The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard was a good read and I would recommend this to all. A very well written murder/mystery/thriller.

The blurb reads

We were all at the party. Which of us wanted her dead?

As the smoke from the bonfire spirals into the night sky and the cool drinks slip down our throats, none of us can take our eyes off Lacey. She dances in the dunes, her long golden hair damp from her late-night swim, her smile dazzling, her blue eyes closed.

Everyone who is close to Lacey sits by the smoky fire. Her adoring boyfriend, who holds onto her, perhaps a little too tightly. Her little sister, always in Lacey’s shadow, sifting fine soft sand through her fingers, never taking her eyes off Lacey. And me. Sad and full of rage, after an argument forced the man I love to leave the party early.

When the fire burns out, we stumble away from the beach, along the cliff path – faces burned by the wind, hearts full of secrets. But Lacey never makes it home. The next morning, her body is found in the sand dunes, a heart-shaped locket missing from around her neck.

Who would have thought our beach party could end the way it did? Close friends gathered on the last night of a long hot summer – which one of us could have killed the girl everybody loved?


The blurb sounded right up my street and I read this quite quickly. We meet Katie and Sophie who are podcasters who start their podcast to solve why Lacey was murdered. Katie was at the beach party so she has inside knowledge of the party and who was there etc.

I enjoyed the dynamic between Katie and Sophie and the way the story started off quite slow and really built up to top notch. Such a good mystery read and I devoured it within a few days.

This is the authors first novel and it was a super good read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Amy Sheppard and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel.

The beach party is a fantastic first novel from Amy sheppard. Her world building is incredible and as a fan of true crime podcasts, I really enjoyed this part of the book. I received this arc as an audiobook, which was narrated well. As the story did involve a podcast, I think that this story particularly lends itself to the audiobook format.

The Beach Party was a nice enough take on the “podcast to solve a murder” storyline that I have seennpoppingbup alot lately. The timeline was a bit slow for me and the story just didn’t feel very unique. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by the ending.

The narrator, Amalia Vitale, did a great job throughout with mutiple voices and emotions. It was through her efforts that tge story really came alive. Great job!

Thankyou to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the ARC.

This book is extremely choppy and it was very annoying trying to listen to the audiobook version of it. It might not be as noticeable if it wasn't an audio. So for the time being I am not going to finish this book I will see it if I like the reading it in a physical format better

I enjoyed the narration and overall the plotline was good. The use of a podcast was slightly different to other similar themed books. I thought the ending was a bit predictable but enjoyed the book overall nonetheless.

This was an interesting story. I found myself wanted to know who dunnit and I didn’t predict the ending, but that might be because the road to get there was long and not always interesting. While I wanted to know how it turned out in the end, I didn’t exactly care and I found myself drifting off many times listening to this audio.

The narration wasn’t my favorite either. It felt incredibly stale to me. It wasn’t bad by any means, it just didn’t feel like it fit the content of the book.

Overall 3⭐️ thanks NetGalley for the audio!

For some reason I felt disconnected from the MC in this one which made it difficult for me to get invested. The twists were top notch though.

Who killed Lacey? Kate and Sophie, along Sophie’s
Boyfriend Tom, went back to Kate’s hometown to do a “small town” murder podcast. The small town Murder was of a girl that Kate knew in school. Late didn’t particularly like Lacey, but she agreed to do the podcast with her friend as a mini-series for pay. She also wanted to find out what happened to her. It had been 5 years and back then a group of friends went to the beach for a party. Lacey ended up dead. There are lots of suspects. Boyfriend James, sister Meghan, Michael… a stranger?

There were parts that dragged a little, but overall it was really good. 4 stars. Narrator was good, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

Beach party was good! I liked how it was a podcast and looking at a situation one of the narrators had personal experience. The only sad thing is that I called what had happened well in advance. Sadly, I wasn’t surprised at all. There were some surprises but the whodunit was not. The book was well-written, the main character was reliable. The only thing I would have liked to know is why Lacey had it out for Katie all those years. 3.5 rounded up.

Well paced. I liked the idea of the podcast within the book. The ending had me surprised. Worth the read.

