Lizzie has just been promoted to Project Manager at her firm. At university, she studied art and is a talented artist. However, she has yet to try and go out on her own as a artist. Lizzie has a small cottage of her own and has a crush on her co-worker, Dean.

Lizzie’s, friend, Marie has just gotten engaged and everyone is happy for her. However, she drinks too much. Lizzie has offered for her to stay at her cottage on the nights that she is too drunk to go home. Rebecca, another co-worker, seems to be depressed and Lizzie is worried about her.

The office Christmas party was held at a nice location which included dinner, dancing and an open bar. When they all have too much to drink, some secrets come out and Lizzie calls her Mom to take her home. But that night, Marie has offered to drive Rebecca home. Marie has had too much to drink, but drives anyway, resulting in an accident. But, then Rebecca goes missing, and no one knows where she has gone. When the police get involved, things get scary.

This book was just so depressing. It’s about unrequited love, lots of alcohol and even more rain. I did not care for any of the characters and felt the plot just dragged. All I can say is I’m glad to have reached the ending.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Wow, Georgina Lees can deliver fantastic psychological thrillers, indeed she can!

This one is packed with relatable, but mostly unlikable characters, a great, unusual plot and the most unexpected, unforseen ending you would ever think of (and which I had to read twice just to be sure it was really ending that way).

This is the second book I read by this author and I will recommend both to anyone!

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

Lizzie's life is stagnating. She still lives in her hometown, & works a job she doesn't like all that much instead of pursuing an art career. One major reason for this is that she has been in love with work colleague, Dean, for three years. Lizzie has never told Dean how she feels but, after all the lingering gazes between them, she wonders if he feels the same. When she is basically goaded into applying for a job in London, she realises that now is the time before it's too late.

On the night of their work's Christmas party, they go out into the garden where Dean confesses his love.......for someone else, other work colleague, Rebecca. Apparently they have been dating for a year & Lizzie had no idea & feels humiliated & ends up leaving early, claiming illness. The next day, two police officers turn up to question Lizzie about the party as it seems that Rebecca never made it home afterwards & no-one knows where she is or what has happened to her.

From the synopsis I thought it was going to be a taut thriller where the main character fights to clear their name, but instead, Lizzie goes all Nancy Drew & decides she is better placed than the police to find Rebecca & work out what happened. In fact most of what she does is chase after/call Dean to find out what's going on. It gets very repetitive & very boring very fast. It's obvious the detective is attracted to her but really, would any police officer have a drink in the local pub with someone who is involved in the case they are investigating? Not if they want to keep their job I would have thought.

The main character is so much in Dean's thrall that it's slightly embarrassing to read about it. Her mother is almost smothering in her attention, & as for Dean - I think most of us have met a Dean sometime or another. The kind of person that has no qualms in taking advantage of the feelings of the woman who has a crush on them & yet viewing her as pathetic for having those feelings. Everyone else was quite thinly drawn, even the detective investigating the case seemed a rather shadowy figure. It's a bit of a shame as the author can definitely write well but this is not a great book. Finally, I hated the ending. 2.5 stars (rounded up)

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

- This book started out so well with a lot of angsty inner dialogue from the main character, and then with what happens after the party.
- I honestly had a hard time in the middle as there was a lot of back and forth internally from the main character, and her own amateur sleuthing didn’t really seem to turn up a lot of information that was of the shock level value that I would usually associate with a thriller type novel.
- I skimmed some parts in the middle and was a little bit bored here and there, lots of getting tea, bed, going to and from a bar, etc.
- Towards the end things started moving much more quickly, and I didn’t see the ‘who did it’ coming, however, I wish there was more reason behind why the person did it (or that I was at least a bit more bought into the motive).

Lots of twists and turns. Did she do it or did she not. Love can blind you and sometimes seeing the big picture is too much. A love triangle and a girl who will do anything to be loved by a man who loves another. A really good read full of drama, friends and family with a lot of advice and past judgements. Just how far is too far?

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

A tense read with a fair amount of twists. A disappearance, a scorned lover and deception: an explosive mix which is unfortunately spoiled by a very predictable ending. Still very entertaining!

I really found this one hard to read. The first half was good but then it started to go down hill from there! The characters were odd and really unlikeable so ended up not really caring what happened to them.

“He should have picked me, but he didn’t.”

This mystery set in a cozy village will keep you guessing until the very end.

