I enjoyed this book, it was full of lies, deceit, and tension!
It was fun and a quick easy read.
Everyone has secrets and the past is coming back to haunt them.
I would definitely recommend this to people.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley! I always enjoy a good wedding with drama. The switching between characters as well as past and present amped up the suspense. I didn’t not see where the plot was going

Page turner about a wedding party on a boat. Multiple pov and timelines. Tons of mystery and characters to keep an eye on. Trigger warning I wish I had known a sa scene.
The ending felt hasty and the last twist was expected.

This story centres around the days leading up to Adele and Jason's wedding. Old friends and family get together for the celebration but not everything is as it seems. There's a lot of underlying tension because of one major incident that happened 12 years ago.

The multiple POV and timeline let's us in on the secrets of the past a bit at a time while showing how it still affects the main characters in the present. This book is full of hidden manipulation and devastating secrets. All of this leads you down one path only to drag you down another at the end. The ending was such a shock to me, I didn't see it coming at all!

This was a pretty good thriller! Although I didn’t care much for any of the characters, the pacing was good and it kept me entertained.

This was intense. There was so much going on and so many twists and turns, that anything I thought was going to happen, didn't. It was a good story and having POV's from a lot of different characters made it even more interesting with the way they were done.

Would I recommend this one? I have to maybe. If psychological thrillers are your thing, then yes. If they're not your thing, then no. It's really going to depend on each person.

(Thanks to Netgalley, Rebecca Heath, and Head of Zeus for the e-ARC)

Pretty good book, overall. Kept my attention, had a good plot and the characters were interesting.

It takes place in Australia, which I don’t remember seeing it mentioned in the beginning. Took me a little bit to figure that out. Doesn’t really matter honestly just wanted to mention.

I kinda figured out what was going on about 1/4 way in. It was very direct as in pointing out which characters were responsible just didn’t explain why or the exact thing that happened.

Overall good book, would recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy

The Wedding Party is a very clever story of manipulation, secrets and lies.
The dual timeline narrative cleverly shares the history between the characters and the links between the families, with each of the characters with something to hide - an impact of the past on their current state of mind. None of them able to put the past behind them.
The whole setting of a wedding immediately provided the tension and
gripped me from the beginning, and like The Summer Party it moves along at a fast pace and is thoroughly entertaining. It leads you first one way and then the other as each of the characters start to reveal their true selves.
I’m not sure I actually liked any of the characters but I think that’s what makes the story so compelling- trying to understand what makes them tick and why they do what they do.

This was a gripping thriller told from multiple points of view. The story starts in the present day with the upcoming wedding of Adele and Jason on the sunny Australian coast. The wedding location is one they are all familiar with. Unfortunately, their mutual childhood friend Ollie (Adele's ex-boyfriend) had a tragic accident there a decade before, and these dark event is still impacting their lives as the wedding approaches.
The story is narrated by Adele and Melanie (Ollie's mum) and the chapters alternate with Sophie's story of the events leading to her brother Ollie's death.
It took me a little while to get to know all the characters, and I did occasionally need to double check the narrator but I loved the slow build up of suspense and feeling of impending doom as the wedding day approached.
There were a lot of hidden secrets and interesting back stories connecting the central families. I raced through the final part of the book as I really wanted to know if someone was going to be murdered and by whom? I also wanted to know what had happened on the night in question with Ollie all the years before. A very entertaining read!

Rebecca Heath’s The Wedding Party is a masterful blend of romance, suspense, and dark secrets, set against the backdrop of a seemingly joyous wedding weekend. What begins as a celebration of love quickly unravels into a tangled web of lies, betrayals, and unexpected revelations, making it a compelling page-turner from start to finish.

The novel excels at creating a vivid and immersive atmosphere, with Heath skillfully portraying the dynamics of family and friends brought together under high-stakes circumstances. The interactions feel authentic, showcasing the tensions and unspoken truths simmering beneath the surface of what should be a joyous occasion.

Heath’s ability to balance the lighthearted moments of a wedding with the darker undertones of suspense and mystery is remarkable. The plot is expertly paced, gradually building tension as secrets emerge and the characters’ true motivations come to light.

The twist at the end is the crowning achievement of the novel. It’s unexpected yet completely earned, leaving readers stunned and eager to revisit earlier chapters to piece together the clues they might have missed. Heath’s ability to craft such a satisfying and surprising conclusion speaks to her skill as a storyteller.

For fans of romantic suspense and gripping family dramas, The Wedding Party delivers everything you could hope for—charm, intrigue, and an unforgettable twist. Rebecca Heath is undoubtedly an author to watch, and readers will eagerly anticipate her next work.

I had such a great time reading The Wedding Party by Rebecca Heath! Huge thanks to NetGalley and Head of Zeus—an Aries Book—for the ARC. With a January 2025 release on the horizon, I couldn’t resist diving into this twisty beach thriller, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

If you loved Elin Hildebrand's The Perfect Couple, this one is right up your alley. Someone described Rebecca Heath’s writing as “gossipy fun,” and honestly, that’s the perfect way to sum up this read.

Set on the sun-drenched Australian coast, The Wedding Party brings together old family friends with a dark history. Twelve years after a tragic accident claimed the life of Ollie, this group reunites to celebrate the wedding of Adele and Jason, childhood friends turned bride and groom. The beach setting, the lingering secrets, and the palpable tension made this story quite addictive!

