Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK and Tammy Cohen for this ARC in exchange my honest review.
This book was brilliant, tense and exciting! The story is narrated from the perspective of each character. Easy to read and well written. Tense and good plotting with sharp writing. The story gradually moved from London right onto a Greek beach. The writing of the island was very beautiful as if I was under summer sun. It was really enjoyable. The storyline was so glamorous and gripping that I couldn't stop except sleeping and fast page-turning. This book does not disappoint and it's quite surprising as domestic thriller. Highly recommend!

A wedding party on the beautiful Greek island of Kefalonia. A beautiful bride, a handsome bridegroom, loving families gathered for a week of celebration and love. What could go wrong ..? Lucy has planned her wedding in minute detail ,since she was a child . Now she has gathered her closest family and loved ones to share her joy as she marries Jason in the wedding of her dreams. Sadly, not everything or every one is sticking to the agenda. Her parents appear to be at loggerheads, her wayward sister arrives with a stranger as an uninvited plus one, her spending has gotten way out of control, leaving her unable to pay her wedding planner, plus her best friend and chief bridesmaid, Shelly,is behaving strangely. Throw into the mix the strange, intrusive stranger Vivian, some Greek melodrama , vague rumours of murder and criminal activity and you have all the ingredients for an explosive story.

3,5 ⭐️

Dear reader, you are cordially invited to celebrate the marriage of Lucy and Jason. The ceremony will be held on the island of Kefalonia on the afternoon of the 15th of June 2019. This will be followed by dinner and…MURDER!

At least that’s what it looks like when a body at the bottom of a cliff is being guarded by the police in the fist few pages.

The wedding party follows the current trend in the domestic suspense genre where we know from page one that someone dies but we don’t know who it is till the very last pages, with the story focusing on the events leading to this death and not its investigation. Although it has been done before I still was entertained by it.

Most of the characters are pretty unlikeable so I wouldn’t have minded more than one of them being the deceased. Interspersed extracts of police interviews allow the reader to go discarding candidates as the story progresses. Lucy is your typical bridezilla obsessed with everything being perfect on her wedding day cause she deserves it (her words); her friend Shelly gives really clingy vibes; her sister Jess is a free agent and doesn’t care much about her sister wishes, bringing to the wedding a virtual stranger that may not be who he says he is; her parents are hiding some secret from their daughters and from each other; her fiancé seems to have a not so healthy relationship with his mum, and to top it off an old lady on the resort seems to be weirdly interested in the wedding party. This was recipe for disaster!

I liked how all their secrets were slowly unraveled but, imo, halfway through the story stalled a little bit until it picked up again once the wedding day arrived. For such a huge build up I felt some of the secrets they were hiding were a bit of a let down.

The changing POVs and short chapters made of The wedding party a fast and twisty read and it will have you guessing till the end not for the killer but for the killed one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

All Lucy Collins wants is a perfect wedding to Jason and she chooses Kefalonia as the venue. Does she get the expensive day of perfection she craves and so meticulously plans??? Well, what do you think?! The story is told from several perspectives, interspersed with police interviews and extracts from a therapy journal.

After a slow start the tension builds as you begin to see with HD clarity that beneath the surface gloss of the impending celebrations, all the guests have much they are hiding - to a lesser or greater extent. None of the characters are especially likeable, Lucy is an anxious nervous wreck and has low self esteem while Jason and his mother Cora are hiding a major secret as are Lucy’s parents. Jess, Lucy’s sister who blunders and bludgeons her way through life I do secretly rather like as her tell it how it is attitude and motor mouth puts plenty of cats among pigeons. Mind you, I’m also rather glad she’s not related to me! I like the tug of war between Jess and Lucy’s best friend Shelly which is very revealing. The impending nuptials shines a spotlight on bubbling just below the surface issues straining several marriages which burst to the surface like geysers just before or on the day. It all starts to massively unravel, relationships disintegrate, the tension escalates from unease to explosive and warnings become dire in tone. As the end approaches it’s clear that several characters are severely damaged or cause damage and the situation becomes more toxic by the hour. It becomes quite chilling and the atmosphere feels claustrophobic as emotions are suppressed, rise and then explode.

Overall, once the plot gets going it becomes an entertaining domestic noir. I dare say it follows a predictable path but it’s a good read none the less.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK, Transworld for the arc in return for an honest review.

