This one is about friendship, but is full of jealousy, betrayal, lies and secrets. Well, they do say you should keep your friends close …
Katelyn and Leah become best friends when they’re just six years old. It’s not exactly by choice, but more by circumstance. However, the friendship is a solid one and as the story unfolds, we are taken through a series of flashbacks over the years as we see things through the eyes of both Katelyn and Leah.

But the party in question is for Katelyn’s 36th birthday. She’s gone all out – creating a gorgeous Winter Wonderland in the home she shares with her husband Toby and her 3-year-old daughter Harper. When she wakes up the following day though, it’s not to lovely memories of an enjoyable, successful night … it’s to … well, nothing, because she can’t remember any of it! She doesn’t even remember opening the door to welcome Leah into her home, although she knows without a doubt that she must have been there.

She’s told that she has something called Transient Global Amnesia (TGA). She’s only forgotten what happened immediately before and after whatever it was that caused such immense shock. The doctors cannot tell her when, or if these memories will return. Katelyn needs to piece together the lost night of her party. Surely something must have happened, despite Toby’s claims that absolutely nothing did! She knows he’s lying.

This is a thrilling page-turner! It’s like a domestic noir/mean girls mash-up! The alternating points of view, combined with the changing timelines give the reader a fully-rounded look at all the players in this twisty, back-stabbing game, that most of them aren’t even aware they’re playing!

Nicole Trope has done what only truly gifted authors are able to do: created a rather not-nice bunch of people, who are mostly rather unlikeable, but who readers become totally invested in, wanting to know what horrible things they’re thinking and plotting, while presenting as perfectly nice and friendly, going about their everyday business.

Highly recommended, especially if you enjoy a book that takes a really in-depth, insightful look at the intricacies and complexities of female friendships. The medical information about TGA was really interesting and not overwhelming. I’m always fascinated about the research it takes for an author to include relevant information on a medical condition without becoming too technical that the reader loses interest.

What a fantastic yet horrifying story! I was 100% drawn in from the 1st chapter and once again told my family they were on their own and read the day away. This book is told from 2 perspectives, Katelyn and Leah - while also throwing back to sweet memories of these girls growing up together like sisters. The plot starts as Katelyn is preparing for her 36th birthday party (the significance of 36 is explained later in the book). The party starts & all of the sudden she wakes up with no memory of the past 24 hours! It’s just gone …. Her husband is acting weird, her best friend can’t look her in the eyes & Katelyn desperately wants to know what happened in those hours that everyone refuses to talk to her about? Something was said or done, she can feel it in her gut. Her husband, her best friend and her ex are all acting super suspicious and her memory of the night it gone. Should she just let it go and move on? Should she try therapy and see if it comes back? You will ride the rollercoaster of emotions right along with her as she examines her past, her current and peers into the future. I really enjoyed this book!

Katelyn wakes up the day after her big birthday bash…in the hospital, with no recollection of the party and the awful feeling something very bad happened. 😬

The synopsis for this book sounded so great, but it didn’t quite live up to its promises for me. Overall, I thought it was fine but predictable, even the ending. The character behaviors felt more like caricatures or stereotypes - the husband you don’t know whether or not you can trust, the jealous friend, the new mom who wants more from life. You spend about half the book with everyone talking around “the big thing” that happened at the party, which got cumbersome after awhile. I would have preferred the slow reveals to start much earlier and was disappointed the biggest question was left ambiguous.

My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a complimentary advance copy of this eBook, out now.

Just finished it! The book had great suspense and creep factor, without it being too scary. The characters were likeable where they were supposed to be liked. And I always enjoy a little medical drama. Great read!

BOOKWORMS REVIEW:
This is a dark and suspenseful in parts read. Imagine how freaked you'd be to wake the morning after your birthday party in hospital,to not remember a solitary thing about it. Everyone is being cagey too. You've suffered a Global transient amnesia episode..possibly caused by stress the nurses say. This is what has happened to Katelynn..and she's terrified. Her friend since childhood Leah,isn't saying much either. They've been through everything together..Will they survive this? This book had its moments but was a slow burn for me in parts. A decent read overall. With thanks to Nicole Trope,Bookouture and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my review.

BOOKWORMS RATING: Rounded up to 4 stars 📒📒📒📒

Katelyn wakes up in the hospital the morning big after her 36 birthday party with no memory of the previous 24 hours. She has no recollection of what happened at the party but she knows her husband Toby is lying to her about it.

Katelyn and Leah have been best friends for 36 years. As Katelyn tries to determine who did what to whom at the party and why everyone seems to be lying, we look back over the years of their friendship starting when they were 6 years old.

I mostly enjoyed the book, although I found Leah to be highly unlikeable and it’s hard to understand how Katelyn was so unaware of Leah’s personality.

This book was described as a psychological thriller and I don’t agree. More like a family drama or mystery.

