I often find books that flit between past and present annoying and difficult to follow, but this book pulls it off. The past and present interlock to explain the plot, whilst leaving room for plenty of twists to stop you guessing immediately who was to blame. As a result I read the book at speed to see if I was right.

Disappointed with this, had such high hopes but the writing just went on and on! It really dragged and sucked all the fun out of what could’ve been such a good well executed story. So sorry x

The title, book cover the description al had promise. However it was hard to read for many reasons. The plot had potential. It just wasn't well executed. I had some issues with the writing style, I found the descriptive language being done to the point of overkill. Sometimes less is more. There was pages and pages of unnecessary details. The story was all over the place with plot lines unfinished. One of the characters dies near the end of the book, and we never find out why or how. There were alot of characters in this book, but they were not fleshed out to the point where I could not differentiate them, nor could I determine what even made them all friends. Some of the storylines weren't left with a resolution at the end. Lots of people die throughout the book. I figured out early in the book who the killer was, it was so predictable. The plot twist at the end was not original, and predictable. Overall it wasn't my favorite read. I would like to thank NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the DAC of The Weekend by L. H Stacey

This was okay! A slow burn book and it took a while to get there for me. I did not care for the characters either but overall an okay book.

I had a lot of trouble engaging with this novel about a weekend party thrown at an estate by an elderly mother seeking to discover who killed her son some years ago. Told from multiple points of view, switching back and forth between the present and ten years ago, and featuring characters who are neither particularly interesting nor likable and settings lacking specificity, the story often drags. Some scenes make little sense from the standpoint of character motivation. Others are so melodramatic they strain credulity. It doesn’t help that much of the story is driven by sex, drugs, and other forms of self-indulgence or that one of the main characters embroils herself in a relationship with an abusive partner. I also found a number of grammar and word usage errors.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an electronic ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Boldwood Books and L. H. Stacey for the opportunity to read an advance copy of THE WEEKEND, to be published 13 February 2023. A domestic mystery where people were gathered for a 10 year memorial weekend following the death of one of the Kirkwoods. The Kirkwoods were a lively bunch which included all of Thomas’s friends most of the time. They partied it seemed constantly with alcohol, drugs and sex. The book reverts from present day to 10 years ago for the main characters. Individuals who like a domestic thriller will likely enjoy this novel. #NetGalley. #BoldwoodBooks. #TheWeekend. #L.H.Stacey

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

When Lizzie gets an invite for a 10year anniversary memorial party for her at the time boyfriend, she is hesitant to go back to the mansion after all that had happened. Little did Lizzie know that this weekend was planned by his mother to help identify who killed her son. Many players with secretive histories, drugs, family connections and so much more. I like many others, found the writing style a bit difficult to follow. it jumped around often from both current and past and different character perspectives. I also felt at times there was too much narrative to weed through, could have been wrapped up a bit quicker. With all the twists at the very end also made it hard to follow what had actually happened that night.

I received a copy of this book through Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

The story is told between multiple points of view in both the present and the past.

Elizabeth receives an invite to Kirkwood Manor where she spent a lot of time when she was younger. She hadn’t been back to the property since her boyfriend, Thomas, died there. His mother, Ada, is hosting a 10 year memorial for him, and even though Elizabeth swore to herself that she would never go back, she goes anyway. Elizabeth has barely arrived when Ada tells her that she’s hosting this memorial to find Thomas’ killer.

The characters are not likable, but I doubt they’re meant to be. It does take about a third of the book before it gets interesting. I halfway guessed the twist, but not entirely. This one was not a page turner, but more of a slow burn. I found that there was definitely at least one unanswered question that was never answered. It was also overly descriptive at times, which is not a trait I enjoy in a story. It was hard to keep track of all of the different characters at times.

Thank you to Boldwood books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review on Netgalley!

I enjoyed this book, I liked the dual POV and found it very interesting. The plot twists worked well, I loved the setting of the book and the descriptions. I feel like the characters could have been a bit more developed so we could get to know them a bit more and become a bit more attached to them, but other than that it was pretty good.

