The Vacation

Four best friends from college decide to take a vacation in the south of France to celebrate their 40th birthdays. I knew there was going to be trouble when they brought their husbands and children along on their vacation which to me a is big no-no – if you are going to vacation with your friends – leave the husbands and kids behind! What I didn’t realize was how terrible this vacation was going to be for everyone – even the kids.

So we have four long term girlfriends who don’t really want to admit how much they’ve changed since college, husbands who don’t really get along and 5 kids – three of whom are teenagers at their worst. Each family has secrets – secrets within the families and secrets from the outside world. These are some majorly dysfunctional families. There were times in the novel that I disliked all of the characters but once I got to know them better and to understand their motivations, they all became a bit more likeable.

The main question is which one of Kate’s friends is having an affair with her husband and she suspected each of them at one time during her search. As she works harder to get to the truth, she finds out that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined . . .Because someone in the villa may be prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.

Thanks to goodreads for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Well well well, I do have to say this book took me for a wild ride. One, I wasn’t quite sure it was capable of. I went into this book thinking “374 pages of a wife trying to figure out which one of her three best friends her husband was cheating on her with” seemed pretty long. Like geez just confront your husband and get it over with! What can possibly happen in 374 pages? Quite a lot actually!

Kate, along with her three best friends from university days, Rowan, Jennifer and Izzy and their families all go away for a week vacation to a luxurious villa in France. It has been five years since their last vacation together due to kids and responsibilities, so this vacation means a lot to them and a way to reconnect their friendship. But, on the first day, Kate snoops through her husband, Sean’s, phone and it seems like he is having an illicit affair with one of her best friends. Heartbroken and devastated, Kate sets out to find the “friend” who has betrayed her. Secrets build up, the heat intensifies, and someone is willing to commit murder to make sure their secret never gets out.

There is so much going on in this story, I am kinda still blown away thinking about it. Between all the twists, different players and story lines and how they all seem separate but all interconnect at the same time really paints a vivid picture and keeps you guessing all throughout. It was impossible for me to figure out through the entire story which I found absolutely amazing because I hate figuring the story out early on. There are so many red herrings thrown out during the course of the story that is meant to cause confusion and I definitely did not see the last 10% of the book coming at all!

The characters of this story are many and each has their own individual stories interweaves between the main character, Kate’s cheating scandal and the heart of this story. Can I say I liked any of the characters? They each have their moments, although some are definitely worse than the others and OMG some of them are downright scary. I do have to say one in particular got on my last nerve. Rowan’s daughter, Odette, was a feisty spoiled rotten child and every part with her in it was like nails running down a chalkboard. Gah!

I completely devoured The Vacation in a matter of hours. T.M. Logan surely delivered on the suspense and kept me guessing all through the story. If you enjoy multi-layered stories full of thrilling suspense that will keep you guessing all the way till the end, then you definitely want to pick up a copy of this book.

3.5 stars

The Vacation was suspenseful and mysterious for sure.

I thought the author did an incredible job of keeping you guessing and wondering. I found the story to be a bit chaotic at times due to the number of characters and their individual side stories. So much was going on all at once, however I think that added to the uncertainty and curiosity around the plot. There was a lot going on, despite the entire story really only taking place over a week’s time.

I was sucked into this read immediately and found myself feeling terrible for the main character Kate and her emotional well being. As a reader, I was thrilled when she maneuvered though her growing suspicions in the same way I would have if I were in her shoes. There’s nothing worse than when a reader is yelling at a character to do something and they do the opposite or avoid the situation all together. Kate was a act now, ask questions later kind of character and that really worked for me! She faced her inklings head on, but sometimes seeing red blinded her a bit.

I was a little let down by the big reveal. It was extremely complex and somewhat overly dramatic. But I will say this… I didn’t see it coming! Maybe that’s why I struggled to enjoy the very end of the story, because it was so far from my suspicions. I was bummed I didn’t catch a killer. But, I do think that’s one thing I actually like about this particular author. Nothing is ever what you think, so you have to go into the read knowing that you’re probably going to be wrong all the way through.

I still have so many unanswered questions and assumptions lingering after I finished this read. I may have to do a fast re-read to see if I missed something or didn’t read between the lines enough in certain chapters.

