The complexities of female friendship are front and center in Fenton and Steinke's newest. Ashley, Natalie and Lauren had been fast friends until a year ago, when Lauren's husband died and Lauren blamed Ashley for his death. Now the three are trying to reconcile by taking a Mexican vacation together. But one morning Natalie wakes up on the beach with no memory of the night before and even worse, Ashley is missing. The story is told from each woman's point of view, jumping between before the night Ashley disappeared to the day after. GIRL'S NIGHT OUT is well written and engaging but all three of the women were annoying and Ashley's personality did not seem to support the description of her relationship with her husband and the absurdity of Lauren blaming Ashley for her husband's death didn't ring true.. GIRL'S NIGHT OUT sucked me in and I kept reading to find out what had happened to Ashley, but I would never want to be friends with any of these women. Sheesh!

Fascinating read. Would recommend to someone looking for a book to escape into. Loved it! Definitely a page turner.

Three friends, two of which are business partners have been close friends for many, many years. Their friendship has fallen on hard times. They decide to go to Tulum, Mexico to revive their friendship. We’ve all heard harrowing stories of things that can happen in Mexico, kidnappings, murders and missing individuals. This is one of those harrowing stories. Sometimes slow it does keep you wondering what if anything will happen to these woman and if they can put their friendships back together.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for the free review copy of this novel. All opinions are my own. 

This will be a perfect beach read for this summer. What's more fun than a reconciliation trip to Mexico that goes horribly wrong for a summer read? I flew through this book in a few hours. I had to know what happened to Ashely.

I love the way Liz and Lisa build the plot slowly through gaps in memory. They know how to build anticipation that keeps the reader wanting to read just one more chapter. I also enjoyed the realness in this story due to the fractions in the friendship. They didn't try to make everything perfect, which helped keep me wanting to read more.

Grls Night Out definetly keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire book. If you have a best friend that you have known 10+ yrs as most of us do then this is the book for you. Natalie, Lauren, and Ashley have all been best friends 20+ yrs and they go on a girl's vacay hoping they can all reconnect. Like with everyone life happens and they've drifted apart in ways. None of them expect what happens when one of them go missing. This book wilk definitely make you think about your own personal friendships and make you want to call your best friend even if just to say i love you. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the oppurtunity to read this book. I will highly recommend this book.

Girls' night out follows Ashley, Lauren and Natalie on their trip to Tulun mexico. The girls, best friends for over 20 years, have had a rough couple of years and their friendship is in desperate need of new- good energie. When they meet a local man, Ashley seems to be glued to his side; instead of rebuilding their friendship. And then, after a very eventful night.. Where is Ashley?

The girls in this book all have their own problems; one is grieving over the loss of her husband, one is afraid she'll lose everything and is holding onto everything for dear life, and the other.. she just needs to get the other let go, in order to get what she really needs.. A fresh start.
The main characters are built well, they all seem to revolve around Ashley and she doesn't seem to mind that at all. When it's time to let go of that.. Alpha-girl thing, Lauren and Natalie first seem a little lost, but pick themselves up wonderfully. Because of that, the struggle to be their own person - so to say- it made all of the events in this book a lot more interesting. It felt super real and I could really connect with the girls.

This one just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t like the switching back and forth from the present to the past. I didn’t care for the Lauren and Ashley feud because of Lauren’s husband’s death. And really? Two husbands with financial issues? I had to keep reading to find out what happened to Ashley, but I felt all three of them were incredibly selfish and unlikeable. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me a pre-release copy.

The book started out a little slow but then really picked up. I didn't really connect with the characters but I did enjoy the book. Thanks again!

For the absolute life of me, I could not tell these 3 women apart. It is told in alternating chapters of the women in a before/after timeline. I can't even tell you what happened in the book because I am still unsure who is who.

You wake up soaking wet on the beach after a girls night out in Mexico...and now you can’t find one of your friends. What would you do?

This story follows Natalie, Lauren, and Ashley on a girls trip to Mexico that Ashley organized in an attempt to repair their friendships and ease some tension with Natalie, who is also her business partner and doesn’t share her views on the future of the company. They meet a handsome local named Marco and he begins to monopolize Ashley’s time, causing further tension between the trio. Told between alternating views and timeframes, the reasons behind Ashley’s disappearance are made clear. This well-written novel kept a great pace and left you guessing at every turn! I found the end a bit anticlimactic but I wasn’t wholly dissatisfied with the conclusion itself. Great beach read!

I only read 50% of this book. I did not like the characters and that was a problem for me with this read. Sometimes bad characters are still likable (Amy in Gone Girl) but sometimes, in this case, they are so spoiled and shallow that I just can't relate at all. I lived the epigraph by Willa Cather and I was very excited to read this. I wanted to like it. It just did not work for me.

