This was a fun locked door mystery that takes place in the beautiful south of France. Darcy and 3 of her friends have been invited to stay with Seraphine, Darcy’s grandmother. The four girls studied abroad together in college and they would stay with Seraphine on many weekends. Each of the women have a lot going on and everyone needs a break from their regular life. But we find out that each has a hidden agenda for accepting the invitation. All is well until Seraphine is found murdered! Who would do this? And why?

I really liked this story- it had twists I didn’t see coming and completely kept me guessing. One of the women, Jade has lost her grandparents in the Holocaust and she’s very proud of her Jewish heritage, but her young son is bullied for it in present day NYC. This felt so timely for what’s going on in the world today. It broke my heart. Vix is another woman who is going through a difficult breakup and has just survived breast cancer. She was learning to live in her new body after having surgery. The book is definitely more than just your average thriller.

Thank you so much to @atriabooks and @jaclyngoldis for my gifted ebook.

This was such a fun book to read for book club and overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading gothic style thrillers.

A French chateau, a murder whodunnit, and four friends who all have buried secrets and suspect one another... oh, and lots of money at stake. *JUICY*

I found this book captivating, and couldn't put it down. For me, it wasn't predictable, which I love! I read a lot of thriller/mystery, so still being surprised by storylines is just the best feeling. I definitely would read more by this author!

4/5 Stars.

{Ebook copy gifted by Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.]

This one confused me. While I did finish it, I was lost at what genre this book actually was. I expected a thriller, but I found this to be more of a romance with thriller aspects to it? I didn't hate this by any means, but I also would not call it one of my favorite reads of the year. I give it a solid 2.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

I enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure at first because it has quite a few points of view, and sometimes that can be a bit much for me. However, this was fast paced and there were some twists that I didn't see coming.

Rating 4/5

A Chateau in the French countryside, a group of friends reuniting for a mysterious reason, and a shocking murder - all promising ingredients for a successful thriller. I enjoyed the descriptions of the locations, and was propelled by the story throughout. I didn't particularly like any of the characters, though, so I didn't find the big reveals as satisfying as I might have otherwise. I also think there were too many characters, with some unnecessary storylines that could have been combined without losing anything from the plot. I was occasionally taken out of the writing by phrases that felt so timely as to be a little cringe, like all the references to Instagram and millennials. Overall, I thought this was a good thriller, but it wasn't outstanding.

This book was not what I was expecting. It started out a bit slow for me, plus I had a hard time keeping the characters and shifting points-of-view straight because Darcy, Jade, Arabelle, and Vix all sounded the same. And by that I mean rich, privileged women with grudges and chips on their shoulders. Which would be fine, if that was the point of the murder mystery like your basic psychological thriller. But then the author threw in antisemitism, infertility, infidelity, cancer, the Holocaust… like what the heck is going on here? It was too much to keep track of and so much of it had nothing to do with the plot. Not to mention that I saw no disclaimer or trigger warnings for these things, and many of those things are trigger warnings for a lot of readers. That aside, the first 80% of this book dragged, and only did the plot heat up and come to its peak in the last 15-20% of the book, at which point I had almost DNFed about a half-dozen times. Given how many other (better) books are out there with more tightly plotted and thought-out, detailed murder mysteries - locked room style in a glamorous location - are out there, I can’t say I strongly recommend this one if any of the above topics is a trigger for you as a reader.

Darcy and her 3 friends are invited to Darcy’s grandmother’s chateau in France! Sounds amazing!! These girls used to visit the chateau every weekend 20 years ago when they where in school together. It sounds like the perfect getaway but they each come with secrets. And when Darcy’s grandmother ends up murdered, someone will do anything to keep their secret from coming out.

This book had so much potential! 😩 it started out strong but by the end it just fell flat. There seemed to be too much of everything. Almost any type of secret you could think of someone having, someone had it. It got complicated to try and keep everyone straight. And none of the women were very likeable. They all had flaws, which is not a problem, but these flaws made these women just horrible people. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This was an appealing "whodunit” mystery since I usually love multiple POV and locked room mysteries, but this fell really flat for me.

The main issue was that I couldn't keep all of the perspectives straight. I couldn't remember who was who and felt really confused so by the time the killer was revealed it didn't hit me in the way I thought it should. The middle dragged on a lot for me as well.

Best part about this book: the atmosphere. I loved the French chateau setting - and the cover is just gorgeous.

Four friends, while studying abroad, go to the chateau on weekends, and visit the grandmother of one of the girls. Twenty years later, they are requested to return by the lady of the chateau, Seraphina.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books for a copy for an honest review.

Remote chateaus in France with a million secrets, count me in! This was a fast paced, thrilling novel! 4 friends go back to the chateau after years away. The amount of crazy secrets that are revealed can be a bit unbelievable but no less entertaining. I really enjoyed this read! My only critique is I felt the author felt like she had to hit all demographics in her characters, and each set had their own set of hot button issues. It was hard to keep up and a bit excessive. Nevertheless, this was a great who done it mystery I would recommend!

The premise of this story was so interesting to me. I loved the atmospheric murder mystery vibes. I loved hating a few characters and absolutely loving others.

This book was a bit predictable & far fetched, but fine overall. It’s told in *multiple* POVs which was hard to keep track of periodically.