We're on the Greek Island of Kefalonia at an exclusive clifftop resort with views stretching across the Ionian Sea - an idyllic wedding venue. Lucy and Jason have come here with their closest friends and family for their dream wedding on the beach. However everyone who has come is hiding a secret and we know from the outset that the week will end with a member of the wedding party lying dead at the foot of a cliff - although we won't find out who it is until near the end of the book.

The Wedding Party feels like a mash up of Big Little Lies and The Guest List. It has the same structure as Liane Moriarty's book and a similar plot to Lucy Foley's. But Tammy Cohen is also a master at building suspense, dropping clues about what's happening while holding elements in reserve, only gradually revealing the answers so the book gets more and more compelling as you read it.

I felt like the ending fizzled out a bit and I didn't like any of the characters (which didn't stop me from wanting to know their secrets). But this is still a fast and twisty read that kept me guessing and it has a lovely summery Greek feel to it. 3.5 stars.

A well paced book full of twists and turns. An eclectic mix of characters, some likeable, some not so. Lots to keep you guessing. 4 stars

This whodunnit by Tammy Cohen is an entertaining read, lots of interesting characters and plenty of action in this fast paced thriller

The story is based on the Greek island of Kefalonia and is told from multiple perspectives. Lucy and Jason are getting married and all the family are there to celebrate this happy occasion. There are a multitude of characters to get to grips with but was written well enough to follow. Lucy’s mother Hazel, sister Jess, best friend Shelly, wedding planner Nina among others who all seem to have secrets and things going on. Money problems, false identities, adultery, sickness and death are all in the mix as the Lucy and Jason try to celebrate their big day.

The reader is made aware at the very start that someone dies, but who, how and why. Good characters but not likeable are the strong point of this novel together with a well paced twisty plot.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Random House UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

For me, this was one of those books that it’s so easy to lose yourself in and I really struggled to put it down. Within the first few pages, a body is found and the mystery around who it is isn’t revealed until the end so I was fully invested in wanting to find out what went down. This book is written from multiple perspectives - bride-to-be Lucy, her mum Hazel, sister Jess, best friend Shelly and wedding planner Nina. There are also occasional extracts from retrospective police interviews and therapy journal entries which I thought were good additions and provided more insight into some of the characters’ personalities. I absolutely loved the story’s setting of Kefalonia in Greece, the author did a superb job of describing the island so intricately that you could close your eyes and imagine being there.

You just know that with a long awaited for wedding planned as meticulously as Lucy and Jason’s that it’s bound to all go wrong and that was definitely the case but there was also a lot of other non-wedding drama packed into the story which kept it fresh and interesting. It felt like literally every character had something to hide and I didn’t feel like I could trust any of them which made me all the more keen to get to the end and piece it all together. This was a great, well thought out read that kept me guessing throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well this was such a page turner. It was gripping and I really needed to find out what happened next. The first ten pages or so did not grab me then it got really interesting and really wanted to know how all the secrets unravelled.

I found it really interesting and intriguing that I did not know who the victim was - I kept flip flopping in my guess.

I was given an advance copy by the publishers and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

This is the second Tammy Cohen book I've read and I absolutely loved Stop at Nothing so had high expectations for the Wedding Party. Unfortunately I was disappointed but I think that is due to my current fatigue with psychological thrillers with a wedding and/or island setting. There seems to be a run of these thrillers at the moment and so for me the plot and setting has become tired. This novel offered nothing original for me, I found it hard to connect with the characters and plot which I found predictable and lacking in suspense. Not for me but if you like this genre I would give it a read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up.

As soon as you get wind of Lucy’s “perfect” wedding plans and all the the work she’s put into it you just know this train is going to be seriously derailed! Lucy and Jace (yuk, what’s wrong with Jason?) are planning an intimate but very high end wedding on the Greek island of Kefalonia. Guests will indulge in a week of relaxation and pampering before the big day. There are many elements in play

. Lucy has seriously overspent, and can’t pay the wedding planner
. The wedding planner owes money to some unsavoury people
. The bride’s sister brings some random guy she just met
. The bride’s father has been a naughty boy
. The bride’s best friend is seriously ‘off’
. A lot of the women get some sort of gastric problem
. The best man’s wife is seriously annoying, and
. There is a creepy old lady who is waaaay too interested in their group,
. Oh, and you find out at the start that someone dies - but who?

Things start out well enough but by the time the wedding day arrives, half the women of the group are feeling ill and things start to spiral out of control. Some real clangers are dropped in the speech department, and emotions run high. The day ends in tragedy.

