I really enjoyed listening to this book. Narration is always a big factor in whether I will listen to the end and this narration was outstanding. The story unfolds with the approach of a wedding taking place with some of the wedding guests questioning the acceptability of the bride. Is she over the top immature, someone of little substance or is there more to her than meets the eye? The character development/reveal of each of the players has great flow and the story is rewarded with an outcome that we would all like to see happen more often in real life.

Will and Ali plan a destination wedding. Jack (Will’s brother) and Rachel attend along with their friends Noah and Paige. Once they arrive, secrets and lies start to unfold, altering everyone’s life.

To me, this book read more like a soapy drama. The book's first half airs dirty laundry, secrets, lies, assumptions, and cover-ups. All of this, I actually enjoyed. In the second half, after all the built-up, the twist felt underwhelming. Then, the epilogue twisted in another direction that felt disingenuous to the story. My expectations were high with the fabulous cover, and I was hoping for The Guest List vibes. Unfortunately, this book was a bit lackluster with too much drama and not enough mystery or thrills.

I really liked the narrator Clare Corbett for this book. She was enjoyable to listen to! Once I started it was hard to stop. I always enjoy Sandie Jones books even when her characters can be a little hard to like.

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones is a thrilling tale of love, love lost, long lost love and deceitful love. From the moment you start this book you are wrapped up in the world of Rachel, her husband Jack, her best friend Noah and his wife Paige as they embark on a trip to Portugal to celebrate Jack’s brother, Will, and fiancé Ali’s wedding. As we get to know the three couples we find that their past has not been kept in the past and is still haunting them in the present.

The narrator did an amazing job telling the story from each characters’ POV. I would definitely recommend the audiobook if preferred. .
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sandie Jones found the formula for the perfect domestic thriller for me.

I find a lot of domestic thrillers are all the same (somebody is gaslighting someone else but has the rest of the world fooled) but this is not that.

I’ve said before that I like books that focus a lot on the platonic friendships between female characters and this book definitely gives you that with the romantic relationship suspense as well.

The setting was fun, the pacing was good, The characters were interesting.
If you’ve enjoyed any of Sandie Jones books in the past or you are just looking for a good summer suspense read check this out!
I recommend this one on audio! It was done really well!

This story is full of unlikeable characters, backstabbing drama, and a whole lot of unreliability. While the overarching storyline was good, I found it hard to keep up with the number of characters and all of their sordid secrets. There was literally no one to root for, and it was hard to feel invested in the outcome.

This review is for the audiobook version. It has 1 narrator, Clare Corbett and i really enjoyed her.
So in the very beginning I was hooked! There's lots of domestic drama & juicy history. I just felt it went on to be a little repetitive. There were a couple key points that we heard about over & over.. & i found it even harder to digest that's its all just coming to a head now, although these relationships have been going on for 20 years. There was also meant to be some confusion on who to trust... But i never bit. (about 1 character specifically.) So that left me reading 1 obvious red herring after another.
It certainly wasn't my favorite by this author, but i did enjoy the end. I wasn't at all what i was expecting & after coasting through much of the book, i certainly starting paying attention than! All in all for me I'd say it's a 2.5/3, right down the middle.. & even though it wasn't a perfect fit, I'll still be quick to pick up the next 1 by Sandie Jones.
Thanks to Macmillan audio and Netgalley for the advanced listener copy in exchange for an honest review.

Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones has a little drama and mystery with lots of secrets. Clare Corbett did an excellent job as narrator. Five long time friends, four with secrets that could change their worlds, attend the destination wedding of the fifth. There is a lot of jealousy, guilt and jumping to conclusions that causes it all to erupt at the wedding.

Honestly, this began kind of slowly. I had a really hard time getting into it. As the end of the story progressed I found myself more and more interested, until I couldn’t put it down! All the minuet details I found tedious at the beginning tied up nicely to weave a suspenseful story.

