Overall I liked this book. Parts I thought were repetitive but I liked the story, the mystery and the confusion of who's sleeping with who and who is lying. I really liked the description of where the wedding was taking place, it sounded so relaxing and beautiful, thought no one in this story had a fun trip!

This was such a very good read. Complicated, dysfunctional, lots of assumptions and deceptions. Just as soon as you are sure you know what's happening, you learn that you really don't! We have Rachel and Jack, who have been married for years and have a pretty solid foundation. Then we have Rachel's friend Paige, who is married to Rachel's very best friend from her younger days, Noah. Rachel and Noah had and currently have a pretty amazing friendship. But, there is no love lost between Jack and Noah. Then we have jack's brother Will, who is marrying Ali. And Ali is just a very special kind of person - the girl you love to hate. She's beautiful, brash, dramatic and flirty. All six of them come together at a destination wedding in Portugal and that's where the story starts to unravel in train wreck fashion.

Sandie Jones' latest novel, "The Guilt Trip", was another winner in my book. Rachel and Noah are old college friends who once toyed with the idea of romance. However, they both ultimately grew up and moved on, marrying Jack and Paige. Now, the four of them are in their early 40's, and are traveling to Portugal to attend the wedding of Jack's brother, Will, to the gorgeous and impetuous Ali. While Ali seems to be very popular with the male set, Rachel and Paige cannot help but be suspicious of her. Even Jack seems to want to question his brother's choice of bride. However, as the weekend progresses and the wedding is swiftly approaching, it becomes crystal clear that Ali is not the person that any of them thought that she was.

Rachel is determined to uncover any secrets that Ali may be holding close to her chest. However, in doing so, she begins to realize that other guests may also have something to hide.....something that they do not want exposed, at any cost. Who is the real villain here, and will long-standing friendships remain after the weekend is over?

I loved this book. There were a couple of predictable moments, but it was such a fun and juicy read that I was able to forgive them. Overall, another winner in my book by Sandie Jones!

The Guilt Trip is about three couples on a destination wedding trip. Lies and secrets are revealed, threatening the relationships.

Will and Ali are getting married. Rachel is married to Jack, Will’s brother. The other married couple is Paige and Noah, an old friend of Rachel. There are six characters, but the story is told from Rachel’s point of view. The characters are all hiding something, and none are particularly likable.

I’ve read other books by Sandie Jones, and enjoyed them all. The Guilt Trip wasn’t quite as thrilling as I was hoping, but it was still an enjoyable read. Good for fans of dramatic domestic suspense novels.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Isolated island? Drama? and Mystery? PERFECTION. I loved The Guilt Trip, its mystery, and how it reminded me of And Then There Were None (a classic!).

This book was basically about 3 couples figuring out who was cheating with who. I don’t typically mind a cheating subplot, but for it to be the WHOLE plot it was just a little much for me. Most of the action happened the last 15% of the book. And by then it was rushed and left me confused. I’m still not exactly sure what happened, but I wish that had been drawn out more or a dual timeline of before and after. Overall, just not for me.

The Guilt Trip
3/5 ⭐️

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an e-ARC of this one!

Thanks to actual wedding season (3 in 4 weeks) I am almost a good two months late reading and getting my review up 😬 it was a hectic month with vacation time and family visits sprinkled in too but what a great one after not socializing like that in a longggg time.

I absolutely loved the Other Woman by Sandie Jones so as soon as I seen this was coming I couldn’t wait!! And with all the festivities I attended what better read than a book about a destination wedding gone wrong.

I think had I not read the Other Woman I may have rated this one higher but I couldn’t give it a 4⭐️ like I did OW because it didn’t have as big of a shock factor.

The story was excellent. 3 couples with more secrets than the Vatican? Yes please. You knew it could only end in a dumpster fire event. And it most certainly did. I just felt like there was something missing for me that wasn’t keeping me as drawn in as I hoped. Maybe I just had too high of hopes!?

I want to travel again ASAP after hearing location details about Portugal 🥺

#theGuiltTrip #SandieJones #theOtherWoman #netgalley #StMartinsPress #arc #thriller #mystery #HalloweenReads #books #bibliophile #goodreads #nsbookstagrammer #canadianbookstagrammer

This one was really interesting and had me at the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the character development and the plot twist.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This story had so many twists and at times you wonder who is the one who doesn’t belong. I enjoyed this book and will read more by Sandie Jones.

Synopsis:
Three couples, a wedding in Portugal and lots of secrets are all part of Sandie Jones’ new thriller. The bride-to-be, Ali, rubs the group the wrong way with her attention-seeking antics from the start. Tension looms as the wedding gets closer and the trip seems more nightmarish than celebratory as the couples are fueled by jealousy, suspension and alcohol. Will the they all even make it to the wedding?

My Thoughts:
Quick read blended with drama and suspense. The characters are very unstable, and you are not sure
who is really lying. Overall, an enjoyable book for me!!

