Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I really wanted to like this book but it wasn't for me. I couldn't relate in any way.

This is the perfect summer thriller. Fast-paced with untrustworthy characters, this book will either make you want to go on a tropical vacation or avoid one completely. The ending was unexpected and a little abrupt, but it was satisfying all the same.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

The review will be published May 24/24 on my Instagram, @snacks.and.paperbacks. The review is already published to Goodreads.

This starts with a fascinating premise: the "cruiser" boats all meet together in a cove and party, sharing food and drinks--mostly alcohol--until the wee. hours of the morning. But this time something goes wrong and Dani is missing in the morning even though she usually goes for a swim in the early hours so no foul play is suspected until later. And since she has a YouTube show called "Sailing with the Foxes," some assume she's just being overly dramatic for the "likes" and followers she'll gain. But partner, Sawyer can't remember even getting back to their boat the night before so he's no help at all. Of course, nothing is as it seems and there's a satisfying moment at the end where it all comes together and you realize you didn't see THAT at all! Great snarky humor!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

A pretty decent mystery/thriller in which the only likeable main character is the investigating cop. Not really my cup of tea in the end, as I prefer having a non-cop to root for, but it was refreshing to read a mystery/thriller in which the main characters were both aware that they were horrible people.

“On The Surface” by Rachel McGuire is a summer read about the social media culture. A young cruiser couple who have recently lost all their money in a cryptocurrency investment attend a raucous party on another boat. The beautiful Dani goes missing but her scheduled YouTube videos continue to stream? What happened to Dani? Is the boyfriend always the prime suspect? How can you manipulate social media to force people to think a certain way? If you enjoy mysteries about influencers and social media fanatics this book is for you! I felt the story was predictable but bringing in cyber sleuthing aspect was fun and what kept me reading.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

"𝑴𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒔. 𝑨 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒌𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒎𝒆."🌊

Special thanks to @thrillerbookloversthepulse @rachelmcguireauthor @crookedlanebooks and @netgalley for the #gifted eARC.

👉🏼 swipe for synopsis ➡️

MY REVIEW:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I really enjoyed this one. It definitely had me going until the first twist. (Yes FIRST, because there are a few and each made me say WHAAAAA)

I really liked that this story involved people called cruisers; those who sail around the world and live on their boats full time. I guess I've heard of them once but never really thought of how big their community is. This story kind of shows that you don't know how big someone/things community is, until they really bind together, especially over social media. And, it also shows how much influence social media has, even if it's good or bad.

This really was a page turning read. I definitely recommend this read. It threw me for a loop, and I definitely didn't guess the first twist, let alone the rest of them.

***also I found out from a fellow pulse pointer; @fullof_lit , that Rachel McGuire is a pen name for two women authors (Rachel Graham and Lee-Ann McGuire) who make up 'Rachel McGuire'. I think that's so cool!

PUB DATE:
July 9, 2024


QOTD ❓️⁉️❓️ Ever known anyone who's done a 'get rich quick' scam?

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#mysteryandthrills #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #thrillerbooklovers #thepulse #pulsepoint #onthesurface #rachelmcguire #bookbuzz
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Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel McGuire and Crooked Lane Books for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a short read told in a few different perspectives and I enjoyed the idea of the cruisers and all of this happening out in the open water!

This is the perfect summer read. It is quick and doesn't require a ton of thinking. It is just a good laying at the pool book. I did hate Sawyer and Dani but I actually like hate reading like that.
It was an okay summer read and that is enough.

🌊𝙾𝙽 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝚄𝚁𝙵𝙰𝙲𝙴 🌊
𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛
𝙿𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟿, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺
𝙼𝚢 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝟺 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🩷🌊🩵🛥️🩷🌊🩵🛥️🩷🌊🩵🛥️🩷🌊

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝...A YouTubing cruiser couple sails the world..until one of them goes missing & their whole world capsizes

💭𝙼𝚢 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜..This coming out in summer is just perfect! ☀️It has the best summer vibes…for thriller fans I mean. I love the behind the scenes you get from a YouTuber couple out at sea. It def isn’t all fun and games as it appears when you watch this channel. The twists are nonstop & the backdrop was marvelous! You will have to keep reading to find out what happened to Dani!!! Perfect summer thriller & damn, another gorgeous cover!! 👌🔥

Dani and Sawyer are Cruisers. They cruise the ocean in their boats and are in and out of other groups of cruisers. Dani is a wannabe social media influencer and her “Sailing With the Foxes” on YouTube is on the verge of making her some money. Sawyer lost all his money in a bad crypto investment.

