The wedding night journey begins following the cancellation of the wedding of Lizzie and Dan, which caught everyone by surprise. Lizzie’s wedding party rallies around her, and the group returns to the site where the wedding was sent to take place. After a wild night of debauchery reminiscent of the “Hangover,” the wedding party is left to piece together the puzzle of the night before. Rings are missing, the bouquet has been thrown, and it appears that someone may have gotten married...but no one can remember what happened. And to make matters worse, the wedding party seems to be surrounded by unusual events that they can’t explain—has the groom come back to reclaim his bride?

I’ve been looking forward to another read from Harriet Walker since reading The New Girl and I wasn’t disappointed. I loved this twist on a memorable day gone wrong, and a group stuck at a wedding venue together trying to piece together the truth. The story felt both familiar, but also a fresh take on love lost. Overall I enjoyed The Wedding Night and look forward to her next book.

This was an excellent thriller, telling the story of a bride that decides to go on a honeymoon with a group of friend despite the wedding that never took place. The seemingly innocent trip turns sinister and highly suspenseful.

This book was really kind of a who done it, and I love those! This author definitely threw in some crazy twists! It had me stumped a few times! It had intrigue , suspense, and a decent storyline! In the beginning the author does explain who is who but I felt a little lost in the beginning on what was going on but I'm glad I stuck with it because it ended up being a good book!

This novel was not what this reader was expecting. I would not consider this a thriller and found this to be a difficult read.

I had trouble getting through this book. Lizzie has cancelled her wedding to Dan, but she and her friends decide to travel to France (the wedding venue) anyway to party and forget about Dan. Odd things happen from the "get go". Lots of alcohol is consumed, nobody really remembers what has transpired, and relationships are strained. The book is presented from each of the 3 girlfriends' perspective, kind of. It's a little confusing, as none of it is written in first person. The last few chapters redeemed the whole book, and I see now, how this book could be made into a fairly compelling movie. I'm not sure I would recommend this book to my friends, because it maybe needs some editing, or something. I gave it about 2.5 stars all the way through, but the ending bumped it up to 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read The Wedding Night.

As with The New Girl, Harriet Walker really knows how to build suspense, how to create character and mood, and lead you from one chapter to the next, one potato chip at a time. I read this quickly although a few times I had to stop and re-read since I wasn't up the challenge of some of the more descriptive prose. It sounds like it's a thriller but it's actually a common drama made more intense by the characters' inner monologues and interpretation of events. I think that is what makes this work. The characters have such rich inner lives and are constantly questioning things in terms of how it affects each of them personally. That is a function of their age and stations in life. One is more mature than others; one has less self-awareness and so on.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

Lizzie and Dan planned a gorgeous destination wedding. Her best friends Effie and Anna are excited for her, and to be honest, each of them could also use a week away. Suddenly, with no explanation, Lizzie cancels the wedding and her friends are clueless why. With the date so close, they come up with the brilliant idea to cancel the ceremony, but still enjoy the secluded resort in France. What could go wrong, especially when the bride is coming too!
Warning lights started going off in my head at this point. What bride would want to go to the place where she was supposed to get married, even if she was the one who called it off? But off they go, except for the jilted groom, and when they arrive, it is apparent that something is very wrong. Everything is set up for the reception, but the reception was canceled. Who would want to play such an upsetting trick on Lizzie?
As odd things start to occur, I was thinking that something very bad was going to happen. I mean isolated resort just screamed to me, they are all going to die, right? Wrong. This isn't so much a thriller, as an exploration of friendship and how sometimes you don't know your friends, as well as you, think you do. I can't say there was any confusion in the book description, my mind just jumped to my own rather incorrect conclusions.
Once I realized my mistake, I enjoyed the mystery much more. When all the secrets and lies are revealed, I learned who was trustworthy, and who should always be left at the altar.
This one fell right between I liked it and I really liked it.3.5 stars.

The Wedding Night gets a whole extra star for a genuinely sweet ending. Outside of that highlight, the storytelling was clumsy to the point of being slightly disorienting and the author frequently used ten dollar words because she knew them (and not because they were necessarily the best choice).

I’m a big fan of Harriet Walker. As soon as I saw she had another book out I had to review it. Destinations setting, Group of friends and a murder perhaps? This book is a classic thriller. You will keep guessing until the last page.

How far will someone go to protect their best friend? The ties that bind the friendships of women often stretch back for years in complicated knots, events, and ideas. Harriet Walker takes readers on a thrill-ride of an investigation in The Wedding Night. At the last minute, joyful, organized, thoughtful Lizzie cancels her dream destination wedding leaving all of her friends reeling in shock and disappointment. Anna was looking forward to escaping the daily grind of motherhood and work with a sun-soaked week of relaxation. Effie was imagining a week of self-repair and exploration with her tantalizing new boyfriend, Ben. As the friends grapple with their disappointment, they come to the realization that they might as well go anyway. After all, everything was already paid for. They could make it a fun-filled week, instead of a wedding week. What they get is something very different, instead.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn’t my favorite psychological thriller of late, but it was perfectly serviceable and did the job. The epitome of a three star thriller

Lizzie, Anna, and Effie have been friends since their college days and are definitely leery heading into a long awaited wedding week. They each have their own foibles and things going on in their lives that they have kept to themselves. The wedding has been called off, or so they thought. I liked that this book was told in turn between the three friends, although at times I got really tired of hearing some of the same things repeated ad nauseum. I felt that the suspense was a little lacking in this book and felt that even the reveal of what was going on just seemed a little too cut and dried at the end. This book was just ok for me.

