Girls’ Night Out is a perfect summer thriller. I loved reading this story told from the perspectives of Natalie, Laurel, and Ashley as the mystery unfolds. I was very impressed with how the authors managed to convey the complexities of female friendships in a way we can all relate. None of the three ladies were perfect. All three had redeeming qualities and serious flaws. That was very realistic. Two of the three were ambitious career women who juggled that with family life and friendship. All were strong women who also had big weaknesses. Again, very relatable. The plot line I had the most problem with was the conflict between Laurel and Ashley. I had a hard time believing that one, but every other situation seemed plausible.
I couldn’t help but compare this book to The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll which I just read a couple months ago. To me, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke did a MUCH better job portraying the quagmire of women and their emotions and relationships, balancing strengths and weaknesses. The characters seemed real and I cared about them and was turning pages quickly to find out what had happened. I enjoyed this writing duo’s last thriller, The Good Widow, but in my humble opinion, they have surpassed it with Girls’ Night Out.

Thank you Lake Union, NetGalley and Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke for the opportunity to read this fun book early!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a free, electronic ARC of this novel.
In a desperate attempt to rekindle their dying friendship, Natalie, Lauren and Ashley take a vacation to Tulum, Mexico, a resort town known for its restorative properties. When Ashley goes missing after a girl’s night out, Lauren and Natalie must try and recover their foggy, alcohol-infused memories, as well as come to terms with their own secrets and feelings, and try to discover what happened to Ashley. Did she run away from her life, as she often talked about? Was she kidnapped by the handsome tour guide, Marco? Or, what’s worse, could Lauren or Natalie have been responsible?
Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, authors of “The Good Widow”, return with “Girls’ Night Out”. The novel, identified as psychological suspense, starts off very slow. In fact, I almost DNF’ed it before I reached the halfway point. Lauren, Natalie and Ashley are grown women who abandon their husbands and families to travel to a resort in Mexico to try and rekindle a friendship that should have been dissolved years ago. Ashley is a completely unlikable character, she is completely selfish, shallow and self-centred and without Lauren and Natalie, she has absolutely no appealing characteristics.
The story is told from all three of the characters’ perspectives, both before Ashley disappears and after. The alternating timelines help build up the plot, and are relatively easy to follow.
It wasn’t until more than halfway through this novel when I actually became engaged in it. The shallow drama between the three women was boring and pedantic, and it wasn’t until Ashley went missing that the story began to draw me in. After the halfway point, I found this novel difficult to put down. I wonder how the authors “co-wrote”. Did one author write the first half and the other the second? Or did they alternate chapters? The novel seemed to be written in two completely separate writing styles.
The ending was satisfying and, although not entirely unpredictable, it brought the novel to a just conclusion.
Initially, I would have given this novel a high three-star rating, but due to the fast-paced, entertaining ending, “Girls’ Night Out” gets a four-star. That being said, I am absolutely desperate for a really good, five-star, pulse-pounding, thought-provoking read. Let’s hope my next read brings me what I seek.

A beautiful, haunting story of friendship and what happens when that friendship is put to the test. A must-read for women of all ages!!!

Girls’ Night Out by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke is a gripping tale of friendship and the cracks that form over time. This book reminds me a bit of what makes Liane Moriarty successful—it’s a deep character study of women and their lives both separate to and in relation to one another, and with a dash of suspense. Readers will find themselves turning the pages, wanting to find out the hidden secrets of these three women that will answer the question, what happened to their friendship??

From the outside Ashley has everything a girl could want—a handsome husband, two lovely daughters, a successful business, a 7,000 square-foot home in California, stunning good looks, and a magnetic personality. But these things that Ashley has that make her enviable also make it hard for her to connect with even those she loves most. Since college Ashley has been best friends with Lauren and Natalie. Now that they are turning 40, the cracks have formed in their friendship. Desperate to save them, Ashley invites her friends on a girls’ trip to Tulum—to reconnect and hopefully say the things they’ve been unable to say for so long.

Natalie is Ashley’s best friend and business partner. It was Natalie’s idea to create the BlowBrush—a combination brush and blow dryer with a patented battery that makes the hair styling process easy for all women. But it was Ashley that used her charms to get the BlowBrush as successful as it is. Now with a huge offer from Revlon to purchase their company, Natalie is ready to get out. The only problem is convincing Ashley to do the same. This argument has caused a divide between the two women, but Natalie is not telling Ashley the real reason she wants to sell the company—the secret she has been keeping from the world. Natalie agrees to the girls’ trip thinking it may give her an opportunity to convince Ashley to sell, but will she be able to tell Ashley the truth?

