"An atmospheric psychological thriller about a glamorous family living on the coast of southern Australia. 2023's most addictive beach read. A perfect family. A devastating secret.

Summer, 2000. In the tranquil town of Queen's Point in southern Australia, the Whitlam family marks the end of every season with a lavish party in their clifftop mansion. Here, clutching her first glass of real champagne, the summer breeze intoxicating on her skin, sixteen-year-old Lucy Ross is kissed for the very first time. And then, in the shadows of the rose garden, she sees something she shouldn't.

Winter, 2019. After two decades of silence, Lucy is back in Queen's Point. She hasn't planned on staying long. But when human remains wash up on the freezing beach, the police close the town. Unable to leave, Lucy is forced to rekindle old friendships - and examine old truths - she has long ago tried to forget. As long-buried secrets start to surface, Lucy must decide. Will she confront the past and tell the truth? Or will she still do anything to protect the people she loves?

A glamorous, escapist psychological thriller set in Australia, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, A.A. Torre and Adele Parks."

Oh, what did she see!?!

I read this a while ago and really enjoyed the book. Thankyou to Netgalley and Rebecca Heath for approving this arc copy.

The Summer Party is an atmospheric slow burning mystery with some surprising twists to keep you guessing. The writing was good, I really liked the description of the Australia towns. Australia is a place I always thought would be cool to visit so I enjoyed the description of places that added to the story without being to detaily and boring. The creepy atmosphere at the end added a great touch to a suspenseful ending. Plus there's a cool dog, what more could you ask for? I hope to see more books from Rebecca Heath in the future.

A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Head Of Zeus in exchange for an honest review.

Let me start off by saying I really liked the setting of this book. I want more books set in Australia. The writing painted a beautiful picture for those of us who haven’t travelled there.

That being said I ended up DNFing this book. It’s an easy read, but it felt like a lot of things were heavily hinted at and at times it felt a little like too much was trying to be the focus. Lucy isn’t a loveable character and is very immature for her age during the present portions of this book. I ended up DNFing due to the pace as well as things not really taking off.

I made it to 14%

A small-town thriller of the best kind, with a throwback to a party that led to plenty of questions - a perfect family who harbour SO many secrets, it's no wonder they all come tumbling out. Well written and with really rounded characters, I found this an interesting read with some good twists.

Wow! This book was really good and snagged me from the beginning! All those twists and turns - so many people hated her and COULD have done it, but who really did? And then it turns out her kids are almost every bit as fucked up and ruthless as she was. YO - Y'all need therapy! Definitely going to read more books by Rebecca Heath!

#TheSummerParty
#NetGalley

The Summer Party is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out The Summer Party asap.

The Summer Party would make a great beach read as a psychological thriller dealing with wealthy people, murder and secrets.

Lucy returns to her Grandmother’s house to pack up her things, but gets swept back up with an affluent family who she idolized as a child when she spent a summer in Queen’s Point.

The story is told through alternating timelines and POVs, but we mainly follow Lucy. In the 2000s, the story is leading up to a party and in the present day, 2019, when Lucy is back in Queen’s Point and a body is found, she is having to revisit her summer and that party all those years ago.

I enjoyed this, it felt like the guessing as to what was the full story went until the very end. I thought the story moved along at a pretty good pace and was easy to follow.
I didn’t find Lucy that mature, considering her age and life experience, so sometimes the present day timeline felt a bit painful. Overall though, I would recommend this as a book to binge on a summer day!

Thank you Aria and Aries, Head of Zeus, for the copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very slow paced for a psychological suspense novel

Two tenses. Past and present. It goes back and forth for the duration.
The writing took a while to get into though.

Overall, I enjoyed the plot more as it was slowly paced.

Great book! It was perfect from start to finish. Told a great thriller story that leaves you guessing. Perfect for a poolside or beach read this summer.

A solid murder mystery that had me guessing until the very end. I love thrillers, but especially ones with with the lives and secrets of a wealthy family dynasty. I enjoyed the alternating timelines and the beautiful and haunting setting in the southern coast of Australia. It was a slower burn rather than a page-turner, but I still really enjoyed it. A wonderful debut novel I'd recommend to anyone who loves a twisty psychological thriller and intriguing mystery.

𝗜𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀

𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗰𝗮 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵

A few years ago, I had the trip of a lifetime planned, the culmination of a lot of saving. Then came the pandemic and it was cancelled. For a while here in Australia we couldn’t go more than a few kilometres from our house. I found myself missing the family holidays of my childhood, just a couple of hours away but filled with the simple pleasures of beaches and fun on the Yorke Peninsula. Think stunning beaches nestled between Aussie bush, jagged rock cliffs and shacks that teeter so close to the ocean you can walk out the front door and squish your toes onto warm sand.

