Finished reading this book yesterday night and absolutely loved it. The story is told from the perspective of Ava and Lena and the chapters alternate between 2005 and the present.

Ava has been trying to escape from her past but every year since, on the anniversary of the accident that changed her life, she receives a black rose dredging up memories she has tried to forget. In the present day, she is packing her suitcases to move abroad and settle with her boyfriend, Ben. Meanwhile, Lena, her best friend is throwing a leaving party for her and has invited a bunch of people. However, soon the party which was supposed to be fun and memorable turns out deadly as more black roses appear and other sinister things happen. Ava is sure of one thing that whoever has been torturing her for years is here at the party and is making sure she is not able to leave alive. 

What happens next is a thrilling ride of obsession and revenge where relationships are tested to the max and secrets buried for years begin to emerge. Though the storyline is predictable and I had figured out some of the twists, it was still a pretty enjoyable and well-written book that grabbed my attention from the prologue.
Highly recommend checking it out.
Overall 4 stars. 

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this ARC.

This book tells the story of Ava, a girl who receives a black rose once a year, on the anniversary of a mysterious accident she was in when she was a teenager. Now that Ava is ready to pack her bags and leave the country, things get a little out of hand at the goodbye party her best friend Lena throws at their house.

Unfortunately, I didn't like this book at all. Here are a few reasons why:

🌹 Both characters are pretty annoying and two-dimensional. The author is trying to create this suspenseful vibe the entire book, and she ends up overdoing it, with the protagonists constantly thinking the same thoughts, repeating themselves when they speak and feeling tense and scared the whole time. I get the point, but it got really tiring real quick, and I had to power through this book to finish it.

🌹 There isn't really a plotwist, a climax. Sure, something happens in the end, but it was so underwhelming that I... kind of regretted wasting my time finishing it.

🌹 Ava is supposedly afraid that somebody knows "what she did", but spoiler alert: she actually did nothing wrong. And throughout the book, I didn't even feel like Ava thought she'd done something wrong. She was just scared someone was going to attack her.

🌹 A pet peeve of mine is when every single chapter ends with those little suspenseful cliffhangers, and this one did, only to be not that suspenseful or surprising in the end.

🌹 It was hard to follow the story with the constant change of perspective, and sometimes I didn't even know which one of them was talking. There was also a surprising amount of small, insignificant characters.

If someone wanted to leave this party, it was me. I love a good thriller, but I felt like this one lacked the suspense, the character development, and instead turned into a story that dragged on and on for no reason. It's one of those books that could've been so much shorter, with chapters and conversations so similar to one another that you felt like you were reading the same thing over and over.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for my advanced copy.

Every year on the same day, on the anniversary, I receive a single black rose. Thirteen years of dark petals, jagged thorns, dredging up memories I’ve tried to forget…

I’ve packed up my life. All my belongings are carefully sealed in labelled boxes, my suitcases ready for my big move. I’m just days away from a new life abroad with my boyfriend, Ben.

No one knows the real reason I’m desperate to leave.

My best friend, Lena, is throwing me a leaving party. A celebration, to say goodbye. Champagne to toast my farewell. Speeches, full of fond memories.

No one knows what I’m running from.

Then another black rose appears, dragging up thirteen years of buried memories. My passport goes missing. The very people I am trying to escape from turn up at our house.

Someone knows what I did.

This party was meant to be the first night of the rest of my life – but now I don’t know if I’ll see tomorrow.

Someone knows my secret. They’re in my home, they're at my party, and they’re making me pay for it.

****
I was really looking forward to reading this book, as the premise sounded fab. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. I thought a story taking part over one evening, would have me on tenterhooks, but I felt like it dragged out too much. I also got confused with who all the guests were at the party, which detracted from the flow of the story.

Sorry that this couldn't be a more positive review.

Wow wow wow!!!!!! What a thriller this book is! One killer secret that will leave you holding your breath until the last page! This book has so much suspense that you can't help turning the pages faster and faster!! A definite must read!

