ok listen I really wasn’t feeling this premise even before I picked it up - and that’s saying something because lucy foley is the queen of locked door remote location thrillers!! and the atmosphere of this one (a hotel in the middle of the woods) was perfect!

except, the characters were not it 🥴🥴 I never felt so annoyed and disconnected as I did with these folks!! it was set up to be a mean girl revenge story as bella returns to her childhood best friend, francesca’s new hotel to confront her about the past - but bella had absolutely no plan, was constantly derailed by flirting with a 19 year old for no reason, and spends more time reading her old diary than having the gumption to just talk to francesca?? it all felt very unnecessary 

the side characters of eddie and francesca’s husband, owen, were also very unnecessary. they could have been introduced through the POVs of the ladies without having chapters of them moaning about “poor me” and “if I done things differently” 😐 

this entire book would be completely null and void if bella and francesca had one conversation 😬

what I did enjoy was the secrecy of “the birds” (caw caw motherfuckers!!) in what was a clear misrepresentation of alfred hitchcock’s the birds… BUT! it added a spooky element that kept me from DNFing the book 😅

overall, I still will read anything lucy foley writes but this was a yikes miss from me. thank you to netgalley and william morrow for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! 

rating: 2 stars
wine pairing: chile chardonnay