Although at one point it all feels a bit "Cabin in the Woods" (well it literally is), it's actually an enjoyable thriller. Sienna never really mixed with the friends group of her sister Samantha, and she's just discovered her hidden journal, full of all of the truths behind the masks each of them wears.

I genuinely thought I'd cracked this one early on, needlessly to say I was delightfully deceived into being completely wrong. A good sign of an interesting tale.

The Weekend Away by Miranda Smith

Thank you to @netgalley, @bookouture, and the author, @mirandasmithbooks, for the opportunity to read this #advancedlistenercopy in exchange for my review. This book is officially out now. ❤️

Sienna Roth just lost her twin sister, Samantha or Sammy, in a tragic accident. But when Sienna starts sorting through Sammy’s diary and possessions, something about her accidental death isn’t sitting right with her. Was she sister forced off that balcony? Was she alone? So when an invite comes in from Sammy’s friend group to attend a trip to honor her memory, Sienna decides to use the opportunity to speak with each of her friends and see if anyone acts suspicious. Will Sienna crack the case on her sister’s death or will she find herself at risk of a similar fate?

This was so good! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It’s one where you doubt the main character but then start guessing yourself. Very well laid out with the varying POVs and suspenseful chapter breaks. I highly recommend this for those who enjoy whodunnits, suspense, mixes of natural and human threats, and rewarding mysteries.

TW: r@pe, coverup, h@rassment, addiction, etc

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5

She was right all along, something was right about how her sister died! And man her entire friend group was a pit of vipers! This was a wild ride and I am super here for it. I love a happy(ish) ending and I got one with this book. This was my 1st book by Miranda Smith but I am now adding all of her books to my TBR!!

#TheWeekendAway
#NetGalley

This book just did not do it for me. The first half of the book felt like a Scooby Doo episode. The second half started to pull me in but it still felt very forced. My biggest disappointment with this story is that there was just no real plot and a complete lack of character development. I do feel like some of that may have been tainted a little bit by the narration as I listened to the audio version. The narrator was very mechanical and that may have been a detriment to a story that was already lacking any depth or warmth. If you like who done its then it may appeal to a certain type of reader. But I just really wanted more.

I listened to this one in less than two days. It really sucked me in. Even though I guessed who the killer was fairly early, I still needed to hear all the different pieces. I loved the flashbacks to Samantha’s journal. It gave us a great backstory of each of the characters. I was middle of the road on how I felt about most of them. The only one I truly liked was Sienna. She was so determined to get answers for her sister and I couldn’t help but feel for her.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC & ALC of this book.

Happy Publication Day!

I listened to this on audio and really enjoyed it! It was the very first audiobook that kept me entertained enough to actually finish. I typically read via kindle or physical book so this was a change for me.

The narrator was very clear and concise. I never had to rewind in attempts to listen to a word or phrase again because I was unable to understand. They did a fantastic job.

The actual story did start to fall apart a little bit about 60% of the way through. Some events in the timeline were just completely skipped over. For example - Jackson's removal from the bush after he fell from the balcony and there was no dialogue from the call to Troy. The chapter just ended and then he miraculously had showed up to take Jackson to the hospital. I questioned why no one else went to the hospital with Jackson, just Sienna and then even though she went with him, she eventually just left him there? I thought it was a bit strange.

Even by the ending, I was still wondering why Samantha would have placed those letters behind the picture frame. Had she intended for someone to eventually find them? And if not, why not just burn them, or why not just keep them in her journal? I just didn't get it.

I will give Miranda Smith credit that I had NO IDEA who the killer was. Not until it was finally revealed. The story ended up wrapping up nicely and I will certainly be seeking out more Miranda Smith novels in the future.

Thank you NetGalley, Miranda Smith, and Bookouture Audio for the ARC.