This was a twisty book that takes place all in one night, albeit with flashbacks back to other times. It focuses on best friends Ava and Lena- Ava is moving away to get married and Lena is throwing her a going-away party, though she is having trouble coming to terms with the move. The book alternates between Ava's and Lena's POVs.

I didn't have any issues with the book bouncing back and forth between narrators- it was interesting to hear the same things discussed in different voices, and it got me better acquainted with each character. I liked the premise as well, taking place all in this one night but giving the reader tidbits into what had happened previously. There was an air of foreboding throughout the entire book and it seemed like something big was going to happen at any minute.

On the downside, nothing big did really happen, at least until the end. I thought there was a lot of time wasted repeating the same sentiments and worrying about trivial things. I also didn't like the dynamic that Ava's sister, Martha, brought to the table, and thought all 3 girls came off as immature.

There was a twist at the end that was close to what I expected, but not exactly- I felt like it was a satisfying way to end the book. All in all, I'd put this down as just an OK read- kept my interest but wasn't one of those books that will stick with me long after.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love the premise of this - a leaving party where the leaver is being tormented by an unknown person - who is it? And as things escalate, what is their endgame? The tension builds, we meet more characters, learn snippets of history and our minds are filled with theories as to who is behind it all. I whizzed through the book, each chapter making me want to read the next and the next to discover more of what was going on. With short snappy chapters and plenty of cliff-hangers, this was a compelling read with red herrings aplenty to misdirect and tease. Everything you want in a psychological thriller, with characters love and ones you love to hate, complicated histories and conflicting desires for the future. Phew! It's a cracking read.

I really wanted to enjoy this more than I did. The premise was great but the execution, not so much. Neither of the main characters were likable, but even worse, not particularly unlikable. Told from the two different POV’s I had to keep checking which woman’s story I was reading, hard to distinguish which one was talking. The beginning was good, the middle repetitive and the ending was expected.

It was a very insightful novel, with a strong cast of characters. I enjoyed the storyline very much and would definitely reccomend this book.

Wow...just wow. The Leaving Party is a gripping,chilling tale of secrets,manipulation,obsession,lies and revenge. The numerous twists and turns kept you guessing and trusting no one and the ending leaves you feeling chilled to the bone.

Thirteen years ago,best friends Ava and Lena went to a party at the home of a boy who Lena fancied. A tragic incident happened on the road outside the house and Lena ended up saving Ava's life.

Every year,on the anniversary of that tragic night, Ava has received a black rose,dredging up memories that she has worked so hard to forget.

Now they are having their own party,one that Lena has organised for Ava, a celebration to say goodbye because Ava is moving to New York to live with her boyfriend Ben.

But not long after the guests arrive,strange things start happening, black roses appear in the house and Ava's passport and phone mysteriously disappear.

It becomes obvious that Ava's tormentor is at the party and that they have escalated their campaign against her. The party and move were supposed to be a fresh start, a chance to escape her past but it is beginning to increasingly look like the past is destined to catch up with her and she might not live to see tomorrow.

The chapters of this gripping thriller are short and snappy,alternate between Ava and Lena and flip back and forth between the present day and 2005. I did feel a lot of sympathy for poor Ava but I also thought she was very naive and needed to lighten up a bit at times especially when she was younger. The secondary characters who attended the party were a mixed bag of diverse personalities,any one of whom could have been Ava's tormentor. But who was it and could there possibly have been more than one?. Was it my favourite character Martha who was Ava's feisty sister or Ava's obsessive ex boyfriend Gareth or her bully of an ex boss Pete? And what about Lena, could she possibly know more than she is letting on? One of the characters in this book was very obsessive,deluded and suffered from some major mental health issues.

The Leaving Party is a chilling,extremely well written page turner that had me hooked in from the shocking prologue. Both time frames are equally intriguing, the changing of the time frames at no point impedes with the flow of the story which holds the readers attention throughout the whole book.The short snappy chapters give you a very bad case of just one more chapter syndrome. I love Lesley Sanderson's brilliant thrillers,she is a very talented author who's books are always unputdownable and this one was no exception. Worth far more than five stars and definitely one of my favourite reads of this year. Very very highly recommended

I am afraid I found this book hard to get into.The style of telling the story didn't work for me this time ,and I found it off putting. Hopefully others will like it more.

