I really enjoy anything that Sandie Jones writes, and this one was no different. I love stories that take place on islands, and this one really captivated my attention. I read the whole thing in one sitting- I couldn’t wait to find out how it ended.

I struggled with this one a bit. I felt like it started off good and interesting and then quickly fell apart midway through the book and got repetitive but also hard to follow. I stuck with it and finished it and the ending was definitely not something I saw coming and given recent current events (Waukesha tragedy) it hit a little too close to home for this Wisconsin girl. Really wishing I had given up reading the book midway through now.

When three couples travel to Portugal for one of their weddings, things take an unfortunate turn. Noah and Rachel are old friends who thought they might be more, but are now both happily married. Jack is Rachel’s husband, and his brother Will is getting married to Ali. Ali is immature and rubs the group the wrong way. Paige, Noah’s wife thinks Ali just wants attention, but is there more to it? Rachel uncovers a secret that Ali is keeping, one that might cause all of their marriages to unravel.

This book read more like a soap opera to me than a thriller. About 90% of the story is leading up to the wedding, and it is filled with Rachel and Paige gossiping about Ali and realizing that none of these characters are being honest with each other. It was hard to find any of the characters likable because of this. Although there were some good reveals at the end that I did not see coming, I did think it took a long time to get to them. This book was a bit repetitious at times and could have been a little shorter in my opinion. I also would classify this book as a domestic drama instead of a thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was the first book I've read by Sandie Jones and I was impressed! I loved this book throughout and the characters as well. The ending was a bit off to me as I felt like I needed more!

I didn't love this as much as I wanted to. I found it a bit too much of a slow burn for me. Plus the characters were all unlikeable.

I didn't finish this book on NetGalley before it expired. I felt guilty about that and borrowed a physical copy from a friend and I muddled through.

I loved the premise of the book and the descriptions of the wedding venue in Portugal.

Perhaps I was expecting it to be like the Guest List and I was disappointed that it wasn't and perhaps that was unfair.
If you enjoy a slow burn and mostly unlikable characters (which can be fun at times to read about people you can't stand) then I would give this one a chance.

The Guilt Trip had an interesting premise, I just found that I couldn't totally connect with the characters and plotline. I have enjoyed Sandie Jones writing in the past but struggled with feeling invested with the storyline. I found myself wishing for the characters to be a bit more layered and would have liked for more of the plot themes to be flushed out. I think I was just in the space of wanting a bit more overall so this ended up being a bit of a letdown for me.

Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

"The Guilt Trip", by Sandie Jones, is based on three couples: about-to-be-married Will and Ali, and married couples Jack and Rachel and Noah and Paige. As they spend the week together leading up to the wedding, a number of secrets are revealed and eery relationship is threatened. This book had many twists and turns which were very surprising and kept me reading. However, it got confusing at times to decide who to believe and to keep the couples separate in my mind. I also had a hard time really enjoying the characters or finding anyone to root for.

Overall, I enjoyed the mystery/thriller aspect of this book, even if I didn't enjoy the emotional/psychological aspects. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was my first Sandie Jones novel and I have to say she does not disappoint. In this thriller of a novel a group of friends travel for a wedding and as the weekend progresses, secrets and desires come to light. The characters dish out a huge amount of back handed compliments and digs at each other which allow the reader to have serious doubts about the "friendships" portrayed.

As the book progresses, you are not sure which character to believe and who is telling straight up lies. The ending is a bit shocking, but all in all this is a fantastic story. Thank you to NetGally and St. Martin Publishing for a copy of this novel.

SO GOOD! Wild, twisty, the best kind of unlikeable characters. I truly went thinking a whole different direction until the truth was revealed, which is rare for me.

3.5 stars

This was a captivating and engaging book - you definitely don't want to be away from the story for long because you really get invested quickly on what is going on and what happened.

However, for me, I disliked Rachel so much that it clouded the story a bit for me.

The twists and turns are well done and thought out and kept me in the story despite hoping that Rachel would fall off a cliff. ;).

Overall it's an entertaining read but not my most favorite of the year.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Love, love, love The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones. I admit that I thought I knew what was going on right from the start. The reality is, I had NO FLIPPING IDEA what was going on, and my own conclusions we so very wrong. I love a book like that. It kept me hanging on and flipping the pages from beginning to end. There was no character that really annoyed me, and I could honestly relate to them all, which was kind of strange. But this was such a well-done book, and it exposed me to a bit of my own unconscious bias' and helped to teach me that I'm not always right, and I can still be surprised about something or someone.

