Slow start but twisty fun! Doesn’t require a lot of brain power, so this would make a great weekend/pool/beach read.

Read my full review here: http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-club.html

When the world seems to be getting the best of me, I often turn to mysteries or thrillers, because they are engrossing, and because my cares seem insignificant in comparison to what is happening in the mystery.

Such is the case with The Club, written by a London-based husband and wife team, who write under the pseudonym, Ellery Lloyd. “The Club” is really more than just a club, it is a series of resorts owned and operated by Ned Groom with the assistance of his brother Adam. The clubs all have the name “Home” in their titles, and their newest club, Island Home, is opening this weekend. The rich and famous belong to the Home Club, so that wherever they are, they have a luxurious place to stay. Island Home is a spectacular place, off the coast of England, and its three-day launch party is going to be spectacular as far as the owners and the guests are concerned.

But as we find out, The Club is not filled with nice people. The plot emerges through the point of view of several employees—Adam, Annie, Jess, and Nikki. Several of the guests are profiled as well, although as their names piled up, it was somewhat difficult to tell them all apart. I had to stop and think: Oh yeah, he’s the TV host, or she’s the actress with the little girl, etc. The point, however, is that everyone has something to hide, and a lot of people are going to die.

The structure of The Club is novel in itself, wavering as it does between what is actually going on and the POV of each of the main actors. The setting is exceptional, the characters are interesting, and the plot twists are breathtaking. It was exactly what I needed to take me away from my own particular setting and cast of characters.

The Bookreporter review says that The Club is: “Perfect for readers of twisty novels and star-studded casts, THE CLUB is a glitzy, glamorous thriller with a dark and deadly mystery at its heart. If you’re ready for an escape from domestic suspense, plan your next trip to Island Home.”

I was reminded of another mystery I read that was set on an island in the British Isles, The Guest List by Lucy Foley. And then, last night, I watched a couple episodes of Inventing Anna on Netflix, which is the story of a real-life scammer, Anna Sorokin, who posed as a rich German heiress and conned many of New York’s rich and famous. She would definitely have been a guest at one of the Home Clubs, or have been working in cahoots with Ned Groom.

I am always curious about people who write books as a team, such as the team that writes as Ellery Lloyd. Ellery Lloyd is the pseudonym for the London-based husband-and-wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. Collette is a journalist and editor, the former content director of Elle (UK), and editorial director at Soho House. She has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and the Sunday Times. Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day Is Like Sunday. He is the subject leader for English literature, film, and creative writing at the University of Surrey. They have one other novel written together, People Like Her.
I also have to mention that The Club is Reese Witherspoon’s book club pick for March, 2022.

I love a good murder mystery & this one did not disappoint. It was easy to follow; kept me wanting to turn the page to see what else would happen. I’ll be recommending this one to all of my friends who love murder mysteries as much as I do!!

Actually a 3.5. Lots of twists and turns, many storylines, and interesting/eccentric characters.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58536005

The Club starts off with suspense right from the beginning. The plot understandably slows, but then picks up again the second half of the book. Overall, this is a satisfying read that would be good for those interested in the Hollywood elite or exclusive clubs. A lot of description goes into the writing and backstory of The Home Club.

I rate this book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. I had a difficult time connecting with any of the characters, except for maybe one. This book is told from multiple perspectives, and it was difficult to keep track of all the characters, especially the first half of the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for and honest review.

The open of Island Home is posed to be the biggest lunch yet. It will certainly be the most notorious. The Island Home staff has every thing perfect. They were not anticipating the dead bodies.


A twisty, locked-room thriller in the vein of Lucy Foley about an elite celebrity club, its clientele’s devastating secrets, and the length people will go to keep them.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, but once buckled in it’s quite a wild ride full of lies, deceit, and deception that you’d love to read on Page 6.

I wanted to love this so bad, but I was not engaged at all. All I know is basics about each character - Nikki is Ned's assistant; Kyra is Lyra's mom and wasn't invited to this party. There's no connection to anyone, nobody is very interesting, and a lot of it feels like repetitive description. This book cover, the book premise, it's all so good. But this is just not working for me.

I did not like this book. I hated the characters (and not in a good way) and just found it a struggle to care enough to keep reading.

I don't really have anything negative or positive to say about this book. It was fine but not noteworthy. There's nothing that happens that's all that shocking, thrilling, or interesting.

If you love celebrity drama and scandals, this book is for you! This book did have SO MANY CHARACTERS and I had a really hard time keeping them straight. There wasn't a full cast for audio so I caught myself multiple times wondering which character the chapter was about. Literally every character sucks and is very unlikable.

Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for a copy of this book!

A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK - when the front page shows this, I am always curious. I read a few of Reese's picks and was not thrilled with any of them. I think we have different tastes or it's a name only endorsement. Either way the published price is $13.99 for Kindle. It is not worth it.

The book has a full cast of characters that are nothing alike. No commonality in any of them. So this should have made for a good story. It is wordy, long and way too descriptive. Island Home is an exclusive resort, we hear this over and over. The main characters are Ned, his brother Adam, Ned’s PA, Nikki, and Annie. I thought Annie taking care of memberships would have held promise, but nah. The guests are what you would think, self centered vain idiots. Ultimately, I didn't latch on to one that was a favorite.

The alternating chapter/character POV was sort of ok, It is a lose take on Ten Little Indians with well known celebs, in different ways, then bodies rack up. It is all too ridiculous to grab the reader and want to finish. I stuck it out and was basically unimpressed. I do love a good mystery but this missed the mark. Things did not happen until around 55% and even then, they were not jaw dropping.

