This is such a strange book. It started off with such promise; 4 childhood friends, one disappears for over a year and then reappears. I can't say anything more about the story without spoilers, but, for me it quickly became a difficult, slow, boring read.

The friends decide to meet at a hotel and strange things occur. The book is mainly the 4 friends talking to each other, which very quickly becomes hard work as a reader.

The cover and synopsis are great, unfortunately, the content didn't live up to expectations and I found myself speed reading some of the chapters in the hope it would improve. Sadly, it didn't.

I'm grateful to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked the first part, I wanted to know more about Julie, but then the plot dragged... and I was waiting for horror and I didn't really get was I was expecting.

This book had so much promise and I couldn’t wait for the ending.....that was until I got to it. I was so disappointed with it! It felt rushed and completely out of context with the rest of the book, I found myself asking ‘where on earth did that come from?!’ The first three quarters of the book was good but the last quarter completely ruined it for me unfortunately.

I was so disappointed not to like this book! I felt the characters were limp and boring, and could have been so much more.

I might read it again at some point in the future in case I was just not in the mood..........who knows, I might like it better!

A very interesting & brave debut novel by Rachel Harrison. I was really drawn in by the cover and the blurb.

Straight away thought the characters were intriguing. Elise's isolation was put across very well and it's easy to understand that loneliness amongst people.

However there are alot more emotions that do not appear to be fully explored.
It was clear Elise was upset about the pay gap but her reaction needed to be explained more for it to make sense.
I think to fully comprehend the situation we needed to know, early on, more about them as a four.

The snippets we did get were humourous and very interesting but to fully understand the impact of Julie's disappearance and Elise's feelings about the quartet as a whole...we needed a lot more information.

For example - Julie saying that her 3 friends were like family but they had never met her husband and were not invited to the wedding? That didn't make any sense in the contexts we were shown. Elise was generally upset about feeling isolated...but didn't mind that she had never met her best friends husband? Mae & Molly...given their strident behaviours were fine with it?
Elise made quite alot of how close they were.
How was it that their dynamics and relationships were not changed dramatically by the fact they were not invited to wedding or to meet her husband?
Elise was so sensitive to everything else...that omission just didn't sit right.

This made even less sense as the story progressed.

Elise's sensitivity was sometimes difficult to navigate...I found it hard to relate to with regards to her insecurity with her friends.. especially as a grown woman that would understand how hard keeping in touch was. They went to an awful lot of trouble to keep in touch....how did she not understand that?

However, this didn't detract from the eerie atmosphere and the story really gained pace when they reached the strange hotel.

There was a very obvious supernatural element to the story very early on...but I wasn't sure which direction that would take us in so was looking forward to finding out.

Unforunately, I didn't enjoy the last quarter of the book at all. I didn't like the reveal or the conclusion & there were too many words & not enough connection to them for me to be able to picture what was actually happening.

I definitely think its worth a read and as a debut it is very brave and original but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to the publisher & Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

this is one of those gripping books that will have you sucked in and won't let you go. its psychological, tense and dramatic. great one off read.

I didn’t mind this novel, but I can’t say I liked it. It just wasn’t my thing in the end. I didn’t really like any of the characters, it felt a bit like a supernatural episode without the hunky Winchester brothers.

Julie disappeared two years ago and now she has returned but has no memory of where she has been or what happened to her.
Julie and her friends go away for the weekend to spend some time together but things don’t go as planned.
Unfortunately I found it hard to connect with the characters in the book and the story didn’t hold my interest.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

A horrifying yet compulsive read that keeps you gripped from start to finish, turning the pages and making the hairs on your arms and the back of your neck stand up. Well worth a read.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I enjoyed this story very much and felt like I knew each character personally due to the description of them. I enjoyed the storyline. This is not my usual genre but in this instance I am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. Thanks again.

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. It was overly descriptive with lots of nothing happening. I found some of what the characters said to each other and how they interacted with each other a little unbelievable at times. Too drawn out for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read The Return in exchange for my honest review.

Quite a scary read. A little slow to start and the characters not necessarily easy to like. There are big gaps where nothing seems to happen and the Inn seems to be built up into a big story that doesn't really go anywhere. An interesting read, but maybe not executed as well as it could have been.

Well written a book that drew me in from the first pages.I found it unusual involving well written characters a good read for me,#netgalley#hodderstoughten

This is a great read! Lots of typical tropes give it a fiendishly good feel. I felt it didn’t take itself too seriously and this worked really well overall. A bit different to my usual reads, but loved it!

Interesting premise, though It was difficult to have empathy with any of the characters. I did think that the theme of ‘friendship lost’ was well developed, and the writing was quite filmic.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The Return”, whilst not a classic of its genre, is a fiendishly good read. So, if you want some escapism that gets your senses tingling, this could be the book for you. This story is all about Julie; who returns two years to the day since she went missing. Throw in a trip to a hotel, with lots of eerie happenings and things that go bump in the night and you have a mash-up of Friends Reunited, The Shining with a YA style dialogue between the main protagonists. Of course, Rachel Harrison is no Stephen King - but who is? She nevertheless exhibits a talent for the genre with her skilful deployment of classic horror tropes. There is certainly enough in “The Return” to keep you reading, reading and reading.... So, if you want a truly multi sensory experience, with thrills and spills galore, not forgetting those hideously revealing goosebumps when things go bump in the night, then this could be the book for you.

Visual eeriness, complimentary funky odours, and an auditory unease provide a moderately creepy experience, which includes:

• Ample time to re-connect with a missing ‘bestie’ by booking an inappropriately timed mini-break – check.
• A themed hotel that sounds sensationally quirky (in a shining sort of way) – check.
• Memories that will stay with you forever, and ever (traumatise) – check.

Well, it’ll hardly come as a surprise but they won’t be rushing to recommend their stay on Trip Adviser.

There are classic rules to obey in situations like this. We all know what they are, don’t we:

1) Never, ever touch anything that drips on you unexpectedly.
2) Don’t voluntarily walk into dark places. By yourself. For any reason.
3) It’s not going to be okay, no matter how many times your mates say it is. Trust me.
4) If any of your travelling companions are so evidently and tragically unwell, it would be kinder to cut short the not so ‘good times’ and seek a professional, sooner rather than later.

Instead, our unfortunate four insist on behaving like overgrown teenagers throughout, taking full advantage of the hotel bar and avoiding confronting the rather odd elephant in the room.

My conclusion? The ‘unknowing’ surrounding actual ‘return’ was quite intriguing. It was a bit like watching a sinister episode of Friends as they team build in the Twilight Zone.

What a very peculiar tale. I confess to feeling a little bemused by it.
Actually it would make a really good movie, one of those that leaves you looking over your shoulder and gasping.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I was so excited to read this book. Honestly, i'm not even sure what was going on in this book. It was all over the place, didn't grab my attention at all. The description does not match the book. Very average writing. No suspense. Didn't finish it.

The Return by Rachel Harrison falls into the horror / thriller category. Unfortunately, it is neither thrilling nor horrific. The premise is a gripping one: a woman disappears for 2 years. On her return, she has no memory of what happened. She is not the same person. The story that unfolds is nowhere near as exciting.

I didn’t like ANY of the characters, which makes it a tough read because there’s no one to root for. Most of the book is conversations between the women with nothing actually happening.

The location has nothing to do with the story and the little bits that get thrown in (the balcony, shadows in the room, Patti the hostess) don’t add to the story in any way.

I was very disappointed.

#netgalley #thereturn #rachelharrison #hodder&stoughton