The Summer Party is a well-developed family saga with a mystery mixed in.
I enjoyed the taste of South Australia.
Thank you Aria and NetGalley on this delightful read.

DNF at 23%. I'm tired of reading books about people in their thirties who act like they are still teenagers. The characters in this book reacted very strangely to the events around them, if those events even made any sense at all. Something would happen at the end of a chapter and then it was two days later and it was never mentioned again. I didn't care enough about any of the characters to keep reading and after seeing a few other reviews that mentioned the confusing and inconclusive ending, I decided it wasn't worth my time. Even the Australian setting couldn't save this one for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

19 years ago Lucy spent the summer with her grandmother at her cottage admiring and befriending The Whitlam children.

Lucy gets invited the The Whitlam’s summer party where she hears something falling off the cliff.

19 years later Lucy returns to clear out the cottage after her grandmothers death. During her time there she meets back up with the Whitlam kids and discovers things are not as they seem.

I found the book started off a little slow but it did pick up about halfway through. By the time I was at the middle of the book I was hooked. Overall it was a quick read and I really enjoyed it.

Well what can i say? It held me and kept me reading beyond my bedtime and into the night .. I opened to the first page and wallop that was it ... i was hooked.... Great Read, a good storyline that flits from the present to the past.. Give it a try.... I give it five stars for a good psychological thriller.

For me, "The Summer Party" by Rebecca Heath, was lacking something. It's meant to be a twisty page turner but I somehow missed that. Yes it was a good crime book, jumping backwards and forwards from a countdown to an incident at a party in 2000 and to when Lucy clears out her grandmother's house in 2020. I think I was hoping for a bit more of a sense of place. I kept forgetting this was written by an Australian and set in Australia, perhaps I am used to the more creepy atmosphere of thrillers set in the English countryside.

Wow, the summer party is such a great mystery!

Lucy meets the Whitlams one summer when she is made to go to her grandmas house. She has no idea how much this one summer will impact the rest of her life.

After her grandma dies Lucy goes to pack her grandmas cottage and her life gets even more turned on its head.

There is something going on with the Whitlams and she is somehow involved but she has no idea what the end game with them is.

As she navigates her way through this time somethings are coming more to light and memories are beginning to resurface and she’s realizing the family she idolized was not as perfect as she thought.

The end of this book was not what i expected but i definitely recommend you taking a gander because it’s really good!

This book was SO well written, MY GOD!! The writing was captivating and just incredibly well done.

I think the pacing was a bit off, as I found the middle stretch to drag on a bit, but the eerie atmosphere, the wild Australian coast as our setting, the odd family up on the hill...I was here for all of it!

This was well done and I look forward to more from Heath!

This was definitely more slow paced that I anticipated. The writing is actually really well done, it's very easy to picture the story quite vividly. You're drawn into the world of Lucy and The Whitlam's and you stay there right till the very last page, nothing takes your attention away from the story, so it was quite enjoyable. In saying that, I did feel like the build up to the end of the book fell a little flat and disappointing. I wanted more from the ending of what really happened at that party back in 2000. I'm glad I read this one and if you're looking for an enjoyable read be sure to pick yourself up a copy of this when it releases next year!

A decent mystery, nothing unfamiliar but there were a few twists at the end that made it worthwhile. I found it quite meandering and slow going at times but it picks up. Overall I feel like it was trying to throw in too main different angles and ended up a bit muddled for it. Nevertheless it builds tension well and creates just the right about on intrigue. A solid debut and I'm sure it'll find the right audience.

THE SUMMER PARTY by Rebecca Heath was one of those books that I just couldn’t wait to get back to.
While the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, it can also be full of unseen weeds with very deep roots. Lucy recalls the time she spent at her Nan’s cottage one summer as a teen and, enamored with the Whitlam family, how she so wanted to be included in their home and all the goings on of the ‘haves’ while she lives a seeming life as a ‘have-not’. But riches don’t always take the form of material gains.
After the untimely death of her husband, Lucy returns to her grandmothers cottage to clean it out to get it ready for sale. We follow along as she reminisces about the summer party that held many more surprises than she knew. She finds clues hidden throughout her grandmother’s home that lead her to question all of those who surrounded her that summer. As she attempts to put the pieces together about what really happened at the party, she begins to wonder what part her nan played in the disturbing events.
Not knowing who she can trust, she eventually finds herself very much alone and at the mercy of a manipulative monster who will do anything to keep the family’s secrets buried as it were.
This is Ms. Heath’s first foray into adult novels and I hope it won’t be her last for I look forward to reading more. BRAVO!

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this book. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.

Just how long can you keep a secret? Years after leaving to discover the great big world, Lucy comes back to clean out her recently deceased grandmother's cottage. Old memories come crashing back, about the place, the people, and all the drama that follows the wealthy Whitlam family. Should Lucy stay or get as far away as she can, again.

