Me? Yes I DO love a slooow burn. But my oh my, even I was a little bored with this one. There was a whole lot of nothing happening for a very long time. This reminded me in some ways of Nine Perfect Strangers only all the characters were incredibly bland. Overall It didn’t bring anything new to the strangers in isolation together concept and was quite predictable. It felt like another run of the mill, slightly over the top british thriller. So if that’s your cup of tea, you might enjoy this.

I rate this book 2.5 stars.

This book gets off to a good start, I empathised with Bella’s empty nest syndrome as her only son leaves for university. The wilderness lodge should be idyllic but Bella finds sinister overtones from the start. The plot loses pace then until the last quarter of the book when it really ramps up and is action packed. Overall not one of the best thrillers I’ve read.

This was a good story, although not I was expecting from the setting. I thought it was going to be a murder mystery, set in a remote place cut off from the outside world and the dead bodies keep piling up. However, about halfway through I realised this probably wasn’t the case because no one had died yet! It was still an interesting mystery, but I would’ve liked some more action.

There were a good bunch of characters, and I quite enjoyed Bella the main character. I liked that she was a mum of a teenage boy. She was a very bad thriller character though, I was begging her not to do some of the stupid things she did! The other characters were okay, although quite a lot of the time Bella ended up leaving the group activities at the retreat so we didn’t get to see a lot of them in the second half.

Overall I did like the plot, although I somehow managed to guess who the ‘bad guy’ was and what their motive was! That never happens 😅 it was a very slow-burn, not a lot of action until the very last few chapters. There’s not a lot of action or danger, but the narrator starts to become very unreliable towards the end which is interesting.

It did take a little while to get engrossed , but really enjoyed it in the end. I did not anticipate the ending and towards the end I had to keep reading until the end.

Dropping her only child off at university leaves Bella feeling lost and hollow inside. It’s just been the two of them since Asher was born. She does have a treat in store to take her mind off it though. Bella’s sister and Asher have treated her to a week at a wilderness retreat in Sweden.
Promising Asher that she will throw herself into it, Bella’s first impressions of the retreat are good. It’s comfortable and in a beautiful setting; ideal for Bella to relax and get through her initial sadness at Asher moving asway. Unfortunately, someone at the retreat seems to have other ideas, leaving strange notes for Bella, weird noises in the night and suddenly Bella is anything but relaxed. Then a face from her past arrives and one of the other guests disappears and Bella begins to worry she might never see her son again.
Tense, creepy and atmospheric this kept me on edge and guessing until the end.

Wow. I really enjoyed this book. You could say this sort of storyline has been done before but I thought this was great. Guess at a wilderness retreat in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Sweden. I was left guess all the time. Just when I thought I knew what was happening and other new twist in the story.
Thank you netgalley for the ARC

I try really hard to find something good in every book I read but this had me struggling.

This had to be the most repetitive, irritating, non thriller I've read for a long time.

It needed an editor to take a knife to it to cut out all the superfluous reiterations of the same "facts" that the protagonist, Bella, presented us with- she has a son who she is almost creepily attached to, she'd been given a commission off the back of a film score, her holiday was provided by her sister, she found the retreat creepy and she wanted her phone back.

Bella was on a high state of alert from the off - she seemed to be terrified of her fellow guests but it was never made clear why. She endlessly opined about how miserable and scared she was and she drank to excess despite swearing off it every night.

In short, the woman drove me nuts. The plot was almost non-existant and even I could see the reveals coming a mile off. I got to 75% of the way through before there was any real action.

I wouldn't recommend this I'm afraid. It wasn't my cup of tea at all.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I found this premise so unique with a Scandinavian wellness retreat, something seemingly relaxing and rejuvenating becoming so sinister and creepy. I found it slightly repetitive in parts when Bella was talking about her past and missing her son, Asher, so I did feel like there was some filler, however this is the only thing I didn't like in the book. Every other part was so interesting, from the variety of unique personalities and plot twists + multiple red herrings, I really couldn't tell what was real or not.

Every single character was so different and interesting (and suspicious) in their own right I need a fully book of just their backstory's own their own. The landscape was also chillingly beautiful, truly a place to hold the perfect psychological thriller. For a debut novel this is amazing, a perfect fast paced mystery thriller.

