This was quite the trip. Really enjoyed the ride you took, never quite how or why your journey was going? How you figure it out before the end!

I really tried to like this one. I’m so thankful for the ARC, but this is just too ridiculous for me.

4.5⭐️
two women are on the same plane for very different reasons. one is fleeing an abusive relationship and the other is going on a business trip. then they send their friends identical messages before vanishing and being declared missing. this is such a fantastic psychological thriller where you think you have things figured out until another twist comes. i love how the author sprinkled clues right from the beginning (along with some red herrings) to really get you involved in trying to solve the mystery of what's going on. i read this in less than 24 hours, i could not put it down and i had to know what was going to happen next. the only reason it's not a full five star read for me is the epilogue. i didn't think it was needed and wish it had just ended before that. this comes out early next year, but you absolutely need to add it to your 2025 reading list!

cw: physical and sexual abuse

thanks to netgalley and st. martin's press for my ARC of the business trip by jessie garcia. all opinions are my own,

I appreciate the ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, but this was not the book for me. I tried to stick with it for most of the story but found the characters unbelievable, and the plot preposterous. I don't want to give too much away, but I think that writing in the first person is not the the best choice for cliched characters like these.

This book was great, thank you for allowing me to read an Advanced Reader Copy. Even better, thank you for having it available on "read now," so anyone who wants to read this can do so easily without waiting to be approved or even risk not being able to at all.

This book is about two women, Jasmine and Stephanie, who are on the same flight for two different reasons. One for work, one personal. When things go array, we think this is a typical serial killer story and the killer is obvious, but then, it takes a huge turn twisting the entire book. Personally, I think the book would've been better if that was the only twist, but then, it twisted yet again. The first twist I loved and didn't see coming. I didn't see the second twist coming either, but it made me like the book less because it made it seem unrealistic.

I also enjoyed the struggling, poor girl storyline who gets revenge against the popular, rich and successful girl, however, I thought the second twist tied the whole thing together too much in a perfect bow and created too much drama, making it more of a drama than a thriller,

For a debut book, this was definitely a well written story though and I'd be happy to read future books from this author to see if I like them even more.

The level of ridiculousness in this book is off the charts; I can't think of any other way to describe it.

The first half has eight different POVs. Whenever a chapter would start with a different character, I would have to stop and remind myself who this person is. Then in the second half, it goes down to two or three POVs.

I can't really go into much more detail without a lot of spoilers, but if you find yourself getting annoyed by the 'that would NEVER happen' moments in a book, this definitely is not for you.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. What a prize! The release date is January 2025 but I feel so lucky that I was able to read early.

The premise is two women; Jasmine and Stephanie both on a flight - stephanie is headed to a business conference and Jasmine is headed to Denver escaping her abusive boyfriend. Chance brings them together on a flight and what unfolds is a mystery.

It’s told from multiple points of view and while I typically think more than 3-4 POV gets confusing, this one had several POV but was not at all confusing. The characters were all so different and played a different role. I got a 360 degree view from all points of the story and what everyone is hearing/thinking.

I was so shocked at what happened especially at the end. I did not see that coming at all. I liked how you met the main characters, Stephanie and Jasmine at the beginning but then they went silent and the story is told from the supporting characters. It really added to the mystery of “what the heck has happened to these two women?”

I heard this is the first novel from this author and I hope to read more in the future.

This is one to check out come January!

This story was one I went into with no expectations. I wanted to see how it would unfold without reading what other people thought first. It made it that much more enjoyable because I just got to sit back and be sucked in without expectations or knowing what would come next. I liked this is one.

The Business Trip
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this copy.

Wowza @jessiegarcia_author had me hooked from the start! I travel for work and now I'm going to be paranoid. I read this in a day. So binge-worthy.

