The Unwedding: Reese's Book Club Pick by Condie was an incredibly fun read for this thriller reader. I was kept up too late and turning those pages - it was awesome.

Book Review: The Unwedding by Ally Connie
⭐️⭐️⭐️

What happens when the happiest day of your life turns into a nightmare? Ally Connie’s The Unwedding is a psychological thriller that grips you from the very first page. Set against the backdrop of what should have been a dream wedding, the story quickly spirals into a dark and twisty mystery that keeps readers on edge.

What I Loved:
✨ A Jaw-Dropping Premise – A bride left at the altar is shocking enough, but when Ellie starts digging into the truth, she realizes she’s been living a lie. The suspense builds beautifully as secrets begin to unravel.
✨ Unpredictable Twists – Just when you think you have it figured out, Connie throws in a reveal that completely changes the game. I gasped more than once!
✨ Emotional Depth – This isn’t just a thriller—it’s also an exploration of love, betrayal, and identity. Ellie’s journey is compelling, and I found myself rooting for her even when she made questionable choices.
✨ A Hauntingly Atmospheric Setting – From picturesque wedding venues to eerie, isolated locations, the book’s settings add to the tension, making everything feel even more unsettling.

What Could Have Been Stronger:
🔹 Pacing in the First Half – While the slow buildup helps develop suspense, it took a bit longer than I expected for things to really take off.
🔹 Some Underdeveloped Characters – A few side characters had intriguing backstories, but I wanted more depth and exploration into their roles in Ellie’s life.

Final Thoughts:
If you love thrillers with an unreliable narrator, deep emotional stakes, and shocking twists, The Unwedding should be on your TBR! It’s The Silent Patient meets The Last Mrs. Parrish, with a unique wedding-day-gone-wrong twist. I highly recommend it for fans of psychological suspense!

📖 Have you read The Unwedding? Let’s discuss!

I was not able to read this book before its publish date, however now that I have read it I gave it 3.5 stars.

I’ve enjoyed Condie’s YA books and was excited to read her adult debut. Unfortunately, this fell flat for me overall. At first I was really enjoying this: I really liked the premise and the atmospheric setting, and the beginning was quite compelling. But somewhere around the halfway mark it started dragging, and ultimately it fizzled out near the end. The reveals were underwhelming and I finished this book a bit disappointed, especially since it had started so strongly.

It’s not a bad book exactly, and the reviews seem pretty mixed so I think it’s worth giving a shot if you’re interested. I just didn’t like it as much as I hoped.

The Unwedding is that book where everything is going wrong and everyone has a secret. The reader knows that there are secrets--just not knowing what they are and is sitting on the edge of seat his/her about what will happen next--rain, mud, falling trees, bridges out, etc.-- turning pages (or swiping) as fast as he/she can to find out the secrets are and what happens to this isolated group of people. I liked the way Ms. Condie wove these characters around each other and how some of their stories intersected among themselves. In the end everything came out ok--except I still felt a sense of loss for the groom--no one had a bad thing to say about him and I felt so sorry for his bride (however, there is a surprise there). It was a good escape read--and sometimes that is exactly what me and others need.

Wow, this one was intriguing and a great read!!

Ellery is on vacation at a beautiful location, when she discovers a dead body on the property the day that a wedding is supposed to happen. So, who is the one who killed him?? Then the guests are trapped at the resort due to a mudslide from bad weather, and things start going insane!! Keeps you on your toes and guessing till the end.

I felt this book had great potential but then it just kind of flatlined for me in the middle, and fizzled out in the end

This book, seems to be polarizing and has a mix of different reviews. I found it to stressful and interesting, but nothing that will stick with me for a long time.

The Unwedding by Ally Condie is a gripping and atmospheric psychological thriller that explores themes of loss, secrets, and the unraveling of perfect facades. Ellery Wainwright is supposed to be celebrating her twentieth wedding anniversary at the luxurious Resort at Broken Point, but instead, she finds herself alone at the edge of the world after her marriage falls apart. As she settles into the stunning but eerie surroundings of Big Sur, her stay is marred by the unsettling presence of a wedding that forces her to confront the crumbling remnants of her own relationship.

