The Guilt Trip is full is suspense and lots of plot twists as Rachel and her husband Jack travel to Portugal with her best friend Paige and Paige’s husband Noah, who also happens to be Rachel’s best friend from college, for a wedding. The book is well written, and the characters are well developed. This interwoven story sucked me right in, and I couldn’t put it down. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Step into a world where you vacation, in a foriegn country, with your most obnoxious frenemies. Make awful swipes at them at every possible opportunity, then sink into the most ridiculously telegraphed twist you've experienced in some time. Alternately, skip this one entirely.

I feel like with every thriller a reviewer will say, "I couldn't put it down!" but really.... I couldn't put this down! I had to finish the book as soon as I started it. There's so much that happens, so many twists and turns, and it's so intricately woven that you can't help but be sucked in! Highly recommend to anyone who loves a great thriller. While reading, it really did play like a blockbuster movie in my head. I'd love to see it adapted to the screen some day!

This was my first time reading a book by this author, however, I just purchased their other books and can't wait to read those!

I almost gave up on this book a few times, but I read on and on to the very end. There was so much angst and hand wringing, I just wanted to slap Rachel. And so many times I thought "if only they'd talk to each other like reasonable adults." But no. Despite years of secrets, things dramatically come to the surface in one insane weekend. It was more soap opera than thriller.

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones is filled with characters who all have secrets. The book kept my interest from beginning to end, but the ending was weird. Jack, Rachel, Noah, and Paige are all meeting Ali at the airport to travel to Portugal for Ali's wedding. Ali is marrying Jack's younger brother, Will in three days. Ali has a personality that is a bit 'over-the-top' with drama. She focuses her attention on Rachel's husband Jack.
Rachel and Paige are best friends and Paige has very little patience with Ali's attention-seeking way of dressing and acting in public. Rachel wants to keep peace among them all during the stressful trip and festivities. They are all staying together in a beautiful beach home, and this causes a bit of conflict and suspicion among the friends during the three days. There is a repetitive theme of everyone having a secret, and two people in the group are carrying on a secret love affair. Rachel is constantly doubting the decisions she made twenty years ago when she chose Jack over joining Noah on a trip to Vietnam. Suspicions and deceit simmer among the three couples and then on the wedding day for Ali and Will, a terrible thing happens at the reception!
Publication Day: August 3, 2031
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Four friends take a trip to attend a wedding. A simple trip turns into a disaster as everyone's secrets get revealed. The Guilt Trip is a quick read about betrayal and secrets among friends and family. It is an enjoyable, yet predictable story. Rachel and Jack lived a good life as husband and wife for 20 plus years but for some reason this trip puts doubt in Rachel's mind about their relationship and about her feelings towards her best friend Noah. It seems a bit contrived that this trip sets off a whole avalanche of problems when nothing has happened the previous 20 years. The ending was a little disappointing as well. It is an entertaining book and I could see it as a movie but I wouldn't consider it thrilling or intense. It's a little mediocre for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

Rachel is on The Guilt Trip, the newest novel by Sandie Jones.

Three couples are traveling to Portugal for a wedding -- Ali and Will are getting married. Rachel and her husband Jack and their friends Paige and her husband Noah find Ali to be obnoxious and attention seeking, and they all wish that she were not going to marry into Jack’s family as Will is Jack’s brother. Rachel and Noah are long-time friends since college, although they did cross the line in their friendship once before Rachel committed to Jack, the coupling an incident which they have kept secret from both their spouses.

Ali’s actions and words insinuate that she has a special relationship with Jack, who cannot stand to be around her anymore. Rachel starts to wonder about her husband and Ali, and Paige feeds her insecurity about the possibility that Ali is cheating on Will with Jack. Jack revealed to Rachel that Ali is cheating on his brother Will with a guy from the office, but he cannot bring himself to tell Will, who is as happy as he has ever been.

When Rachel discovers certain truths about Ali that are unsettling, the plot spirals to an unexpected climax to the story. All the dynamics will change with the death of one of the members of the wedding party.

Working as a freelance journalist for more than 20 years, Sandie Jones turned to fiction with her debut novel, The Other Woman. She lives in London with her family.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting May 7, 2021.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

I couldn’t put down the book for the first half. Most the characters were well developed. For the second half, I would expect a bit more about how and why Jack and Paige started and ended it with a crime. Was it a pure revenge to Rachel and Noah? Did Jack try to trick Noah to die for Paige or Rachel? To me, Jack went evil as a manslaughter to kill not only Paige but also kill/harm innocent people at the end too quickly without a little bit more support.

If you enjoy a twisty, suspenseful, lite thriller for a summer vacation read, put this on your short list for August. But take note, this is more a psychological thriller than a murder mystery, although there is a murder near the end. The synopsis is a bit miss-leading.

Three couples with intertwined baggage meet up for a destination wedding at a Portuguese seaside resort. Three fairly well-to-do British couples with a whole lot of intrigue that slowly gets revealed. Overall, plot is well crafted and keeps the reader hooked to the end. It’s overall a fine recreational read.

