Bit of a slow start for me, but once I reached the second half, it really picked up. I loved the twists! Kept me guessing!

"The Party" is an engaging and suspenseful thriller that will appeal to fans of Natasha Preston’s previous work, as well as readers who enjoy mysteries with a focus on character relationships. The book’s fast pace, constant twists, and exploration of dark secrets make it a page-turner that’s hard to put down. While some of the plot twists may feel familiar to seasoned thriller readers, Preston’s skill in creating tension and delivering emotional punches ensures a satisfying reading experience.

Love that this book kept me on the edge of my seat!!! Little slow to start for me but it definitely picked up and I loved it!!!!

Natasha Peterson does it again. I just love this authors writing.

She is an autobuy / autoread author for me.

This book did not disappoint. It has you on the edge of your seat and just twists and turns. Great job to Natasha for another great book.


Thank you Net Galley for letting me read and review

This was so good! I was on the edge of my seat until the very end. Speaking of which, I’d love to know what happens next! It was very much a cliffhanger. I didn’t see the killer/killers coming and the logic behind it? Whoa. Very Scream mixed with I Know What You Did Last Summer. Great story, great characters, great twists!

I didn’t realize this book was YA by the cover and description. I realized it on the first page though by the dialogue. That said, it made for a very quick, twisty read for me. A group of teens ventures to an old castle for a party weekend on spring break. Between some creepy locals and personal grudges, a killing rampage ensues. There were a lot of shallow characters that could stand to be more developed for the reader to care about them and their demise. Their names were also odd (Allegra?) and they really didn’t seem to have anything in common other than proximity in school. Some parts of the plot drove me crazy: WHY on earth do these kids keep separating from each other when they are aware of safety in numbers and their friends being picked off one by one? HOW does a tree land on a person and they survive, but don’t feel they need medical attention? 🥴All in all, I probably would have enjoyed this much more as a teenager. I didn’t figure out part of the final twist which kept it interesting. Scream meets Scooby Doo 👍🏻
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this title.

Natasha Preston does it again with another great book!
She is one of my auto buy anytime she releases something.

Will be coming back to update my review tomorrow.

𝑴𝒚 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔! 💖✨

If you're looking for an easy YA thriller that feels like playing a game of Clue with your friends, then 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 by Natasha Preston is the perfect pick! 🎲🏰 Set in a gorgeous castle nestled in the English countryside, this book pulls you in with the promise of fun and friendship. But hold onto your tea, because things get twisty really fast! ☕️💨

As a group of teens gathers for a weekend filled with laughter and games, everything takes a dark turn when the first guest mysteriously dies. 😱 With each chapter, the tension ramps up, and the body count rises—SEND HELP! As the remaining friends scramble to figure out who among them is hiding a deadly secret! 🔍💔

Natasha Preston does an incredible job of creating an atmosphere that’s both realistic and chilling. 🏰✨ Her characters feel so relatable and real, each with their own quirks and secrets, making it easy to get swept away in the drama. 👀

This one will keep you guessing until the very end! 📚❤️✨

Thank you NetGalley & Penguin Random House for my ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte for the ARC!

“The Party” follows Bessie and her friends as they prepare to have a weekend long party in an old castle owned by the father of two of their friends. Between a nasty storm ruining their plans, and waking up the following morning to find one of their friends dead and their phones suddenly missing, the group are thrust into survival mode. As the storm worsens and their chances of escape dwindling, they have to figure out who’s picking them off one by one, or succumb to their fates.

This book feels very similar to “The Dare”. It has a lot of parallels to that book, almost like this was one of the ideas she may have had before coming up with the concept for that book. Unfortunately, much like that book, “The Party” also dragged. I once again had to leave the book a few times, coming back, and making myself keep reading to get to a point where I was actively invested. I will admit that I did guess part of the ending fairly quickly, but I did like the parts of it I hadn’t expected. With such a big cast of characters this time, and having them not begin to die as quickly as some of her other books, it was harder to feel like they were fleshed out. I also did not enjoy our protagonist this go around, she was definitely the kind of girl you’d see die first generally. So, the book wasn’t as good as her others, but it was a fun enough read if you want a quick murder mystery for the spooky season.

This book was interesting to say the least. Not my favorite, but… it did keep me wanting to read more to figure out what happened and who was behind everything. The ending of this book was not what I was expecting and I was hoping for a bit more. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s for this ARC!

