I was gripped from the start. Finding your child is missing is a parent’s worst nightmare.
The story kept me intrigued and wanting to know ‘whodunnit’.
I guessed some of the revelations before they happened and knew that at least one of the characters was involved, I just wasn’t sure how.
A must read for fans of crime/ thriller novels.

This was a good listen
I enjoyed the plot and it kept me guessing till nearly the end
My only criticism is there was far too many coincidences which spoilt the story

When a little girl goes missing from her cousin's birthday party, everyone becomes a suspect. The small town where she lives is a nice place where this sort of thing never happens... except in this town everyone has secrets which are all about to be uncovered.

I really enjoyed the first part of the story, as the search for the missing child begins, but as more of the family secrets were unravelled, I felt it began to get a bit silly and over-the-top, particularly with the actions of the missing child's grandmother. I still enjoyed it, but it stretched belief a little too far to make it a really good thriller.

I liked the narrator, she had quite a soft voice which is easy to listen to.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Audio version of this book 📚 Wow what a rollercoaster of a read / listen ! There were so many twists and turns that just kept you guessing. Very well written that bought all the threads of the storyline all to a great conclusion!
The narrator made the story easy to listen too and really bought the characters to life

I really liked the premise of this book and was excited by the first quarter. A 5yr old goes missing from a birthday party... it tugged on my heart strings as a mum, and Charlie was described as a cute little thing! I started to deflate as the police procedural escalated. And the narrator wasn't able to keep my attention so I kept zoning out and missing bits. And some of the twists were unbelievable. I love a twisty domestic thriller but this was just a little too twisty for me.

Although the book started off slow with not very much happening, I still found it a bit difficult to tune in to each of the characters. I'm not sure if this was due to listening to the audiobook where I didn't connect straight away with the narrator or if it was to do with the text itself. However I'm so glad I stuck with it, I was soon immersed in the characters, their stories and secrets, the twists and turns and the big reveal at the end was intense and well thought through. I really enjoyed the book overall and would definitely recommend giving it a go.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my advanced audiobook in return for my honest review.

This is a brilliant book. I couldn't put it down. Its so exciting and thrilling that you find yourself on the edge of your seat, quickly turning the pages wanting to know whats going to happen next.
There were so many unexpected twists and turns it was out of this world. I kept saying out loud NO WAY!! I loved how the author introduced all the characters and how she interconnected them as so you wouldn't expect any one of them as the murderer but one has betrayed there trust but which one? Well thats for you to work out but let's say it was shocking. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator was good. At the start of the audiobook I struggled slightly with the speed of it but soon got used to it without get confused. This book contains that magnificent sense of atmosphere and tension has good thrillers need to get that 5th star. And I loved it. The story-line was amazing having all the unexpected events kept me immersed in the book, hardly coming up for air. The flow of the book was excellent and it really kept my concentration on the book itself. I will definitely be looking out for more titles by this author.
So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for creating this magnificent tension filled, gripping, edge of your seat, page turning thriller.
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, Amazon UK and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-birthday-party-by-wendy-dranfield-bookouture-audio-5-stars
Under either name ladyreading365 or lady Reading365

This book took me a while to get through, as the first half of it felt a bit slow for me, however, the second half was much better for me, and I ended up really enjoying it.

I really liked the character of Kathy, and I found her story interesting. I enjoyed the family side of it all, and the big reveals at the end.

The narrator of the book was great and she had a strong voice, which suited the story.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Netgalley for my audio copy of The Birthday Party. I thoroughly enjoyed the story with it's many twists and turns but I wish that I had read a hard copy because I prefer a narrator to 'read' the book rather than 'act' it. That is to say that I prefer it if they don't give the character's voices because in this case I found the male ones to be just creepy.

I am so glad that I started 2022 with this book - absolutely marvelous!

Kathy Hamilton doesn’t realize that it would be last time she would see Charlotte waving at her and going to attend a birthday party. Charlotte has been looking forward to this party for weeks together, there’s going to be a pony, a clown and lot of other attractions.
By the time the family realizes that Charlotte has disappeared a lot starts to happen – and no one seems to be telling the truth about their whereabouts when Charlotte went missing.
Every character in this book had secrets and when they started unraveling the story moves in a much faster pace – this was a roller coaster ride kind of a book. Every chapter was breath taking.
Thank you BookoutureAudio for the advance audio copy!
#netgalley #bookoutureaudio

The Birthday Party is a somewhat misleading title for this rather gritty mystery thriller. The party itself is just the beginning of a search for a 5-year-old girl who goes missing. I will say little more about the plot as it would give away too many secrets of the resulting investigation and revelations. There are many! It’s a book where I ended up thinking, that is just too many ‘coincidences’, but then what is a novel for but to surprise and entertain, it is not reality! All in all, I enjoyed listening to this book as I had some mundane tasks to complete and it kept me going. However I found the narrators voice and in particular, her intonation, irritating and if I’d had time, I would have preferred to read the novel myself.