Twisty, fun, and full of non-stop drama. The Guilt Trip is a great follow-up to The Other Woman and brings something totally different to the table. There’s a lot of build-up but the ending will blow your socks off.

What a ride! More twists then I think i have ever read but it kept me up and guessing till the end. I loved this! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley!! Quite a ride!

Loved it! A fun, twisty mystery that is timely and filled with surprises! I liked all the characters, they were complex and memorable! This would make a great movie!

You know that feeling that someone might not be who they seem....yeah, that's this book. Love the way Sandie Jones does thrillers - you're never completely sure of someone's personality until she reveals it.

I love Sandie Jones but I think this story was a difficult audiobook because of the many characters. I did like the plot and the huge surprise at the end!

The audiobook narrator Clare Corbett did a good job keeping me invested in the storyline. Rachel is the main point of view and it was difficult at times to keep all the characters separate. Was Rachel just being paranoid about Ali, or was Ali really as much of a threat as Rachel assumer her to be?

I was expecting more of a murder mystery or suspense but this book is really more focused on the relationships and drama between the main characters. The "fatal misunderstanding" referred to in the book synopsis does not occur until very late in the book. It was still a very quick and engaging story, and all the secrets and lies did keep me listening to the very end.

I loved the seaside setting of the book and could easily imagine the wild cliffs and the huge waves surrounding the villa. There are many twists in this book and the shocking conclusion was worth the wait. If you love family drama and a contemporary setting, you will enjoy this one. I absolutely loved the author's earlier book 'The Other Woman' and look forward to reading more from Sandie Jones.

(Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.)

I really did not enjoy this one at all sadly. I think this is a bad case of mismarketing; based on the synopsis I was expecting a thriller. But oh boy...this was NOT a thriller at all, We spend the first 80% of the book dwelling on the secrets and affairs of the couples, most of which are based on miscommunication, and it felt very repetitive and I kept wondering when the action was gonna pick up. We don’t get to the murder part of the book until the last few chapters and then everything is wrapped up pretty quickly.

I was given an advanced copy of this text by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a great read! I always enjoy Jones' books, but this one was extra exciting to me for some reason. All lovers of thrillers should definitely check this one out.

I picked this up because I was a big fan of Sandie Jones’s first book, The Other Woman. If you are looking for a twisty thriller that will keep you guessing, go for this one!

I really dislike rating a book this low. Two stars is supposed to mean "it was ok" and I guess that's really, truly the best thing I can say about this one. The premise is really difficult to describe, but if I had to, I would say it's about an under-occupied homemaker who, over a weekend wedding, decides that every little thing that everyone else in her friend and family group is doing is in some way related to her, or is "all my fault" and as a result, she runs around making poor decisions, starting drama and ill-advised conversations that ultimately help precipitate a tragedy.

Here's the set up: Rachel is in her late thirties and not pursuing the career of her dreams. Having dedicated her younger years to raising her now-university-aged son, she struggles with feelings of inadequacy, envy and mild dislike directed at her brother-in-law's bride-to-be, Ali. Ali is a career woman, and very beautiful but can come across as somewhat vacuous. And also there's this weird undercurrent between Ali, and Rachel's husband, Jack, who used to be Ali's boss. All those factors culminate to somehow persuade Rachel that the perfectly pleasant Ali is her archenemy who is for unknown reasons (and despite all evidence to the contrary) "out to destroy" her life. It doesn't help matters that Rachel's friend Paige is there to stoke the suspicion that the weird thing that might be going on between Ali and Jack is an affair.

Most of the book is driven by Rachel's suspicions and fevered imagination, as well as a twenty-years-in-the-making and completely unnecessary plot-twist of a drama between Paige's husband, Noah and Rachel. You see, among her other imaginings, Rachel imagines herself in love with Noah who was her college best friend, even while she tells herself that her world will be obliterated if it turns out her husband, Jack is indeed unfaithful with Ali. This double-standard is often remarked upon in Rachel's mind, almost as though it is plot and character inconsistency that the author felt duty-bound to point out, in lieu of having to actually explain.

I kid you not when I say that fully 90% of this book is Rachel concocting farfetched scenarios in her head involving some confluence of her and Noah's drama, and Jack and Ali's drama; and the rest of it is Rachel demonizing Ali simply because she's younger and sexier and holds men in her thrall. It's fine for a character to be unlikeable (and trust me, most of them were) but it's almost unforgivable for them to be ... irrational. And trust me, most of them were.

All in all, I was somewhat let down by this rea

As a travel blogger, I love trips of all kinds. Well, I thought I did. 

Three couples travel to Portugal for a dream destination wedding. Rachel, Jack, Paige, Noah, and Will have been friends for years. Ali, Will's fiancée is new to the group. 

But this dreamy destination turns into a nightmare as secrets are revealed that threaten friendships and marriages. One thing's for sure-- history isn't everything and first impressions are not always as they seem!