I think I wanted more from this book. Tessa’s character is interesting and we get a lot of backstory for her. What we really don’t get is a lot of introduction or backstory to the women she is at the bachelorette party with. Which seems odd. Tessa doesn’t want to come to the party but she is convinced to go by her older sister when she lets Tessa know the location of the party is a remote island where 10 years earlier 4 women went missing. This story had so much potential. It just really was hard to get through and felt disjointed. There was a lot of jumping around, be it a year in the past where Tessa made her big mistake that has put her in such hot water currently professionally. Or to Matilda’s storyline which leads us up to the night were everything originally went wrong on the island 10 years previously. Just the who book was off. It had some great potential but it just didn’t get there for me sadly.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

"Scream meets The Guest List in this wickedly compelling and compulsively page-turning thriller of friendship and murder from the author of The Lost Village, Camilla Sten.

On a remote 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. As her true crime fervor turned into a wildly popular podcast, Tessa covered Sweden's most gruesome cases, but could never find the answers behind what happened to these women who disappeared. Now Tessa's podcast has crashed and burned, any chance she had at uncovering the truth vanishing with it.

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 that it raises the hair on Tessa's neck. The idea is to drink gallons of cava, do sunrise yoga, and get in their last chance to bond with the bride. Tessa will not pass this up. It's her last chance to find out what happened to the four women, once and for all.

And it's someone else's last chance to get revenge."

Oh, mysterious spa of death!

Dual timeline. 4 friends go to a remote island off the coast of Sweden. Secrets are shared fun is had, but can the secrets stay a secret?

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
On a secluded, rocky island off Sweden’s coast, four childhood friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea, and Evelina—gather each year to drink, dance, and escape life’s pressures. Their meeting spot is a secret known only to them. But one night, they vanish without a trace.
Ten years later, true crime podcaster Tessa Nilsson is still obsessed with the mystery. Her once-popular show unraveled trying to solve the case, leaving her without answers or a platform.
Now, Tessa joins her best friend Anneliese’s bachelorette party on a sleek yoga retreat—on an island eerily like the one from the disappearance. She sees a final shot at the truth. But someone else sees a final shot at revenge.

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
I was really looking forward to The Bachelorette Party—it was my first book by Camilla Sten, and with all the praise for her earlier work, I expected a gripping thriller.
While the book succeeds in creating a strong sense of tension and unease—especially with the isolated island setting and growing paranoia among the characters—the plot itself didn’t quite live up to expectations. There were too many characters and frequent timeline shifts, which made the story feel muddled and difficult to follow.
That said, Sten’s ability to build atmosphere is impressive. The fear and distrust between friends felt very real, and there were moments of genuine suspense.
Overall, it was a mixed experience for me: strong on mood, but the execution of the story left me a bit underwhelmed.

Thank You @Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for allowing me to review this ARC.

Four friends go to a remote island to drink, party and have some fun. They never return, never to be found. Ten years later, a true crime podcaster goes to the same island to research the disappearance of the those four. But her and her friends suddenly find themselves facing the same fate as the original four. Sounds like a great plot for a good story, right? It would have been, if it hadn't been such a slow slog to get through.

The mc is unlikeable. Tessa is trying to avoid attending the Bachelorette party of her closest friend. Her older sister is also invited (why?, not sure) and convinces Tessa to attend, which she only does once she finds out it is going to be on the island the original four disappeared from 10 years earlier. Tessa had a popular true crime podcast but recently did something 'horrible' and lost her entire listening audience. Now a pariah in the podcasting world, she hopes going to the island is her chance to solve the old mystery and redeem herself as a credible podcaster. She runs an internal dialogue constantly. It is filled with the boring minutiae of her every thought, highlighting her obsession with getting her reputation and former glory back. I didn't like her at all. The rest of the bachelorette group were equally either forgettable or just annoying. Since the storyline included the past and the present, there is a total of 12 characters to try and keep track of. That's too many. It took almost 3/4 of the way into the book before the action picked up.

The timeline jumps back and forth from ten years earlier, to the present. A lot. The ending, while ok and tied up all the loose ends, felt rushed and over the top, as far as motives. And while this was decent enough if you are sitting at an airport with nothing better to do, I wouldn't recommend it as a riveting, page-turning thriller.

I've really enjoyed this author's past work, but this one didn't quite hit the mark for me. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and the story shifted between multiple timelines that also made it difficult to follow. I liked the concept, but just felt like if it cut out some of the timelines and characters it would have been a much tighter, creepier thriller.

Thank you @minotaur_books for the gifted advanced reader copy!

Years after four women mysteriously disappeared near the small island Isle Blind, a group of women arrive for a bachelorette party at a sleek new resort before it is open to the public. But true crime podcaster Tessa has a bad feeling…

This was a very atmospheric thriller with a dual timeline mystery. I loved the ominous feeling of the deserted island setting. It was a little difficult keeping track of all the characters at first, but the secrets and shocking events kept me glued to the pages. Fans of The Guest List by Lucy Foley will definitely enjoy this one!

