I really enjoyed all the imagery in this book. It was very well written and very engaging! Overall a great read.

Eve and her husband, Will, are going on a Greek vacation to celebrate Eve's 50th birthday. They are returning to the Greek island where they spent their honeymoon all those years ago. Eve is determined to share a secret with her husband that she has been keeping for almost 30 years, but she needs to find the right time.

Poppy is visiting the same Greek island for a vacation, but she also has ulterior motives.

This is told from the POVs of Eve and Poppy. It would have been helpful to have the chapters labelled with their names, but it isn't too difficult to figure out which POV each chapter is told from.

This one did the job. It keeps your interests, is fast-paced, and has a few twists and turns. I love a thriller set on vacation.

That being said, the clues that the author gives you are very obvious and some are repeated several times. The characters are surface level and unlikeable. This doesn't bother me in a thriller as I think it helps keep pace, but it is worth noting.

Do you like surprises? A husband has planned a surprise for his wife in the Greek islands, where they went on a honeymoon. The wife knows that this getaway won’t turn out as planned.
Adding to the tension he has included their family. They both have secrets. Will they be able to rekindle their feelings or will their lies destroy them further?
Another fantastic domestic thriller from Crouch.
Thank you Bookouture for the gifted copy.

Everybody had a secret, and they were all very hard to like in this new book from Julia Crouch.
Starting off at a slow pace and picking up only 3/4 of the way through,with an ending that lacked surprises.
I disliked the way Jack was perceived and found it slightly mortifying in places.
It's not my favourite read by the author, but as I normally enjoy her work , I look forward to reading her next book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

I will give this book 4 ⭐️, the beginning was very slow and it took me a little to start liking it. However, as the story developed, I found it enjoyable. I must say I suspected a little about who has really done the damage. The findings thought the story were great!
The ending was good, I felt it gave a little bit of closure, though I would’ve liked to see Eve’s reaction to knowing who was Poppy!

Eve and husband Will are meant to be celebrating her 50th birthday with a holiday in the picturesque Greek island village of Loutrò. It's safe to say that this does not go according to anybody's plan. (Eve's hoping for a quiet holiday to reconnect with her husband, bur given the title it's not exactly a spoiler to say Will has other plans.) In fact, it's not much exaggeration to say complete mayhem breaks out. I wondered at one point if anybody was going to be left alive. Meanwhile Poppy, a young A&E doctor, is also on the scene, and has her own agenda.

This isn't my favourite of Julia Crouch's books - while I liked the setting, the characters and plot didn't totally grab me. Most - though not all - of the secrets were apparent quite early on. I did enjoy the interplay with the Greek police, and having Poppy speak Greek and act as interpreter was a convenient device to enable us to follow the investigation.

There were aspects which made me a little uncomfortable - I didn't enjoy the portrayal of Jack, a mentally unwell, deeply vulnerable young man whose illness seems to constitute his whole personality.

Various other characters are basically selfish monsters. (Poor Eve.) If Will has one single redeeming feature, we're not shown it. Overall, there are a lot of characters who seemed to keep wandering off in all directions at various points, and it was hard at times to keep track of what they were all up to. Honestly, the younger police officer whose name I've forgotten was the best of the lot.

An ok read. The plot twist at the end wasn't exactly expected, but didn't shock me either. Thanks for the opportunity to read an advance copy!

4🌟!! WOW. That was so much fun. I loved the Greece setting it made me so jealous I wish I was there right now. I feel SO BAD for Eve. Like literally EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN HER LIFE has been lying to her in one way or another apart from maybe her mum and sister 😭😭😭. And there was a lot of people involved in this story so that is a LOT of people lying to her. Bro the plot twist had me GAGGED. Like sorry???? But then the OTHER PLOT TWIST AT THE VERY END??????!!??!!???! I am actually unwell. That was CRAZY. I wish Eve all my love honestly. Everyone needs to read this it is insane. Thank you so much to Netgalley, Bookouture, and Julia Crouch for blessing me with this ARC!!!