I really liked the front cover of the book and felt like this made it easier to picture the setting which was great!

I gave this book 3.5 stars.

This story was pretty spooky! I really enjoyed the synopsis and the atmosphere of the book. It was a bit more spooky than suspenseful for me? But i still enjoyed the story and liked the outcome!

This kept me guessing right up to the end. A classic whodunnit in the world of rich, young kids and an outsider who wanted to be part of the gang.
Switching between ten years ago and the present, we see the story from several different characters’ perspectives. Whilst being slightly disjointed at times, I did enjoy the different characters and trying to guess who was the killer.
This book was a quick read and quote interesting.

The Weekend follows Elizabeth as she returns to her college boyfriend's family manor for his 10-year memorial (he had been murdered shortly after graduating med-school). Elizabeth hasn't seen or heard from any of Thomas' friends or family since his death, and Thomas' mother seems to have planned this weekend with motives beyond simply memorializing Thomas. As the weekend progresses, Elizabeth finds herself trying to piece together Thomas' death, as a flood of long-buried memories threatens to engulf her.

The story is told through multiple timelines and POVs, with the main two being Elizabeth and William. There are quite a lot of charactes who are never developed; it's hard to see any of the characters as potential "villains/killers" when they don't have any sort of development. The main characters are mostly unlikeable. There are quite a few plot holes and storylines that aren't resolved. For me, Jordan is one of the storylines that is just left completely blank. The pacing is also off throughout the book; there are a lot of places where the pacing is so slow that it's hard to pick up the book. Finally, the ending is very predictable.

3 🌟🌟🌟 for The Weekend. By L H. Stacey
Release date: Feb 13, 2023

The Weekend follows the story of Elizabeth, whose boyfriend Thomas was killed at their college graduation party 10 years prior. Their friend group was all there but in a drug and alcohol induced state, no one knew who had killed Thomas. It's now 10 years later and William,Thomas's brother, owns the mansion, and his mother Ada has invited all of the friends back for a memorial. Is this really a memorial 10 years later? Why are they all there? And what does Ada want?

The story is told from multiple point of views and time periods, mainly Elizabeth now and 10 years earlier, a few of William now and 10 years earlier, and a couple of Ada. The story itself was good, with multiple twists, some that I saw coming and some that I didn't see coming. The reason I only gave 3 stars is because the beginning of the book was very slow, at one point there were one and a half kindle pages describing the way the light reflected off the lake and the way the grass felt. At another point there were two paragraphs all about how the table was set, which had nothing to do with the story. It just felt like the first half of the book was overly wordy and descriptive in ways that didn't really compliment or were not necessary to the story. The second half of the book picked up with twists and moved along at a much quicker pace and was not overly wordy.

Over all, the story was good and the twists were surprising! However, the flow of the book was incredibly slow in some parts and didn't always feel like it flowed freely or very cohesive. Go into this one knowing that the beginning is going to be a bit slow to get through, but that the ending packs a nice punch!

Advanced Book Review! Thank you @netgalley, @bookandtonic and the author for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
I thought the description had a lot of promise – written in dual timelines, this book is about a murder ten years ago at a grand estate and now a reunion of everyone who was there to try to figure out who the killer was, while trying to stay alive before another person is murdered. But unfortunately, this book just fell flat for me.
The first thing I noticed is that it was way too descriptive and there wasn’t a lot of dialogue. I just got lost in Elizabeth/Lizzie’s thoughts and felt that it really didn’t move the plot forward. I understand that it was supposed to be mysterious but I felt like there was so much information that I was missing which made it hard to follow, but also made it hard to like any of the characters – most of them honestly didn’t seem very important.
Without spoilers, so many things in this story just didn’t make sense – things that were brought up from the past and things that happened in the present-day were not relevant to the overall story and were never resolved. The characters didn’t even seem to care about major things that happened. I also didn’t think it was all tied together very well at the end.
Overall, I think this book had a good premise, but the writing style and the plot and character development were executed poorly.
Publication Date: February 13, 2023

Insanely gripping! We follow Lizzie who has to attend a 10 year memorial for her Ex boyfriend, where she meets up with the same friends that were there the night he was killed and she has to figure out who did it. Honestly didn't expect who it was, and the side plot with William was incredible! It is extremely fast paced and the chapters are short. It was set in such a beautiful location too and I personally say it has a light touch of dark academia too. The writing style reminds me of Lucy Foley and I'm a fan of this book!

