Thank you to Netgally, St Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, and MacMillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Maybe I've read too many locked room thrillers lately, but this one didn't feel like it brought anything particularly fresh to the genre.
The story unfolds across two timelines. In the present, a group of women head to a remote island for a bachelorette party. One of them, the main character Tessa, is secretly hoping to uncover the truth behind a decade-old mystery - ten years earlier, another group of friends vanished from the same island during a yearly girls trip. Tessa, whose true crime podcast recently flopped, is desperate for a comeback and sees this trip as a way to redeem herself. But things quickly spiral, and she finds herself in real danger, caught in a twisted game of revenge.
I both read and listened to the audiobook. The audiobook was well-paced and the narrator kept things engaging. I appreciated the dual timelines and how the threads of the past and present slowly wove together. However, the overall story felt predictable and lacked the tension I was hoping for. I would also have loved more depth on Tessa's podcast and what led to its downfall - it seemed like an important element, but it was only lightly touched on.
An okay read overall, especially if you are newer to the genre, but not one that stood out to me.

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten is a bit of a locked-room mystery.

"Four friends visit a remote island off the coast of Sweden every year. A chance to unwind and have fun. No one knows where they go but them. Until one year they don't come back and they are never found.
Ten Years Later - Tessa has always been obsessed with the gilrs that were never found. She was the host of a wildly popular podcast until a bad decision caused it to crash and burn. Her friend has invited her to a Bachelorette weekend at a remote yoga retreat run by the sister of one of the missing girls. If Tessa can find out what happened she can get her life back on track.
It's also someone else's last chance to get revenge..."

Sten puts you in the middle of this group of friends, some that haven't connected in a long time. It's a multi-timeline story so we get what happened to the missing group of girls to cause them to go missing. And we get Tessa's backstory to see why she is so desperate. There's a lot of misdirection and you're unsure of what's really happening until the end.
Tessa was a little hard to root for. She got a taste of attention and was willing to do anything to keep it - one time with disastrous consequences.

The narration by Laura Jennings is phenomenal. There are a lot of wild moments, especially on the beach and in the hotel, and she captures them. And she gets the voice of the sociopath - it's perfect.

Better to read this one on a warm, sunny beach.

I liked this book, but I do hold issue with the ending being a little bit over the top and the timelines sometimes being a little muddled and confusing. It was entertaining, but not the most finessed in terms of execution. I also didn’t feel a huge connection with any of the characters? I still enjoyed it!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this alc.

This is the second novel I read from this author, the first one was The Resting Place and I really like it, however The Bachelorette Party did not work for me. Unfortunately there was nothing in this story that made me invested into it.

The book plays on isolation, buried secrets, and the increasingly claustrophobic dynamics of female friendship. The author brings her ominous tone to this standalone novel, which unfolds over a bachelorette weekend that spirals into a nightmare. What begins as a celebratory getaway quickly devolves into a tense, paranoia-fueled experience as the women are cut off from the outside world and begin to suspect each other.

The narration of Laura Jennings keeps the story unfolding and keeps the reader going. But the excellent narration is not enough to keep the reader interested in this story. It didn’t work for me but it might work for you. If you feel like it, pick this novel up.

This has dual time lines about a decade apart set on a remote Island near Sweden. The characters are from Sweden in both time lines. In the 2012 time line 4 friends are on an annual girls trip. In the 2022 time line a bachelorette get-away trip with yoga and healthy eating is the focus at an posh, remote, and exclusive 'experience' style locale. The story line primarily focuses on the bachelorette timeline with flashbacks to the 2012 girl's trip.

This is a locked door mystery set at a remote location. Tessa is our annoying while relatable though slightly cringe worthy heroine. She's the style of protagonist I think of 'hot mess'. I also like the 'infinitely unlikable', and, the 'everything in it's place, all rules followed' style protagonists as well. Tessa's is a bit like the average career on the rocks, obsessively nosy and boundary violating main characters that readers of this genre love and hate, and sometimes, love to hate🤷🏾‍♀️

This genre can be somewhat formulaic but I felt this story had enough unique elements to satisfy me. I liked the setting and I enjoyed that the story and characters were from Sweden. I don't know if the author is also Swedish but I always enjoy stories that are set outside of North America. The base story is pretty average in this type of thriller but I enjoyed the author's style as much as the story basics. Some aspects of the reveal I felt were obvious and others I was surprised at. I consumed this in an afternoon and found it quite enjoyable.

This audiobook is narrated by Laura Jennings. I quite enjoyed the audiobook production of this and would definitely recommend consuming this on audio.

Thank you to authors Camilla Sten, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

I had some issues with this book. There were pieces that seemed to be missing for me, and I had some difficulty following and staying with this story. I found the characters (generally) to not be likable. Some of the excitement and the twists were twisty, but generally it is not a book that I would reread or recommend to peers.

Thank you the the Author, narrator and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Bachelorette Party was a chilling audiobook thriller. The plot unfolds in a remote setting where a celebratory event spirals into darkness, revealing unsettling secrets. Camilla Sten’s atmospheric prose and suspenseful build-up make this a gripping listen.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advance copy!

I received a copy of this audiobook from netGalley for a honest review.

Very suspenseful story. A group of woman disappeared 10 years ago and now a bachelorette party is happening on the same island. No cell phones, no communicating with the outside world-what could possibly go wrong? So much especially since one of the guests is a true crime podcaster and the owner is the sister of one of the original missing woman. So much fun in a twisted way! I really enjoyed this book and will look for more by this author even if I did see one of the big twists coming way to soon.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Bachelorette Party
By: Camilla Sten
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
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 Bachelorette Party starts with some of the classic psychological thriller areas that we typically enjoy. Remote island, limited to no cell phone availability, isolated group of friends, and secrets lurking in the shadows amongst these friends.