The narrative shifts between past and present, unfolding through the perspectives of Adele (the bride and Ollie’s former girlfriend), Sophie (Ollie’s sister and now a bridesmaid), and Melanie (Ollie’s grieving mother). Let me just say: no good can come from including your late boyfriend’s sister and his still-reeling mother in your wedding party—especially when the wedding takes place near the site of his death. What could possibly go wrong?

The drama and secrets escalate with every chapter, keeping me glued to the page. While some plot points were a little far-fetched and certain sections dragged, I still flew through this book. The layers of deception and the twists were enough to keep me thoroughly entertained. This was my first Rebecca Heath novel, but it certainly won’t be my last!

I enjoyed the face pace of the story and how it was told from the two different timelines. The plot twists were good and kept me engaged with the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was an ok twisty thriller that kept me guessing but felt a little slow. This book follows a few Povs surrounding a wedding, and lots of family secrets. I am always a sucker for thrillers that take place during weddings but this one fell a little flat for me the pacing was very slow and the different POVs were hard to keep separate I found myself having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to remember who’s POV I was following now. I did enjoy the plot and it kept me guessing. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

Told from 3 different character POVs-2 in first person and 1 in third person-we follow a group of characters celebrating an upcoming wedding but everyone is hiding something. I was intrigued by the mystery with the first chapter but it did take me a little while to feel fully engaged.

While I do usually enjoy unlikeable characters, I need them to be complex and have depth to them. These characters were so cliche and over the top dramatic that they were just completely unlikeable and I rooted for no one 😂 Repetitive in terms of character’s actions and inner dialogue-we learn no new information about most of them so I can’t say there was any development or depth to anyone; and at times in the middle I started to feel annoyed at their constant inability to make a change or communicate.

The writing could be a bit cliche and oversimplified, not to mention I choked on my water when the author seems to imply that calling someone a Viking is “racist” bffr 🙃

However all that being said it was still an entertaining, easy, and quick read! While the plot and characters were cliche and the writing could be a bit over the top, I still had a good time. Plus the plot twists were so surprising for me (as someone who guesses 99% of the twists in the first quarter of most thrillers)!

I’d recommend if you want an entertaining domestic thriller that’s easy to read, and don’t mind unlikeable rich people 😄

TW/CW: death, grief, alcoholism, toxic relationship, sexual harassment (brief mention), infidelity, cancer, homophobia, physical violence, suicide attempt (brief mention), sexual assault

The Wedding Party by Rebecca Heath is a thriller set on the Australian coast as family and friends gather to celebrate the coming marriage of childhood sweethearts Adele and Jason…but are they really childhood sweethearts?

There were a lot of really unlikeable characters (not least of which were Adele's parents) in this book which could have really turned me off of it, luckily there was an occasional appearance by Laila, Jason's grandmother's dog, to make for a bit of comic relief. To be honest, the only person who seemed like a decent human with redeemable qualities was the guy everyone hated.

Told from the points of view, and 2 different timelines, it's obvious from the start that the death of their friend Ollie was anything but an accident, and that something is wrong with this relationship. And not only that, but just about everyone in this group is hiding something.

I thought I had this mystery figured out pretty early in the book, but while I was partially right, there was a twist at the end that I did not see coming, as well as a shocking event that made me increase my rating from 3 to 4 stars.

This was a good mystery/thriller read. Everyone seems to have secrets but how will they all intersect in the end? I like how the timeline counts down to the big event coming & alternates to the past. As more details are gathered the readers perspective of the events keeps evolving. There were quite a few plot twists along the way!

For American readers it takes a bit to adjust to the different spelling of words & vocabulary. It does finally mention the setting is Australia but it is much later in the story. I could have been confirmed much earlier & helps the reader with cultural meanings/context.

A fast paced thrilled told by multiple povs and in two time lines. There's a lot going on here in this tale of three families, a wedding, and a death that looms over all of it. Ollie died years ago but somehow things have never been resolved. Everyone at this wedding has a secret,a problem or a challenge. Liked the atmospherics but felt the plot echoed similar novels. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good beach read.

THE WEDDING PARTY BY REBECCA HEATH.
Release date set for the 23rd of January 2025.
This is a psychological thriller and its told in multiple POVs which i found easy to follow along with.
Loved the cover for this book.
The story line was alright and i finished the book and found it suspenseful.
Thank you Netgalley, Aria & Aries and the author for this ARC.

I had to DNF at 25%..

I had Guest List by Lucy Foley vibes at the beginning and I was there for it.

Thriller around a wedding ✓
Multiple POVs ✓
Not knowing the crime that happened now ✓

All of them meshed together is a win for me - but.. the writing style felt a bit choppy (which I'm not sure if it is a good word to relay what I mean) and the characters felt like they were given one role and that was it.. It just didn't do it for me..

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the ARC.

There were several things I really quite enjoyed about this. The alternating between 3 narrators in those 2 timelines was actually really well done and really added to the story and the tension, as you slowly get more insight in what's going on.
I also really liked the twist near the end, though overall the story itself is a bit soap-y. But it would be a relaxing beach read/whodunit type book if you enjoy this style of story!
The writing was a little hit or miss. I received an uncorrected ARC so I assume some editing will be done, so I willl not judge too harshly!
Some of the writing was a little too simplistic but there were also really good sentences and descriptions that I really liked and that stood out because they were beautifully written.
Overall, this isn't really my usual style but I did enjoy it!