Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow, what a book to start the year off with! It felt a little bit like the game clue - it was the butler in the library with the candlestick. I enjoyed the game even though I figured out the twist pretty early on. This book is a good reminder of what can happen if you are the one doing the bullying! A fun thriller.
*2.5
“In reality, we all stick together because we know no one else would ever understand what we did in the past. And the trouble is, we’ve all become so convinced that what we did was alright that we’ve accepted an invitation from the very woman we did it to.”
This really did start off so promising, but it honestly lost steam halfway through.
The premise is pretty interesting. The story is about this group of women, Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe, who have been friends since they were children. One day they receive an invitation from a woman, Poppy, who they bullied in school to be her bridesmaids and inviting them to join her for her Hen Do on a remote island. They are skeptical, but decide to go. However, when they get there, Poppy is acting weird and they realize she may not be completely over what they did to her all those years ago.
When I went into this book, I thought it was going to be a fun, dramatic, almost soapy thriller, which is what it started off as. In the beginning, when you’re getting to know the characters and what is going on in their lives, it was interesting. I found myself not liking any of them to be honest, but I didn’t expect to. This is the kind of story where you go into it knowing that you’re not going to like most of the characters, which I am more than fine with.
All of these characters are terrible and are awful friends. After they get on the island, you quickly realize how many secrets there are between them. While all of them are terrible, Chloe was for sure the worst. She was so self-centered and a bigot honestly, so I could have done with less of her. Now the character I thought I was going to have sympathy for, Poppy, was also an awful person. Don’t get me wrong, I felt bad for her, but the things she did as an adult were too much. By the end of this book, I didn’t care what happened to any of these women.
One thing that the book does in order for us to know what happened to Poppy while they were in school is give us flashbacks. This is where one of my issues with the story came in. I became tired of the flashbacks and a lot of that reason is that I felt there were too many of them. I also found it a little difficult to constantly read about the constant bullying that Poppy had to deal with. I appreciate the author trying to highlight a very important issue that unfortunately affects a lot of people, but it was just too much for me.
I also think another issue I had was the pacing. It was too slow for my liking. I can enjoy a slow moving thriller, but this type of story needs to move a lot quicker. It wasn’t that it took me too long to read it, but it’s just I felt the length, which I shouldn’t have in my opinion. This is a debut, so I will give the author a bit of grace on this.
As for twists, there were not many. It’s not that type of thriller. There was a twist at the end, but I saw it coming a mile away, so it didn’t really shock me. The secrets the women find out about themselves were probably the most shocking and entertaining to be honest.
This is a bit of a darker story with a darker tone the further you get into it. I did enjoy the beginning, but once we got to the middle, I was kind of over it and ready for it to end. Overall, an okay book, but one that is very forgettable. I would be interested in trying this author again though.
CW for self-harm, bullying, drug use, and abuse.
“In reality, we all stick together because we know no one else would ever understand what we did in the past. And the trouble is, we’ve all become so convinced that what we did was alright that we’ve accepted an invitation from the very woman we did it to.”
This really did start off so promising, but it honestly lost steam halfway through.
The premise is pretty interesting. The story is about this group of women, Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe, who have been friends since they were children. One day they receive an invitation from a woman, Poppy, who they bullied in school to be her bridesmaids and inviting them to join her for her Hen Do on a remote island. They are skeptical, but decide to go. However, when they get there, Poppy is acting weird and they realize she may not be completely over what they did to her all those years ago.
When I went into this book, I thought it was going to be a fun, dramatic, almost soapy thriller, which is what it started off as. In the beginning, when you’re getting to know the characters and what is going on in their lives, it was interesting. I found myself not liking any of them to be honest, but I didn’t expect to. This is the kind of story where you go into it knowing that you’re not going to like most of the characters, which I am more than fine with.
All of these characters are terrible and are awful friends. After they get on the island, you quickly realize how many secrets there are between them. While all of them are terrible, Chloe was for sure the worst. She was so self-centered and a bigot honestly, so I could have done with less of her. Now the character I thought I was going to have sympathy for, Poppy, was also an awful person. Don’t get me wrong, I felt bad for her, but the things she did as an adult were too much. By the end of this book, I didn’t care what happened to any of these women.
One thing that the book does in order for us to know what happened to Poppy while they were in school is give us flashbacks. This is where one of my issues with the story came in. I became tired of the flashbacks and a lot of that reason is that I felt there were too many of them. I also found it a little difficult to constantly read about the constant bullying that Poppy had to deal with. I appreciate the author trying to highlight a very important issue that unfortunately affects a lot of people, but it was just too much for me.
I also think another issue I had was the pacing. It was too slow for my liking. I can enjoy a slow moving thriller, but this type of story needs to move a lot quicker. It wasn’t that it took me too long to read it, but it’s just I felt the length, which I shouldn’t have in my opinion. This is a debut, so I will give the author a bit of grace on this.
As for twists, there were not many. It’s not that type of thriller. There was a twist at the end, but I saw it coming a mile away, so it didn’t really shock me. The secrets the women find out about themselves were probably the most shocking and entertaining to be honest.
This is a bit of a darker story with a darker tone the further you get into it. I did enjoy the beginning, but once we got to the middle, I was kind of over it and ready for it to end. Overall, an okay book, but one that is very forgettable. I would be interested in trying this author again though.
CW for self-harm, bullying, drug use, and abuse.
“Those bitches might have started it, but I sure as hell finished it.”
Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe have been friends since secondary school. They were the popular, pretty girls that everyone liked or feared. While they aren’t always the best of friends, time and secrets have kept them together 10 years after school ended and they keep finding each other in their orbits.
All four women are shocked when they find they’ve all received an Invitation from another old class mate of theirs: Poppy Greer. She’s invited them to her Bachelorette party but no simple party, it’s a three day all expenses paid trip to a luxury private island in the Bahamas. None of them have spoken or thought about Poppy, or the awful ways they bullied her, in years, but they all decide that maybe Poppy has forgotten or moved past their cruel behavior because they were just silly teenagers and, hey, why not enjoy a tropical vacation? They deserve it, right?
Honestly, aside from Tanya, the women were all pretty much trash friends to each other and especially how they treated poor Poppy when they were younger. This delicious revenge focused story wax honestly just fun to read and overall very cleverly written.
Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe have been friends since secondary school. They were the popular, pretty girls that everyone liked or feared. While they aren’t always the best of friends, time and secrets have kept them together 10 years after school ended and they keep finding each other in their orbits.
All four women are shocked when they find they’ve all received an Invitation from another old class mate of theirs: Poppy Greer. She’s invited them to her Bachelorette party but no simple party, it’s a three day all expenses paid trip to a luxury private island in the Bahamas. None of them have spoken or thought about Poppy, or the awful ways they bullied her, in years, but they all decide that maybe Poppy has forgotten or moved past their cruel behavior because they were just silly teenagers and, hey, why not enjoy a tropical vacation? They deserve it, right?
Honestly, aside from Tanya, the women were all pretty much trash friends to each other and especially how they treated poor Poppy when they were younger. This delicious revenge focused story wax honestly just fun to read and overall very cleverly written.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
dark
tense
fast-paced