I am thankful for the chance to read and review.

Thank you to Harper publishing for gifting me an eARC of this book to review via NetGalley. This is a book about fictional celebrities, and part of it could be that I'm not super into celebrity culture in real life, but for the first half of the book, as the characters were being introduced, I couldn't really get into it. The second half did pick up quite a bit, and was definitely suspenseful, but it took too long to get there to make it a strong thriller, in my opinion.

I’m having a hard time getting into The Club by Ellery Lloyd and actually wanting to read it. I’m still early in yet but feel that I’m just to confused and just feel like there’s to much going on/to much description. I’m going to have to put this one on hold for now and maybe come back at a later time and try again.

I wanted to love this, the premise sounds SO good! I just couldn't get into it. It's a launch party at a private island resort where rich people are behaving badly. Lots of characters that were difficult to keep tabs on and lots of details that didn't seem important to the story.

A private party for members’ only event is held for the elite. An elusive island is bought and transformed into a luxury home, “The Home Group”. As people arrive for the opening the plot thickens. Get an exclusive behind the scenes look when secrets are spilled.
I enjoyed the magazine articles throughout the story. An entertaining murder mystery is upon you! Are you ready for the challenge?
Thank you @netgalley, @ellerylloyd,
#harper, #netgalley, #ellerylloyd, #bookstagram, #booksconnectus, #bookreview, #stamperlady50

Just an enjoyable read! Love the descriptions of the different locations, the customer service of this exclusive club and amenities offered to their top-tier clients. I always enjoy books from different points of view and this one was told from five, but the narrative device works. Each character was interesting with intriguing motives and the mystery had me guessing until the end. I would read a follow up book told from another one of the properties.

This book kept me guessing up until the very end! Who's alive, who's dead? Who's innocent, who's guilty? Heck, HOW MANY ARE DEAD? I never knew!

While I did love the idea behind the story, it was a bit slow in parts. There was a lot of description of the island and the club itself, which got redundant and didn't seem totally necessary. Also, a few of the characters seemed hard to keep straight.

I loved the the setting, the characters and how their lives intertwined, or didn't. I haven't read many thrillers with mainly rich, snobby characters until now, and I loved how extravagant they, and their surroundings, were.

This is hard for me to rate. There were parts I loved and parts I....didn't love. It isn't terrible but it isn't amazing either.

The Club is the story of Home, a group of exclusive clubs for the wealthy, mostly celebrities. The story takes place over 4 days at the opening party for the newest Home: Island Home. Super remote and super exclusive.

Told in Third Person POV from 4 different characters, with each "chapter" being a day/ time (for example Thursday Evening, Friday Morning, Saturday Afternoon, etc) made for very long chapters; which would have been fine had they not dragged at parts.

There is a TON of backstory that I wouldn't call 100% completely necessary at times, and found myself thoroughly bored and skimming through parts, not everything but a bunch. The murder mystery is solid. There were a few "thrilling" moments. Several twists, some easier to guess/ anticipate than others.

Overall, slower at the beginning but there's a solid mystery, and your attention is grabbed from the very beginning.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC copy to read and review.

—t h e c l u b—⁣
If you went on vacation where your current read is set, how would it be? ⁣
—⁣
The Club explores a taut murder mystery on a remote island off the British coast where an exclusive celebrities only club is getting ready to launch. The book follows multiple employee perspectives (the housekeeper, the membership coordinator, the personal assistant, and the brother of the head honcho). The thing is, everyone has a secret (or many) and it is never abundantly clear who is dead at the end of the weekend, much less who is culpable. ⁣
—⁣
The chapters alternate perspectives and integrate media excerpts like articles, interviews, and blog posts which adds to the allure. The book is a lot of fun and really kept me guessing. The twists are multi-layered and the characters were highly flawed but still kept me engaged. ⁣
—⁣
In all, this was a fun one and a bit of a wild ride. Thanks to @netgalley and @harper for the chance to read this. The Club is out now! ⁣
—⁣
#reviewsneedlovetoo #bookreview

The Club is an exclusive resort run by Ned Groom. His brother, Adam Groom, owns a small stake in the company, which they call HOME. They are planning to open a new resort and anyone who is anyone is invited to attend. It is an exclusive invitation. The staff includes Annie, Nikki, and Jess.
When the high profile guests are summoned to a dinner by Ned, they are told of a proposal - which is more of an ultimatum. When bodies start turning up, the party of the year has turned into the murder of the decade!
This is a tale of excess, of secrets, of blackmail, and of revenge.
I thought the story was slow to start, but then picked up. Once you understood what the guests and the staff were hiding, the story became much more interesting. Yet, none of these people were likeable!
Be careful what you wish for - is it really great to be a celebrity and have your life on view 24/7? Who can you trust with your secrets? Does everyone have an ulterior motive?
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC, all opinions are my own and freely given.

Thank you so much to Harper Books and Netgalley for my digital ARC of Ellery Lloyd’s book The Club. When I saw it was Reese’s book club pick for March, I knew I had to read it. I always love her book picks, and I had read their previous book and enjoyed it. Overall this book was great. Juicy, thrilling, mysterious, dark, twisty. I really liked how the storyline was all over the place. Switching between characters and timelines, it made it just confusing enough, so I could follow along, but not figure everything out. There was so much going on and I thought it may not wrap up but every story line wrapped up nicely. Excited to see what they come out with next.