Engaging and gripping with plent of twists and unpredictablity. I enjoyed reading it but would have liked more character development

So when I started this book, I thought it was going to be a cliche--the whole podcast revisit a previous unsolved crime thing. I didn't think it would have anything fresh or new. Things I didn't like: Writing was okay. There was a weird relationship between all the main characters--Tom, Sophie and Katie that only was minorly explained. Lots of wine drinking without the presence of food. It was like these characters forget how to function like normal people. Sophie's character did some things like leave to pursue other business opportunities that was never explained and didn't add to the story. What I did like: the author really managed to get her story together by about the 60-70% point and it turned out to be a much more interested ending than expected. I always hate to say something about any endings to get any reader's expectations set high; however, I thought she did a great job of tying up the lose ends and helping to cast new light on the crime. Ended so much better than my expectations and the ending is what bumped up the ratings.

Entertaining thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep you in your toes. East short read, perfect beach thriller. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy

Oh the grammar..... that was a struggle to ignore lol. The actual book over all was decent enough. It's not reinventing the wheel and is another one for the small town reunion who dun it type genre that just seems to be everywhere atm. It is a slow but as I find a lot of these types of books are. Normally they're very character centred with little action but this one didn't even look too deep into the characters of give much sense of who they were. I see what it's aiming for but for me it just didn't hit the mark and with such an oversaruratwd genre atm, it wouldn't be my top recommendation

This book is one of those brilliant slow burns that keeps you reading late into the night needing just one more chapter.

First time trying this author but definitely wanting to read more of her books.

A very engaging story, Katies does a podcast with her best friend which takes her back to her coastal home town to solve an unsolved murder. The plot is pacey and the story unfolds beautifully in a really compelling way. The characters, with the exception of Sophie are really well drawn and complex. Plenty of twists to keep you reading. Highly recommend.

Firstly I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for kindly letting my review this ARC of The Beach Party. I read through the synopsis of the book and was excited to read this story. Although I will say I do not feel this synopsis matched the book really at all. However, I went in with no real expectations and just wanted a good mystery.

Katie is a nice girl. I wasn't a fan of Sophie at all and felt (Like Katie did) that she was bullied into doing the podcast in her own childhood town. At times I also felt Katie should have spoke up to Sophie and been more honest with her about her life in growing up in Pengully. Although I doubt it would have dissuaded Sophie about picking Lacey's unsolved murder. I liked Tom a lot and really wanted more involvement with him in the story. Although at the end (NO SPOILERS HERE) I felt all ends were tied up, I did feel certain character who impacted the story deserved more 'page' time. It was good reading from Katie's point of view, but at times I wished it was in third person as Katie's feelings on some people were a little 'jaded' maybe?

Amy (Author) captured small town life with ease. Having lived somewhere 'in the countryside' in a small village (I typed that saying it with a country accent - if you know, you know) it is true that there are many secrets but also everyone knows everyone and they business. Pengully being a seaside town too made it an ideal setting for this book.

The story flows nicely and when it does go off on a tangent we are then shown why and it makes sense. I loathe books that go off into the past and you don't know why for half a book later. The mystery was well thought out and as I mentioned before all loose ends were tied up. However I was a little disappointed with the outcome. My 'sleuthy' brain worked this one out fairly early on and I was disappointed that not only was I write about the 'why' I was also right about the 'who' too. Still this book kept me riveted on a hot summers day and I read this in one sitting (Thank you over hot British Summer at present!!). A solid 3.5 stars, I enjoyed this book and its a perfect summer read if you like a good mystery. The book although does mention some upsetting subject matters doesn't really go into detail so would be suitable for most adult reading audiences.

Another thriller excellent thriller! This book follows two young women from London who are working on a true crime podcast investigating an unsolved murder of a 19 year old girl from 5 years prior in a small beach town. The catch? One of the podcast hosts grew up in that small beach town, knew the victim, and was even at the party where the murder occurred. In a small town where it seems no one had a motive and everyone is interconnected, can they finally solve the murder?

It's a thriller in which Sophie and Katie go to the coastal town of Pengully to investigate a cold case for their podcast. Some years ago a girl, Lacey, was found murdered and the killer hasn't been found. Katie used to live there and knows the locals. She also knew Lacey and she was there when Lacey died. Revelation after revelation comes to light in the podcast and the investigation. Will they be able to solve this cold case?

The author is quite capable of writing a sound plot. The revelations that come to light during the investigation are well interwoven into the story and in such a flow that you can just keep on reading. The characters are not that worked out and there were a lot of them which made it a bit all over the place. The description of the book is not that accurate - it doesn't only take place in the present, it's lots of flashbacks.

What a fabulous story. How Katie's live is turned upside down twice from the beach party as 19 year old to doing a podcast years after about the night of the beach party. Well written book, descriptive scenes and characters.
A young 19 year old girl Lacey dies the might of a beach party, her murderer hasn't been found and the case has been closed. Katie was at that party but lives now in London away from Cornwall, home. Her friend Sophie suggests to do a podcast about the murder together with Sophies boyfriend who is Katie's childhood friend.
The podcast is not easy as it brings people back to places they do not want to visit. And surely Katie will.dis over the truth behind that night.