I enjoyed looking back on their friendship over the years as it gave context to current events, but I could also see the end coming a mile away.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advanced ebook.
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up because can’t do 1/2…

The perfect birthday..the perfect nightmare...

Parties are supposed to be fun...but something happened at Katelyn's and she has no idea what. Instead, she wakes in the hospital with hubby Toby by her bedside, a worried frown etched on his face. She asks where is she and what's happened. And then she reads the note clutched in her hand...

You are in hospital.
Harper is fine and with my mum.
You've lost your memory.
You haven't had a stroke.
You've had an MRI and ECG and everything is fine.
You have something called Transient Global Amnesia.
Your lost hours of memory have shown up on the MRI as a black dot.
You aren't able to form new memories so you keep forgetting things I've told you.
Today is Sunday.
This should be temporary.

What the hell happened at her party to end up wiping her memory? It was supposed to be a memorable occasion to celebrate her thirty-sixth birthday but instead she cannot remember it at all. Any second of it! Now Katelyn has lost an entire day and night. She can remember everything leading up to the party and everything since...but those few hours are a complete blank. So what happened? And why is Toby looking decidedly shifty? What is he not telling her?

As soon as Katelyn returns home, she longs to wrap her arms around her little girl and take in her sweet scent. But she's staying with Toby's parents for the night while she recuperates and will return after preschool tomorrow. In the meantime, Katelyn instead tries to unravel the tangles of confusion that is Saturday night in her mind. Toby's patience is unwavering but Katelyn knows something is off. The way he looks at her, the way his eyes don't meet hers. What does he know that he's not telling her?

And then she gets a strange message from her best friend Leah's ex, Aaron. What on earth does that mean? And as for Leah, she wants to see her but something is telling her that something isn't right there either. She has an image in her mind of Toby hugging Leah in a way that was too intimate to be friendship. Or is she just imagining that? Nothing makes any sense to her anymore and she wants to understand what happened at her party. Why she has lost the entire night. It doesn't make sense. When she finds a gift of lingerie under her bed with no note or card, Katelyn begins to suspect Toby of having an affair making her question everything she knows. Can she piece together the night of the party before it's too late?

The story is told from Katelyn and Leah's perspectives in the past as well as before and after the party. It details the women's friendship from the time they were six years old in primary school, right through high school, uni, boyfriends and marriage. Now here they are thirty years later celebrating Katelyn's birthday. But nothing is as it seems with this friendship. They may well be best friends, but hidden beneath the surface is a jealousy so blatant it would make your hair curl.

Nicole Trope once again delivers a tangled tale of twists and surprises in this compelling domestic suspense read. What seems like an innocent party becomes one woman's worst nightmare.

I did not like Leah or Aaron one bit. They are both selfish and self-obsessed to the core. Both of them only want to get what they want. Leah's jealousy was so blatant it was a wonder Katelyn never saw it in thirty years of friendship. And Aaron. That guy was a snake. Least said there.

I thoroughly enjoyed my umpteenth read by Trope and look forward to anything she delivers. I know I am always in for a treat.

I would like to thank #NicoleTrope, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheDayAfterTheParty in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

Katelyn's birthday party ends nightmarishly, she wakes in hospital the next day with no memory of it.

This is a great novel for those who want a quick easy story and a unreliable narrator to boot.

A birthday party with no recollection, Katelyn wakes in a hospital. Everybody is keeping secrets though, when all she wants is the truth.

The narrative is great — albeit a touch of repetition. The toxic relationship between Katelyn and Leah made me want to toss my kindle. Best friends from single digit age and still put up with each others junk in the closet.

As memories come back Katelyn starts to question her friendship and honestly this friendship was built on a lot of jealousy and a little touch of scandal. The story kept me hooked, and I honestly didn’t expect the twists at the end.

Overall a great read with some over the top moments throughout, but kept you guessing until the end. The third person perspective was a touch hard to follow periodically, however, it didn’t take anything out of me enjoying myself.

Katelyn is throwing a party to celebrate her thirty-sixth birthday but the next morning, things are a blur. She has woken up in hospital and has no recollection of what happened or how she got there.

People are keeping secrets but she just wants the truth.

This novel had a great narrative but the writing style was a little stilted as there was a little bit of repetition which I felt stopped the flow in places.

However, don’t let this put you off, as Trope gives us a page-turning tense read that you can’t put down to find out what happens next.

Based on the title and synopsis I had high hopes for this one.

While I enjoyed the overall story, I had a hard time staying interested in the book. The toxic friendship between Katelyn and Leah kept me reading. However, I found it to be a little repetitive and the third-person perspective threw me off.

I would still recommend this book to friends that also enjoy tropes of toxic friendships and medical aspects.