This is told from several points of view. Jasmine is in an abusive relationship and is plotting her escape. She has saved her tip money and now is making her escape to Denver. She's paying cash for her ticket and hopes for a new life. Stephanie is single, with her cat and always gets picked to travel to conferences since the single gal has no life. She works as news director out of Wisconsin and has to go to San Diego. She gets her team settled, Fred settled with her neighbor watching him and off she goes to the airport.
The only tie between these two, the crazy text message they send to their friends and coworkers about a mystery man they met. Now they have both vanished without a trace!
What a crazy, twisty thriller!
#crazybooknerd
#bookstagram
#netgalley
#JessieGarcia
#TheBusinessTrip

I loved the premise of this book! We first meet Jasmine, who's fleeing from an abusive relationship. She meets Stephanie, a news director heading to a convention in San Diego, when the two are seated next to each other on a plane. We learn from text messages that both women have connected with a sleazy news anchor named Trent McCarthy, and the rest of the book is devoted to slowly unraveling how the lives (and possible deaths) of these characters intersect.

I couldn't really connect with the characters, however, which detracted from my enjoyment of the book. And there were a few too many unbelievable plot twists.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The book was entertaining, and I read it quickly. However, I felt it was unrealistic and too wordy. Wasn't until I had read half the book that I wasn't skimming over some of the paragraphs. Would be a good beach read.

A bartender trapped in an abusive relationship, Jasmine has finally saved up enough money to get away from Glenn and his impenetrable grip.
Stephanie is a successful news director headed to San Diego for a conference, unaware that she is about to cross paths with Jasmine who is desperate to start a new life, no matte the cost.

The premise of this book had a great deal of promise but it fell flat in the execution. While I can appreciate a story told from multiple points of view, this book had too many and I found that I couldn’t keep track of the different voices which each chapter shift. Jasmine is a generally flat character and was not well-developed enough for me to care about her connection to Stephanie. There was so much emphasis on Stephanie that she took on the role of main character, making the plot twists completely unexpected and unbelievable. Learning that Jasmine had stolen Stephanie’s identity was not a surprise but finding that Stephanie had hired an actress to impersonate her at the conference was so far out of left field that it ruined what little credibility the characters had gained by that point.

Stephanie and Jasmine have nothing and everything in common. The two women don’t know each other but are on the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip and Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship. After a few days, they text their friends the same exact messages about the same man the messages becoming stranger and more erratic!! Good book! This book had suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery and a few crazy twists and turns! The story was interesting! I definitely recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

This was a quick read and it kept me wondering what was going to happen next. The twists were fun and the plot was creative. I'd never seen a novel written from the perspective of "those left behind" before, and it was very interesting! I would read another book written by this author.

It took a while to get into this book as it started as a seemingly light read. However, it was fast paced, intriguing, and wrapped up cleverly. I did enjoy it.

Two strangers meet on a plane, both are trying to space their very different lives. The premises of the book was really good. Fast paced, read it in 4 hours. But, without giving any spoilers, it was 10 pages too long. I did not care for the ending sometimes you just need to stop when your ahead .

The story is that of two women seeking a break from their current situations. One is headed for a work conference and one is escaping a violent relationship but a chance encounter on a plane intertwines their fates forever. The author uses the people in the story to explain the individual points of view. When both women vanish, other characters begin to carry the tale. But the original characters return and they have some shocking secrets to still share with the reader. A couple of final twists has the reader thinking twice about planning the perfect getaway and murder.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance copy in exchange of an honest review. I can't remember the last time I read a novel page after page in one day, but this was unputdownable for me. Taut and tense with lots of twists, a story of a business trip gone awry really kept me guessing. A couple of the characters were perhaps too cliche, and there is a bit of implausibility in the plot, but overall this book is a very well written suspense thriller.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the business trip. It was a book that I could not put down. And he found it to be interesting with some twists that I wasn’t sure I knew how to explain. When I got to the middle of the book I felt like it repeated Happened in the beginning of the book by being told by a different character. I found skimming through those pages since I felt like I already knew that part of the book. All in all, however, I feel like this is a good book and I would recommend it .

2.75/5. This was a quick read and a solid debut for Jessie Garcia. The writing style has Frieda McFadden vibes. The twists and turns were satisfying. I loved the pace of the story but the character development fell a bit flat for me, some of the POVs did not add to the story and it was a lot of telling rather than showing. I enjoyed the ending but the epilogue was totally unnecessary.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an early release of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.