Loved this book so much! This was an edge of your seat, can’t put down, just one more chapter kind of read! This would be great to take on your next vacation if you want something that will completely suck you in to the story !

"Are you going to be trouble?"
"Only for the bad guy."

Sweet, quiet Carrie and dashing, protective Oliver. The perfect couple by all accounts. She would never hurt a fly and he only had eyes for his future wife. All of their friends agreed on this match made in heaven. 

Almost.

Their joint bachelor / bachelorette party held at the infamous Stanley Hotel was set to be wild and fun with all their closest friends. Oh, and Andi Castle - a friend of a friend in need of a break from work who tags along.

The day after the festivities, however, the groom is found murdered in his room. As luck would have it (or was it a coincidence?), Andi Castle is also a seasoned FBI agent.

The book flips through both Andi's and Carrie's point of view and it felt like I was flip-flopping my "whodunit"  with each chapter. 

What I loved: I didn't guess the ending. I had so many theories swirling in my head and the ending didn't come close. I love when I don't see the ending coming.

What I didn't love: This is so minor - but I thought there would be more history or details on the Stanley Hotel. It mentioned some of the ghosts that supposedly haunt there, but if you're looking for a story centered on the location - you won't find it here.

Overall - once I got to the halfway point, I couldn't put it down. I definitely recommend as a fun thriller that's not overly creepy, disturbing or terrifying.

When FBI Agent Andi Castle is invited as a plus-one to a joint bachelor/bachelorette party by her friend Lana, she thinks it will be a nice break from the recent case she closed. But the morning after the party, the groom, Oliver, is found dead in his room and the bride, Carrie, is found covered in blood hiding in the attic of the hotel.

Suddenly Andi is thrown into FBI mode to investigate just who killed Oliver and what happened to Carrie. Not all is as it seems and Andi uncovers some surprising details as time goes on.

This is my first book by this author and I went in blind, which is something I tend to do. I actually really enjoyed this one. The author did a good job building tension and creating a lot of suspense so I really wasn't sure how it was going to end until well into the story.

There were some complexities in the plot that I think were unnecessary and this book seemed like it could have been part of a series based on the background of Andi that is revealed. But overall I did enjoy this semi locked-room mystery and would be interested in reading more my this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the digital copy. My review is honest and voluntary.

Sometimes you want a thriller that is in-depth, darkly gruesome, and completely shocking, and other times you're looking for something more easy-going, popcorn thrillery and entertaining, and I felt that The Wedding Party was a good balance of all of these qualities.

I've seen a lot of low ratings for this one, and I can see why some readers will pick this apart from the occasional repetitiveness, cheesy dialogue, and sometimes stereotypical characters. But at the same time, I had a lot of fun with it, and I think a lot of these reviews were very harsh.

For me, it felt like an episode of Gossip Girl combined with a great detective thriller. I don't think the venue is used to its full potential, but I also think it gave the story a nice little twist. I thought the investigation was developed well, I couldn't guess who the killer was, and that all of the characters had strong characteristics to make them standout. The guests are dramatic, selfish, and ruthless, which always adds to the tension, knowing that the killer could easily be any of them, but FBI agent Andi Castle is a fantastic character to take charge of it all.

If it wasn't for how much I liked Andi, then maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much, but I loved her personality and the background into her career. If this were to become a series, I'd definitely pick up the next book, especially if it's a prequel!

A compelling mystery with a surprising twist at the end. The story focuses primarily on Special Agent Castle's point of view, keeping the reader in the dark and revealing secrets as she discovers them. I enjoyed the mystery and the suspense that was built throughout the book. The fixation on the main character's job as an FBI agent and her renegade father by all the other characters in the book was a bit of a detraction from the story. I felt it didn't fully allow her to stand out as a character by her own merit.

The Wedding Party, has officially blown my mind

This book touches on some really heavy stuff. Yes, this is a thriller and it does in fact have quite a few twists (the last one sure was a doozy!) but it also had strong elements of how far one will go to seek revenge. Along the way secrets and lies will be uncovered.

In true Jones fashion, you will think the book is over and she’ll slip in one major, earth shattering twist that will leave your mouth agape.

Gosh, I really do love this little lady!

Congratulations to LR Jones on yet another sure to be bestseller!

