I always enjoy learning something new when I read, and the parts of the book that feature descriptions of Tulum, and especially Chichen Itza, were very interesting to me. Kudos to the authors for being able to convey the mysticism of this ancient setting so well. Unfortunately, I found the story being told from three points of view with constant flipping forward and back in time to hamper the flow, ruining the build-up of suspense I expect in a psychological thriller. I found myself constantly having to stop and figure out which woman was speaking as they were so similar, even down to the causes of their marital problems. Also, I found it implausible that two smart, savvy women who could build a business that a company like Revlon would want to buy would fall for such an obvious con-man as Marco. Too many of their actions based on their interactions with him did not ring true for me. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy. This is my honest opinion.

Girls’ Night Out is the story of three friends who travel to Mexico together in an effort to repair their friendship, which has become broken and fragile after years of being close friends. During their trip, one of the women goes missing. This story is told through the viewpoints of the three main characters, and vacillates between present and past tense. Despite the multiple viewpoints and changes between the past and present, this story was an enjoyable read that was not compromised due to these elements.

I enjoyed the mystery and questions that were woven throughout the story, intermixed with the complicated relationships and hidden secrets held by each character. Girls’ Night Out kept me guessing till the last page. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good suspense book. I think this would be a great book to read on vacation or if you’re like me and dreaming of being on vacation, you’ll certainly enjoy all of the imagery presented about the Mexican vacation in the story.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Ashley, Natalie, and Lauren have been friends for over 20 years. Natalie and Ashley own a thriving company that Revlon now wants to purchase and it has created tension between the two because Natalie wants to sell and Ashley doesn't. Lauren hasn't been a part of their lives since her husband died of a massive heart attack a year ago and stopped speaking to them because of a heated argument between Lauren and Ashley after the funeral.
Ashley, feeling the loss of her two best friends, arranges a week long getaway in Tulum, Mexico to work on their issues and repair their relationships.
The book opens with Natalie waking up on the hotel's beach in wet clothing after a night out. She has no idea how she got there and hurries to the room she's sharing with Ashley but Ashley's nowhere to be found. Realizing Lauren hasn't seen her either, the women begin a search for their friend. The book alternates timelines to cover their week in Tulum (before / the night of / after the disappearance) from the perspective of the three main characters.
The news is soon leaked to the press that Ashley (a sort-of celebrity thanks to the business she co-owns) is missing and the police are called in. Natalie is under suspicion because she can't remember a single thing about the night of her friend's disappearance and the police learn of the tension between them over their business disagreement that could be a motive.
All three women were hiding a major secret about their lives that they didn't want to share with each other and their strained friendships were further put to the test soon after their arrival when Ashley began flirting with a local named Marco who decided to act as their tour guide for the week.
Natalie and Lauren knew that Ashley's marriage was on the rocks but cautioned her against the dangerous flirtation and explained they only agreed to go on the vacation to spend time together and didn't want this random guy around.
The morning after the disappearance, Natalie and Lauren find that Marco has cleared out his apartment and is nowhere to be found. Did he hurt Ashley? Or did she leave willingly because of the issues in her personal life?
The actions of the characters were unbelievable for me; they read more like immature girls with no common sense rather than the intelligent women raising daughters of their own they are described as being. The reasons given for each friendship being strained were written as if they were insurmountable issues and each woman was just completely stubborn and unwilling to forgive. Girls' Night Out wasn't the "chilling novel of psychological suspense" it was described as at all, just a mystery, and one that unfortunately didn't grab my attention. I'm sure this will be a big beach read for summer 2018 but I'm disappointed in the predictable plot and the anticlimactic ending.
Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Right in the beginning we have the basis for the mystery – a missing friend on a Yucatan peninsula vacation with 2 girl friends. Then we have background. Then we have description. Then we have side bars. More description – more background – arguments and disagreements from the past – more talk about who hurt whose feelings – more descriptions of how hair was fixed or what color eyes are or who’s sleeping with whom. After about 100 pages we never got back to the actual story line. I found myself not only skipping passages, but whole pages trying to find the plot. I gave up.

Sorry. Total boredom.

I thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publisher for an ARC of this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC of “Girls’ Night Out” by Liz Felton and Lisa Steinke.

