Holly is going on her “hen” weekend for her upcoming wedding. Five of her friends will be joining her at a secluded cottage with all of the latest amenities to celebrate her upcoming nuptials. Holly is excited to be spending some time away from wedding planning to catch up with her friends. What she doesn’t realize is that every single one of her friends has a secret and it appears that all the secrets will come out this weekend. Friends will become enemies, lies that have been covered for years will make their way to the surface and at the end of the weekend someone will be dead. So much for a relaxing and fun weekend.

This book is told through the narratives of the different characters involved in the story. I really enjoyed how the author used each of the characters and their own secrets to evolve this story. It seems everyone is not who they would appear to be and there were a lot of exciting revelations throughout this book. This was a fun read and while a little overwhelming at times trying to keep up with everyone and their secrets, I found it to be a quick and enjoyable mystery read. I was left wondering who was going to end up dead until the very end and it was a little shocking as I totally did not see that coming.

Overall, this was a great psychological murder mystery where the reader is trying to figure out the mystery when every single character has the motive and opportunity for murder. The ending wasn’t wrapped up in a tidy little bow, but such is life and the author did a great job of making the ending realistic based on the story. I really connected with a few of characters while reading this book, but by the end I really didn’t like any of them, but that was the clear intention of the author. This book really makes you think about whether you really know the people you are friends with and what secrets are they keeping in the dark?

Overall Rating: 4 stars
Author: Victoria Jenkins

Series: N/A

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: May 23, 2022

Pages: 275

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Get It: Amazon

Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review. I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.

This is my 3rd book by this author, and it was just as good, if not better, than the other two! This page turner will keep you on the edge of your seat wanting more! It captured my attention from the first page! Highly recommend!

This was a fast paced book and well plotted. This is a very intense thriller that you won’t be able to put it down filled with plot twists. It’s a quick read and I recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and bookouture for my ARC.

Holly is getting married and before the wedding, has a bachelorette weekend planned with her close girlfriends. One of the girls, Martha, books a fabulous luxury cabin for them to stay and brings enough champagne that they don’t even worry about the impending snowstorm.

I LOVE a “locked in room” type thriller. Once the snow started falling, so did the secrets. Every one of Holly’s friends has something they are not telling her. As the weekend continues, she realizes she can’t trust any of them, and she has to face her own past as well as look to the future. This was a quick, page-turning psychological thriller. Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and Victoria Jenkins for the ARC!

“The Bridesmaids” releases May 23rd. This review will be posted to my Instagram blog (books_by_the_bottle) shortly.

Yep, another bachelorette party getaway with a group of women who have secrets, agendas, and lies. I quite enjoy these group closed room whodunits, so I was excited to get a copy. It was quite difficult at first to keep who was who straight but once secrets started being uncovered it got easier. However, more and more I despised every single woman. To the point I stopped caring as much about what happened in the story. There were some great unexpected twists but they would have been more explosive had the characters not been so atrocious.

This book reads a lot like The Guest List, but The Guest List was done so much better! The reason both felt similar was coz we are in a remote area for someones wedding(in this case its for a hen party) and we know someone has died in the beginning and we go through the entire book getting chapters from past and now and all the characters and finally we come to the chapter where we find out who died.

The reason I didn't like this much was coz all the characters were very unlikable and everything they did was so idiotic(that's the only way to tell it). Also there are books with unlikable characters which you can read but this one I was getting mad with everyone and their idiotic decisions.

Overall if you are looking for a fast paced read with unlikable characters in a remote setting this one is for you:)

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

Always enjoy this authors books and this is no exception - a hen 'do' - a dead body and a web of secrets - but who is the killer? - exciting story with plot twists and turns, another great read from this author

I found this book to be fairly predictable. I also didn't feel as if it was the most well written. The storyline was one I felt like I had read a few times before. There were some twists that I didn't see coming, but overall I felt the book was lacking.

I enjoyed the premise of the book and the whole idea behind it, even the unbelievable parts! But I didn’t gel with any of the characters, I couldn’t support them or get behind them and I felt like their whole agenda was ruined because of that,
The book is an interesting twisty thriller with some major shocks for sure, but that characters were all so unlikeable that I almost didn’t care what happened.

I really enjoyed this book!! It keeps you turning pages as there are tons of secrets between the friends and chapters always end intriguingly! It's the perfect popcorn domestic thriller.

We get three out of the six main friends perspectives and we learn about the rest through them. I thought the backstories of the pov characters were really well done, I especially enjoyed Martha and Suzanne's. Though, I did wish that we'd get to see some more of the characters who didn't get a point of view at times.

Some of the twists were done before and some were a complete surprise. Either way, they were a lot of fun!

There is also an omniscient perspective in which someone dies and no names are mentioned that added to the suspense and makes you question who did what and who the victim is. I did figure out who's the victim early on, as it was somewhat predictable, but I did not know who the killer was. It was such a wild ride to get there and so fun to play detective.

The only minor thing I can think of that bugged me a lil bit is there's a certain action that happens in the story that was addressed once and never again.

Other than that, this was so addictive and fast paced! I flew through it! The author did an amazing job in creating suspense and intrigue all throughout the book.

This was the first book I read from Victoria Jenkins and will not be my last!