A little bit about the author :

L. R. Jones is a pseudonym for New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones, whose dark, edgy fiction includes the highly acclaimed novels The Poet, A Perfect Lie, and the Lilah Love series. Prior to publishing, Lisa owned a multistate staffing agency recognized by the Austin Business Journal. Lisa was listed as #7 in Entrepreneur magazine’s list of growing women-owned businesses

Thank you LR Jones, NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for allowing me the opportunity to read and review prior to the big release in exchange for an honest review! This one was extra special !

It would be criminal to give this book less than 5 stars ! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Teaser :

For a bride-to-be and her fiancé, secrets and lies make this a killer celebration in this psychological suspense.

Carrie and Oliver. A couple completely in love and the hosts of a wedding to remember at Colorado’s legendary Stanley Hotel. This is Carrie’s fairy tale come true. Her fiancé, Oliver, is Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome; successful; and utterly devoted to her. Now family and friends have gathered to celebrate. It’s sure to be a wild night as the drinks flow freely and the fun begins.

But the morning after is murder.

FBI agent Andi Castle was just supposed to be a plus-one. This should have been a calming weekend getaway from what she does best: catch killers. Instead, Andi’s on the hunt again. The hotel is on lockdown. Secrets are being unearthed. And no one is above Andi’s suspicions. But which secrets are worth killing for? Andi’s forced to find the answers fast…before someone else dies.

*ARC Review*🔅 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒚 𝑳.𝑹 𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Pub date: Feb 19, 2024
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Thomas & Mercer Publishing and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!

𝐌𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:

What a great mystery/thriller novel to remind me why this genre was my first love. The Wedding Party has such an intriguing storyline and dynamic character development. It was a captivating ‘whodunnit’-style mystery that keeps you engaged until the very end.

Following Andi’s character as she attempts to solve the murder of Oliver Phoenix was reminiscent of a CSI/Criminal Minds-type crime drama that has you essentially working the case right alongside the investigators. I love reading mysteries like this one and creating my own theories along the way.

My only complaint is that there are some aspects of the story that I felt were left dangling … pieces of the crime that is were brought up several times and seemed vital to the plot, but ended up without a clear explanation. I had to loop back and reread a couple parts toward the end to try and connect the dots.

Overall, this was a great thriller/mystery read for anyone who enjoys whodunnit mysteries and crime dramas!

💭 𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕠𝕣 𝕘𝕖𝕟𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕞𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕗𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕚𝕟 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘?

💬 ꜰᴏʀ ᴍᴇ, ɪᴛ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴀʙꜱᴏʟᴜᴛᴇʟʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀʏ/ᴛʜʀɪʟʟᴇʀ ɢᴇɴʀᴇ. ɪ ᴛᴏᴏᴋ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ɪᴛ ɪɴ 2023, ʙᴜᴛ ɪ’ᴍ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ’ᴍ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ɪɴᴛᴏ ɪᴛ ɴᴏᴡ ᴀɴᴅ ʟᴏᴠɪɴɢ ɪᴛ ꜱᴏ ꜰᴀʀ!

🏷️
#netgalley #thomasandmercer #amazonpublishing #thrillerreads #mysteryreads #arcreviewer #arcreader #lisareneejones #trending #trendingpost #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booklover #theweddingparty #februaryreads #crimenovels #thrillerbooks #mysterybooks

This is a suspenseful psychological thriller that you’ll think you have figured out but you’re probably wrong.
I love a good whodunnit murder mystery. And a bride to be and groom to be involved? Even better. Andi is the FBI agent who just so happened to be invited to this joint bachelor/bachelorette party where a murder has occurred.
This was a good thriller but a bit slow and repetitive. I’m also confused with some things with the ending.
This is great for fans of slow burns and murder mysteries. Be sure to pick this up February 13.

Thank you netgalley and the author the opportunity to read the ARC for an honest review.

It was frustratingly okay. I wanted it to be amazing so so badly. The premise was intriguing and there were all these characters introduced that made me think that we’d enter this whirlwind of multiple possible suspects. However, in the end, it was all a bit guessable?

So much did but also did not happen while the ending was rushed. We found out who killed it but exactly how? And why did it really take us that long to figure it out? Where’s the murder weapon and how did they get it? What was the moment leading up to the kill? What about all these side characters that just disappear the middle of the book?

Short chapters at least which made it easy to read. The writing was ok.

