Another ARC I was pumped to get, and one I very much enjoyed!

First of all, you know I love a good past flashback to present time storyline. I was very curious about what had happened to the 4 girls who disappeared 10 years ago, and I did wonder how it had connected to the new characters.

I will say, I definitely had a feeling who the “bad guy” was going to be, so that wasn’t necessarily a shock. However, I still like the way the story came together in the end, and I definitely found myself rooting for the main character to figure out the mystery.

Also, side note, I absolutely LOVED the commentary on bisexuality! As a bisexual women, I’ve had to have the same conversations the FMC had SO many times, and I feel like the author wrote the feeling so well, so that definitely added more points for me!

Also, the story was so engaging and it definitely makes you question how a mistake can affect your entire life. I did feel like the author also did a great job with the violence and visceral reactions/emotions, which I always feel like add a lot to a good thriller!

This book took me a bit to get into it, It started off kind of slow, and probably could’ve been a little shorter. I didn’t really care for the Tessa character.

I am a big fan of this author. I was not a fan of this book.

Four friends have disappeared from an island off the coast of Sweden. We get a little peak at them towards the end of their trip. Unfortunately they never made it home.

Called the Nacka Four, the mystery is still strong ten years later when a group of four once more makes the trek to the remote island. Only now there is a pricey resort there and a woman who seems suspicious to Tessa.

Tessa blew her own professional life apart and is now looking for a new juicy story to podcast about. But someone else on the island is looking for revenge.

I wanted this to be something more. I think we all guessed who did what to whom.

Not for me but I still love the author!


NetGalley/ St. Martin’s Press June 10, 2025

3.75/5 Stars

Ever get that feeling that you’re being watched? That something just isn’t right but you can’t quite put your finger on it. That’s exactly what our MC experiences; but unfortunately for her, she’s trapped on a remote island in the Baltic Sea with her oldest friends. This book leaves you wondering who to trust, and dreading the answer to if they’ll ever get off the island. Intriguing and suspenseful it’s a real page turner!

The writing is great. The plot, albeit slightly familiar, does draw you in. Im very grateful to the author, Camilla Sten, and to Minotaur Books for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book vis NetGalley. As my first read of Ms. Sten, I will sure be checking out other works by this author soon.

With that being said, let’s get to the few issues I had.
Firstly, a few of the characters have similar names and that can get a little confusing. (Anna/Annaliese, Linnea/Lena, Tessa/Tilly). But opening prologue was awesome, the rest of the dual timeline was just meh. I felt like I could have skipped all of the past dialogue and still understood the story. There’s also a lot of internal monologue that sort of ran on and on; and those two issues together felt like filler material. If the present day chapters could have been more suspenseful, and the scary bits scarier, this book would have been amazing.

I was super excited to be approved to read an advanced copy of this book, so first and foremost, thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley.
I read this in a day and a half, in between caring for three small kids and Christmas shopping, as I had a difficult time putting it down! I've been reading quite a bit of locked room books lately, or books that put a spin on the locked room theme, like The Bachelorette Party does. I was really invested in essentially all of the characters- Who killed the original four women on Isle Blind? Why did Tessa end her relatively popular podcast? What secrets was Chef Adam hiding? Of course all the answers are revealed, in time, but Camilla Sten does a fabulous job of building the tension along the way. The book is told in two timelines- Tessa's in 2022, and Matilda's in 2012. Matilda was one of the original four girls who was killed on the island, so her part is essentially explaining what was going on with her, her life, and her friends and her boyfriend in the days and weeks leading up to the fateful trip. One conclusion I was able to draw from this was that women can really be backstabbing devils, and sometimes the people you love are the ones you should watch out for the most. . . . And I'll leave it at that. Will I be recommending/selling this one? Of course, just like I did with The Lost Village. I really enjoy Sten's writing style, and will absolutely continue to read essentially everything that she writes. You probably should, too.

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten was pretty much your average thriller -- a group of four women, dubbed the Nacka Four, mysteriously disappear on a secluded island off the coast of Sweden and ten years later another group of women head to that same island to celebrate a bachelorette party.

Tessa, our main character, is a podcaster turned social pariah after something terrible happened, presumably around her podcast. You won't find out what that thing is though until you're practically done with the book and by then it will be hard to care. Tessa is struggling with the fallout of this mysterious situation and she's broke which becomes her defining personality trait in this story. With less than 20 bucks to her name she joins her sister and friends at a luxury resort on the same small Swedish island those four girls disappeared at ten years earlier. She feels like an outcast, and can't quite get the hang of the social dynamics between old friends who have new lives. When one of them mysteriously and suddenly leaves the island at night, leaving only a note behind, Tessa begins to suspect that what happened to the Nacka Four is now happening to them.

