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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
This is the story of three women whose friendships have become strained and decide the way to salvage them is to take a week's trip to Tulum, Mexico. On the last night, one of the women disappears. Each woman has her own individual motivations for the week away and this adds to the mystery and what is basically a really good story. The story follows two timelines, after the disappearance and the trip leading up to the disappearance. Point of view flips between the three women. This is where I started to struggle with the book. It felt very repetitive because conversations were repeated and the same issues were gone over again and again. If they weren't actually repeated pretty much verbatim, it felt like it. And isn't that what matters? Does the reader feel like rolling their eyes thinking "yes, yes, we know already. let's move along now"? I felt that way at times. But hidden amidst all this was a really good story.
A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
I love me some toxic friendships, and boy this was just that. If you also love that trope in books this book is for you. Honestly the only thing I wasn't a fan of was the ending. Like I feel like there was so much buildup and the end just let me down hence the 4 stars.
4 stars solid. It would be more if I didn't loathe Ashley's character soooo much. I'm sure you were supposed to to an extent, but it came to the point it was almost unbearable!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The way she acted with her Marco was ridiculous. Why would anyone trust some complete stranger so much! It was infuriating. She was confiding in him instead of the friends she claimed she wanted to get closer with. She the trip was about reconnecting, but she spent so much time with Marco that how could it be? And the other two kept calling her out on this, but she wouldn't listen. It seemed she never listened when her two best friends said anything to her.
I mean the one literally told her that she was about to lose everything, but Ashley wouldn't listen at all. The whole book Ashley was always all about Ashley. She kept saying that she wasn't as selfish as everyone said she was, but my God she was.
She was also extremely manipulative, like too manipulative. I don't know. Are people really that affected by someone?
Also, before it was even revealed she was dead, I started hoping that she was.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
The way she acted with her Marco was ridiculous. Why would anyone trust some complete stranger so much! It was infuriating. She was confiding in him instead of the friends she claimed she wanted to get closer with. She the trip was about reconnecting, but she spent so much time with Marco that how could it be? And the other two kept calling her out on this, but she wouldn't listen. It seemed she never listened when her two best friends said anything to her.
I mean the one literally told her that she was about to lose everything, but Ashley wouldn't listen at all. The whole book Ashley was always all about Ashley. She kept saying that she wasn't as selfish as everyone said she was, but my God she was.
She was also extremely manipulative, like too manipulative. I don't know. Are people really that affected by someone?
Also, before it was even revealed she was dead, I started hoping that she was.
3.5-4 It's a slow burn to start for me but I liked the constantly turning story. I like it when a book keeps you guessing.
I have to admit that the mystery of this book was only somewhat compelling for me. But what I really enjoyed were the depictions of the friendships between these three women. Women are complicated, and adult friendships even more so. As much as their dealings with each other made me frustrated with all three of them, it also felt somewhat realistic. In a trio of friends, it is guaranteed that the relationship will always be unbalanced between the three. I enjoyed the book most after reading the back matter about the authors, and how writing the book tested their own friendship. I think in the end it all worked out- for the book, and for the writers.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC, in exchange for my unbiased review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC, in exchange for my unbiased review.
Ashley, Natalie, and Lauren have had a falling out, and in order to get their friendship back, they take to a vacation in Mexico. However, when Ashley disappears and the others can’t remember what happened, they start to worry. Police from Mexico and the US get involved, and soon we find out that there is a lot more to everyone’s relationships than initially thought. What was going on with their husbands? Was Ashley kidnapped, or did something worse happen? What are the girls hiding? I was excited for this book because I thought it would be a great way to end the summer, but I didn’t find it as interesting as it could have been. I didn’t really enjoy any of the characters, and couldn’t connect with them. I sort of felt like this was an immature attempt at suspense fiction.
