amazing book !!! wow!!! blew my mind!!! Well written, very easy to read, amazing characters no predictable book i just loved it. i will for sure read more about her

I wanted to love this book but it was just okay for me. I did love the Portugal setting but after reading another thriller with a similar destination wedding premise, this one just fizzled. I didn't feel the tension I believe I was supposed to between the couples at this wedding. Instead, there's a lot of domestic struggling with marriages that aren't going well. This is common for most domestic suspense novels so I kept with it hoping there'd be a few delightful twists to make these marital flaws worth it.

As a woman in my 40s who's been married a long time, I felt like these people acted must too young and immature. That was my biggest hurdle because I couldn't relate to any of their suspicions or actions. By middle age you learn to communicate issues, right? But still... I kept reading because hey, it's fiction and I suppose a certain generation of reality tv readers might like all this sort of drama. Overall, the mystery was easy to see coming and although it had moments that were entertaining, like the surfing which I liked, it wasn't my favorite Sandie Jones novel.

If you are a Sandie Jones fan you will not be disappointed with this title. It is full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing right up until the end. They characters are all well rounded so they can go from being relatable and sympathetic in one chapter to unlikable and disagreeable in the next. It is the perfect mixture of suspense thriller with just enough of a little romance thrown in.

Literally everyone is guilty of something in this story. A group of friends are traveling to a destination wedding in Portugal. Rachel and Noah were university friends, now married to other people, Jack and Paige. They are all attending Jack's brother Will's wedding to Ali, whom Jack used to work with and introduced the two. Ali is younger, gorgeous and a bit of an airhead. So of course, Rachel immediately begins to suspect Jack is cheating on her with Ali. But what is the real truth? Turns out Rachel has some things in her past to feel guilty about. Does her husband? How many members of the party are keeping secrets from each other? By the end of the weekend, everyone's lives will be changed.

There was a lot going on in this story, and Rachel pretty much suspects Jack of cheating on her with everyone (guilty conscience maybe?) and in the end, everyone has something they might be willing to kill for.

First, thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
I was excited for this book from the description. Sounded like a fun, suspenseful summer read. There was suspense, but mostly from wondering how much longer I had to read this. I found the characters to be so annoying. I couldn't see why any of them would want to be with one another and felt bad for the wedding couple that these were their closest family and friends. What a horrible wedding celebration. The story was frustrating. Reading this was exhausting and unenjoyable. I was so glad when it was all over.

The Guilt Trip was a fast paced mystery. You know from the first page that someone is seriously hurt and you spend the rest of the book trying to figure out who and why. All the characters seemed guilty and the book kept me riveted until soon after the wedding. Everyone was hiding secrets and lying. Then things got fuzzy, I was confused many times and I definitely cannot figure out the last chapter. I feel like there should have been some more revisions made before publishing.

Oh the drama! Set on top the idyllic cliffs of Nazaré, tensions flare when old jealousies arise, and friends begin questioning who can be trusted. Be ready, the excitement starts before they’ve even left the airport! The story centers around three couples: The drama queen/attention seeker Ali and her groom Will; Will’s brother Jack and his wife Rachel; and Rachel’s best friend Paige along with her husband Noah, who was Rachel’s best friend growing up before Paige came into their lives. This group has years of shared history, and the weight of decades-old secrets becomes too much.

Author Sandie Jones does a terrific job of keeping you guessing through all of the fast paced twists and turns. And in the end, the story makes you ask yourself, how well do you really know those closest to you?

Thanks to #NetGalley for providing an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hmmm, this book had a very interesting concept, a group of friends in Portugal for a wedding mixed with lies, infidelity and of course, drama but it feel a little short for me.

Not too short, I read it pretty quick and was eager to keep reading. It felt like a soap opera, which isn’t a bad thing but the ending felt rushed and honestly, I’m left feeling a little confused.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you to the publishers at St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this e-ARC of The Guilt Trip.

Wow! If you love drama, and lots of it, you’ll love The Guilt Trip. Revolving around a group of old friends about to attend a wedding, the story is told from the point of view of Rachel, who is married to Jack, the brother of the groom. Paige and Noah, their longtime friends, are also attending the wedding of Ali and Will in Portugal.

Right from the start, there is tension between Ali and Jack. When Ali first started seeing his brother, Will, he had zero issue with her, so Rachel is confused where all of the animosity has suddenly come from. Taking place over 4 days, the group flies in and gets comfy in their temporary quarters, a beautiful villa overlooking the ocean.

As the days pass and the wedding looms over the horizon, the drama builds and builds until everyone’s secrets are finally revealed. Even the ending is unexpected and jarring and leaves you wondering what exactly happened on that last, fateful night.

The build up for the story was somewhat slow, but I felt that the author did a great job of getting you into Rachel’s headspace. As a reader, you are able to fully immerse yourself in her turmoil and emotions, while also simultaneously wanting to scream at her to be an adult and just talk through her problems!

