The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 330

Publisher - Harper Collins

Source - Gifted by a fellow bookworm

The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

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.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?



My Review

Everyone is pulled together for wedding extravaganza, that of Jules Keegan and Will Slater, money, fame, fortune and a small well chosen guest list. The location, a remote island on the Irish coast, the wedding everyone wants to be a part of - you would think!

Told from multiple points of view we have Jules the bride, Hannah the plus one, Aoife the wedding planner, Olivia the bridesmaid, Johnno the best man and Will the husband to be. Split between the wedding night when everything kicks off and pre wedding where we get to know all the guests and how they really feel about the others.

Lots of secrets, issues, feelings of unrest, upset, anger and unresolved pasts will finally be addressed, healed, excised and brought to the surface as is the way with weddings! I didn't find the multiple character jumps nor timeline an issue, the reader is teased as we get to know the characters and things revealed as we delve page after page. Maybe a tad frustrated as you would just get something from one character or timeline (pre and night of wedding) and the switch to another. The chapters are brief though so you visit them all for a wee bit and head on to the next.

Lots of drama, relationship issues and some very dodgy characters, especially the old boys club who may be adults now but as soon as they get together they have that pack mentality nonsense which we know to be true to life. I liked it, I have another by this author on my tbrm and looking to reading it, 3.5/5 for me this time.

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