick the reader, or take it somewhere deeper than I'd ever imagined. Another aspect I loved was seeing Tessa's character share more of herself. She's a bisexual woman who is reeling from a professional misstep, as well as a relationship ending. She's navigating both sets of disappointments while also taking some heat from old friends for her sexuality. This isn't the key point of the story, but I appreciated it being another facet of Tessa's life. You can really understand her sadness and desperation.

The ending of this story was insane. Even portions that I guessed correctly it was even darker and more twisted than I expected. This story would probably be considered Nordic Noir and definitely does get graphic. That said, it's only in portions of the story, so it's definitely not the darkest I've encountered.

Overall, absolutely recommend this book. If you love locked-room mysteries on remote islands, with friends, and all their secrets, this is the story for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I wanted to love it but, this book is a hot mess.

Sure the vibe of a nordic mystery is cool there's not a whole lot I know of set in Scandinavia in a modern sense.
However, the first 75% of the book the writing is thoroughly disengaging. The pacing is all over the place. The many characters and dual time line are hard to keep track of. I spent the majority of the book confused.
Many of the lines of dialogue between characters were random and uncalled for. It felt like elementary school creative writing.
Furthermore, I don't feel that the final plot twist was built up enough and easter egged throughout the novel. It comes out feeling like a complete 180 and I would have preferred a better resolution at the end of the novel.

Overall, not for me and would not reccomend.

An isolated island, dual timeline murders and intertwined characters in a tense mystery to determine who killed four women a decade ago.
Not by the police, but by a disgraced podcaster.
The ending was more fast paced than the first half of the book and also more tense.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press Minotaur Book for an eARC of this engaging book.
My review is voluntary and my opinion.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook and reader copy of The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten in exchange for an honest review. I love books by Sten and this one was really good too. I also enjoyed the narrator. There were many levels of intrigue in this book, I totally thought it was going one way and then it took a turn. Sten excels at this, lots of misdirection and well written characters.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for the book #TheBacheloretteParty by #CamillaSten. This book is full of secrets, suspicion and murder. Ten years ago, four women disappeared on a secluded island that nobody knew the location during a bachelorette party. Now, Tessa is obsessed with this unsolved true crime, that she sets up a bachelorette weekend for her friend and to try and find out what happened all those years ago. Can she find out the truth before anyone else gets hurt?

I was lucky enough to receive both the audiobook and ebook arc.

The synopsis of this book sounded great and I expected it to be a lot like Lucy Foley's The Guest List.
However due to the fact that it is about 4 women in the past and 4 different women in the current time period, that made it hard to follow as they go back and forth. Plus the current women are talking about what happened to the women from the past. While I was actually surprised by the ending, the great narrator was what got me to the end otherwise I would have only made it 1/2 way..

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.