This was a good thriller! It took me a bit to get into it and I felt the beginning was a bit slow. But once it picked up, it picked up. I was flying through it and anxious to find out the ending. It didn't really wrap up as nicely as I like for mysteries too but we did get some answers.

I enjoyed this story, it is abit unusual and keeps you hanging on about the secrets, right till the end. It is in some ways the same old" when we were young but we changed and still carry the same issues / greviances as before...." I loved the setting and brought back summer memories

The Birthday Reunion by Claire Seeber

Three women are invited to the birthday of an estranged friend and decide to go. I liked the alternating between past and present, although, at times I found it difficult to follow and had to re-read some passages. I did not expect the ending and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since finishing. Overall a great read. Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC copy.

The way this book was setup was really unique. Each scene is done from the perspective of each of the characters, providing an interesting insight into the story. It never occurred to me to do this in my own writing, but I found that I really liked it. It is slow in the sense that it took about 30% of the book for them to get to the traveling part, but that’s only because each character’s POV was used. If it had only been one perspective, we would have been rocketed into the action. You can easily tell which character is speaking and their voices were really well done. There aren’t a lot of bodies dropping like in the typical thrillers I read, but I really enjoyed this one nonetheless!

Huge thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

VACATION GONE WRONG ALERT!

3 friends receive surprise invites to a villa to celebrate their estranged friend's birthday. Simone, Hannah and Vicky aren't sure if they ever want to see Jodie again, but a free vacation at a resort is too hard to pass up. As soon as they land however, they realize there is something wrong, very wrong. When some other surprise guests appear the three begin to fear for their lives.

Great fun book - not a simple story at all. The flashbacks keep the suspense taunt and the reveal at the end is both believable and a surprise. If you love vacations-gone-wrong, think revenge is best served sweet, or just want to tag along to a beautiful Mediterranean villa vacation, The Birthday Reunion is for you!
#Bookouture #TheBirthdayReunion #ClaireSeeber


Ps a lot more Brit terms then I am used too! For those with arachnophobia, a snooker ball is a pool/billiards ball :)

This was an absolute page turner, I couldn't wait to find out what was really going on and I never would have guessed the final outcome. The Birthday Reunion explores the messy entanglements of toxic female friend groups, and the devastating consequences of not being able to trust the people who know your deepest secrets. The characters were all people you'll love to loathe and you're left wondering if maybe every one got what they really deserved.

The Birthday Reunion ~ Claire Seeber

** Trigger Warning, Does mention Sexual Assault **

The book is based around 4 female friends. Jodie, Hannah, Vicky and Simone, all best friends until Jodie betrayed them which drove a big wedge between them.

Fast forward 20 years, out of the blue they all receive an invitation for Jodie’s 40th birthday.. all inclusive, flights paid for etc to Ibiza.. but was the invitation from Jodie?
They all promised each other that they wouldn’t speak to Jodie again.. so the question stands.. should they go or not?

Overall I give this 2/5 stars, mainly because it’s very slow pace and wasn’t gripping enough for me personally.

Nothing really happened until chapter 80 (out of 92)
The story is told from all the friends perspectives, jumping from past to present which did get a little confusing for me as I found myself having to go back to the title of the chapter to see whose view I was reading from.

Once I hit chapter 80, the tension and story was fast paced. Someone being poisoned, missing knives and then someone ending up dead.

For me I found the ending very puzzling, I’m unsure as to who tricked them into going to the party as so much happened it was rather wild.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book, in exchange for an honest review.

My first book by this author and that always make me extra curious. Am I going to like the writing syle? Am I going to enjoy the storytelling? Well, I will tell you about it in a minute. :)

Who does not like a birthday party? Who does not like to celebrate in a villa on a sunny island? I guess you will all shout Meee! And of course you will when it's organised by a good friend or a loved one, but in this case it's not true. Once the birthday girl was one of a circle of four best girlfriends. Now she has been en ex friend for quite some years. Is it time for the other three to go and confront her once and for all and to clear the air?

The least you can say is that the characters had a lot of issues. It was like a tangled web with a spider waiting for the right moment to attack...

The story is told through the eyes of the 4 women and the author also gives us the necessary backstory. The present story was written in the 1st person with the name of the woman on top of each chapter. For me that was sometimes a bit confusing because I forgot once in a while who that 1st person's voice was we were 'hearing'. So I had to go back to the first page of the chapter. But that's me blame my old age LOL and the chapters were short or rather short, so it did not take me too much time to look it up. :)

The whole time the book was plunged in a creepy atmosphere. You always felt something was going to happen. The question was who was going to be the victim and when or what was going to go wrong? I enjoyed that a lot.