Thank you to netgalley and publishers for arc
If this is Jennifer Moores debut novel then she is a definite star in the making
It’s almost like a murder mystery novel put all the people in one place then set the scene and work out what the heck is going on except no one is getting murdered!
It follows story of Isabella/Bella and her son Asher from her uni days to his in a split story kind of way, so as Bella goes of to a retreat in the wilderness and Asher starts uni the novel obviously follows Bella
The wilderness is obviously creepy, dark, forest with all forms of communication handed in at beginning to allow for complete relaxation.
But Bella finds a note under her door on day 1 the same day as her old uni lecturer Ludwell and his wife Julia arrives that she slept with and knows is Asher’s father but has failed to tell a living soul. Others on retreat are a Oscar a writer obviously, Lena travel blogger, T designs computer stuff, Krista looking for peace after tragic loss and Hamar
Things start to get very weird for Bella even to the point she thinks she is being poisoned or drugged as does ludwells wife
Had me on my toes til last chapter I didn’t have a clue who was behind all strange things
Brilliant page turner highly recommend it for people who like fast paced mysteries

Bizarre Events..
A familiar yet intriguing premise and one that many us simply cannot resist - a remote setting, a small group of individuals and a series of bizarre events. In this instance, a luxury lodge wilderness retreat in Sweden. A surprise for Bella who decides to embrace it - but it’s not too long before strange things begin to occur. As Bella descends into extreme anxiety, the situation worsens. With an atmospheric setting, nicely drawn characters populate the slow burn plot moving towards the, perhaps, unexpected denouement.

I couldn't tell where this one was going to go!

Set at a retreat in rural Sweden, Jennifer Moore does a fantastic job of cultivating a claustrophobic environment out of one that is meant to be serene. I was genuinely frightened at one point and had to avoid reading this before bed, which I think is a true testament to the landscape and storytelling. Bella is a compelling protagonist and it's easy to be right there with her, thanks to Moore's character development.

Would recommend to anybody who is a fan of psychological thrillers and mysteries.

Bella is away for a week at a wellness retreat. Her son has just gone away to university so her sister treats her to cheer her up. Sadly it is not as expected when lots of carefully creepy things start happening and she is losing her mind but isn't sure how!!
Perhaps a little too much description of Bella 's feeling and thoughts which were a little repetitive but generally a good book with a few twists. I hadn't guessed the murderer

As usual I will not be retelling the plot here as I believe that the blurb writers do a better job without giving anything away. In conclusion, however, this is a lockdown psychological mystery. The main character is Bella who has a past which is dominating her present life to the nth degree! I have to admit that this becomes annoying to the reader about 30% through. In addition the writer throws just about every form of psychological torture and nearly as many physical mishaps as she can dream up at the situation. TOO MUCH in one novel! You could use the material and ideas for at least 2 or 3 volumes. I was glad to get to the end!

From the description this sounded like a book I'd love but unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations.

I found the protagonist Bella to be self absorbed and obsessed with her son. I found the repetitive nature of story telling by the author slowed the flow of the story making it a hard read for me. I did not understand the necessity to be repeatedly told that Bella was 38, a single mum who loved her son, did not trust the fellow guests and felt anxious.

The premise of this novel was a good one but unfortunately it lost something in the execution of it for me.

A trip to a Scandinavian wilderness retreat is the gift single mum Bella is given by her sister, as an escape after son Asher starts university. Bella isn't too keen on the idea, but decides she could use the time to work and try to relax. What she actually gets is anything but relaxing - odd notes pushed under doors, strange scratching noises and the arrival of a man Bella never wished to see again. As the week goes on, can Bella begin to understand the strange events and leave the retreat alive?

The title, cover and blurb really drew me in, and actually I found it quite an entertaining read. Yes it was a slow burn, not much happened for the first 75% except for scene setting, but it was enough to keep me reading. Did I predict the ending, and who the antagonist was? Yes, but that didn't take away from my entertainment. A solid 3.5, rounded up to 4.

Twist after twist makes this book an excellent read. I raced through this book wanting to know what happened next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

This started slow, and built up slowly and it did start to pick up towards the end but overall this one fell a little flat for me. The book had a lot of promise and I was really looking forward to reading but it failed to deliver a truly gripping and exciting read for me.

I loved the premise of this book, however, I found the execution of it just didn't work for me. I struggled to get through it and DNF

This was a very slow burner and took me a bit to get into. Nothing really happens for the first 80% of the book until right at the end, and it does wrap things up.

I despised Bella, she just seemed whingey and everything was about her. She's so focused on the past and staying there, it feels that she doesn't want her son to be happy and move on with his life because it doesn't involve her. She's sort of becomes slightly better by the end of the novel.

If you enjoy a slow burner then this book is definitely up your street.

I'd rate it 2.5