Things take a dark turn when Ellery stumbles upon the body of the groom, dead in the resort’s pool. As a mudslide traps the guests at the resort and the police are unable to reach them, tension mounts. Another death soon follows, and it becomes clear that something sinister is afoot at Broken Point. With every guest hiding their own secrets, Ellery must confront the shadows of her past and the unsettling truth that no one at the resort is who they seem to be.

Condie masterfully builds suspense throughout the novel, blending emotional depth with mystery. The haunting atmosphere of the resort, combined with Ellery’s emotional journey of self-discovery and the growing sense of danger, keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The Unwedding is a thrilling, thought-provoking read that will appeal to fans of psychological suspense and those who enjoy stories where secrets are slowly uncovered, one twist at a time.

This is a great example of not always going by the Goodreads rating on a book. I saw that it had under 3.5 stars, and that usually will make me think twice about reading something. But with #TheUnwedding, the premise sounded good and I wanted to give it a shot.
I'm glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be a page turner. It seems like there have been a lot of books whose plot centers around weddings as of late (the theme of 2024 perhaps?)
This particular story centers on Ellery Wainwright who was supposed to travel to the Resort at Broken Point in Big Sur with her husband for their 20th anniversary.
Instead, she travels alone after her marriage ending in divorce. While there, a wedding is taking place and Ellery discovers a dead body floating in the pool the day of wedding.
I thought the plot was good, although a little predictable at times, but it was very atmospheric and the pacing was strong. I would definitely recommend this one.

This book was just “meh” for me. I felt like I was reading it because I had to finish it instead of reading it because I wanted to finish it. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was.

As a big fan of Agatha Christie, I can't agree with the book's description. The narration felt flat, I think I would've preferred for Ellery to have narrated this from a first person perspective. I did appreciate the setting and Ellery's development after her divorce. The character interactions left something to be desired.
The mystery aspect wasn't gripping or compelling, I found myself just wanting to know how the story ended but I didn't enjoy the journey getting to the conclusion.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing a Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent read! Thoroughly enjoyed. The mystery kept me reading and the character development was strong.

A quick, fun read set on a the beautiful coastline of California. Characters were somewhat unremarkable, but overall a great beach read.

This book was poorly written and trope-heavy. Confusing and overwrought. Do not recommend and frankly surprised at the degree of praise awarded to this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy of this book. Book was fine, really good if you like the genre! I would read more from this author.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The backstories on the characters were compelling and interesting. The plot was twisted in all the right ways.

Amazing intense read. So many feelings. Weddings,grief, loss hope and love

Brilliantly written novel. Reese knows her books!

The Unwedding wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either. As the story of a woman making new friends and gaining a sense of perspective after divorce, it's successful, but as a murder mystery, it's unsatisfying. The main character, after her divorce, stays at an expensive resort by herself for what was supposed to be her anniversary. She becomes fast friends with an interesting pair her age who are vacationing together. They entertain themselves by crashing a wedding party and trying to figure out who among the guests might be secretly famous. After the weather turns bad, they end up being stuck at the resort longer than planned in increasingly harsh conditions.
Two of the guests are found dead under suspicious circumstances, and the main character and friends, plus people who knew the victims, start trying to figure out how they died. Their theorizing and investigation doesn't turn up much that's useful, but at the end of the book, the mc realizes that she knows who the killer is. She doesn't piece clues together or make logical deductions, rather she makes assumptions and jumps to conclusions, and turns out to be right. It's not a book that you can read and figure out on your own what happened. You don't know anything for much of the book, then you're told what happened at the end. If you like murder mysteries, it may not be what you're looking for. If you're more drawn to the story of a middle aged woman coping with the end of her marriage with the help of new and old friends, you're more likely to enjoy this.

This book has been on my TBR for a little while and I’m so glad I finally picked it up. An exclusive resort where Ellery is staying after a divorce is the setting of a wedding. Unfortunately the wedding never happens and the groom is found dead. Terrible rains cause a landslide that prevent the only way in and out of the resort. Ellery becomes a detective and tries to find out what happened to the groom. What I liked about this story was how the author used the characters and the setting in the mystery.