I loved this psychological thriller/mystery, which was wonderfully narrated.

The story is about a woman called Sienna, whose twin sister Samantha died. When she gets invited to a weekend away with Samantha's friends and the people she worked with, at first she does not want to go, but then she decides to go, to see if she can find out what happened to Samantha. She takes with her Samantha's diary, which is filled with lots of shocking secrets. Was it someone who is close to Samantha who killed her? Or was it really just an accident? Will Sienna find out the truth?

This is a great, suspenseful read, which will draw you in and keep you hooked. I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for an audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

A year ago Sienna's twin sister, Samantha, died after leaving her a mysterious voicemail. The circumstances around her death never sat right with Sienna and she is convinced there is more to the story. When she finds Samantha's hidden journal revealing her friends and coworkers deep secrets Sienna knows one of them was behind her sister's death. She agrees to go along on a weekend away with Samantha's group of friends to question all of their motives and find the truth behind all the lies.

The Weekend Away is a slow burn mystery with a lot of characters and back story. It was fairly predicable and I questioned a lot of Sienna's decisions considering there was a murderer in her midst but the writing style and pacing were enough to keep me engaged. The story is told from the POV of Sienna, Troy (the vacation rental owner) and Samantha's journals. I liked Sienna and Samantha's but found Troy's whole story unnecessary. The relationship with Sienna is forced and thin. Overall this was an okay mystery. I had the audio version read by Madeline Pell.

This is a Who Done It? Thriller set in the Smoky Mountains after a death in the friend group feels a little… fishy.
The plot twisted more than once & made me second guess my own friends.
I listened to this as an audiobook & feel like I might have enjoyed it more as an ebook. The narration missed personality & feeling at times.

Sienna is still grieving the death of her twin sister, Samantha and fails to believe she would ever harm herself. To mark the one year anniversary, Samantha’s close knit group of friends invite her to a weekend away to commemorate her memory. When Sienna arrives she is horrified to see Samantha’s best friend and boyfriend are now a couple. As the weekend progresses, Sienna reveals she has Samantha’s diary and there is some very interesting revelations. Sienna declares someone within the group killed Samantha and will find out who…
A dark thriller that will keep you hooked until the end. With plenty of intrigue and twists, this book build and builds into an explosive finale.

Thank you NetGalley for the audio copy in exchange for a honest review. Sienna is still grieving from her twin sister Samantha’s tragic death. To mark the anniversary of her death Samantha’s friends invite Sienna to a secluded lodge. At first she refuses the invite. Then she finds Samantha’s journal and is convinced one of her friends is responsible for her death. Sienna accepts the invitation determined to find out the truth putting herself in grave danger.

This reminded me of a Freida MacFadden style book with the way the author wrote. I should note, I’m a Freida fan!

Overall I really enjoyed this book - it was a super quick read, there were enough characters where it kept the storyline flowing but not too many characters that you got confused or lost by the different roles. While it was not a ground breaking or memorable book I did enjoy it and would recommend to readers.

3.5/5 stars.

What kind of situations would you endure to find the truth? And how far would you go if you needed to find out the truth of your sister's death?

A year ago, Sienna's sister died. Was it an accident, suicide, or something more sinister? Sienna is about to do everything in her power to find out... with a little help from the diary written by her sister, Samantha(before her death).

This book was a little slow moving for my taste and it was harder for me continue reading then I'm used to.

This was an easy, low-substance read. I finished it but didn’t find it enjoyable.
The narrator of the audiobook was very slow and uninteresting. I had to speed it up to 1.25 to make her sound close to a normal talking speed.
The description of the book gave away too much info (ie. the fire is mentioned but doesn’t happen until about 75% of the way thru the book). I kept wondering when events were going to happen.
I didn’t relate to the characters and it was predictable in the end.

My first thought getting into this book was yes (drumming my fingers together) ....people with secrets and I get to read their breaking points. Then as I listened through this audiobook...I was like yes...just as expected! You know there will be some sort of drama when you put together a group of "friends" in a cabin in the woods.

This fun thriller could almost be considered cliche with the storyline and the cast of characters, but author Miranda Smith managed to up the game to make this book fun and heartfelt to read at the same time. This read like the college version of a Christopher Pike book and it contained many tropes that makes a thriller an enjoyable read. I'm glad to be introduced to this author's work. Even though we read through Sienna's experience of figuring out what happened to her twin sister Samantha, who fell off a balcony railing and died, you still get to know Samantha through her journal entries. That part was a great add-on to the whole cabin scenes. This was fun.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Miranda Smith for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Whoa,my emotions are ALL over the place!!! Wow!!! Wow!!! Wow!!! This book is a total page-turner and will keep you guessing with every page. I love this incredible thriller. Narrated fantastic as well.