The story of two friends Lena and Ava who have been friends from their schooldays.
Ava is having a leaving party and spooky things start to happen that she believes is a result of an incident that happened in 2005.
Told in two different timelines and by two different narrators I found this book hard to follow.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! What a stunning read! Twists and turns in abundance, I absolutely loved this book! I recommend to all!

Entertaining but too long and way too much emphasis on the drinking habits of the characters. Pointless descriptions of extreme alcohol consumption. Could be shortened

A pleasant undemanding psychological thriller.

Ava is preparing to leave and put all past secrets behind her for good.
Her best friend Lena throws her a party, nice right? Wrong

First, all the guests are the ones Ava was trying to escape from at the first place.
Then a single black flower arrives at the door step, an act that has been happening steadily each year to remind Ava of a terrible accident from her past. Will she survive and move on with her future plane?

Told from different POVs and alternating between past and present, buried secrets resurface and we start to know what Ava is escaping from and who is determined not to give her an easy way.

At the beginning the pace was a little slow with different main and secondary characters along with the time shifts, but the pace picks up when all is sorted out. The ending is satisfactory albeit predictable.

3.5***** rounded up to 4
Thanks Netgalley, Bookouture, and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair review.

The story is told from the perspectives of Lena and Ava who have been best friends since secondary school. In 2005 as teenagers, they attend a party where an incident occurred which overshadows their lives. In the present day, Ava is leaving her job to go and live with her boyfriend Ben. Lena organises a big party so all her f fiends can say farewell. The storyline goes backwards and forwards from 2005 to the night of the party.

I’m sorry to say I’m underwhelmed by the book. The pace remains the same throughout and I feel it needs to accelerate as the truth emerges. There is not much suspense or tension which in a story like this where we have deception, revenge, lies, jealousy and taunting threats there should have been considerably more. I think any sense of threat becomes lost in the frequent repetition between the different accounts and the bland conversations between guests at the party. We needed to get more of a sense of the personality of the two main characters, of the two of them Lena is more interesting and I want to understand more of what makes her tick and then we may have got something more juicy!

Overall, I like the premise of the book but it doesn't flow as well as it should, I’d like more chills and suspense and so my overriding feeling is a bit deflated and disappointed.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

I initially found this book a little bit hard to get into – the multiple narrator viewpoints, moving back and forth between 2005 and the present, the large number of small characters, plus all of the unknowns at the beginning of the story made it a little bit hard to follow. However, once I got ~30% through the book it really picked up and I finished it quickly!

I overall enjoyed this book, although I would say that I was not too surprised by the twists or the ending. Neither of the main characters were particularly likeable and at times I found the characters a bit two-dimensional, but I did feel that their friendship had an interesting dynamic that I enjoyed delving deeper into.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book!

The Leaving Party is fantastic! A dark tale of obsession, friendship and who we trust around us.

Going back and forth between present and 2005 the story quickly unfolds. It’s a little slow to find the antagonist and reasons why but I throughly enjoyed this book and found it a delight to read. I wasn’t a fan of either character but I thought the strong friendship was told perfectly.

This book was okay. The going back between 2005 and present day is usually something that attracts me with books but im not sure it had any effect in this book. The characters other than Lena and Martha and Ava were not fully fleshed and therefore not memorable.

Overall, a good read. The story of intense friendships, secrets and lies. It may just because I have read so many of these books but I did think the ending was a bit obvious and without a real twist but overall, I still enjoyed the way the book was written and how the mystery gradually unfolded throughout.

Single black roses are the key to this book. Arriving every year on the same day, the anniversary of what? She has to get out of here and away from this. This is the goodbye party to escape the roses and hopefully the past. But it won't go as planned and she will have to answer for the things that she did.
This gripping thriller was quite addictive as you struggle to figure out what she did or didn't do and what the people she is closest too and the ones she is running from are really all about.
I enjoyed this book and recommend it if you are looking for something along the lines of " The Wife Between Us" as the blurb suggested, I absolutely saw some similarities.