Lauren is the third friend, the one who feels the most like the third wheel. She isn’t in business with Ashley and Natalie, and she isn’t sure she really has a friendship with Natalie outside of Ashley. Lauren is recently widowed and dealing with her own demons. And something happened between Lauren and Ashley a year ago that has caused them to stop speaking altogether. But Lauren wants to try to reconnect; she wants to try to forgive Ashley. But that may also mean forgiving herself, and facing some darkness she has held onto that she would rather avoid.

The trip is meant to reestablish their friendship—but the reality is, that the secrets they keep and the pain that each other has caused may be difficult to repair. The trip isn’t going at all as planned. And then one night Ashley goes missing, and the torment between the three women is suddenly forgotten… Where is Ashley???

Every woman knows what it is like to feel like the third wheel in a group of three. What’s interesting about the way Liz and Lisa wrote this book is that at times, all three of these women are convinced they are the one left out—the one that is not connecting as well. The authors write masterfully the way our own neuroses contribute to this disconnect. When we should be relaxing and letting people in, we get in our heads about feeling left out, and this increases the space between us.

As the book unfolds, you’ll be convinced you know who the problem is. You’ll see the story told from each woman’s perspective. What I love, though, is that the further in you get, the more you realize that each of them has contributed in equal parts to the situation they are in now. Sometimes its easy to see the other people as at fault, but there are things all of us do to alienate others. Getting over our own demons is needed to be able to not only forgive others, but ask them to forgive us as well. Forgiveness may be the most important theme of this novel, followed closely by secrets. We all have things we are too afraid for others to know. And sometimes revealing those things to the ones closest to us is the hardest thing of all.

Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, and to NetGalley for an opportunity to read this book in advance of publication in exchange for an honest review.

Not really my sort of book. None of the three protagonists were at all likeable or engaging and had terrible friendship values (!) and the plot was not believable, nor the suspense very suspenseful. Having recently spent some time in the area of Mexico in which the book was set, including snorkeling in the cenotes, I was disappointed that the magic of the setting didn't come through. Having said all that it may appeal to younger women as a light holiday read.

Wow. What a ride of a story. This is my first book by these authors. This is a story of three longtime friends who travel to Tulum, Mexico together to try to mend their friendship. I found that the second half of the book picked up speed and I read the last 40% in one day because I had to know what happened.

I received an ARC. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

Such a great read! The ending wasn't what i was expecting..very good.
Been to Mexico many times with girlfriends.. so much can happen there.. :-)


Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an early release of this book

I enjoyed this book and wouldn't have known it was two authors as the writing felt coherent. I enjoyed learning about the relationships between the different characters. and how their relationships had changed over the years.. I enjoyed the ending as it kept me guessing. Overall, an easy enjoyable read.

Not really my cup of tea, but it did keep you guessing. The three friends, and their constant repetitive fighting got old fast, and was redundant. They were three grown women, yet their behavior was very high school.

Three (formerly) best friends go on a luxury vacation to Mexico to rest, relax, and repair their relationships. Only two come home. What happened to the third friend? That’s what we try to figure out as we read the story of how these women went from being supportive, life-long friends, to two of them becoming suspects of the third’s disappearance. Through flashbacks, we see how the friendships begin to fracture, with each of the women keeping their own secrets from the others. I think this book would make a fantastic movie or limited series, with the descriptions of the women, clothing, resort, and all of the fantastic sights. Unfortunately, all of those descriptions made me want to rush through the book to understand what happened, and I simply didn’t get to enjoy it as much. I wanted to skim through some of the repetitive arguments and simply cut to the chase. And the end, the small twist? It does pay off---I just wish it hadn’t been such a journey to get there.

The complexities of female friendship are front and center in Fenton and Steinke's newest. Ashley, Natalie and Lauren had been fast friends until a year ago, when Lauren's husband died and Lauren blamed Ashley for his death. Now the three are trying to reconcile by taking a Mexican vacation together. But one morning Natalie wakes up on the beach with no memory of the night before and even worse, Ashley is missing. The story is told from each woman's point of view, jumping between before the night Ashley disappeared to the day after. GIRL'S NIGHT OUT is well written and engaging but all three of the women were annoying and Ashley's personality did not seem to support the description of her relationship with her husband and the absurdity of Lauren blaming Ashley for her husband's death didn't ring true.. GIRL'S NIGHT OUT sucked me in and I kept reading to find out what had happened to Ashley, but I would never want to be friends with any of these women. Sheesh!

