GUILTY By Ruby Speechley

Heather wants to leave this world with a clear conscience.
One confession. One secret. Two scores to settle.
Heather accepted the fate of her terminal diagnosis long ago, but now the time is nearing, she arranges a huge farewell party for her nearest and dearest.
She wants to say goodbye to everyone personally, but there’s another reason she wants the people in her life to gather.
She knows who killed young Simon Eyre all those years ago, and she needs to tell. The boy deserves justice.
But she doesn’t realise that by freeing her own inner demons, she’s unleashing much worse secrets, and putting everyone at risk…

😊What i liked -

✔ Mystery/Thriller.
✔ This one actually hooked in the first few pages.
✔ A story interwoven with Lies, Secrets and Betrayals.
✔ It felt like a pile of Dominoes falling after every page.
✔ It was an intense read.

🤔What could have been better -

✔ Though I got hooked onto the storyline, it just had a lot going.


📚Who Should read :

👶Beginners
🕵️Thriller Lovers

📈My Rating : 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Heather is terminally unwell. And she has decided to throw a big farewell party. Where she will also reveal long kept secrets. But she's not the only one who knows the answers to those secrets, and the party doesn't go quite as well as she expected.

This author always writes really gritty storylines, that feature real life problems that many people face. This author also always writes really great characters, whether you like them or not, they are great. I liked Heather to a degree, but sometimes the things she did were questionable. This story offers many twists and turns, and lots of red herrings. Sometimes, I thought I knew exactly what was going on, only to be proved wrong again and again. And I love stories like that. Ruby Speechless is fast becoming one of my favourite authors as, despite the storylines, her books are so very easy to get in to and read.

I love thrillers, and this book completely exceeded my expectations. The pacing was intense, the characters were complex, and the twists were perfectly executed. Wonderful thriller right here.

Heather has been diagnosed with an end stage disease and decides to hold a farewell party for her loved ones and former friends. The main point of the party was for Heather to be able to confess her sins and leave the earth with a clear conscience. However, even though she chickens out, chaos still ensues.

Long lost friends show up and die, and nobody really seems to care. It even seems like people didn’t actually like each other in the first place. The twists were unbelievable and the time period was far too short.

It was an interesting initial premise but the execution fell short for me unfortunately.

Secrets, lie and betrayal, this book has the lot! And don't we all love these ingredients in our psych thrillers? Oh it was tense. It had me fuming on Heather's behalf that she had been treated in this way and I couldn't believe how it all played out. It kept me up way later than I intended racing through to the end and what an ending it was! Flippin heck, how am I supposed to sleep after that?! Awesome read.

Ruby Speechley is quickly becoming a "must read" author for me. And this one did not disappoint. Funny how while on the verge of death people feel like they need to be honest...

This book took a direction I wasn't expecting and was fast paced throughout. I wasn't sure if I could always trust Heather and an unreliable (IMO) narrator always gives me an extra level of tension as I read.

I was totally hooked by this book. At first I was a little unsure but, as I got into it I found it compelling and addictive. A twisty read which delivers. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I have read a book of Ruby's previously and loved it. Unfortunately I had no connect with the characters on this one. I was very disappointed .

Started well but it felt like Groundhog Day listening again and again to the same points. Unpleasant characters and none that I felt much empathy for.

Not everyone is happy with Heather's decision to reveal, at her farewell gathering, the secret she's been holding on to for decades. The premise is intriguing enough to keep you turning the pages.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Guilty by Ruby Speechley was an excellent psychological thriller from start to finish especially as it was full of great twists and turns throughout which made it addictive and a great page turner.

I loved the cover very simple but with a strong message.........

One secret.......

One confession..........

She knows who's GUILTY!

WoW...........So, “You’re invited to my farewell party. I’ve got something to tell you before I die…”

Heather wants to leave this world with a clear conscience.

Heather accepted the fate of her terminal diagnosis long ago, but now the time is nearing, she arranges a huge farewell party for her nearest and dearest.

She wants to say goodbye to everyone personally, but there’s another reason she wants the people in her life to gather.

This was a book, once I opened my kindle I could not put it down.

Brilliant Book and I highly recommend it.

was completely blown away by Guilty!