This was a fun read. I don’t think any of the characters were particularly likeable, even the glowing bride had some faults. I got sick of her internal monologue about her perfect day, how it all had to be perfect, how much work it was, how could her sister spoil it by literally existing, is it too much to ask that for one day she is the star of the show...yada, yada. Her I wanted to shake, some of the others needed a slap and some others needed...more drastic measures.

Apart from the whining about everything being perfect, the character’s secrets were all slowly revealed as we barrelled uncontrollably towards said train derailment. Another book not to take too seriously for maximum enjoyment. Go with the flow, enjoy hating on all the characters, and smirk at their bad decisions and you will have fun with it. I did. Thanks to Netgalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Tammy Cohen for the ARC to review. My opinions are my own.

Told from multiple perspectives this novel moves along at a slow pace, and that allows you really get to know each of the characters. I started out not liking a single character in the book and while I still didn't like most of them by the end of the novel I did get a better understanding of them all.

The story itself is a slow burn and it fools you into thinking you have it all figured out trust me when I tell you that you don't. There are plenty of plot twists that I just did not see coming.

The writing is fantastic and the descriptions of the landscape is almost hypnotic, I could smell the sea air while reading this book. I think Cohen manages to really capture families complicated dynamic.

The ending was one of the best I have read and well WOW.

Thanks to Netgalley the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this novel.

Lucy and her fiancé Jason are getting married. They are planning a swish wedding in a boutique hotel in beautiful Kefalonia, or rather an enthusiastic Lucy is. She and Jason are the ‘Golden Couple’ so deeply in love and Lucy wants a unique and fabulous wedding day that everyone will remember as magical and spectacular, so she hires a wedding planner called Nina who is living on the Ionian island so that all of the information will be current and authentic. She has dreamed of a breath-taking wedding since she was a little girl. She has the dress, she has the date, she has the venue, the invitations have gone out and every minute detail had been verified and poured over. The flights are booked, the bags packed and the week before the wedding the guests arrive and check into a very impressive venue. The week leading up to the wedding is going to be just fabulous.
They are spoilt rotten with a week of activities, treatments, relaxation in the fabulous spa, shopping trips, site-seeing, pampering and more. There is a mysterious and late Plus One addition to the guest list. Lucy’s sister Jess had arrived with a mysterious and withdrawn chap she has literally only just met. But that is typical of her, not thinking things through. They have brought their family and best friends. Then during that week another older lady has insinuated herself into the group. All that planning and now these little niggling things are rearing their ugly head; flies in the ointment, mishaps, tummy troubles and the feeling that things are not quite right. Still, they make the most of their holiday, anticipating the wedding as the main event, the cream on the top of the cake.
Then suddenly a body falls from the high cliffs landing on the beach below and the festivities are interrupted by police interviews with an interpreter, a member of the hotel staff, helping to make the witness statements accurate and interpreted into Greek. Helping move the story forward are journal accounts which also help to give a context to the current story and build up the historic fore stories. It was always meant to be a week to remember, but these complications make memories for all the wrong reasons. Lucy is distraught.
Was it an accident or was it murder? What is going on behind the scenes? Who are the two late additions to the wedding party? Why is Lucy’s Mum Hazel and Dad Dom acting so strangely? There are so many hiccoughs and unexplained goings on right until the very end of the story. What should have been a joyous and memorable occasion takes on another more sinister mantle. This is the chaotic story of Jason and Lucy’s wedding party.
The tension throughout the chapters is steady and exciting, but also protracted. I didn’t really identify with any of the characters. They were a strange and eclectic assortment of generations, each with their own perspective and thoughts. The action builds up until finally Lucy and Jason reach their wedding day. I found the sudden ending much less satisfying than the work up to the finale, as it was not furnished with as much detail as the novel.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Bookouture through my membership of NetGalley. Thank you for my copy. These are my own honest opinions without any outside influences. It’s a 3.5* review from me for the reasons I have detailed.

The Wedding party by Tammy Cohen is the first book from the author that I have read, and I have heard good things about the author so I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this.
Lucy has dreamt of her perfect wedding day. She has put all her heart and soul to make it the wedding of her dreams. So, when they are all gathered on the beautiful island of Kefalonia with her partner Jason. A body has been discovered on the beach. Suddenly everything seems to start to go wrong.
Lucy’s parents start to act strangely, and her sister brings a plus one that she has only just met. They are worried when they find out that he is not he says he is. They also met someone on the plane that keeps wanting to Gatecrash the wedding. The whole bunch of wedding guests are that are dysfunctional, and everything comes clear towards the end.
I really enjoyed this intriguing story set on the island of Kefalonia. Told in several points of view, none of the characters were very likeable but both had their own mass of problems and everyone concerned who the murdered might be or was it and accident? I like the descriptions of the island they were quite realistic and made me want to go there some day and had a great plot. 4 stars from me.

