Member Reviews

3.5 stars

This is my second reading of this book. The first read was on an ebook, and I found Brooke and Cass difficult to distinguish at times. Thus, I was excited to listen to the audio version. I suspected this might help me keep them straight, and it did. In fact, I bumped up my original star score just a bit with this version. Here's my original review for the ebook:

Brooke and Cass share perspectives in this mystery/thriller that has an ending to remember. I wish I had been less excited to arrive at the ending and more interested in the journey.

While Brooke and Cass have pretty distinct situations, I found them weirdly indistinguishable at times. Often, I'd have to jump back to the start of the chapter just to be sure I was on track with the correct character. Every character - Brooke and Cass included - has secrets, and at times, the slow burn to figure out what these are is too drawn out and then is followed up by some sort of explosive revelation (and all of these require TWs: grooming, rape, and child abuse). Readers who have experience in locations heavily populated by expats won't be surprised by what they find at this resort, and Ochs does use this trope - pulling a geographic - well. Guess what? It turns out you still can't outrun your troubles, even when you're trying to do it with a tropical backdrop and mai tais (at perhaps the most irritatingly named bar in all of literature. Frangipani? I've been to a lot of tropical bars, and the GREAT branding options are boundless - this one is just criminal).

The ending is pretty solid, and it saved me from real frustration with the novel overall. That noted, I'm going to recommend this one tepidly. It's not terrible, but there are many other recent mysteries and thrillers that are just more compelling. I do think there's promise in this writing, so despite the lackluster vibes on this one, I'll try more from this author.

*Another update for the audiobook: Again, I enjoyed this version more than the ebook. When I recommend this, it'll be with more enthusiasm than I originally suggested.

Was this review helpful?

I read this and I liked it enough. It was okay. It was twisty.
I absolutely love this one as an audiobook! I was enthralled!
The narration is wonderful!.

Was this review helpful?

This book gave me the reckless girls vibe. The audiobook was a great way to read/listen as it was slow at times, especially in the beginning, but the second half was much better. Would give 3.5 ⭐️ and worth a listen.

Was this review helpful?

This book has dual POV it starts off slow but eventually gets better as you read rhe book.

The cover is stunning and will look for more dmfeom the author

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Netgalley, RB Media, and Sara Ochs for as advance listening copy of The Resort in exchange for an honest review. What is it about destination thrillers that just always work for me? The Resort is told in multiple point of views from Brooke and Cass. Most people head to this island to escape their pasts and hide their secrets. As the story progresses, secrets are threatened to be discovered and people end up dying. I enjoyed the last 25% of the book the most as there were many twists and turns that I was not anticipating. The narrator did a great job making me feel as if I was on the island with all the characters. This one is out on February 13th and deserves a spot on your TBR!

Was this review helpful?

The Resort has Reckless Girls/Rachel Hawkins vibes, and a great debut novel by Sara Ochs. The story is a fun whodunnit centered around a group of friends on a small island called Koh Sand. The premise was interesting, the build up dragged a little, and the ending was exciting and fast-paced. The twist had a lot of predictable parts, but was still satisfying to read.

🚩🚩Potential spoiler 🚩🚩Then, the epilogue was WILD and I did NOT see that coming- almost bumped it up to a 4 star read. I'm eager to see what Sara Ochs does next.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this arc.

Was this review helpful?

Im sorry but i couldn't finish this one :(
Too slow paced for me and nothing really happened in the chapters that i listened to also i hated Bricks chapters and the narrator got on my nerves lol

Was this review helpful?

The Resort was a little slow to start but all of a sudden you realize you're extremely invested in the story and you won't be able to set it down. It's one of those novels where you don't know who to trust. Everyone is potentially a suspect on this island. They all seem to have found themselves on the island to get away from something shady in their past, especially Cass and Brooke.

This one definitely kept me guessing (and second guessing) right up until the end!

Audiobook review:
While the story itself is fine, I don't know if the narrators that were chosen were the best choices. Neither of the main narrators changed their voice for different characters, which would have been helpful as the majority of the other characters were noted to be from several different countries they all had accents. It was a little weird to hear a distinctly Scottish or English phrase in a flat American accent. The voices stayed the same even between male and female speakers. I was sometimes only able to distinguish who was doing the speaking because I also had a copy of the ebook in front of me. I also don't think either narrator were told proper pronunciation of words when the character says a phrase in their native language. One of the characters has a tattoo with a Scots Gaelic phrase that is talked about. While I have no idea if the narrator actually pronounced the Gaelic correctly (highly doubtful), I DO know that she pronounced Gaelic wrong. Later on a character says 'hello' in a few languages at the start of a meeting and completely botched the French word 'bonsoir.' I realized then that she HAD to be just reading the words how one would read it in English.

I know that this isn't going to be a deal breaker for many listeners but it took me out of the story on multiple occasions. While I feel the ebook 4 stars, the audiobook is a 3.

Was this review helpful?

I enjoyed this book! Beginning to end it was engaging and entertaining. Pace was perfect for a thriller, the cast of characters were fun to spend time with—and it m a sucker for characters getting what’s coming to them.

Narration was good—mostly. There were a few points were I struggled with one of the narrators were things were said differently or pronounced kind of weird but it wasn’t enough to ruin the story.

Was this review helpful?

