*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

Great twisty read - I rushed through it! Highly recommended!

I am a huge fan of this author and this book was just as amazing as the others. Loved the story and the characters.

Oh, these are such messy, messy people.

This was an enjoyable read. I will say the twisty bits were a bit unbelievable, but the book was very entertaining and enjoyable.

I will also stay far away from any remote retreats. They never go well, do they?

A fun red.

On a remote farm outside Devonshire, four women are attending an exclusive prenatal yoga retreat that promises three nights of luxurious pampering. Their host, Selina, is welcoming and the location is idyllic. But all the women, including Selina. are hiding secrets.

The Sanctuary has a good premise, with a slightly creepy appeal. The story unfolds from multiple points of view, the descriptions of the retreat are vivid and well-done, and the characters are varied (although not very likable). But, the story is chaotic. It jumps from character to character, there are a lot of different secrets and concerns, and the story finally devolved into something that felt forced and mostly unbelievable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Four women sign up to take a prenatal yoga retreat at a place called The Sanctuary, just outside of Devonshire. The setting of the book is very detailed with allows you to picture the plot even better. Overall it was a great read but there are a couple of things I would change if I could. The plot becomes more chaotic than necessary the further you get into it, and I think some things could have been left out. The other thing I would change is some of the story is far-fetched in my opinion, and could have been better. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

<b>Note:</b> I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley.

Four pregnant women. Three nights of pampering at an exclusive yoga retreat. One too many deadly secrets... On a remote farm in the deepest Devonshire countryside, four pregnant women arrive at an exclusive yoga retreat for a five-star weekend of prenatal pampering. The location is idyllic. Their host, Selina, is eager to teach them all she knows about pregnancy and motherhood. But, like Selina, each of the women has a secret.

And secrets can be deadly . . .

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book but about a third of the way through, it slipped my interest. I found all of the intrigued to be more contrived and forced than really to make the story flow better.

I just recently discovered Charlotte Duckworth and I’m so glad I did, This was another wonderful read. The characters were wonderfully layered and all had secret motivations. The twists were great and unexpected. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Sanctuary.

Four pregnant women attend a yoga retreat, hoping to deal with the myriad issues surrounding their pregnancies.

But, one of them is not who she claims to be. And she only has one thing on her agenda: revenge.

The premise sounded interesting but it was quite predictable; each woman is not only struggling with personal issues relating to their pregnancies but nearly all of them have secrets that would directly impact their lives and those around them.

Selina, the owner of The Sanctuary, is no different. Desperate to make her retreat work, she is not who she purports to be, but one of her guests knows who she is. And she's not going to let it go.

Naturally, odd things happen, until the end when all is revealed.

I guessed most of the twists, and I liked how each woman struggle with how the pregnancies will affect them, in both positive and not so positive ways.

I didn't like anyone, but I didn't dislike anyone, except for Selina.

While I love revenge stories, some of the scenes require a significant amount of suspending disbelief.

This is my first book from this author and I look forward to reading more. This book had me on my toes til the very end.

This kept me guessing from page one to the end. My favorite kind of book ... read like a runaway freight train. On to her next one! This was a fast read! Highly recommend.

Loved this book!!! Cannot wait to read more from this author. The characters were so realistic and I couldn’t put this book down. Thank you for the ARC.

Four women sign up for a prenatal yoga retreat at The Sanctuary near Okehampton, Devon. There’s Nicky, a mother of two lovely boys and trying to get her head around being pregnant again at 42. Her sister Bonnie joins her, she’s twenty years younger and in her final year at catering college but she’s got herself ‘knocked up’, father undisclosed. Journalist Georgia also joins them with the fee waived as the owner Selina hopes for some positive publicity and finally, there’s Poppy who has recently split from partner Ant and is there with some kind of agenda. All four are hoping to resolve various issues but it’s fair to say none of them get the weekend they bargain for. The story is told from several perspectives.

The first 60% or so is really good. The setting is described extremely visually allowing you to picture events easily. There are some creepy, menacing hints from the start that despite Selina's many efforts to ‘deliver’ a relaxing weekend, her plans go badly awry. Poppy concerns you from the start and it becomes a case of curiouser and curiouser. The characters are all portrayed well with the two sisters being an interesting contrast and I like the vibe between them which at times has some needle to it. All the characters are carrying burdens, not of the baby variety, their emotions are all over the place, some feel guilty, others insecure and anxious. There are some good twists, a couple of which are particularly unexpected, there’s tension every which way you look especially from Selina so it's hardly the relaxation they crave, in fact, the whole thing is a dangerous unmitigated disaster.

