3.5 stars!

Read if you like: domestic thrillers, shady neighbors, multiple POVs, people keeping secrets, dark pasts, unsolved crimes, affairs, mysteries.

TW: child death, infertility

This domestic thriller was well written and was paced nicely. It's not super fast but it keeps up a nice foreboding sense throughout. This book is told from the POVs of a husband (Owen) and wife (Rachel) who have just moved to a new neighborhood (Pond Close) with a shady past and neighbors who won't talk about it. Rachel and Owen's relationship is rocky and we get to know in bits and pieces exactly what happened to make them move to Pond Close.

My favorite part of this author's writing was her use of skipping a bit ahead in time between chapters and alluding to important events that transpired between the last chapter and this one. Quite a bit happens in this book and I liked this both because it kept things mysterious and it didn't make the story much much longer writing about every single thing as it occurred.

For me, most of the characters were unlikeable, but not to the extent that it affected my enjoyment of the book. I went back and forth on Rachel, finding her annoying sometimes and relatable others. This book had a lot of misdirections and twists. Some twists were more obvious earlier in the book and some I absolutely did not see coming and I felt worked well.

The Garden Party was a 4 for me up until the end where I felt it was a little too scooby doo, explaining how everything fit together and I would have liked this to be a bit more organic instead of the reveal of a master plan type speech, so I knocked off half a star. I will definitely be checking out other books from this author.

I didn't click with this one. It was a little all over the place with characters, references to Jade that were never quite explained, and Owen - why would she stay with him? I sure didn't expect the ending to go the way it did, so it was a surprise.

Thank you for the ARC Net Galley,

This was another fantastic gripping thriller from this author. Once again I was gripped to my kindle from start to finish. There was many twists and turns some I did not expect. Rachel and Owen have moved to a neighbourhood Rachel hopes it will be a fresh start for them and their marriage she hopes to meet some new friends. But once they arrive Rachel notices how the neighbours are looking at her strangely and everyone seems to be keeping secrets. But the neighbours are not the only ones keeping secrets Rachel and Owen have their own secrets that they want to stay hided. This was an excellent read which I could not put down. I loved the writing style and how there was so many red herrings I didn’t know how it was go in end. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy of this amazing thriller. Highly recommended you will not be disappointed.

We meet Rachel and Owen, a couple moving to a new neighborhood with just a few houses. Owen, an author who is struggling to write his next best seller. Rachel is dealing with her emotions after a failed round of IVF (and a struggling marriage). The small idyllic neighborhood is something out of the stepford wives, but Rachel soon learns the close is filled with families who have their own secrets - including her husbands.

The authors story telling had me captivated from page one. I had to find out what happened next and did not put it down until I finished the book. This is a great weekend read, with plenty of twists and turns through out, including a plot twist and an ending that tied everything together nicely.

Another gripping read from Wendy Clarke that keeps the reader guessing as to what’s happening next, while the outline of the plot might be similar to the others, once you’re a chapter or two in , that’s where it changes and made me keep reading to the last page

This book goes in many different directions, but somehow all comes together at the end in a way that makes sense. You will not guess the ending to this book! It’s an amazing read with unforgettable characters..

This was a great thriller with a high level of emotions involved. The author had me completely wrong footed making me believe something that shocked me in the end when everything was revealed. I never saw that coming, but that is what turns a thriller into an amazing one. I totally loved it, but it also broke my heart. 

Once again the author proves that someone's past shapes them in what they become as adults. When it has been a happy one, there is no problem, but when they have suffered, it's a whole other ball of wax...

The damage has been done and in most cases there is no way back. In their head though, they totally believe they are helping, but they could not be further from the truth.

It's very confrontational when you thought you knew someone, you suddenly realise you did not know them that well at all.

Rejection is always hard to digest. Doing something for someone who does not appreciate it, is hurtful  too,but sometimes you have to know when to stop before you overstep the line. 5 stars

Thank you

This was a great thriller, full of secrets and lies. I thought I had it figured out but I really didn’t!! I really like Wendy’s writing and look forward to her next one already!

Another great read. I’m really liking this author. There’s literally no chance of guessing the ending which I love and I fell in love with some of the characters. Kept be guessing right until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Garden Party was a complex thriller full of misleading elements that reached a very shocking climax for this reader. We are introduced at the start of the book to Rachel and Owen, a couple moving to a new home after hitting a rough patch (the details of which are revealed as we get deeper into the story). With neighbors that vary from mysterious to vapid, it feels like Rachel in particular is going to have her work cut out for her getting into the swing of things in Pond’s Close. She quickly finds out about the death of a young child who lived in her home which occurred decades previous, and while this plays on some of her past heartbreak she also battles bad parenting on the part of her neighbor, Phillipa, who seems to have a connection to the dead girl.

This story went into several directions I didn’t anticipate with ambiguity around some conflicts that had occurred in the past. I was very shocked at how it all came together at the end. I did wish some of the backstory of Rachel and Jade was more fully explored (tug at my heartstrings please!) and that in general some of the curveballs introduced had been done in a smoother way. There were several things going on, and by not going into adequate depth on many it would have been better to scale back.

A solid thriller with a very twists upon twists ending, this would have been a real knockout with some more focus.