Tessa is a podcaster and is completely obsessed with true crime! When the opportunity presents itself to visit the exact location of a suspected previous crime, she can’t miss this chance. But slowly, the group of friends find themselves fighting for survival.

Overall, a good read that picked up about 65% in. Although the foundation was set during the first half, I felt it was a bit uneven paced & took a while to get to the nitty gritty. I enjoy slow-burns but this one dragged just a bit but when it picked up, I really enjoyed the rest of the story and it had some suspenseful moments.. The narrator did a good job with the narration in the audiobook version. Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this advanced listening copy. All opinions are my own.

Publication 🗓️: 6.10.25

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.

The narration was well done and easy to listen to. Although, being that it was audio it was sometimes hard keeping track of timelines when phone numbers were used to track storylines. Having the print would have helped at those times.

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

THE BACHELORETTE PARTY by Camilla Sten (out June 10) was quite the ride — definitely less of a psychological thriller and more of a slasher story, especially at the end with more twists than I could handle. (In a good way?)

You know the drill with bachelorette parties — the bride brings together her far-flung besties. So, that’s exactly how Tessa, a struggling true crime podcaster, ends up on a remote island off Sweden. She’s familiar with the island — it’s where four girls went missing a decade ago. And if Tessa can discover anything new from that disappearance, she might be able to get her career back on track.

Thank you for the ARC. The book started off interesting but lost me quickly with all the characters and time line jumping. It felt very slow and boring until the last 20%. I felt like certain things weren’t clear such as the motives to some of the murders. It just lost me. The narrator did a good job though.

this one was just okay for me. i really enjoyed the main character, i thought she was very interesting and i loved the podcast element of her character. she was one of the highlights of the book for me personally. i also loved the island setting and the focus on the main four missing women as well as the present timeline being told through the lens of the bachelorette party which i thought was really fun.

one thing this book suffers from is too many characters. around the 20 percent mark of the audiobook, i was getting very confused about which character was which because there were so many names. i thought that problem would resolve itself as the book went on but it persisted unfortunately. near the end of the book i was also getting very confused about the motivations for certain characters which was only intensified by the fact that i barely knew their names.

this was a mostly fun thriller that i got through pretty quick but nothing too special or that you haven't read before.

I listened to the audio version of this book. Narrator Laura Jennings does a stellar job bringing to life a diverse cast of characters. Her changes in tone, nuance, inflection make the story very easy to listen to. Her voice is a bit softer than some other narrators I have heard, and I liked its uniqueness. The story itself is told in multiple timelines, which at times did get confusing. We mainly focus on Tess Nilsson as she travels to Isle Blind with her closest friends for a bachelorette weekend to remember. Interspersed between chapters of the present day, are chapters telling both the story of four girls who went missing from this area 10 years previously, AND chapters giving us backstory on Tessa.

This story was easy for me to get absorbed in the story, but the villains were predictable. Some of the plot twists also were not very surprising. Despite this, the story was enjoyable to listen to. I do think that it may be a little easier to keep track of both the timelines and the all the different characters by reading this book in print form, rather than listening to it. The Bachelorette Party is a locked room (or island, rather) mystery that would be great summer beach reading or listening.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillon Audio, and Camilla Sten for letting me allowing me to listen to an early copy of The Bachelorette Party.

This one had me hooked in the beginning. It opened like a true thriller should. It gave “I Know What You Did Last Summer” vibes so I was definitely locked in. Unfortunately… once the timelines and storylines started jumping, it lost a little steam. Each timeline moved slow, and too much of the story lingered on the day-to-day of a bachelorette party instead of building that tension I was hoping for.
Now credit where it’s due: the narrator. Laura Jennings’ narration was chef’s kiss. She really brought the main character to life. And that twist at the end? YES. That’s what kept me hanging in there.
If the timelines were more distinct and the pacing had just a bit more punch, this could’ve been a knockout. Still, it landed at a solid 3 out of 5 stars for me.

Unfortunately though I really enjoyed Camilla Sten's prior books I just could not get into this one. I dont know whether it was the large cast who I felt nothing for, the pacing, the plot.. I would've probably DNF'd this book had I been reading it on my own because it did not keep my attention, though the audiobook kept my attention slightly more. I would definitely still read her books in the future but this one just was not for me unfortunately.

Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC for review!

The Bachelorette party was intriguing and included multiple storylines and twists. I would use excerpts of this novel to teach pacing, building suspense, and using effective situational irony; furthermore, the imagery and subplots are also noteworthy.

The Bachelorette Party was a suspenseful and atmospheric read with a classic locked room mystery feel.
I really liked the creepy island setting and how it added to the tension. The story jumps between two timelines, one from ten years ago when four women vanished, and one in the present with a new group of friends arriving for a bachelorette party.
Tessa, the main character, is secretly investigating the past case, which adds an extra layer of intrigue. I enjoyed the podcast angle and Tessa’s personal connection to the mystery. The writing was vivid and the narration by Laura Jennings helped build the suspense. While I found the ending a little predictable and got confused by the number of characters which sometimes it can be way too many to keep track of everyone in my case, it was still an engaging and fast paced listen and read. If you like thrillers with secrets, lies, and a chilling island backdrop, this is a great pick for your next read.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy through NetGalley, opinions are my own