Girls’ Night Out
Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Available: July 24. 2018

Thank you to NetGalley.com for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
As these amazing authors (I love everything they’ve done – please rerelease The D Word – I haven’t read it and cannot find a used copy!!) branch out into different genres, I am compelled to follow them wherever they go because I lovelovelove their books and I am envious of their friendship and working relationship. And while their journey is a little on the dark side, I am still loving these books. First they excelled at Fluffy Chick Lit and now it seems the’re making the Dramatical Suspense (is that a genre?) wheelhouse their own.
What I loved: The pace, the different perspectives, different headspaces and back and forth of the timeline - I wanted to know everything, all of the events, what was said, how did this happen as quickly as I could so I devoured the book.
What I didn’t love: Each of these women could be wonderful, adorable people. Together – they are so very, very toxic and unlikable that it was had to dredge empathy for any of them – Natalie is the meek brains of the friendship, Ashley is the spakrling unicorn they all want to be, and Lauren is the victim who is rebelling against her own freedom.
What I learned: Three is forever a crowd.
Overall Grade: B+

www.FluffSmutandMurder.com

I LOVED LOVED every second I spent with this book! 5 shiny stars! or 6..or 7..or 12!!
From the very first line to the very last, I couldn't put this book down.

1) Three girlfriends, with a 20 year history, that need to heal their broken friendships. There's pain, regret, anger, resentment, jealousy. And there's also a deep bond that they do treasure. This is the trip to put everything back to the way it was before everything that happened to them, happened.

2) Tulum, Mexico, a place for healing and spirituality. Perfect for three friends who need to heal their relationship.

3) Lots and lots of alcohol = REAL feelings and truth come out. No one is perfect. Neither is this trip.

A very tragic something happens and everyone is falling apart. EVERYTHING.

I love how this story is told too. Each chapter is told by a friend while on the trip. So we get 3 different views on the same story for a particular day of the trip.

ANNNNNND....OH MY GOD....THE ENDING!!!!!

Please read this! Its amazing!

Thank you #NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Honest review: I LOVED IT!!

After enjoying The Good Widow last year, I was excited to dig in to Girls' Night Out this time around. It was definitely suspenseful and kept me guessing. I liked the intense dynamic between the three friends and how explosive things could get between them. It reminded me of when my best friend and I would get into a huge fight. However, I am thankful that it never got to the extent of the fights that Ashley had with her two best friends.

The descriptions of Tulum made me feel like I was on my honeymoon again, even though I went to a different place altogether. I could just feel the sand beneath my feet and smell the salty ocean air. I still can't tell where Liz's writing begins and Lisa's ends. It's all so fluid. The dialogue and narratives are strong throughout the story.

My only issues were that the beginning felt slow to me and it took me a bit longer to get into. Once I did, I was hooked. However, the ending felt a bit anticlimactic to me after all the buildup. Even so, I never would have guessed what had really happened and was surprised at the revelation. I think I would have liked Marco to have his own narration and for Lauren to have more of a direct connection to Ashley's mysterious disappearance.

While Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke are great at writing psychological thrillers, I hope they'll consider writing another novel similar to Your Perfect Life in the future. I'll read anything they write, regardless!

If Hollywood is looking for inspiration:
Ashley: Kelly Brook
Natalie: Jessica Chastain
Lauren: Laura Prepon
Marco: Adam Rodriguez
Jason: John Cena
Ben: Tom Welling

Great read, I couldn’t put it down after the first chapter. I did have trouble getting into the story at the beginning but that quickly changed as I kept reading and this book kept me reading all night.Three friends attempting to put their shattered friendship back together go on a vacation to try and mend things between them but things go quickly wrong. This story was told as a narrative by each of the three women and was easy to understand when each person was telling their view. Lies, betrayal and so much more, this is definately worth reading.

What an intense story and captivating!This book is based around a girls trip to the beautiful Tulum, Mexico to mend some struggling friendships. When morning comes Ashley has disappeared and the girls are left to try and figure out where and what has happened to her. This story is told from all three main characters points of view and also a few different timelines. I like the concept and how the story was told!If you like drama among some girlfriends this is for you.It was fascinating!What I loved about this book is that each friend was in the wrong in some way. None of them were better than the other.Overall, it was a great story!

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC. See I happen to have read a few others by these two very talented authors. So I was extremely excited to get my hands on an advanced copy of their latest. In their newest novel, the authors try their hand at the suspense and mystery genre. While I do realize they do write in this genre once before, I have only really read their other’s that were more women’s literature than mystery. So, I was also intrigued to see how the authors handled this kind of writing.

So the story, begins in Tulum, Mexico. Three lifelong friends (Ashley, Natalie and Lauren), who have had their ups and downs decide to get away for a girl’s vacation in Mexico. At the heart of this is the fact that the ladies aren’t honestly getting along with one another in recent times.

