Book: The Bridesmaids
Author: Victoria Jenkins
Pub Day: May 23rd 2022
About the Book:
Holly is getting married, but not before a celebration weekend with her closest friends. After a night of arguments, a body is found floating in the swimming pool of their secluded cottage. Holly must face up to the truth – one of her bridesmaids is a killer, but which one?
New beginnings. Old rivalries.
Best friends. Bad blood.
Five bridesmaids. One body.
Fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and The Wife Between Us will love this pulse-racing psychological thriller. Once you start reading, you will not be able to stop!
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Bridesmaids' by Victoria Jenkins.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Victoria Jenkins, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication date 23rd May 2022.
This is the third book I have read by this author. I have previously read 'First Playdate' and 'The New Family' which I highly recommend.
I was originally drawn to this book by its beautiful eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that 'Fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and The Wife Between Us will love this pulse-racing psychological thriller.' I am a huge fan of 'Gone Girl' so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a huge fan of Victoria and if this is half as good as 'The Playdate' and 'The New Family' it is sure to be a page turning read. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of 31 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is set in England 🏴 , UK 🇬🇧. I always seem to get on with books that are set in the UK better as I am from Wales and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book as I have had many holidays and days out in England.
This book is written in a mix of third and first person perspective and the protagonists are Claire, Suzanne and Holly. The benefits of books written in first person perspective are as long as they are well written it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. If there are several protagonists you also get to see more of what is going on. The benefits of third person perspective with multiple protagonists are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything. To have the benefit of both first and third person perspective ensures you don't miss out on anything.
Well, Well, Well I did NOT expect that bombshell of an ending!!!
Wow!!! What a rollercoaster ride of a read!!! Fantastically written with vivid descriptions throughout making me feel like I was in the storyline. The synopsis, title and cover suited the plot perfectly.
I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting!!! I absolutely LOVE the fact it is set during a hen night in an isolated cottage, a creepy and unique setting. The storyline was absolutely gripping and kept me up until the early hours of the morning as I could not put it down!! I was absolutely gobsmacked when everything came out, absolutely explosive twists which I was not expecting!!! A HUGE congratulations to Victoria on that as it is definitely getting harder and harder to shock me but you most definitely did that!!! There were points where my heart was in my throat and I was on the edge of my seat, and then the edge of my bed as I was not putting this book down until I finished!!! I loved that everything was tied up nicely at the end as a pet hate of mine is loose ends and having something mentioned in a book that the author seems to then forget about but absolutely everything was explained by the end of this one. It is rammed with secrets, friendship, family, crime and absolutely everything you could ask for in an explosive psychological thriller! I was absolutely mind blown by some of the secrets that were coming out and just when I thought they had all been told BOOM another shocker!!! The ending was definitely the biggest twist and I would not have seen that one coming in a million years!! This book would make a fantastic movie!!
It is set over multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture.
The characters were all strong, realistic and very well developed. I was completely invested in each and every one of their stories. They all had such unique personalities and I felt different about each of them, liking them or not trusting them for different reasons. It is hard to say much about any of them really without giving anything away so I will go by how I felt before certain announcements were made. My heart completely went out to Holly who seemed to be in the middle of so many friends each hiding something from her. It was meant to be a break for her to relax and have fun before the wedding but it turned into anything but. I wasn't sure what to make of Suzanne but after finding out about how her and a certain someone had to hide the people they were I thought it was extremely sad that we still live in thay type of world where we can't be ourselves. I wasn't a massive fan of Martha and found her to be a show off who liked to flash the cash. Zoe seemed to be very quiet so I didn't really have much of an opinion on her apart from her strange behaviour. I really liked Toni who seemed to be a struggling hard worker while having stress from her daughter Georgia who I really didn't like and thought to be a spoilt brag. Regardless of whether you love or hated the characters they all worked perfectly well to make this a page turning psychological thriller!!
I absolutely loved your book Victoria and congratulations on yet another HUGE success . I cannot wait to read more of what promises to be heart stopping reads. Here's to your next success 🥂.
Overall a heart pounding, page turning, edge of your seat psychological thriller filled with explosive twists that will keep you up late at night.
Genres covered in this novel include Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Women's Fiction and Psychological Fiction amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of Lisa Jewell, 'The Girl on the Train' , 'Gone Girl', 'The Wife Between Us' and anyone looking for a mind blowing psychological thriller!
275 pages.
This book is just £2.99 to purchase on kindle or free on kindle unlimited (at time of review) via Amazon or which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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@VictoriaJenkins @Bookouture @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86
Author Bio and Social Media
Victoria Jenkins lives with her husband and daughters in South Wales, where her bestselling series of crime novels featuring Detectives King and Lane is based. The first in the series, The Girls in the Water is a top 5 US kindle bestseller. She has an MA in Creative and Media Writing from the University of Wales, Swansea. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoriajenkinswriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicwritescrime
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vicwritescrime/
Bookouture email sign up: https://www.bookouture.com/victoria-jenkins
Buy Link:
Amazon: https://geni.us/B09VC13R89social
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