Holy Beach Book! If you are looking for an exciting, intoxicating, fun summer read, you need to add The Party by Robyn Harding to your beach bag right away. I started this book on the car ride to our beach destination, and I could not put it down. I finished reading it in the hotel room in the dark beside my sleeping husband and children at our halfway point. In other words, it was so good, I finished the book before we even made it to the beach – in one day.

The Party goes back and forth between the events on the day of a special Sweet Sixteen slumber party and the days after because this party becomes a quintessential before/after event. At this party, hosted by perfect parents (or a mom trying desperately to be seen as perfect), one of the teenagers suffers a life altering injury. How? Because these teens snuck in booze, drugs, and boys – all against the rules.

Therefore, the novel spins off into a story about who is to blame for this tragedy. The hosting parents who vehemently deny any fault or blame? Or the girls themselves? Specifically, the injured party who has a reputation for trouble?

As a mom, I hated all the moms in this book. I hated the perfect acting mother because she was so bent on protecting her own name and reputation rather than on the repercussions for the teenager girl. I hate the injured girl’s mom for focusing so much more energy on her anger than on helping her daughter. I hated the mean girl teenagers who show how finicky popularity in high school is. But, I loved hating them.

While reading, Harding continued to surprise me. I was sickened by the actions of characters – and surprised by them time and time again. In the end, it was the teenager girls who made me the most proud. They stood up against bullying and for what is right. Not the parents.

The novel also was relatable. It is so easy to think you can do everything right parenting wise and still end up dealing with things so beyond what you planned for. It made me question what I would do in a similar situation – because the situation is realistic and not far-fetched. Everything in this novel could happen…you just really really hope it doesn’t.

If you are looking for a fun book to escape into this summer, you must pick up The Party. You won’t regret it.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. But I found the end to be very disappointing. With this type of book, the ending is everything.

A page-turner for sure. I was surprised I enjoyed thus book as much as I did. A nice summer read!

Sweet Sixteen - NOT. Story shows just how vicious, conniving and despicable popular cliques and bullies can be. And then there are their parents......some behaviors are inherited. Hard to like most everyone in the book, but it is near impossible to stop reading it until the end.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

My daughter is 16 and she will no longer be having sleepovers!! i really did enjoy this book - and can especially relate to some of the different characters. A great summer read

While most girls in her affluent San Francisco neighborhood have an elaborate and over-the-top Sweet Sixteen, Hannah is perfectly happy having a quiet night in with a pizza and a few friends. While she’s not exactly gung-ho about the idea of sneaking booze and drugs into the basement, Hannah craves popularity more than anything – and now that Lauren, the single most popular girl in their entire school, has acknowledged her existence (and agreed to come to the party), Hannah is more than willing to bend her parents’ rules a little. …or maybe a lot. The girls have plans for sneaking some boys in (another no-no), including Noah, Hannah’s boyfriend. She knows he won’t be content with just kissing for much longer, but the thought of going further terrifies her (though she’d never admit that, she doesn’t want to look like a prude).

What should have been a fun (okay, and maybe a little boring and childish – would Lauren really consider Hannah to be cool if they spend their entire night watching PG movies?) sleepover quickly takes a turn for the worse as the girls pass around the bottles of alcohol and handfuls of pills they grabbed from their parents’ cabinets. Blood, a basement that’s been turned into a crime scene, a race to the hospital as one girl’s life hangs in the balance.

It’s no secret I love thrillers, but I have to admit they usually come off as feeling a little farfetched with premises I can’t imagine ever experiencing (chasing down serial killers, stumbling across dead bodies, discovering Matt has been living a secret double-life this entire time ha!), but The Party can so easily happen. Four teens have a bit too much to drink (despite the parents forbidding alcohol – and when do teens ever listen?) and a tragedy occurs. It has happened before, it will happen again.

