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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
Three estranged friends go on a vacation to Tulum, Mexico to try to repair their damaged friendship. When one of them goes missing on their girls’ night out, the other two must try to patch together their fragmented memories of what happened that night to find out what really happened to her...
This is a character-driven story about three insufferable, self-centered, and unrelatable women. It’s nice to read a book about three professional women, but they are each more selfish and unlikable than the last. The secrets they’re “hiding” (at least, according to the description of the book), barely keep the plot moving forward. There’s a lot of dialogue, with a lot of roundabout conversations that don’t end up anywhere. I don’t particularly understand why they’re friends, or even why they’re attempting to repair their relationship. The three “girls” (women who are pushing forty—but I guess the book had to profit off the word “girl” being in the title) don’t ever learn from their mistakes. They have no empathy for one another, even though they’re all going through similar experiences in their lives.
Fenton and Steinke effectively implement a dual timeline in this story. By jumping forward in time, we get to see the panic that Natalie and Lauren feel when Ashley goes missing. The past timeline provides us with the days leading up to her disappearance, providing clues as to what truly happened to her.
I didn't like any of the characters. I almost felt for Ashley, but she invites her estranged friends on a trip and then spends most of her time with a man she’s just met—even though she’s married. Her marriage is on the rocks – which makes this almost justifiable, but not when she’s supposed to be out with the girls. She’s just as selfish as the other two, but I say I almost felt for her because she was the only one who seemed to actually want to work on the friendship, despite not actually putting any effort into it.
This book is chock-full of introspection. It felt like over half the book is the characters thinking about their children, their families, their work, their hatred of one another… There is very little suspense in the story until 73% into it, and even at that point, the plot is so slow moving that hardly anything happens. Fenton and Steinke do include several red herrings throughout the novel, which is appreciated, and there’s a mildly surprising twist at the end of the story. I say it’s mildly surprising because I was expecting something more thrilling to happen, and the lacklustre conclusion was surprising given the high ratings of this book.
Told from the perspectives of all three characters, there isn’t a clear distinction in their voices. A few times I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter I was reading to check whose POV I was on. The writing style also leaves something to be desired. There aren’t any flowery descriptions or sardonic observations to grasp onto.
I feel like I’ve read this book before. This book is 90% tropes (like the unreliable narrator, the inconvenient “amnesia”) and 10% Mayan pyramids (the scene where they’re illicitly climbing a pyramid is honestly the highlight of the book, until they start arguing nonsensically, of course). I recommend this book to those who enjoy character-driven women's fiction, not those who want a suspenseful psychological thriller.
*I received a review copy of this ARC from Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley*
Read my reviews first on www.powerlibrarian.wordpress.com
This is a character-driven story about three insufferable, self-centered, and unrelatable women. It’s nice to read a book about three professional women, but they are each more selfish and unlikable than the last. The secrets they’re “hiding” (at least, according to the description of the book), barely keep the plot moving forward. There’s a lot of dialogue, with a lot of roundabout conversations that don’t end up anywhere. I don’t particularly understand why they’re friends, or even why they’re attempting to repair their relationship. The three “girls” (women who are pushing forty—but I guess the book had to profit off the word “girl” being in the title) don’t ever learn from their mistakes. They have no empathy for one another, even though they’re all going through similar experiences in their lives.
Fenton and Steinke effectively implement a dual timeline in this story. By jumping forward in time, we get to see the panic that Natalie and Lauren feel when Ashley goes missing. The past timeline provides us with the days leading up to her disappearance, providing clues as to what truly happened to her.
I didn't like any of the characters. I almost felt for Ashley, but she invites her estranged friends on a trip and then spends most of her time with a man she’s just met—even though she’s married. Her marriage is on the rocks – which makes this almost justifiable, but not when she’s supposed to be out with the girls. She’s just as selfish as the other two, but I say I almost felt for her because she was the only one who seemed to actually want to work on the friendship, despite not actually putting any effort into it.
This book is chock-full of introspection. It felt like over half the book is the characters thinking about their children, their families, their work, their hatred of one another… There is very little suspense in the story until 73% into it, and even at that point, the plot is so slow moving that hardly anything happens. Fenton and Steinke do include several red herrings throughout the novel, which is appreciated, and there’s a mildly surprising twist at the end of the story. I say it’s mildly surprising because I was expecting something more thrilling to happen, and the lacklustre conclusion was surprising given the high ratings of this book.
