Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

This was an thriller following a couple getting married who both experienced a dark past. This wedding takes place in the small beach town they grew up in with each having different perspectives of that tragic event of the past. Coming back into town brings back feelings, memories and connections to family members they have not seen in 12 years. Who do we really trust? What happened on that night 12 years ago? Why are all these alerts and mishaps happening? Who is responsible?

Australia was a beautiful setting for this book, it came off the page.
Other than that I found this book close to impossible to finish. This was like a soap opera, chaotically told through two timelines that didn’t stop at any point to make sure the reader was holding on,

I wouldn’t recommend this to mystery readers that don’t enjoy a huge amount of drama and family ties.

Just could not get into this
The story wasn’t compelling, the storytelling was confusing and the characters were unlikeable

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engaged and it only took a few days to read. I think this is going to be a good book club option for several clubs. I plan recommending to my book friends and I look forward to reading more by this author.

This is a dual timeline narration that unfortunately does not have much plot progression in the twelve years between the two. The characters were unlikable for me and some of the drama made me roll my eyes. This was an easily forgettable read.

This book goes back-and-forth between a three day time period leading up to Adele and Jason‘s wedding, and 12 years ago when Adele‘s former boyfriend died. The story centers around how and why Ollie died, his sister Sophie, his mother, Melanie. Sophie and Melanie are both involved in the wedding, Along with Jason and Adele‘s parents. This very much read like a soap opera, if you like a lot of melodrama, this book might be a good one for you. I found a lot of it to be a little unbelievable and at times dragged on and then other times rushed, I really just didn’t like the pacing. There were few likable characters in this novel. That said, it doesn’t take a lot of thought process, and could be good if you need something that is a story to escape into. I would’ve liked to have heard more about the island in Australia, the setting. Again, I don’t want to give away any of the plot points, but there was what I would consider to be an awful lot of extreme drama.

Thanks to NetGalley and Aria Books for the arc. Book to be released January 23, 2025.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.

Adele and Jason are getting married. Not everybody is happy about it. From the jealous best man, to the dead ex’s mother. When disaster after disaster plagues their big day, will they make it to the alter.

Told from the present day and 12 years ago, we are trying to figure out the secrets from the past clearly influencing the current situation. I really enjoyed this book. I needed to know what happened to Ollie and why Sophie was so detached. Adele and Jason struck me as no good. I love when a book makes me feel any sort of strong emotional for its characters! Suspense galore in this one, although I can help but feel frustrated at the final sentence!

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus part of Bloomsbury Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This title is published on January 23rd, 2025.

'The Wedding Party' was a fairly underwhelming read. It promised plenty; drama, action and an intriguing mystery to unravel. Ultimately, it offered little of the above. The plot progressed between two PoVs and did offer some moments that could have really pushed this title to another level of suspense, but they never materialized. Quite literally. One particular plot point never even took place in the main story; you found out about it later.

This book is a missed opportunity and one I shall quickly forget.

2 out of 5.

I enjoyed reading this book but struggled to keep up with who was who in the beginning. The alternating character views and going back and forth between the past and present didn’t help. Once I finally got the characters down it was enjoyable to read and I enjoyed the rest of the book. The twists and turns kept me guessing the entire time. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!

Tragedy struck a trio of families one decade ago. Now they are all reuniting for a happy wedding, but not everyone is looking to celebrate, and things will soon take a deadly turn.

Adele and Jason met as kids and their relationship grew from there. Now they are days out from getting married, but Adele and her friends are all hiding something about the terrible night that took place a decade earlier.

Rebecca Heath tells an intriguing tale that reads like watching a Netflix series. Told in the present day and with flashbacks from multiple points of view, clues slowly unravel to reveal what took place that terrible night. It is an entertaining book, though the last third drags a bit and a few plot points are unresolved. This will appeal to readers looking for a fun beach read.

This was an easy read.
The first half was great, but then it slowed down, which for someone that does not mind slow burn, I was shocked It was even slow for me.

Personally the first half makes this worth at least a read, and I'm going to check out another book from this author, as this could be a one off.

Check it out of you like this type of book, because I think it was worth a read, good vacation read by the poolside type book.