The Surprise Party is a mysterious story told from the POVs of Poppy and Eve. It's set in the picturesque village of Loutro in Greece, and both women have a different reason for being on vacation there. The story surrounds itself around a surprise party thrown for Eve's 50th birthday, which doesn't go as planned.

What I liked most about the book was the setting and the way the Greek village was portrayed. The pebble stone beaches, olive trees, turquoise water and the moussaka made me feel excited to visit this town and I could picture myself being there through the description of the writer. Unfortunately this was the best part, and the plot fell flat for me.

What I always hope for in a good mystery thriller is being immersed in the story and getting blown away by the way things turn out, which didn't happen for me. I felt like the writing style and some of the long sentences didn't grab me, and some of the surprises were to be expected and therefore dissapointing.

Poppy and Eve are both nice characters, but I did find some of the other characters in the story to be truly annoying. I don't mind unlikeable characters in a story, but some of the conversations and actions were cringeworthy.

If you're looking for a vacation mystery thriller with a beautiful setting, this may be a right fit.

I'm really enjoying this authors books, i find them thrilling and engaging with great plots. This story is about eve who is on the small Greek island where she spend her honeymoon with her husband and is now back with him to celebrate her 50th birthday.
Eve is hoping for a quiet and intermate holiday with her husband, she has something she needs to tell him and thinks this holiday is the opportune time to tell him. Her husband however has other ideas and 'surprise... the whole family arrives on the island to celebrate eves birthday....'
Meanwhile Poppy arrives on the island with her own agenda, but what is she hiding
When Eve's friend is found dead a chain of events is set with the outcome explosive for Eve and her family.
Brilliant! Highly recommend

This book was a good thriller read. It did take a while for the plot to develop but around the halfway mark things started to heat up.

Most of the characters had secrets, most of them I figured out pretty quickly. A lot of it was a little too predictable for my liking. There were one or two surprises towards the end, though, that I didn't see coming.

The second half of the book is fast paced but it's easy to keep up, even with so many characters involved.

Despite the predictableness I still enjoyed this read. There was something familiar and comfortable about it. Definitely a good read but not quite 4 stars for me.

This started off okay, but honestly as I kept reading, it just got worse and worse.

Almost every character in this book was written with zero depth to them. They all fell so flat for me, especially Poppy. I feel like the author really could have done so much more with her character.

Speaking of Poppy, she may be a flat character but she is a much better person than me. Absolutely no shot would you catch me working with the police in a foreign country while I am on VACATION for zero pay. Miss me with that bullshit.

I feel like most things were predictable. It was blatantly obvious from about 5% in that Jess and Will were sleeping together. It was very obvious from the first time that Jack is painted as mentally ill that he would be the scapegoat, even though it didn’t really make sense. Why did he confess when he didn’t even do it? Because he’s mentally ill? That’s such lazy writing. You can do better, Julia Crouch.

And speaking of Jack, the way he is portrayed is absolutely horrendous. Most of the time, mental illness does not make you act like that. It’s wrong and cruel to make it seem like mentally ill people are always unhinged.

And let’s talk about the ending. What the fuck? Why is everyone obsessed with Eve? Except her husband 😭

Overall a very weird book. I give it 2.5 stars rounded down.

LOVED LOVED LOVED this book!! I thought the ending was absolutely perfect and tied everything together well. There was a crazy twist at the end of each chapter which made it impossible to put down!

The Surprise Party by Julia Crouch takes place on a small Greek island on the cusp of the off season. The story follows Eve as she arrives to the island with her husband for her 50th birthday. Eve hopes to use the time to reflect and discuss a secret she's been harboring for the length of their marriage, but her husband has other plans up his sleeve. The second POV follows Poppy as she arrives to the island to enjoy the sun, hiking and swimming as she takes a break from her demanding emergency room career; but she also has ulterior motives for her visit. Eve and Poppy's visits intersect and chaos breaks loose.

