The Guest List: A Reese's Book Club Pick

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Afterwards, Hannah talks with Olivia. (Olivia was upset because the truth was that she'd actually gotten pregnant by Steven and had an abortion, but she's too ashamed to tell.) Hannah encourages Olivia to get whatever it is off her chest. Hannah talks about her sister, Alice, who had an ex-boyfriend that passed around an explicit video of her after she dumped him. Alice was too ashamed to tell them, but Hannah wishes she would have, since she loved her regardless. (Hannah leaves out that Alice killed herself 17 years ago.) And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why? The characters But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. I was thinking 4 to 4.5 stars at first, but because this one quenched my thirst for twisty perfection, I am gonna go for 5 stars (it is my review and I can do what I want, so there! 🤪🤪🤪🤣🤣🤣)

He’s a longtime friend (and former crush) of the bride. Something dark happened to him at the stag party. He seems to have a history of drinking too much. The story also suffers from a few other issues that seem to plague most books of this genre. The characters are, unfortunately, all unlikable and dumb. They have trouble saying simple things to each other that would clear up much confusion. They make mistake after mistake, and then ruminate at length about each. And they all drink themselves into stupors at the first sign of discomfort, instead of just... talking. This is fast-paced and easy to read. I figured out the murderer early on, but I didn’t know who had been murdered or why. There are a lot of red herrings thrown in to make one question their arm-chair detective skills. Some elements of the plot came together with a little too easily--it just so happened that one person in attendance had a link to another in a way that was just way too convenient. However, this connection did add another potential candidate as the murderer.Let’s not forget Aoife, wedding planner, working her ass off to organize the entire ceremony, achieving a complex and challenging job but she observes everyone, looking agitated, seems like waiting for the shoe drop. Why is she so frustrated? What is she worried about? What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened? Our bridesmaid is Olivia, also Jules’ half-sister. We find out that Olivia and Will had a fling when Olivia was barely legal to do such things. Jules is not happy about this. Hannah, called the ‘Plus-one’, is there as a date for Charlie. Charlie is Jules’ best friend since childhood and they also had a fling at one point—something that reignited the flame Charlie has always kept for Jules. Of course, Hannah is not very pleased about this. We also have a litany of groomsmen who all went to College with Will, a place where much upper-class debauchery and rituals took place, some of which get exposed during the wedding weekend.

I liked reading the details of putting the wedding together; the food they ate and just all the information that make for a more well-rounded story. Almost like you feel like you’re there but definitely glad you’re not at the same time.The other thing that didn’t sit well for me was simply the utter convenience and unbelievability of the plot and how some of these characters were connected to the murder victim. It didn’t elicit that “OMG, I didn’t see that coming!” Rather, for me, it just elicited eye-rolls. On top of that, it took forever to reveal the murder victim, due to the time jump, rotating narrators style of the chapters. I understand this is to build intrigue and suspense - good mysteries do that - but since I didn’t like any of the characters, by the time the victim was revealed, I just didn’t really care. The killer was Aiofe, the wedding planner. She was the sister of Darcey “Loner” Malone, the boy Will and Johnno pranked. At dinner, there's talk of something that happened during the "stag" (bachelor party) to Charlie, but the guys won't say what. They also reminisce about Survival, a game they used to play in school where older guys would kidnap one of the younger guys and leave him in the woods to fend for himself for the night. (One kid died from it, though.) It's the game Will's show was based on. It was actually Johnno's idea and Johnno was given a screen test for them to host as a duo, but the producers preferred the good-looking and perfect Will as a solo act. Johnno is kind of a mess compared to the over guys (less successful, not from a wealthy family, etc.), and Jules doesn't understand why Will is friends with him.

Yes, he and Will carried out the prank that caused Darcey/Loner’s death. So maybe they both got what they deserved. But many of us (including me) felt a little sorry for Johnno. Where is Darcey/Loner’s body, anyway?These are miserable people. Miserable people aren’t fun to read about. Even Mother Nature herself looked at these people and cried miserable gales of gloomy tears at the wedding. I absolutely loved the creepy atmosphere, I wouldn't have spent one night there no matter how much Jules insisted- because she would insist. Everything is all about Jules. The book revolves around multiple POV's which all are members of the wedding party. Yet the author did a superb job of making it really easy to follow along. The chapters were clearly labeled for each POV and if you didn't get it, she even had a description- wedding planner, etc...Yesss! I loved it!