I really enjoy locked room mysteries and this was the perfect setting for this story. College friends reunite for an engagement party and they are not the most thrilled to go, however they are all hiding a secret from their past so they kind of feel obligated to be there. And shortly after, a body shows up in a trunk with a message and it just goes downhill from there. Told in multiple POV’s, this was a crazy ride with a wild ending that I definitely did not see coming.

Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers and William Morrow Books for the advanced copy to review and a huge thank you to the author for this lovely signed copy.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by Darby Kane - 4 stars!

On graduation weekend, Emily Hunt went missing. Her body was found floating in a river. The suspect was a loner who committed suicide, so the case was closed. But not everyone was happy with that and someone wants revenge. When the rest of their group of school friends gathers on a remote island to celebrate one of their engagements, bad things start happening. They'll need to stop a killer - but who can they trust?

I'm a sucker for a locked-room mystery, and this was a good one. Everyone was keeping secrets from each other and no one was above suspicion. The atmosphere was tense and while most of the characters weren't likable, I couldn't wait to see how it all turned out.

Emily Hunt, 22, disappeared on her college graduation weekend. Several days later, her body was found in the river.

Mitch Andersen has received an invitation to an engagement party from his friend, Will Mayer and fiancé, Ruthie Simmons. His business partner, Sierra Prescott, encourages him to go and she will go with him as his plus one. Reluctantly, he agrees.

Alex and Cassie Greene have also received an invitation to the party and they also agree to go.

When they all arrive, it is to find that the house being rented is on a remote island only accessible by golf cart at low tide.

They all remember Emily when they were at college with her, except for Sierra, who was not there. Emily was a nice person but she also liked to play games which may have led to her murder.

When strange things begin to happen and dead bodies are found, the people want to leave but a huge storm keeps them from doing so. As time passes, secrets and accusations come forth and things become very dangerous. Is one of them the murderer of Emily?

This was a very tense book full of accusations and scary events. It got quite frightening at times. If you like a scary book, this one is for you.

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

Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers Promotions for the advance copy of The Engagement Party.

The weekend of college graduation a group of friends experience a terrible event that has bound them together for better or worse. All having gone their separate way with the exception of a couple that got married, they finally reunite more than a decade later for the engagement party of one of the guys on a private island rented for the weekend by the bride-to-be.

Aside from the normal tension and apprehension the group feels towards one another, there are also two outliers at the party - the fiancee and the long time friend of one of the original gang; neither of whom seem to trust any of the others and vice versa. When a major storm comes, power is knocked out and bodies start piling up. With nowhere to go and no clue who to trust, the group focuses on trying to survive the night and figuring out who could be behind the murders - and what really happened that night twelve years ago?

This is a formula that we see time and time again, and it doesn’t work for everyone…but it works for me. I will always be on board with old friends, high school/college secrets, isolated locations. I say all the time, we need to be willing to suspend belief in when we read thrillers because they are often exaggerated scenarios and The Engagement Party is no different. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a whole lot of fun.

I love a book where I don’t hate the characters, but I also don’t like them. Even the nice or innocent characters in this book are unlikeable, so I was simultaneously rooting for everyone to fail or the least hateworthy to come out on top.

I enjoyed that a key twist to the story was given up early in the game but still muddied the waters enough that the reader knows there’s still more to the story than what we’ve been given. I also enjoy when a thriller borders on horror and I can definitely say there were horror aspects throughout the entire book.

One thing that I really appreciated that Darby did was give some depth and backstory to side characters and off-page characters. Some characters remained flat or one dimensional but others had a pretty nice arc.

Thank you so much to William Morrow books for the ARC!

This book started out with a bang as it recounted the story of Emily Hunt who disappeared on her graduation weekend. When her body is found, it's clear that she had been murdered. Her story is told in the form of "book notes" and those excerpts were my favorite part of the story!

When Emily's friends gather for an engagement party 12 years later, it becomes clear that things with Emily may not be as open and shut as they previously presumed. This friend group has ISSUES! I was sketched out by all of them (I think that's the point)! The book was told from 3 of their alternating perspectives plus the book notes which helped keep things moving along.

