I read The Weekend Away by Sarah Alderson in staves with other Pigeonholers as part of a group.

New mum Orla and her best friend Kate have been good pals for years and decide to take a girly weekend trip to Lisbon together. After a wild night of drinking and dancing, Kate vanishes. However, Orla only has vague memories of their evening's revelling and spirited behaviour, and the Portuguese police aren't particularly interested in the two women's situation.

The Weekend Away was the perfect mystery, and it made a fascinating story as I puzzled over what could possibly have happened to Kate, or where she went, alongside the hapless, naïve Orla. Hooked from the opening chapter, it was a provocative and conflicting thriller with good pacing and its fair share of twists and changes in direction, making it extremely difficult to play armchair detective as I swayed from one possible theory or outcome to another. All of the characters were brilliantly portrayed by Sarah Alderson and although most had obnoxious or detestable personality traits, all were perfectly cast within the story. This sinister mystery was topped off with an exciting, blindsiding denouement. Very highly recommended.

A special thank you to Avon Books UK, Sarah Alderson, NetGalley and Pigeonhole for a complimentary copy of this novel at my request. This review is my unbiased opinion.

This is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year, and that’s saying a lot as I’ve come across some great books recently!

Rich, fashionable, impulsive Kate takes Orla to vacation with her in Lisbon. Orla’s recently had a daughter after years of fertility treatments, and isn’t quite ready for their old routine of clubbing, snorting lines of coke, drinking way beyond excess, or any of the things her friend wants to get up to. After a night of drinking, Kate persuades two gorgeous men to come home with them, but when Orla wakes up in the morning, she can’t find anyone in the apartment. She begins to wonder if she’s been drugged, and if the two men took Kate, but the problem is, she really can’t remember the night before...

I loved Orla’s internal voice and the fleshed out characters throughout the book. The storyline was twisting and turning and was plausible enough to really shiver along with Orla as she tries to figure out what happened that night. I did not want to put this book down, and the way it ended only left me wanting for more.

My only single complaint from the entire book is that the author mentioned something about “Latin countries” having looser morals. What?! Is this an actual stereotype and why did she write it anyway? It’s cringey, unnecessary, and I would really like to see that corrected.

Besides that one thing, this book kept me glued from page 1. 5 stars and I 100% recommend!

Thanks to NetGallery and Avon Publishing for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

THE WEEKEND AWAY by Sarah Alderson is a compelling and exciting psychological thriller that will have you sitting up all night so you can get to the end and find out the truth.

Orla and Kate have been friends forever and even though they don't get to spend as much time together as they used to, Orla knows that Kate will always be her best friend. So when Kate organises a wonderful weekend abroad just for the two of them, Orla cannot wait. This is a chance for Orla to get a break from her new life as a mother and find herself again but it doesn't take long for Orla to realise that she will struggle to keep up with Kate who is still as wild and fun as always. But when Orla wakes up in their apartment to find Kate missing, it will set off a terrifying chain of events, and as Orla tries to untangle what happened that night, will she be prepared for the truth? A truth that could be much darker than anything Orla could ever have imagined ...

A fresh idea with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers off-balance, THE WEEKEND AWAY is the perfect weekend read. This is a character-driven story and while none of them are particularly likeable, they are all compelling in their own right. I had a soft spot for Konstantin and wanted to know more about him. With plenty of action that takes the reader down many dangerous paths, THE WEEKEND AWAY is anything but boring and I look forward to reading more from Sarah Alderson.

I binged this is one morning. It is a fantastic, easy to read psychological thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The Weekend Away is a real roller-coaster of a ride as from the very start of the novel we are thrown right into the very centre of the action when Kate goes missing on the first night of weekend away in Portugal with her best friend, Orla. The two girls have enjoyed a rather lively night out in the bars of Lisbon but when Orla wakes the following morning, with a hangover from hell, Kate is nowhere to be found. Orla only has a sketchy memory of what actually happened and from her frightening recollections it doesn't bode well.

What then follows is a tight and dramatic thriller in which Orla, with the help of an unexpected ally, sets out, despite police indifference, to discover just what has happened to her friend.

This story is the stuff of nightmares and as Orla gets drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery so the danger starts to escalate for her too. I must admit that I read the story with bated breath desperate to find out more and yet, scared of the outcome. With the tension cranked up to high I found the story difficult to put down and have to admit that I read the whole thing through in one sitting. The ending left me reeling.

If you like a tense and drama filled holiday read than The Weekend Away is great escapism but perhaps not one to read if you are heading to Portugal with your best friend, nevertheless it's definitely an exciting, edge of your seat sort of read for a lock down summer.

It's a good, engaging thriller that kept me interested all the way through.
There are lots of twists and dome truly surprised me, including the very last one.