The Resort🌴
By Sara Ochs🌊

Review💯

The story was so fantastic that I can't believe this is a debut novel! This had some spectacular twists in the plot. Since there was so much going on, I was genuinely concerned about how it would all work out, but the author did a fantastic job of weaving everything together. This book's best feature was that I was completely unaware of what was happening. I suspected a lot and was entirely off base on everything. I was freaking out at the ending. I highly recommend this terrific thriller!

Thriller
Secrets
Romance
Plot twists
Revenge

5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Was this review helpful?

My preferred genre is “murder at a remote resort among rich people” so this book was top tier in my opinion. The twist came out of nowhere but didn’t feel manufactured, and the switching narrative was easy to follow! Loved it!

Was this review helpful?

With the snow storms from the past few days I loved reading a tropical destination read. The story I enjoyed itself. I loved the twists at the end however I don’t think an epilogue is needed. I liked the ending before the epilogue.

Was this review helpful?

3⭐️. This was an OK thriller. Told from dual POV Cass and Brooke, which typically I like but this one I was getting confused as to which girl was narrating since this was an audiobook listen and the voices weren’t differentiated enough. It is a really slow burn, I think it is a bit too long (and far fetched in places) to get to where it ends. Given all the attempted red herrings, I did think I had it figured out, which always bums me out. The epilogue was fun and ended the book on a positive note.

If it weren’t so slow and my original guesses as to what was happening didn’t play out… I would have rated this one much higher. Solid debut book. I liked the setting, the off the beaten path island and resort. I’d be open to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media and Sara Ochs for this advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you so much to RB Media for the gifted audiobook!

I was really enjoying this one and for some reason every time it gets to chapter 7, it stops working. I've tried skipping that chapter, deleting and re-downloading about 5 different times and am out of ideas on how to get it to play on the Netgalley app. Maybe it's an error with the app itself.

I plan to read the physical copy and I can come back and review or wait until the audiobook publishes and come back!

Was this review helpful?

Imagine going to paradise only to find it more like a nightmare. Sara Ochs takes us to a small island in exotic Thailand where a community of ex-pats are enjoying an adventurous lifestyle until visitors start turning up dead. The Resort is full of people with secret pasts dangerous enough to kill for.

The two main characters, Cass and Brooke, have interesting backstories that slowly unfold adding to the tension. Ochs gives us no shortage of suspects and plenty of misdirections before revealing the twisted conclusion. Relationships this toxic make you wonder how well you really know the people you meet. Overall, this is a solid thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks, and Recorded Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

I absolutely could not stop listening to this audiobook. This book takes place on an island at the Koh Sang Resort. Cass is a dive instructor and Brook came to the island as an influencer. The two girls become friends as time goes by, however, both have secrets and death seems to be surrounding all of them. This thriller was fast paced, interesting, and each character you meet has secrets, up until the very end. I loved that this felt scary because many people go to an island and befriend locals or other vacationers during their stay. Imagine one, or more, are murderers?!?

Was this review helpful?

The Resort by Sara Ochs was quite the thriller. It is hard to wrap my arms around this one because it was a little too much for me. I did enjoy the suspense and was surprised over and over. The ending had me shocked and disturbed. I found the background stories of the two main characters, Cass and Brooke, very intriguing and the author did a great job building this story and linking the characters.

It was not my cup of tea. A little too much for me, however if you are a suspense/thriller lover and are okay with gore, this might be for you. I am not going to fault the author because I knew going in what I was getting in to -- I mean, it is a suspense.

A solid 3.5 stars, probably more. The author did keep me on my toes, and I didn't see THAT coming. Also, I enjoyed the narrators' voices.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the advanced audio copy of The Resort in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinion are my own.

Was this review helpful?

I enjoyed this book a lot and finished it in one day. Fast paced and dual POV makes this a fun listen. There were many twists to lead you in different directions that kept you guessing throughout the whole book. Check TW because there are a couple heavy topics in this book.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the advanced audiobook!

Was this review helpful?

"Welcome to paradise. We hope you enjoy your stay..."

Koh Sang, famous in the travelling scene as being Thailands Party Island, has a group of ex pats working within the island, all escaping their murky pasts.

The story is told from two different POVs. Cass, the islands scuba instructor and Brooke, an influencer coming to review the island for her social media following.

This book had me wondering if you really know everyone you meet, especially those you may form friendships with on holiday!!
Fast paced and gripping this thriller had me listening at double the speed to find out how it ended, and not until the very last second did I guess it correctly.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

A debut novel from Sara Ochs that wasn't a home run (for me), but a solid triple and tells me this is an author to watch. The Resort is set in exotic Thailand full of young people, who, unlike me, are living a nomad existence and definitely not thinking about retirement. At almost 60, having grown up in a different world, I am unsure I can handle one more main character who is an "influencer." But that's on me. I need to stop requesting books where it's clearly stated that we are going to have to deal with that culture.

I enjoyed the opening, meeting the characters and what I hoped would come. It's listed as mystery/thriller by the publisher, but there was a strong YA vibe which may or may not appeal. And, not listed by the publisher, is a trigger warning I hesitate to mention since it's such a big plot/spoiler. Not my favorite, and exhausted by it.

I look forward to Ochs next novel. She definitely can write.

Was this review helpful?