Not for me. I would have given it 2 or 2.5 stars, but it was written well enough for me to finish it. I found it annoying. The characters were not likeable at all - I did root for Mitch and Sierra to end up together, but I didn't even really care about that. All the decisions they made were dumb and not believable. There was no real mystery or twist.

What a wild ride this one was! A group of friends who gather on a remote island with no escape during high tide.Throw in a major storm, and you have the perfect setting for revenge and murder. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time as the chapters alternated between Book Notes and the present. It was hard to know who to believe, but it wasn’t hard to root for two of the characters.
If you like fast paced suspenseful reads then look no further!

Locked room thrillers are my favorite genre. Add in a remote island in Maine and a raging storm, and you've got the perfect setting. Add in a group of old college friends with a secret they're desperate to keep hidden, and that's when the real fun begins. Darby Kane's latest is a thoroughly entertaining, atmospheric experience that kept me flipping pages long past my bedtime. The book's tag line really is the best way to describe it...the Engagement Party. The guest list is a real killer.

🤐 TIME TO TELL THE TRUTH 🤐 - A remote island, a group of liars and a raging storm makes up the perfect recipe for a dark and twisty thriller! “The Engagement Party” by Darby Kane is a fast paced locked room thriller that is action packed, full of suspense and wickedly atmospheric ⛈️!!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

12 years ago on college graduation weekend, Emily was found dead washed up by the river. Another student who no one really knew much about was also found dead due to suicide. The two bodies were linked by a text message and the cases were closed by the police!

However, Emily’s College friends all hold on to a deep DARK SECRET that will link them together forever. The TRUTH about graduation night.

Fast forward to the present day, and this group of 6 will come together to celebrate an engagement. One of the crew has gotten suddenly engaged and invited them all to a remote island in Maine for a weekend getaway. As a raging storm approaches, they find a dead body in the garage and a note demanding that they tell the truth about THAT night. Someone is TAUNTING them and they are all STUCK on a remote island that gets disconnected from the mainland during high tide. IS this a sinister set up?? And WHO is seeking revenge??

Thank you kindly to @hkdimon @williammorrowbooks @harpercollinsca @netgalley for my advanced digital copy! This book releases on December 5, 2023!

I enjoyed the latest from Darby Kane, a thriller that has the most perfect “I Know What You Did Last Summer” vibes.

There isn’t much lead up before the action hits. There are a good number of characters, so while I had a good grasp on them, there were times where I felt like I was missing something. I had to re-read some things a couple times.

I predicted the ending; however, I loved what Kane did with the last chapter. I asked her if she was planning to write a sequel and she said that it’s a standalone...which I’m totally here for.

Overall, I’d recommend if you don't mind a book where there are few likeable characters! But, it’s an easy read and makes you feel like you’re watching a movie.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow Books for this ARC in exchange for my nonbiased review.

Thank you William Morrow and Netgalley for the arc of THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY. Darby Kane’s debut thriller - PRETTY LITTLE LIFE - was a favorite of mine, but unfortunately all her books since have been a bit of a letdown.

THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY is a locked room whodunnit mystery with unlikeable characters, an island setting and multiple POVs. It is a quick read if you enjoy any of the above mentioned, but imo it was just lacking uniqueness and is an overdone storyline.

I am thinking going to an island is not a smart idea based on a lot of the books I have been reading lately. Nothing good ever seems to happen on an island. Especially one filled with people who have been hiding a deep dark secret for years. Secrets can bind people together, but it can also break them. And this friend group is so tied together with secrets it will take a master to unravel all them. Can it even be done or are there more secrets at stake than just what happened to their friend Emily in college all those years ago. This is a very fast paced book. All the friends are unique though none of them are guilt free. Secrets are exposed right up the very last page of this book. The reader is in for a wild ride.
Thank you to William Marrow, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Still tormented by the twelve-year-old memory of their murdered college classmate, Emily Hunt, old friends reunite to celebrate a betrothal. Never successfully putting the traumatic event behind them–each having endured whispered allegations and blatant finger pointing over the years, the reunion isn’t something to celebrate, but rather a throbbing, caustic wound defying debridement. When one of them is murdered, a cryptic note discovered alongside the body, the scenic, isolated island quickly loses its appeal and suggests a hair-raising adventure.

Or does it?