4.25 stars! I did not want to put The Vacation down. It’s a quick read about four old friends and their families on holiday at a villa in France. But these friends have old grudges and secrets that are determined to ruin their happy reunion.

What I enjoyed most about this one, besides the dreamy location, was the author’s ability to keep me guessing. To masterfully convey that ever so slight edge that had me second-guessing everyone. And I mean everyone. Even five year old, Odette. But while most of the characters are unreliable, I didn’t mind it like I usually do. It worked in The Vacation.

Most of the book is narrated by Kate, who just so happens to be a crime analyst. It’s her analytical point of view that simultaneously helps and hinders her search for the truth about her husband and his secrets. She has a hard time separating herself from her job even while on vacation, her mind working overtime, dissecting each person’s actions and comments. And while she slowly processes her thoughts and observations, the tension is building leading to a breaking point between these guests.

This was my second book by Logan, and it will not be my last. He’s an author I can count on to fully distract me from the world. This is the perfect book to read by the pool, the beach, or during a rain storm. Just be prepared to not want to set it down.

This book opens with what you think is a group of old friends getting back together for a vacation. This something that they used to do but life has gotten away from them. Once they arrive at their destination in France. You get the feeling that there is something wrong with the marriage but could it be just because of work and the children.
Kate though looks at her husbands’ phone after multiple pings and realizes that he is having an affair and the other person is with them for the week. Now she must find out which one of her friends is having an affair with her husband?
What I the reader was not expecting was the way the story turned and though yes you had an affair it really was more and what Kate would lose was far worse than a marriage. The surprises and twists that this story took made this for an interesting read. A good book. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 5 stars. Follow us at http://www.1rad-readerreviews.com

This is not my favorite book from this author. After the last book I had read, I expected much more.

It starts off okay enough. There is enough intrigue as to what might happen when the book first takes off, but it doesn’t take long to get to a point where the reader is going to want the author to just on with it already.

The main plot in this book evolves around one thing, which is very clear it is not that at all. The author keeps on this particular point, which tells the reader it’s going to be something entirely. I think we are supposed to be so obsessed with the who that we don’t pick up on the other little things going on in the subplots. I found myself getting annoyed, wanting something to happen.

The characters are all over the place. They’re up. They’re down. They’re left. They’re right. I couldn’t decide if I liked them or not. I’m assuming there are a few we aren’t supposed to like at all, but those are the characters who are the most real and refreshing in this story.

I had a feeling once I got the answers I was going to be highly disappointed. In that respect, I was not wrong. The last twenty percent of the book had me rolling my eyes. The good stuff, which should have happened earlier in the book, happened at the end of the book. This is one of those books where had we been given a small piece of the ending at the beginning, it would have been so much better.

I am in the minority with this book. I was very underwhelmed with this book as a whole.

I have always wanted to take a vacation with friends, and even several families, but with THE VACATION, T.M. Logan has basically cured me of that dream. Yikes! Four women, friends for over 20 years, used to meet for a long girls’ weekend, but in the past few years life had gotten in the way. With all of them celebrating their 40th birthday, they decide to take a longer vacation to celebrate and bring their families, too. One week in a beautiful villa in France with your best friends and your family… what could go wrong? Full of secrets, guilt, and lies… It also shows that no matter how well you think you know someone, you don’t really know what’s going on in their head, especially when you aren’t with them every day. Questions arise, trust is challenged.
Logan keeps the reader guessing as he throws together a cast of characters that make you wonder why they thought the vacation together was a good idea. Once this one got going, I couldn’t put it down as I was afraid I would miss something. This one kept speeding through the twists to the I didn’t expect.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.
#THEVACATION #TMLOGAN #STMARTINSPRESS #THEHOLIDAY

I really enjoyed this one and I couldn’t stop turning the pages. A great thriller!