Hannah’s parents were already suffering a rocky relationship (after Jeff accepted a small vial of LSD recently while away at a work conference); the sudden trip to the hospital and ensuing lawsuit throws their lives into a tailspin. Jeff begins working out a little more, staying out a little longer and putting off his return home as long as possible. Kim strikes up a flirtation with a co-worker, eager for some sort of adult connection. Though the girl does survive, she ultimately loses an eye and as her mother sues Jeff and Kim for millions, secrets begin to emerge.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the main reason I tore through The Party so fast (I read it in a single sitting) was because I wanted to see how the lawsuit would play out, if Lisa would win. The rest of the book (high school bullies, the whole Lauren thing, Kim’s potential affair) just didn’t interest me as much. It felt like the book was trying too hard to ramp up the drama but I really didn’t care and only kept reading to see how it would all end.

Though The Party is by no means a bad book (or a badly-written one, for that matter), I couldn’t help but feel let down. I wanted more from this book than I got and expected something a little more thrilling from the amount of buzz it’s been getting. It’s an incredibly fast read, so it certainly has that going for it, but I’ve read much better thrillers. Still, for a lazy afternoon read, you could do far worse.

This was a killer of a story! I absolutely loved it! A sweet sixteen party for Hannah at her home, goes terribly wrong. Even though her parents said there were to be no drugs, no alcohol and no boys, her four friends brought in all three. The next thing we know is that Hannah's parents, Jeff and Kim, are woken up and see Hannah with blood on her hands. One of her friends is injured, are Jeff and Kim culpable, even though they made the rules very clear? Even if not legally culpable, should they be held responsible? Characters choose sides, make judgments and Jeff and Kim do not make the best choices. The ending was a real killer, did not expect that! An edge of your seat thriller, with characters you will dislike and you will want to shout at them to make the right choices!

Thank you for the opportunity to attempt to read and review this book. Unfortunately, I will not be posting a full review of this book on my blog because I was unable to finish it. I did not care for this book - not only were the characters unlikable but there were way too many POVs. I had a hard time connecting with any part of this story and the internal dialogue felt forced.

Robyn Harding
The Party
Available: June 7, 2017
Thank you to NetGalley.com for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
At first I was thinking that Kim was one of the most obnoxious helicopter moms out there. Yeah, I still think that but I understand her as a person more after finishing the story. I had a lot of empathy for Hannah through most of the tale, as I once was a teenage girl just a few years ago but the ending killed that for me. Every kid has that one friendship where parents wish they had never happened. I know mine has had one or two in her life so far but luckily they have ended for one reason or another but I know they are a rite of passage everyone must go through so that they can learn what a real friend is – even if it takes them forever to understand.
What I loved: My favorite part was the realism of the book. I’m not talking about the graphic descriptions of the events, but that the author tackled the concerns and issues and teens and their parents face today that may not have been there when our generation was growing up. Unfortunately, kids are going to sneak alcohol and break the ground rules you would swear on your life that they follow. Luckily, a majority of times nothing happens but the one time something does can have an everlasting ripple effect impacting many lives outside of your immediate loved ones.
What I didn’t love: Jeff is an ass. I’m sure if he just said once “I need to work out because that’s how I am dealing with all of this”, maybe – just maybe, Kim would have understood and may have cut him a little slack. But he didn’t, and comes across as a mega jerk. I’d like to know who their financial advisor was – any idiot can easily realize that only $250,000 in an umbrella insurance policy in case something happens to someone on your property when your house is easily valued at over a million dollars is NOT ENOUGH. Also – if I’m paying for a private school education for my children there better not be any culinary arts or shop classes. Just saying..
What I learned: Lock the ^&% up if you don’t want anyone else in it.
Overall Grade: B+

www.FluffSmutandMurder.com

Hannah Sanders is turning sixteen. She’s a good student, she gets good grades and has nice friends, and so her parents trust her. Rather than a big flashy party, they decide to have a sweet sixteen party at their multimillion-dollar home in a wealthy Bay Area suburb (I’m picturing Lafayette or Orinda). She invites four girlfriends over for a slumber party with pizza, cake, and movies. What could possibly go wrong?

Hannah’s parents, Jeff and Kim, have a tension-filled marriage, revealed by Kim’s regular use of Ambien to get to sleep: “…there was far too much tension in her marriage to handle without a good night’s sleep.” Jeff seems to wonder how their marriage got to where it is: “Once, they’d gone to Mexico and Kim had downed tequila shots and danced on the bar in her bra. And then Kim became a mother and it was like flicking a switch. Overnight, Kim became responsible, earnest, doting…boring.”

