She Started It by Sian Gilbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
If one of your closest friends asked you to be her bridesmaid and then extended an invitation to an all-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas for the Hen Party, you would accept, right?
What if someone you were only slightly close friends with, but had grown apart over the years, did the same? You might accept, but think it was odd they were asking you, right?
Now what if someone who you weren’t close with and may not have always been kind to asked? Would you still say yes?
Personally, I would say, hell yes in the first instance, a kind, I’ll pass, for the second instance, and hide under a rock from the third, because that seems entirely off to me.
For Annabel, Esther, Tanya and Chloe, best friends since childhood, instance three becomes their reality when they are invited by Poppy Greer to attend her extravagant Hen Party in paradise.
The women are taken aback. They weren’t that close with Poppy. None of them have seen her in years, but it is a free trip to the Bahamas. They may not have been best friends with her before, but if she wants to take them on lavish vacations, they could always change that, right?
I mean, honestly, what’s the worst than could happen?
Traveling to the private island, the group are in good spirits. They’re meeting their hostess there and the trip is off to a jubilant start. They’re anxious to discover what Poppy is like after all these years. They couldn’t even find a picture of her on her socials.
Upon reaching the island they find a new and approved Poppy. She’s not the mousy-artist they remember, but a confident, beautiful woman. This could get interesting.
There’s no doubt that She Started It is a propulsive read. I’m always here for the drama and what better setting than a remote island in the Caribbean.
We get everyone’s perspective in this, including a past perspective via Poppy’s diary entries. There were times I felt it was hard to distinguish between the various women’s perspectives; they’re all quite similar, but I did start to get used to it as the story progressed.
Additionally, I could have done with a bit more intrigue. It all seemed fairly obvious quite quickly what was going on and I wish that initial suspense could have been drawn out longer.
With this being said, those are small nit-picky things and may not bother other Readers in the slightest. At the end of the day, this is an entertaining read and strong debut.
My recommendation: Grab your popcorn, grab a cocktail, sit back, relax and enjoy the shit-show!