After a party, Dani is missing and it looks like Sawyer is the prime suspect. But, Sawyer was black out drunk and can’t really remember much.

A slow burn, but it’s just building up for all the thrills coming!

RECOMMEND

DNF @ 15% - I completely understand that this is an ARC and there’s bound to be mistakes and errors, but this one was too ripe with them to even continue reading. every other sentence had a spelling error, and the writing seemed to be written by a teenager rather than an adult who hopefully had proof readers and editors. I would have had the team take another go at this before sending it out to readers. I just couldn’t get past the errors, let alone the blandness of the characters.

This is gonna be one of the top thriller books of the summer!

The perfect beach read!

Beautiful people on a boat with secrets trying to make it big as influencers. Murder, a little Law & Order SVU action, twists I didn't see coming! I was thinking about this one all day and waiting impatiently until I could get back into the drama filled world of cruisers

Relationships are never how they seem on social media and that couldn’t be more true for Dani and Sawyer Fox.

Dani is selling their cruiser lifestyle on YouTube. The couple stumbles upon some missing children and Dani hopes this will be the video to make them a viral sensation. They follow up their exciting day at a cruisers party, with a storm rolling in and plenty of alcohol to go around. The next morning sawyer wakes up sore and hungover with no memory of the night before. And Dani is gone. Sawyer becomes suspect #1. Detective Knowles goes down a social media rabbit hole and conducts interviews with some interesting cruisers.

The first shocking reveal had me saying “holy sh#t out loud! This is the perfect summer read or vacation cruise read the book has a little bit of set up but around 20% in it really picks up. This one gives total Gone Girl vibes!

There are multiple POVs and there is a large cast of characters that can be difficult to keep straight. But each chapter is stamped with the person, place and day.

The ending felt a little abrupt, I think there could’ve been more added to the story and I would have liked for things to be wrapped up better. Also, there is some boat terminology used that I had to look up. But overall this is such a fun read with an amazing Bahamas setting. It will be released July 9th and is the perfect summer read!

“On the Surface” by Rachel McGuire is a book that completely captivated me. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Bahamas, this psychological thriller dives deep into the world of a YouTubing couple living their dream life at sea—until a shocking disappearance turns everything upside down. McGuire’s writing is sharp and engaging, pulling you into the mystery with every twist and turn. The exploration of the characters’ public personas versus their private realities is both timely and thought-provoking, making this novel the perfect beach read. I was thoroughly gripped by the story’s suspense and the richly painted settings. If you’re a fan of thrillers with substance and style, “On the Surface” is a book you won’t want to miss. #OntheSurface #NetGalley

Much like my love for airplane thrillers, I am now a yacht thriller girlie!
This was riveting, entertaining and actually fairly thrilling.
I enjoyed my time in this story!

BOOK REVIEW


On The Surface
By Rachel McGuire

Plot: Sawyer Stone III and Dani Fox, a young couple who spend their time circumnavigating the globe aboard their 42-foot sailboat and documenting it for their fledgling YouTube channel Sailing with the Foxes in Bahamas. On the surface, everything looks perfect. But one night, Dani vanishes after a boat party, and Sawyer has no memory of her disappearance.

The search for Dani is initially fueled by concerns that she drowned, but Dani's prescheduled video posts, recorded before she went missing, soon reveal a darker side to her relationship with Sawyer.