This book began with a lot of promise: 3 friends from college hoping to reconnect in Mexico, until one goes missing.
The problem that I had with this book is the skipping back and forth in time with each character made it extremely hard to follow. Also, the 40 year old women in the story were catty and unlikeable.

I really wanted to like this story, but it just didn’t connect.

All three women in this story had “real” lives but seemed so very immature. Each was focused on her own needs and wants rather than appreciating their blessings. Despite being friends for decades, they each held resentment and anger toward the others for various reasons. It was difficult to like any of them, actually. That set the perfect stage for a drama-filled, tense story. It was suspenseful and mysterious.

The story’s format was unusual. The story was told from each character’s viewpoint, and it also alternated between timelines. That made it confusing to keep up at times, but it also helped to portray the different perspectives of each situation. The characters seemed to refuse common sense at every turn. I don’t think I could have been friends with these women for 20 years! I have, however, traveled with my friends before, and it can test the boundaries of the relationship.

This book started off so strong. It was easy to follow and well written and each character (Natalie, Ashley and Lauren) had specific character traits and secrets. I understand the whole keeping secrets from best friends. There are times when you are either embarassed, or don't want to make it real, but as I learned, your best friends love you no matter what. At the end of the day, this was a story about friendship. The thriller part took a back seat in my mind. This dealt with friendships that had been through a lot and how they can or can't be repaired.
Now let's get to the thriller. If you are looking at this book as a thriller, then you will be disappointed by the end. It will be a HUGE let down. They make it painfully obvious that they want you to think this one person is the one who did it.
However, if you look at this as book about friendship (which I did) then the ending makes complete sense and isn't as much as a huge let down. All in all I enjoyed this book .

Girls’ Night Out is the second suspense/mystery novel by duo Lisa Fenton and Lisa Steinke. Years ago, before I reviewed every book, I read Your Perfect Life, one of their chick-lit, light, easy reads – and enjoyed it quite a bit. I think they work better in that genre as right now the thriller/suspense genre is a dime a dozen, and they all start to blend together. Now, a suspense book has to be a nail biter with believable yet shocking twists This book doesn’t stand up well to the competition but it does offer an engaging plot about three longtime friends.

The authors were able to create a palpable tension between the three women that most female readers could relate to. Three is always a crowd no matter what anyone says and at times, each one of woman felt left out. The mystery of where Ashley disappeared to didn’t frighten me as much as it should have as the character was developed as impulsive.

How each woman dealt with fear, marriage, parenthood, lies, trust and desire to reestablish their friendships is what kept the book moving.

After the details of Tulum, I’m so glad I’m not planning on going back to Mexico soon. The timeliness of this book, with so many stories of tourists dying and getting sick, works to their benefit. I hope move back to their roots with light reads about women and friendships.

What an awesome book! Natalie, Ashley and Lauren could be anyone's friends taking a girl's trip. The experiences they encounter in Tulum, Mexico are so realistic. I felt like I knew them and like I was going through all of this with them. I highly recommend this book!

I will start by saying I loved this book.

Girls night out is the story of three females in their 40's, who take a trip to Mexico in hopes of fixing their friendships that have been thrown into turmoil in the past year. During the trip, one of the girls disappears. Lauren had left them at the bar to go back to the hotel, and Natalie can't remember a thing from the night before...so where is Ashley? This book follows the story of their trip, as well as after Ashley's disappearance, up until the night in question from all three perspectives.

Liz perfectly captured the reality that is three girlfriends. I think any female, at any age can relate to a group of three and the tensions that can easily arise when there is always a "third wheel." I really enjoyed that the story was told from three different views and that it was told out of order. The entire time I was kept on the edge of my seat wondering what happened to Ashley.

I received an advanced copy in exchange of an honest review.

While it had a good premise, and a lot of promise, I didn't really enjoy this book at all. I felt it was slow paced, drawn out, and anti climatic. I know there are a ton of positive reviews for this, and I think it will be a huge beach read - it just wasn't my favorite.

The chapter setup was great though, I like the different point of views of the three women, and the before and after. The characters themselves were confusing, and seemed to make poor choices throughout the book - which didn't feel totally realistic.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for a chance to read an ARC of this book!