Told from the perspectives of all three characters, there isn’t a clear distinction in their voices. A few times I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter I was reading to check whose POV I was on. The writing style also leaves something to be desired. There aren’t any flowery descriptions or sardonic observations to grasp onto.
I feel like I’ve read this book before. This book is 90% tropes (like the unreliable narrator, the inconvenient “amnesia”) and 10% Mayan pyramids (the scene where they’re illicitly climbing a pyramid is honestly the highlight of the book, until they start arguing nonsensically, of course). I recommend this book to those who enjoy character-driven women's fiction, not those who want a suspenseful psychological thriller.
*I received a review copy of this ARC from Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley*
Read my reviews first on www.powerlibrarian.wordpress.com
Girl's Night Out is Lisa and Liz's best book yet! Three friends take a trip to Tulum, Mexico, to try to repair and renew their friendship like they had in their college days. Each girl has a secret and the fighting and drinking goes from bad to worse. When one of the girls goes missing, accusations fly as one cannot remember what happened the night before. Fast paced with an unexpected ending make this a must read!
“People often lie, but their energies are the universe’s way of knowing the truth.”
I really enjoyed this book and its take on friendship and changing motivations in life. Maybe that's a little deep for a thriller, but it was thought provoking. The outcome was about what I was expecting but the path to get there was not. I couldn't put this book down!!
Really joy hooked in to this one and loved it all except for the weird ending.
They're all approaching 40 now--at least one of them has arrived there. But the three women were once college besties, and Ashley desperately wants to rekindle those more innocent more carefree years when they loved one another despite their differences or maybe because of them. But as it does, life and time carve their change marks on the landscape of these women's lives. Ashley and Natalie, once highly successful business partners unified by their company's success, are drifting in a morass of bitterness. Natalie wants out of the company; her foolish husband has invested badly, and Natalie desperately needs the infusion of money the sale would bring; even then, she's not sure she can save the marriage. But to Ashley, Blow Me, Inc. is her life. Without it, she is nothing and no one. She wants to cling to it with everything she has.
Lauren is already a widow despite her relative youth. She has moved on a bit from the other two, making a new friend as a direct result of her widowhood. Lauren, too, is bitter, blaming Ashley for the death of her abusive husband.
Ashley is pretty sure the women can reunite if they only have a little time to relax and remember the good days. So off the three jet to a Mexican resort. Natalie can't really afford it; Ashley has her selfish reasons for wanting the three to gain one another's good graces, and Lauren just doesn't really want to be there at all; she came against her better judgment.
This book grabs you hard and yanks you into it right from the first words. Natalie wakes up on a beach in a chair. She is groggy and sick, and her beach dress is wet and full of sand. It appears she has spent the entire night on the beach, and she has no memory of how that happened or who she was with--at least not at first. She sheepishly returns to the hotel room; it's their last day, and things haven't been even remotely patched up among them. To her horror, Natalie determines that Ashley isn't in the room, and the bed hasn't been used. She has only fragmented vague memories of what happened to her friend, and all that forgetting terrifies her.
The book alternates between the day after Ashley disappears and the days that lead up to her disappearance. It peels off layer upon layer of secrets and shifting dynamics among the three. You love them all; you hate them all; your allegiance will shift among them as the story unfolds. And always, always, right down to the last sentence, you'll wonder about what really happened to Ashley.
Karen Peakes does a masterful magnificent job with the narration. She captures the three women without resorting to silly over-the-top voice differentials and ridiculous vocal caricatures. Her narration adds tremendously to the tension and compelling nature of the book.
Lauren is already a widow despite her relative youth. She has moved on a bit from the other two, making a new friend as a direct result of her widowhood. Lauren, too, is bitter, blaming Ashley for the death of her abusive husband.
Ashley is pretty sure the women can reunite if they only have a little time to relax and remember the good days. So off the three jet to a Mexican resort. Natalie can't really afford it; Ashley has her selfish reasons for wanting the three to gain one another's good graces, and Lauren just doesn't really want to be there at all; she came against her better judgment.