This story really had me hooked from the beginning. Two young women creating a podcast of a murder that affected an entire small town. Katy and Sophie return to that seaside location to uncover many secrets and fill in missing bits of Katy’s memories of her life at the time of the murder.
There were a couple of hiccups with the audio recording … clearing of the throat and a couple of repeated lines, but this was an entertaining story and I am pleased with the writing style and the narration.

I really liked the premise of this novel, but the meandering pace allowed my mind to wander while I was listening to the audio version. The narrator did a fantastic job, but I got lost in the details so many times that I lost track of things and frankly lost interest. By the time I got to the major plot twist at the end, I was barely paying attention, so it didn't pack the punch it might have otherwise.

Sophie and Katie meet at University and become friends. Or do they? They start a crime podcast, as they are almost guaranteed an audience for people have an odd fascination with unsolved mysteries. Post graduation, Sophie becomes a social media sensation focusing on fashion and beauty, while Katie is working at a job she doesn’t love, but pays the bills. They are both busy, but when an opportunity to do a six episode podcast focusing on the unsolved murder of a young woman, Lacey that occurred 5 years ago, they agree to it. Or rather Sophie agrees to it and Katie goes along with it as she is meek doesn’t have many friends, is unhappy with her life and is looking for validation in some way. The murder occurred where Katie grew up, which adds to her angst and yet she goes along with it. Katie and Lacey moved in similar circles, but weren’t friends. Through Sophie and Katies investigation they uncover many clues, though there seem to be more questions than answers. Then from all of the questions, poof it is solved. It felt a little rushed towards the ending, but it was a little bit of a surprise which was nice. What The “mystery” was interesting, but as most of the people in the story weren’t terribly likable, were manipulative and unkind it was hard to feel anything other than relief when the audiobook was over.

I found this a clever read. A little unexpected because rather than living a murder and then searching for a killer, the narrator takes us back to a murder of one of her own peers in which she is entangled as part of a podcast she is creating as a journalist. She is coerced into doing this by her social media-savvy friend and drags up an incident her friends and family are doing their best to forget. A lot of the reviews I read before reading made comments about the reveal which can’t help to plant seeds and helped me make my guesses so I’m going to avoid that because I think it will make it more enjoyable for first time readers. I would recommend this novel. I listened to the audio book and it seemed to go on a long time but I think that’s because I’m used to flying through novels at a fast pace, and frankly I’m glad the narrator didn’t garble through it at super speed!

Received an early advance copy.
This book drew me in from the start. I loved the concept of it being a podcast between two friends. You got to see small glimpses of what podcast viewers heard. I felt like I was listening to it.

The ending caught me by surprise. Not what I expected. While reading it, you think you know the ending, but find out your assumptions were off.

The last couple paragraphs/the ending of the book wasn’t the best. Felt more could have been done. I felt a little let down. All the build up to this? Didn’t hate it, but also didn’t love it.

Overall, I flew through this book because the whole story line drew me in and I enjoyed it.

3.5 stars rounded to 4.

A great audiobook and the narrator was fabulous! The book was fast paced and well written with believable characters. Don't miss out on this great read!! You will think you have it all figured out, but you don't.

Thank you to Net galley for sending me a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for a honest review.

I loved this book. It was fast paced and full of thrills and surprises. I loved the main character and enjoyed exploring her relationships with the other characters. I didn’t predict the murderer either which Is always an extra bonus.

A sentence is repeated twice at chapter 58.

Through most of the book I was thinking "Hmm... I like this more than I thought I would..." (a good narrator helped significantly) however the last 8% dragged the book down significantly.

Not only do I loathe long confessional monologues; it was particularly ill suited here. I didn't necessarily "guess" the "bad guys" but was disappointed it was the same old story, same old motivation, for the 9,000th time.

My other complaint was the leading character. Her excessive drinking (why is everyone a drunk these days???) was tiring and her constant self-deprecation and saying how she didn't compare to her friend/cohost was very grating. I also had a hard time believing these two girls solved a cold case in a week or two.

Overall my opinion is "free kindle unlimited vibes"

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I throughly enjoyed the true crime podcast aspect of this book as true crime is becoming so popular. This book left me guessing who done it and was an enjoyable listening experience.

I've recently come to love books about people doing podcasts. It's just a lot of fun to me. I enjoyed listening to this thriller unfold and the story was exciting. I don't think it was the most sensational, but it was definitely a pretty good mystery. I would totally recommend it.