Member Reviews

I loved Mumford's last book, The Hotel, and while this one still has its good qualities, it's not a huge favourite of mine. I love Mumford's writing, but I found that this one had a rather drawn out first half and took a while to get to the drama of it all. I would still recommend though!

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This is a great summer read set in the world of festivals and dysfunctional families! The festival, Solstice, takes place in a small Welsh town and Libby and Dawn win tickets. A lot of secrets surround the 'sanctum' festival within a festival and Dawn is determined to find out what goes on there. The main character , libby, is coming to terms with losing her mother and wants to enjoy her freedom but she has a feeling of not belonging. They unearth a dark side to the festival and find out secrets which change them forever. It's a bit cliched at times, some of the characters seem a bit 1 dimensional, but the 2 main young women are realistic. Towards the end I felt it dragged on too long and then was a bit to neatly tied up in a happy ever after

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This has everything I hope for in escapist fiction; fast pace, twisty p,it and plausible characters. I was swept along by a story which moves seamlessly between past and present. Libby wins tickets to a summer solstice music festival in Wales. She invites her friend Dawn along, but things soon take a dark turn. There are secrets and lies and all is not as it seems.

Louse Mumford has carefully created all the sounds and senses of a festival. I felt as if I was actually there with the music pounding, the crowds pressing in and the heat overwhelming. That’s great writing and the central characters are engaging. Add the creepiness of the backstory to the festival origins and this is difficult to put down, only disappointment was that I finished it! Loved it.

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I really enjoyed this book. I had previously read The Hotel by the author and really enjoyed it so I was expecting good things and I wasn't disappointed. Really liked the story and the characters. I will definitely be reading more by the author.

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As with every Louise Mumford book I was gripped right away and the twists and turns kept me reading until the end.

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Another brilliant book by Louise Mumford. The story is set at a Festival in the Welsh countryside. Libby wins two tickets for this Solstice Festival and goes with her best friend Dawn. All is not what it seems ,Dawn disappears just like another girl did years ago .Fast paced, chilling at times ,some great characters especially Ma ,secrets and lies are exposed with a very satisfying ending .Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC .

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I previously read and enjoyed ‘The Hotel’ by Louise Mumford, so I was excited to read her latest book – The Festival.

When Libby wins free tickets to Solstice – the biggest music festival of the summer, she is excited to go with her best friend Dawn. Her controlling mother has just died, and this feels like the perfect way to kick start her new life. However, Solstice is hiding some secrets of its own and as the sun beams down on the longest day of the year, things start to go horribly wrong…

The music festival is a great setting for this thriller - the crowds, the heat and the party atmosphere really worked well to juxtapose and enhance the tension of the story. The narrative alternates between Libby’s perspective in the present day, to flashbacks of the origin story of the festival and the strange family behind it. This worked well to give some context to the story and drip feed important information slowly.

I really liked the two main characters – Libby and Dawn, especially Dawn who seemed like a really great friend and just the person you’d want in your corner when you had trouble with your family. I liked the use of local myths and legends with the standing sisters and witch bottles. It’s a fast paced read that gripped me and kept my interest throughout. The ending really ramps up to an action-packed climax - it did get a little unrealistic towards the end, but I did enjoy it - you just need to suspend your disbelief.

Overall, The Festival is a fast paced read that I recommend. Thank you to NetGalley & HQ Stories for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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An enjoyable summer book when all the festivals happen and credit to Ms Mumford for researching in the mud and poor sanitary conditions!

The main character is twenty something Libby Corrigan and, with her friend Dawn, travel to a festival in the Welsh countryside.

Obviously Libby hopes to enjoy a weekend of music and fun laughter, However family secrets emerge mainly with the eccentric Ma Blake and her sons who live in the big house (they own the land on the festival site|. To get to this house from the festival site they have to cross a river and the stepping stones are a brilliant piece of engineering! Fascinating.

Luckily, there is a musician, Joe who is on hand during the many incidents that involve poor Libby..

I am not sure if this a true thriller with some exciting bits, but an enjoyable story with an excellent backdrop.

Thanks to Net Galley and HQ Digital for the chance to read and review.

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Libby has had a traumatic upbringing with her mum who was a single parent. She had always been critical and quite cruel to Libby. Despite this Libby nursed her through the last couple of years of her life. After her mums passing Libby wins tickets to the famous solstice festival (very Glastonbury influenced) and, even though she isn't keen on going, he life-long loyal friend Dawn talks her into it and off they go. Events spiral from here as they become embroiled in a dark story of secrets and lies.
I really enjoyed reading this book and there were a few twists and turns. I love Louise Mumford's style of writing. I also enjoyed her other book 'The Hotel'. I look forward to reading anything by her in the future.