Lizzie wants to be an artist but she’s insecure and has things tying her to her village like her family and her love for a coworker, Dean. She is starting to think he likes her back but after an embarrassing little guessing game at the office Xmas party, finds out it’s another woman from work.

The only thing worse than finding that out comes a few days later when lo and behold, that girl is missing. Who knows what happened? She is a bit of a drunk so it stands to reason she ran off or hurt herself by accident. But the cops are looking at the people in her life. Who did this and why? Will it bring her closer to getting what she wants or taking it away forever?

This was a fun and quick read and I liked the village setting but I didn’t love the twists, they were a bit outrageous for me, and I never really felt a connection between the characters. The chemistry wasn’t there and their unrealistic actions made it hard to get to know them or speculate on how they could possibly behave. It’s not that serious though and it was interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review!

Why any of these women love this guy Dean is more of a mystery than the actual story. Just all unlikeable people, the story itself was just ok.

The description of this book sounded very good but I'm sorry that , in my opinion, it didnt live up to it. I just couldn't get in to the story. Sorry this one isn't for me, but thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC

Thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
This is the first book I have read by this author.
Lizzie is secretly in love with Dean her work colleague, though perhaps the only person who doesn’t know is Dean.
The title suggests the story will revolve around or after the party, however the party scene never really got started.
Rebecca, another work colleague is missing after the party. Lizzie learns that Rebecca and Dean have been having a secret relationship for a year, this doesn’t stop Lizzie from continuing to offer her support to Dean and searching for Rebecca. Lizzie’s other work friend and so called best friend was also secretly seeing Dean, so there is a lot going on.
I didn’t like any of the 3 woman or Dean, the story is slow and the ending was very disappointing..
I would though read another book from this author.

I keep losing half my beauty sleep because of Georgina Lees. Her writing is just too damn good! And once one has started the book there is no putting it down until the very end, even if the witching hour has been and gone.
I love the intensity of the plotting, the slow burning of desire that comes before the party. And after the party there is the claustrophobic darkness of a small Norfolk village unable to understand the tragedy that engulfs it. Love, secrets and lies, revealed amidst a maze of clever twists and turns.
Unforgettable!

I read this book in one day - the writing was good and Lizzie was an interesting character but she didn't seem to be very resilient. She spends 3 years in love with Dean. They are good friends - when it suits him - but she puts her life on hold waiting for him to move their relationship on. Dean I don't like so much - I got the definite impression that he was a user. Lizzie's friend, Marie, tries to encourage Lizzie to expand her horizons and make use of her artistic flair. It is because of her that Lizzie tries to move away from the village she has lived in all her life. And then there is Lizzie's Mum - she is so selfish and is determined to keep Lizzie tied to her apron strings - it is an unhealthy relationship.
Add to this that a colleague and friend, Rebecca, disappears after the christmas party and the story takes off.
Three and a half stars for me because I wanted Lizzie to move on.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Georgina Lees/HarperCollins UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Lizzie, torn between remaining in her hometown in the hopes that her crush, Dean, will finally declare his love for her and pursuing her dream career in London, attends a work party which ends with an upsetting revelation and later becomes the target of a police investigation following a mysterious disappearance. Though the main protagonist is a bit annoying and there is far too much signalling in terms of the perpetrator making this predictable, it's well-written, atmospheric and entertaining. Also the outcome right at the end I didn't expect. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers for giving me an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the authors writing style and the way the setting of the book was described, the author has a beautiful way with words. Unfortunately, the plot was slow and repetitive, and there was not one character I was invested in. I feel that the book was far too long for the story it told and I found myself not caring about the conclusion (I’d guessed by the half way point how it would end…). Thank you for the copy in exchange for a review.

Whilst Georgina Lees has a terrific skill for writing, keeping a fantastic level of tension, claustrophobia and unease throughout the story, I’m afraid that was the only thing that kept me going with After the Party.

The story centres around Lizzie, who is a talented artist but has always held herself back from pursuing her dreams. Feeling trapped in her job and hometown, she has been in love with workmate Dean for years but doesn’t have the confidence to tell him. On the night of the work Christmas party, she plans to come clean just as Dean confesses his love for Rebecca. And then Rebecca disappears…

Sadly the story was just too slow-paced for me and plodded along without much happening. Lizzie I found irritating, Dean unlikeable, Rebecca confusing, and Marie annoying! It was just a bit of a slog to get through.

