Addictive. Stunning. Gripping. An absolutely, incredibly brilliant page turner.. I could not put this one down. A wonderful, transporting read.

I have a soft spot for cold cases; I will inhale all the true crime podcasts, books, and documentaries that I can find. They tend to throw up all manners of dead ends, webs of deceit, and secrets lurking around every corner. That’s why The Beach Party caught my eye. With an enticing cover and a dark premise, it promises a story to keep you guessing. It promises to have the reader so engrossed that the ticking of the clock is the only sound you can hear in the background. A girl was found murdered on the beach, and no one was ever charged for it, but it’s being re-examined with a fine-tooth comb when Katie and Sophie do a series of episodes about it on their podcast, Small Town.

Katie and Sophie met at university whilst studying Journalism together in London. Sophie enjoys being more of a broadcaster whereas Katie enjoys writing. They combine their talents together to create a True Crime podcast called Small Town. They focus on the unsolved murder of nineteen-year-old Lacey Crew in Cornwall. Katie grew up in Cornwall and has inside knowledge surrounding the event that led to Lacey’s body being discovered. She was there – does she know something that she had forgotten? Can secrets stay buried forever?

Kate and Sophie were writing and producing episodes for the podcast quite happily together…until Tom came on the scene. She knows him from Cornwall, they grew up together, and he was also at the party that preluded Lacey being found dead. There is a lot of tension between Katie and Tom, and they allude to something happening between them at one point.

I struggled a bit with Katie’s character. She was painted as the protagonist, but she lacked the strong characterisations that I attribute to strong female leads. She seemed to shrink in the shadow of Sophie. She let her take the lead with most things regarding the podcast, and when things were getting to her, she wouldn’t stand her ground. I found it quite frustrating.

Although the plot was engaging and intriguing, I found the execution to be lacking a little. Apart from the characterisation of Katie, I can’t pinpoint anything exactly that I disliked so I’m a bit unsure of why it didn’t hit home. Some of the writing came across as clunky and a bit convoluted. It’s unfortunate that I felt a bit of a disconnect.

Katie, age 24, works for a newspaper but isn’t as outgoing as her friend, Sophie, who is a successful blogger with a large following. They, along with their friend, Tom, work in London but are traveling to Katie’s hometown of Pengully Cornwall. There, they will be filming an enquiry on the murder of local Lacey Crew who was murdered 5 years ago. It is a true crime podcast called Small Town. Although Katie and Lacey were not friends, Katie and Tom both were there the night Lacey died.

Katie’s mother, Wendy, and stepfather, Richard, live in a huge house with lots of glass located near the beach. Katie, Sophie, and Tom will stay in a smaller cottage on the property called Red Rock Cottage.

It was the last night of summer, and the young people were partying and drinking on the beach while enjoying a bonfire. They heard a scream and Lacey was found strangled. No was was ever charged but there were a couple suspicions that never panned out. Now, Katie and Sophie are recording daily podcasts about what happened that night.

Katie, Sophie and Tom interview some people about Lacey and what, if anything, they knew about the situation. For Katie, it is difficult to see some of the people she grew up with and how they have changed. It isn’t until several people have been interviewed that little clues start to drop that the final, shocking identity of Lacey’s killer emerges.

The plot of this book is good, however, I found that the dialogue was mundane and without inflection. That almost made it boring at times. I think it could have been edited more than it was. But as the plot was good and the Cornwall descriptions are nice, I have decided to give it 4 stars.

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

Parties are meant to be fun. Parties on the beach in summer are meant to be really fun; they’re not meant to end in tragedy. But five years ago, the seaside town of Pengully was devastated by the death of Lacey. This was compounded by the lack of justice and no one charged with her murder.

Told from Katie’s perspective, The Beach Party sees Katie and her bestie Sophie return to the town to see if they can do the impossible and solve the crime. How might you ask – through a podcast. Interviewing those who knew Lacey, those at the party and others in the town, starting with Katie’s recollection.

I was intrigued what happened to Lacey all those years ago. Was it her hot tempered boyfriend who took his own life some time after or did someone else have a grudge against this popular girl?

