It was alright. Didn’t keep my interest much. Lacked character development for me. Didn’t get hooked on to the characters.

The Honeymoon - Rona Halsall
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I love a fast-paced thriller that keeps you wanting more. This one really delivered that!

Chloe meets Dan and they quickly fall in *lust* and get married. Chloe is smitten, until her honeymoon takes several odd turns leaving her to ask herself who she really married.
Possible trigger warning- death of a parent.

Listened to this one on audio- thank you Net Galley! The idea of a “honeymoon gone wrong” really intrigued me. However, most of the book I found myself SCREAMING at Chloe. Poor, ditzy girl. 🤣

This story was super suspenseful and had me questioning everything, but it was missing that emotional connection that makes your heart skip a beat when you get to the end.

This was a solid read for me! Try not to curse Chloe too loud when you read it. 😉

After a whirlwind romance and a rushed wedding Chloe and Dan set off for their honeymoon in the Maldives...except Dan changed the destination without telling Chloe. Chloe loves Dad but has some suspicions about him as she realizes Dan has been keeping secrets. And why does he think he needs to keep her safe and that going home is out of the question? Chloe quickly starts to feel like she's being held prisoner and is determined to find out what's going on with Dan. I really wanted to like this book but it really fell short of my expectations. I was hoping for twists and turns and a page turning thriller but I just didn't get that. I kept on reading hoping it would get better and I was disappointed that it just never did. I think this would've been perfect as a novella, however, the narrators were really good so that helped me finish it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook.

This book was so weird. So Dan propses to Chloe and the get married within weeks. He then changes their honeymoon destination and tries ot convince Chloe to stay there long term. It's all creepy. He takes her phone and hides it.

She literally finds out someone is dismantling her life and she doesn't know if its Dan or whether he is hiding from something and now its after her.

I was a little flat but I was still hooked. I wish the pace had been better, it just kind of plodded on but I had ti know what was going on so I listened to it all in one sitting.

The narrator was good and I would definitely recommend if you like a good psychological thriller

4 stars

I love a fast-paced thriller that starts right off from the beginning. Every time I felt like I was starting to guess what would happen next, a new twist was thrown in.

Thank you to Netgalley, Rona Halsall and Bookouture Audio for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

The Honeymoon was such a fun book to read, full of twists and fast paced. I love a good psychological thriller that you can jump right into from the beginning.
I found myself immediately feeling sorry for Chloe as she wonders who she ended up marrying as he appears to completely switch gears after the wedding. Their perfect romance turns into an absolute nightmare leaving more questions than answers. Right when you think you have figured it all out, another huge twist comes up leaving amazed. Definitely add this to your MUST READ list, you will not be disappointed. Huge thank you to Rona Halsall, NetGalley, and Bookouture Audio for allowing me to listen to this wild ride.

Thank you Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of the book.

Chloe meets Dan and they get married pretty quickly. Chloe thinks she finally can be happy but honeymoon opens up Dan from a different perspective.

As there were a lot of red flags for this relationship (aka perfect setting for a thriller) I was curious where it all will lead the characters. There were some interesting turns I didn’t see coming so I stopped guessing and just enjoyed the read.

Naomi Frederick did an amazing job narrating and showing characters’ emotions.

I think this book should have been titled "Clueless Chloe," I made it through 60% of the book and then had to give up on it. I did not like or respect the main character, Chloe, which is my automatic thumbs-down. The narration was wonderful.

I was worried about Chloe when she agreed to marry Dan just a few weeks after meeting him. She falls head-over-hills, is ready to believe everything he says, and talks herself into overlooking many red flags! There are so many secrets and so much craziness, plus a thoroughly satisfying end!

3.75*

Thriller set on MENORCA and in BRIGHTON

Chloe works as a physiotherapist, she is good at her job. Her family is pretty unsupportive – her siblings have cut contact with her – and she doesn’t really have the support network of friends. She looks after her grandmother, although she receives no credit for that. And then Dan, carer to one of her patients, barrels into her life.