Believe me when I say I do not enjoy writing less-than-glowing reviews. I even flirted with the notion of tossing the book aside and sending the publisher a kind but candid note in lieu of a critique. But because a promise is a promise, here we go: Thin descriptions and nondescript characters further hamper a tedious plot, which may tempt diehard mystery fans to throw in the towel long before the midway mark. I also found the ending conveniently obscure.

While the author is incontestably a seasoned professional, even a veteran writer can’t always knock one out of the park. Sorry to say, I found this the case for THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY. Because many readers have championed so many of Ms. Kane’s other titles, I look forward to diving into one of those. Much appreciation to the author, William Morrow, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Short synopsis: Emily is found dead the night of graduation, now 12 years later the remaining friends meet up on a remote island to celebrate an engagement.

My thoughts: This is my first Darby Kane, and it was a fun one. It’s described as And then there were none meets I know what you did last summer and I think that description is very accurate.

It did take a couple minutes for me to get all the characters straight in my head, but once I did this was such a fun remote island mystery that had me guessing until the very end. And the twists and unexpected moments just kept coming!

Read if you love:
- Remote island settings
- College friends
- And then there none
- Alternating perspectives
- Hidden truths and secrets

I love a good locked room troupe and this remote island is the perfect setting for this fast paced thriller! With multiple POV’s, secrets, lies and twists mixed with a host of unreliable characters, this book will have you trying to figure out what will happen next!

Thank you to @thrillerbookloverspromotions and @hkdimon for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy! I loved it!

Emily Hunt went missing from her affluent liberal arts school on graduation weekend. Her body was found floating in a river, and a quiet loner who most people on campus really didn’t know committed suicide. A tenuous link—one text—bound the two dead students together and was enough for law enforcement to close the case. But they got it wrong and now someone is determined to set it right.

Twelve years later, college friends gather to celebrate an engagement over a long overdue getaway on a swanky private island in Maine—with only one way in and one way out. Sierra Prescott, invited as a guest and unconnected to past events, is the only person who soon senses not all is what it seems.

The tension in the air is ignited when they find a dead man in the trunk of a car with a note: time to tell the truth. And things only get worse. As a torrential storm strands them together, the group’s buried stories begin to surface and secrets are bartered. To survive this deadly party, they’ll need to stop a killer before they become prey.

Locked room mysteries can be challenging (keeping the pace, believable actions and storylines) but Darby Kane does not disappoint! This story about a group of friends reuniting for a weekend centres around a death from their past - and then the bodies start piling up in the present. Loved the little twists and turns that made me second guess who was telling the truth, who would make it out alive, and how it would end.
Thanks to NetGalley and Killer Crime Club for an ARC!

Five friends arrive on a secluded island to celebrate an engagement. The only one missing is Emily, who died under mysterious circumstances after college graduation. But someone has orchestrated this get together in order to determine the truth about Emily’s murder. And as people start dying, and a storm takes out electric power, old loyalties are questioned. Is there any way to get off this island alive?
Full of plot twists and misdirection!

From my blog: Always With a Book

Somehow this is the first book I’ve read by Darby Kane but it will definitely not be the last one I pick up. It was such a thrilling ride from start to finish and one I read in a matter of hours…that’s how addicting and wild this one was! Once I started it, I just couldn’t put it down!

The locked-room trope is one of my favorites in a thriller and when you set it on an island in the middle of a storm, I’m all in! Talk about atmospheric and suspenseful!!! And then you have a group of people coming together for the first time in years and that just brings another layer of tension and to add to that, these characters aren’t the most likeable. And things just go down-hill from there. This book is so twisty and I loved that each character has their own set of secrets that you just cannot wait to find out. This book definitely gives off some major And Then There Were None vibes, so if you have read that, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t read that, no big deal.

I loved that even though I had some suspicions about a few characters, I still had no idea where this one was ultimately headed. And that kept me flipping the pages at a furious pace. There is clearly something that happened in the past that these characters do not want coming out and someone wants justice. It’s such a good mix of a cat and mouse game along with a revenge story and I couldn’t get enough of it.

This is a fast-paced, twisted story that I definitely recommend. And lucky for me that I have the rest of Darby’s backlist to read while waiting for her next book to come out!