Another thing I also liked was this. When one of the characters was joined by another one, the other did not reveal straight away who entered the scene. The name was only revealed after a few sentences and it added to the suspense.

There was something happening in each chapter that made me want to read further. The author most certainly hit me with a few surprises. I liked it a lot. 4,5 stars

Thank you

Party invitation for an old friend’s birthday? Three women decide even though Jodie has been removed from their life, they will go along.

Marketed as a thriller, which is why I was interested, unfortunately this comes across as a confusing and chaotically written, slow drama.

I imagine this might be a nice transitional novel for someone wanting a dark drama/thriller but this was not the book for me.

I received this ARC from Netgalley who provided it in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Claire Seeber for the chance to read The Birthday Reunion. Simone, Hannah and Vicky all receive an invitation to celebrate their long lost friend Jodie's 40th birthday. The problem is no one is even talking to Jodi anymore. Many years ago Jodi betrayed them all. They certainly don't want to celebrate her birthday on an island in the Mediterranean. But who can pass up a chance to take a lavish vacation. This trip does not go has planned. The story is told from the past and the present. I like this type of writing. However, the book moves at slow pace and at times was a bit confusing. I loved the premise and the cover of the book.

I liked the fact that this book jumped around and was told by lotsmkf different points of view. I always love it when you have to piece it all together and it isn't handed to you. I like being the detective and that's what you get with this book.

Four friends get together at a Mediterranean villa to celebrate a birthday. However, they soon discover that that friend didn't invite them. Can they survive the weekend or will one die before they can escape?

I didn't connect with the characters in this book. It took a bit long too to get to the suspense.

This book is told from different view points and alternates between the past and present. Sometimes this can be tricky to keep track of but this book chapters are clearly labelled to help differntiate. There is somewhat of a slow pace, which might not be to everyone taste but it does build with tension and overall a good ending. It is important to know there are scenes in this book which could be triggering for some people (around sexual assault).

To me this was more of a chiclit than a thriller? It was slow, very slow. But in saying that if you like dramas and are happy spending chapters just getting to know the characters and their lives then you'd probably find this quite interesting. I personally went into this expecting some kind of thriller with twists and turns and that sense of tension and it didn't deliver in those regards. Overall it is a good book though, for those looking for a more indepth story about old friendships gone wrong and such

Unfortunately, this failed hard. It was advertised as a suspenseful thriller but it was slow, too slow, and there weren't twists, turns, or shocking revelations. It was a drama that had a lot going on. Not my cup of tea.

I don't read many thrillers but this grabbed my attention: What did Jodie do to her mates all that time ago and why has she invited them to her birthday after all this time?
I thought this was an intriguing complex story, with realistic characters, well drawn, great twists. I liked the way they interacted and the way the tension built.
Thanks for the Arc

Wow! Loved this slow-burn, tension-filled story of friendships and betrayals. I enjoyed the past and present timelines and the way we got to see the perspectives of all the characters. I gobbled up this intriguing whodunit and was surprised by some of the twists and turns. Five stars!

DNF-This book is very slow & confusing. It wasn’t much of a thriller but I tried to stick with but halfway through, I gave it up. I did not connect with this at all.

First, I love the cover of this book! It is very eye catching.

The story is about four friends; Simone, Hannah, Vicky, and Jodie. These four women were friends until one fateful event, and betrayal. Now, three of them are being invited to a spectacular getaway by the one friend who betrayed them, Jodie. They arrive on a resplendent island in the Mediterranean, housing a Villa that exists only in the movies, only to find Jodie did not invite them!?

This suspense thriller is told from four points of view, each woman, and moves from past to present. We get a solid foundation of the characters’ lives and friendship. I felt there was a lot going on, and at times the author failed to keep it all straight. There were plenty of opportunities to raise the bar on the “creepy” factor to make the story incredible, but it never came to fruition.

My definition of a suspense thriller is “grab me by the throat and don’t let go.”

My definition of “plot twists” is to have them often and make me gasp.

I found neither to be the case in this story. It moves very slow. This book was just not my type of thriller read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I like the cover and synopsis of this book, but found it too slow paced for a mystery/suspense novel. I would recommend this for those like a slow-building mystery rather than edge-of-your-seat suspense. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.