It’s hard to believe The Summer Party is a debut. It’s a well written psychological thriller. Almost all the characters are pretentious and unlikeable but that only adds to the story. I read this in one sitting as there are so many well thought out – astonishing twists and turns so you can’t look away even for a moment.

I’m excited for more from this author. Highly recommend this quick page turner.

A house to be cleared, memories to be revisited and a large house full of rich people as neighbours. This is a story of old dramas that are remembered during the story. People that seemed friends are turning out to be something quite different.
A decent read.

To be honest I did find that I was getting a bit bored with the whole lot of them.
This review will be posted on Waterstones

Lucy is returning to Queen's Point, Australia to go through her Nan's estate. In the last year, Lucy has lost both her husband and her grandmother, but she finds comfort in the nearby Whitlam family: her grandmother's former employers and Lucy's friends on her summer visit as a teen. Nearly two decades have passed since she last saw any of them; things were never quite the same after a midsummer party that was held all those years ago. The Whitlam matriarch, Brooke, seems estranged from her family, and the Whitlam children are scattered about Australia. Lucy has questions, but tries to focus on the task at hand; that is until human remains wash ashore nearby and spark questions about the whereabouts of Brooke Whitlam. Is she missing or deceased? Lucy is finding more and more in her Nan's belongings that make her curious about a possible connection to the missing woman. The Whitlam children are all returning home with the news of their mother, and Lucy senses their suspicion of her presence in Queen's Point. The Whitlam family is wealthy and powerful, and Lucy fears what might have happened on that night twenty years ago - and what could become of her if she keeps digging.

The Summer Party gets a lot of things right: unreliable narration, questionable timelines, and things that can only be answered by deceased characters. Many times, I developed an opinion about a character, only to feel differently a few pages later. Heath keeps you guessing with her complex cast. Bonus points for a dog who functions as a major supporting character; to be clear, he is good all the way through, of course.

I found this book enjoyable. It was a slow burn and not necessarily an edge-of-my-seat page turner, but it kept me engaged, especially with all the guesswork around who was trustworthy. That said, the climactic scene was intense and did have me tearing through lines to find out what would happen next. I appreciated the commentary on social media and how an entire life can be misrepresented, and I enjoyed the twist at the very end. The author tied things up nicely and gave the reader resolution.

I do believe this is my first Aussie author, I am ashamed to say; I look forward to peppering more Australian voices into my library.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

I loved the dual timeline in this story however I found it very slow moving towards the end. The characters were overall very unlikeable. I did enjoy some of the twists at the end!


Thank you NetGalley and Zeus Publishing for the ARC in return for my honest review!

The most perfect families hide the most devastating secrets.
When Lucy Ross is forced to come back to her childhood summer home in Queens Point, Australia, it's supposed to only be a short stay. Just the time to pack her beloved grandmother's belongings and move on. But when a body washes up on the beach, the timing of her return seems too coincidental, and she soon finds herself pulled into a murder investigation.
At the centre of it all are the Whitlam siblings – gorgeous, wealthy, glamorous. In this beautiful coastal town Mae, Harry and Anabelle are as good as royalty. So when nineteen years before they had let shy sixteen-year-old Lucy into their inner circle, she was prepared to do anything for it to stay that way, even turn a blind eye to their secrets...
But now that things have turned out deadly, what would be stronger: the Whitlam's allure or the search for the truth?

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

The unlikeable character issue - y’all it was prominent here. Also I just felt so bad for Lucy the whole time I wanted to take her out of the book and be like girl you can do better than this please stop you don’t need them. I thought the ending was good though and it’ll surprise some people which is encouraging I just wish I could’ve liked a couple characters

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
A decent atmospheric and suspenseful mystery that kept me guessing until the end

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Dual timelines
Murder mysteries
Slow paced plots
Interesting twists
Multiple POVs

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
The dog!
Western Australia coast setting
The flashbacks

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
I didn’t really like any of the characters
I found it a bit slow
Lucy’s obsession with the family after only being around them for summer seemed a little crazy

What truly happened at The Summer Party 20 years ago? This suspenseful, psychological thriller tells a ruinous tale of duplicity, power and a deeply guarded family secrets. Told from multiple points of view, in the past and in the present, this book is chock full of twists and turns that you will never see coming.

Transport yourself to the beautiful beaches of Australia in “The Summer Party” from Rebecca Heath. Flipping between two time periods, we follow Lucy to her small hometown, full of memories, lies, secrets & the location of her grandmother’s home.

At first glance, it seems Lucy is swept up in a terrible circumstance with her professional life & is attempting to hide it from everyone. She reunites with her childhood friends the Whitlams, who we realize on closer inspection, have a lot to hide.

Strange occurrences continue to unfold, including the discovery of the Whitlam matriarch’s body. As we begin to question if Lucy is involved, more sinister events unfold, leading up to the startling conclusion that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

I loved the dual timeline of this story, and how the pieces slowly fell into place. The first half of the book was easy to fly through, but the second half slowed down a bit for me, leading to a mediocre ending. Overall, this was an enjoyable read I would recommend!

Lucy starts out as on a quick trip to Queen's Point in Australia to clear out her grandmother's cottage. What Lucy doesn't realize is that she will be dragged back into 20 year old murder mystery. As a teen, Lucy would spend her summers with her grandmother on the beautiful Australian coast where se became obsessed with the wealth and beautiful Whitlam's.. Brooke Whitlam, the wealthy matriarch, is murdered and the body is never found. Fast forward 20 years and bones are found on the beach. Could it be the long lost remains of Brooke Whitlam? Secrets are exposed and friendships are not to be trusted. Crisp, clear narration made this a wonderful listen.


