Unputdownable! The ideal holiday read! Shades of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies! A hen party in a villa in the middle of a Greek island, six young women with very different characters - Lexi is the linchpin that holds them together. There’s big brash Bella, ‘the’ best friend to Lexi, Eleanor, shy, retiring prospective sister in law, Robyn, another best mate from university, Ana a new friend and Fen, Bella’s girlfriend! Bella has organised the whole affair, she wants it to be flawless but of course that just doesn’t happen! The story unravels to perfection, keeping you on the edge of the seat right until the last chapter! I knew these girls, their foibles, their humour, their attraction to Lexi - I was with them on the island! Reading until gone midnight I ‘had’ to know the conclusion! I was not disappointed! Loved it! Netflix needs to make this into a serial!

Great book! Loved the storyline and the girls. Lots of twists and turns along the way to keep the suspense going. Also a good ending that didn't feel rushed.

The story is set on a beautiful, fictional Greek island where six friends stay in a house on top of a cliff to celebrate Lexi's upcoming wedding. While I don't think it will be up there with the best reads of 2022, it is definitely worth adding to your TBR pile. As the book begins with a dead body being removed, it is clear the weekend will not be the perfect getaway they expected!

A firm favourite sub genre of mine now as it works so well. A group of women and together, on an island, for a hen weekend. They all have complex backstories which interlink with one another. Usually the story would be that one of them is murdered and you gradually untangle their pasts to work out whodunnit but this one is subtly different to that (I won’t spoil the story though). I loved the ((very different) characters in the plot and the fact that towards the end the surprises come punch after punch in quite quick succession. Some of the coincidences were stretching the credibility a little too much but it didn’t detract. All in all a good easy read with a satisfying storyline and ending, perfect holiday or unwinding material.

Every so often a book comes along that just draws you in and you're engrossed in it 24/7. This book was it. 6 characters all entwined with a fabulous ending. This would be a great holiday read. Highly recommend.

It’s Lexi’s hen weekend and the girls are all headed for a few days relaxing by the pool at a hideaway villa on a Greek island. Lexi’s two oldest friends Robyn and Bella are coming as well as Bella’s girlfriend Fen, sister in law to be Eleanor and Ana a more recent friend. Sun, sea and drinking provide the catalyst for secrets to be revealed that bind them together in unexpected ways and make it a trip never to be forgotten.

A great holiday read That I wanted to keep on reading. There are a few “red herring” incidents that I found a bit annoying as they spoilt the flow of the book but apart from that the book races to a satisfying ending. Once for reading by the pool and feeing the sunshine as well as reading about it!

Another gripping read from Lucy Clarke!
This had a really intriguing plot involving a hen weekend on a Greek Island but some of the guests have secrets and their own reasons for being there. This book is full of thrills and intensity and as the girls get in deeper, will they all make it out alive?
I liked how we got chapters from each of the characters to see inside their minds and each character was distinguishable from the others with a distinctive voice and personality which made this book incredibly easy to read. It is a fast paced story which you will not want to put down until you get to the end!

One of the girls by Lucy Clarke.
It was supposed to be the perfect weekend away. Six very different women travel to a sun-soaked Greek island for a bachelorette trip, to celebrate Lexi’s upcoming wedding.
Each of the women is hiding a secret. Someone is determined to make sure that Lexi’s marriage never happens.
A really enjoyable read. Great story. I didn't really like the women. Which made me trying to guess even harder. 4*.