When a book's marketing compares it to And Then There Were None, it always tends to make me leery to pick it up because the plot patterns all seem to be too similar for me. While there was a little bit of that familiarity here (of which so many are fans), a couple of the twists were definitely new, fun, and original!

The ending was ACTION PACKED, dare I say almost too action packed for me that it was hard to keep up! If you like your thrillers with a ton of action, this one is for you!

Darby definitely did a great job setting a perfect moody scene (for murders ;)) and I think this will be a big hit for many!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC, and Covid for the weeklong reading binge.

This is like a locked room mystery crossed with dark academia, and as usual with these flashback type stories, I was more invested in the previous crimes that were being covered up than in what was happening in the present day. Twelve years ago, Emily Hunt was murdered on graduation night. Her body was found in the river, so there wasn’t much evidence to go on, and she’d made quite a few enemies, so the suspect pool was rather large. It was assumed that some mysterious loner dude murdered her…because they’d exchanged a single text message and he committed suicide about a week later. It’s flimsy at best, but it seems to satisfy most people.

The titular engagement party is for Will, one of Emily’s core crew of friends, and his fiance Ruthie, who he’s known for all of 3 months. Apparently he’s been engaged several times before and never made it to the altar, so it’s unclear why everyone’s on board to celebrate again. This group of friends also doesn’t seem all that fond of one another - it’s the standard “a terrible secret binds us together” trope, where they’re reluctantly allied, but actually all hate each other (and resent having to protect…whoever they’re protecting). Along with Will and Ruthie, we have married couple Alex and Cassie, and Mitch and his business partner/love interest Sierra (and yes, I did have to look up all of those names!). Alex, Sierra, and Ruthie all share narration duties, along with some intercalary chapters titled “Book Notes,” which give some of the backstory behind Emily’s murder. It’s a decent way to dump some exposition without…seeming like you’re dumping exposition (the characters do eventually find these notes, so it’s at least used as an actual plot point). The party is taking place on an island in the Atlantic, and it’s one of those “only accessible at low tide” kind of places, so of course you know there’s going to be a terrible storm.

The weekend goes haywire pretty much immediately when Mitch discovers a body in the trunk of a car. According to Ruthie and Will, they weren’t even given keys to that detached garage, so it’s unclear how the body got in there in the first place. But it turns out Mitch knows the guy. Mitch has another novel’s worth of tragic backstory. It’s that guy’s body in the truck. So Mitch is an obvious suspect, even though it’s virtually impossible for him to have done it.

At some point the police show up (I forget why), but Cassie strongarms everyone into NOT talking about the body in the trunk, so they just leave the dude there. Then we have storms, and power outages, and another body, and it’s obvious Ruthie isn’t who she says she is, and basically everyone but Sierra is maybe probably a murderer. There’s a Shakespearean amount of double crossing and secret identities before the final showdown.

The actual story of what happened in college is way more interesting than the plot we have, and it feels like the whole thing is unnecessarily convoluted.

I did like Sierra, though. Too often in stories like this, where a group of people are hiding A Terrible Secret, they talk in these annoyingly vague terms and as a reader it’s beyond frustrating. Sierra is constantly calling Cassie out every time she tries to do it. It’s extremely satisfying.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a thrilled that kept me at the edge of my seat and turning pages. This one definitely did.

A cast of unlikeable characters (serious I think the only one I could somewhat tolerate was Sierra), a good story, and lots of twists and turns. So many. I was kept second guessing myself with every turn of the page and I never actually guessed who did and why.

It was a super quick read and pulled me in from the first page. I’d definitely recommend this to others.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Within the expansive pages of this novel, the author demonstrates a commendable mastery of diverse viewpoints, immersing readers in a world painted with vivid narrative strokes. The portrayal of loyal friendships added a heartwarming touch, yet my appetite for intricate twists and turns remained unsatisfied, yearning for a more profound level of complexity.

