This book actually started out really slow for me. I kept hoping that something huge was going to happen & nothing really did until I was already almost 100 pages in. Even after that, it still seemed like the story was dragging out. Everyone was just kinda pointing fingers at each other, but we weren’t learning any back story. I also didn’t like how long the chapters were. I felt like they just dragged on forever & definitely could’ve been split up. The book definitely got more interesting towards the end & I did enjoy the story. It did a good job explaining everything at the end & wrapping up loose ends. Even though I enjoyed the story, I was still able to figure it out pretty easily, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I wish it would’ve been more of a surprise & more challenging to figure out.

I felt that this had the potential to be so much better. I didn't particularly like any of the characters & how they acted. I did like the reveal - I guessed part of it but not all, and I thought it was done well.

I must admit that I didn’t read the description of “The Girls Weekend” before I started reading it. The title drew me in, I thought cheery girl talk not a missing friend possibly murdered. Less than 48 hours passed from start to finish of this book. Although somewhat predictable I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

I LOVED Watch Me. I recommended it all the time...it's a hidden gem. However this book isn't it. I DNF because it feels like a different author wrote the book.

I really enjoyed this one! It took a little bit to get to the action but once we got to the action it didn’t stop! I enjoyed the variation in characters. I look forward to what seeing others books by this author!

Think Pretty Little Liars if they were in their late thirties. Lots of secrets and drama among friends.

June, Sadie, Em, Amy and Kimiko were close friends when they were in their twenties. They grew apart eventually but they have a reunion almost twenty years later.

Sadie is now famous and rich because of a series of books that she wrote. All the girls decide to spend a weekend in her mansion. June is apprehensive because deep down, she's always been jealous of Sadie’s perfect life. Mainly because Sadie married Ethan, June’s ex-boyfriend.

After a night of heavy drinking, they wake up with a horrible hangover and no memory of the previous night. Sadie is missing, her phone and bag are on the garage floor, and there’s blood all over the house. June and Em are wearing Sadie’s clothes and jewelry. June has weird memory lapses of her kissing someone, then she’s in a forest, screaming.

At first it seems obvious that June is guilty because of her past with Sadie. But as the story unfolds, we find out each one of them has a reason to harm Sadie; even her husband and daughter. In the end, her marriage and family are far from the perfect picture she had painted.

The story is good but predictable and not realistic at all.

I had a hard time with this novel from the beginning. I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't a review copy.

The synopsis sounded like a novel that would suit me, but it failed in every way. I hated all the characters and couldn't connect. June was so annoying that my eyes were rolling non-stop, but the other "girls" weren't much better.

Very slow, very mild mystery that was far-fetched. I'm going to stop here because this was a huge struggle from beginning to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC of The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman. I love a whodunnit mystery and was intrigued by the description of this book.

June reunites with her college friends for a girls weekend. The host, Sadie, goes missing one night and all of the friends are suspects. Where is Sadie? Is she injured? Is she dead? Why can’t they remember?

This book started out strong and I was easily intrigued by character descriptions and the set-up of the plot. Even though there were many twists and turns, I was bored midway and had to trudge through it. One of the issues that I had with this story was that the characters were supposed to be 39 years old, but I kept thinking that they were much much younger. This might be because it read more like a young adult book than an adult thriller. It was missing an adult sophistication.

3/5 stars

This closed room mystery ticked a lot of my Awesome Suspense Read boxes and was such a fun read! We have a beautiful, slightly off the grid setting, a gaggle of Uni friends (including a nasty frenemy) and an intriguing story filled with secrets and betrayals as five university girlfriends get together after many years apart. Things go from an initial awkward first meet to a drunken night of reminiscing followed by the friends waking up the next morning with one of them missing and the rest not remembering what happened. Secrets and personal conflicts start to emerge, motives are revealed, and fingers start to point as they each start to suspect each other.

This was a quick read and I loved the atmospheric, isolated (and posh) feel of the setting and the number of plausible motives due to the interpersonal conflicts of the characters. My only beef is that things slow down a bit in the middle and one character's insistence on not calling the cops seemed overdone to the point of being annoying. Even though some characters were written better than others, this was a solid and enjoyable thriller that provides readers with great red herrings to keep them turning the pages.

Overall, this is an entertaining read from a new-to-me author that kept me turning the pages so fast that I read it in just over a day. I enjoyed Gehrman's look at the close, complicated, and sometimes toxic parts of female friendship (and loved her opening line). I loved that everyone seems to have a motive and even though I guessed whodunnit, I quite enjoyed the journey through old friendships, secrets, and more baggage than Samsonite. This was an engaging story that makes me so incredibly grateful for my University and College friends and our noticeable lack of baggage.

Disclaimer: Thanks to the publisher for providing me a complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited for this story based on the premise - a reunion of old college friends filled with a disappearance, secrets, and mysteries. Unfortunately, it fell short for me with too much backstory and the lack of suspense. I had a hard time getting through the first three chapters and wasn't able to connect with the characters, especially June. She spent too much time dwelling on everyone else's success and criticized her own past so much it annoyed me. And the conversation between her and Ethan didn't work for me because it seemed too forced and revealing. For the plot itself, there wasn't anything new and fairly predictable. I really wanted to like this story.

Riveting thriller for the summer season! Five college friends get together for a reunion of sorts and to have a baby shower for one of the friends that has had problems in the past. Readers soon find out that these women are more like ‘frenemies’ than friends.

