The Party

This review originally appeared on my blog at www.gimmethatbook.com.

Many thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!



THE PARTY is a roller coaster, unputdownable book where all the characters are despicable. It’s the story of a sweet 16 birthday party gone horribly wrong, with consequences that will last a lifetime. Hannah, the daughter, is just trying to be more popular. Kim and Jeff are her parents, with the trope of “strict goody two shoes mom” plus “emasculated father trying to be cool”. The events of the fateful night are told over flashbacks, over the course of the story; which kept me interested and hungry for more detail.

The complex and turbulent relationships between the characters are drawn well and evoke a great deal of show more emotion. Everyone is manipulating – or manipulated by- someone else. There are multi layered agendas. There are mean girls. There is isolation, greed, and shallowness.

I literally could not wait to get back to the book, and thought about it while I wasn’t able to read; I just had to see what was happening next. It’s the kind of book you read with incredulity, wondering if there is going to be a happily ever after despite knowing another crash is coming.

The author exposes the ugly side of relationships with adeptness, even glee (if you read between the lines). Just when you almost start feeling sorry for someone, they expose their seamy side and you go right back to sneering at them. Delicious!

Do people really behave this way now, or is it just something that takes place in fiction? I am glad I don’t have to navigate the treachery of high school, where Facebook posts are created to hurt, and cliques do a lot more than name calling.

No one escapes unscathed from THE PARTY – it’s the kind of story that you will think about for days after you finish the book, considering all the wrong choices every character made and how it affected their lives. show less

🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

Hannah is excited and nervous about her Sweet 16 party....a small group of friends coming over for a sleepover, what can go wrong? As you read this book, you will see from the beginning that this is a night no one will ever forget. It starts off with a bang, and the fallout continues from there. What happens at the party and after, was not shocking, but sadly realistic. Nice little twist at the end.

This book should be required reading for all parents when their children are in their early teens AND for all teens entering high school. With that being said, I found this book touched on so many relevant subjects; underage drinking, drug use, bullying, sexting, entitlement, lying, secrets, exclusion, absent parenting, show more fun vs strict parenting, lawsuits and most of all, consequences.

Very relative book, well researched and well written. Extremely fast read. Read with a friend or your teenager, so much to talk about. show less

It's all fun and games until someone loses an . . .

This book showed the ugly side of everyone when a horrible tragedy happens at a sixteenth birthday party. The party starts innocent enough when Hannah's mother Kim starts it with the rules. No alcohol, no drugs and no boys. Then the party is on. The rules, a total waste of Kim's breath. A fact Kim discovers when she is awoken from her two glasses of wine and half an ambien idled sleep several hours later by her blood covered daughter, Hannah. Kim and her family's life goes downhill after that.

It was amazing how people's personalities and opinions changed after this party. Just like the high schoolers, the parent's became selfish, greedy, and childish. The author did a great job with the show more characters and they became and were real people in my mind. There were so many times I wanted to jump up out of my chair and just beat the crap out of some of these people. Seriously, how ridiculous can one be and still call themselves an adult?

A story that looked at teenagers and adults when a life changing crisis and small, insignificant at the time, mistakes can change their lives.

Thanks to Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. show less

The Short of It:

After just a few paragraphs I found myself completely absorbed by this story of a sleepover gone wrong.

The Rest of It:

Jeff and Kim Sanders host a sweet sixteen party for their daughter Hannah. They open their beautiful home to Hannah’s closest friends, pick-up her favorite cake and make it clear that boys, drugs & alcohol will not be tolerated.

What do you think happens?

As you can guess, something horrible happens and now Jeff and Kim Sanders, perfect in every way, find themselves trying to prove their innocence to the police as well as the parents and children involved. This blemish on Kim’s otherwise perfect reputation is enough to do her in. Then there’s Jeff, who is keeping a secret from her. Hannah is no saint show more either and forced to choose between popularity and cruelty.

There is a lot going on in this story but it’s SO good. You’ve got the whole “perfect” thing going on with Kim and Jeff but they are far from perfect. The other parents have their issues too and the kids…oh, the kids… their loyalty to each other changes with the weather. People are in. People are out. There are lies and secrets and lots of self-analysis going on. Oh, not to mention the denial!! I could not turn the pages fast enough.

These characters are complex and very well-developed and even though some of them do horrible things, you still feel something for them because the author just pulls it out of you. This book was read while making spaghetti and doing laundry because putting it down wasn’t an option. Plus, the events detailed in this story could literally happen to anyone which makes it all the more readable.

If you want a fast-paced domestic drama then you can’t go wrong with The Party.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. show less

Really 3 1/2 stars. I bought this book in the grocery store waiting for a prescription to be filled so my expectations were not terribly high but it turned out to be a perfect trashy read. Certainly better suited for the beach or on a plane, but still.
Take a bunch of douchebag, narcissistic, rich San Francisco parents and add in their entitled even worse behaving kids and you have the cast of this book.
Kim and Jeff host a party for their insecure 16 year old daughter, but forget to ever look in on them during the party. Surprise things go bad.
This allows everyone involved to be even bigger douchebags.
I would have given it more stars but the author thought taking the high road for everyone involved was the way to end the story. This was show more so completely out of character for everyone in the book that it become a truly lazy ending. show less

If you like the works of Liane Moriarty then you’ll like this one because it’s a very similar style and revolves around domestic drama at its ‘revengiest’.

It’s one of those books perfect to pick up when you need an afternoon escape or a great recommendation for your next book club because after all the success of things like Desperate Housewives was built on our voyeuristic need to watch the downfall of seemingly perfect families.

Like those in its theme genre you’re never quite sure who to hate, love, root for or feel sorry for because they’re all imperfect and caught in a terrible situation of their own making. It’s like a car wreck you feel bad for the victims but can’t seem to stop watching the tragedy either. show more Harding knows how to make this emotional upheaval work and throw in enough twists to keep us wanting to read to discover how this will all shake out in the end.

This is the PERFECT book for a group to read and find out where everyone’s moral compass really points. I could actually see this being turned into an HBO miniseries like what was done with Little Big Lies. show less

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

When a sweet sixteen party goes terribly wrong, the terrible aftermath crumbles the foundations of friendships, family, and status.

This book is so full of palpable, believable tension! Harding writes people that feel so real, and I get so caught up in their stories. This was a real page turner for me, having to know what was going to happen to each character, and what truly happened at the party that night.

I felt like two of the side relationships, one involving the dad, one involving the mom, weren't as interesting and didn't ring as true. The one with the dad especially felt rushed and show more didn't make a lot of sense in context.

Both of Harding's books I've read I've really enjoyed and flew through because I couldn't put them down. I'm still thinking about the last chapter of The Party-it gave me actual chills. show less