The Wedding Party was FANTASTIC! I really appreciated the multiple POVs and the main character, Andi Castle, is a calm and very intuitive FBI officer. The Wedding Party gathers at a famous haunted hotel and what else would stop the fun except a murder. But the evidence doesn't add up, time is running out and none of the clues makes any sense! I was delightfully surprised by the twists in this story. I will be on the look out for the next book by L R Jones! ☆☆☆☆

Thank you to the author for the opportunity to read this ARC.

3,5 ☆

Carrie and Oliver, accompanied by friends, are having their wedding party at the legendary Stanley House. Among the guests is an FBI agent, Andi Castle.

What should be a great celebration turns into a nightmare when the next morning they come across a murder.

It was an interesting and enjoyable read, although the ending was a little rushed, I wish it had developed the killer's motive a little more, but it's the kind of ending I love. (don't get me wrong).

I didn't give it a higher rating because I generally like more intense thrillers that mess with my head, but for those who want to read something to relax but with a mystery that leaves you thinking, this book is perfect.

I will do my review on Instagram as soon as the book is published.

Lisa, I wish you the best and thanks again!

I wanted to love this because of the setting at The Stanley Hotel and the gorgeous cover but sadly a DNF after 30 pages.

the writing style is blah. Great idea, poor execution with repetitive writing, stilted unnatural dialogue, and waaaay too much telling over showing (I don’t need the play by play of each persons morning routine). The characters are one dimensional so far, a lot of the backstory for Andi was sort of info dumped the first chapter we meet her-draw her story out!! Let us get to know her secrets and traumas over time.

Also the portrayal of women was cringey and borderline offensive-I’m sick of all the diet talk and obsession over weight/eating. Or if they weren’t obsessed over their weight They’re depicted as “nagging, incessant” wives

I just reviewed The Wedding Party by L. R. Jones. #TheWeddingParty #NetGalley

I did not enjoy this, and to be completely honest - din't even finish it. The characters were all self-involved, spoke in cliches and or in a very stilted way, and weren't actually that believable as people - at least not to me. 70 pages in there still wasn't really a plot to follow that could make up for the lack of interesting characters. There was some hope in the absolute beginning, with short glimpses of very dramatic things that had happened, but we got to know too little about that to then just leave it hanging for a long time in the book proper.

I hesitated quite a while before posting this review to Goodreads as I do not want to be super negative and drag the book down for others. I hope other people have enjoyed this book more than I have, but I also don't want to lie just to be kind.

I love a good piece of crime fiction, and this just wasn't it for me. Would maybe be open to trying another book by the author in the future, in case it was just this book that didn't vibe with me.

When FBI agent Andi is invited to a bachelorette/bachelor party at the hotel that the shining is based one, she goes even though she doesn’t know the bride and groom. She’s hoping to have some time away from work after catching a serial killer. However, shortly into the time away, someone is killed and she is on the case to find the killer.

I will start with the positives first. I really liked the idea of this haunted hotel as the setting for this book. It added a bit of fun and something different. I also love the cover.

Unfortunately, that’s about all that I liked. I feel like this bachelorette party murder thing is used so much so I need something extra in order to enjoy it. This felt pretty forgettable to me. The characters fell flat and a lot of them felt like cliches. I found it very repetitive and tedious also. I didn’t really care about the story or what happened.

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own! This one didn’t work out for me but hopefully it’ll work out for others!

This missed the mark for me. Arguably the main characters are Carrie, an ER nurse and the bride to be, and Andi, the FBI agent. And don’t worry, you cannot possibly forget their occupations because they are repeated over and over and over throughout the book. In fact, the word FBI appears in the story over 40 times. You also won’t be able to forget that people associate Andi with murder, as that word appears over 50 times. The basic plot is that there is a murder at the hotel and Andi goes looking for the killer, learning information about various characters along the way. I enjoyed the short chapters and that the book was a quick read. I also enjoyed that I did not have to expend a single brain cell while reading because everything was laid out in clear and obvious detail. But I found the language repetitive, the dialogue underwhelming at points, and the characters one-dimensional and dull. The random time jumps as well as POV changes made the story feel disjointed, rather than aiding with the pacing and “reveals.” Overall, not for me.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was an intriguing locked door mystery that was hard to put down, and the ending was extremely satisfying. I enjoyed the quick and fast paced chapters, but I did feel the why” for the murder of the plot seemed a bit far fetched and unreasonable to me. Other than that this was a pulse pounding thriller any fan of the genre will enjoy!

Agent Andi Castle has just put another serial killer behind bars and is looking to enjoy some time off work. When her friend Lana invites her to a joint Bachelor/Bachelorette party for a work friend, Andi hops at the opportunity to get away for the weekend.