After a whirlwind romance, he proposes to her and she accepts. She feels treasured by him, for the first time in her life. They plan a honeymoon in the Maldives and when they arrive at the airport, he ushers her into the departure queue for a flight to Menorca (that should be Mahón on the Departures Board, but never mind). He manages to sweet-talk her into accepting the change of venue for the honeymoon, I mean, Maldives versus Menorca… (wouldn’t most of us have thought “there is a rabbit loose here” and high tail it out of there?). She is too biddable, and on the way to the remote villa he has chosen above Es Grau, the taxi stops to pick up provisions. She is clearly not going to get the wonderful dining experience she had anticipated, with swaying palms and rolling waves on her Maldivian island.

Gradually she comes to experience Dan as quite controlling and she suspects he is actually keeping her locked in the house. When challenged, he says there is a reason (a secret) and all he will say is that he has to keep her safe. Her phone has gone missing, and being the accepting young woman she is, she simply asks to use his phone (I personally would be up-a-height if I thought my phone had possibly been stolen but she is placid about the whole thing). As she starts to discover more about her husband, she realises that she knows virtually nothing about him and what she does discover in dribs and drabs is rather alarming.

She, too, carries a secret, which, given something happened in her early twenties, could probably be put down more to youthful carelessness than something more extreme, But anyway, it is a burden she feels she must carry, which she has shared with no-one until now.

I felt committed to listening to the story, it is quite involving and it is well written. But I think overall there was just a level of acceptance on Chloe’s part that just didn’t feel tenable. And at one point, she thrashes around in the water with the deftness of a Ninja, carrying out feats of extreme tenacity – this is an incident which serves to move the story along and felt pretty unbelievable. Overall, though I enjoyed the story, it has a really good level of tension and the ending is nicely rounded, given everything that happens to Chloe. I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Naomi Frederick.

The Honeymoon by Rona Halsall and narrated by Naomi Frederick is a stunning psychological thriller and at the centre, the very real issue of multiple secrets within a whirlwind romance, beutiful settings, idyllic promises and a very very dark undercurrent. Absolutely compelling, intriguing and yes, gripping start to finish!

Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture, Rona Halsall and narrator Naomi Frederick for this gripping ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinons are my own

I listened to the audiobook; right off the bat, I knew it was going to be psychologically thrilling. Halsall doesn’t waste any time building the main character, Chloe, who is constantly questioning herself and wondering if things are right in her life.

Chloe and Dan marry and she is beside herself with joy as she has just had her beautiful wedding and has married her soulmate. Then, shortly thereafter, she tries to convince herself things are ok until they honeymoon on an island and Dan begins acting strangely. He doesn’t want her to leave! He insists they stay on this island forever.

There are many responsibilities back home, including the grandma that she watches over. This isn’t anything she anticipated and now she must navigate her way through this disaster. Should she listen to her husband or should she go back home to her life before? Is she allowed to leave? Strange things begin happening and she then knows something is wrong.

I love Halsall’s writing style as she puts the reader right into Chloe’s head although I didn’t connect with Dan much; maybe because I didn’t trust him from the beginning. I loathed Ryle from Colleen Hoover’s book, It Ends With Us, more than any other antagonist, but now I think Dan is equivalent to Ryle!

Read this book if you love mysteries, thrillers, or psychological thrillers. It never stops with the suspense and often times conflicting emotions you’ll experience while reading this. I definitely did not anticipate the ending would be as it was. Halsall gives us great closure and buttons it up like a true thriller should end.

Naomi Frederick narrated this book. She was perfect for this one. Her voice was pleasant and flawless. I hope to listen to more books that she narrates.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this book.