Review: Right away the plot of this book had me excited. YouTube videos, missing girlfriend, suspicious boyfriend…it has the makings of a real page turner. My honest review Is a 3.5/5 (rounded up to 4) for a couple reasons. The book moved quickly and kept pace, which I do love in a book. It had reveals spaced evenly enough that you weren’t waiting around going "hurry up already!"
This is a personal opinion, but I didn’t feel anything but disgusting for both Sawyer and Dani as the book progressed. I wasn’t really rooting for either of them to be alive or not go to jail. That is the sign of a great writer, who wrote the characters and made us hate them (props to you Rachel!) but put me off, just a bit. The ending was good but felt rushed and didn’t come to a conclusion in the way I believe the readers deserved. It’s a cliffhanger of sorts.

If you are in the need for a good beach thriller, this is a solid book. It’s a read that I won’t put high on my list but I would still recommend it to my friends looking for something resembling a law-enforcement TV show!

On The Surface is out July 9th, 2024! Thank you to Rachel McGuire, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for an ARC copy of On The Surface in exchange for my honest review!

#thriller #psychologicalthriller #bookrecommendation #murdermystery #psychologicaldrama #thrillers #suspensenovel #bookreccomendationsforhim #bookrecommendationsforher #bookrec #newbook #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #domesticsuspense #ScaryBooks #NewGallery #bookworm #bookish #ilovebooks #readerforlife #reading #bedtimereading #booknerd #thrillerbooks #booklover #goodreads #beautifulbooks #reader #newbook #bookreview #popularbook #review

On the Surface is a perfect summer thriller with it's Bahamian location, the toxic relationship at its center, ant its sharp and witty commentary on social media influencer culture.

Everything seems perfect for Dani Fox and Sawyer Stone, if you're watching their Sailing with the Foxes YouTube channel. They're currently anchored in Exuma, needing to provision, but Sawyer's crypto investment tanked and left them without the money to do so. After a raucous party one night, Dani goes missing, and the community of cruisers is quick to put together an online search party for her. But when pre-scheduled YouTube videos continue to upload, they get a different view of Dani and Sawyer's relationship that isn't the picture perfect couple they seemed to be previously. Police Inspector Veronique Knowles must comb through witness accounts and online forums to figure out what exactly happened to Dani Fox.

This multi-POV story will have you thinking you know what happened, just to flip the story on its head! I really enjoyed the approach that writing duo Rachel McGuire took in incorporating social media influencers as well as true crime Internet fanatics, and their incisive commentary on both types of Internet users. The story delivers twists right up until the final page, and I devoured up every last bit of it!

Fans of Wendy Heard's You Can Trust Me and Kellye Garrett's Missing White Woman will love this debut thriller.

Wow what a fantastic thriller! I'm so glad I received this ARC.
Dani and Sawyer seem like the perfect cruiser couple - sailing the world while capturing their lifestyle for all to see on social media. After a wild party on another cruiser's boat, Dani goes missing, and Sawyer has no recollection of much of the evening. What happened to Dani? What do her pre-scheduled YouTube videos really mean?
It's can be difficult to create villains that a reader cares about, but McGuire 100% does! Dani and Sawyer are terrible people, but I could not stop reading about them. This book has so many twists and turns while also incorporating the insanity of social media and unsolved crimes. I loved it and can't wait to recommend it. The ultimate weekend beach/ cottage read! And the cover is amazing.
Thank you SO MUCH to Netgalley and Crooked Lane for an ARC in exchange for review.

On The Surface by Rachel McGuire casts itself as a modern mystery. Dani and Sawyer are YouTube cruising influencers. They circumnavigate the seas in their sailboat and document their time online. After a party, Dani goes missing and Sawyer, as partner of the missing, becomes suspect number one. He has no memory of her disappearance and she seems to have scheduled timely uploads which capture the attention of amateur sleuths around the world. On The Surface started out as a standard thriller without anything unique to capture attention. However, as more twists and turns are taken, the book gets more and more captivating. Sometimes, the writing feels a little too spoon-fed, but other than that it is written well and is a good story.

Thank to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Wow. So many twists and turns in this one. I enjoyed being introduced to the life of "cruisers" (people who live on their boats and just hang out for most of the time). Both Dani and Sawyer were compelling characters, but also the most unreliable narrators, which kept me wondering what was going to happen next.