The Weekend Away by Miranda Smith started off really strong, but in the end it left me wanting more.
There were too many possible subjects, but none of them seemed fleshed out enough to leave an impression on me, so they all kind of blurred together. It just felt like a generic cast of characters, anyone could have done it, but none of them seemed like the obvious subject with a strong enough motive.
The 3rd POV was an odd choice, and I think I would have preferred to have all the members of the friend group narrate the story from their POV instead.
Ending came on rather abruptly, and while I didn't see it coming, it also didn't wow me, because I just didn't feel like I knew anyone well enough to care. Also, that last chapter (or was it an epilogue?) felt a little pointless. I was waiting for something more and just didn't get it.
Overall, subjectively, I wanted more. More tension, more character development, more passion. However, someone who reads thrillers less frequently, would probably enjoy it more.
On the plus side, the narrator did a fantastic job and helped bring the story to live!

Sienna goes on a weekend in the woods with her sister’s friends. They’re there to memorialize her (twin) sister Samantha. Samantha died a year earlier from a fall over the balcony. Sienna has never felt like it was suicide. She is taking the chance to get closer to Samantha’s friends this weekend to get some answers. The first half of the book lags a bit with character building information. There are quite a few characters that are introduced that all have explanations of why they’re also at the cabin and we get to know their personalities. Finally, we get to Sienna confronting the group of friends saying that she believes someone murdered Samantha. The friends all have alibis and insist that Samantha committed suicide. The friends all seem to be on the same page and gaslight Sienna. Sienna gets locked into her room with no way for help. After she breaks out, the friends gradually start turning on each other. One friend is in the hospital, another dies and all this happens during a wildfire in the last 1/3 of the book. We find out that one of the friends is responsible for the deaths because she didn’t want another crime (not committed by her) to be uncovered. She thought that the company they all worked at (Samantha being the co-owner) would tank if anything had been leaked. While I did enjoy the back half of the book, I do wish that the pacing was better in the beginning and that the murderer wasn’t so predictable. All in all I would still recommend to anyone that enjoys thrillers, mysteries or crime novels.

I love the trope of being secluded with a group of “friends” who all have secrets. This book kept you guessing. Just when you thought you knew who killed Samantha, you were thrown another curve ball.

Worth the read or listen. I will say the whole Travis portion of the book seemed very weird and unnecessary. I do like how it came together at the end.

All in all, a great listen!

BLOG TOUR REVIEW


Review for 'The Weekend Away' by Miranda Smith.


Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Miranda Smith, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous


Publication date 4th October 2023



This is the seventh book I have read by this author. I have previously read 'The One Before', 'The Killer's Family', 'His Loving Wife', 'The Family Home', 'Not My Mother' and 'The School Trip'. All of which I highly recommend.


This novel consists of a prologue and 58 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

'The Weekend Away' discusses some topics that may upset some readers or may not be suitable for others. I like to point this out ahead of time in my reviews so you can judge if this book is for you or not. In this book Miranda discusses death of a twin sister and $3*ua! @$$@u!t.

WHAT did I just read!!!! WOW!!! I mean seriously Wow!! I was NOT expecting that lot fairplay!!! This has GOT to start with a MASSIVE WELL DONE MIRANDA SMITH!!!! Ooops sorry, yes, needed a minute to get over that but I've just left you hanging there... Sorry.... Let me tell you more...


Firstly let's start off with the writing style, etc!! Yet another extremely well written book by this amazing author which had me hook line and sinker!!! It is so smoothly and beautifully written with vivid evocative descriptions I completely forgot I was even reading a book a few times. The blurb, title and cover really fit the storyline.


As you can tell I LOVED this unique storyline. I found it to be realistic, very fast paced and I read it in a day. I loved the setting and atmosphere and just well... Everything!!! Twists after shocks after turns!!! Arggghhh... Its so hard to NOT say anything about them as it will give too much away and spoilt it for future readers but it definitely left me speechless over and over!!! I have read hundreds of psychological books and I really do think this one is definitely in the top 10 when it comes to dropping bombshells. I am, in fact still shell shocked!! Just brilliant fairplay and all links in and wraps up perfectly!!! I cannot remember the last time I flew through a book so quickly. Each and every time I went to put it down to do something my fingers were itching to pick it back up as I just HAD to know what happened next!! Miranda's evocative writing skills ensures you are dragged deep into the storyline seeing everything that is happening and feeling the tension and suspense that Sienne and Troy are going through along with Samantha although Samantha was in the form of a diary. It is ram packed with twists, heartbreak, secrets, lies, loss, tension, stress, suspense and everything you could ask for in a psychological thriller. I have yet to come across a book by this amazing author that is yet to shock me and have me turning the pages until I devour her books in one sitting!! I can't say more than that as I don't want to spoil it for future readers so if you want to know you'll have to grab yourself a copy!! You won't regret it!!

