This is my first ARC of a book from NetGalley. I received the audiobook version and really enjoyed it! The story hooked me in quickly and I finished listening in two days because I needed to know how it tied together. You follow two main female characters POV at a resort in Thailand, both of whom have not been entirely honest about their pasts with the rest of the friend group on the island. After some “accidents” occur with some of the guests, both characters begin to become suspicious of the people they have been spending time with and try to conduct their own investigation. I did not see the twist at the end coming! I believe this is the authors debut novel and I will definitely be interested in reading any future novels that she writes.

Plot twist after plot twist after plot twist.. 🤯although I do think that there is such thing as too many plot twists and this was border line there.

The Resort - located on the remote island of Koh Sang is known for its amazing diving courses and beautiful beaches. This story follows two women Cass and Brooke - Cass, is running away from her past following the deaths of her father and sister. 2 years later, she’s made Koh Sang her home and has put the past behind, until someone on the island figures out her past and wants to expose it. Brooke is a traveling influencer who comes to Koh Sang to enjoy the beauty it has to offer - or are there other reasons she’s there? When multiple murders arise, you are left wondering who the killer might be with all of the twists and turns.

My thoughts 💭

There are several different plot twists unraveling at once which adds to the suspense and keeps you guessing throughout the story

Listened to this one on Audio - the narrators were very monotone and did not add to the characters at all. The voices do eventually grow on you as the characters develop but it still didn’t do the book justice.

There was quite a bit of bouncing around in the beginning with the different povs of the characters and trying to piece them to how they fit into the plot - the beginning was just not the kind that immediately reels you in.

I love that this is based on an island - nothing beats a thriller with a good setting.

It took about 20% of the book until it got interesting but once it took off, I was hooked to know the end!

If you’re looking for a thriller, this is a good one to pick up!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ALC. This was just an ok listen for me. Nothing horrible. Nothing great. It starts out strong but then falls off.

⭐️3.5 stars⭐️

Not gonna lie, I have conflicting feelings about this book. I was really enjoying it in the beginning. The secluded island resort in a beautiful country full of interesting, complicated characters. But then there was SUCH an abrupt change in the story where the characters’ true intentions were starting to be revealed. No lead up, just BAM, this is who I really am. It threw me off.

Another thing that bugged me was the female narrators’ true accents coming out. One of the characters is supposed to be from Kentucky and makes remarks about learning to hide her “southern drawl” but the narrator seems to have difficulty keeping her real English accent hidden throughout the story.

Overall, the story was entertaining and I did enjoy it and would still recommend it to friends. I think I would have enjoyed it more as a physical book though.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for the opportunity of listening to and reviewing this audiobook.

In The Resort, two young women--a dive instructor and a travel influencer--work together to investigate the suspicious deaths of two resort guests on a remote Thai island resort.

The book starts out strong by bringing in an interesting, varied cast of characters. The Permanents are expats from all over the world, bringing with them unique and storied histories that they attempt to keep hidden as they reinvent themselves on the island. The guests come from equally varied locales, and they bring their own fair share of life history and personal agendas. As the story unfolds, we get to see the ways in which the characters' histories impact their actions and affect the grand orchestra that is this story.

What will stick with me from this book is the plot. It's slow to start, which is good; it gives you a chance to really get to know the characters so that you can keep track of them when they all collide in the final third of the book. When the twists start coming, they don't stop--yet somehow, when the dust settles, the story stands as a glorious, genius, resolved whole. I wish I could gush further about this story, but to go much further would risk snatching from you the experience of living through these experiences with the characters.

Another little thing that I found interesting was the role of social media in the story. Many of the story's big reveals have to do with finding something on Instagram. As one of our intrepid heroines makes her living as a minor influencer, this makes some sense. I think a young reader who's into such platforms would enjoy experiencing the way social media skills determine matters of life and death in this story. Taken together with the themes of self-discovery and finding purpose, this book almost feels best-suited for a young adult audience, as long as they're prepared to handle a very emotional (but non-explicit) retelling of a character's past rape.

