NetGalley ARC | The Bachelorette Party

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed The Lost Village, so I am game to read more of this author's work. Unfortunately for me, this one did work quite as well for me, but it was still a decent read.

Every year four friends get together on a remote island off the coast of Sweden. No one knows where they disappear to each year, only that they are off somewhere together. They've been best friends since they were children, and once a year they come back together to be drink and dance and enjoy each other's company before returning to their adult lives full of expectations and responsibilities.

One year, they do not return. It's presumed to be an accident, though their bodies are never found.

Ten years later, Tessa Nilsson is obsessed by the story. That obsession became a popular true crime podcast and this is the one case that Tessa longs to solve. Few clues were ever found to indicate what truly happened, and authorities could only guess. A presumed boating accident involving alcohol was their best idea, though Tessa does not believe that's accurate.

Unfortunately for Tessa, due to a major misstep ending in tragedy, her podcast and reputation are in shambles and gone is her chance to find out what really happened.

UNTIL.

Because of course there is always an UNTIL.

Tessa's best friend Anneliese is to be married soon and her bachelorette party is set to take place at a yoga retreat on a remote island off the coast of Sweden. When Tessa realizes it is the same island - owned now by one of the victim's sisters - she knows this might be her last chance to find out what really happened.

The problem is, Tessa wants the truth, but someone else on the island wants revenge.

With only two others on the island in addition to the handful in the party, there is a small suspect pool to draw from. I worked out pretty quickly who, but given the back and forth between the time lines, I wasn't quite sure why, and what exactly they were intent on getting revenge for.

Dual timelines can be difficult to write but I think it is a strength for the author. Even when I was not totally sure at first how they connected, the clues are there and they come together well. The pacing was also well-done in both timelines. Neither lagged at any point, so I was invested in both.

I was also intrigued by Tessa's own personal mystery, and what could have possibly happened to absolutely make her life explode. That was engaging enough in itself, without overshadowing the events that Tessa needed in order to start rebuilding her life again.

My main issue with the book is that the timelines themselves kept tripping me up. It seems like the dates are a bit off, things don't necessarily seem to line up in the way they are described, so it kept throwing me. I can't tell if it was intentionally off, which could be possible but then other parts don't work. I am honestly not really sure how to describe it without bringing up spoilers, which I will happily do with books I hate, but I didn't hate this one and still want to recommend it.

As a result, this one did not quite grab me the way The Lost Village did, but I still recommend it. It's not groundbreaking in the genre, but readers will still enjoy the mystery. I still ntend to read other work by this author.

Recommended.

But please also read The Lost Village.