The ending was wonderful. However the rest of the book was not to my liking. Very very flowery prose that I couldn't always make sense of, and complex and confusing characters sending out mixed messages. While the ending made it all worthwhile, I still can't award it more than two stars.

Holy crackers this was good!

You know I love a good closed room mystery and this one is a doozy!

When a wedding party gets together to party in the wake of a wedding that wasn't, well, everyone has secrets, no one can remember what happened and everyone is a suspect....

Thank you to Random House - Ballantine for gifting me a copy. It was my pleasure to write an honest review.

When Lizzie & Dan suddenly cancel their destination wedding, the bridal party is floored. And then they decide to whisk Lizzie away to France anyway, to the secluded property to vacation and decompress. Effie and Ben (maid of honor and best man), have canceled all of the wedding arrangements ahead of time. When they, along with married couple Steve and Anna, and Charlie and his new girlfriend Isa, and Lizzie arrive they’re stunned to find the entire house set up for the picture perfect wedding. The weekend only gets worse from there, as Lizzie takes to the bed and the rest of the group breaks into the wedding champagne...

The next morning, the house is rocked and so we begin our journey into <i>The Wedding Night</i>. Everyone is hiding something. Protagonists are college friends Lizzie, Effie and Anna. The story jumps around from the wedding night to the next few days following the event.

I wouldn’t call this one a thriller - more of a whodunnit/mystery. Walker keeps the reader on their game and leaves them often wondering at what game is really going on with these characters. Do we really know them? And who is chasing who?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lizzie is all set for a fantasy wedding in the South of France when she abruptly calls it off. Lizzie must have her reasons, but she’s not talking and no one else has a clue. With the venue, a gorgeous chateau, already rented and paid for, Lizzie invites some of her closest friends to join her there for a girl’s getaway. With all the food and champagne ready and waiting for them at the chateau, Lizzie’s pals have their own “wedding” party while the bride sleeps. But their little getaway takes an unpleasant turn when nasty little messages begin showing up around the estate. Someone in the party is out for revenge, but who, and why? I liked this book but I didn’t love it. If only the characters had been a little more developed and there had been more suspense in the plot……

The Wedding Night, by Harriet Walker, was not at all what I was expecting, but held some lovely scenes about evolving friendships in different stages of life. This novel was described as a thriller, but it takes a while to get moving, as we jump between different characters and their memories until the story of four college friends emerges. Lizzie has abruptly called off her destination wedding, but the friends decide that they've already taken time off work, arranged a babysitter, paid for flights and so forth, and they'll head to the would-be wedding destination anyway.

Effie, Lizzie, Anna and Charlie friends were uni classmates, but they're now all different life stages. Anna and her husband Steve are delighted to get a break from toddler parenting. "Our rogue" Charlie might be done with heartbreaking, and is bringing his serious girlfriend to get to know his friends. And Effie has a brand-new maybe-romance with the former best man. This is where the book shines -- friends who still love each other, but who are now too busy with work and childcare to comfort a friend through a breakup.

This was described as a suspense novel, so I was expecting something like Lucy Foley's The Hunting Party or maybe Ruth Ware's One By One. I'm a huge fan of locked-door mysteries, preferably set in a gorgeous and remote locale, with a storm or a power failure or the only bridge going out instead of a literal locked door.

The Wedding Night isn't particularly suspenseful, though. The "dramatic" moments felt forced, like there must be a set number of screams per chapter, even if all the characters come running for no real reason. By the time I figured out who was who and what was being kept secret from which characters, it was all coming out anyway. This is 100% gore free because it wasn't actually a thriller at all.  Instead, it's more of a meandering story about friendship and loyalty, tested by secrets of the douchebag-ex variety, not the murder variety.

Once I realized that I was reading a friendship story, with occasional forced shrieking, I liked this book a great deal more. I legit believed these friends were actual friends, their secrets were believable while still being heavy enough to keep hidden years later. So, to enjoy this book, you should ignore the blurb description, and settle in for a slower story about old and new friends in an Instagrammable castle, with occasional screams over nothing much.

I loved The New Girl so was delighted to see this one on NetGalley! And wow, it grabbed me by the throat and tossed me around (in the very best way)! We have three girlfriends, two male friends, a cancelled wedding, and a trip to France since the venue is available. What could possibly go wrong? Everything!! Its a very lyrical novel that I savored even as I raced through to discover what was going on. Don't try to figure it out; just enjoy! Walker speaks to so many poignant themes: friendship, love, jealousy, emotional abuse, sacrifice, betrayal, secrets, social media, and relationships in various stages. Above all what she focuses on is the lengths people will go to protect those we love and what we learn about ourselves through this often-arduous journey! Not to be missed!

Oo if y’all just got recently married this one might freak you out a bit! Ekkk but it is such a good novel and the characters are excellent. A must read!

The Wedding Night has an interesting premise and a stunning backdrop, but ultimately, it suffers because it doesn't know what it wants to be. Although it's framed as a thriller, there's only a few moments of actual suspense and the plot feels dragged out. The ending underwhelmed me for all of the drama that lead to it; it seems like a story that could have been told in 100 pages.

I also struggled with the writing, which slowed the paced for me. Too many of the sentences were overcomplicated, padded with em dashes and heavy descriptions that I had to read 3-4 times to break down.

I think if the plot could have honed in more on the "wedding night" and unraveling the mysteries surrounding it, this could have been a much more intriguing read.