While the story and characters drove the book forward, it could have gone farther if the characters were developed more fully. The characterization often felt over-the-top, sometimes pushing the characters' intriguing backgrounds into one-sided caricatures. Then, when new information is revealed to the reader about a certain character, it's like flipping a light switch--the newly revealed person feels discontinuous from their previous self. Even within a scene, a character might act in ways inconsistent with themselves: take one example in which a POV character describes something as "only a few meters away", only to describe something else as "mere feet away" a minute later, switching between metric and imperial in a way no real person would.

Since I listened to the audiobook, a brief aside regarding the narration: It wasn't great. Although separate narrators were hired for each point of view, the two main narrators sounded too similar to one another to differentiate them easily. On top of that, neither narrator made any effort to replicate the accents of the book's diverse cast of characters. It was interesting to hear that a certain character spoke with a charming Scottish brogue, but it would have been even nicer to hear that feature replicated in the narration. Add to these issues the faulty pronunciation of a handful of words, and it comes out overall as a rather unpolished experience. The book earned its 4 stars on its own, but the narration falls between 2 and 3 stars for me.

All in all, it was a wonderful ride. If you're looking for a memorable story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, you won't be disappointed.

Five Reasons Not To Read The Resort By Sara Ochs

Five Reasons Not To Read The Resort By Sara Ochs https://www.novellives.com/2024/01/22/the-resort-by-sara-ochs-review/

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media, Recorded Books for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

This thriller/mystery was just OK. I found myself fading at times. A little typical... Nothing to boast or roast.

I waited approximately 12 hours between finishing this book and writing a review, and I promptly forgot the characters and the entire plot.
If you want to read about people living/working on a resort while people are getting murdered, this is for you.

Also very violent on page SA that I was completely unprepared for and found totally unnecessary. (I understand it contributed to character motivations, but did not need to be on page to get the point across).

This was an enjoyable enough listening experience. The audiobook narrators were great and I loved the setting, but I personally felt like the mystery component of this wasn’t exciting enough to keep me fully engaged. Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t at all bad and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants a lighter, summer vacation type of mystery. It would also be great for fans of PLL if you enjoy mysteries where the characters are complex and all individually suspicious in their own way. However, despite having many suspects and two interesting POVs, there weren’t enough twists/reveals for me to want to keep knowing more and more about the story.

Now, I don’t feel like every mystery or thriller needs to be super twisty to be good, but I do think you either need twists or well-built suspense to keep me engaged and this didn’t deliver on either end. There were too many suspicious characters for any one of them to be too especially creepy and the main characters instantly jumped to every conclusion they possibly could have when new information was unearthed. At the end I was left a little bored and my favorite part of the story ended up being from the 60-80% mark when we focus in on a certain character who would have been a more interesting culprit. Still, this was decently written and the friendships built between the women in this book were nice to see and that was enough for me to keep reading.

I love the premise and the cover. The setting was great, a dive hotel on a remote island in Thailand. It was described well and I could easily picture what it was like.

The pacing was a little difficult to get through. The beginning was interesting, the middle was pretty slow, and the end was crazy. I thought the end was a little too out-there for me, I like a more believable story.

I did enjoy the epilogue, and would be interested in seeing how this plays out.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book had a well developed slow moving twist that exploded the story in the best possible ways. Incredible. So fun. Great read.

There was so much that I found problematic about this book.

The way anxiety medication was discussed (making a character unreliable, her hiding it like it was shameful, a partner hiding pills from her) felt icky, especially because that character had suffered a very traumatic event.

I didn't like the woman-on-woman blame when it came to things like sexual assault. The epilogue also included lying about sexual assault after being broken up with, which is harmful in so many ways.

I'm not usually overly sensitive about potentially offensive material, but these things kept me from fully enjoying the narrative.

*3.5 stars*

So first off, I really enjoyed the setting for this one, I feel like it'd make a great beach popcorn thriller. The audio was done really well and it kept me wanting to listen. But I felt like some of the characters just felt flat and under developed. Plus one of the characters we hear from I just struggled connecting with and then was even more frustrated with something about her. It's hard to elaborate without spoiling anything.