This book grabs you hard and yanks you into it right from the first words. Natalie wakes up on a beach in a chair. She is groggy and sick, and her beach dress is wet and full of sand. It appears she has spent the entire night on the beach, and she has no memory of how that happened or who she was with--at least not at first. She sheepishly returns to the hotel room; it's their last day, and things haven't been even remotely patched up among them. To her horror, Natalie determines that Ashley isn't in the room, and the bed hasn't been used. She has only fragmented vague memories of what happened to her friend, and all that forgetting terrifies her.
The book alternates between the day after Ashley disappears and the days that lead up to her disappearance. It peels off layer upon layer of secrets and shifting dynamics among the three. You love them all; you hate them all; your allegiance will shift among them as the story unfolds. And always, always, right down to the last sentence, you'll wonder about what really happened to Ashley.
Karen Peakes does a masterful magnificent job with the narration. She captures the three women without resorting to silly over-the-top voice differentials and ridiculous vocal caricatures. Her narration adds tremendously to the tension and compelling nature of the book.
No matter what I'm reading these days I always like to switch back to a mystery thriller on occasion, which is what had me reaching for Girls' Night Out by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, a novel about three best friends with a lot of friction between them that go on vacation to Mexico together only for one of them to disappear.
This is a co-written book that includes multiple perspectives but it flows seamlessly while having each perspective be clearly defined and unique. I thought the authors did a fantastic job capturing the dynamics that often happen when there are multiple best friends in a group, and the relationships between the characters was really strong. There is also a whole lot of domestic drama which adds another element to the story, although sometimes the arguments in the book felt repetitive--that's real life, but not the best to the read about. I didn't actually like any of the characters but I didn't mind, I just felt like the book was a bit slow-moving at times. It does flip between before and after the person goes missing, but I still didn't quite get the tension I crave in a thriller. Even though it wasn't a new favourite, I enjoyed Girls' Night Out and I'd recommend picking it up if you are fan of books that focus on the relationships between women and want an extra element (a missing person!) to the story.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review.
This is a co-written book that includes multiple perspectives but it flows seamlessly while having each perspective be clearly defined and unique. I thought the authors did a fantastic job capturing the dynamics that often happen when there are multiple best friends in a group, and the relationships between the characters was really strong. There is also a whole lot of domestic drama which adds another element to the story, although sometimes the arguments in the book felt repetitive--that's real life, but not the best to the read about. I didn't actually like any of the characters but I didn't mind, I just felt like the book was a bit slow-moving at times. It does flip between before and after the person goes missing, but I still didn't quite get the tension I crave in a thriller. Even though it wasn't a new favourite, I enjoyed Girls' Night Out and I'd recommend picking it up if you are fan of books that focus on the relationships between women and want an extra element (a missing person!) to the story.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review.
Solid 4.
LAUREN DID IT!--just kidding... or am I?
Three 40 year olds bickering like teenagers would have been the best tea if one of them didn't die... Now its a whodunit?
LAUREN DID IT!--just kidding... or am I?
Three 40 year olds bickering like teenagers would have been the best tea if one of them didn't die... Now its a whodunit?
A story of forgiveness and friendship... before it's too late. The timeline goes back and forth between before one of three friends goes missing and after. The group had a falling out before going on a vacation to Mexico together. It took until about halfway through to get the full backstory of the characters, which was frustrating to me. I felt like the author teased the drama of the past year too much before finally telling the complete story. However, once I felt like I understood the characters (again, about halfway through), I was HOOKED! It was certainly an ending I did not see coming, which I always appreciate in a thriller! This was the first book by Liz & Lisa that I've read, but I am definitely going back to read more of theirs!
Thank you to Liz Fenton, Lisa Steinke, the publisher, Lake Union, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Liz Fenton, Lisa Steinke, the publisher, Lake Union, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an ARC of this book.
Immediately after starting this book I was intrigued by the plot and characters. I couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen and was drawn to keep reading. Unfortunately I didn't care for the characters. I struggled to find likeable qualities and to root for them to solve their problems. This did not deter me from loving the plot and writing style. Flipping back and forth between time periods and characters really kept my interest. Overall this was a great book that was easy and enjoyable to read.
Immediately after starting this book I was intrigued by the plot and characters. I couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen and was drawn to keep reading. Unfortunately I didn't care for the characters. I struggled to find likeable qualities and to root for them to solve their problems. This did not deter me from loving the plot and writing style. Flipping back and forth between time periods and characters really kept my interest. Overall this was a great book that was easy and enjoyable to read.