Overall, the book was a typical thriller. It was fast paced, had dual timelines and was full of twists and turns that unfortunately were pretty predictable. The Bachelorette Party is a 3/5 star read for me, however I did read advanced reader copy so I am hoping that the editorial team will clean it up a little bit more before publishing. The biggest issue I had with the book was the amount of unnecessary exposition from Tessa, especially her inner thoughts. The author spent so much time telling us how Tessa was feeling and yet we are strung along for most of the book around the "big thing" that Tessa is carrying. I really hope the editors trim a LOT of fat here. I get that in first person POV it's really easy to over explain the character's experiences and it was just too much here. I also didn't like any of the characters, but not because they were annoying characters but because they kinda all blended into each other.

Overall I think I would recommend this book if you want an easy beach reach or something similar. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

2.75 ⭐️: Ten years ago, four girls known as the Nacka four, disappeared off a small island without trace. The case has remained unsolved. Tessa grew up engrossed with true crime and even started her own podcast, which has now crashed and burned. The Nacka four have been her main obsession. When her best friend invites Tessa to her bachelorette party on the same island the girls disappear, Tessa believes this could be the opportunity to save her podcast and solve the case.

I enjoyed the multiple timelines. The plot itself wasn’t bad. I never wanted to stop reading at any point but I did have a few issues. The first being, there are a lot of characters introduced at once. This could be more of a personal problem though because I am bad with names. The letter Caroline ‘left’ was weak. The author needed an excuse for her to be missing but this was a poor attempt. Sometimes, there are emails or phone logs randomly at end of chapters, with no page breaks, that don’t make sense. This could be edited in the future. The ending was chaotic. I half guessed the bad guy, but, at the same time, I don’t know if I’m satisfied with the ending.

“The Bachelorette Party” by Camilla Sten is a thrilling ride that kept me hooked from start to finish. What starts as a seemingly innocent celebration quickly turns into something far darker, as secrets are uncovered and past events come to light.

One of the things I really appreciated was how Sten maintained the suspense throughout the story, even as it jumped back and forth in time. This structure was a little confusing, but she handled it brilliantly, slowly revealing important details that kept me guessing.

The twist at the end completely blindsided me—I definitely didn’t see it coming! Sten does a fantastic job leading the reader down one path, only to pull the rug out from under us with an unexpected turn that made everything click into place in a way I hadn't anticipated.

Overall, The Bachelorette Party is a suspense-filled mystery that kept me engaged until the very last page. If you’re into psychological thrillers with a twist, this one is definitely worth checking out.

I liked this book but I had some problems with it that keep me from giving it a higher rating. I usually like books that go back and forth in time but there wasn't enough distance between the time periods and I kept getting the characters mixed up. The characters seemed very stereotypical, and there were too many 'secrets' that kept me from enjoying the book more.

4.25⭐️

I’ll admit I was a bit hesitant about this book going in as the last time I read a book with the same title that I was really disappointed in despite loving the description.

Well I’m so happy that this one not only lived up to the description but surpassed it. I am so thankful to have gotten an eARC for free from St Martins Press/ Minotaur Books through NetGalley to enjoy which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave this review.

I have been really liking the “locked room” trope in thrillers, particularly the “locked island” variation as opposed to enjoy seeing how the author tackles the characters being cut off from the world in this day and age. Camilla Sten did a great job with this without making it ridiculously obvious.

I enjoyed the duel timeline POV which were nicely labeled with the date and time. I am interested to see the final draft of interior layout as I expect it will be cleaner since this was an uncorrected Digital Galley.

All the twists and turns are there to take you on a ride while having sub plots that pull you in along the way! It has a lot more depth than some other popular thrillers right now which I appreciate.

This book comes out June 10, 2025 so get it on your TBR now as you won’t want to miss it!

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Camilla Sten is back (and in English) for "The Bachelorette Party." In yet another book centered around a true crime podcast, our main character Tessa is trying to figure out what happened to four friends on a weekend getaway a decade earlier.

Honestly - this entire book missed the mark for me. I loved "The Lost Village" and was so optimistic for this book, but the entire story felt very disjointed. Tessa's podcast has crashed and burned, so the only way she can get to the truth is by going on a trip to the island for her friend's bachelorette party? Just go to the island if you want to solve it? Anyone who knows anything about the cream of the crop in true crime are those who fully immerse themselves in the story and that involves going to the area almost as soon as the reporter begins covering it. I just didn't believe the story and so for that reason, it fell flat. Two stars.

