This sounded exactly like my kind of book when I read the blurb but it didn’t live up to expectations. First, you can’t trust anyone, second, it doesn’t get interesting until at least 50% of the way through which in my opinion, is too far in.

The “twist” at the end, I did guess it but even if I hadn’t of, it wouldn’t have been enough to turn this book around or make it worth it.

So many of the characters are SO unlikeable with no consequence.

Wasn’t for me.

A Twisty, unputdownable read with unreliable characters who all seem to have secrets that make trying to piece things together so hard! An ending that I did not see coming with a great twist made this such a fabulous read! I loved the premise and the alternating timelines between present day and the past!

A recent read of mine was The Wedding Party by Rebecca Heath and what a read! This is Rebecca's third book and she just keeps getting better! I've loved all her books but this one is definitely her best! 👌

Told in the present day in the days leading up to the wedding of childhood sweethearts, Adele and Jason with flashbacks from 12 years prior, this story had me hooked! All of the characters were unreliable and had secrets so it was so hard to tell who to trust!

A tragedy from their past will be in the forefront as they return to Refuge Bay for their big day. Not everyone thinks the death of Ollie all those years ago was an accident. Grudges and guilty consciences are running high. Some people aren't too happy about the uniting of Adele and Jason and someone is trying to sabotage the big day.

It was a hard to put down read as I had to know if the wedding would go ahead and if the death of Ollie was an accident. My mind was racing with what the final conclusions to these questions would be and the final twist in the story was the icing on the cake! The best!

Another page turner from Rebecca Heath. The Wedding Party is full of terrible people, all of whom have secrets from each other. I found it hard to like any of them really, but that was part of the fun.

Adele and Jason are getting married in Refuge Bay, on the South Australian coast. They have known each other for years, having holidayed in the area with their families when they were teenagers, but 12 years ago, a tragedy occurred and changed them all forever. Now, back at the same place, tensions are high and somebody is trying to warn Adele off the wedding.

This was a quick and fun read that I finished in a few hours. We don’t know the full story of what happened in the past but we get chapters in the present and 12 years ago and we start to put the pieces together. I would have been happy for most of these characters to get what was coming to them to be honest.

Thanks to Bloomsbury ANZ on NetGalley for my early copy to read. This the perfect beach read for those who love a twisty thriller., with an unsettling vibe. Publishes on January 7th, 2025.

(2.5 stars)
The Wedding Party wasn't really my kind of book. It's more of a psychosocial drama between a nasty bunch of people than a crime novel or an example of Aussie noir. As the name suggests, it's about a wedding, a destination wedding in a coastal South Australian locale called Refuge Bay. It's a place where city folk buy weekenders, and of course behave as if they own the place, despite not really contributing to the area's day-to-day: "the bad influence of city holiday makers and the vices they brought to the vulnerable in the area."

The impending nuptials were preceded by a death, the bride-to-be's first boyfriend (Ollie): "This is the future I'm choosing, married to a man who can afford this for a holiday house, and no silly memories of teenage love will derail that." Ollie's sister is in the wedding party, and her mother (Melanie) is invited too, despite carrying a longstanding grudge and being a barely functioning alcoholic to numb her pain "walking around like some avenging ghost". Melanie spends her days stalking the surviving people online: "I've had more than a passing look at her social media."

Nobody is particularly likeable. Everybody is entitled. Nobody is telling the truth: "I know the best relationships require a certain filtering of the truth." I found it really hard to care who hurt who first, and frankly, didn't care who got hurt in the end.

Check out my review on TikTok - @taylorslibrary_
Script: I have another book recommendation for you and learn from my mistake…do not start reading this book in bed when you need to be up early the next day.
The Wedding Party by Rebecca Heath is a thriller set in Australia, I believe it is her third book and it’s set to be released in January 2025! I want to say a huge thank you to Net Galley, Bloomsbury Australia and Rebecca Heath for this e-ARC!
Before we get into the actual story, let’s take a moment to appreciate the cover…I mean seriously! How stunning is it!!
Okay now for the story…it has dual time lines, set in both the present day and 12 years prior when tragedy struck and the story is told from multiple perspectives. The present day is told by Adele, the bride and Melanie who was Ollie’s mum. Now Ollie was Adele’s childhood sweet heart who tragically died when they were both younger…yep you heard that right. Melanie is Adele’s dead exes mother. We also have the perspective of Sophie who was Ollie’s sister and she takes us through the story set in the past.
Overall I found the story line engaging and it kept me hooked with all the different secrets that were revealed because let’s be real…secrets can never stay buried and there’s no better time to dig them up then when friends and family are gathered for a wedding. Anyway, I would recommend this book to fellow thriller lovers, I was eagerly turning the page and I couldn’t predict what was coming!