This book was a fast paced thriller and I enjoyed the dual POV. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the Greek island, it made me want to book a trip there to see for myself! THere were plenty of twists along the way, some of which shocked me near the end. I just personally didn't care for Eve's relationship with her children, I found it a bit too unrealistic and I found myself getting annoyed at these part of the story. Overall I really enjoyed this thriller!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Eve and her husband arrive at a small Greek island to celebrate her 50th birthday. Eve is happy for alone time, as she is planning on finally revealing a secret to her husband. Unbeknownst to Eve, her husband has been planning a surprise party. The day after arriving, Eve's family and closest friends show up. Poppy, a young woman that the couple met on the ferry, is also invited by Eve's husband to join the celebration. Things take a drastic turn on the night of the party. Everyone has a secret they want to keep hidden...

I love vacation thrillers! This was a quick and fun read. The author does a great job at building the secrets along the way, until the big reveal at the end. I did figure out some of the twists, but I still enjoyed the book. There are a lot of characters, but the fact that they are all so different makes it easy to keep track of everyone. The family dynamics and drama kept tension high throughout the novel.

This will make the perfect summer beach read for any thriller fan! I previously read the Perfect Date by Julia Crouch, which I also really enjoyed (even more so than this one). Excited to read more from her!

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

In a tangled web of lies, complicated relationships, and murders, this book begs the question-who is telling the truth?
While there is a lukewarm amount of suspense leading up to the murders, unfortunately it's not hard to figure out "whodunnit", so to speak. There was not one likable character written in, and maybe that was intentional, but I found it very difficult to continue reading due to the boring nature of the plot and characters. It could just be that I've read too many similar narratives, but quite honestly I just wasn't shocked or intrigued in how the events played out. If the author continued developing the characters' stories and maybe spent more time bringing them to life, I may have been more hooked. Overall, I'd give this a 2/5, if you like easy/quick reads, this might be right for you. But if you're looking for a more complex and suspenseful, jaw-dropping story, I'd skip this one.

Just finished this and wow! This is the best I have read this year so far. I could not put this down. It starts with eve and will going away for her 50th with no idea of what her secret is. Soon the family join and there are so many twists and turns which I never saw coming. Brilliant writing I did not want this to end. I thought the ending tied it up nicely although would love to know what happens next!

I was glued to my kindle the whole weekend. It really is a drop-everything book, full of suspense, a thriller just how I live it. 5 star!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. Minor grammatical errors to my eye. Very easy read, instantly sucked me in with the tension and action. The atmosphere is very well done too. I could feel it right when I started reading it. We follow 2 pov’s from Eve and Poppy although I would have liked the chapters named when we changed POV’s but it’s not too hard to follow and we are introduced to so many characters it’s kinda hard to keep up with all of them throughout the book but we only have Poppy’s and Eve’s POVs.
Eve goes on a trip with her husband to the same Greek island they visited on their honeymoon 29 years ago and wants to rekindle their romance and share a secret she’s dying to tell Will. Poppy is on a well needed vacation trying to enjoy herself and after a dinner together with Will and Eve, Will invites Poppy to Eve’s birthday party the following night.
The night of the party things take a turn. Tensions are high and from the beginning from Eve, we see that she favors her “son” Jack more than Mia and Arthur for some mysterious reason which I really like, it creates tension and buildup and drama between the family and friends. For me there’s too many characters introduced and hard to keep up with who some of them were but it got really good around the 35% mark and I fully enjoyed the twists and turns throughout. Such a fun read, fast paced and lots of drama sprinkled in with lies. I highly recommend!

This is my first book by Julia Crouch and I really enjoyed it. It may have started a little slow but quickly picked up and was really hard to put down.

The story centers around a couple, Eve and Will, and their return to a beautiful Greek Island where they honeymooned. They are there to celebrate Eve's 50th birthday and to try to fix their marriage. Hoping for some alone time with Will , Eve soon learns this will not come to fruition. First Poppy, who also has her POV told in this story, and then Eve's family show up as a "surprise" Cue the drama. Murder and mayhem quickly ensue and a who dunnnit quickly unfolds.

I loved reading both POV'S and seeing their stories unfold. The characters were intriguing, the writing and details were well thought out and the twists were well timed. I can't wait to read another by Julia Crouch.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy of this book

Love Julia crouch and been a fan for a while now! Mind-bendingly dark and deep, you know it's not for the faint hearted from page one. Intricate plotting, devious twists and excellent characterisation take this tale to a whole new level.