Sadie, the hostess for the weekend getaway, has made millions as an author and seems to have the perfect life. She also has a tendency to control every activity. After a night of too much drinking, the women wake up to a house in shambles and find that Sadie is missing. To make matters worse, there is blood spattered throughout the house.

They feel the need to call the police right away, but each woman has a reason to delay—what if the police suspect them? Each woman has a secret involving Sadie, except June Moody. Everyone knows June dated Sadie’s husband in college. And everyone wonders if they still have feelings for each other.

I feel quite sure most readers will have the mystery solved well before the story ends, but trust me, the fun is in the getting there. I enjoyed being a part of the cat and mouse game as the women, and mostly June, tried to figure out what really happened.

This was a very enjoyable mystery/thriller, set in a picturesque location, with some complicated characters. I highly recommend this one for a quick summer read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

Slasher movie vibes! So good and perfect for a summer read around a camp fire! I was so scared after reading this book, the chase and thrills left me wanting more more more! So good

Five friends go on a vacation (It’s okay to imagine Martha’s vineyard, Zanzibar with your girls) and one dissappears *cringe* . This book gave me Pretty Little Liars vibe in a good way because five girlfriends and one huge mystery. It was okay and not that thrilling (I expected my pulse to rise, my hands to shiver and my excitement to hit a 100) but it never did. Huge thanks to NetGalley and crooked lane for my ARC

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It is a mystery which I had fun reading.

This is a story about five girls, now women, who plan to have a girls weekend. During this time, a murder alter their beliefs and make them question everything they know about each other. Secrets are revealed and doubts emerge.

This story is fun and entertaining. The premise of the story is intriguing and that's what attracted me. The introduction of the characters is very well done. It is a fast moving story which I like in thrillers and that's what made it easier to read.

The whole story is from June's point of view who is the protagonist of the story which is good but I was expecting to read more action. I felt it is more of a cozy mystery. I felt some parts were a bit cliché bit still I enjoyed reading it.

It was a pleasant experience and I appreciate that I got to read this book. It is good if you want a light mystery to read.

The Girls Weekend is a page turner that will keep you guessing until the very end. When a group of women who were best friends in college get together years later for a girls weekend, secrets and mysterious unfold. When one of the women go missing, it is up to them to figure out what happened.

This book had a really interesting synopsis, and I it was compared to Ruth ware and Lucy Foley, so I had to check it out. Unfortunately, I did not really enjoy it and would have probably DNF’d if not for the early copy. I found the beginning to be cheesy, especially with the early breakup in the story. The action didn’t start for a while, and I found it very odd that this group was all best friends but had not seen each other all together in around 15 years. I found there to be gaps in the plot, and certain parts pretty unrealistic.
My biggest issue with this book is that one of the characters has bipolar disorder, and the other characters constantly act like she is a lot to handle because of this. They act like she always needs to be taken care of by someone else. They do not take her seriously because of her disorder, and that annoyed me.

Five college friends finally join back up for the reunion of a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest mansion of one of them, but what happens when they wake up to a possible crime scene with almost no recollection? Is it better to let the cops handle it or play detectives themselves? The forever friends may have grown up and grown apart, but the old grudges are still there and we come to question are our lives really what they seem to others?

This book kept me guessing and playing detective right along with June Moody. I loved the little twists and different scenarios examined along the way and thought everyone could be a possible suspect. I did not want to put the book down until the crime was solved! Who else is ready for the movie?!?

Thank you Netgalley, Jody Gehrman and Crooked Lane books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

What could possibly go wrong when a group of best friends from college reunite after years of not seeing each other? This book felt somewhat reminiscent of Ruth Ware's "In A Dark, Dark Wood". The story was good - quick and light but predictable.

I really enjoy a good thriller. The thing about a good thriller is that it is what it is and they are not social commentaries. This one felt a bit too much with the constant mental health and racism references. Without those so blatantly in your face through the book, I would have rated it higher.

Thank you to the author, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. This review was also published on Goodreads.

This was an amazing whodunit type thriller that kept me guessing throughout. It was twisty and unpredictable, and I felt a connection with the characters.

I couldn't put it down and I didn't want it to end. I can't wait to read more books by this author, and may have to pick up a hard copy of this one.

Thanks so much to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

Complex characters, woven together in a twisty and tangled shitshow!!

Your old college girlfriends want to get together for a weekend of fun. Drinking and reminiscing. It might be fun if it weren’t for all that unresolved animosity. It’s planned at Sadie’s “estate”. She’s the one who made it big and has the “perfect life”. She’s also the control freak, who needs everything to go her way. Sadie is more of a frenemy.

Kimiko’s the one who never really grew up. She’s still drinking and drugging like she was in college.

Amy is the reason for the get together. She’s a total mess...not only bipolar, but now she’s eight month’s pregnant after a one-night stand.

Last is Em, your best friend, and the only thing that’s making this trip bearable, after your douchebag boyfriend dumped you by text!

And this is only the beginning of the f*@*@d-up character list! I was immediately pulled into this edgy turmoil!

<blockquote>“They’re two sides of the same coin—the power-hungry monster and her helpless victim. Only this time, the fly has swallowed the spider.”</blockquote>
This would make a fantastic group read...there is SO MUCH to discuss!

@jodygehrman @crookedlanebks @NetGalley
#TheGirlsWeekend #MustReadThriller #NetGalley

<b>My Rating: </b> 3.5 ⭐️’s (rounding up)
<b>Published:</b> June 9th 2020 by Crooked Lane Books
<b>Pages:</b> 311

<b>Recommend:</b> Yes...it’s much better to read about it, than be a part of it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Jody Gehrman for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion!