Author: Kaira Rouda
Year published: 2026
Category: Adult fiction (thriller)
Pages: 288
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location: (my 2026 Google Reading map): USA (CA)
Summary: Sisters? Forever. Friends? NEVER. Who knew a reunion weekend could be so deadly?
Meet the sorority sisters of Theta Gamma Mu:
Roxy Callahan Gentry, the ruthless former sorority president and current hostess who has painstakingly choreographed every detail of this weekend—even matching the cocktails to her couture—to prove that she remains their undisputed queen
Amelia Dell, the widow drenched in old money and alcohol, with her big pot-stirring spoon and uninvited boy-toy in tow
Jamie Vale, the double-legacy pledge, straight-A student with no sparkle, now a top cardiologist with a picture-perfect family—and a well-guarded bad habit
Beth Harrison, the scholarship student who never quite fit in and was only admitted because her best friend Sunny insisted that the two were a package deal
Sunny Spencer, the carefree and beloved friend to all, or so it seemed—until she wasn't
They've been summoned to Roxy's luxurious Palm Springs vacation home to celebrate the engagement of her son to Beth's daughter. But the refurbished 1920s estate is eerily reminiscent of the hotel where tragedy struck during Spring Break twenty-five years ago. Long-simmering tensions and shocking secrets begin bubbling to the surface like bodies—because while the weekend was supposed to be about celebrating the future, it's not so easy to bury the past…
Review: I met this author at the local Literary Festival in April and enjoyed hearing her speak. The novel is good, but not great. I liked her previous novel Best Day Ever (link to my review) that I read back in 2019.
I liked that the novel centers on a group of four "friends" from sorority days back in college and we get to hear from all four of them as they narrate the events of the story. None of them is really likable (well, except Beth). They are all nasty behind each other's backs (and sometimes to their faces), concerned with their social status and money, and they just cannot let go of the past. And then there's the men in their lives. They just do not make things any better, and honestly, they make things worse.
Most of us have defining moments in our lives, both good and bad, that bring a group together at the time, and tie us to one another for life. This group shared the death of their sorority sister, Sunny during their senior year in college. What role did each of them play in the events, who knows what about whom, and how has it affected them as adults? These are the questions that this novel slowly reveals through a weekend together 25 years later.
I liked this read, the second half of the book holding my attention much more than the first half.
Challenges for which this counts:
- 20 Books of Summer
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