Despite my appreciation for the author's engaging writing style, I found myself grappling with unanswered questions, leaving certain plot elements shrouded in mystery. The intricacies of the narrative often eluded me, and I wished for a clearer understanding of the motivations driving the characters. While the book offers a unique literary chaos that may appeal to some readers, those in search of a more structured and nuanced storyline may find themselves yearning for a deeper, more satisfying exploration.

In essence, this novel is a journey worth undertaking for those who relish unpredictability in their literary pursuits, yet it may leave others longing for a clearer path through the intricacies of its storytelling.

Darby Kane tells a wild story in The Engagement Party.

"Three couples head to a house on a remote island to celebrate an engagement. Four of them have been friends since college and have been bound together by a deadly secret. One in which two people died. Only thye know what really happened. And now someone wants to know the truth. Someone on the island with them willing to leave a trail of bodies..."

This is a wild story from Kane (pen name of HelenKay Dimon) Reading this is like watching a heavyweight prize fight. She keeps throwing things at the couples in the house. Notes, fire, police - you name it. The action and tension never stop. There are clues that someone has a motive but you never guess exactly what's happening. Until there's a big reveal! And then more things happen and it gets crazier (Except for the scene in the shed - that's absolutely bonkers) A couple of more reveals at the end fill in the gaps.
Lots of unlikable characters (but not all of them)

Look for this book around the pool a lot next year or under the tree this year.

WOW *** This was a page turner that didn't let up for a moment. Three friends are invited to an engagement party that no-one wants to attend. Mitch's girlfriend urges him to go as it'll be their first time away together. Alex and Cassie don't want to be away from their daughter but relent. After all Will is one of their old friends from uni days and they have never met Ruthie his fiancé. The party is being held on a deserted remote island and difficult to reach. There is a feeling of tension and creepiness from the time they get to the island and it only gets worse. Four of them have a secret from years ago when a classmate died on graduation night. Fingers begin to point in all directions. Then bodies start showing up and there is a storm and no lights and no way off the island. I felt right there along with the group and cold feel the tension thru the pages of the book. With wonderfully flawed characters and the creepy atmosphere this book is a solid 5 star story. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The Engagement Party was a thrilling story with lots of terrifying twists and turns. The action starts right at the beginning and doesn’t slow down until the end. You will feel the paranoia and heart racing fear throughout this book.
I did not figure out the mystery of the killer (past or present) and the revelation was executed beautifully. There were so many moving parts to the twists and they all came together smoothly - no plot holes or disbelief in realism.

I have posted this review on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0j_c_sL6XL/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6013366786

And Amazon

While this one kept me intrigued, there ended up being too many loose ends and red herrings for my liking. Coupled with unpleasant, stale characters, this closed-room thriller wasn’t good for me!

as I was reading this, I seriously thought to myself “can I really give this one star because this is just so bad” 🥴 and then the surprise ending plot twist bumped it up to two stars because that was literally the only good part of this story…

I preface this review by saying that historically darby kane is usually not the author for me 🥲 so there may be others out there who can resonate with her kind of thrillers more than me…

but this one was just so poorly planned out y’all 😅 I really should have DNFed, but I wanted to see how it ended and if there was any redemption for the lack of cohesive plot. as it’s a good old fashioned revenge story focused on a murder from college times, it gave wannabe dark academia vibes mixed with unhinged narrators and characters (but not in a good way)

I think if the plot was a little more planned out with less obviously guilty characters, it would have been not a memorable but at least a likable thriller. instead, the storyline was all over the place with the characters each lying so terribly in their own way to protect themselves that the reader has absolutely no clue what the heck is even going on…

this just felt like one bad horror movie, with a slight improvement plot twist in the last chapter (a darby kane famous moment). and while I wish I could say there were more likable moments than that, this is supposed to be an honest review and I’m scathing today 😶🫠

a big thank you to netgalley and william morrow for putting up with my critical self and sending me this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

rating: 2 stars
wine pairing: new zealand cabernet sauvignon

Thank you to Darby Kane, William Morrow, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I liked the plot. It kept me guessing until the end. But I did not like the characters. It also dragged and was a bit repetitive.

