Beneath the Marigolds is a fast paced psychological thriller with depth. At the heart of the story is a strong female protagonist, Ann, searching for her friend and also her AA sponsor, Reece, who has gone missing after attending a dating retreat on a private island in Hawaii. Emily C Whitson uses her own voice perspective to highlight women in recovery from addiction without shame and guilt. I enjoyed the emotional depth that she brought into Ann and Reece’s narratives and the insight to the desires, sorrows, and difficulties of recovery for an addict. I look forward to reading more from Whitson and recommend for fans of both mysteries, thrillers, and The Bachelor(ette), and similar reality Tv dating shows.

I enjoyed this one and kept going back for more. Some parts of it I felt that it dragged a little but by the end it wrapped up nicely. I listened to the audio version and liked the narrators a lot.

Wow. I absolutely loved this book. I was not expecting the ending here. I can say the audio book wasted my favorite (something to do with the audio) but the content of the book itself was so good. I was captivated! Finished this book in 2 days!

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<b>This debut thriller, with its gorgeous cover, grabbed me from the first paragraph! I love trying new authors. It can be a coin toss with debut authors, but still exciting and fun. I hit the jackpot with Ms. Whitson and <i>Beneath the Marigolds</i>!</b>

The story is told from two perspectives. Reese—who is a hopeless romantic…always looking for Mr. Right. She bounces from one relationship to another but manages to stay optimistic. Her friend—Ann—is down-to-earth and focused on her career as a lawyer. The two women may have a lot of differences, but they are bonded by their shared addictions. Both are AA members.

When Reese receives an invitation to the “Last Chance” retreat, she’s ecstatic. It is an exclusive singles retreat located on a private island and sounds like the perfect fit for Reese. She tries to get Ann to attend with her, but it’s not Ann’s thing.

Reese connects with someone right away, but some bizarre things are going on, so she decides to cut her stay short. When Reese disappears, Ann decides to attend the next session, hoping she can find out what happened to her friend. The more she digs, the more questions she has. This is one sketchy place. As wonderful as it sounds, I think I’ll pass!

Christina, the host, is very mysterious. And all of her rules and restrictions are strange. She provides the outfits and requires them to be worn. There is a makeup artist. Meals are set up at strange times, but there is never any food on the “dates”. Alcohol flows freely and denying it feels like an insult. Not a friendly place for a recovering alcoholic.

This is one of the best debuts I’ve read. A well-written must-read!

Sincere thanks to CamCat Books for providing an audiobook through NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion.

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This was so good! I was instantly sucked in, as soon as we started to hear about this retreat and the missing friend. Right from the get-go, it's creepy and eerie - the flowers and the dodgy staff.

It's two from 2 POV - the missing friend and the friend arrived to find her. I liked how the two stories folded together, each one pushing the other narrative along. Both storylines reveal secrets and, put together, it was easy to imagine who was behind it all. But even knowing that, it was such a race to get to the shocking end to see how it all played out. So well done - perfect tension-filled, racing plot line with unreliable narrators and characters all around!

The enjoyed this as an audio and the narrator was perfect!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

When Reese left to go to a month long singles retreat on an island in Hawaii she wanted her friend Anne to go. They are both recovering alcoholics and unlike Reese, Anne his only had one serious boyfriend and isn’t in desperate need of a new relationship and this is why she doesn’t go. A month later when Reese does it return however Anne believes the only way she will find answers is to go to the island herself. And is a lawyer and while on the island she has her coworker Ned giving her updates on the investigation into her missing friend. She’s not allowed a cell phone while at the retreat but she sneaks one in anyway. Throughout the story we hear from Reese and Anne’s POV both POV follow the ladies time at the retreat and they correlate with each other to come to a resounding ending. This book was OMG good! Not only are the narrators truly awesome because they have one narrator for each lady but the storyline is a definite top notch read. If you love thrillers with authentic twist with absolutely no eye rolling involved that’s really no point in this book where you have to suspend belief, it is a truly authentic story with Greek characters big emotions and lots of drama. I truly enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more from this author possibly even today… It was that good! A real five star listen. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Would you go to an exclusive retreat in hopes of meeting “the one”? That’s what Reese did but then she never returned home. Her best friend Ann, determined to find out what happened to Reese, heads to the secluded island retreat to uncover the truth no matter the consequences.