Shepard’s debut is a brilliant read. I was hooked. I needed to know who Lacey’s killer was. Would Sophie and Katie manage to uncover what the police couldn’t? But uff the climax 😱😱 jeez I was left stunned!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Full review will be on my blog on 1st September as part of the book tour.

The small seaside town reminded me of my home town. I could liken many of the characters there to people who I grew up with.
The constant drinking and thinking about sex did start to annoy me after a while, however, based on the ages of the characters and their attitudes I would class this as a New Adult book which isn't a genre I would generally go for (due to character traits such as excessive drinking and constant obsessing over sex/relationships), If I ignore these aspects then I did really enjoy the book.
I liked the idea of using a podcast as the basis for looking into the case again, however, I'm not sure this was used to it's fullest potential.
I loved the ending and I didn't see it coming at all, which is quite rare for me. I'm not sure I could have taken the same actions as Katie did at the end though

Podcasters Sophie and Kate chasing and discussing the murder of Lacey that took place 5 years ago. The idea around this story was good, Podcasters trying to solve a crime. It seemed a bit rushed, one moment they were still figuring it out and the next moment it was solved. I personally think they needed to uncover a couple more big "clue's" to really get to the point of solving it. Overall I did like it and the ending was a bit of a twist, just not an ultimate favourite.


Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

Two young women, Sophie and Katie, work together to make crime podcast Small Town popular. They’ve been friends since college. Katie is been a journalist and Sophie has dabbled in influencing and podcasts. Now her idea to feature murders that have not had nationwide attention is about to take off. Sophie and Katie return to Katie’s home town to investigate the death of a young woman. She was one of Katie’s childhood friends and Katie remembers the night of her death.

When I read the publisher’s description of The Beach Party, I was eager to read it. I thought that I would love this story. After all, it has an amazing premise, well described location, the promised twists and turns but…I couldn’t get into it. It was a struggle to read. The writing was very uneven and the grammatical errors off putting. I and me are not interchangeable. This is Amy Sheppard’s first novel. Amy, should you read NetGalley reviews, you’ve done a fantastic thing. You wrote and published a book! I haven’t. AllI had to do was read it and write a review. So don’t take negative reviews too seriously. I have the feeling you have a lot more to write. Talk to your editor about pacing, use grammar check and I’ll see you on the best seller list. 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Amy Sheppard for this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC copy of The Beach Party!

This debut novel had a great premise - two women start a true crime podcast to discuss the murder of a women five years ago that happened at a beach party one of the hosts attended.

The storyline kept me going, but the solving of the crime felt rushed, and I couldn't get past a lot of the author's grammatical choices.

The Beach Party is my first by Amy Sheppard and her thriller debut and I have to say for a first thriller, this was pretty well done! I started off this as an ebook and think I actually preferred that format as I switched to the audiobook about 20% of the way through. The narration was still good though. I was really taken by surprise by the ending and did not see it coming at all. I think this was a bit slow moving but did hold my interest throughout. Overall, this was a good thriller but I would have liked a bit more character development to make the ending a bit more dramatic. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was one heck of a journey. So many of the characters were unlikable, which made it hard to become invested. There were so many moments that had me yelling at the book because of stupid decisions that didn't come across as realistic. Despite not liking anyone, I couldn't put this book down, and I had to know if my suspicions were right. Happily, I can report that I hadn't guessed the killer, so I was happily surprised. I give this book 3.5/5 and would recommend it to anyone that wants a good mystery.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing an ARC to review.

The beach party by Amy Shepherd.
We were all at the party. Which of us wanted her dead?
A brilliant summer read. Really enjoyed it. Had me guessing. 5*.

Oh Wow!! I really try not to say that too often when reviewing a book but I really can’t help it after reading The Beach Party. This really is a just keep on reading and forget all those pressing jobs, meals to cook. Leave me alone I have to find out what happens.

I loved the idea of telling this story via a podcast. Katie, now a journalist living in London and her friend Sophie, a beauty and fashion blogger, are going back to the seaside Cornish town of Pengully, where Katie lived, to make a podcast about the unsolved murder of Lacey Crew following a beach party that Katie attended. This is bound to bring back painful memories for Katie. Lacey had stolen the love her life, Jude. In fact Katie hated Lacey. Could she actually have murdered her in a drunken haze? As the podcast develops so do the list of suspects and so do Katie’s memories of teenage angst, loves and lust. The back drop of teenage life and love in a small, touristy, Cornish town is wonderful.