Fascinating read. Would recommend to someone looking for a book to escape into. Loved it! Definitely a page turner.

Three friends, two of which are business partners have been close friends for many, many years. Their friendship has fallen on hard times. They decide to go to Tulum, Mexico to revive their friendship. We’ve all heard harrowing stories of things that can happen in Mexico, kidnappings, murders and missing individuals. This is one of those harrowing stories. Sometimes slow it does keep you wondering what if anything will happen to these woman and if they can put their friendships back together.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for the free review copy of this novel. All opinions are my own. 

This will be a perfect beach read for this summer. What's more fun than a reconciliation trip to Mexico that goes horribly wrong for a summer read? I flew through this book in a few hours. I had to know what happened to Ashely.

I love the way Liz and Lisa build the plot slowly through gaps in memory. They know how to build anticipation that keeps the reader wanting to read just one more chapter. I also enjoyed the realness in this story due to the fractions in the friendship. They didn't try to make everything perfect, which helped keep me wanting to read more.

Grls Night Out definetly keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire book. If you have a best friend that you have known 10+ yrs as most of us do then this is the book for you. Natalie, Lauren, and Ashley have all been best friends 20+ yrs and they go on a girl's vacay hoping they can all reconnect. Like with everyone life happens and they've drifted apart in ways. None of them expect what happens when one of them go missing. This book wilk definitely make you think about your own personal friendships and make you want to call your best friend even if just to say i love you. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the oppurtunity to read this book. I will highly recommend this book.

Girls' night out follows Ashley, Lauren and Natalie on their trip to Tulun mexico. The girls, best friends for over 20 years, have had a rough couple of years and their friendship is in desperate need of new- good energie. When they meet a local man, Ashley seems to be glued to his side; instead of rebuilding their friendship. And then, after a very eventful night.. Where is Ashley?

The girls in this book all have their own problems; one is grieving over the loss of her husband, one is afraid she'll lose everything and is holding onto everything for dear life, and the other.. she just needs to get the other let go, in order to get what she really needs.. A fresh start.
The main characters are built well, they all seem to revolve around Ashley and she doesn't seem to mind that at all. When it's time to let go of that.. Alpha-girl thing, Lauren and Natalie first seem a little lost, but pick themselves up wonderfully. Because of that, the struggle to be their own person - so to say- it made all of the events in this book a lot more interesting. It felt super real and I could really connect with the girls.

This one just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t like the switching back and forth from the present to the past. I didn’t care for the Lauren and Ashley feud because of Lauren’s husband’s death. And really? Two husbands with financial issues? I had to keep reading to find out what happened to Ashley, but I felt all three of them were incredibly selfish and unlikeable. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me a pre-release copy.

The book started out a little slow but then really picked up. I didn't really connect with the characters but I did enjoy the book. Thanks again!

For the absolute life of me, I could not tell these 3 women apart. It is told in alternating chapters of the women in a before/after timeline. I can't even tell you what happened in the book because I am still unsure who is who.

You wake up soaking wet on the beach after a girls night out in Mexico...and now you can’t find one of your friends. What would you do?

This story follows Natalie, Lauren, and Ashley on a girls trip to Mexico that Ashley organized in an attempt to repair their friendships and ease some tension with Natalie, who is also her business partner and doesn’t share her views on the future of the company. They meet a handsome local named Marco and he begins to monopolize Ashley’s time, causing further tension between the trio. Told between alternating views and timeframes, the reasons behind Ashley’s disappearance are made clear. This well-written novel kept a great pace and left you guessing at every turn! I found the end a bit anticlimactic but I wasn’t wholly dissatisfied with the conclusion itself. Great beach read!

I only read 50% of this book. I did not like the characters and that was a problem for me with this read. Sometimes bad characters are still likable (Amy in Gone Girl) but sometimes, in this case, they are so spoiled and shallow that I just can't relate at all. I lived the epigraph by Willa Cather and I was very excited to read this. I wanted to like it. It just did not work for me.