A fabulous destination wedding will bring together 3 couples for a weekend they will never forget. Noah and Paige, Rachel and Jack, Allie and Will, friends and soon to be family find themselves sharing more than just a future together. Long buried secrets and new truths soon come to light as Paige and Rachel, best of friends, become suspicious of Allie's behavior. Is Allie after her fiancé's (Will) brother (Jack)? As Rachel begins to question everyone and everything around her, her own secrets begin to surface and soon, it's hard to know who's telling the truth.

This book had a slow start for me but after picking it up as an audiobook it soon picked up speed and intrigue. As Rachel begins to understand what's going on right under her nose, it was hard to put it down. There were plenty of surprises in the end. It would be great to hear from the other characters perspectives.

3.5 stars.

The Guilt Trip is a mixed bag. The writing is good and the pacing is solid, but the characters are terribly unlikable and the plot seriously jumps the shark. I'd call this one a guilty pleasure. I'm not mad at it, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for either. I enjoyed reading it, but certainly wasn't blown away. That being said, I'd still read another Sandie Jones book in the future.

The setup for the plot in the beginning is a little hazy. Two couples are invited to a wedding. For one couple, the invitation makes sense...the husband is the brother of the groom. The other couple? They're best friends of the first, but barely know the couple getting married. Their reasoning for being invited to (and attending) this destination wedding in Portugal is a bit illogical.

The characters are written and developed well, but nearly all of them are just whiny and entitled. The only one I think I liked at all was Noah, and even then...he wasn't exactly white knight material either. There is just a LOT of dysfunction at play. The narration enhanced this feeling of irritation. The female characters all sounded very similar and the intonation was a bit of a grating pitch. I really didn't have anyone to root for, so it was more just waiting for the implosion and watching the chaos ensue.

The plot does move at a pretty good clip and there are a lot of little setup pieces along the way that make sense, but also provide for some minor twists and turns. I did figure out one of the major twists, but it still had a good bit of tension to it and worked well. And then...the ending. Oh boy. Hold on to your seats because there was suspension of belief working here. Things may have been a little crazy up to this point, but then it went full on left turn. It wasn't believable, but it was fun...I'll give it that.

TLDR: Enjoyable, fast read with unlikable characters and a crazy ending that will have you somewhere between rolling your eyes and rolling on the floor.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel/audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

3.5 ✨This books had LOTS of drama! There was something that kept drawing me back to the book when I wasn’t reading it, but it took a loooooong time getting to where it was going. The end did surprise me in a way, but I felt like most of the action was at the very last minute. It was mostly a drama uncovering dirty little secrets about a group of people as you read it. Not bad, just not what I was expecting. Still a good read though!

This book kept my interest, and I did like the premise - three couples travel to a destination cliff-side wedding, and secrets are spilled - but it just took too long for the story to build. All the action was in the last 10% of the book, and it happened too quickly. And then the short epilogue that's meant to make you question everything you just read? I don't know - those just don't do it for me. Overall, a decent read, but it's not one I'll be recommending to friends who ask for a good thriller.

Is about a Destination wedding that goes wrong. I think I might have read something like this before. Some of the characters I didn’t connect with but besides that it’s a really good novel.

This book started out promising and I was really enjoying it but then it just got tedious. That’s the word that kept coming to mind. Too many love triangles or suspected triangles. For me, there were too many tangled story lines and it was hard to stay focused. At one point I was just tired of it and put it aside but then picked up a couple of weeks later. It ended as it began so there was some redemption.

The Guilt Trip is another thriller with cheating spouses and miscommunication tropes that leads to an outlandish ending. Be prepared to suspend some disbelief with this one, especially when it comes to the last few chapters.

The characters are all incredibly unlikable and right away, the lead protagonist, Rachel, jumps to the conclusion that her husband is cheating on her with his soon to be sister-in-law. The couples are away on a destination wedding and Rachel let's her mind run amuck, drawing conclusions from the smallest suspicions.

I found this one predictable and lack luster. I wasn't a huge fan of Jones' The Other Woman, but I thought The First Mistake was decent. I've come to the conclusion that her writing just isn't for me.

If you are new to thrillers and this genre, I could see you enjoying aspects of the story.

The title of this book could not be more perfect! I'm not quite sure that anyone in Guilt Trip escaped my suspicion of guilt at any particular point. This story is an example of how wrong a wedding could go and that you never know what secrets those close to you are keeping or how dangerous those secrets could become.

The drama was a little unoriginal in the beginning but I would argue that it got better throughout the book. I really enjoyed all the twists and I enjoyed seeing everything play out in the end. The story kinda reminded me of The Guest List by Lucy Foley but I definitely enjoyed this book more.