However, The Guilt Trip ultimately misses for me in a couple of areas. First, while I mostly enjoyed the convoluted plot and reveals, the novel bogs down some in the middle where I kept wanting to urge the story along. Also, there wasn’t much I liked about any of the characters. But if you love Friends and Sex in the City (I don’t) then you may connect more than I did and bond with the cast.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of this author, but have to admit that this book fell a little flat for me. I was expected more of a thriller and it was really more about the drama in the lives of the characters.

This book focuses on the friendships and deceptions among those friends. It did keep me turning the pages but I really wanted more. And, I also had a hard time grasping some of the content of the plot. Could these people really be as close as they are portrayed when they had been through so much drama together throughout the years they had been friends? I suppose it is possible, but I did find it a reach.

The author writes well and the book does flow nicely. It just wasn't one of my favorites.

I have come to realize that domestic dramas are just not the type of books I love. That being said, here's a breakdown of what I liked and what I didn't like within this novel.

Liked:
I thought the writing was superb. It flowed great and I had a hard time putting it down.

Did not like as much:
I thought Rachel was dense. The whole time we are being led to believe (very obviously, I'd say too obviously because it became obvious to me it was Paige the whole time) that Ali is having an affair with Jack. This dragged on way too much. And yes, Rachel was obsessed with her own secret being revealed that maybe this is why she couldn't focus to figure out what Ali was trying to tell her the whole time. I just thought when it was finally revealed that Paige was the one sleeping with her husband, that Rachel reacted very blase about it. She didn't start putting the pieces together until well after it was revealed. Basically, I thought it was too long to get to the payoff, but overall, I would read again by this author.

I wanted to rate this book higher but between the unlikeable characters and the rushed ending, it was hard for me to do so. As I was reading the book, I kept waiting for the "fatal misunderstanding" that was teased in the description, but it took a long time for any action to start... at about 88% through. I was left a little confused by the ending, too. I felt like the author was trying to imply something but didn't quite flesh it out.

This book was everything I wanted: fast paced, hard to put down, and full of twists I didn’t see coming. Everything from the gorgeous setting to the chemistry between the characters had me from the beginning. I absolutely loved the dynamic between the couples in the story and how history has shaped them in different ways, from the brothers to the best friend duo. Ali’s character is one I haven’t seen in thrillers and I appreciated the nuance given to the “fun party girl” type. I also found Rachel to be the one I rooted for the most, from her struggles with career and motherhood to her strength. Overall, this is a perfect summer read and I’m so happy I had the chance to get my hands on it.

Kept me up all night! Jones definitely knows how to keep you entertained and sleep deprived! Who can you really trust if you can’t trust your friends and husband?

This book confused me a little and felt a little rushed at the end. Most characters were really unlikable from the get go. This would probably make a good movie or mini series though! Thank you!

Oh my goodness! I truly feel this book was well written. It kept me guessing all the way to the end of the book. So many elements at play, so many pieces to the story. I loved it!

I have really enjoyed the books by this author however this one fell a little short for me. I think the plot for this book is one that can be appealing, who doesn’t like a good “go to an exotic place and things don’t go as they should” type of book? The first half of the book was decently paced but the ending was just a bit too far fetched in my eyes.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Stars

Wow this definitely was a trip! There were so many things that I thought were going to happen that didn't and things I didn't expect that did happen, if that makes sense.

3 couples, Jack and Rachel, Noah and Paige, Will(Jack's brother) and Ali are on their way to Portugal to celebrate the impending nuptials of Will and Ali, an event that the other 2 couples have reservations about. Reservations because Ali comes across as "bimbo-ish" for lack of a better term, she's a free spirit, bodacious and flirty and Rachel and Paige have a problem with her. They have a problem because Rachel is starting to suspect that her husband Jack is having a hot and heavy affair with Ali and her outspoken best friend Paige is starting to suspect that as well. Suspicions and overheard conversations point this in the obvious direction and to further complicate matters, Rachel and Noah were best buddies in college before but they also share secrets and feelings that threaten to emerge. There was a lot of juicy drama here and so much more going on that I do not want to spoil anymore of this plot, but depending on if you have the time this is one of these reads that will consume you.

Thank you to author Sandie Jones and NetGalley for this engrossing arc in exchange for my review.

I have read all of the books written by Ms. Jones and I have previously enjoyed every one of them. Unfortunately, this one fell a flat for me. I have seen many of these "group of friends/family travel to an exotic place and a mystery commences". This plot line has become tiring and not very original. I don't have to like book characters to enjoy the book but these characters were just awful! This has been classified as a thriller and I would certainly NOT call it such. It is barely a mystery book really. I would call it adult fiction only.

This is a story of six adults whose lives seem to be more entangled than we’d first imagined. The drama was fun to read, although I did think the characters were a bit old for this to be coming to light now. I kept thinking that Noah and Rachel’s “friendship” would have caused more problems during the past 20 years. I’m having mixed feelings as I write this review. On one hand the book kept me entertained and invested. But in the other, it left me confused. The ending didn’t really make sense to me. Too much destruction for revenge against one person. But, I’ll couldn’t put the book down!