This inspired my fictional town of Queens Point where 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 is set. It’s here that 16-year-old Lucy is sent to stay for a summer and finds herself drawn into the lives of the mysterious and wealthy Whitlam family in a summer that shapes the woman she becomes. Nearly two decades later she’s back at Queens Point packing up her beloved grandmother’s house. While she’s there a shoe is found under the jetty with bones in it, like a twisted Cinderella story. Then a little while later, a body.

Investigations turn to the still beguiling Whitlams and that summer party years ago. Old secrets are stirred and Lucy worries about the gaps in her memory from that night. In her search for answers to what exactly happened when she snuck off for her first kiss in the garden, she is forced to examine old relationships and question everything she thought she knew about the Whitlam’s, her grandmother and herself.

While stuck at home in the chaos of having everyone here, I had a great time visiting Queens Point in my imagination with Lucy and the Whitlam family and I hope you do, too.

*

𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗰𝗮 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 studied science at university, worked in hospitality and teaching, but she always carved out time to write. She lives in Adelaide, Australia, halfway between the city and the sea with her husband, three children and a much-loved border collie. She spent her childhood summers at a remote beach not unlike where the novel is set. This is her debut adult novel.

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CpfFtLXgWJe/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

An easy beach read type book. It left me wanting more yet was quick to get through. The story is about Lucy who returns back to her childhood summer house to pack her grandmother's belongings. She is dealing with her own drama back home but when she arrives at the summer house many memories begin to stir up. She is intrigued about an article stating a shoe with human remains is found nearby. She wonders if its related to the night of the party when she got her first kiss but was interrupted and had to hide. What really occurred that night? She becomes more intrigued and curious about that night when she find a strange object in her grandmother's belongings.

I really enjoyed trying to figure out what happened that summer night! I found the book to be well written and fun to guess.

A perfect family. A devastating secret.

Summer, 2000. In the tranquil town of Queen's Point in southern Australia, the Whitlam family marks the end of every season with a lavish party in their clifftop mansion. Here, clutching her first glass of real champagne, the summer breeze intoxicating on her skin, sixteen-year-old Lucy Ross is kissed for the very first time. And then, in the shadows of the rose garden, she sees something she shouldn't.

Winter, 2019. After two decades of silence, Lucy is back in Queen's Point. She hasn't planned on staying long. But when human remains wash up on the freezing beach, the police close the town. Unable to leave, Lucy is forced to rekindle old friendships – and examine old truths – she has long ago tried to forget.

As long-buried secrets start to surface, Lucy must decide. Will she confront the past and tell the truth? Or will she still do anything to protect the people she loves?

This was a little too slow for me. I usually like awful wealthy people but this one just didnt grab me. Lucy comes off incredibly immature and I just didnt care about her fawning over men. I wanted more focus on the actual mystery.

2.5

This is an absolute gem!!! I’ve been so excited about this book and it hasn’t disappointed.absolutely will be recommending this book to anyone who will listen to me.

This book was ok. I liked it but I couldnt say I loved it. I was looking for a bit more. The characters were hard to connect to. Told in two timelines it was still unpredictable and thats why I still liked it. I loved the mention of the dog in the story.

The summer party has a very promising start. Return to an old city from childhood, reuniting with friends and other people and a dead body. The to and fro between the two timelines was equally good. What went wrong for me were the characters. They were so unforgettable. I didn't understand the way our main character worked. It still has it moments which makes it a overall decent one time read.

Lucy Ross comes back to the Adelaide, Australia, beach town where she spent summers with her grandmother. Lucy is on a forced leave of absence from her job in Adelaide, and her grandmother has died so her house must be cleared and ready to sell.

Lucy's grandmother was head housekeeper for the rich family who lives on the mansion up the hill, the Whitlams. One glorious summer she hung out and was best friends with Annabelle Whitlam, adored her older sister Mae, and had a crush on brother Harry. She soon reconnects with the family. After only a couple of days a body is found buried in the dunes on the beach. It turns out to be the Whitlam siblings mother, Brooke, who disappeared after a summer party in 2000. This brings Jake back into Lucy's life. He, like her, was an outsider that fabulous summer of 2000, who also wanted to be part of the Whitlam's golden circle. Now he is a policeman in the little town, investigating the crime.

The story builds suspense with a dual storyline, One is set in 2000 and leads slowly up to the night of the party. The other is set in present time, as Brooke tries to figure out who could have murdered Brooke Whitlam, and also tries to deal with the emotions of seeing these three long ago friends again.

I will admit I requested this ARC from NetGalley when I saw it was set in Adelaide, which is my husband's home town and a place I visit every year. In truth, the setting did not play a big part in the story. Some reviewers have commented that none of the characters were likable, but I would disagree. Lucy makes some very bad decisions, but at the end of the story, she pays for some of these bad choices.

I enjoyed the story and it kept me turning the pages until the end.

Riveting thriller! This is set in Australia where Lucy goes back to take care of her grandmothers house. It’s told in the past and present viewpoints. This was the authors debut novel. Very well written! Thank you to net galley and the pubLisher for an ARC of this book