I wasn’t sure on this book at first but when I got into it I definitely enjoyed it! I liked the storyline and the twists, even the predictable ones! I appreciated how the story wrapped up in the end.

A 5 year old child goes missing from a family birthday party and nearly everyone is a suspect. Takes some unravelling and some of the story line is a bit unbelievable but after a few twists the truth and the motive is uncovered. I didn't feel the emotion from this main event described in the book, it was more about the bigger picture and the plot. Uncovering truths and connections helped the book flow. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

The Birthday Party By: Wendy Dranfield Narrated by: Sarah Borges. I am somewhat mixed about this audiobook!!! I ended up aborting the audio and went to the book, as I did not like the narrator Sarah Borges. I am glad I did this as the narrator didn't do it justice. especially as I have loved all of Wendy's books she has written.

The Birthday Party had lots twists and turns. with lots of secrets and lies throughout that kept you on your toes till the end Which made this an enjoyable read.

I Highly recommended all of Wendy's books they have been an enjoyable read.

Big Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review

The Birthday Party is tells the story of the disappearance of a young girl. As the investigation into her disappearance progresses, secrets, betrayals and relationships are discovered, making you wonder who really did take Charlie.

I listened to the audiobook version which was well narrated. I found the story gripping, though it did take me a couple of hours to get into it enough that I was actively listening. The audiobook is over 10 hours long so, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t see this as a particularly long time. I very much enjoyed this book and it is extremely likely I will listen to it again (or buy a paperback copy).

Wow… Great sounding blurb that it was a no-brainer to request. Started off at a very slow pace and if I’m honest I did wonder if it was going to be another similar storyline to other others I’ve read but boy how wrong was I! Once it picked up the pace it really got going with some incredible twists and turns along the way. A lot of characters but well written and in such a way you didn’t get confused and you know exactly who was who. Some really likeable characters (talking about you Cash 😜) that you are rooting for but my god 1 in particular if I got my hands on I’d throttle… I’ll leave that one for you to figure out for yourself 😉. The narration was really engaging and the book flowed well. This is definitely one I’d recommend if your looking for something gripping with lots of surprises along the way.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookoutour Audio for the opportunity to listen and review this ARC that was published on the 7th of January 2021.

Stories involving missing children are not my favorite by any means, but I'm glad I requested this one. This book is well written and the Author (new to me) did a good job in revealing small important details throughout, which kept the story interesting.

I either must be getting better at forecasting the reveals, because I did correctly guess a few of the twists, or they were pretty obvious (I'm going with me being smarter for obvious reasons) - some twists were also a little far fetched - but nevertheless, there were still a few surprises for me and I enjoyed the story immensely. Overall, this book is a solid mystery/thriller and I would recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGallery and Bookouture Audio for approving my request - I really enjoyed listening to this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook, the story was heartbreaking in more than one way, but it kept me guessing right till the end and I never guessed the ending!

I have to say the narrator’s voice and accent was really irritating and took away some of the enjoyment for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for letting me review this audiobook.

A young girl goes missing from a birthday party with family. A place she should have been safe. What could have happened and who's hiding the truth.
A very easy audiobook to listen to. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Thank you to Bookouture for letting me take part in this tour and for my copy of this book via Netgalley. I had both the audio and the ebook. I decided to listen to the audiobook version. I love the Maddison Harper series so I was very excited to read this book.

The main character in this book is Kathy. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about Kathy but as the book progressed I felt so sad for her. She has been through so much and for what reason? Well, I won’t spoil that but in my opinion, it wasn’t worth it.

The first half of this book really concentrates on the investigation of missing little Charlie. This was seen from all angles. The family, the press and the police.

The second half really focuses on the why of Charlie’s disappearance. As more and more secrets were revealed it was clear to me that this all could have easily been avoided with the truth. Wendy does a great job keeping the tension and suspense up and the suspicions high. I didn’t trust anyone!

Sarah was an excellent narrator. Her voice reflected the situations and it was easy to tell who was speaking at what points.

I really enjoyed all the twists and turns in this book and I can’t wait for Wendy’s next one.