If you can push through the first half, things start getting a lot more suspenseful and twisty. The second half had me on the edge of my seat! I loved the twists, as I couldn't see the coming. I partially guessed the huge twist near the end but didn't fully guess the ending. The last paragraph will make you shocked. Overall, this was a great read that made me read this in one sitting. I loved being on the edge of my seat and trying to figure out who could be behind all of the bad things happening! The last 30% really made this book worthwhile!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Delacorte Press to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

A group of friends gather in a faraway castle, but then one of them is found dead - and then more friend wind up dead. What was supposed to be a fun outing turns out to be a race against time as the remaining friends try to discover who the murderer is, before they all die. Perhaps if they had not all split up, there would have been less deaths, but then sometimes things don't always make sense when we are in heightened moments. If you put aside the characters making questionable choices, or the motive itself, this is an entertaining read for the darker fall days. I especially loved the setting, a castle and the dark outside due to the thunderstorm, and the Agatha Christie vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC from NetGalley

I thought I would love this thriller but it was just ok for me. Not much grab your attention scenarios. For me there were too many things happening at once that just made the storyline run in a circle. I wasn’t expecting the ending, but it definitely didn’t have me satisfied at the end.

Anyone who's read any of Natasha Preston's books knows that her endings will have you thinking, or shouting, "what the heck."
This one is no different.

It's spring break.
A group of teens from a boarding school all lie to their parents and dorm house parents in order to spend a weekend off campus at a remote castle.
The castle is located out in the country, and owned by one of the classmate's parents. It'll soon be under construction and renovated, so this is the last chance they'll have to sneak in and party.
From the start of the book you know there are lies and secrets, but also a group of villagers who despise the family who's about to renovate the castle. This, along with the eerie vibe of the castle, and a wicked storm, will leave you hanging on to each word throughout the book.
The beginning was slower than her other books, but it picks up, and will give you whiplash.

Thank you so much both to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me this chance to read this. This review will also be posted to my Goodreads.

This was my first Natasha Preston book. I was hooked through the whole book. They kept mentioning an incident that happen but wouldn’t go into details until the end. It was just WOW. I will be reading more of her books soon so glad to have this opportunity

I'm a big fan of Natasha Preston's thrillers and although this one wasn't my absolute favorite it was still a good read and would definitely recommend it. I loved the setting of this being at an old castle in the English countryside during a bad storm. I didn't exactly love any of the characters but did find them interesting with how they interacted with each other. This one did have me wondering who the killer could be and suspecting a few different ones. One thing I love about Natasha's books are the endings. Some people do not care for them and even though some of them have left me mad I love not knowing how her books will end. This one did have a few twists and the ending is one where I'm still not sure how I feel about it exactly but let me be clear that it wasn't awful or that I didn't hate it. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC and can't wait for the next one.

"The Party" by Natasha Preston is an intense and gripping thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. The story revolves around a seemingly perfect party that takes a dark turn, unraveling secrets and lies among a group of friends. Preston's writing is engaging and fast-paced, making it hard to put the book down. The characters are well-developed, and their interactions add depth to the unfolding mystery. The suspense builds steadily, leading to a shocking and satisfying conclusion. If you enjoy thrillers that keep you guessing, "The Party" is definitely worth a read.

I’ve read a couple other books by this author & I’m just such a sucker for a good YA thriller. I loved the concept of this book being a who dun it murder mystery where you can’t trust anyone but I didn’t love any of the characters. I wasn’t invested in who was guilty / innocent and I had a feeling one of the killers was who it was based on the context clues. Overall it was good & it kept me engaged but I would’ve loved if Bessie was more of an unreliable narrator or we switched perspectives of a few different people as they were slowly dying off but still didn’t know who to trust. I will keep reading this author love this one was just a slight miss for me!! But I still enjoyed it!!

While I usually love a Natasha Preston book, I was a little disappointed with this release after the last few books were starting to get exciting and had a different sort of ending. The Party didn't have the same vibe of The Dare or The Haunting and seemed to fall a little flat.

It started off with an interesting premise which was pretty similar to The Island, except in a castle setting, but as the story went along and with the obvious hints, it started being clear who was responsible for the murders despite the clues to throw you off. There was nothing shocking or unexpected about it, and a thing that nagged at me was that some of the murders felt like it wasn't a wound they could die from. The worse part of it was, the entire motive of the killers and the final survival ending scene felt rushed and pointless. It didn't even feel like any of her classic cliffhangers.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Children's for the ARC.

Natasha Preston does it again! This one kept me guessing until the very end. I truly had no clue who "did it" for most of the book.