Enjoyment: 4.5
Total rating: 4.43

Hen do, secrets, a body. Need I say more?

I love Victoria Jenkin's narration. The Bridesmaids was as fast-paced and well-plotted as all her novels. Holly is an excellent MC, and this book kept the tension throughout. Some of the secrets were actually believable. They weren't outlandish or shocking; they were very much secrets real people would keep. The characters were described so that the secret was cohesive with its holder's personality.

Just two plot points kept me from thoroughly enjoying The Bridesmaids. Nothing to do with the author but with preference. I suggest checking content warnings before going into it.


Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to the publishers and NetGalley for providing a copy of The Bridesmaids.

Hen party gone wild….by the end of it someone is going to die and someone is a killer! This story is filled with all the dirty little secrets and mistrust between old friends to make for a compelling read that is hard to put down! Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fast-paced and intense with a good concept and cast of characters that kept me turning the pages right to the end. A real twisty tale of dark secrets.

Holly is getting married, but not before a celebration weekend with her closest friends. After a night of arguments, a body is found floating in the swimming pool of their secluded cottage. Holly must face up to the truth – one of her bridesmaids is a killer, but which one? New beginnings. Old rivalries. Best friends. Bad blood. Five bridesmaids. One body.

'The Bridesmaids' is a very intense thriller, set mostly over one weekend as 6 friends meet for a hen weekend. I did really enjoy this read and I was completely hooked and as a result read this very fast. Jenkins writes this from multiple perspectives and I did get confused who was who. In the end, I just went with it and eventually I learnt and remembered the connections but it did take a while and if I am honest, spoil some of the enjoyment.

On a more positive note, this book is jam packed with twists and turns that left my head spinning. I was never too sure if we had learnt the full truth or if there was more to be unpacked and it was thrilling. At times, this is also quite a dark read and there were some unexpected events!

I really liked the concept of this book and the characters are really good. As I have already said, I did struggle to remember the connections but individually, this is an intriguing cast and they carry the plot perfectly.

'The Bridesmaids' is a very intense read and is a hen party to remember for all the wrong reasons.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance copy.

Holly is getting her second chance at love. When she was just a teen, her boyfriend, and baby’s father, died in an accident. Nineteen years later, she is marrying the man of her dreams. Her five best friends throw her an amazing hen weekend, but she soon realizes that they have been hiding some huge secrets from her. One after the other, lies and secrets are revealed and someone ends up dead.

This was an interesting book, but I feel like it’s been done before. Some of the secrets weren’t as “shocking” as I expected them to be and overall, the plot was fairly predictable. Only one of the characters was likable (Holly) and the rest were just awful friends! It was a pretty quick read and I did enjoy the pace. This wasn’t my favorite thriller, but it wasn’t my least favorite. I just don’t have a whole lot to say about it!

If you liked "The Hunting Wives," you'll love this book! "The Bridesmaids" is a short, fast paced, mystery thriller about a group of women whose relationships are based on lies. Told from three character's point of views, the story is about Holly's Hen weekend before she is set to be married. Unfortunately for Holly, what should be a fun weekend, turns out to be a drama filled weekend, and decade’s worth of secrets are revealed. This all culminates in murder.

It took me a few chapters to keep track of the characters, but once I did, I flew through this book! This is a juicy read where each secret revealed is so much more scandalous than the last. This would be a great beach read for the summer!

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an advanced e-copy for an honest review.

This was an interesting book.
At the end of a bachelorette weekend, someone is found dead. The brides friends deep secrets have been exposed. While stuck in the house during a storm, we learn what happened and who is to blame for the death of one of the women.
I really liked the concept of this book, but for me, personally, there was a few to many characters that we switch to every chapter that I had to make a chart of who is who.
Other then that, quick fast read. And loved the ending. 3.5 stars for me!

Holly is getting married and her friends have planned a weekend away together before the wedding. The location is fancy but secluded, and what was meant to be a weekend full of fun and laughter between best friends ends with a dead body in the pool.

Each chapter is told through the perspective of one of the bridesmaids or Holly and it becomes clear that all of them have secrets. And not just the ordinary kind of secrets but really disturbing ones.

The facade of friendship between these women gets destroyed one chapter at a time and while none of the characters, aside from Holly, are in any way likeable, they are extremely fascinating to read about. The suspense lasts all the way from the beginning to the end and with each new secret that is revealed, the reader realizes just how messed up the lives of the bridesmaids really are. Anyone could be the victim and anyone could be the killer.

An extremely thrilling story that is impossible to put down and leaves you guessing until the end!

Some of the plot twists shocked me, some where classic but done very well! And I loved the ending. I really hated and loved some of these characters!

Thank you to netgalley for supplying me with a copy of this good in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! It hooked me right away it was fast paced and kept me interested the whole way through. It got me out of my reading slump. I like how the characters were all threaded together and their interconnectedness became even more clear at the end. I was shocked by every reveal I saw none of it coming which is rare for me usually I am not bad at predicting. None of the twists felt cheap or forced they all made sense for the story. There were some points where the story between Martha and Suzanne dragged a bit and I skimmed that chapter because it did not feel pertinent to the story. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I loved the whole weekend getaway bachelorette party setting it was super fun and exciting and immersive. I would be interested to read more works from this author in the future. I recommend reading this when it comes out if you like thrillers!