Lexi is getting married and her best friend, Bella, has organised a Hen Party in an isolated villa on a Greek Island. Bella’s girlfriend, Fen, whose aunt has provided the villa, is there, as is Robyn, Lexi’s and Bella’s closest friend since schooldays. Completing the party are Eleanor, Lexi’s soon to be sister in law, and Ana her yoga pupil and newest friend. Sun, sand, turquoise seas, and copious booze for five days – what can possibly go wrong? Well, every girl has some shadow hanging over them; Lexi became a yoga teacher because her dance career was ruined by an injury, Bella a former nurse is a drink to forget party bunny, Fen is haunted by the awful memory of the waiter she encountered the last time she was here, Robyn is going through a divorce, Eleanor’s fiancé died after an accident on his stag night, and Ana is the single mother of a surly mid-teenage son. Revelations arise, clashes ensue, friendships are stretched, secrets are revealed. Plus, we know from the start that someone will die, but we don’t know who or why.
The story is split into days, each subdivided into short chapters focussing on each of the girls in turn, usually in an interaction with one or more of the others. These are third person accounts but interspersed at intervals by an unidentified member of the group, retrospectively creating a context separate from the events as they unfold. As a sideline to guessing who dies and who kills them, you might try to work out who this interpolator is. This structure works well, providing a balance which is sometimes missing when reading about multiple characters. It also moves the story along fairly smoothly; especially helpful in the early stages where not a lot is happening. I’m sure I’m not the intended demographic for this book, being male and a lot older than thirty-something, but I found it easy to get involved with the characters and their motivations. In terms of rating I don’t think it’s a great mystery or a great thriller, and it isn’t a new scenario or plot idea, but it is entertaining so I’m at 3.5 = 4.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I really liked the storyline, but struggled with the pace. It felt like it took a long time for anything to happen, and then the action was rushed. I like that you get to know the characters well, but it just felt a bit too slow. The storyline was interesting, but I struggled to keep reading because of the pace. I kept reading because I was struggling to predict the ending, and I wanted to know what was going to happen. I was surprised by the ending, and it wasn’t even close to what I had predicted. I also struggled with the characters. I wanted to like them, but I just couldn’t. When I started to like someone, they did something that annoyed me or something that I didn’t agree with. But I did like reading about their friendships and learning about all of them. I liked that there were chapters in the points of view of every character. Overall, I did like this book but not as much as I was hoping to. It was really well written, and I do like and recommend Lucy Clarke’s books. I’m looking forward to reading more from Lucy Clarke.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Lexi is getting married to Ed. And Lexi and her friends all head to Greece for the hen do. But what Lexi doesn’t realise is that each member of the hen party is holding secrets, which all come tumbling out over the course of the few days they are away.

I really liked this, the descriptions used of Greece were beautiful. You could picture the villa in your minds eye. The characters were all great, Bella was especially awful on a lot of occasions, but it just made the story more relatable, as I’m sure everyone has or knows a friend just like that. I guessed some of the twists and turns, but there were many I didn’t guess at all and was quite surprised. An excellent read!!

A great holiday read! Evocative of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, you will be let into the world of Lexi Lowe’s sun- soaked Greek honeymoon. As the wine and Ouzo flows, so do the secrets. Entangled in more ways than you can imagine, the dream hen do ends in a nightmare.

An incredibly clever, sinister and seductive thriller. The characterisations of all the women on the hen are brilliant - you feel like you know them all, soon into the story - and the tension simmers, ramping up slowly so that you’re utterly hooked, wondering what’s going to happen, every revelation making things slot slowly into place. It was so compelling, so beautifully written, and honestly felt like a masterful thriller. Lucy Clarke deserves to be up there with Lucy Foley in my opinion. Brilliant, atmospheric and very satisfying.

Six women travel to a sun-soaked Greek island to celebrate their friend’s upcoming wedding. It should be the prefect weekend getaway, filled with cocktails and sunset swims. But these women each have a secret, and in hiding them from each other they cause dangerous undercurrents within the group.

Deadly consequences are a little more than they bargained for on this hen-do.

I loved Clarke’s earlier work, but I’ve found her more recent offerings somewhat lacking. This book, in particular, is excruciatingly slow paced up until around the 70% mark. Then everything kicks off between 70 – 90% and the last tenth wraps everything up in a far too neat bow to be satisfying!

It was an easy read with a little mystery, although if you’re a fan of this genre I’m sure you’ll see the twist coming. I probably wouldn’t recommend for anyone looking for gripping and twisty but perhaps to those looking for a bit more meat for the sun lounger this summer.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of One of the Girls but that has in no way influenced my review.

I thoroughly enjoyed Clarke's previous thriller, The Castaways, last year. I found it very compelling with great characters and I loved the ending. So much so, I can still remember it clearly now. So when I saw the author was about to publish a new book I leapt at the chance to read it. And it's now safe to say Clarke is firmly on my 'must read author list' because I LOVED One of the Girls.

Lexi is getting married! And to celebrate, her best friend, Bella, has convinced her a hen party would be brilliant idea. They and four of Lexi's friends are heading to the Greek island of Aegos for four nights and some much needed time away from 'real life'. But when the women arrive, it's clear the cracks are already starting to show. Everyone has secrets. This group of six woman have more than most. And by the end of their exotic getaway, someone will be dead and someone will be a killer...

I flew through this book, completely absorbed and soaking up the Greek sun with this disparate group of women. I can't express how much I loved everything about it. The characters are all so different but they work so well together. An odd group of women brought together to celebrate Lexi, but you can feel the tensions simmering under the surface and you can't help but ask yourself 'what is actually going on here?'. That intrigue, that sense that there was so much more to come, really hooked me into the story.