Ashley and Natalie are not only friends, but business partners. They own a beauty company that is currently being courted by Revlon to be bought out. Natalie wants to sell, but Ashley doesn’t. So, their friendship is being put to the test by this. Lauren is on the outs with both Ashley and Natalie after her husband Geoff passed away a year earlier from a sudden, but massive heart attack. See Lauren blames Ashley for this. And she stopped speaking to Ashely and by extension Natalie, as well.

So, this vacation is definitely more tense at the start than fun for these ladies. Add to the mix, that Ashley (married with kids) is being courted by a Mexican local (Marco) that both the other women are less than happy to have him crash their girl’s only vacation. Then, Ashley goes missing. Natalie wakes up on the beach with no memory of what happened. And the dram pretty much unfolds there told switching back and forth between present and past events in Mexico.

So bottom line, I really wanted to love this book as I have loved all the others from these two fine ladies. But something just felt off for me. The beginning definitely found me having trouble getting into the actual story. I forged ahead though and kept reading. As the story picked up, I did find myself more into the novel. I also had to read the ending three times to make sure I got exactly what happened to Ashley. I don’t want to give it away by any means. But there is literally one line in one of the last chapters that explains it perfectly. The said, I did end up enjoying this one. But still, hope these two authors consider returning to their women’s fiction writing for the next time out if possible as the mystery novel itself found me missing that more than anything else.

Before I start my review, I just want to say that I'm so happy that I waited until after my trip to Mexico to read this. It soooo would've given me nightmares! Dynamic duo Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke are back causing trouble for us with Girls Night Out . Three estranged long-term friends Natalie, Ashley, and Lauren decide to vacation in Tulum, Mexico (been here before and it's AMAZING! Definitely try to make an effort to visit before it becomes the next Cancun) for a girls getaway in hopes of healing old wounds and starting the next chapters of their lives together. The three of them carry a lot of baggage—too much for just one quick getaway can manage (Delta charges $50 per checked bag btw, WTF?!). Ashley and Natalie have launched a successful business together, climbing the beauty industry ladder day-by-day; Lauren is coping with the fallout after her husband Geoff's death last year and her strained and distant relationship with Ashley. Can the three manage to patch up old wounds and start fresh?

Everything seems to be going according to the ladies's plans, until one night Natalie wakes up on the beach, hungover and blacked out from the night before. In order to retrace her steps, she hopes to find Ashley and Lauren and see if they can help her piece together anything that could let her know why she was being so careless. When Natalie tries to find Ashley at their shared hotel room, she is nowhere to be found—Ashley is missing!

Natalie and Lauren decide to involve the authorities, but also try to retrace their steps and figure out what exactly happened the night before. Was Ashley kidnapped? Who was that man that she ignited a friendship with earlier that day? With time running out, Natalie and Lauren's search grows in suspicion and deception. Will they find Ashley or are there some secrets never meant to be found?

Girls Night Out is a light mystery that is totally perfect for summer. It's a quick, easy read that you can totally pick up while at the pool, cuddled up on the couch, or a read before bed. It's meant to be light and mysterious, yet also realistic and relatable. While I was reading Girls Night Out , I could totally envision the story happening in my real life! This makes for more of an engaging story for those who have deep friendships that have gone through the gauntlet before. While none of the three characters are extremely likeable, they are all in fact relatable to some degree. Each of the three women are dealing with serious issues that we all face at some point: e.g.: the loss of a loved one, relationship hurdles with your significant other, financial insecurity. I have not met one person who cannot raise their handle to all three. The way that the Fenton and Steinke team have assembled this mystery while undertaking these thematic elements resonated with me so much. While this story may not be for everybody (I seriously want to make this disclaimer), I think many will appreciate the honest storytelling in Girls Night Out .

Thank you to Amazon Publishing and Netgalley for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Girls Night Out will be released on July 24, 2018.

I finished this book pretty fast so it is definitely a fast read that you can get through quickly. I would only give it a 3 out of 5 stars rating. The reasons being I was not a fan of the ending and the biggest problem for me was the middle got very draggy in my opinion. The beginning was very interesting and had me invested in it but towards the end it felt a bit dragged on like maybe it could have been a little shorter. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the way they chose to end it I still thought it was a decent thriller and I did enjoy the writing style. I’d definitely give another book by these authors a shot.

The tag line and description of the story seemed interesting as friendships seem ephemeral when based on the college trio going forward. I couldn’t relate to the self absorption of the characters and the setting of Tulum and twist of plot skirt the believable. I read to the end and was a bit sorry to
endure the elements of abuse and self destruction given mention. I did like reading that the authors long term friendship and coauthorship had its ups and downs, at least reading about that would have been of interest and substance.