I hope there is a sequel!

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an Arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I was thrilled to be given an ADR in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley, I thought the tagline and cover were perfect to pull you in and I was looking forward to reading this one.

First off, the book is brilliantly written, I loved the author easy style, it is true to the modern psychological thriller with plenty of twists and turns and I definitely did not see the end coming,

Kate is childless and recently split from wealthy husband Toby and Orla is married to Rob and they have a baby daughter. No matter what is going on in their lives they can tell each other anything and they always look forward to their annual girls weekend away to escape from their everyday lives.

When Orla wakes up to find Kate missing and she has no memory of what happened we begin to explore the time old tale of "how well do you really know your friends?"

I really enjoyed the unraveling of the events of "the night" and actually the difference in the women and their expectations of the weekend away is captured really well.

The characters are well rounded and likeable and the story is expertly executed. I highly recommend this thriller as a fast paced easy read. 4/5

I didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did! Yes, it was predictable at times, but the characters were so well-written that the reader actually cares about finding out what happens to them next. The suspense wasn't as plentiful as I typically enjoy, but I enjoyed the plot nonetheless.

It's always so exciting for me to pick up a book from an author I've not read before and immerse myself in their work...
Will I enjoy their storyline...
Will I fall in love with their writing....
Endless thoughts and possibilities I feel and I love it 💕
Sarah Alderson is new for me...
And her latest book The Weekend Away I adored..
We meet Orla and Kate in this one....
Two lifelong friends heading off on a weekend break to Lisbon.
Orla is married to Rob and they have a young daughter Marlow.
Kate, having just recently split up from her husband Toby..
Both in need of a weekend break but for very different reasons.
Kate is looking for a wild, drug fuelled weekend whilst Orla is looking for a more sedate affair with a little sightseeing thrown into the equation.
It does all seem to go wrong though from the very first night out.....
I couldn't quite figure out how these two women were friends at all...
Something didn't feel right in their friendship for me and I couldn't put my finger on it..
Kate seemed secretive at times, upset other times..
Never quite able to share her thoughts with Orla though..
Kate wanted to embrace her new found singledom for the weekend and you feel Orla is just trying to keep up and not wanting to let her friend down...
There is quite an amount to this story, red herrings which I love and all the while keeping you engrossed enough to turn those pages..
Oh and what about Konstandin, who is this man and can he be trusted at all.
I loved the Lisbon setting to this story...
Not the usual setting for a book which made it more interesting for me....
A great read, well worth your time 💕

HOLY MOLY!! I SWEAR ON EVERYTHING HOLY this was the best thriller read on a Sunday afternoon. Author Sarah Alderson blew me away with this thrilling ride of a book.

Kate and Orla, best friends forever, go to Lisbon for a weekend together. A night of drinks and dancing and Kate vanished. It was now up to Orla to get to the truth of what happened to her friend.

My first book by this author, I was stumped with the way the story flowed, with each circumstance creating a hurdle for Orla. How was she to search for a woman in an unknown city. The pace was fast and I was barely keeping up.

The characters were genuine with Orla being a new mother away from her child for the first time. Alone and wary was done well. Twists were revealed every few chapters, and the author knew how to keep me hopping with joy.

The ending was exactly as I thought it should be. The last line was a blast. I lived how the author lived up to each of my expectations of how a thriller should be. The story might seem familiar, but after a while, I got so deep into it that nothing mattered.

My pulse skittered almost throughout the book, and I enjoyed it completely.

*Many thanks to NetGalley, Avon Books UK, and Sarah Alderson for this ARC! Now available as of 7/23!*

Striking, suspenseful, and thoroughly enjoyable! Orla has been living the mom life for a while alongside her husband Rob, so when her glamorous best friend Kate proposes a weekend girls getaway to Portugal, she is only too eager to say yes! When the friends arrive, Kate whisks Orla away to a fancy club where they meet two handsome and mysterious men...and quickly end up back in their subsequent hotel rooms. When Orla wakes up the next morning to no sign of Kate, mysterious crimson stains on the carpet in Kate's room, all of Kate's luggage still remaining, and only fuzzy memories of the night before, she begins to panic. Can Orla rely on the police and her few contacts in the unfamiliar country to help find and save her friend...or is her dream vacation spiraling into a deadly nightmare?

Alderson takes a somewhat basic premise and makes it anything but ordinary due to her fantastic group of characters! All of them genuinely felt like potential suspects at one point or another, leaving the reader with several red herrings to keep the suspense rising after each new reveal. I thought I had the ending figured out several times, but was so excited to be just slightly off every time because it made the conclusion all the more exciting! Portugal was also a perfect setting for this story, and helped give the story an air of dramatic intrigue throughout with a bit of tropical flair. This was a vacation read for me, and it definitely fit the bill! Grab your sunglasses if you're reading this one by the pool or on the beach: you won't be getting up for a while!

