This is a fun drama packed book. It starts slowly and then it speeds up.
It had many surprises and twists along the way.

Great action packed thriller in a foreign country - as two friends take a vacation in Lisbon one summer. But when one of them disappears, and not even the police are interested in helping - what's a girl to do?
This one kept me at the edge of my seat.

I read this in time for the Netflix series and was impressed with the twists and turns and the shocks that came along on the way. A great thriller about toxic female friendship and relationships.

I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A first read from the author!

A slow start, and a few plot holes makes this read pretty average, but certainly an enjoyable read if you don't think too much about it.
The main characters 'friendship' lacks believability, but the story plods along decently enough.
Not the best book I've ever read, but certainly not the worst.
Hoping for more from this author next time.

I did not see that ending!

It was twisty
Intense
Gripping

It left me thinking where the hell was Kate!

I was so invested in finding where she was from the beginning I was hooked… I read 145 pages in one sitting!

I loved how various things happened that left you thinking what had happened and who was involved!!

Some of the things Orla did was pretty brave. I don’t think I would have been doing that!

I’m beginning to really enjoy psychological Thrillers again!

Another must read from me!

I honestly would watch the movie before reading this book. The movie is more engaging as this book just dragged on

First time reading this author and now I need to hunt down her other books. WOW kept me on the edge of my seat, lots of twists and turns. I totally fell in love with Orla and Konstantin. The relationships and all the other characters were great, particularly the relationship between Orla and Kate. If you are looking for a psychological thriller, read this.

Fantastic read for holidays, or any time. Gripping.and full of suspense. Page turner and kept me guessing

REALLY wish we could award 3.5 stars!

On one hand, Sarah Alderson’s style is immediately engaging and it drew me right in...

But, on the other hand, I kept envisioning this SUSPENSE novel as a movie, and it would come across as more of a COMEDY, instead...🤭

I enjoyed The weekend away. I never reaf a book by Alderson but I will definitely be reading more of hers. I keeped me guessing until the end. I would give it 4 stars

TWO WORDS: HOT MESS

I enjoyed every second of this wild, hot mess of a rollercoaster! It was gripping and I couldn’t peel my eyes away from this story. There was a twist at every corner, and every chapter leaves you hanging and wanting more. The helplessness that you see Orla experience being in a foreign country really made the atmosphere of the book that much more dark, scary and uncomfortable.

Orla, a new mom, and her best friend, Kate, who is newly seperated, decide to travel to Lisbon, Portugal for a little getaway vacation together. Orla wants nothing more than to relax and go back home to her 9 month old baby and husband, and Kate just wants to party it up. Orla ends up agreein to go with Kate to go to a bar/club one night where they meet two men. Kate insists that these two men come back to their room and it seemed that Orla had no say in the matter.

The next morning, Orla wakes up and has no recollection of the night before, there is red blood or maybe wine on the carpet, condoms in her bed, and Kate is missing… what happened to Kate and why has her memory been wiped?

I highly recommend this thrill ride of a book and I look forward to watching the movie adaptation that was just released on Netflix!

This book wasn't for me. The blurb was great, which is why I requested it, but in the end it wasn't my cup of tea. The writing was good and it hit the beats, but I couldn't get into the story. I will probably try other things by this author, though.

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

I love a good psychological thriller that has you guessing all the way through and Sarah Alderson does just that! And despite having several of her books on my shelves, this is the first one I have read. And despite the slowish start, I was NOT disappointed. THE WEEKEND AWAY is such a different tale that, although seems to be filled with all the usual suspencts and twists, it isn't. Trust me...this one is something a little different.

Orla and Kate have been best friends for over twenty years and every year they took a holiday somewhere different...that is, until Orla and husband Rob began to whole IVF journey in which priorities begin to shift and wanting a family became more important to Orla than jetsetting around Europe or the Mediterranean. But now she has been blessed with her little IVF miracle Marlow, Orla decides it's time to revisit the old habits and she and Kate book a weekend away in Lisbon.

Filled with worries about how Rob will cope on his own with 9 month old baby Marlow, Orla frets for her daughter in this her first time away from her. But they are going to Lisbon! And Kate is sure to liven things up and make her forget all her fears and worries.

And liven things up she does.

On their first night there, when all Orla wants to do is sleep, Kate wants to go out clubbing and maybe get lucky. They go to dinner, enjoy an expensive meal on Kate's ex-husband's credit card, before moving on to a club in a darkened alley where Kate makes a beeline for the two of the hottest guys there. After knocking back a few bevies and wrapping herself around one of the men, Kate then invites them both back to their AirBnB apartment...which Orla is horrified at. All she wants to do is sleep...but suddenly, the world starts moving and Orla feels sick before she crashes out and is tucked into bed.

Upon waking the following morning, Orla remembers very little of the night before and with the sun streaming into the apartment she goes in search of Kate...only to find no sign of her. She seems to recall them bringing two men back with them last night and her feeling groggy and ill...as if she'd been drugged. And she has a horrifying thought that she had been assaulted! She finds evidence of the man having been there, with the hot-tub still bubbling away and condom wrappers throughout the place, but still no sign of Kate.

She goes to the police to report her missing but they seem indifferent to the fact she is missing and Orla feels that her concerns are not taken seriously. What then ensues is her own quest to find out what happened to Kate and where she is now because the police don't seem to be interested in helping her. But Orla is a foreigner in a city she is unfamiliar with and it is only with the help of a Kosovan Uber driver,
Konstandin, that she is able to navigate her way through her investigations.