A year ago Sienna's twin sister Samantha left her a message saying she needed her. Next thing she knows Samantha is dead.
The family are struggling with her death. Sienna then gets an invite to join her friends in a wooded cabin. Having found her sisters old journal she feels its the perfect opportunity to find out what was happening with her sisters relationships before her death. Will she discover new information on her sisters death. Or will she just put her own life in danger!
The narrator in the audiobook brought the tension to life with the story. Miranda Smith has written in such a way that with multiple characters it was easy to follow who was who.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to see an ARC

To say I love Miranda Smith is an understatement. She is always reliable for a fantastic thriller. The Weekend Away is full of characters who are just suspicious enough to be the killer of Sienna’s twin sister. A satisfying conclusion ends this one perfectly.

A dead sister and a weekend in the woods with five of her sister’s closest friends, what could go wrong? After the death of her sister being ruled a suicide, Sienna couldn’t help but feel that something just wasn’t right. Her sister was happy and successful and wouldn’t have done anything to hurt herself or kept any ill feelings about her life from Sienna. And then there was that voicemail her sister left her the night of her death….

Listening to this story was fun. The author did a great job with the storytelling and character development. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters from the multiple viewpoints of each character. You are able to really feel Sienna’s struggle to determine if her grief is causing the feelings she has that something isn’t right or if there’s something else. There were a lot of twists that kept me spinning while trying to determine what happened and who could be responsible. The narrator was challenging for me to listen to. She spoke slowly and very enunciated so it sounded staccato. There were frequent pauses that didn’t feel natural at times. I attempted to adjust the speed of the audio, but the odd pauses made the increased speed sound worse. The story definitely kept me interested enough to look past the audio issues.

This book had a really great narrator, but it did take me some time to complete listening to this.

Sienna has a sister that has sent her a message that she needs her; however she soon learns after that, that her sister is dead.

She doesn't believe that it was an accident, and wants to find out the truth on her own. A weekend to get away and discuss it with her friends leads to some shocking truths/AND LIES!

Solid Thriller by Miranda Smith. I did not want to put this book down. The lies we tell our friends always come back to haunt us.

What was thought to be a close knit group of friends are hiding many dark sisters from themselves and Samatha's sister, who wants to know the truth about her death.

This book kept me on the seat of the couch and twists at the end were totally unexpected.

This was an entertaining read, and it definitely kept me in suspense the whole time. We follow Sienna, whose twin sister Samantha died accidentally (or was it an accident…?). Samantha’s friends invite Sienna to a weekend away at a cabin to honour her sister’s memory, but Sienna discovers that the group of friends have a whole lot of secrets.

I did struggle to care about the characters - I somehow found them all fundamentally unlikeable, which I think is the point, while there’s also very little character development. A key point of the novel is that all Samantha’s friends have a motive to have killed her, but some people’s motives seem tenuous at best. Overall, though, a fun and suspenseful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy.

UNABLE TO REVIEW AS THE BOOK WAS TAKEN BACK BEFORE READING. I did reach out to NetGalley Support, and after almost two weeks, was told they cannot help.
So I cannot review a book that I was not able to read.
And yes, I absolutely DID download it to my shelf!

3.5/☆
A year ago, Siena's twin, Samantha died suddenly. Siena had just gotten cryptic voicemail from her, but was abroad. Now in present day, Siena is invited to a weekend getaway with Samantha's best friends. She knows they are hiding things, but did one of them kill her sister?

I thought this was overall engaging, but I think at times scenes were too drawn out. Troy's perspective also felt weird. I feel like we could have just seen him through Siena's viewpoint and it would've had the same effect. He didn't really add much, and then in the epilogue, he and Siena are trauma bonding when they didn't have much interaction?? Smith also felt it necessary to tie a bow up with what was going on with every character, which I didn't really think I needed here.

I did like the narrator, although when it came to voicing Troy in the epilogue, it was weird. The super twang accent I didn't think was necessary, but it didn't really affect me too much since it was just at the end.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to listen to this ARC!

When Sienna’s twin sister Samantha dies, Sienna knows something is not quite right! She goes on a weekend away with all of Samantha’s friends to get some answers. I would definitely say this is more of a mystery vs. a thriller. We are left guessing up until almost the very end. It wasn’t super suspenseful for me but I’m sure others would enjoy!