Heather is getting her affairs in order as she has a terminal illness with a short amount of time left. She decides to throw herself a “going away” party to try and make amends with anyone from her life all in one place. During her party disaster strikes, and her friends start dropping like flies.

We follow along in this emotional and tense thriller, and I can’t tell you how many characters I had worked out in my head as the killer. The ending completely caught me off guard, and Ioved it!

Highly recommend Guilty if you’re looking for something interesting and fast to devour!

Heather throws a party for all her family and friends after being given a terminal illness diagnosis. The story started off very sadly but became a more complex plot with lies and secrets emerging and twist after twist. This is a book I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend .
Many thanks to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this ARC in return for an honest review

After the main character Heather has been given a terminal illness diagnosis, she decides to throw a farewell party and invite everyone she knows from her past and present. Heather also has an ulterior motive. She wants to confess the truth about an event that happened in her teens. The characters were interesting, well developed and richly drawn in this intriguing and original novel. The plot is well-written and well-executed. Full of secrets, lies and self-preservation this novel will keep you entertained until the end. Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

I found this book to be very interesting and intriguing at first but half way into it the whole concept began to bore me. My opinion only! The repetitiveness of the book and I began to feel little empathy for the main character. Although I could see what her aim was she took so long in getting there! Only a 2 star, sorry.
Many thanx to NetGalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read and review this book

Deliciously suspenseful!

Guilty by Ruby Speechley finds friends from long ago brought together by a party Heather is hosting. Heather is ill and before it consumes her, she’d like to say goodbye to all of her friends and family at once.

As speeches begin, Heather begins to unburden herself by outing a long held secret between herself and her school friends. A member of the party seems to be heckling speech givers, including Heather, so she is quickly taken off to the side by her family, telling the party goers that alcohol combined with Heather’s treatments are causing her to act out of character; that there is no secret to be told.

But someone else remembers the loss of Heather’s brother and the justice Heather and her friends sought out by the person they deemed responsible; someone who was impacted by that “justice” and is seeking revenge. The party goers are being targeted and one won’t make it out alive. What dangers has Heather’s need to unburden herself brought to her and friends and family?

This was a four star read for me and Ruby Speechley has quickly become an instant “must read”! I’m excited for the twisty and suspenseful story she’ll thrill readers with next!

I couldn’t get into this book fully because it was SO sad. I know that the sadness of it all wasn’t the main emotion that I was supposed to feel but it happened. The twists are turns were great and done really really well, a lot of the characters were quite unlikeable but I guess that’s what made it better.

This is a book that has it all, remorse, sadness, death, secrets, so called friendships and twist after twist.

Heather was a character I instantly connected with, wanting to atone for the wrongs of her past, whilst dealing with her personal health issues. I really like the idea of this type of farewell party, tho not as dramatic, as it is a way for loved ones to come together.

They are so many unlikeable characters and I enjoyed that some, we learned this at the same time as Heather. The twists were so so good, which I couldn’t have guessed it I tried.

The author and her books are must reads, add this to your TBR!

Guilty: Heather throws herself a farewell party to say good-bye after learning she has a terminal illness. She wants to clear her conscience and announce who killed Simon Eyre when she was just a teenager. But will that secret destroy the lives of others? This thriller has a lot of artful twists and turns but I found it hard to read in some places because it was so sad. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc.

One secret...one confession...and she knows who it is...

Honestly, I feel a bit GUILTY about writing this review. This was a really hard book for me to get into. I found the main character and her terminal diagnosis of cancer just a little too depressing. And she felt the need to create these gatherings of loved ones, past and present, to make the sad announcement. It just felt a little too contrived and, well, depressing. And if it wasn't that, it was boring.

The characters are all a little irritating and with every turn of the page I was dreading something happening to the dogs she tended to when boarding in the kennels she ran. An author can kill of as many people as they like...but hands off the dogs!

I can't tell you if anything happened to them because I ended up skipping to the final pages where even more people died and seven months later, Heather is still alive and kicking when her announcement at the beginning of the book made it sound as if she was at death's door, about to be taken at any moment.

I wish I could have connected with this book more as I do love Ruby Speechley but a reading slump makes it difficult to enjoy many books and this one was just one of those that didn't cut it with me this time round.

I would like to thank #RubySpeechley, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #Guilty in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.