Wow what a crazy ride. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I really enjoyed the voices of the narration. This book goes through twists and turns of a honeymoon gone wrong. It kept me interested throughout but some of the "foreshaddowing" and twists were awkward and anticlimactic

This high quality audio is a fast paced physiological thriller. It leads you to become the character as the story is narrated and told mainly from chloe's point of view.
At times it felt like there was an underlying attempt to deal with complex issues such as coercion, , gaslighting and quick romance. It was written in such a way you were compelled to carry on listen. The twists and turns grabbed my attention and compelled me to continue. The ending was brilliant and was a fitting end to the character arc of chloe snd women in general.. it was a powerful listen
Highly recommended to all thrillers lovers. However be warned there were times in the middle when it appears to be lost and becoming predictable but it's worth sticking with it. Loved the narrator
Thank you netgallery and publisher and author for this cracking 5 star listen

Chloe gets married to Dan, a man she barely knows, then realizes she *gasp* barely knows anything about him. He changes their honeymoon location without telling her and tries to convince her to stay forever, leaving her life and family behind. When she doesn’t comply, he makes it nearly impossible for her to leave.

Every person in this book is insanely unlikeable. Chloe rationalizes all of the blatantly batshit crazy things Dan does for about half of the book and lets everyone treat her like a doormat. Dan is a controlling, manipulative walking red flag. Chloe’s entire family is God awful to her. I don’t get why everyone in this book sucks so badly. The story was interesting enough for me to want to keep reading, but the big reveal was anti-climactic and overall not much really happens. This is disappointing for a thriller. Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture Audio, and Rona Halsall for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator. The storyline was interesting but the characters, especially Chloe, were unbearable. I DNF at 67%. I’m sure this will be a favorite for some but it was not the book for me.

“The Honeymoon” was a quick read with an interesting plot line. Chloe really did my head in as a character; she’s so wishy washy. Truly, there were no really like-able characters and I can see how that was the intention of the author once I finished the book. The ending was wrapped up quite unexpectedly, but I found it to be satisfying once the last twist was revealed.

I listened to this on audiobook.

Well I have to just say wow, this has been quite a corker of a story, lots of twists and turns and I mean like a rollercoaster. It literally had me waiting in eager anticipation as to what might happen next, not to mention who to trust. I went back and forwards with trusting one of the characters to then not trusting them and then trusting and not trusting them, you get the picture. I was 100% engaged captivated with this story, had me guessing a lot trying to figure it all out, some I did but a lot I didn’t.

My only gripe is the main character Chloe, I just didn’t like her very much, I didn’t agree with some of the decisions she made or her reactions to certain things, but then maybe that was the authors intention all along.

Anyway all in all, loved it and really enjoyed how it all ended, very clever and very well written. So another well done to author Rona, she sure does know how to tell a story.

The narrator Naomi Frederick did a super great job of narrating the story, very easy to follow and she gave each of the characters their own unique voice/personality for sure.

Chloe has had a series of bad relationships, and is in no rush to find another one. But when she met Dan that all changed. With a whirlwind romance that leads into a quick wedding Chloe has no doubts that she married the one. That is until they leave for their honeymoon. Finding out that Dan has not booked the honeymoon Chloe has so desperately wanted she soon discovers that Dan is lying about many things. However, Chloe has her own secret that has haunted her. She must deal with her demons before she can deal with Dan’s. This might be harder than she thought when she finds out that he has manipulated her and everyone around them. Can she find out the truth and get her life back before she loses it?
Overall rating 4/5
This is definitely fit for a Lifetime movie. I thought I had it all figured out in the beginning but was surprised by the many twists and turns. Makes one wonder what you would do in a situation if the person you are supposed to trust the most turns out to be the person you should protect yourself from.

*Thank you to Rona Halsall, Naomi Frederick, Bookouture Audio, and Netgalley for the audio copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

I thought this book had a lot of potential, but didn't quite live up to it. Chloe's gullibility was a bit too much to take at times, but what I found most annoying was how painfully repetitive a lot of the book was. How many times did we have to hear the same inner thoughts, and sometimes there is a repetition of something that had just been established a sentence or two before--totally unnecessary and quite annoying. It starts to feel like the book has too much padding. The narrator was fantastic, so this did make the overall experience more enjoyable, but it was still not a favorite of mine. Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for an audio e-ARC of this book.