Thank you Net Galley & to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

**2.5-stars**

When Darcy's Grandmother, the elegant, yet aging, Séraphine Demargelasse, invites Darcy and her four best girlfriends to her French Chateau for a luxury Girls Getaway, they can hardly say no.

The women all studied together in France 20-years earlier and they spent many weekends at Séraphine's. It was at that time, their life-long bonds of friendship were formed, including with Séraphine. It is a beautiful spot, with many beautiful memories.

Prior to the trip, Séraphine tells Darcy she wants to discuss her will with her. This sets a bit of an ominous tone and Darcy wonders if her Grandmother is unwell.

The trip starts off fine, with everyone getting used to being in each other's company again, enjoying the sights and accommodations. It's clear they're hiding some things from one another, but what friendship group doesn't?

After a boisterous evening celebration, Séraphine is found murdered. Everyone is in shock. Who could have done this? There's a limited number of guests, it had to be one of them, but why? Who would want poor Séraphine dead? What is there to gain?

From there the story follows the various characters as the investigation into the murder begins. Everyone is a suspect and in kind, they slowly begin to fall apart.

Here's the thing, starting off, I was very intrigued by this. I love a story that follows friends, or family, traveling together, staying in remote locations on holiday. I like learning about the characters and their varied lives.

This started out strong with that set-up and while the characters weren't particularly likable, I never mind that. I like when you get everyone's perspective in a friendship group, because no matter how close they are, there's always something: secrets, resentments, betrayals, etc. I love watching it all come to light. I'm here for the drama.

Unfortunately, about halfway through this just fell off a cliff for me. It felt like it was trying to do too much and with so much thrown in, it made everything feel less impactful.

There is a betrayal revealed that turned me off. It's weird because I've read that same thing before, but the way it was done here, I was just over it. I can't even really explain why. I don't think it was necessarily that betrayal though, like the circumstance, that killed this for me, but more like from that point on, every subsequent thing the author threw at us had me tuning out more and more. It was a turning point.

Additionally, I didn't feel invested enough in the mystery. I didn't really care who did it. I hadn't felt connected in any way to Séraphine and her murder hardly felt gripping. I realize that sounds awful, but I just wasn't invested enough to care, I guess. I wanted more intrigue, suspense and nail-biting moments. Instead I feel like it turned into more of a character study than a murder mystery.

Again, I feel like the downfall of this book is that it tried to do too much. It diluted the impact with so many things happening concurrently. Like the Van Gogh thing??? Completely unnecessary, IMO.

Thank you to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Even though this wasn't my cup of tea, I would be willing to pick up this author's next book. I'm a firm believer in second chances!

This book was a little difficult for me to get into. I started it 3 different times before finally reaching a point where I wanted to finish it. However, I think a large part of it could be the style of going to different characters each chapter. The style made following difficult. I will say the story finished well and did have a twist. It also kept you guessing on which character was the murderer.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jaclyn Goldis and Atria books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The premise was right up my alley, but I was not a fan of the writing style. Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the ARC.

Giving this one a 3.5, rounded up to 44. It felt fast and slow at the same time and really didn't have a lot of suspense or thriller aspects - just a lot of drama. I enjoyed learning about Van Gogh, the families and just about the chateau. Honestly, that was probably my favorite part. It was a struggle to keep all the women straight as they all seemed similar enough and all unreliable. The ending left me with some questions...a sequel?

Four childhood friends, now adults, gather in a chateau in the south of France to celebrate the birthday of one of their members. But festivities turn sour when their host, the grandmother of one of the four and the owner of the chateau, is brutally murdered. As the story unfolds, historical wounds will come to light, and friendships will be tested. And in the end, no one's life will go on as it did before.

That all sounds like the making for a gripping, if guiltily so, tale, right? Well, it could have been. I read this book on a single trans-Atlantic flight, and I truly believe that the only reason I didn't abandon this book after the first couple of chapters was that I was exhausted and underfed, and thus my standards were significantly lowered.

First, the characters are laughably trite distortions of middle-aged female archetypes. The perfect mother. The outre lesbian. The body perfectionist. The sophisticated career woman. Their unidimensionality makes them at times so utterly predictable that much of the descriptive text seems to unnecessarily inflate the length of the book. One begins to begrudge them their predictability soon after their introduction, making the rest of the book feel like being trapped in conversations with a group of dull chatterboxes and grieving the time one has lost to the senseless enterprise.

The prose, too, is hilariously bad. Certain turns of phrase sound like they were generated by a poorly tuned AI, at worst, and at best, coined by someone looking to impress a cultured audience and falling terribly short. Factual errors abound. And yet, it's addicting. It's hard to put down. Reading this book is somewhat equivalent to passing an auto accident: terrible to see, but oh-so difficult to tear your eyes away.

My recommendation: take an earlier exit off the motorway, and avoid the catastrophic pile-up entirely.

This was a great book. Loved the premise and hated the characters- just the kind of thriller I like!

I devoured this atmospheric murder mystery set in an old French chateau. Four women travel back to France, where they studied abroad as teens, at the request of one's grandmother. When grandmother is murdered, they are the primary suspects, but why would any of them want her dead? As the investigation commences following the murder, shocking secrets are revealed. This would be perfect for a Netflix series!