If you enjoy slow burns with lots of drama and a one person POV, this book is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I've liked other books by this author, so I was very excited for this one. It fell flat for me. I'm not sure if it was the characters or the plot or what but it missed the mark for me unfortunately

Fantastic read! What begins as a seemingly nice weekend among friends in a sumptuous Portuguese villa quickly unravels into a tale of love and betrayal spiraling out of control. Six friends—three couples whose lives are deeply intertwined with one another in a fat web of lies and long-buried secrets—head out to Portugal to marry two of them. Soon, tensions arise. Suspicion of infidelity, jealousy, doubt, and betrayal threaten to collapse their friendship and upend their lives in this superbly crafted domino game of twists leading to unthinkable horror. A phenomenal psychological page-turner.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy: Sandie Jones at her best.

While I have enjoyed other novels by this author, this one fell flat for me. The beginning and ending were well-paced, but the middle seemed to drag. Too many false leads, and none of the characters drew me in.

Ohhh this was AWESOME. I love sandi jones’ writing and The Guilt Trip was full of secrets, lies, and those friendships that you just wait for to fall
apart. This is a perfect summer read full of all the deceit, twists, and backstabbing that make a book unputtdownable.
Yes to the twist too!!! 5 stars!
Thank you Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my free arc in exchange for my honest review.

Rachel and her husband Jack, along with her close friend from college, Noah, and his wife, Paige, are headed to Portugal for a destination wedding. Ali, the bride-to-be, is marrying Jack’s brother, Will. While the trip seems idyllic, things are tense between the group, and misunderstandings and revealed secrets are bound to cause relationships to unravel.

This was not as much of a mystery/thriller as I had hoped for, and was more just drama/fiction. The mystery element came into play a bit at the end of the novel, but it was not too wild of a thriller, and I think more could have been added to this aspect of the story. Overall it was okay, and would definitely be a decent, quick beach read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Sandie Jones for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the plot especially a destination wedding. As I began reading, I realized the novel was a character driven thriller which is underdone (in my opinion). I liked that the author kept us readers guessing of who was being unfaithful. She did an excellent job planting seeds of doubt for both the reader and characters in the book.

The problem was the book fell flat for me. The book was almost all dialogue with very little action until 50% in. I would have appreciated a little more action. Moreover, the ending was abrupt. It happened so fast and could have been explained more thoroughly.

A little slow at the start, but overall a good thriller from Sandie Jones. Three couples, one wedding, one affair, regrets, and murdered. Twist and turns along the way. Thank you, net galley, for my gifted copy.

Loved it!!! Absolutely amazing! From page 1 I was hooked! I loved all the twist and turns leading up to an amazing ending!! Perfect summer beach ride thriller!

WOW! I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say guilt trip applies to all the characters in different ways. This was a fun, fast-paced read. Your understanding of the characaters and who might be doing what is constantly shifting. Even the epilogue gives a final little bit of ambivalence.

"Six friends.

Rachel and Noah have been friends since they met at university. While they once thought that they might be something more, now, twenty years later, they are each happily married to other people, Jack and Paige respectively. Jack’s brother Will is getting married, to the dazzling, impulsive Ali, and the group of six travel to Portugal for their destination weekend.

Three couples.

As they arrive at a gorgeous villa perched on a cliff-edge, overlooking towering waves that crash on the famous surfing beaches below at Nazaré, they try to settle into a weekend of fun. While Rachel is looking forward to getting to know her future sister-in-law Ali better, Ali can’t help but rub many of the group up the wrong way: Rachel’s best friend Paige thinks Ali is attention-seeking and childish, and while Jack is trying to support his brother Will’s choice of wife, he is also finding plenty to disagree with Noah about.

One fatal misunderstanding . . .

But when Rachel discovers something about Ali that she can hardly believe, everything changes. As the wedding weekend unfolds, the secrets each of them hold begin to spill, and friendships and marriages threaten to unravel. Soon, jumping to conclusions becomes the difference between life and death."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was great. It had so many twists and turns that kept me guessing which isn’t easy to do. It reminds me a lot of the guest list by Lucy Foley. The characters and their intertwined relationships made you think you understood people when you really didn’t, just like the main character.

Three couples are headed to Portugal for a destination wedding. They rent out a gorgeous villa overlooking the scenic ocean. If only they liked the bride a little more.

Rachel and Jack with their friends Noah and Paige aren’t really looking forward to the wedding of Jack’s brother Will and his future wife Ali. Especially when Jack finally tells the group the reason he doesn’t like Ali is because he is certain that she has been cheating on his brother Will. He doesn’t want to say anything because his brother seems happy and doesn’t want to ruin the relationship in case it was a one-time thing.

As they all run up to the big day, Rachel thinks Jack is really acting funny, Noah keeps bringing up his past relationship with Rachel and Ali keeps flirting with Jack but is all over Will. As revelations come to light about these three couples nothing is going to be the same again.

I enjoyed this twisty domestic thriller with a touch of suspense woven in. The ending came out of nowhere and I was a bit confused at first. I wish the end had been strung out a little longer to see how their lives were impacted down the road, but karma did play out for all of the characters. Overall, it was a fun read with a gripping, complex storyline that held my attention until the end.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.