3.5 stars! Rounded up! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nice debut!

Helen, along with sister-in-law Serena are both pregnant. When they decide to attend prenatal classes together, Helen always ends up going alone. Her husband is a workaholic and Serena always has an excuse.

When Helen meets Rachel in class, she befriends her mainly because she feels alone. She tries to overlook the fact that pregnant Rachel is loud, smokes, drinks and also displays very bizarre behavior - but at least she has a friend.

What’s Rachel story? Why does she keep hanging around?

Multiple POVs, a slow burn, dramatic story line full of secrets and mystery certainly kept me entertained! I took a star away due to the length - the story would’ve been just as good with 100 less pages.

I enjoyed this one enough to recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books and Katherine Faulkner for my advanced copy.

“Greenwich Park” by Katherine Faulkner opens with Helen and her husband living an idyllic life. The perfect home, the perfect friends, and a baby on the way is everything Helen has ever wanted. Then she meets Rachel. Rachel is pregnant, too, so when they meet at prenatal classes it’s no surprise. However, Rachel is suddenly popping up everywhere and Helen can’t help but worry. As Rachel’s erratic behavior becomes worse and worse, Helen begins to realize Rachel may be more connected to her than Helen realized. And what Rachel knows might just tear her perfect world apart.

This book was so good. The way Rachel kept me guessing really helped the plot. Is she crazy? Is she just lonely? What does she know? In the end, I could kind of guess how Rachel was important, but there were also some twists and surprises that made this book a great read.

In the end, I couldn’t put it down. It was a solid 5 stars from me. If you’re looking for some thrill, this is a great option without being too spooky or anything.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

TW: rape, multiple miscarriages

Helen is finally pregnant and it looks like this baby may stick. but her husband, Daniel, is too busy to attend the prenatal classes with her, so when when single mother-to-be Rachel strikes up a friendship with her at her birthing classes Helen is relieved to have a partner for the class. Helen initially welcomes her new new friendship, even if Rachel is not the traditional expectant mother. Rachel drinks and smokes and doesn't seem to own any maternity clothes. But when Rachel turns up at Helen's house, with marks on her neck that look like abuse, Helen can't help but take her in, even when Daniel is clearly uncomfortable. The longer Rachel stays at Helen's house, the less Helen trusts her and suspects that Rachel may in fact be stealing from them and even possibly engaging in an affair with Helen's brother Rory. The closer Helen gets to her due date, the more she feels she can't trust her own perceptions. Is Rachel friend or foe? GREENWICH PARK is a suspenseful, engrossing read. I thought it was marvelous.

This mystery takes us on a journey with 4 main characters. They are school friends and have a past secret. Now they are married and living in beautiful homes and both women are pregnant. Then Helen meets another lady at her prenatal class. Rachel is a very laid back mother-to-be and almost forces her friendship onto Helen. Eventually Rachel manages to stay with Helen and Daniel and secrets start to surface. Daniel wants Rachel out of his house, but Helen feels sorry for her and that leads to more problems than she could have imagined.
I found this book to be rather difficult to follow. It is written mostly by the 2 female women in the story, but does seem to get a bit confusing at times. I would call it a mystery, rather than a thriller.
Thanks go to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Greenwich Park was on my 2022 Must Read list. A few bloggers I follow have been recommending it, even going on to say that this will be the new Gone Girl or Girl On the Train thriller. And while that is big praise, I agree for the most part! If half reviews were a thing, I would give it 4.5 stars. The author does great giving the reader a feeling that something auspicious is happening, leading us to suspect all of the wrong characters and then giving us the full reveal. Its the best part of reading a good thriller- I'd definitely place this in that category!

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner is a debut novel about Helen who has had a bumpy road on her way to becoming a mother. While attending a prenatal class she meets another mother, Rachel, who couldn’t be more opposite. Rachel begins showing up and inserting herself into the Helen’s life and it involves a major secret from college. I’ll be recommending this book to others and looking forward to chatting about this one with a buddy read book club. *Thank you NetGalley, Gallery Books and Katherine Faulkner for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.*

Reading Between the Wines book review #12/135 for 2022:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: Greenwich Park
Author: Katherine Faulkner
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Available now!

Sipping thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. Once Helen meets Rachel, a new friend from prenatal class, her life turns upside down. Follow Helen on the journey of trying to figure out why Rachel is around and whether her intentions are nefarious are helpful. There are so many secrets that are revealed along this journey and I loved the reveal and ending.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @GalleryBooks for an advanced copy of @GreenwichPark

#GreenwichPark #KatherineFaulkner #GalleryBooks #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers

WOW!

Helen, Katie, and Serena have all grown up together. Helen and Serena are preparing to welcome their newborn infants, Helen meets Rachel at her prenatal class. Serena is supposed to be taking the class with Helen and decides not to show at the last min. Rachel is not like the other moms-to-be though. She is loud, constantly drinking, and smoking. But Helen is lonely so a friend is better than no friend, right? But then Racheal is always showing up. Butting into her life why? what's going on why is she always around now?

This book had layers and how is everyone connected which you find out the more you read the more connected some people past might be and this shows you that friendly people cant always be trusted and sometimes its the people you think you know the most are the ones you don't know.

This was a solid debut novel. This thriller had a nice closed ending so all of the questions that I had were perfectly wrapped up. There was also some decent character development.

*Thanks, NetGalley, for arc in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

The cover & synopsis drew me in, but the writing made me want to get out. The story was a slow build and one that I’ve read before. I really hoped this debut would be great, but unfortunately I was disappointed.

An excellent addition to the psychological thriller genre, this has all the elements to keep readers entertained through the entirety. Multiple narrators add to the suspense and kept me guessing throughout. All is revealed in a shocking and very satisfying ending.