Thank you to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review

Lucy Ross is forced to go back to her childhood home in Australia in order to pack up her grandmother's belongings. What was meant to be a short stay turns longer once a body washes up on the beach. This makes the timing of her visit too much of a coincidence and gets her involved in a murder investigation. The Whitlam siblings are at the center of the investigation, who are treated like royalty in the town. Nineteen years prior, they had let Lucy into their inner circle and she was ready to do anything to stay there.
This was a great quick read, and will keep you guessing until the very end. It was a great murder mystery and I recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Lucy was just a teen last time she was in Queens Point - the night of the summer party. She returns to clear out her deceased grandmother’s cottage. Understandable; however, the timing coincides with the discovery of a body on her friends’ family property, the same people who employed her grandparents. The investigation unearths more than just a body in this story filled with privilege, lust, wrath, and murder.

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Water, Sand and Secrets
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿: The ring
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Normal
𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Novel
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Contemporary Mystery
3.6/𝟱

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ Small town murder in Australia
~ Unfolding mystery
~ Varying female characters
~ Friendships, families and betrayal
~ Hero animals

A few toes in a washed up shoe, bring desperate-to-fit-in-&-have-friends-Lucy back to the little town she spent one summer as 15. Here, she fell in love, stalked/obsessed over new rich friends, was silly AND witnessed a murder?

Now 19 years later, the little town must come to terms with the true characters of its wealthiest family & the nasty secrets they hide. 🙄 Delusional Lucy must face the truth about her relationships with that family & those her granny served.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.

🌱THE MEH
~ Lucy’s TERRIBLE and nonsensical decisions: opening doors to possible criminals, drinking among suspects 😬, wandering around with murderer?!?! 🤦
~ Toxic family relationships 😢 (always so sad)
~ The use of alcohol for ‘courage’ 🙄

♡🌱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

I enjoyed reading this book. It was a murder mystery which was intriguing until the end, when the truth began to unravel, a bit confusingly.

The story begins in a small seaside town. Lucy returns to the town after the death of her grandmother, to clean out the cottage where her Nan lived. As a teenager in 2000, Lucy had spent a summer with her Nan, and befriended the children of the wealthy family in the big mansion. She was awed by their lifestyle, and decided to model her future to theirs.
After the summer, Lucy returned to the city, grew up and married, and had a career.
Returning to the beach town after her Nan’s death brought back old memories. However, the discovery of a buried dead body opens up a mystery she needs to solve.

I feel the book took too many twists and turns, and too many characters to finally resolve the mystery. It was a disappointing ending.

For that reason, I rate it at 3 1/2 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Zeus Publishing for the ARC in return for my review.

3.5 out of 5

Things aren't always what they seem...

As a teenager, Lucy spent a summer with her Nan, Judy, who was a caretaker at the sprawling Whitlam estate. Lucy was enamored with the idea of being a Whitlam; to have the money, the home, the prestige.

She was ecstatic when Anabelle Whitlam befriended her. Anabelle's friendship allowed Lucy to live vicariously through her and it also gave Lucy access to Harry, Anabelle's handsome and charming brother.

Then the end of summer came and tragedy struck at the Whitlam estate. Lucy went back home and never returned, until now.

Present day, Lucy's Nan has passed and Lucy has returned to settle the estate. But that is not the only thing that needs to be settled...

Overall, this book was ok. It was a slow burn, there was a lot of focus on unimportant details and not enough on the relevant. The ending was disappointing. I was left wishing for a different resolution, more twists, anything to keep me engaged.

Many thanks to the Net Galley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and the author for this ARC.

This book was more mystery than thriller for me. The pace is slow but it's a solid whodunnit that kept you turning the pages. I enjoyed the surprising twist especially at the end.
However I did not enjoy Lucy's obsession with the Whitlam family it was over the top for me as she only spent one summer with these people. Thank you Netgalley and Aria & Aries, Head Of Zeus for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lucy Ross, 35, a widow, is visiting Queen’s Point to clear out her deceased grandmother’s home prior to selling it. It’s been 19 years since she was last there when she spent a summer with her grandmother. She was shy and nervous about being accepted by the wealthy Whitlam family who lived in a spectacular home. They had three children: Harry, Anabelle, and Mae.

Lucy’s grandmother had been a maid to the Whitlam family and her husband had been a handyman, both for many years.

This story is told in dual timeframes from when Lucy was a young girl hoping to make friends with, and be accepted by the Whitlam siblings. She was witness to their great wealth, as well as the cruelty that their mother, Brooke, inflicted on each of them.

We see the young girl from “the other side of the tracks” wanting to be accepted. This is a plot that has been done many times over. I can’t say that I had sympathy for any of the characters which is why I didn’t really enjoy it all that much. The dog is, of course, a sweetie and it’s always a plus to include a pet in a book. I realize this is a debut novel so one can expect some bumps along the way. I’m hoping that her next book will be better.

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

Wow! I am a mystery and thriller reader and sometimes it’s hard to find a good one. This one was SO good! I enjoyed the pacing, and how quickly I was able to dive into this one. I can go into more of a descriptive review. But I think going in blind is the right choice for this book.

What I enjoyed:
- the pacing was quick, and will keep you interested! I had a hard time putting this one down
- You will be kept guessing the whole time.
- Multiple POVs
- Loved the mystery and spookiness of this one

Overall great and fun read! Excited to read more by this author in the future. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars! Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!