Flitting between a party 20 years previously and the present day this debut novel is a belter of a drama.
Lucy returns to her Nans cottage to clear the house after her recent death. At the same time some bodily remains are washed up on the coast. Brooke Whitlam hasn't been seen since the party, but her family have closed ranks. Is it coincidence that Lucy has returned now? And when she finds an item of jewellery in her Nans house does she need to protect her Nans memory?
This was a good read with suspicions on the whole Whitlam family, with an interesting conclusion
Many thanks to Hera Publishers and Netgalley fir this advanced copy, I'm under no obligation to leave my review

Great debut psychological thriller! Rebecca Heath keeps you riveted from page one to the end and you will have no idea who the murderer is! Great character and plot development, however, I gave it 4 stars because there were some chapters where the plot dragged on.

This book left me a little bit cold, unfortunately. It is formatted with alternating chapters going between the past (told from varying POVs) and the present, but the past is almost an afterthought in the narrative and there's a lot more telling rather than showing how characters feel about each other despite it being a very slow moving thriller. Lucy is absolutely captivated by the Whitlams but why is never really clear, except that they're rich. None of them really jump off the page as captivating characters, especially the ones that Lucy is closest to, Annabelle and Harry.

I was intrigued by Lucy and Jake's dynamic but the book almost skips over their past dynamic with it saying that they were friends and Lucy cared about him but their major interactions seemed to happen on the last week of Lucy's summer in 2000. Additionally, I could have done without the numerous times the book harps on Lucy's age as being "in middle age" or "on the wrong side of thirty-five" or "old enough to be Dante's mother." At a certain point it felt weird... she's in her late thirties, she's not got one foot in the grave.

The ending is also scattered. There are too many explanations with too little emotional investment in any of the outcomes. It feels as if simply because the book was coming to an end some answers needed to be provided despite the author not quite making up their mind about which ending they wanted...

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My first ARC!! This was so fun for me just knowing that I got to read this early. Huge thank you to @netgalley who allowed me to read in exchange for an honest review. Another huge thank you to the publisher, Aria&Aries @headofzeus

The story follows Lucy, who is tasked with cleaning out her late grandmothers cottage in Queen’s Pointe. While back, A body washes up to shore and Lucy finds herself smack dab in the middle of a murder investigation. The timing of her return seems a little too coincidental.

Lucy spent one summer, back in 2000, with her grandmother in Queen’s Pointe. She became fast friends with Annabelle and all of the Whitlam siblings. They were rich, mysterious, and powerful - Lucy was obsessed. She would turn a blind eye to all of their secrets as long as they kept her part of their inner circle. Will she get sucked back into their lives this time around?

Told in multiple timelines: the present, and a fateful summer 20 years prior, the suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat. I will say however, the ending almost had me confused. Right when I thought I knew what happened - it changed. Then it changed again, and then I feel like it changed *again* somehow?? Lots of twists, I suppose!! I know that authors love to make the main character make some questionable choices to keep the plot going, but Lucy really pissed me off a few times 😂

This book isn’t a 5 star for me, because there is a LOT of backstory. It takes a while before it starts to get ‘thrilly’. I loved the first few chapters, then it got slow for a while, but then the last 50 pages or so it picked up again. I feel like it was still worth it and a good read!

My guess is this will get really popular next summer - it would make for a fantastic beach read.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book!

I thought this book was a middle-ground thriller. It built slowly, which some readers enjoy, but I would have preferred a bit of a quicker pace based on the plot. There were some great twists in the book and the storyline was thought out well. I just feel the execution could have been a little bit better. I would recommend this book.

The Summer Party by Rebecca Heath was provided to me by NetGalley. January,2023 is the publishing date for the Summer Party.

This novel switches back and forth between present day and 10+ years prior, when a murder took place at a summer party. The deceased’s body was just discovered and many are suspects including the family, the local drunk and the returning young gal tasked at cleaning her Nan’s empty home.

A very enjoyable book. All plausible suspects believable and scenarios interesting. One of the better mystery books I have read this year.

Back in the summer of 2000, Lucy Ross witnessed something she shouldn’t have in the southern Australian town of Queen’s Point. Now two decades later, she has returned for a short while. However, when a body washes up on shore and police close the town, Lucy is forced to stay and face the people—and secrets– she’s tried so hard to forget.

Sometimes you start a book and just cannot get into it. This was one of those times for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is a very well written thriller. It is fast paced and at times edge of your seat. It has plenty of twist and turns to keep the reader engaged throughout. Very well written.

The Summer Party is an intriguing murder mystery which follows Lucy, whose Nan had recently passed. She has come to clear out her Nan’s cottage in Queen's Point, a place where she spent a summer when she was a teenager, when a body part washes up on the shore. The body is linked to the Whitlam family that her nan use to work for as housekeeper. This is well written, well developed debut novel, definitely worthy of a read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Aria & Aries, Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read and review this physiological thriller.