This was a good debut and a much more emotional read than I expected from a mystery. I wasn’t truly shocked by anything but the story was entertaining from page one. An easy story to get consumed by.

The audio was enjoyable and the Hawaiian island setting was a great place to be transported to.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the alc in exchange for an honest review.

Tw: alcoholism

Thank you Netgalley for this audio edition of Beneath the Marigolds by Emily C. Whitson.

Ann is on her way to Hawaii for a singles retreat called Last Chance. Unlike the other attendees, Ann is not actually looking for love, she's looking for her best friend Reese who disappeared from the retreat. Desperate for answers, but also nervous of getting caught, Ann quietly investigates this unique retreat to get to the bottom of what happened to her friend. But is she putting herself in danger too?

Mmmmm, this was okay. I liked the idea of the mysterious retreat. I also thought it was an interesting spin making Ann an alcoholic, adding another layer of difficulty to her time on an island where booze flowed freely. I never really saw the characters fully fleshed out, which was ultimately my difficulty sinking fully into the book. But, if you like a hazy thriller on a love drunk island, this is definitely it!

3.5 Rounded up to 4

This was a decent read and I looked forward to everything coming together at the end and seeing how it all played out. I liked it overall but it just seemed like something was missing and the ending was a bit abrupt/rushed.

I really liked learning about the characters and was hopeful something would work out with Nick and Ann. I cared about each of the characters. However, a couple of the characters seemed to come out of nowhere, so I had a bit of an issue with that although perhaps they didn’t come out of nowhere and I forgot about them early on or maybe there was a minor reference.

The title bugged me, I understood the reference to marigolds in relation to the story, but it wasn’t such a prominent part of the story to warrant being included in the title. I think “Last Chance…” might’ve been a better title, especially since that was such a big part of the story.

The pacing was decent but I think the story could’ve been trimmed down a little. I don’t want to say it was dragging a lot because that’s not the case, but my attention span did wane here and there in different scenes at the resort. The resort itself didn’t have that wow factor.

So, do I recommend checking it out? Yeah, sure it was a decent read…just don’t expect it to be anything mind blowing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
As this started off I wasn’t too sure about it because I didn’t love the narrator.
However I ended up loving the actual story.

This was a great story with an interesting twist! I enjoyed the narrators as well. If you enjoy suspense and must this book is for you.

Book Title: Beneath the Marigolds
Author: Emily C. Whitson
Audiobook Narrators: Lisa Larsen and Emily O’Brien
Publisher: CamCal Books (Independent Book Publisher Association (IBPA) Members-Audiobook
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: September 21, 2021
My Rating: 4 Stars

The story is told from two perspectives and two time periods.
Reese, who is a hopeless romantic… is always looking for Mr. Right. She bounces from one relationship to another but stays optimistic.
And her friend, Ann, is down-to-earth and focused on her career as a lawyer.

The two women may have a lot of differences, but they are bonded by their shared addictions. Both are AA members.

When Reese receives an invitation to the “Last Chance” retreat, an exclusive singles’ retreat located on a private Hawaiian island. (Doesn’t THAT sound perfect?)
Reese is looking for romance so yes it sounds perfect! She tries to get Ann to attend; in fact, Reese completed an application for Ann. They are both accepted but Ann backs out.

When Reese doesn’t return but someone impersonating her returns in her place! Hmmm
Ann decided this is indeed is very suspicious and decides to attend the next session of the retreat in hopes of finding out what happened to her friend. She feels this is one mysterious place!


This is a great debut novel.

I love the idea of also liked the strong friendship ~ also the bond between those who go through addiction recovery.
This was an audiobook and often audiobooks do not included the author’s note ~ which was this case.
I always enjoy reading the author’s comments and their inspiration for their writing.
I was delighted when I read the Goodreads “more about author Emily C. Whitson and found this
Q & A video
https://www.goodreads.com/videos/181826-beneath-the-marigolds-q-a

Want to thank NetGalley and CamCal Audiobooks for this eGalley.
Publishing Release Date was September 21, 2021

This was amazing. At first I thought it would be one of those "gentle" rich girl thrillers. You know in the end it is all fine and the women's issues aren't "real" because I read a lot of those.
Anyway. I was wrong. This was fantastic.
You will love it!
The narrators were spot on, as well. They played their parts perfectly.

Thank you Net Galley for a copy of Beneath the Magnolias. This is the authors debut. It was good. A woman's best friend goes missing and she works to uncover the truth.