An absolute twister of a read! I loved the story background, as well as the story of how the characters lives turned out twelve years following their college trauma. I also felt very satisfied with the ending, which is always a focal point for a thriller.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Darby Kane and William Morrow Publications for the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Engagement Party, to be published 5 December 2023. 4/5 Stars for this locked room island thriller. Talk about creepy and scary— this novel has it all! Don’t read it during a storm or in the dark! Six people come together on an island for an engagement party; however, twelve years before, a young college-aged woman was killed with whom they were all friends. Now there are consequences when the group meets up again. Good read. #NetGalley #DarbyKane #WilliamMorrowPublications #TheEngagementParty

Ok, so I am reading And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie at the same time as this one. 🤣 That maybe wasn’t the smartest idea, but 🫠! The Engagement Party definitely gave me ATTWN vibes! Isolated location, a group of people brought together because of a murder in their past. This was a fun murder mystery! I think fans of Agatha will 100% enjoy this one! I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep the characters straight, but it was easy! I loved the multiple povs in the story, and how bits and pieces of the past came to be known. My favorite chapters were the “book note” chapters, especially the last one!

Even though spooky season is over, my obsession with psychological thrillers continues, so I was incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to read Darby Kane's forthcoming novel The Engagement Party. Although these types of thrillers can often be formulaic and predictable, Darby Kane gave us anything BUT predictable. Somewhere between I Know What You Did Last Summer (slasher film) and The Guest List (authory, Lucy Foley), Kane's suspence novel The Engagement Party kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting to know who did it, right up to the very end. Kane's writing is smooth and clear, making the complicated twists easy to follow.

Set in a remote island in Maine, six old college friends come together for a weekend to celebrate Will's engagement to Ruthie. But then the bodies start dropping and their history finally catches up with them. Together, the friends must confront the truths about what really happened to their old friend Emily so many years ago. Kane gives us enough information about each character to feel engaged with their story. Many of the characters were complicated-- even unlikeable-- and Kane's careful writing kept me connected to them through the story. In the end, I even found myself rooting for who I thought was (and who was but then wasn't but then was) the antagonist and disliking who I initially found to be a strong, competent character. Ultimately, Kane's well-crafted character development made the somewhat comical tale of unfolding dramatic events (murder, storm-of-the-century, power outage, fire, high tide,,,) enjoyable and believable.

As far as psychological thrillers go, this was a great one- a solid 4.5 stars, so I'll round it up to 5 stars and I'll look forward to reading more from Darby Kane.

Many thanks to NetGalley, publisher William Morrow + William Morrow Paperbacks an author, Darby Kane for sharing access to this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Oh boy! Engagement Party Weekend gone bad! Is it ever a good weekend with friends during a storm on an island? It sure wasn't for these 6 friends and their celebratory weekend turns frightful as the past ultimately comes back to haunt them. Fast paced, multiple POVs, I could not turn the pages fast enough to find out who did it! So many twists. So many lies. It was SO GOOD! Don't miss

Darby Kane never misses! I’ve loved all of her other books I’ve read and this was no exception. It was a locked room style, fast paced thriller that was full of tension and that I found so hard to put down. It was full of twists that kept me guessing until the end. I loved the storyline and premise/setting and found the story so gripping and fun to read. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next and will always auto-read her books!

Thank you so much William Morrow and NetGalley for my early digital copy for my honest thoughts and review!

⭐️: 2.5/5

Twelve years after the murder of their friend, Emily, and the suicide of the student thought to be her killer, a group of college friends gather on a private island to celebrate the engagement of one of their friends. Soon, it becomes clear that they were all lured there by someone else entirely, someone who is determined to get to the bottom of the deaths years before once and for all.

When I first started this book, I had high hopes, since I enjoyed the author’s previous book, Pretty Little Wife. I knew from pretty early on though that this one would fall flat for me. All the characters were just so…annoying. Their dialogue reads worse than a low budget soap opera, and it relies on so many tropes that I find just so tiresome in thrillers. First, I love a locked room mystery as much as the next thriller fan, but this one was pretty contrived. I also hate it when we get the POV of a character who has a ~master plan~ that’s alluded to, but not revealed until later, since it almost invariably falls short. I tend to disconnect from thrillers when stupid characters make stupid choices, which this book was rife with. The one slightly saving grace was the flashbacks in book chapter form, since they made it more interesting to read at the beginning, since it was kind of like a faux dual timeline thing going on. The writing got worse as the story went on, and as it went, it also got more and more nonsensical, and I ended up skimming the last 20% or so just to finish it.

Thank you to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!