The Guest List: A Thrilling Murder Mystery with Clues Hidden in the Characters' Pasts

This was a very fun read that I couldn’t put down! I love the way Lucy built up the characters and their individual stories and merged them together. The twists and turns were fun. I really enjoyed this book!

One beautiful and trendy couple, a wedding, an eerie destination, dysfunctional guests — and a murder.Jules and Will are the ultimate It Couple. She's a successful magazine entrepreneur and he's on a hit TV show. They're both young and attractive, everything about them looks perfect. After a wedding planner approaches them and offers her unique beachfront locale as their wedding destination in exchange for a mention at Jules's magazine, the couple agree to get married in Ireland. Things appear to go smoothly, but the guest list could — and does — cause trouble. Jules's best friend, Charlie, will be there with his wife, Hannah. Rumor has it that they had a thing for each other, and who knows what could happen. Then there's the shady best man, Johnno. No one feels comfortable in his presence, and for good reason! Then there's Jules's younger sister, Olivia. She's been acting strange lately — stranger than usual. Jules and Olivia have always had a strained relationship, and Jules fears that Olivia might cause problems. Then on the wedding day, things go well, until dark secrets are exposed, and a blood bath ensues.THE GUEST LIST is an atmospheric mystery with a twist ending — REBECCA meets BIG LITTLE LIES. The plot is engrossing and the characters are enigmatic and engaging. I couldn't stop reading. Foley's writing kept me turning my Kindle pages! The characters made this book awesome to read. As flawed as they were, you still wanted to know what would become of them. Narcissism is the main theme in this novel, and the atmospheric Irish setting was the icing on the wedding cake. Downsides? The execution could've been better. The last 3/4 of the book felt extremely rushed. it felt more like a "this is what happened," and before you knew it, you'd reached the final page. Disappointing, especially given the premise. Still, I give this four out of five green and apple smoothies, with delicious oat milk for that extra creaminess!

I liked how in the end the stories all come together and made sense. It was difficult for me to keep reading though, because the multiple point of view combined with the back and forth in time was very distracting to the actual story.

Great book! Interesting characters and great storytelling!

The story takes place on an unusual uninhabited island off the coast of Ireland that can only be reached by boat, and the crossings are rough. An unusual place for a wedding, but that’s where Jules, a successful owner of an online magazine and a social influencer has chosen for her wedding to the fabulous Wills, her soon-to-be husband. He is handsome, charming, charismatic and star of a Tv show. They are the perfect couple, or so it would appear. But there are undercurrents of secrets and darkness lurking under the surface of the festivities. Then there the grooms friends from the exclusive boarding school. Their hijinks are overdone. The best man doesn’t fit in with the classy guests. The bride’s maid of honor is a man who has come with his wife. There’s the wedding planner who has to make sure everything happens on time and smoothly. There’s the chef who does all the cooking behind the scenes. The tents in which the festivities take place are lovely unless a guest wanders off into the darkness and falls into a peat bog. The weather doesn't help with gusting winds and dropping temperatures. If a reader is smart(I wasn’t) they will remember the clues that are dropped throughout the story. It all leads to a dramatic and surprising climax. Thoroughly satisfying read.

Secrets Secrets Secrets!!! This book will have you thinking back to the last large wedding you attended and wondering just how many mini dramas were taking place all around you, while you remained completely oblivious. If the people attending your event anything in common with the wedding party and their guests, in the aptly title THE GUEST LIST, probably more people than you think are holding secrets and harboring resentments.THE GUEST LIST is a fast read that unfolds with alternating chapters, told by various members of the wedding party and their 150 guests. The book, from start to finish is an excellent testimony to the skill of the writer. It is interesting from the start, with well written characters that come alive on the page. There is a lot going on here, but it unfolds smoothly, as we learn about the backgrounds of the various players, their secrets and their innermost thoughts.It never feels disjointed or like the characters are unconnected, because each of them, despite their differences, have some connection to the bride and groom. The wedding itself connects people in unexpected ways and leads to several characters gaining new information about things that had happened in the past. The newly acquired information solves old mysteries and stirs up powerful emotions that change the course of the wedding and the future of many people there.A less skilled writer would never have been able to make this clever complicated story such an enjoyable read