Thursday 30 November 2017

Book Review - The Birthday Girl by Sue Fortin - Blog Tour

Amazon UK 
Title: The Birthday Girl
Author: Sue Fortin
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Harper Impulse
Publication Date: 14th November 2017
Rating: 5 Stars


Dear Carys, Zoe and Andrea
Come and join me for my fortieth birthday adventure weekend, full of mysteries and surprises
the like of which you can’t imagine.

When Joanne’s friends reluctantly accept an invitation to her birthday party, it quickly becomes clear that there is more to this weekend than they are expecting.
One of them is hiding a secret.
And Joanne is planning to reveal it…

A weekend away in a cottage in the woods sounds like fun – until no one can hear your cries for help.

Four friends.
A party to die for. 
Who will survive? 

Creepy, eerie, atmospheric, baffling but utterly addictive are all words that I would happily use to describe The Birthday Girl.

This is a story that kept me guessing , and then something else came to light, andI started to guess in other directions, but at no point was I able to put 2 and 2 together. 

The first few chapters were a great introduction to the characters and also in giving a full idea as to just how excluded the croft that the friends would be staying in was. It was like a  magical mystery tour - only not magical in getting them to this incredibly remote location, and they had even handed over their phones for the weekend. 

Imagine being invited to a weekend away in the woods with your closest friends only the friend that invited you has had falling outs in the past year with all the other guests.  Ramp up the tension with an isolated location in the middle of nowhere, no means of communication with the outside world, and at least one person who seems to have an ulterior motive for the weekend. 

Well that is just the scene setting for Carys, Andrea, Zoe and Joanne, as they embark on a weekend that I doubt any of them will ever forget.   

There are outdoor adventure activities, guessing games and clearly plenty of secrets to be unveiled, From the second I fully got into the book, which was a bit further in than it should have been due to outside influences on my reading, I was hooked and didn't want to stop reading for any reason, although I am purely blaming the author if I have nightmares this evening. 

The descriptions conjured up such vivid pictures that I had a really good feel for the isolation the characters must have been feeling, plus all the confusion and all the other emotions. Some of the secrets were more troubling than others and Carys already had to go through far more in her past few years than anyone should have to deal with. 

The Birthday Girl crept under my skin to the extent that I had no idea whether it was the feeling of creepiness from the book that lead to me feeling like something was crawling up my arm, or whether there really was something there.  Sue Fortin is to my eyes becoming an incredibly accomplished author and pretty much a must read for me every time she releases a new book, simply superb. 

This was a birthday party that will stick with you for a long time, and if you do buy this as a Birthday present for anyone, I think it needs to be given with a disclaimer that you hope their celebrations don't turn out like they do in the story! 

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Impulse for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Please do follow along with the rest of the blog tour. 


3 comments:

  1. Thank you so much, Rachel for your lovely book review. I'm delighted you enjoyed it. All your support as ever, much appreciated. x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brilliant review :-) I agree with every word. TBG is an excellent read.

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  3. Read and reviewed independently. In my opinion this is Sue's best book to date x

    ReplyDelete

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