The reveal towards the end was what I predicted so was disappointing, and the very end was disappointing too just because of my feelings towards the characters.

I would be interested to read more by the author as she is absolutely a great writer, this just wasn’t the story for me.

From the outset of reading I felt a tension and could not put the book down. A real page turner of a thriller. Many characters appearing to have complex lives of their own which keeps you guessing all the way through. Often taking you in a most unexpected direction. The descriptions of each and every character were excellent and this is a book I would certainly recommend.

Lizzie has been in love with Dean for three years but feels unable to tell him. However, on the night of the office Christmas party she decides all that will change. Except for the fact he has a confession of his own. He's been seeing work colleague Rebecca, the very person who has been encouraging Lizzie to open up and tell Dean how she feels about him . Upset, Lizzie leaves the party early and returns home, waking up the next morning to discover Rebecca has disappeared. Despite her distress at realising her hopes have come to nothing, as Rebecca becomes a missing person and the police are involved, Lizzie is determined to discover what happened to Rebecca.

Written from Lizzie’s viewpoint, the story was very slow to start. Her feelings for Darren seemed to take over her life and made her sound like a love-struck teenager with her first big crush. It wasn't until the night of the Christmas Party that there was some real movement in the plot. On the positive side, there is a great sense of place in both the village where Lizzie lives, and London when she travels for a job interview. The writer’s descriptions gave a real feel of being on city streets or in the depth of the Norfolk countryside. However, it was the characters who for me, let down the story's potential. Lizzie's mother was controlling and a total nightmare. Lizzie herself came across as needy, with seesawing emotions and an inability to let go of Dean, despite all he had done. Her two friends, Rebecca and Marie had very little depth and Dean's behaviour was odd to say the least. The ending was a bit of a surprise too. I can't say too much without giving the plot away, but I simply couldn't see it happening. This would not put me off reading another novel by Georgina Lees, simply that this one did not work for me.
I would like to thank Georgina Lees, Harper Collins and Netgalley for an ARC of After The Party in exchange for an honest review.

Lizzie and Dean work together and she thinks she loves him, and thinks he loves her, and thinks he’ll tell her so. Lizzie thinks a lot; for three years! They spend a lot of time together, sometimes alone, but neither raises the topic. Finally, at the office Christmas Party, he leads her out into the night because he has something important to tell her. He is in love with . . . Rebecca, a colleague, and wants his best friend and adviser Lizzie to be the first to know. Shocked and borderline drunk, Lizzie phones her mother, who come racing over to comfort her and take her home. Saving her from pain as she always does, cossetting her, protecting her. Lizzie could have left their Norfolk village years ago, taken her artistic talent to London, become a free spirit but she’s always held back. She thinks she is staying because she is waiting for Dean to confess his love, but the deeply suppressed reason is much more to do with the security blanket of a mother’s love. When she wakes up next morning, Lizzie’s first thoughts are of Dean. How could she have failed to see his relationship with Rebecca? Her fantasy life is in tatters but she still thinks it will work out, thinks that Dean will realise his mistake. But when she gets back to the office after the weekend, the pattern of her thoughts has to change because Rebecca had stormed out of the party after a big argument with Dean and just disappeared without trace. Lizzie sets out to solve the mystery.
The story is told entirely from Lizzie’s point of view, essentially as a stream of consciousness. Through her thoughts we follow a winding trail, meeting various characters from the village, other colleagues, possible suspects and a potential new love interest in the form of DI Williams, sent from London to head the investigation. This strategy gives the plot some linearity and throws up a few twists, but it also makes it messy. Lizzie is an unreliable narrator, not because she is a potential suspect but because everyone else is coloured by her. Speaking of everyone else, I found it hard to believe in any of them, no one seems to behave sensibly. I also felt there were a number of anomalies in the procedural elements. Without creating any spoilers I’d just like to question the lack of Forensic Science and the fact that Norfolk has a large police force so wouldn’t need a DI sent from London. Potentially this was a good idea, the underlying plot works and the ending will surprise many readers, but I was disappointed.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I found After the Party to be an ok book. It was well written but I found the plot to be slow going and the ending was a bit of a let down. I’m sure others will love this book but it was just middle of the road for me. Thanks to NetGalley, One More Chapter and the author for the chance to review.