I was enthralled with this book. The blurb mentions a dead body, but you are over 80% of the way through the book before that body appears. Typically, I dislike blurbs that give away too much/things that don't happen in the first couple chapters, but this time it was perfect. I spent the first 75% of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop as we watch a group of 6 friends staying together in a villa drop hints of a tangled web that they have woven over the years. Because of the anticipation and the amount of conversational interchanges shared, at times I had to shake my head when I paused my reading to reassociate with the world around me as it felt that I was in these conversations right alongside them.

Finally, I listened to this as an audiobook. I am not one to frequently read fiction on audio, but after listening to Clare Corbett's narration, I will definitely try to do so more often and to search out books she narrates. I thoroughly enjoyed her narration and the changes in characters speaking were very easy to follow without her seeming to have "put upon" voices.

I really enjoyed listening to The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones. The narrator did a fantastic job of giving each character their own voice, slightly altering the accents and tone for each person. I'll be looking for additional books she's narrated!

This is the story of three couples who spend a few days at a picturesque Portuguese villa to celebrate Ali and Will's upcoming nuptials. It's told primarily from Rachel's point of view; she and her husband Jack (Will's brother) are looking forward to a relaxing time away. Rachel's old friend Noah is married to Paige (her current best friend), rounding out the group. through the days leading up to the wedding, I constantly wondered who was telling the truth about certain situations, and well as how Rachel and Paige would handle the information coming to light. I kept guessing until the last chapter!!

I was hearing about this book a lot and decided to grab it on audio while it was available. I wanted to like it, and I get why people did. The writing is engaging, the drama is high, and the narrator is a great actor. I really did not like how overly skeptical the main character was of her spouse without explanation for why she would be that way. The only plausible explanation that I think could have been developed further is the fact that the main character has her own doubts based on her own actions. As written, I found her to be so dense and could have stood up for herself better instead of jumping to so many conclusions. I did enjoy that there were unreliable secondary characters, making for great twists and unpredictable outcome.

Everyone's dream getaway set in a mystery! Three couples meet up at a luxury villa abroad to participate and attend the wedding of one of the couples. The plan was to spend time celebrating the nuptials and getting to know the wife to be, but what ensues is long hidden secrets are revealed about the friends.

I really enjoyed the descriptions used to illustrate the settings and the mysterious hints that were strategically planted throughout. Sometimes I felt like some secrets were predictable, but later found I was wrong. Some characters go from being annoying to lovable, naive to heroic, passive to steadfast. This was an enjoyable ride for me!

A group of long time friends travels to Portugal for a destination wedding. In the process we find they all are lying about something, secrets start to come out, and things get very out of hand.

The prologue starts out hinting at a death and I was invested from that moment. This one is a reaaallly slow burn - that death doesn’t actually happen until almost the very end. Some of the secrets were easy to guess but some were very surprising. This was a fun summer thriller!

I started the audio of this and really struggled to listen. The audiobook did not work for me but the ebook was much better!

This is my first book by Sandie Jones and I am not sure if her style is for me. This book gave some Guest List vibes but there was no real suspense and the entire story dragged. The main character was just too dumb too really care about. But! The ending was pretty crazy. I appreciated the suspense there but I felt like it was a long time coming. The narrator definitely kept me hooked though.

Really intense thriller with an unexpected and exciting dénouement. The characters and relationships are complex and well fleshed out by the author. Definitely would recommend to thriller fans.

Ali and Will are having a wedding in Portugal and only forty others are invited: Will's brother Jack and his wife Rachel and Rachel's best friend Paige and her husband Noah. Ali is the "new" kid on the block because the other five have known each other a long time. Ali isn't well-liked/accepted by anyone except, of course, Will. So they all go to Portugal with reservations.

The scenery described of Nazare, Portugal, a gorgeous beach with a cliff view was breathtaking. It certainly made me want to see it in person. There was so much drama during the weekend wedding trip! OMG! Every person there with perhaps one exception had deep, dark secrets that were about to come to light. Eventually no one knew who to trust about things that were unfolding and who was telling lies or truth.

