I love the premise of The Beach Party! Katie and Sophie are college friends who began an unsolved murder podcast together. They are asked to do a series based on a murder that took place several years ago in Sophie’s hometown.
Although I loved the premise, I needed a bit more character development in order to feel fully invested in the story. Overall, it’s a fine thriller with an amazing ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for my ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Katie and Sophie are friends who have been creating small town murder podcasts and their style has caught the eye of a major media outlet who want them to do a podcast based on a local unsolved murder. Sophie wants to headline the murder of Lacey, a young woman killed in Cornwall whose murder was never solved. The podcast will have an extra layer of intrigue because Katie knew Lacey. She knew her quite well, she was, in fact, at the party where Lacey was last seen alive. As the story unfolds, readers learn that Lacey was not a nice person, and there were plenty of people who had reason to want her dead – Katie in particular. An excellent thriller with a surprise twist

I really enjoyed this, enough twists and turns to keep you really interested and the narration was really good so suited the story.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

Well!!... No shock that I didn't see that ending coming! lol I always seem to get the wrong person!!
What a brilliant 9 hours of listening getting there though. Totally gripping, plenty of story, good characters that we got to know steadily throughout (sometimes, too many characters can just confuse the heck out of me, you know?)

This was my first Amy Sheppard read and I'll be stalking her work for more - terrific job on this one, lovely bit of narration too, very enjoyable characterizations.

I want to thank the author, NetGalley and Bookouture Audio
for the opportunity to listen to this terrific new book.

Are you a fan of the Murdaugh Murders podcast? Do you enjoy listening to true crime podcasts, murder mysteries set in small towns, and/or the drama that happens in small towns? If you answered yes to any of the above, then The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard is the perfect book or audiobook for you! I listened to the audiobook over the weekend while I was traveling to & from Sunset Beach NC. I was immediately drawn in and stayed hooked to the story line till the very end. I cannot recommend this murder mystery novel enough! Also, if you have read this book and enjoyed it, then give @murdaughmurderspod a listen to! It’s a small town South Carolina story about murder, greed, & corruption that is still evolving on a regular basis!

Thank you @bookouture and @netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review. I absolutely loved it!

This book is perfect for everyone who loved The Night Swim. The story has all the twists and turns of a great thriller while having similarity added crime podcast vibes as The Night Swim. I loved that it had aspects of the night swim that I loved without it being the same story! The story is gripping and with short chapters makes it unputdownable!

It took a little time to get into - I got to about 25% before I was hooked... but from then on - Wauw!

Very well thought-out plot. And a rather different take on a whodunnit-story. It was something new. Super exciting and surprising.

I would definitely recommend to any and all who enjoy a good mystery.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of The Beach Party by Amy Shepard. This is about Katie and Sophie,, who do a podcast together, decide to go to Katie's hometown to do a podcast about the unsolved murder of Lacey 5 years prior.

When someone dies, they become perfect.

Katie, a journalist, and her more outgoing best friend Sophie do a true crime podcast together. As Sophie has grown more successful in her influencing, the podcast has slowed to once a month instead of weekly. When an opportunity to really grow the podcast arises, it’s Sophie who is more interested this time, even willing to post about it on her glitzy feed.

The reason Katie is reluctant is because the crime they’re covering happened in her small town. 5 years ago, Lacey was murdered at an annual beach party. Everyone was there but no one saw a thing! It’s a resort town so the locals aren’t clamoring to discuss it because murder isn’t good for business.

As they settle in, Katie realizes that life has gone on without her since she left and all is not the same in this world. Will she be able to break down the walls and get people to talk or will this case be cold forever?

This started off very strong and stayed that way until the twist at the end. I’ve seen it done a lot recently and I don’t like it because it’s just so outrageous and unbelievable. I also don’t love the “sympathy for the bully because they’re troubled too” it just doesn’t appeal to me. Otherwise, it had a nice format, was easy to read and follow. It gave enough details to keep you consistently interested. I love small town mysteries and true crime narratives so this is definitely up my alley and I try not to judge books by their endings if I really enjoyed the journey.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the chance to read, listen, and review! I switched between the audio and ebook, which is my favorite way to read and the narration was excellent!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC audio of this book.
I switched between the written book and this audio version of it.
I really enjoyed it. Once I got the audio version I finished the rest of it the same day.
Narrator did a great job. The book started off a little slow but kept me interested.
The end was a complete surprise when Lacey’s killer was revealed. I was not expecting that at all!
This is a good one!