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Libby wins an entry ticket to The Festival. Her friend Dawn is so keen, so Libby gives in and they go. Not getting off at the right station means they meet Edna Kirk and her son Joe. They run a small general store, so pick up some bits for the festival. They find their tent and explore - drink, dance and generally make merry. All is fun until…
Starts off really gently, warm and cuddly, then takes a sinister turn. How did Libby win the tickets?
Slow start, lulls you into a false sense of security. Then small hints that all is not as it seems at the Summer Solstice Festival…
Engaging, written in such a way that the past is explained as the present goes along - well done, giving little insights along the way.
I enjoyed it.

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A summer festival that is notoriously difficult to get tickets to forms the backdrop to the events in Luise Mumford’s latest. A thriller that, at times, strays into melodrama territory but it is an entertaining read. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review it before publication.
Libby has always lived a safe life. Forgoing university to care for her mother, it is Libby’s friend Dawn who urges her to take risks and try new things. This determination to take a risk proves costly for Libby, though it does ultimately offer some respite.
When she wins tickets to the exclusive Solstice festival, Libby takes it as a sign to try something new. Things start well but odd events create a growing sense of unease. When Dawn goes missing and Libby is ejected from the festival things become increasingly fraught.
I won’t give details but there’s a story behind this. A story that is beyond what you’d imagine.

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Little creepy!! I went back and forth between reading and listening. Libby wins tickets to a solstice festival right after her mom dies. Obviously there is an agenda behind her winning these tickets. While at this festival weird and threatening things start happening to Libby and her friend. She finds out her life has basically been one big lie. It spirals out of control toward the end of the book with lies being revealed, people seeking revenge etc. It was ok.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the first half which detailed the back story and the festival amd then it just got twistier and twistier and turned into something else entirely and became really quite dark. I thought the ending was great too. Recommended.

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I’ve read a few books now about festivals, so I think I was destined to compare this one to the others.
I was so kindly sent a link for the ARC from the publisher so I really wanted to love this book but I thought it was just ok.
The main character was really interesting to get to know and there were a few twists and turns along the way, I just felt like it was lacking something.
This book would be fantastic for older teens or young adults. It isn’t too graphic and the storyline might be more exciting for them.
Thank you so much HQ for this ARC!

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It may be coincidence that several thrillers set in Wales, and several more centred around music festivals, are due for release soon – I have enjoyed reading them all, including this stand-alone novel by Louise Mumford. Her storyline centres around Libby Corrigan, until recently a carer for her mother who has just passed away from a terminal illness. In the company of her friend Dawn who is determined to get Libby out of the house and among people once more, Libby wins tickets to a folk music festival and reluctantly accompanies Dawn to Wales. The initial descriptions of the outdoor living, camping conditions and human drama at a festival are depicted well, and the scene for the mystery are set when the women find a malicious note outside their tent. But as more and more characters are introduced, the plot becomes a little too far-fetched. The descriptions of the family members who host the festival, for example, are a little too stereotypical for my liking: the powerful matriarch, the attractive, biblically named son and his taciturn, lacklustre brother are all a little hyperbolic and it is overly clear that they are all hiding something. Against their depictions, the other festival-goers, of whom there must be many, meld into one indistinguishable mass, and there was room, perhaps, to introduce some intriguing characters among them. The final denouement, when the novel offers it, is a little brief. Overall, a solid summer-time read. My sincere thanks go to NetGalley HQ Digital for free e-ARC in return for the honest and unbiased review I have provided here.

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When Libby wins tickets to the “it” music festival of the year, she agrees to go at the urging of her friend, Dawn. After all, Libby’s earned the right to let her hair down a little bit, having been her mother’s caregiver for the last two years, before her mother’s death from cancer - and let’s just say, her mother wasn’t exactly grateful for the help. But when the girls get to the festival, things start feeling weird right from the start. And soon, Libby is pulled into the festival’s innermost issues in ways she never imagined.

I figured with music festival season in full swing, this book would be the perfect read for the moment, and it really was! I devoured it in like three days. The story started off really interesting, with Libby and Dawn getting to the festival and us getting this very prevalent feeling that something isn’t right.