Thank you Netgalley, Rebecca Heath and Head of Zeus/Aries Books for the advance ebook.

A group of old friends. A grieving mother. A lying bride.

Adele and Jason are childhood sweethearts. Their wedding day on the sunny Australian coast is a chance to reunite and celebrate with friends and family.

But Adele isn't telling the truth about her relationship. And some of the bridal party – still reeling from a tragic death in the group a decade before – hold secrets of their own.

What happened on the jetty all those years ago was an accident, everyone agrees.

Or do they?

This was a very easy read and I flew through the Book. I'm not a big fan of books told from multiple perspectives and multiple time periods. The book jumped back and forth a bit too much for my liking. The ending seemed lacking to me. It seemed that the author rushed to reveal all the secrets the characters were keeping as well as concluding the book. I would have enjoyed it more if secrets had been revealed as the books progressed. 3 out if 5 ⭐️

I really struggled with this storyline to begin with. During the first few chapters it seemed like character overload, names of people and who they are related to were thrown so fast it became a little confusing over who was who. The chapters are nice and short which i love. While the book follows one specific storyline , with the odd chapter being set in the past, each chapter came from a different characters perspective. This did hinder the ability allow the story to flow with ease, it made it seem a little bit choppy when jumping from one persons perspective to the next when all the characters where not at the same scene at the same time. It made the chapters seem more like scenes from a film rather than a book. The story itself was enjoyable, i think a bit more of a understanding earlier on would have made it easier to understand the motives of the characters and what was actaully going on. I was a little disappointed in the ending as it felt like a huge build up over the course of the book for the ending to be rather anti climactic, i did enjoy the story and how it all connected but i cant help but feel a little disappointed with the final delivery of the story

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader copy.
This book was a slow burn with a lot of characters to keep track of, it would alternate between the present and 12 years. In the past. There wasn't a lot for twists and turns and was pretty predictable, but I enjoyed the read.

A group of old friends. A grieving mother. A lying bride. Adele and Jason are childhood sweethearts. Their wedding day on the sunny Australian coast is a chance to reunite and celebrate with friends and family. But Adele isn’t telling the truth about her relationship. And some of the bridal party still reeling from a tragic death in the group a decade before hold secrets of their own. What happened on the jetty all those years ago was an accident, everyone agrees. Or do they?! Good book! This book had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mystery, and a few twists and turns. The story was interesting, it wasn’t one of my all time favorite but worth reading! I would recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

This was quite a messy story shifting to a present day wedding weekend from a twelve year old tragedy. The main POVs of Adele, the bride, Melanie, Ollie’s mother, and Sophie, Ollie’s sister, share a story of grief linked back to the tragic (maybe) accidental death of Ollie, Adele’s boyfriend.

When I say this story is messy, I mean that in many ways. There are secrets, lies, and indiscretions - some that span a decade and some that are brand new. With a mystery like this, the story often feels relatively wrapped up in the end; however, in these final chapters we are introduced to more secret revelations and I can’t quite figure out the why.

A good read, I liked the chapter characters and enjoyed having the different point of view and perspective on things. A good mix of the past and the present colliding, and books centred around a wedding do tend to be quite explosive. This one was well done.

This was an emotional roller coaster!

I was not expecting that ending. It slowly built up to who killed who and it was NOT who I guessed. A nice little twist! Hearing about Ollie’s death was very emotional. Everyone felt they were to blame.

All in all, a good thriller with characters I enjoyed reading about.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy of The Wedding Party by Rebecca Heath. This book had me hooked from the start. I typically can figure out what is going on but I had no clue until the end. I think this book would make a great movie and visualized it as I was reading.

This was a story of Adele's marriage to Jason. Both have known each other since childhood and there are many secrets amongst them and their parents. If you are looking for a book that is hard to put down, this is it!

I think this book would appeal to fans of this genre, it is an easy read and filled with drama.

Set in the Australian sunshine, a wedding party have got tegether for the celebration but not all is as it seems.

A death that happened many years ago, still have people reeling. A few have secrets and many want answers.

This book unfoldes like a tv drama and I loved the pacy plot. It is a good read and perfect for a day when you don't have much else to do except read.