In The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard, a crime is investigated years later through a podcast run by Sophie and Kate, who look into the unsolved murder of one Kate's childhood friend, Lacey. This book is a slow burn with twists and turns you may not see coming. Recommended for fellow mystery fans. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley for review…I liked the premise of the story…the characters are likable…the setting great…I could not continue to read this book because the bad grammar was evident to say the least… even if the book will be edited later, I could not get through it…

I was hooked from the first page, I really felt like I was in the novel from start to finish, I could almost taste the sea salt on my tongue. The plot was extremely gripping and well thought out.

This was a good book, with a few minor issues. The story centers on Katie, who is doing a podcast with her best friend Sophie focused on a murder from Katie’s hometown 5 years back. Katie doesn’t want to get involved and wasn’t even a friend of the murdered girl, Lacey, but agrees to help since she has the history and knows the players. Also helping is Tom, a sound editor who grew up with Katie but is now dating Sophie.

The mystery in the book is sound, and the author leaves believable red herrings throughout, causing me to regularly question who the culprit was. The story is told from Katie’s POV entirely in the current timeframe but with references to previous events that fill in the blanks. Though people are willing to tell them things for the podcast that they never told the police earlier, it felt believable to me since some time had passed and Katie was someone they all knew. The end was really good and caught me by surprise, though it felt like it was tied up maybe a little too quickly.

On the other side, I struggled with many grammatical errors that I’m hoping will be resolved by the time the book is released since I read an ARC. I lost count of the number of sentences that started with, “Me and Sophie…..”. There were also fragmented sentences. I also felt like the synopsis didn’t match the book; it makes it look like these are events happening in real time and doesn’t even mention the podcast, which is what the whole book is about. Lastly, I found it somewhat odd that the author only went 5 years in the future, as I felt like the characters were looking back at past events with a maturity that comes from a lot more life experience when really they were still in their early 20s and not that far removed from those events. At one point Katie references how one character looked pretty much the same as she remembered but with a few more lines on his face, but he was 24! Maybe that’s just me, though….

Overall, I did enjoy the book and if the grammatical errors and synopsis are updated by release time, I think this could be a huge hit. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A podcast on an unsolved murder takes Katie back from London to her hometown and brings back memories she put in the back if her mind. When she and her best friend Sophie start digging around about the five year old cold case murder they get more than they bargained for. A fast paced thriller I'm sure you will enjoy as I did.

I was sent this book for an honest review and I can’t thank NetGalley and the author enough for giving a copy! This book pulls you in right away. It is a great story line and keeps the pace going enough to keep the reader interested. The only thing I can say about the book is that I didn’t get the role of Sophie. She was a strong personality and was the reason for the podcast, but then she fell flat. I also am not sure why the main character, Katie, cared so much about Lacy, when she was utterly mean and Terrible to her. Even with those two observations, this was a great book and a quick read. I can honestly say I didn’t see the ending until it happened. Great writing and a must read! I can’t wait to see what other books this author has written.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles. I really not the opportunity!

I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

I received a complimentary ARC of The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard in return for my honest review.
Katie and Sophie are friends who met at University while studying journalism. Sophie is a fashion/ beauty blogger with a large following, who also started a podcast about unsolved small town murders with Katie as her cohost.
Before Katie left for University, a young woman from her hometown, named Lacey, was murdered. Katie was with a large group at the beach party when Lacey was discovered, so was Tom, Sophie's boyfriend. The police interviewed everyone who was there, but no one claims to know anything, and no evidence was uncovered.
Now, due to Sophie's popularity as a blogger, a radio station commissions 6 episodes of the podcast.
The next murder that they will cover is Lacey's, which means that Katie, and Tom, accompanied by Sophie, will head back to their hometown.
Katie doesn't want to go back, she doesn't want to talk about the case, because she isn't sure that she wants to find out what really happened, she isn't sure if she can deal with what she may learn.
There are many twists and turns in this book that keep you guessing from the very start. The characters were very well developed and the descriptions helped you feel like you were right there. This is a gripping novel with an ending that you will never see coming!

Katie and Sophie are travelling back to Katie's home town of Pengully, to investigate the murder from five years ago of nineteen year old Lacey. No one was ever arrested for her murder, even though both Katie and Tom, Sophie's boyfriend, were both there with a large group of friends.
There is a history between Katie and Tom, of course there is and I did like it, even though nothing is happening between them as obviously he is dating Sophie, who is unaware of their history. To be honest I felt that Sophie is very uncaring of how difficult bringing this murder to the surface is, for Tom and Katie. She never really acknowledges much their history or insider info. I wasn't really a Sophie fan, but she is the driving force behind the true crime podcast series that the girls do and without her it probably wouldn't happen. I did enjoy that aspect of it and it does bring everything out into the open.

So I did enjoy the book and it was very easy to read. However, it just lacked emotion or depth, we never really got to dig deep into the characters or that night that changed everything. There was so many other characters that where there that night and that Katie and Tom know, but they felt superfluous to the actual plot. I felt it dragged on a bit too. The ending wasn't a surprise as I had already guessed this person would be involved, the twist was good, though by that point you kind of knew it was coming.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in return for an honest review.

There is something about summer that makes me want to read all the beach books.

Late last night after my third fight with the pillow and snoring husband I gave up and started scrolling . I was too tired to research but too awake to sleep so I was just going to pick a book based on a cover ….

The Beach Party
By: Amy Sheppard

This was an easy read that I flew through in just a couple of hours . This book is under 300 pages and gets straight to the point. No repetitiveness or corny dialog. The twist was just enough to give you a gasp and the characters were the perfect blend of likable and unlikable.

I have already been chatting this book up on my social media. This is a book everyone must read .