This is one of the few books that I have listened 100% on Audiobook. If I listen to a book on audiobook I usually also read the physical book between but I listened to the whole book and I was impressed! I must say a HUGE congratulations to the narrator Madeline Pell who did a great job bringing this story to life. I would listen to it in the car and while walking at any opportunity!!! I'm not only looking forward to reading more books by Miranda but also to listening to more books narrated by Madeline! The only criticism I had with Madeline's narration was that there wasn't any attempt to make Troy's characters voice male which is a shame but it may be as she isn't confident in doing male voices yet so I am intrigued to see if she does any in the future.

THE plot throughout is rammed with suspense, romance, family, mystery, lies, surprises, tension and did I say surprises!!! Well done Miranda this is exactly the reason you are on my favourite author list!! I am looking forward to reading more of your books and when oh when is this going to be turned into the movie of the year!!! Gone Girl and many others have NOTHING on this one!!!


It is set over multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture.


Just like with the storyline the characters come to life with Miranda's evocative writing skills along with Madeline's fantastic narrative skills. They are well rounded, realistic and strong making them all the more believable. All the characters may have been realistic but they were not all likeable and this is one of those addictive books where you have no idea which characters are telling the truth or who you can and cannot trust. I was completely invested in Sienna and Troy who are the two main protagonists and they were the only two really who I actually liked. I normally struggle with books if I don't like alot of the characters but Miranda's fantastic storytelling skills means that I had no such problem reading this thriller! I won't go into more details about the characters as I don't want to risk giving anything away but yet again Miranda has done an amazing job constructing an addictive and explosive psychological thriller that you just won't be able to put down. Regardless whether you love or hate the characters each of them comes to life and had a part to play, which they did perfectly!!


Congratulations Miranda on yet another explosive success!!! This is why you are one of my favourite psychological thriller authors. Here's to many more successes 🥂!!!


Clear your schedules before picking this up as you will not be able to put it down!!!


Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the prologue and the first chapters of Miranda's absolutely addictive 'Not My Mother' which is another explosive page turner and one I have read myself and would highly recommend!!

Overall an absolutely page turning, addictive, gripping and explosive must read that will leave you shocked!!!


310 pages / 8 hours 22 minutes via Audible.


This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle, free with kindle unlimited, £8.99 in paperback, £16 for the Audiobook with Audible (at time of review) via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!


Rated 5/5 (I loved it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.


Feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow me on my website or Facebook for more reviews.



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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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‼️ spoiler alert ‼️
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Cabin in the woods feel. A sister wanted the truth .
. The story has a lot of back story from Samantha’s journal . Finding out each and every secret of her so called friends .
It was a great story as it was light and not much of a thrill. More of a mystery but it gotten long and draft at the end.
The ending was abit rush and other words doesn’t actually suit from where it start .


4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This thriller kept me guessing throughout and really built up the conflict that closed out this book. I really liked the inclusion of the flash back chapters from the sister’s diary, it really helped with building the suspense and conflict between all of the characters. This was a good and thrilling read.

This audiobook was very mid for me. There was nothing inherently wrong with it but there was also nothing that kept me fully intrigued. The relationships between Sienna and Samantha’s friends felt like she had little history with any of them. If you have a twin sister you claim to be close to, you’re going to have slightly more of a relationship with her friends than Sienna appeared to.

4⭐
Genre ~ psychological thriller
Setting ~ Smokey Mountains
Publication date ~ October 4, 2023
Page Count ~ 310 (58 chapters +p)
Audio length ~8 hours 21 minutes
Narrator ~ Madeline Pell
POV ~ single 1st & 3rd, and journal entries
Featuring ~ dead twin sister, references to r@pe and suicide, murder, remote setting

Sienna is off to spend the weekend with her twin sister's friends in hopes of learning more about her death a year ago. You can just tell each of these friends are hiding something and some secrets are quite a doozie.

