The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrman

 

Picture The Hangover but smooshed up with THE HUNTING WIVES like it's a bunch of murder guacamole. If that sounds like something you think you might enjoy with a beer and some chips, you'd be so, so right. Jody Gehrman has had a major glow-up since her YA writing days. I remember I had so much disappointment when I read BABES IN BOYLAND. By contrast, this book is incredibly sophisticated and kept me totally guessing what really happened until the very end.

June is an English professor with a lot of regrets. Some of those regrets revolve around her college friends, who she's meeting with this weekend because one of them is having a baby and the Queen Bee wants to throw her a baby shower. The Queen Bee is, of course, Sadie: the most successful in their friend group, who sold a YA fantasy series that became an incredibly popular movie series and landed the hot Scottish guy who just so happens to be June's ex. AWK.

Also starring at this party are Kimiko, who owns a cannabis dispensary; Amy, the pregnant friend who is also bipolar; Em, the steady and reliable friend with secrets; and Dakota, Sadie's teen daughter. The party kicks off to a not-so-great start as past resentments simmer and alcohol gets poured. The next thing they know, they're all waking up with hazy memories and remnants of a night gone wrong surrounding them-- and Sadie is missing. What really happened last night? And did it end in MURDER?!

This book was so fun. It's one of those books that you just get totally immersed in because of the good story-telling and characterization, even if it feels similar to a number of other books out there. It's really well-executed and FUN. I regretted absolutely nothing when I put this book down. It felt like I'd worked my way through a box of fine chocolates. Yes, I feel like I overdid it and need a nap, but was it satisfying AF? OH YES. Part of the fun with books like these is trying to figure out WHODUNNIT. And when I read books like these, there are always two wolves inside me: one wants to be right, and one wants to be surprised. Being right is gratifying but being surprised is way more fun. 

This book... it SURPRISED me!

I would recommend THE GIRLS WEEKEND to anyone who really enjoys these sort of gossipy-toned murder mysteries that kind of read like Desperate Housewives on steroids. I seriously can't get enough of the genre. It's like my kryptonite. If it's yours, too, then you'll probably like this.

4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars