Not a fan of this one. I did finish it and there are some redeeming aspects. Loved the location even if the sense of place coulD have been stronger. More Portugal please! . Maybe a bit more specifics as to island they’re on? If you like female drama you’ll enjoy this one. I don’t. Nor do I like romance. I found myself irritated by the characters, the repetition and the lack of plot. This is more of a romance than a mystery and I’d like more of the later personally. When things do start to happen it’s at the very end. I kept waiting for something to happen and was finally rewarded but then it was over! The internal dilemmas were interesting but over worked. The actual plot was good if slowly rolled out. A tighter rewrite would have made this a better book for this reader.

Wow, what an entertaining book. I have to say, I got to feel a ton of different emotions throughout. Following Rachel on her trip to Portugal to celebrate a wedding 0f her brother in law. Things take a crazy turn, that is for sure. I enjoyed the character development and watching how the story twisted and turned. Thank you for this roller coaster ride!! I would absolutely recommend this book, i did not know which direction this was going to go and I loved every second of it! Bravo!

Review of The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another great one from Sandie Jones! Set in Portugal, the story opens with couples/friends traveling to the wedding of Will and Ali. Our protagonist, Rachel, is married to Jack who is Will’s older brother. One of her oldest friends, Noah, is married to her now best friend Paige. It is a tense trip from the beginning as many seem to dislike and mistrust Ali, but Rachel seems determined to give her the benefit of the doubt. But then new suspicions surface and old secrets threaten the present. All of these characters seem to have big secrets and no one is exactly how they seem.

This book is very dramatic with a nice thriller twist at the end snd I enjoyed every moment of it. It was a quick and enjoyable read for me and I definitely recommend it. It’s out August 17!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sandie Jones, and Minotaur books for my advanced e copy to read and review.

Since I liked The Other Woman by Sandie Jones, I look for new releases by authors I am familiar with. However, I was unable to finish The Guilt Trip as there was ongoing conflict between the three dysfunctional couples who were not particularly interesting to engage me., To travel to Portugal for a few days for the wedding of an unlikeable bride that no one seemed to approve of did not seem realistic. While I believe Sandie Jones is a fine author, this is not her best effort. I thank Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! Starts a little slow, but just keeps getting better! A fantastic book - really enjoyed the story, and by the middle couldn’t put it down until I saw how it ended! Great read!!!!

Oh the disappointment.

Rachel absolutely makes me homicidal. I’ve never been in the position with a husband but lord almighty get yourself together.

The whole story felt like a middle aged woman complaining and showing her insecurities- which I understand happens but like, stop.

There wasn’t much thrill or suspense, everything kind of played out the way I had expected it to.

Not a recommended read

As a huge fan of Sandie Jones, I was extremely excited to get approved for this book and I was not disappointed. Excellent novel about three couples who travel to Portugal for a destination wedding. Ali and Will are getting married and invite two couples to stay with them in a beautiful villa overlooking the sea. What should be a beautiful vacation and event quickly turns sour when they discover lies and cheating within their group. With misunderstandings, infidelity real and imagined, and hurt feelings the group soon are at each other’s throats. Very twisty and impossible to put down. Highly recommended.

The second half of The Guilt Trip was a page turner. I stayed up late to finish it because I needed to know what happened. I didn’t especially like the main characters (particularly Rachel) but once it got moving I didn’t care if I liked them or not, I just needed to know what was going on!

The Guilt Trip takes a look at marriage, friendship, loyalty and trust....and suspicion, dishonesty and a whole lot of other unpleasant traits.

Three couples arrive in Portugal for a wedding: bride-to-be Ali and her fiancee Will, Will's brother Jack and his wife Rachel, and friends Noah and Page.

Rachel and Noah were childhood friends, and have kept the truth about their relationship a secret from their spouses --- but this secret and so many others are revealed during the trip.

There are a lot of twists to the story == however, some of them felt more obvious than surprising.

While the story was good enough to read, I didn't find it as suspenseful as the author's earlier works - and quite honestly, I really didn't like the characters that much at all.

Thanks to #NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read the ARC of this book I have ordered a copy for the library I direct.

Sigh. I loved all of Sandie Jones' previous books but this one was not quite up there in my opinion. The story dragged and didn't catch my attention as propulsively as her others. I do love the cover art and I know some people loved the book, it just was not my favorite.

I really enjoyed this book. I like guessing what was really going on in reality, not just occuring in Rachel's mind. I believe many people have that question of "what could have been" sometimes during their life. Interesting to think your "what if" is in your inner circle daily. This was Rachel & Noah's world as they tried to navigate friendship with their spouses.

The death of someone was woven into the story with a lot of mystery. I enjoyed trying to guess who did what, when/how and to whom, but the end wrap up was a little to "neat" and fast for the depth and details that were playing out withing Rachel's mind. Even so I still enjoyed reading this book.

Thank you Ms. Jones, Mintaur Books and Netgalley for allowing me access to this ARC for an honest review.