Oliver and Carrie are so in love and looking forward to their wedding, as well as their joint bachelor and bachelorette party. All their friends have gathered for the weekend at the hotel that inspired Stephen Kings “The Shining.” But by the second night of the party, Oliver is dead, and Carrie is found naked and covered in blood.

So much for that time off Andi had been dreaming about. She’s now thrust into the middle of the investigation to find out who killed Oliver, and if Carrie is the one who did it? You’ll have to read to find out!

This book is written from two points-of-view:
Andi is an FBI agent who is on leave after solving a big serial killer case. She is invited to the joint bachelor/bachelorette party by her friend, Lana. She goes in hopes of a relaxing and revitalizing trip.
Carrie is the bride-to-be. She is a kind-hearted nurse whose fiancé, Oliver, is her life.
Carrie and Oliver have the perfect relationship. Before the event, Oliver is gifted a box from a supposed groomsman, and he refuses to discuss the contents with Carrie. She is suspicious but reassured after surprising him in the office and finding nothing nefarious. Meanwhile, Lana, a newly divorced nurse who works with Carrie, reconnects with her old friend Andi. She invites Andi to the joint bachelor/bachelorette party as a “buffer” to help her feel more comfortable. Andi reluctantly accepts. Once all the characters are at the event, taking place at the hotel from The Shining, the party unravels when Oliver is found brutally murdered. Carrie is found covered in blood hiding in the attic with no memory of how she got there. Andi is drawn in to the case since she was present for the festivities and the night of the murder. The remainder of the book rotates from Carrie’s point-of-view as she tries to remember events from that night, and Andi’s as she investigates the murder. At the same time, Andi is navigating the drama that is her father and work life.
I really liked the setup for the story in the first few stories. The character’s development is really well rounded. The author did a great job of throwing in many suspects that had legitimate reasons to murder Oliver. There were a few aspects that felt slightly unfinished (ex. Brody’s story). Overall, the side characters were well-written and interesting. It was a fun, easy read. I didn’t guess the first big twist (or 2), but the final one felt a bit convoluted. The ending seemed rushed, but that is just because it so well setup, that you expect more detail in the ending. It’s not perfectly polished, but it’s definitely a fun ride and worth the time.
Overall, I’d recommend this book to those who like Lisa Jewell and Stacy Willingham. It’s a similar vibe while still having its own unique voice.

The setting alone was enough to interest me! It's a mixed bachelor/bachelorette party being held in Colorado at the famous Stanley Hotel! This is the Hotel said to be the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining. It is also rumored to be haunted. But enough about that! This story was pretty good also! Carrie is marrying her Perfect Fiancée, Oliver in a fairy tale dream wedding. Or at least that was the plan until the murder. Fortunately, Andi, an FBI agent there as a plus one is able to help investigate. I absolutely loved Andi! The author even throws in a little humor. Who doesn't love a few jokey-jokes during a murder investigation? Yes, there was a bit of repetition and some pretty basic dialogue, but overall, I really enjoyed this one and would read more from L.R. Jones.

Thank you to #NetGalley, L.R. Jones and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Instagram and other retail and social sites upon publication.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my review.

I wanted to love this book, but ultimately it fell a little flat at times. I was kind of expecting it to be similar to The Guest List by Lucy Foley. As I have said in other reviews, sometimes I have to be in the right mood to truly enjoy a book. This is why I believe that you should never judge a book by its cover, and I am also a big supporter of re-reading books. You never know what you might have missed out on the first time around. With that being said, I would also be open to reading other books by L.R. Jones.

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I started out enjoying this one, but then things got so repetitive. If I had to hear the MC talk about being an FBI agent one more time, I was gonna put the book down. It truly was her only personality trait. And I was really confused why they kept bringing up her father in every conversation when he was not relevant to the story.
There were also a lot of things that were just very unbelievable about the case. I could not believe she just let the key witness/suspect into the crime scene to contaminate the evidence. That was wild. I also found it unbelievable that the police station was not only willing to work with an out of town FBI agent, but was excited to. (If you’ve ever read or watched a crime book/show they are usually very reluctant to do so). The beginning of the book felt totally out of place with the rest and I kept wondering how it was going to connect. When it finally did, it added nothing to the story and didn’t help with anything. Overall, I felt like this book was unrealistic and extremely repetitive. I am surprised I actually finished it.