And the end did not disappoint. As Katie pieces more and more memories of that fateful night together, she feels she knows enough to finally confront the killer. Or has her memory deceived her?

I loved The Beach Party, it’s gripping, intense and easily be read in one sitting.

Sophie and Katie used to do a crime podcast, when they are asked to do a podcast on an unsolved murder on the beach of a small Cornish town. The only problem, Katie was there that night, she knew the girl Lacey who was murdered and all the others who was at the party. Who would have killed her and why?

Easy read with a great twist at the end. Kept me engrossed and wanted to read more.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy for an honest review.

A quick read with some mystery. It felt a little rushed at parts but would still recommend as a fun summer read

I really enjoyed The Beach Party. I loved the setting and enjoyed the characters and their development. There were plenty of twists throughout and it culminated in a very surprising ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

Could not put this amazing mystery down. The characters are well thought out and the mystery of Lacy keeps you wondering the entire time. This is one of Amy Sheppard's best!

This whole book was one big spiderweb of lies & mystery, and it made a great who-dunnit end of summer read.

The book is told through Katie & Sophie’s research and recordings for their true crime podcast, as well as Katie’s flashbacks to what happened to Lacey that horrible night years earlier on the beach. I thought the writing style was super interesting and a cool way to bring the reader along on their journey.

I overall enjoyed the story and characters.
It did start off slowly for me and there were some times the descriptions & memories seemed a little drawn out…but once things started picking up I definitley became invested in what was going to happen.

Some of the characters I liked, some not so much…Sophie drove me a little nuts but I think the book worked with having the two friends with super different personalities. I think they could have been developed a bit more and I would have liked to know more about them.
There were a lot of different names mentioned and a few times I couldn’t keep straight who was who when people popped up in flashbacks and didn’t always pick up on their connection to the story.

There were so many possible outcomes and I started thinking I knew how things would end…but of course I was wrong and enjoyed the surprise

This was an entertaining, easy summer thriller- worth picking up if you love a good beachy read!!

I enjoyed this book. It was a good mystery with a twist ending. I will read more books by Amy Sheppard.

This is a new author to me, so I wasn't sure what to expect upon starting this book. I enjoyed the interactions between the characters. I have read several books with a similar premise, but this book had enough differences to make it unique. The secrets from the past came back to make an Interesting story.

The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard is a recommended New Adult murder mystery.

Katie met her friend Sophie when they were both studying journalism at the university. Sophie has several successful podcasts and is an influencer while Katie is working in print journalism. Together the two started a true crime podcast that a network has noticed and want the two to do a deep dive into an unsolved case. Sophie plans for them to go to Cornwell to investigate the unsolved murder from six years ago. Katie lived in Pengully where the murder took place, was at the beach party that night and knew the victim, nineteen-year-old Lacey Crew. Doing this podcast will mean Katie must return to the town, reexamine what she remembers from that night, and subsequently confront her past.

I'm facing a bit of a quandary in reviewing this novel. This mystery/thriller is really written and tailored toward New Adult readers, who may enjoy it more than I did. There were several elements, however, that resulted in my recommendation, chiefly the slow revelation of facts that allowed the suspicion and tension to gradually build to the surprising twisty denouement. The murder mystery plot in the novel works quite well. I appreciated the narrative alternating between the present and the past. Having the premise rely on podcasting is a trendy choice which works.

The actual beach part in the title is recalled through flashbacks and peoples recollections rather than in real time, which isn't reflected in the synopsis. The writing isn't particularly well executed technically, but this may change in the released novel.

As written, there doesn't seem to be any reason that Katie and Sophie became friends and would remain friends after college. Sophie is more realized as a character than Katie, who could have used some additional character development. Among the various characters, past and present, there is too much relationship drama and casual encounters that sets a much younger tone to the novel, and, well, all the characters are young, in their mid-twenties. (It was also laughable when Katie describes her mother as 52, but really active for her age.)

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Bookouture via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and Amazon.