Kim sets the ground rules for the night, giving a little speech that clearly spells them out: no boys, no booze, and no drugs. Then they pretty much leave the girls to have fun in the rec room. But Jeff wants to be the “cool Dad” so he picks up a bottle of champagne and sneaks it to them, figuring one bottle will give each girl a small glass – again, what could possibly go wrong?

Of course, things DO go wrong, with a tragic accident in the middle of the night that starts the unraveling of the façade of their picture-perfect life. Much like Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, my guess is that for many readers there is a bit of schadenfreude as they watch things fall apart. Life in the perfect suburbs – it really can’t be THAT perfect, can it? Doesn’t this family have some of the same issues, flaws and problems as the rest of us? As things spiral downward in the story, we learn of the deception, lies, and betrayal that lie under that façade, for the girls as well as the adults. When the victim’s mother reminds her “You’re the victim here,” her daughter asks her “Don’t you remember high school at all?...No one likes a fucking victim!”

After the party, “Hannah had experienced a perspective shift. Despite the values her mother had tried to instill in her, getting straight A’s wasn’t actually the most important thing in the world. Survival, that’s what mattered. Getting through the gauntlet of tenth grade with your self-esteem intact was what counted.” When she is encouraged by her counselor to do the right thing socially following the party, she’s torn: “Hannah didn’t want to be the girl with strength of character. She wanted to be the cool girl, the popular girl, the girl with the hot boyfriend.” At the same time, Kim (Hannah’s mom) finds her self dealing with both the teenagers and the adults and realizes “There is only one thing as mean as teenagers: soccer moms.”

Told from the alternating perspectives of Hannah, each of her parents, and the victim’s mother, the pacing of the story is just right. We lean of the horrific accident early on, and we know exactly what caused it. And details about both current and past behaviors of individual adults are revealed subtly, and only later do we learn how these will impact the unfolding drama.

I was in the mood for some escapist fiction, something that was not overly challenging but was completely entertaining. This fit the bill on all counts, and I appreciate having an opportunity to read an advance copy of The Party, thanks to Gallery/Scout Press and NetGalley. Five stars for the combination of domestic suburban drama, moral dilemma, suburban skewering, and all-around good story.

A sweet sixteen birthday party for the daughter of an upper middle class family...a quiet evening in the basement of her parent's "McMansion" with several of her closest friends...a promise to mom and dad there would be no boys, drugs or alcohol...what could possibly go wrong? The Party tells the story of Hannah and her Hillcrest High (an expensive private school for the children of San Francisco's wealthy residents) posse as they break every one of her parent's rules and her birthday goes from sweet to salacious. After Hannah's best friend Ronnie is seriously injured during her party the battle lines are drawn. Ronnie's mother Lisa sues Hannah's parents for three million dollars...money Kim and Jeff Sanders can "scramble together" but will put a serious dent in their lavish lifestyle. "Mean Girl" Lauren, the ring leader of Hillcrest's most popular clique, swears her friends to secrecy about what really happened at the party while ostracizing the emotionally and physically battered Ronnie. Despite the cliches, the scariest thing about The Party is how realistic it is, with adults who try to be "cool" by acting more like their children's friends than parents, teenagers who make high school feel like a competitive sport, and the corrupting power of money. With an ending that is both predictable and terrifying, The Party is like holding a mirror into the lives of the upper class and shows a reflection that makes poverty seem like the better option.

"The Party" was perfectly paced and plotted to keep me riveted. I literally couldn't put it down. The characters are well-developed and believable, each of them both sympathetic and awful at once. What transpires during a 16th birthday party could, really, happen to anyone, which makes it realistic and frightening. What happens next is a moral dilemma that will make the reader question their own response to a situation like this. What would you do if this happened to you? What is the right thing to do?

Well worth a read. Recommended.

I liked this book, but it wasn't quite as intense as what I expected. The characters are really hard to feel any connection with or any compassion for because none of them seem to have any redeeming qualities. I did read this really quickly because I did want to find out what really happened. The only problem I had with this was that what really happened that night was kind of predictable. I really wanted a crazy twist. Maybe the end of the book hints at a crazy twist, but it is probably more revenge than a twist.