Rating 4⭐️

This was just an okay read. Very basic popcorn thriller. The middle part dragged a bit for me because I wasn't truly invested in the bachelorette party itself or the friend group. Didn't love or hate it. Good way to spend a few hours.

I love when a book surprises you and this one did just that. This is a great thriller that was a little slow to get started but once the action starts happening you are totally engrossed in the story and how it unfolds. Just when you think you have the plot figured out then another twist happens. Definitely worth the read! Loved it!!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the eARC!

Another Net Galley ARC. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. This was a thriller/suspense with a time swap between events that happened on an island outside Stockholm with 4 female friends who disappear and then 10 years later when a group of girls arrive for a Bachelorette weekend on the same island. I always like a thriller that’s able to pull me in easily and keep me flip flopping between my initial guess of the who done it. I will say the FMC’s internal dialogue did pull me out of what should be the suspense quick action moments but overall I did like the story.

I am loving NetGalley for the ability to be introduced to so many new authors. I only wish the actual cover was included for my own albums instead of the ARC page but I get it. The covers are always what initially draws me in though.

Thrillers/suspense for me are generally a 3 star. I like them, they’re quick and a great break from fantasy or romance but not something I generally pick up for a reread so 3 stars. 4 stars is yes I would reread. 5 stars is it’s going to sit with me and I’ll think about that book for years.

I was very excited to read this book as the summary intrigued me. Once I started though, it was hard to get interested as it dragged for a while and could be hard to figure out the characters. I could not tell if the book was aimed at young adult readers or adult, except that the language was adult. There were many times that I felt the story was a bit childish. I figured out the antagonist early on, which was disappointing. However, the book did keep a quick plot pace so that was nice and the last 30% or so was more gripping. It was an easy read and enjoyable if you are in your early twenties.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in the exchange for an honest review.

This was an edge of your seat, atmospheric thriller! This author always gives you the chills with the descriptive settings. Characters were ok. Liked the dual timeline. If you like thrillers, pick this book up!

I liked it, but didn’t love it. The plot is good, but the first 2/3 dragged and then it seemed rushed, disjointed. The ending is great, satisfying, but getting there took awhile. I would recommend this book, it’s one of my favorite tropes! But it’s a 3 stars from me, a solid 3, but still 3.

This one started out slow but really picked up the pace during the 2nd half. It centers primarily on Tessa, who is attending her best friend's bachelorette part on a remote island where 4 young women disappeared 10 years earlier. You do get glimpses into the lives of the previous group of women as the story continues, building the connection between the past and present timeframe. Tessa is a true crime junkie who is eager to solve the mystery, but it becomes clear very quickly that someone does not want her to keep digging.

The book did start off slowly, and it was a little confusing that there were so many characters between past and present, some with similar names. Tessa also sometimes had long, repetitive monologues that slowed down the pace. That being said, as time went on and I got clear on who was who, it was easy to immerse myself in the creepiness of what was happening on the island. Though I did figure out who the villain was, I didn't know why until it was uncovered later, and I appreciated that no one was safe from bad things happening in this book! There were some surprises at the end, and I liked that the ending overall was hopeful without tying things up too neatly, which would have felt inauthentic with the rest of the story.

Overall, this was a good read once I got into it, but is a little of a slow start. I enjoyed it overall, though, and the cover art was gorgeous. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was middle of the road for me. You’ve seen a lot of this before and unfortunately some of the timeline really did not make sense to me. Fun and fine for a beach read!

This book had so much potential and I was intrigued by the description but, no thanks.

So many characters and no real connection with any of them while reading this. Plus, the main character's monologue that is so over-the-top, dragging on and on, had me bored and speed reading through a lot of the chapters.

Three stars because the cover of this book is gorgeous.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book.

This was beyond boring and stunted. I couldn’t even read to page 100 because I was falling asleep. Even the prologue didn’t intrigue me.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

Tessa is going to a remote island for her friend Anneliese's bachelorette weekend. She used to have a true crime podcast and already knows the island's lore. A few years ago, a group of women disappeared from the island. They go to a resort on the elusive island and have to surrender their phones and connections to the outside world so they can focus on being mindful, but this just adds to the seclusion of the island.

This is the first book I’ve read from this author and I really enjoyed it. I plan on checking out her other books. I grew up in the age of slasher movies like Scream and this gave me many of the same feels as that. It was a fun, high-speed slasher with a great mystery plot along with it. The twists were decent and even if you get one figured out, there are many twists to come. It was a locked room mystery and had a dual timeline POV. The writing was good and the main characters were well-developed. I highly recommend this book if you’re into this style of thriller. It was a change of pace from what I’ve seen recently in the thriller space.

I really enjoyed this book!

I have been in my thriller era the last few months so I figured now was the perfect time to read this. I loved the setting, Sweden has a piece of my heart, and because it was a cabin in the woods it makes it gives it more creepy energy as you read. Although it is not like the usual thrillers I read, I still quite enjoyed it. I think it is a good book to read if you want to start reading thrillers but don't want "too much." I loved the element of friendship and the podcast because I love listening to murder mystery podcasts.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an arc in exchange of a review!

This was a dark and twisted thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat from the very start. Told in two different timelines the author invites the reader to try and solve this murder mystery along with the main character.