Lexi is a sweetheart and it's clear to the reader why these women have travelled for hours to celebrate her forthcoming nuptials. Bella, her maid of honour and self-appointed best friend, is such a character! Obnoxious and brassy, I really liked her but I think I'll be in the minority on that one. She's spoilt and demanding, utterly frustrating at times. But I thought she was written so well. She elicits an emotional response from the reader and I appreciated that. The other women, who I won't go into detail about here otherwise this review will be as long as the book (!), are fantastic creations. All individual personalities, all with their own totally believable backstory, all with their own heartaches and simmering resentments.

The plot is paced beautifully and I was in the story from the moment I picked the book up to the moment I put the book down. This is one of those novels I enjoyed so much that I was sad when it was over (although, in truth, I did race to the conclusion keen to find out how things would end so it was my own darn fault really!). There are many twists and turns along the way, some I was able to see coming, others knocked me for six and I loved that moment of shock the author delivered.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I loved One of the Girls and I'll probably re-read it in the future as I'm keen to return to Aegos and be reunited with this fascinating, eclectic group of women and their complicated friendships. The setting was exquisite (yes, I'm desperate for a holiday!), the plot was so well drawn and thought out but the characters absolutely did it for me. They felt like real people and I was watching an edge-of-your seat TV drama play out before me. Clarke is such a talented writer and I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next. A hugely compulsive read featuring divine characters and their bubbling resentments which I couldn't get enough of. Totally addictive. I loved it! Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of One of the Girls. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Six women go on a hen weekend to Aegos. a fictional Greek island. Some of them have known each other from school. others have only just met. Tensions arise mainly because the self styled maid of honour, Bella, is such a control freak both in terms of managing the weekend and also in her relationship with Fen, her girifriend. Eventually someone ends up dead.

I liked it that the story didn't go the way I expected it to. I really had to suspend disbelief though to allow for such a change of character and I really wasn't convinced by it though I did welcome it. It was too abrupt a change for it to be convincing, less character development and more complete change of personality! On the whole though it was an enjoyable read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A great page turner, set on a beautiful Greek island. The author creates a great cast of 6 female characters, tantalisingly teasing us all the way through. An addictive read.

This was great another page turner from Lucy Clarke! 6 friends all in Greece for a hen party in secluded house on the side of a cliff. This group of friends is linked in more than just all being friends with the bride. This story slowly unravels and reveals more and more about these girls past present and futures….

I really wanted to like this but sadly I just felt like I’d read it before. The disparate group of friends, the glamorous setting, the hen weekend… Lucy Clarke is a good enough author that I at least managed to finish this, but it just felt very unoriginal. I’ve loved her previous books so fingers crossed the next one is a return to form!

Rating: 3.3/5

From the accompanying blurb you could be forgiven for expecting "One of the Girls" to be a locked room style murder mystery - but it really isn't. This is far more of a suspense mystery with significant elements of women's fiction thrown into the mix.

The premise is an appealing one - if not particularly original. Six women find themselves on the fictional Greek island of Aegos - the chosen destination for the hen weekend ahead of Lexi's forthcoming wedding. Some of the group have known each other for years, while others are more recent acquaintances, but (as you might imagine) each one has secretive aspects of their personal history that will become significant as the weekend unfolds.

Events are recounted from the viewpoints of six different protagonists. So many points of view can become problematical if the author doesn't have a careful and skilled approach, as it can become confusing for the reader. I have to say that, on the whole, Lucy Clarke does a fine job of giving each character a distinct and credible voice, so it doesn't take long for the six individuals to be clearly established in the reader's mind. In addition to the accounts of these six central characters there is also an anonymous contribution, written in italics, that is interspersed at various points in the narrative.

The characterisation is impressive throughout, which is a quality I have previously identified in Lucy Clarke's writing. Against that clearly positive aspect, there were also some elements that didn't work quite as well. There are times when very little appears to be happening that contributes meaningfully to the storyline. I never felt overly frustrated by this, nor did I find myself not enjoying the reading experience - Lucy Clarke's engaging writing style ensures that doesn't happen - but I would also have to say that I didn't really have a sense of gradually developing tension either, which is to the detriment of the overall impact of the book.

It is only in the final quarter of the novel that there is a marked injection of pace into the proceedings, where a number of "big reveals" emerge. Without wanting to give too much away, I found the revelations to be great fun, but I would also have to say that they are at the "little bit difficult to swallow" end of the credibility scale.

On the whole, "One of the Girls" is another thoroughly enjoyable read from Lucy Clarke and, while I don't think it is her best or most appealing work, it is certainly worth adding to to your reading list.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.