I know this is only my second book of the year, but I've not had any luck yet. Again, this is a book I thought I'd love, the setting and synopsis sounding like something I'd usually read, but the execution just wasn't there in my opinion.

The Weekend tells the story of Elizabeth, formerly Lizzie to her old friend group, as she goes back to her dead ex boyfriend, Thomas's, family manor for the first time since he died ten summers ago, and she, along with Ada, Thomas's mother, need to find out who killed him before the weekend she is due to stay ends.

This was a book that I thought I'd love, just like other thrillers with a secluded setting, but my luck just doesn't seem to be there when it comes to thrillers lately, and I hope that changes soon as it's my favourite genre!

Thank you to Boldwood Books for the ARC!

Elizabeth is invited back to Kirkwood Manor, now a hotel, to mark the 10 th anniversary of her boyfriend, Tommy Kirkwood, who also happened to be the scion of the family. He was killed and with his assailant never found, his mother has invited back for the anniversary, all those who had been there, uni school friends, for the weekend party, when he died. Elizabeth returns, unsure if she should have, not having stayed in contact with any of her old friends after Tommy's death.
The circumstances of his death and what really happened that weekend, ten years ago, takes hold and the story takes off. Mayhem, murder and mystery abound as Elizabeth and Tommy's brother, William, renew their former friendship.
A lot of back and forth between then and now - a little too much for me at times, with a lot of character changes - between then and now.
Good story and interesting plot.

A slow burn book with many descriptive details but not much plot. The cover drew me in instantly but I found myself skim reading rather than enjoying the book.

Elizabeth's boyfriend Thomas was found dead on graduation night 10 years ago. She vowed never to return to his estate again as she was so haunted by what happened but when she receives an invite back by Thomas's mother for a 10 year memorial, she decides to return. Thomas's mother, Ada, is not looking for a normal memorial though, she is looking for answers. Answers she expects Elizabeth to help her find.

Alternating between current story line and 10 years ago, this book had a great premise but not sure it reached the full potential. Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC.

First off, thank you to @netgalley and @bookandtonic for proving me an ARC of this book in exchange for me honest review!

Alright so here was another book where the cover drew me in, and where the premise of the booked sounded intriguing, but unfortunately this one fell flat for me. Ten years ago after graduation, Lizzie’s boyfriend Thomas’ body was found floating in the lake at Kirkwood Manor. Lizzie vowed she would never return to this place but now ten years later she’s been invited back as a memorial weekend for Thomas which was organized by his mother. She starts to realize this won’t be an ordinary weekend as his mother intends to find out who actually killed her son. Like I said, it sounded like an interesting premise, but all of the characters were very unlikeable, the story seemed to drag on with a lot of unnecessary detail, and I just really couldn’t get into this one at all.

The story has a centre character called Elizabeth, she and a group of college friends were invited back to Kirkwood Manor which was a place that Elizabeth would love to forget.

Because...this was the place that her college boyfriend Thomas Kirkwood was murdered. They were invited back 10 years later by Thomas's mother, Ada Kirkwood, for a memorial "party". However, Elizabeth was asked by Ada to find out the murderer who killed her son. Elizabeth was still traumatised from the day she discovered Thomas's death in the lake...

This is a slow-burnt thriller. I have to say I have expected a little more of twists and the story development. The chapters are crossing between present and 10 years ago. There are also lots of characters involved in the story. Moreover, the writing style was very different from what I read before. If you like a narrative style, you may like this.

Pub date: Feb 13, 2023