Greenwich Park is a multi-narrator thriller that takes place in London. When Helen meets Rachel at her prenatal class, Rachel immediately comes on strong and pursues a friendship. Pregnant and no longer with the baby’s father, Helen alternates between pitying Rachel and being annoyed by her constant surprise appearances in Helen’s life. In addition to Helen’s point of view, we also hear from Serena, Helen’s sister-in-law who is married to Helen’s older brother, and Katie, the girlfriend of Helen’s younger brother and a family friend since childhood. I found the plot to have a lot going on and it took away from the suspense. I also felt that the ending, while not completely expected, was rushed at the end after what felt like a lengthy lead up. I did want to know what what happened but I just felt a lot of it was complicated and a bit confusing as to how it all related to each other.

The writing is fast and we know from the get-go that something bad happened in the past that connects all characters. The ending seemed not too surprising and Helen struck me as too gullible, but all in all a quick read.

Thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for an ARC of Greenwich Park in exchange for my honest opinion.
I started reading this book and got stuck at about 25% - I knew it was a mystery and I felt like I could already see how it was going to play out.
Fast forward two weeks and the morning before a discussion of this book and I force myself to sit down and read it during my wonderfully unexpected snow day. For the most part, I was correct in my predictions of how this would end, but there were some distractors that surprised me. This wasn't a difficult read, but I kept getting distracted. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the house in Greenwich Park where the main character lived. But overall, I felt like it was lacking in the excitement that I expect in a mystery/thriller.
I love that I discussed this with other early readers because I did not pick up on all chapters being written from the female characters' POV. Perhaps this shows the author's view on males, or at least the male characters in this novel?
I am interested in reading other books by the author in the future, but I felt like this one didn't live up to my expectations.

Every time I see a cover like this it's like manna from heaven! I actually broke my own routine and didn’t automatically request Greenwich Park, though. Apparently it popped up on NetGallely during one of my occasional guilty conscience moments regarding my abysmal review ratio so I took a gander at the blurb first.

So the story here contains three narratives – Helen, her sister-in-law Serena and her brother’s girlfriend Katie. They have been intertwined since childhood/college (and through birth for Helen and her brothers, obvs). Then comes Rachel. She definitely doesn’t fit into the group’s usual dynamic, but Helen befriends her so there she is. And obviously everything is not as it seems.

When I saw this was about a bunch of pregnant gals I have to admit I wasn't super keen on the idea. I’m all about fatal friendships, but I also have a couple of kids of my own so I knew there was going to have to be some suspension of disbelief simply that this supposed high-risk preggo was going to be some gadabout town while shenanigans commenced. And I was not wrong. Not to mention that with regards to Rachel???? Yeah, my suspicions regarding her backstory were 100% spot-on. That being said, this kept my interest and the ending was enough that it is worthy of a 3.5 as a Lifetime Stabbies sort of selection. Thanks to my pal Shelley for her review that put this one on my TBR : )

One word to the publicists out there STAHP IT WITH THE "GIRL ON THE TRAIN" COMPARISONS. It’s not only been seven effing years since that one came out, but good lord talk about apples and oranges!

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

This book was good. I enjoyed listening to the narrator who had a good voice for this novel. The novel was awesome! The narrator fit good with the story and the characters!

2.5 stars rounded up. I was really captured by this book’s opening. I loved that this sense of claustrophobia the beginning created and the scene setting. I had so many questions in all the best ways. But then this just got to be too much. Too many thriller tropes, too many sloppy lies and double crossing to work the story out of a corner. Great reading for a snow day, but left me feeling disappointed.

I can never get enough of thrillers with unreliable narrators, and that definitely fits Greenwich Park. Helen thinks she has a perfect life, loving husband, and finally, after years of trying, a baby on the way. Then one day she meets Rachel at a prenatal class. Rachel is loud, obnoxious, and the only person who will talk to Helen at the class , since her husband never seems to be able to make it. Sure Rachel drives Helen crazy, especially when she keeps showing up wherever Helen is, but she's the only friend Helen has. But something is off with Rachel. And why is Helen's husband acting strangely and making himself scarce? This book took off like a shot and kept going helter skelter up until the very last sentence. I loved it and I cannot wait to read more by Katherine Faulkner!

A slow build that led to an intense read. Psychological thrillers where a new friend shows up out of nowhere is a common theme. Doesn't anyone think twice about this? It took me a while to get through the first half, but the second half went quick. The ending definitely made this book a 4 star instead of 3.

This is about as good as these thrillers get. Not my favorite genre but I’d highly recommend Greenwich Park for those who likes thrillers. I was interested throughout. It was well thought out with a satisfying ending. Helen was annoying, I never like reading about a weak woman, and she was kinda strange also with no good reason for some of her actions but even with that it’s a good read.

This debut thriller is a fast-paced and quite riveting read. With a few different perspectives and multiple layers to the story, it's easy to keep turning pages. Helen, after suffering multiple miscarriages, is resting at home for the latter half of her pregnancy. She makes an unexpected friend at her prenatal case - a rather shocking woman who seems to almost force her way into Helen's life. Meanwhile, Helen's sister-in-law is also pregnant and wrapped up in her own life while Helen's best friend is deeply engrossed in her career as a journalist covering a high-profile rape case. This all swirls around - until Helen's new friend goes missing.

Though some readers may see some of the plot twists coming - but there are a few that are less obvious. And it is rather satisfying to have your hunches proven correct. The characters here aren't really the sort that anyone would want to really know (except for maybe one), but the story itself is an entertaining one that kept my interest from start to finish. I am curious to see what Faulkner will follow this one up with!