And the solution to the main mysteries of the story were very good. They came together with several twists and turns that kept things really interesting. It was really gripping.

But the last, say, third, of the book was a little wild. Some of it was a little bit too much….if you know what I mean. It gets a little too far-fetched in some parts. But if you just let your imagination flow with it, you can forgive it for those faults. I mean, it is fiction, after all, so you have to be a little open to fanciful thoughts.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book either way, just as I’ve enjoyed other Louise Mumford books. She’s clearly a talented author with plenty of great stories and ideas.

This is another good read in her bibliography!

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The Festival by Louise Mumford is a highly recommended thriller/mystery.

Libby who is till dealing with her complicated feelings after her mother's death agrees to go out to a club with her best friend, Dawn. Unbelievably, Libby wins two tickets to the Solstice, a music festival on Midsummer’s Eve in Wales at the Blakes family farm. This is a huge event for those who like to go to these sorts of music festivals. It was started by Abel Blake along with his mother Ma Blake, and brother Silas. Dawn is thrilled about the tickets and talks Libby, who is hesitant, into going. It turns out to be a huge mistake.

The narrative unfolds in dual time narratives and includes mixed media stories. After a strong start, the plot becomes uneven and heads down a bumpy road. I wasn't thrilled with the folklore/superstition/mysticism parts of the story which were off-putting. In the mix is a twenty-year-old mystery that becomes very important. The reveals are huge and drama is over-the-top at the height of the final scenes. I had to suspend disbelief several times.

This is a fast-paced summer read, although it did confirm a music/solstice festival will never interest me. The final denouement raised my opinion of the whole plot as it is actually uplifting and positive. Thanks to HarperCollins/HQ for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

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When Midsommar meets Glastonbury...what a read! Luckily for me, I have way more experience with the festival side of this mash-up than the freaky folklore side and Louise Mumford blends them brilliantly. Her writing is so descriptive, from the horror of portaloos to the wonder of fairy-light strewn woods. Bodies moving as one, united by the music and the shared experience - how much would it take to tip it from sublime to scary? Well, Louise will show you.
The unsettling atmosphere ramps us as the two friends immerse themselves more in the hedonism of being in a field far away from real life. There are breadcrumbs of things that jar, things that make you think 'What? That's a bit weird' as you read on. A festival setting is perfect for these things to be dismissed, you are in a unique environment and you are trying your best to be laidback and go with the flow, you're sure there's a valid reason for the strange goings-on that would make sense if you hadn't had that last cocktail.
When Dawn initially went missing, I was convinced that it would be nothing untoward, she had just lost herself in a new group of people and would stagger back full of tales of decadence and debauchery. that's one of the things that is so good about the writing - there's just enough normality and familiarity threaded through it that everything could be fine...until it clearly isn't. Then you reassess all those odd things and see them this time as signs or warnings, but of course it's too late.
The story that does unravel as the book reaches its end is the stuff of horror films. Superstition, terrible choices made, with terrible consequences that ripple out over the years. I loved it!

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I've never been so happy that music festivals have passed me by!

Libby, at twenty years of age, is looking forward to heading into the Welsh countryside to the famed music festival with her friend Dawn. The recent death of her mother has left her mind buzzing with all the vile bitterness with which her parent directed at her, and she desperately needs something brighter in her life. But their trip isn't as straightforward as they think and they are relieved to arrive at the site in one piece. Then Dawn goes missing, and Libby is trying hard not to let panic overtake her . . .

The first thing that always strikes me about Louise Mumford novels is that she looks as if she would write nice romances - where on earth does she manage to come up with such twisted scenarios? This one turned me inside out and back again and, like Libby, I was creeped out for quite a bit of it. Crackling with suspense, this is a great read and one I'm very happy to recommend and give 4.5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - my honest, original and unbiased review.

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An enjoyable summer page-turner! Libby Corrigan is twenty years old and about to go to a festival in the Welsh countryside with her best friend, Dawn. As she prepares for what she hopes will be a weekend of music, revelry and laughter, Libby feels an increasing sense of unease. In part, she is still coming to terms with the spitefulness of her recently deceased mother and the subsequent inner critic that follows her everywhere she goes. However, there is something more to Libby’s existence and this is revealed slowly over the course of the novel.

Filled with a cast of memorable characters, including the enigmatic musician Joe, the eccentric Ma Blake and her chalk and cheese sons (Abel and Silas), there is much for the reader to enjoy in this tense and dramatic narrative.

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