I liked the story overall but what I thought about the drama was that it was not completely realistic. That is obviously just my opinion, but for me it was a bit over the top. Otherwise I really liked it.

I had both the ebook and audio version (thanks to NetGalley) and I thought the narrator Clare Corbett did an excellent job and the pacing was really good. I was able to understand her accent and I tend to have a hard time with accents, so I was thankful for that.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an audiobook in exchange for my opinion, which is mine alone.

This was a bit slow to start for me but I ended up loving it. I didn't like any of the characters or care what happened to them so, how did this end up with 5 stars? The way I was lead to believe one thing and feel a certain way but ended up being totally wrong made for a great read.
6 friends / family travel to Portugal for the destination wedding of annoying Ali and Will. There are a few stories going on behind the scenes w/ unrequited past love and possible current affairs but with who? All these secrets come to light on the wedding night. I couldn't decide who to believe and kept changing my mind. All in all this was an entertaining read that I couldn't wait to get back to.
Thanks to Netgalley for this audio preview.

I really enjoyed the narrator but sadly had to DNF this book. It fell flat and was insanely boring. I couldn’t quite figure out what the purpose of the book was or even what genre it was trying to be. I kept finding myself confused on what was happening or going to happen. Overall it frustrated me. Reading is supposed to be fun and entertaining this felt like a job reading this book. I’m sorry for the bad review. I hope to read more books by sandi and hope to enjoy her next book more. Thank you for this gifted copy.

The Guilt Trip
Sandie Jones
What a book!
From the beginning of this tale, I could sense something was off about Ali. Rachel, Jack, Noah, Paige and Ali were at the airport preparing to fly to Portugal for Ali’s wedding. Ali and Jack had to return to the car to look for her passport. Ali seemed a bit flighty, reckless, silly, a phony, ditzy and yet a happy bride to be. She is engaged to Jack’s brother Will. Jack makes it clear he doesn’t like Ali. Rachel was Ali’s unwavering supporter until she begins to suspect Ali is having an affair with Jack.
The three couples are staying at a picturesque lodge perched on a cliff overlooking a beach. These people give friendship a whole new meaning. This story is told through Rachel’s point of view. There is suspicion, stress, tension, woven all through this tale. Who is cheating? Who isn’t cheating? Who has deep dark secrets?
The individuals: Rachel: studied to be a teacher but ended up being a stay-at-home mom. She is married to Jack, they have one child, Josh. She has been Noah’s best friend since they entered college. She is also very naïve. Jack: Will’s brother, Rachel’s husband and worked with Ali. Noah: Rachel’s best friend, married to Paige and only tolerates Jack. Paige: An attorney married to Noah, friends with Rachel, seems to interrogate and intimidate everyone. Ali: there is more to Ali than you see on the surface.
The couples: Rachel and Noah have been best friends for years (yes, I am stressing the fact); they seemed like a match made in heaven, but they ended up married to other people. Noah is married to Paige. Rachel and Paige are best girlfriends. Noah and Jack endure each other. Will has been a worldwide traveler but has decided to settle down with stunning, fresh, gorgeous, overawing Ali. Jack and Ali once worked together. As you can tell all three couples are interconnected. Six people all with secrets and all very unlikeable!
Now that we know who everyone is on with the story. From the beginning it is obvious that Rachel is deeply in love with Noah. It is also obvious that Jack is having an affair but with who? At first, I didn’t like Ali but she had some redeeming qualities in the second half of the book. The ending is unusual, especially the last few pages.
There are several references to one of my favorite movies “Dirty Dancing.”
Nothing is as it seems. There is so much more I want to say about this book, but it would mean giving too much away.
This is a must-read book! Rush to your favorite bookstore and get a copy. I promise you won’t be sorry. Author Sandie Jones is brilliant!