This is a quick and compelling read, but probably not a book I will be recommending to others. All the characters are pretty despicable, as i think the author intended. It made me grateful that my kids are out of high school.

This is another novel where I struggled to find one character I actually liked. Seems like that's happening more often. That doesn't mean it's not a good read, just that the characters were written as very flawed people. I've seen this in other books over the last few years (The Girl on the Train comes to mind).

As I said, the characters are flawed and, because of that, they felt real. We all know the mom who acts like she's better than everybody else while she's hiding some pretty large skeletons in her own closet and who doesn't remember the popularity battleground of high school? I could see this actually happening and that's part of what grips and holds your interest.

The Party is sure to hold your attention and you'll find yourself not wanting to put it down!

A birthday party with a teenager and her friends. What could go wrong? Apparently more than Hannah's parents bargained for. Jeff and Kim appeared to be the happy couple until the party. Then things fall apart and escalate quickly. The situation of teens at a party was realistic but then the unfolding events and repercussions went to the extreme in some cases. I enjoyed the read but I didn't love it. I don't know who the heroine was in the story.... I would definitely read more from this author.. 3.5 stars.

Holy crap readers, I don’t know where to begin with this one! Talking about a disturbing read for parents of teenagers… I’m not sure whether to advise all parents to read this book before allowing their child to have and/or participate in a sleepover or if I should say to never read this because it will put the fear of God in you!

Jeff and Kim live in a beautiful home, have beautiful cars, beautiful boat, and of course – two beautiful children. It’s their daughter Hannah’s sweet sixteen and she is having four girlfriends over for a sleepover. They order pizza and Kim prepares plenty of healthy snacks and sodas for the girls. Oh, and she also threatens them regarding any smoking, drinking, drugs, boys, or porn. All seems well until Kim and Jeff are woken up in the middle of the night and see Hannah standing in their bedroom crying and covered in blood and vomit.

To begin, this was an incredible novel. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time and evoked every emotion imaginable. Fear, disgust, disappointment, shock, sadness, and on and on. I can’t talk about the plot much because so many things happen that all add up to the unraveling of Jeff and Kim’s family, plus several others. However, I think my most frequent reaction while reading this was, “No! What the hell are you thinking? Don’t do that or say that!” Every mistake known to mankind was made by these characters – and that is not an exaggeration. However, they are all mistakes that any of us could easily make. Not all of us would do all of these things, but I could easily see any average man, woman, child doing these things.

Take Mean Girls, The Dinner, and Crazy, Stupid Love – mix them together and you will get The Party. The terrifying thing about The Party is that this story is something that could happen to anyone. Granted, their lives were not as pretty as they pretended, but so many lives fell apart throughout this novel – all because of one evening with a bunch of teenage kids doing things that shouldn’t have done. What’s frightening is most of us have done the same things they did at some point while we were growing up. As I said earlier, if you have teenagers this novel could quite possibly scare the crap out of you… But the lesson in this dark story is that our lives can change in an instant and things we think are “secrets” will usually come out eventually. Therefore – be honest, don’t lie, and for God’s sake don’t let your girls have a sleepover!

Last thing – if you have read this I would love your take on the last page or so regarding the text that Hannah sent… Did things happen the way she said or was she just looking for revenge?

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

There really aren't any pleasant characters in this novel; the adults all seem artificial, shallow, superficial, and very selfish. The teenagers are also, to a great degree, unpleasant but are, for the most part, sympathetic because it's clear that their parents are self-centered and don't have their kids' best interests at heart no matter what they say. It's a compelling story that I didn't want to put down and finished very quickly. (I did think, however, that the speed at which the legal process worked in the book - I've been a paralegal - was very unrealistic.)

The Party is the type of book that grips you from the beginning and won't release you from it's clutches until you reach the conclusion. It is similar to novels like The Dinner and Big Little Lies, stories that break apart the façade of the perfect family and show the flaws of these characters as their worlds unravel. I have a hard time loving books where none of the characters are relatable, where none of the characters are likeable. I enjoyed the story and the suspense was spot on, but I can't love it because I don't love any of the characters. I did, however, really like it. The Party is one of those novels that would make a fantastic movie and I hope that one day it may be! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys suspense novels.