I LOVED Pretty Little Wife but really struggled with this one.

Sadly, I did not enjoy The Engagement Party nearly as much. There were too many unlikeable characters thrown at me all at once. I had trouble keeping them straight and detested them all. They argued constantly about things that happened in their pasts (mainly the death of one of their college friends.) All of them bickered and argued and pointed fingers at each other through the entire book. I didn't really care what happened to any of them.

I am a Darby Kane fan and will read her next book, but this one just wasn't for me.

The Engagement Party was the perfect suspenseful thriller to get me out of a reading slump.
It reminded me of the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer with a group of friends who are hiding dark secrets, a murder that took place over a decade ago, and a killer who wants the truth to come out.

It's a fast-paced read with twists and turns. I loved the isolated setting of being on an island, and the gruesome violence was unlike anything I've read before.
I love it when an author can make me dislike almost every character but still evoke so many emotions that I can't stop reading. Seriously, these characters are flawed but I couldn't stop reading the alternating povs.

I highly recommend picking this one up today if you're in the mood for an unputdownable whodunit!

Thank you Netgalley, Darby Kane, and William Morrow for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
I am a huge fan of anything that @hkdimon writes, so I was so pumped to receive a copy of her latest book, which publishes tomorrow! The marketing for this one is 100% accurate when it states that it is a combination of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE meets I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER! A group of college friends, a secluded private island, a dead man found in the trunk of a car, and a single note that states: time to tell the truth…SOLD! The first half of this book sucked me in. It is full of murder, tension, twists, suspense, and secrets. It also has short chapters, which of course are always a win for me! The author did such an amazing job with the plot as it is fast paced and grabs the readers attention right away. I absolutely loved the build up suspense, the game of cat-and-mouse, and the endless amount of secrets and mystery that are slowly reveled. The second half of the book bogged down a bit and became a bit repetitive at times, and it seemed rushed as well. The ending wrapped things up, but it was a bit underwhelming. This is what knocked it from 5 stars down to 4 stars for me. Overall, it was a fun locked room mystery read that is sure to keep the reader entertained and guessing whodunit.

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞?
This one is for fans of locked room mysteries, Agatha Christie books, slasher movies, and isolated and secluded settings.

𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5


Thank you so much to the tagged publisher for my #gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!🤗

Strap yourself in folks, cause you’re going to fly through this like a bat outta hell! WOWZERS!! What a book! My eyeballs couldn’t keep up with the twists in this one! 👀 they’re fired at you hard and fast. Just when you’ve gotten to grips with one, BOOM 💥 there’s another, and another, and ANOTHER!!! Talk about throwing a match into a box of firecrackers!!! 🧨

A modern take on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, this locked room mystery was just bloody fantastic! I’ve not read a book by @hkdimon before (which I’m kicking myself over) but her writing is so unbelievably tense and dramatic - and I’m here for every part of it. It gave me Taylor Adam’s No Exit vibes - which was a favourite of mine.

I loved all the characters - some were NUTS, some were awful, some were just genuinely likeable. But all immensely written. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you just pop this straight to the top of your TBR and READ IT NOW 🤩🤩

I loved this riveting story! It was truly an edge of your seat thriller with gore, whodunnit, locked room, blame game, cat fight goodness! All of the different POV kept me guessing and I rooted for Sierra the whole time. The ending blew my mind and I did not see it coming at all! When a book promised a cross between And Then There Were None and I Know What You Did Last Summer, I definitely expect it to blow me away since I love both of those. This one lives up to the hype and I’d definitely recommend you dive in!

Thanks to NetGalley, Darby Kane and William Morrow for my digital ARC of this book which publishes 12/5/23.

Darby Kane is the ultimate locked room/island mystery. The best thing about this book is how unhinged the villian is. When you have a villian (and an author) who is willing to kill, the stakes feel so much higher. The tension through out is palpable. I completely connected with Sierra and was rooting for her. Her realness, shown through her vulnerability yet toughness made me want to be her friend. Kane twists you at the end and I never saw it coming. I was enthralled the whole time!