However, much as I love a loaded plot, I think this just becomes too crowded, so many secrets, so many lies that it gets a bit dizzying. As it builds like the proverbial bonfire for the 5th November celebrations, I have hopes for it igniting but I think the wood must be a bit damp because it didn’t quite go out in a blaze of glory! It does keep you glued to the pages though to try to sift your way to the truth!

Overall though it’s very entertaining, it’s diverting, some things are a bit of a stretch but hey, it’s fiction!!

With thanks to NetGalley for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review

This was my first title by Charlotte a Duckworth and I have to say I rather enjoyed it a lot. The characters although not all likable did make the story interesting. I enjoyed the short back and forth chapters. I love quick thriller reads like these where a group all with their own issues are put together and then unfortunate things start to happen.

I enjoyed that these characters are not perfect and are flawed. This is a must for people who enjoy quick thriller reads, multiple narrators, and “closed door” stories.

Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Book Groups, and Quercus for this early copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book really missed the mark for me. It felt like it was trying to be something it could never quite achieve--a gripping thriller with closed groom whodunit mystery.. Okay, the whodunit part was pretty good. The ending was shocking, unexpected, satisfying even. However, I disliked every single character. And it took me ages to get into this story--nothing about it interested me until quite a wats in. So, all in all, it was a decent read.

Four pregnant women on a weekend retreat sounds too good to be true right? Well it is! There are secrets and lies around every corner and tons of twists and turns in this page turning novel!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Quercus Books for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WHOA!

The Sanctuary, has bestseller written all over it.

I am still in shock after concluding and needed to sit with my thoughts for a bit to just think about everything that had transpired. I cant say that I didn't catch on where this was going around midpoint but it didnt discourage me to continue or ruin anything for me. I actually enjoyed watching it play out and seeing how I was right.

This is an easy read that can be finished within a few hours and will keep your attention. I loved the twist and how everything came together. I truly enjoyed getting to know these characters and was shocked at how real they all seemed.

The Sanctuary is a book that I will be recommending for a long time. Kudos to Charlotte Duckworth, she did a beautiful job narrating this story.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Four women head to a prenatal yoga retreat, and things start to go wrong. There’s someone who is there that shouldn’t be, and some anterior motives involved. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and will definitely read more by this author!

What a wild ride
4.5 stars.
At first when I picked this novel up I was unsure if I was the intended audience being that I am not a mother. However I was pleasantly surprised as I kept reading that it was a mystery.
I love a good mystery and this one starts out with Nicky who is introduced as being in her 40’s and Married. This is her 3rd child and shes unsure about it. She wants to get back to work this baby was a complete accident.
Bonnie who is in her early 20’s she lives with a room mate and is Nickys younger sister by different dads. This is her first baby and the father is a mystery that we find out later. I’ll leave that up to you to find out as I plan to not share spoilers in my review.
Georgia who is in her 20’s with her first child. She has an American boyfriend named Brett. They are still in their honeymoon phase of their relationship.
Poppy who we are told is pregnant with her second child the first passed away. We find out more about this later. Her husband walked out needing space after their loss.
Selina who is the host of the whole weekend. She is a midwife and prenatal yoga instructor. Her partner is Will and the property was his family’s he inherited it and they built The Sanctuary.
We meet several others during the story Kai who is Selina son. We cant forget about River we find out more about her later too. Badger the groundskeeper/ handy man of the property. There are soo many secrets between all of these characters.
I loved every minute of this story I went in pretty blind but I quickly fell in love with this page turner of a novel. I plan to check out more by the author she is a new one to me. What a wild ride this was there were so many twists and turn through out. I didn’t predict the ending. I was pleasantly shocked.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to review this ARC.

This was my first Charlotte Duckworth book and it was a decent read, not my favorite. I enjoyed the writing style and the different character perspectives. Though, I did not connect to any of the characters in this book. At times the story was political and that is just not my type of book. I liked the 'who done it' though and actually was shocked by the ending! It all came together at the end very well. I am giving this book 3 stars!

In The Sanctuary, four pregnant women go to a secluded yoga spa owned by Selina. All of them including Selina have secrets and hidden agendas. When someone dies, their secrets begin to seep out into the open.

Yawn. This book has almost the exact same plot as Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. Except the secrets are not as compelling and the characters are no one I wanted to root for or even hang out with for four hours. Even the mystery’s solution was easy to guess. Unfortunately, The Sanctuary was a complete miss for me. 2 stars.

Thanks to Quercus and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.