The Day After the Party
By: Nicole Trope
I have loved every book but this is my favorite. Katelyn is having a huge party to celebrate her 36th birthday. Her best friend Leah and her husband are helping her celebrate along with a houseful of friends. Katelyn has gone all out with decorations, food, and champagne. Katelyn has known Leah since she was six and they are more like sisters than just best friends.
Sadly, the day after she wakes up in the hospital with her husband Toby by her side, and she has no idea where she is. She knows who she is, but has lost all memory of the party! What happened at the party? The doctor diagnosis her with TGA, transient global amnesia. This can be set off by an event or alcohol.
This novel is fast-paced and filled with secrets, lies and deception. When I thought I had it figured out she stumped me until the very end.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publishers for the ARC! This is a fun book, told from the perspective of two best friends, Katelyn & Leah. Following Katelyn's birthday party, she wakes up in the hospital with no recollection of anything that happened the night before. She begins to remember small details from that party, which causes her to question her relationship with her supposed best friend, Leah. It's a fast & fun read, and I recommend it for those who like unreliable narrators & flashback style narratives.

Wow! Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC copy of The Day After the Party by Nicole Trope. This book was addicting and had me hooked. A life long friendship built on jealousy and scandal... what could go wrong? I related more with Katelyn and found her struggles with motherhood raw and a topic a lot of people don’t talk about, let alone write about. I really enjoyed this book!

Katelyn’s 36th birthday party has just ended and the house is a mess. A day later she wakes up in the hospital with her husband, Toby, sitting by her side. She has lost her memory of the party and keeps forgetting what she has been told. The doctors call it Transient Global Amnesia. Although it should be temporary, she may never remember her birthday party. Toby reassures her that their daughter, Harper, 3, is safe with his mum.

Leah is Katelyn’s best friend and has been since they were children. Leah is divorced from Aaron and has just been fired from her high-powered job. She is still close with Katelyn and loves her daughter, Harper. She wants a family of her own just like Katelyn’s.

This story is tense and kept me biting my nails as I sat on the edge of my seat. I was so scared in spots that I didn’t even want to finish the book for fear of what I might read. However, I did and it was a breath-taking ending! Enjoy!

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

A story about friendship, marriage, trust, jealousy, forgiveness and revenge.

Leah and Katelyn have been friends since they were kids. Katelyn had an alcoholic, emotionally abusive mother, and so Katelyn was treated almost like Leah's sister by Leah's family.

They are now 36 years old, and it is Katelyn's birthday. Leah has lost her job, got divorced, and is living in a small rental, without any savings or job prospects. Katelyn, however, is happily married to Toby, Leah's ex-boyfriend, and has a beautiful litte daughter and a lovely home.

The night of the party, something happens that causes Katelyn to end up in the hospital, with no recollection of what happened at the party. she is diagnosed with Global Transient Amnesia (TGA), most likely brought on by stress. But stress about what? She just can't remember!

Also, Leah, Toby, and Aaron (Leah's ex-husband and Toby's BFF) are all acting weird around her and she can't help but feel that there is something crucial that she doesn't remember about that night.

I liked the premise, but the TGA angle felt a bit too far-fetched and contrived. I prefer books with a limited number of characters, and this has that. There were a few other things that I just found hard to swallow, though. The motives for Aaron's actions did not seem logical or believable. Also, why would a person go to the edge of a cliff to discuss an issue with a person whose motives they do not trust?

There are quite a few soap-opera-ish moments like this, but if you're willing to accept it for what it is, then it's quite a page-turner, and makes you want to know what happens NEXT!!

Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

This is a great book! Secrets, deceit, lies, trauma, etc. I enjoyed the alternating point of views. The twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat till the very end! This was my first Nicole Trope book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait to read more of her books!

I had a hard time reading a book in 3rd person but, you do get a really good dive into TAG. I found some of it to be repetitive but, overly it was fun!

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to like this! It started off so promising, with the mystery propelling you to keep reading to find out what caused Katelyn to lose her memory at her birthday party, why her husband is lying about it, and the tension with Kate's best friend Leah. In the beginning, the friendship dynamic between Katelyn and Leah was intriguing, too.

But the story quickly got repetitive, which is quite a feat, considering how short the tale is. The revelations came after a bit too much foreshadowing, unfortunately ruining the element of surprise. And the ending seemed a bit too contrived, and had the characters acting in ways that felt very unrealistic.

That being said, the book kept me intrigued enough to keep reading and I finished it in only two days.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

i had a really hard time getting into this book in the beginning. while it starts with the whole mystery, it was a little confusing and i couldn’t really follow along. it took me a bit to actually start to get interested in the story (around the 35% mark) and even though i read the whole thing, it wasn’t my favorite.

honestly, i found myself skimming large parts of text and forcing myself to get through it.

there was a bit of a twist, but honestly it kind of fell flat. there could have been so much more done with it to plump up the story as a whole or just the twist. even the ending was very anti-climactic.

all in all, it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t my favorite. was it worth the read? debatable. would i read it again? once is enough.

thank you to netgalley and nicole trope for this arc 🤍