The Party: A Novel Paperback – November 28, 2017

Read Robyn Harding’s THE PARTY and you might never want to host a party again. Well, at least not with underage kids. A young girl, desperately wanting to be in with the ‘in’ crowd, is turning 16 and hosting a sleepover to celebrate. Her mother is notoriously strict. She has forbidden alcohol, drugs, porn, and not even sure if they are allowed to have the kind of fun she wants to have. How is she going to impress the two most popular girls at school who are coming over? Especially when they expect all of the above. Minus the porn.The party goes awry. Meanwhile, mom and dad are upstairs sound asleep, mom, with a little help from some wine and Ambien, only to be woken up by their 16-year-old, with blood on her hands.A trip to the ER was not on the checklist for this party.Fraught with fear, lies, marriages in distress, troubled teens, parents who could use a crash course in parenting, and a whole lot of people caught in a tight web, THE PARTY will one, make you feel grateful to be done with high school, two, be very afraid if you have a teenager.

She has become one of my new favorite authors. I love the way she writes her characters...they are all so flawed. Makes for a great story.

Having read many of this author's books, I had high expectations for this one. None of the characters are likeable (especially Kim). The story draws you in quickly and holds your interest throughout except for the ending-- just failed for me.

The plot was good and well written. It is a quick and easy read. With that said, the characters in this book are all horrible people. There is not one person in this book I liked or felt sorry for. Even the victim is hard to like.Kim is a a complete selfish, crazy helicopter parent. Who drinks and takes sleeping pills plus puts ear plugs in her ears, while there is a slumber party going on in her house? Loser!Jeff is also a selfish person. A lousy husband and father. Also a loser. Daughter, Hannah a spoiled brat. Never learned anything even in the end.Victim was also a brat with issues. She was just as much at fault for the accident. Her mother was entitled to compensation but the amount she got was crazy. She was also a horrible crazy person.For all the other characters, all bullies and just plain terrible people.If you are at the beach or on a boring rainy day and in the mood for a chick lit with drama, I recommend this book.

Great suspense

About 20% of the way through I read the reviews of this book and was surprised how mixed they all were. I think all of the characters were deeply flawed, self-serving, and unlikable. I give any credit to an author that can make one character as unlikable as Kim, Jeff. -!: Lisa are. Hannah I will give more credit to because she is 16 (but still self possessed and slightly awful). I disagree with people who said there wasn’t an ending. There was a conclusion to the Ronnie/Hannah and lawsuit drama, but the last chapter does let the reader make assumptions about what happens next.Overall, I did not love the author’s writing style, but I did enjoy the book.

I was SO disappointed in the ending! It seemed rushed and didn’t make sense. The book built up Hannah to be a teenager who had matured and felt bad about her past actions and ends with her being sinister. Made no sense. The book did a great job of hooking me, but everything that I thought was going to be a “big reveal” fell flat and left me saying “that’s it?”....read this if you want to he sucked in, but constantly disappointed.

Loved the plot twists.