A very good page turner by one of my favourite author. Great suspense! I first read the Other Woman from this author and I loved her writing style.

I am outnumbered on NetGalley because this was a 3 star for me. First, I strongly disliked all the characters even Rachel. They act and talk like they are 20. The first half of this book reminded me of a seedy soap opera and the ending was CRAZY! I will give kudos to Sandie Jones, however, because as much as I told myself just to stop reading there were nights where I was forcing my eyes open to stay awake and read one more chapter.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advanced copy!

This book was so fast paced and was definitely easy to read. Originally, I had a little trouble keeping track of all of the characters, but that became easier as the book went along. Originally, I could not stand the character Ali. As the book developed, she became more endearing and I started to appreciate her a little more. I did become frustrated with Rachel for not acting on her suspicions sooner, but I suppose she wanted to give her husband a chance to explain himself. The first half of the book was very interesting and kept my attention, but as the novel went on, it slowed down a bit for me. It did ramp up again towards the end with quite an ending. I think that anyone who enjoys reading mysteries and thrillers would enjoy this book. I LOVED The Other Woman and would recommend both of these books to friends. 3.5 stars!

What starts out as a destination wedding, a lovely weekend takes on complicated family relationships and almost family relationships. Three couples go to the coast of Portugal with the nuptials happening nearby. As the story progresses, characters seem to have past experiences that they are not proud of and wish to keep to themselves. It also seems that at least one other person in the house knows about what the others are guilty of and things may be better left alone.
It would not be an interesting story if that were the case. People can never leave well enough alone. Rachel is wracked with guilt to the extent she imagines what will happen when her guilt is revealed to others. At times, it is hard to tell what is really happening, is it her imagination or reality? So guilty does she feel.
There are others who should feel guilty, but it seems they do not. (It makes me wonder what secrets may not have been revealed.)
As the wedding day approaches, the tension gets tighter and tighter. Things become suspenseful and unexpected. All to come to a head on the big day, itself.
I found this book complex and almost typical of family relationships. Although, my family might not be so interesting.

6 friends, 3 couples, a wedding...and one big secret. What could go wrong?
When Rachel's brother in law is getting married to Ali, the group heads out for a 4 day weekend of fun. Rachel is excited that her best friends, Paige and Noah are coming along. However, Ali as the bride to be seems to give some of the others reservations, and then a big secret comes out that changes the way Rachel views her. As the group tries to make the best of the weekend before they decide what to do, if anything, the trip takes quite a turn. Who can Rachael trust and why are the people she loves most sneaking around?

3.5 stars. This is a gripping read that I couldn’t wait to dive back into every time I had to put it down. I was very invested in seeing where the characters ended up.

Three couples arrive at a villa in Portugal for the wedding of Ali and Will. Rachel and Noah have been friends since their university days. Fast forward twenty years and Rachel is married to Jack. Noah is married to Paige, Rachel’s BFF. And Jack’s brother, Will is marrying the beautiful, but exhausting Ali.

The group, with the exception of Will, collectively agree that Ali embellishes the truth a lot and is a major attention-seeker. As the wedding looms closer tensions arise between all the couples and everyone suspects it’s all the fault of one person.

Like I mentioned above, I was really invested in how this story would play out. I correctly guessed some of the major plot points fairly early on, but was still compelled to keep reading. It seemed so obvious to me what was going on. The climax of the story was a bit too dramatic for my liking, but overall I did enjoy reading this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc in exchange for my honest opinions.

Oh boy. In 120+ galley's I've never had to leave a review like this, where unfortunately I have nothing constructive to sandwich my disappointment with.

I am a huge fan of Sandie Jones and I routinely recommend "The Other Woman" *and* "The Half Sister" to friends when they're looking for a well written quick read. This one though, was honestly a disaster. Reading this book with all its miscommunications was like watching a 'Three's Company Marathon but without the redeeming humor.

The one thing I can say in the positive column is that I do feel like a talented Netflix producer might be able to use the setting, alternating perspectives, and creative scene cuts to make it less obvious and set a much more nefarious tone. If they did that I would certainly watch it, but this one was just a big miss for me.

“The Guilt Trip” by Sandie Jones
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers/Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Pub. Date: August 3, 2021

Do not be guilted into reading this tedious novel that revolves around three couples that repeatedly asks the questions who loves who and who is cheating on who. One wife, who is the book’s main narrator, tortures herself with suspicious thoughts, which seems to be the story’s only theme. Maybe for you but, certainly not for this reviewer.

I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

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I really liked the premise of this book and the characters and setting were fun. I had a bit of a hard time with a few things. For one, it seems a bit unrealistic to think Noah didn't have suspicions regarding Josh for so many years. Also, literally 5 of the 6 main characters had some type of secret they were hiding and that seemed a bit much. All worked out for most of the characters in the end, which I liked, and the book engaged me. I had many moments where I wanted to yell at one or more characters to just come out and be truthful or communicate fully. That can be maddening but I like it. I look forward to more books by this author.