I felt like the end was a little confusing and rushed. It almost felt like I was missing something but then the final twist was pretty good. Overall, it was enjoyable to listen to but just not the most mind blowing thriller I've read. The end was feeling a little long too. I was surprised when it said I was still only at 80% because it felt like it was the end. It went kind of slowish build to bam everything!

Wow, this was great literally from cover to cover. I loved the art chosen for the cover, beautiful and dramatic yet simple. The colors, much like the story, are vibrant, attractive and attention grabbing. I was completely engaged from the first page to the very last. This is the first book I have complete by this author but it certainly won’t be the last. I loved the details provided about the beautiful location, lovely young people living what many believe to be their best lives out on a beach far away from the troubles of every day life…..but things aren’t always as they seem. I thought many times that I had it all figured out but the author sure kept me guessing until the very end. I am so pleased with the storyline, the attention to detail, the well thought out characters and the more than what meets the eye setting. I would also like to take a moment to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator. I feel the narration can either make or break a book, especially a thriller, and felt this one was spot on!

I will definitely be recommending this to friends that love thrillers. Thank you to Sara Ochs, the publisher, the narrator and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy of this audiobook!

I love this cover, and was intrigued by "two mysterious women" in "a searing vacation thriller."

Set on a remote island in Thailand, The Resort does have an isolated, small-cast feel, though its setting wasn't atmospheric enough to make me feel the heat while reading on a frigid night.

Overall I'd characterize this as a rocky read. It feels like it wants to be light and entertaining at times, but then others are dramatic and morbid (e.g., the opening scene is in the POV of a person dying). My interest in the characters and plot similarly ebbed and flowed.

The narrators were OK. I could understand them without issue. But one of the characters is Swedish, and another Scottish - I'd have loved narrators who could perform their accents. I also found one of the narrators' performances pretty one-note. I guess it matches her personality, but it also left me not enjoying her chapters as much.

And yet! The epilogue almost redeemed all of it. I don't think it quite did, but it did leave me wanting a sequel, despite not having a super positive opinion of the first 95% of the book.

DNF at 50%. I’m always drawn to thrillers and this one taking place at a resort in Thailand drew me right in. However it just didn’t work for me - it was very slow and I was bored. I listened to the audiobook and think it also wasn’t helped by one of the narrators giving a very one note delivery. I ended up deciding not to finish. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook and audiobook to review.

A twisty thriller set at a dive resort in Thailand, it made for a unique and interesting backdrop. It felt slow to start but moved along at a decent pace after the first murder is revealed.

I liked the twists, the unreliable narrator’s, the lies and the deceit amongst the characters. Never knowing who you could trust.

The writing felt a bit technical, or like I was being told the story, rather than experiencing it. I was leaning toward a three star review until the very end, the last twist was something I didn’t expect and I liked that.

I can’t believe this is Sara Ochs' debut novel. Love her writing. The characters have a lot of depth and I love the island setting. I rarely say this but I truly didn’t see any of the twists coming. The end was shocking and the final twist was completely out of left field. Not sure if this will become a series but the book ended in a way that almost makes you expect a follow-up.

One note: I listened to this as an audiobook. There are two female narrators and they both seem to have an English (or Australian?) accent, but they read the dialogue as Americans. Every once in a while a word was pronounced in a way that made this evident. That said, their voices were extremely easy on the ears, so this didn’t bother me at all.

Overall, I loved The Resort. It would make a great movie. Definitely recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.

I wasn’t a big fan of this book because I didn’t really like or connect with any of the characters. It seemed very repetitive to me and the twists were mostly predictable. Up until the end that is, there’s a big twist at the end that I didn’t see coming and that was probably my favorite part of the book. This book is about a murder that takes place on an island. This book also dives into the culture of tourism, the greed and corruption that can lie there and travel expats/ travel influencers and what they add to that equation.

I went into this book not knowing a whole lot but wow I really enjoyed it!
To be honest at the beginning it felt like just a basic thriller/mystery but the ending got me!
Some reviews have said the ending was far fetched and sure maybe it was but it didn't change the story for me. I loved the ending!

I highly recommend The Resort