I loved the added journal entries from Samantha that gave the dead a voice. We, also, have the interesting 3rd person perspective from Troy, the guy that is renting them the house for the weekend.

Add in the remote no cell service atmosphere and Miranda has given us another tension filled, suspenseful read.

Narration notes:
She did an okay job. A bit stiff at times. Troy's POV is in the 3rd and she didn't even try to sound like man, and that was probably a good thing.

Sienna is determined to find out what really happened to her twin sister Samantha who died from an accidental (?) fall from a balcony. Her twin started a company that has become quite successful with a team of 5 others. They take an annual company getaway but this time it is to remember Samantha and Sienna is invited. She reluctantly decides to go, only to find out what really happened to her sister.... after finding and reading her journal. Someone did this to her....

It was a story that kept me guessing to the end but it also felt like other locked room (but this was in a secluded cabin in the Smokies) mysteries.

My thanks to Net Galley and Bookouture Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

The Weekend Away by Miranda Smith was a weekend thriller with good thrilling parts but something was missing. I loved its storyline, was nice how everything was set but I would like a little bit more preparation and logic from Sienna (the main character). I would say it was like a murder mystery more than a psychological thriller.
I loved that story felt original or at least I never read anything similar like this!
Narrator Madeline Pell did an amazing job with the audiobook! Felt so real and it was easy to connect with the story!

A year ago Sienna lost her twin sister Samantha. The official version is - that she committed suicide but Sienna always struggles to believe this story. When Sienna finds Samantha's diary it's clear there are many others with a motive - the question is - who would benefit the most?

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes to cross out the names of the guilty list until THE ONE stands out!

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for this amazing book!

This story was full of elements I love - a poorly explained death that needs better answers, a bond between sisters, and a whole book of secrets. Following Sienna's quest to understand her twin sister's death, and the complicated dynamic of her friend group, the story takes us away to a secluded cabin in the woods, as Sienna plans to confront each of the friends about the secrets her sister kept for them, shared only in her private journal. This story kept me transfixed, as I analyzed each character alongside Sienna, and tried to find the truth. This was a fun mystery but lacked a little of the intensity I was expecting.

Stories about twins are always something special. Even more if one twin is no longer alive.
Sienna’s twin sister Samantha accidentally fell over her balcony, at least this is what they all say. But somehow she never could accept this truth.
So when she gets invited to a weekend spent with Samantha's friends she takes the chance to get into contact with all of them. And of course they all have a (different) story to tell. Seems like everybody is hiding something.
This was a pretty quick read for me because I wanted to find out what really happened to Samantha and it was interesting to see this person unfold through other's stories!
Madeline Pell does a great job with the narration
Thank you #NetGalley #Bookouture Audio for this audiobook

When Sienna's sister died a year ago, police ruled it an accidental death. With her family still dealing with the grief, Sienna always thought something was off. When she is invited to a memorial weekend away with her sister's friends/coworkers, she initially declines until she finds her sister's journal. Sienna decides to go on the weekend away and finally find answers, armed with Samantha's journal that is filled with her friend's secrets. Did one of Samantha's closest friends kill her?

I enjoyed the multiple POVs between Sienna, Troy and the entries of Samantha's diary. It was interesting how each person's secret could have been a motive for Samantha's death, and I was satisfied with the ending. I listened to the audiobook and was happy with the narrator, although sometimes I was confused on what character was talking since they all sounded similar. Although the book kept me interested, some of the wording and descriptions were repetitive and took me out of the story.

Overall, this book is a fast read, with untrustworthy characters that make you question if their secret was big enough to kill for.

The Weekend Away comes out on October 4th.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the opportunity to review The Weekend Away. I voluntarily listened and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found this to be a fairly standard thriller. It was enjoyable, and an interesting storyline, but not overly memorable.

The story is told from two points of view, the sister and the caretaker/proprietor of the cabin they are renting. I don’t mind dual (or more) points of view, but I didn’t really feel like the proprietor’s POV helped move the story along. It felt like it got in the way more than anything.

I found this story more depressing. There were several different storylines which just made me feel sad. I won’t go into it further as some are the twists of the story.

I give this book three stars. While I didn’t love it, I liked the concept of the journal and unraveling of secrets. I would definitely try something else by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advance copy of The Weekend Away which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.