This book is told from the perspective of all three friends, and flips between current and the prior days of what was happening between them. Three women who’ve been friends forever decide they need a vacation in Mexico together, to get themselves back to being good friends again, as there’s been some falling out. However, one friend does not come back. Whose fault was it; Natalie, Lauren, Ashley? Or the “tourist” Marco who was hanging around them during those few days. Who had the motivation behind it all, and Mexico is not like the United States when it comes to crimes. I did not see the ending coming, however it kind of was also left to interpretation.
Thanks to the publisher, via Netgalley, for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
3.5ish, rounded up. Girls' Night Out is the first book I've read by duo Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, and I'm definitely now thinking I need to pick up the copy of The Good Widow that I bought that's just been sitting on my shelf (never ending TBRs and languishing books- reader problems!). While this book features characters in an extreme and frightening circumstances, it still felt like a very true and heartfelt take on female friendship, and the highs, lows, and hurts that can exist within these relationships. It's a tense story as there are so many valid possibilities as to what could have happened to the missing friend- and the authors do an excellent job of keeping readers guessing up until the end. The pacing is fairly fast, making this a quick read- perfect for beach reading, though perhaps not on a Mexico girl's trip!
3.5ish, rounded up. Girls' Night Out is the first book I've read by duo Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, and I'm definitely now thinking I need to pick up the copy of The Good Widow that I bought that's just been sitting on my shelf (never ending TBRs and languishing books- reader problems!). While this book features characters in an extreme and frightening circumstances, it still felt like a very true and heartfelt take on female friendship, and the highs, lows, and hurts that can exist within these relationships. It's a tense story as there are so many valid possibilities as to what could have happened to the missing friend- and the authors do an excellent job of keeping readers guessing up until the end. The pacing is fairly fast, making this a quick read- perfect for beach reading, though perhaps not on a Mexico girl's trip!
In reading the summary, the play out of the story line was seemingly predictable, but I thought I would give it a try. There were a few twists that the story took that were not so obvious, but overall it was just that. Knowing this going in and expecting for a good read made this three stars for me.
The writing is good, the idea of the story is good, it is all good. I enjoyed the book overall, just wasn't super excited about it.
Three friends get together for a re-bonding after a year off from their friendship. They travel to a beautiful resort in Mexico in the hopes of reconnecting and forgetting and forgiving the past. Lauren, who lost her husband just a year before - exactly when the friendship deteriorated and Ashley and Natalie who work side-by-side in a joint business ownership all meet with the outward appearance of letting bygones be bygones but inside all very nervous and doubtful.
What starts as an awkwardly fun night, turns into a very stressful few days as Marco, a local and admirer of Ashley's, infiltrates the group at every possible moment. Ashley swears it's as the guide to many adventures, but Natalie and Lauren feel it's not like that at all. Once Ashley goes missing and the need to involve the Police occurs, Marco is nowhere to be found so Natalie becomes the prime suspect as she was the last one to see Ashley alive.
Stuck in Mexico searching for your long-time friend, while dealing with feelings of guilt, anger, loss and sadness combine into an end to the trip that is in no way the life-saving adventure they were all hoping to take.
The writing is good, the idea of the story is good, it is all good. I enjoyed the book overall, just wasn't super excited about it.
Three friends get together for a re-bonding after a year off from their friendship. They travel to a beautiful resort in Mexico in the hopes of reconnecting and forgetting and forgiving the past. Lauren, who lost her husband just a year before - exactly when the friendship deteriorated and Ashley and Natalie who work side-by-side in a joint business ownership all meet with the outward appearance of letting bygones be bygones but inside all very nervous and doubtful.
What starts as an awkwardly fun night, turns into a very stressful few days as Marco, a local and admirer of Ashley's, infiltrates the group at every possible moment. Ashley swears it's as the guide to many adventures, but Natalie and Lauren feel it's not like that at all. Once Ashley goes missing and the need to involve the Police occurs, Marco is nowhere to be found so Natalie becomes the prime suspect as she was the last one to see Ashley alive.
Stuck in Mexico searching for your long-time friend, while dealing with feelings of guilt, anger, loss and sadness combine into an end to the trip that is in no way the life-saving adventure they were all hoping to take.