In the thrilling, suspenseful new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz, all of Ellie de Florent-Stinson’s secrets come to light in one eventful evening full of twists, turns, and surprises. Before she became a glamorous fashion designer, Ellie de Florent-Stinson was a trailer-park teen about to turn sixteen. But a night of birthday celebration doesn’t go exactly … celebration doesn’t go exactly as planned and descends into a night she’ll never be able to forget.
Now, on the cusp of her fortieth birthday, it appears Ellie has everything she ever wanted: a handsome husband; an accomplished, college-age stepdaughter; a beautiful ten-year-old girl; adorable and rambunctious six-year-old twin boys; lush, well-appointed homes in Los Angeles, Park City, and Palm Springs; a thriving career; and a dazzling circle of friends.
Except everything is not quite as perfect as it looks on the outside—Ellie is keeping many secrets. But hiding those skeletons has a cost, and it all comes to a head the night of her fabulous birthday party in the desert—where everyone who matters in her life shows up, invited or not. Old and new friends and frenemies, stepdaughters and business partners, ex-wives and ex-husbands congregate, and the glittering facade of Ellie’s life begins to crumble.
Beautifully paced and full of surprises, The Birthday Girl is an enthralling tale of a life lived in shadow and its unavoidable consequences.
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I was really wanting to read this book and I found it to be a little all over the place, but all in all it was a good read. Some twists and turns but not at all shocking until the end.
/ 5
The Birthday Girl by Melissa de la Cruz is what I would call a light mystery, with some heavy shit thrown in at the end. All-in-all it was quite the read and I really enjoyed it!
What it’s about: It is Ellie de Florent-Stinson’s fortieth birthday and she has decided to throw a huge party in her new Palm Springs home. She invites everyone she knows, new friends, old friends, old flames, famous people she barely knows- no one is exempt from being invited, and no expense is too great. After all, she has a thriving fashion line, multiple homes, a loving husband, and amazing children; life is good. But as the night goes on her old secrets start to bubble up from the past, and something that happened when she was sixteen becomes impossible to avoid any longer.
The Birthday Girl is a fun book that is full of drama and gave me a little bit of a The Favorite Sister vibe. The book may not be set on a TV show, but for all the drama that is in it and the materialistic sense you get from Ellie and her guests, they might as well be the same. I happen to like that type of book, so this really worked well for me and was really fun to read about.
The Birthday Girl jumps from present to past, which is 24 years prior, and mostly told from Ellie’s perspective. She grew up poor and worked her butt off to own a fashion line, which made her pretty amazing in my eyes, even if she was incredibly materialistic. I know what it’s like to go from nothing to more, so I felt like I could connect with her at least on some level. The book is also really short at under 300 pages so it makes for a very fast read that you could easily read in one sitting.
Song/s the book brought to mind: Good as Hell by Lizzo
Final Thought: The end of The Birthday Girl totally blew me away and left me with chills. Some people may see where it is going, but I clearly didn’t, and I loved the surprise. It does end up getting a little dark, but nothing I couldn’t handle, and it was considerably tamer than a lot of mysteries out there. If you want a light mystery with tons and tons of drama, then I highly recommend checking this out!
I received a copy of this book at BookExpo and didn’t know what to expect. I really enjoyed the structure of this story, the alternating chapters from past to present. The present story takes place on the evening of Leo’s 40th birthday party. She’s spent endless hours making sure every detail is perfect. But as the evening wears on, her flawless facade begins to crack, threatening to expose secrets she’s kept hidden since childhood. de la Cruz does a masterful job weaving the past and present stories together and I truly didn’t see the twist coming! Do yourself a favor and pick this one up!
A Sweet Sixteen party twenty-four years ago changes the lives of three people.
The Birthday Girl by Melissa de la Cruz is a brilliantly written book from this author. However, it is different then what I have usually read of hers.
The Present
We start the book in the present time celebrating the main character’s, Ellie de Florent-Stinson, big fortieth birthday. We go through the whole day up to the early morning of the next day. She goes through a lot of emotions dealing with issues from her past that she does not want to remember. But she is also trying to keep what her life has become from being taken from her.
The Past
In between the present chapters, we go into the past and its a bit tricky at first. I thought Ellie was one complex character, but I ended up being completely wrong. Any person that goes through the way that Ellie, Leo, Brooks, and Arnold went through have to become different people. Especially when we learn what had happened sixteen years ago and how it affected the people around the two young girls that we’re celebrating just now.
Five Stars
The Birthday Girl by Melissa de la Cruz is honestly different than what I thought it was going to be. I devoured it when I was able to sit down long enough to. Ms. de la Cruz did an excellent job on this book. It had me on the edge of my seat in the past and present scenes. I was so invested in what was going to happen to Ellie, and I worried that everything around Ellie was going to fall apart. What an awesome job!
I am giving The Birthday Girl by Melissa de la Cruz a five-star rating and recommending it to anyone that likes Psychological Thrillers.
Check out I Thought It Was You by Kirsty McManus, for a lovely summer read.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Birthday Girl by Melissa de la Cruz.
Anyways, until next time,
Karen the Baroness
If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.
A mystery /thriller about a woman named Ellie. she is having her 40th birthday party and events unfold with her guests and her family that lead back to her 16th birthday party. Nothing in her life is as it seems secrets never do anyone anygood they always find a way to the surface and this book is no different. Kept me reading to see how she would deal with what life is throwing at her again. Well written story.