I do enjoy knowing that someone has died but not knowing who or why until quite close to the closing pages.

The author has created a large cast of generally flawed and mostly unpleasant characters, most of whom have unsavoury pasts except perhaps the very spoilt and naive bride-to-be.

Beautifully plotted, this is a real page-turner and the denouement was both surprising yet satisfying.

Highly recommended and my thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I have read most of this authors books and loved them all. This one certainly didn’t disappoint. It kept me hooked from start to finish and the whole storyline was gripping. It was very easy to read and I would definitely recommend this book

I really enjoyed this book, suitably twisting and turning plot in a beautiful Greek island setting with a cast of complex and flawed characters! While the ending was unexpected and as such worked well, I was left with questions about the fate of characters such as Nina and Cora. I guess a good book does leave you wanting more!

Goodness I have to admit I love reading the crazy and creepy books about weddings! Lol I don’t know why but it’s so entertaining and the characters are always crazy which makes the books amazing!!

I'm guessing Tammy Cohen is an Agatha Christine fan. There's so much of this book that's reminiscent of the Queen of Crime - the complex family relationships, the red herrings, the tightly knitted plot; the urge to turn back to the first page as soon as you've read the last, to engage with the story again; to seek out the clues, now you possess all the answers.

But The Wedding Party has a good deal more psychological depth than anything Agatha managed, much as I adore her. This is a different, altogether more satisfying read. We feel for these characters, understand their dilemmas, root for them, fear for them. It's a complex, knotty storyline, with a substantial cast, large as a Russian novel, all of them expertly drawn, given particular foibles and speech patterns; no two dimensional stereotypes here, While it's reasonably light entertainment, it makes demands on its readers. There are moments that make you think, yearn, worry: there are characters that will linger long after the book's been closed. I want to know where her vast ensemble of odd balls and misfits will venture next, if they'll find happiness, forget the craziest wedding party there's ever been, or seek to learn from it,. That's a sure mark of success.

Rating: 2.3/5

Immediately prior to reading this I had just completed "The Guilt Trip" by Sandie Jones, which has a similar setting and also a similar premise in many respects. The subject matter will also lead to understandable comparisons with Lucy Foley's "The Guest List".

Lucy (the character is this book, rather than the aforementioned Ms Foley) has long been planning her dream wedding to Jason. Now they find themselves about to tie the knot on the Greek island of Kefalonia in the company of an assorted group of friends, relatives and acquaintances. There would be no story if everything ran smoothly and there was absolutely no tension surrounding any of the guests - and, sure enough, it isn't long before things start to go awry.

The book has a reasonably large cast of characters and the story is told from the viewpoint of several of them. Additional parts of the narrative come from "Therapy Journal" sections (the provider of which is initially anonymous) and extracts from witness interviews conducted by the Kefalonian police. (We learn at the outset that a body has been found, but we don't know whose.)

As I indicated at the start of this review, the premise is far from unique and there are plenty of similar examples out there. That, in itself, doesn't really matter. The setting chosen by Tammy Cohen is appealing and - as if a wedding isn't potentially stressful enough anyway - there are more than enough historical tensions, secrets and yet-to-be-discovered backstories among the dramatis personae to give the author plenty of scope to work with. But, having said that, "The Wedding Party" didn't consistently draw me in, captivate me and hold my attention.

There are certainly some appealing elements: Tammy Cohen's writing is wonderfully descriptive at times. The use of the witness interviews and the "Therapy Journal" sections works well. Aspects of the characterisation are quite tongue-in-cheek and amusing. On the one hand, this last point was a nice touch, but on the other hand, it was illustrative of part of the problem ... namely that it wasn't always clear what the author wanted the essence of the book to be. At times it had this light-hearted element of poking fun at the characters, that seemed to invite the reader to not take the book too seriously, while on other occasions it appeared to be positioned more as an earnest psycho-drama. There were even sections that read as though they could have been lifted straight from a piece of "chick lit". I am not suggesting that writers can't successfully incorporate variations of style and tone into a novel, but it needs careful handling in order to work well - and I am not sure that it passed muster in this instance.

In summary, "The Wedding Party" has lots of good ingredients, but, somehow, the overall recipe doesn't quite work as well as it could have.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.