But the more she uncovers the less she feels there is anyone left she can trust...and being alone in a foreign country is a dangerous place to be.

As the mystery unravels we, the reader, begin to piece the jigsaw together only to find there are some missing. And so we begin to "assume nothing, believe no one and question everything", as we too wonder who there is left to trust. I had my list of suspects and it looked as though I was right until Sarah pulled everything out from under me and changed things up several notches before the final reveal. And what a twist it was! It was cleverly crafted and ingeniously delivered that you could almost feel the panic yourself! I was shocked but not entirely surprised as another of my suspects was pulled out a hat as realisation dawned. With a skilful sleight of hand, Sarah lead us down one path while another was sneaking up behind us to throw us completely off course. Just brilliant. It's not often I'm hoodwinked and although I wasn't entirely so in this story, Sarah still outfoxed me in the end.

Although it began a little slow, THE WEEKEND AWAY picks up pace the moment Orla wakes to find Kate missing and thus the investigation that ensues. And while it was slow to start and as irritating as Orla's moaning about her helium deflated breasts and fifteen stitches in her hoo-haa along with Kate's incessant slapper behaviour, not to mention her complete bitchy disregard to her best friend, it was all imperative to the story that follows. Once the mystery began, I couldn't put it down...and I just had to finish it so I could end the year with this final book for 2021...despite NYE being my birthday (on which I turned 50). lol

To be honest, I didn't like Kate from the moment she opened her mouth. Everything she said was in blatant disregard to Orla and her feelings, seemingly engineering things so she could get laid and even encouraging Orla to do so citing "what goes on in Lisbon stays in Lisbon" and "Rob will never know". I thought she was rude, disrespectful, obnoxious and a complete slapper. I didn't much like Orla to begin with either as I felt after all her IVF rounds and finally having the baby she so wanted, she now complained about the endless tiredness and demands a baby creates. Some people are never happy. But when Kate went missing, Orla got her act together and begins a quest to find her missing friend.

THE WEEKEND AWAY ends up being one long weekend away that no one would like to find themselves on and it's a race to the finish to see how everything pans out...as all is revealed and every secret is exposed. It was definitely not what I was expecting when I started this book but I ended up being pleasantly surprised...as well as enduring a few shocks along the way.

Although THE WEEKEND AWAY is my first by Sarah Alderson, I doubt it will be my last as I endeavour to find time to pick up some of the others on my shelves.

A delicious wicked read that will have you on the edge of your seat and I thoroughly recommend.

I would like to thank #SarahAlderson, #Netgalley and #AvonBooksUK for an ARC of #TheWeekendAway in exchange for an honest review.

Once again Sarah Alderson does not disappoint in the slightest! This book was a fast paced mystery that left me unable to put the book down even for a second. I loved the character dynamic, and the way that it wasn't completely obvious as to who the culprit was. This book was full of twists and turns, and a fair few surprises making it a very fun and exciting read. Although the book ended a bit unresolved I personally really liked that and thought it left on an exciting note. After reading this book, it really has made me realise that people are not always who they seem to be!
A great read for anyone who loves a mystery/thriller!

A predictable and slow tale of two friends enjoying a weekend break when the wilder one goes missing. I liked the setting and is an ideal holiday tead.

A really good read. Kept me guessing with some twists and turns. Looking forward to reading more from the author!

I love the cover of this novel and the inside. "The Weekend Away" is an suspenseful novel by Sarah Alderson. A page turner for sure.

They say that opposites attract. That is the case of Orla and Kate, who have been friends for twenty years. Kate is rich, a party girl who is about to be divorced. Orla is married, has a nine-month old infant daughter and she still hasn't lost her baby weight.

Every year they have planned a girls' weekend away. This time they're in Lisbon, staying in a great flat, and there are parties available everywhere. Kate wants to go, go, go and Orla just wants to sleep. However, Orla is persuaded to go out with Kate and off they go.

When Orla wakes the next morning .. Kate is nowhere to be found. Orla's memory of the night before is hazy, and the police shrug and don't seem to think a woman disappearing is anything to get excited about.

As Orla frantically retraces their steps, she makes a series of shattering discoveries that threaten everything she holds dear. Because while Lisbon holds the secret of what happened that night, the truth may lie closer to home…

This is well-written, with twists and turns guaranteed to make this a page-turner. The characters are deftly drawn, warts and all. Suspense starts at the very beginning and maintains a high level until the unexpected conclusion. I am a little ambivalent about the ending .. it didn't seem quite finished. Other than that, this was an entertaining read.

Many thanks to the author / Harper360UK / Avon BooksUK / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This book is recommended for fans of The Holiday, which I enjoyed.

Kate and Orla have been best friends for twenty years and usually go on away together every year. Lately, they haven’t been so close as Orla has been going through IVF treatment and now has a young baby.

Kate books a weekend away for them both to Lisbon. Orla is worried about leaving her baby but tries to enjoy herself.

What should have been a fun trip, ends up transforming Orla’s life and it’s definitely an eventful weekend, for all the wrong reasons!

I didn’t really warm to any of the characters and something about Orla annoyed me, I can’t put my finger on what it was.
I would have liked it if Kate’s character was a bit more developed. It was implied that she was a larger than life person but there wasn’t much evidence of this.

The story was still readable enough and an easy read.

Some parts were predictable and I’d guessed a few things long before they were revealed.

Overall this book was alright and a good holiday read, but maybe not if you’re on holiday in Lisbon!

Thanks to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for a copy for review.