Ashely invites her friends Natalie and Lauren for a getaway in Mexico in an attempt to patch up some differences on their strained relationships. It seems like the perfect idea, but the trip immediately gets off to a rocky start - there are some very hard feelings that will be tough for Ashley to mend. To make matters worse, Ashley meets a very friendly local man who keeps inserting himself into their days. Natalie and Lauren start feeling a little salty when the girls are spending more time with him than each other. They all decide to go for a much needed girls' night out, but everything goes horribly wrong when Ashley mysteriously vanishes and Natalie can't recall the events of the evening. Where did Ashely go? Did Natalie have something to do with her disappearance, was their new found male friend involved, or did Ashley take off on her own?

This was a great read that kept me interested right from the beginning. I went back and forth while reading this on the different scenarios that could explain Ashley's disappearance and Natalie's sudden amnesia, so this one will keep you guessing. I didn't quite see the ending coming. There's definitely mystery and suspense in this book, but it'll also make you think about deeper topics, such as relationships, betrayals, and ultimately forgiveness.

Whenever there are three friends, one is going to feel like the odd person out. That's the premise of this book, and it spirals from there as a suspenseful and compelling thriller. What better than a trip to Mexico to repair a friendship? All seems like it could be mended until Ashley goes missing. Writers Fenton and Steinke delve deep into a psychological thriller with their latest work Girls' Night Out - exploring themes of trust and friendship and jealousy.

This was a cliff hanger from the word go. There was a lot of tension between the three friends and despite the friendship, it sounded forced as if there were underlying issues.

Three friends decide to go on a girls trip to Tullum, Mexico. Each one of them had an agenda of their own and each hoped to come back with their friendship mended to what it was before. What was that about never being able to go back.

The story starts out tamely enough. A nice enough resort. Three ladies with money to spend. Plenty to eat and drink. Supposed to be a holiday. The cracks widened quickly enough and festered into open hostility. When one of them disappears with a man, some action has to be taken and when the police and husbands are summoned the story becomes much more black, more threatening and much closer to home.

Amongst the three there is always one odd man out and secrets have to be told if we are to find out what has happened to the missing girl. The troubles are of their own making and they now have to sort themselves out in the best way they can.

Girls Night Out is a fast paced tale of friendship and trouble in paradise. Told back and forth in time and by all three main characters, this book pulled me in from the first page!

This book is about the complexities of female friendship and the secrets we can sometimes keep from each other. This is an excellent beach read. The last third of the book was a page-turner as I found most of the characters to be a bit unreliable as I tried to figure out "who done it".

This was my first book by these authors---loved it. I look forward to more by them! At first the different POV and timelines was confusing, but as I got further into the book I literally could not put it down until I reached the end and found out what happened to Ashley. Even the very last chapter had great twist to it.

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.

4* Delicate Friendship Stars

This story centers around 3 long time best friends, Ashley, Natalie and Lauren and their fragile friendship. The chapters alternate between all three voices from when they arrive in Tulum, Mexico to the events leading up to the disappearance of Ashley. It was good to get the perspectives of each friend and how they felt they fitted into this threesome friendship and the pain they caused and felt towards each other.

I struggled to like the three best friends as I found them annoying with all their drama and arguing. They were worse than teenagers the way they behaved towards each other. Natalie was very naïve and too trusting towards Ashley, she always gave into her until the end when secrets were shared. Lauren was very temperamental and petty and totally unforgiving. Ashley was very selfish and liked to be the one to lead.

This was a very believable suspenseful read and it was well written by two very talented authors. If you are looking for a great read that is rife with secrets, lies, pain and hurt then I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a super twisty-turny novel that will suck you right in from the beginning and not let go until the very end. If you are looking for a novel to get absorbed into this summer, this is it.

This novel is about three friends: Ashley, Lauren and Natalie who have grown apart since Lauren's husband died the year prior. On a whim Ashley decides to invite Lauren and Natalie to Mexico where she believes they will rekindle their friendship and come back renewed. Things do not go as planned and on the last night of their tumultuous trip Ashley goes missing and Lauren and Natalie try to piece together what happened.

Overall I felt this was a really grippy novel and it was hard to put down. However, the slight downfall is that I feel there is almost TOO much detail and there's quite a few loose ends at the conclusion of the novel which slightly frustrated me. Still, I think it's a solid read and was definitely hard to put down!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for my review.