The Vacation unfolds in a beautiful setting. Four college friends — Kate, Jennifer, Rowan, and Izzy — are overdue for a get-together. When they score a stay at an exquisite private estate in the south of France none of them could afford independently, they decide to bring their families along for a one-week vacation of a lifetime. They have just arrived when Kate discovers damning text messages on Sean’s phone that suggest he is involved in an extramarital affair, which may explain why he has been secretive of late. Worse, the sender suggests that they make decisions while they are together at the villa. Kate concludes that Sean, a network security manager with a medium-sized IT company who feels that he has not achieved the success he should have by this point in his life, is cheating on her with one of her best friends. But which one? And how should she approach the situation? Should she confront Sean immediately? She rejects that option, instead waiting and observing Sean’s interactions with her friends, hoping she will be able to determine which one of them has betrayed her. After all, she has been a crime analyst with the Metropolitan Police for thirteen years, collecting and collating data, and analyzing patterns, so her investigative skills are above average.

The four friends have a lengthy history, and Kate alludes to issues they have overcome throughout the years. Rowan and her husband, Russ, have one daughter, aged five, who regularly throws tantrums that they prove unable to effectively manage. Jennifer is an overprotective mother to two sneaky and sarcastic teenage boys, Jake and Ethan, who seem to constantly be getting into trouble. They attend school with Lucy who is demonstrably upset about something, but will not share the details with her mother. Izzy is the only one of the four women who is still single and childless. However, as the story progresses, Logan reveals the reason she has never married and has been spending her time far away from home.

As the story unfolds at a steady pace, Logan reveals salient details about the group’s long and somewhat troubled past. Kate harbors guilt about two traumatic events and, for that reason, among others, is reluctant to confront either of the women she suspects. Instead, she spends a great deal of time observing Sean’s activities and attempting to catch him engaging in inappr sd opriate behavior with the other woman in his life, her lack of self-esteem fueling her belief that she is inferior to and cannot compete with her friends for Sean’s affection. But she does want to save their marriage and not only for the sake of Lucy and Daniel. Until they arrived at the villa, she believed they were a happy couple. Meanwhile, Sean is also experiencing guilt in the present. He is indeed keeping a secret from Kate, but are her suspicions accurate?

The estate is fraught with danger. It is surrounded by sloping vineyards and a wall, but there is also a gorge at the end of a path that leads to a rock face with pools below. A clearing at the edge of a cliff looks out over the rocky promontory and the water far below.

Logan takes full advantage of the lush setting where he places his characters as scenes play out throughout the estate. But none is as terrifying as the cliff from which the water can be seen rushing below. His characters’ secrets and concealed agendas motivate them to engage in behaviors that could be either innocent or deadly, and Logan keeps readers guessing which. He deftly injects clues and revelations into the story, compelling the action forward and accelerating the suspense leading up to a major development that will keep readers frantically turning the pages to see what else will be revealed and who will survive.

Once all of the characters’ secrets are revealed, Logan’s protagonists, Kate and Sean, face a moral conundrum that will spur readers to question what they would do if faced with a similar choice. How far should parents go to protect their child’s future?

Although the The Vacation’s storyline is primarily plot, rather than character-driven, Logan has nonetheless crafted an eclectic and intriguing group of players, most of whom are thoroughly unlikable, starting with Kate and her insecurities. She is devoted to her family and career, and wants to preserve both. Rowan is a driven businesswoman on the brink of launching her public relations firm to greater success, and Russ is committed to enjoying it with her. Jennifer, the athletic beauty that Sean dated before Kate, has devoted her life to raising her two boys with Alistair, her therapist husband. Readers do not get to know Izzy as well as the others, but the teenagers in the story are each fascinating in their own right, if also repugnant. Little Daniel is innocent and endearing, and will have readers cheering for him.

The Vacation is an entertaining look at long-time friendships, the destructive power of secrets, and the lengths to which parents will go to secure their child’s future.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.

In this new book by Logan a group of four best friends are getting together with their families to spend an exciting week at a villa in the South of France. The ladies have.remained close throughout the years and this week is a perfect time to catch up on each other’s lives. It soon becomes apparent to Kate though that something is going on with her husband and one of her supposed good friends. She do d s a compromising text that could damage her family forever. The only problem now is should she confront her husband or figure out which friend it is first and then blow a hole in what is going on. With no one she can turn to Kate decides to investigate and have some proof before she causes a scene. Along the way other weird happenings present themselves making her wonder what exactly is going on with not only her friends but their families. This is a truly intense read that will keep you on edge the while way through. I couldn’t put the book down and read it in one sitting, I just had to know how it ended!!!