Alright, so like, I dove into this one hoping for a killer time (pun totally intended), and it was... fine? The whole remote island-meets-true-crime-podcaster vibe was giving serious spooky chic energy, and there were def moments where I was so into it. But also, some parts were like, totally predictable. You know that feeling when you're watching a thriller and you're like, “Oh, it’s obvi them”? Yeah, that.

The dual timelines is a super cool concept. Loved getting those glimpses of the Nacka Four and trying to connect the dots with what was happening in the present. It was just the kind of setup that makes you wanna binge-read under a cozy blanket with snacks. But, TBH, some of the characters were kinda meh. Like, I wanted to root for Tessa more, but she didn’t totally pop for me. And the ending was...well, low-key dramatic in a way that felt like, okay, let’s wrap this up.

Overall, it’s totally got the vibes if you’re into twisty, atmospheric mysteries, even if it’s not the freshest take out there. Perfect for a weekend read when you’re in the mood for something dark but not too deep. So yeah, rounding up to 4 stars ‘cause it’s got that popcorn thriller energy.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion! 🖤

The Bachelorette Party was a super fast paced and quick read. It had a great storyline. The only thing I didn’t like is the description of the characters. I got slightly confused during conversations and had to really think who was who.

This was an engaging, fast-paced mystery/thriller/horror with a premise that feels both familiar and fresh. A disgraced true crime podcaster joins friends on a bachelorette party trip to a luxury yoga retreat on a small island off the coast of Sweden. The violent murder of four women occurred on this island ten years prior and our podcaster is obsessed with solving this murder. The synopsis describes this as “Scream” meets “The Guest List” which are both favorites of mine, and I actually think an accurate comparison, if setting the standard for what to anticipate a bit high. There are dual timelines which at times are not well-delineated, but I did like the different perspectives. The writing in this is intense and compulsively readable. Would recommend!

Read if you enjoy:
Wedding / bachelorette themed thrillers
Deserted island / locked room tropes
Aesthetic coasts and visual scenery
Yoga / health retreat thrillers
Dual timeline mystery component

The plot of “The Bachelorette Party” follows four women who embark on a yoga retreat themed bachelorette party full of delicious food, stunning scenery, lots of champagne.. and the odd murder.

The party of women has poetic similarities to a mysterious case of four women who went missing / presumed dead a decade ago in the same location.

Tessa, a true crime podcaster begins to see the similarities whilst there and begins to pick up the thread to unravel what happened, only her spider senses may have alerted her to potential danger too late when she stumbles upon a dead body.

I enjoyed the overall murder mystery aspects of the book and how the past timeline ties into the present. The flashbacks were interesting in getting to know the four missing women whilst trying to piece together what happened to them.

I will say some components of the book were a little predictable but it didn’t necessarily take away from the reading experience.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and the author for the EARC!

Publish date: June 10th 2025

3.5/5

A bachelorette party-based murder mystery?? Now that sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Overall, I thought this was good but I was left a little unsatisfied at the end. The pacing was good throughout the whole book, which is usually a gripe of mine when it comes to mystery/thriller books. My main problem here was just that I didn't find the ending the be satisfying. I wanted the reveal and the climax of the story to be bigger and more gasp-worthy.

I also didn't find the characters that interesting. And I am a character-based reader, so I really do want to care about the character or at least be interested enough to want to know what happens to them and why.

This book has a past mystery and a modern-day mystery and it works well in this book (that sort of thing really is rather hit-or-miss).

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

First, I want to thank you for the advanced copy.
I did think the beginning was a little slow but it definitely picked up. I liked how their was a bit of gore, to make it stand out from original thrillers.

Overall, i liked the book, it was different and entertaining.
Plus, I love a book with short chapters 🤩

Tessa is not at a good point in her life. She recently lost her true crime podcast and is selling her things to make money. She's not in the mood to attend a bachelorette party but changes her mind when she finds out where it's taking place. It's going to be at a new yoga retreat on an isolated island, the same island where 4 women went missing 10 years ago. Hoping to solve the mystery and bring listeners back to her podcast, Tessa attends the bachelorette party. In flashback chapters we learn about the 4 missing women before their disappearance and why Tessa lost her podcast. Are the woman in the bachelorette party also in danger?

On a remote island nestled off the coast of Sweden, four friends Tilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina meet every year. Best friends since childhood, the idea is to drink beer, dance by the water, and shake off the weight of life's expectations. The location of the island is a secret to everyone but them. One night of reckless fun and secret-sharing, and then they return to their normal lives! Great read! This book had great suspense, intriguing, action, fabulous characters, murder, mystery, gaslighting, a fantastic who done it and some really wild twists and turns! The story was very interesting! I highly recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

I am a fan of this author but this was her worst book. It was not an original plot at all. I have read other books like this that were better. Also, this book kept jumping timelines and it got confusing at times. I just did not like this.