A quick easy read. This is enjoyable as a summer read. I felt that it was too predictable for me to get lost in it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

A great thriller with plenty of suspense and twists to keep you hooked from start to finish.

Orla and Kate have been best friends for years and have travelled to Lisbon for a weekend away. It is the first time that Orla has left her baby with her husband but she is determined to have a great time with Kate. Kate is divorcing her husband and therefore the two friends have very different views on a great night out but Orla goes along with Kate’s idea of going to a club despite her hesitations.

The next morning Orla wakes to find Kate is not in the apartment but all her clothes are still there. Orla also can’t remember what happened the night before and being unable to contact Kate she starts to worry. Where is Kate ? Could something have happened to her ?

After reporting her friend missing to the police Orla finds herself under suspicion and has no choice but to investigate and try to clear her name.

This is a great whodunnit where everyone seems to be a suspect and have a motive. There are some great characters, especially Orla and Konstandin, an unlikely but great friendship. This will keep you guessing and questioning everything. What happened to Kate ?

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

I requested this based on the recommendation from several friends. I wasn’t disappointed! I loved the dynamic between the two best friends. The author nailed the setting. I felt like the motives made sense, and the story definitely made me turn the pages quickly.

I really liked this book and didn’t see the end coming, it was definitely a shocker. It had a really different plot line, I know it sound like the usual stuff but trust me...it is a little different. I was hooked from the first page. The only complaint that I have is that this book was so intriguing that I missed out on sleep a couple nights.

I love a good psychological thriller but can usually figure out the the big reveal...Not this time. I won’t say <b>all</b> the twists were a surprise, I figured out some things earlier on but the actual ending was not what I expected. You do have to suspend belief a little bit and I usually hate that but it worked here. (Hence the four stars instead of five.) I would definitely recommend this book and I will gladly watch out for more books written by Sarah Alderson. That's the best compliment I can give an author.

This is a very compelling psychological thriller. I enjoyed reading this and found it easy to keep reading to conclusion. I related to the charcters and I liked the way the author created the suspense. A very fun summer read that is perfect to take your mind off of stress and worry. I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment for all that enjoy reading suspense and thrillers. This has a perfect blend of personalities and suspense that readers enjoy.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity.

Kate and Orla take a girls weekend trip to Lisbon. Kate is more of a party girl, Orla is a mother who prefers to stay in. After dinner and drinks they head home. The next morning Orla wakes with little memory of the night before. And where is Kate?? Orla enlists the help of the uber driver from the night before to help find Kate. Can she trust him? Can she trust anyone? A fascinating ride to the end and then BOOM the last chapter!!!!! I will be looking for more books by Sarah Alderson.

Thank you to netgalley, Avon books UK and Sarah Alderson for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Weekend Away was a book I didn’t think I was going to like when I started it but quickly changed my mind.
Orla and Kate have been best friends since forever and go away for a holiday every year, this year it’s Lisbon but things are different this year as Orla has a baby daughter and has had to leave her husband in charge and he’s not done this before but as it turns out her daughter is the least if her worries as after a night out Kate goes missing.
The book follows Orla’s mission to find her best friend and when I started reading this I did think I was going to get bored with it being a slow reveal but no I didn’t, it captured my attention and before I knew it I was at the end with one heck of a cliff hanger!
I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Ok this book was not what I expected at all!! Well right when you think you know who did it? It’s not that person, but there are a lot of key players in the book and it creates this crazy tangle you don’t know how it’s going to end? It’s a lot right? Imagine what happened inside my head after reading this book. Everything came full circle and the end had me thinking “wait is there a part 2 to this? Or do we already know what’s going to happen next?”

Kate and Orla go on a weekend away to Lisbon, a nice little girls trip, until something bad happens and that is the JUICE of this whole story. Imagine thinking that you have the most perfect but crazy best friend and the best marriage, to then find out that there are so many secrets! And what what happened to Kate? And, let’s not forget the amount of people involved in this mystery, I had to stop and thinking “wait what???!! NOOOO” all the time.

But honestly? What happened to Kate? Let’s just say things are not as it seems and the answer hits close to home like CRAZY!, and Orla doesn’t like it one bit.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me this opportunity, this book was awesome.

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this ARC from NetGalley.

Orla and Kate go on a much needed weekend away to Portugal. Orla leaving her baby Marlow with husband Rob.
After a night out, Orla discovers Kate is missing and her life descends into a nightmare. I was completely taken aback by the ending, did not see it coming. Clear the diary for this one!

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5