ARC Review: The Girls Trip by Ally Condie

 

From the author of Reese's Book Club Pick and instant USA Today bestseller The Unwedding, a novel of suspense and friendship about three friends who decide to disappear from their lives for a few days while on a trip to a national park—only to have one of them vanish.  
 
Hope, Ash, and Caro met at an online book club. Over the past two years, they’ve been there for each other in every way—except in person. When each of their lives reach a crossroads, they decide to meet in real life at the gorgeous Sonnet Resort at Eden National Park.  
 
Hope, an actress, has become entirely too famous and needs to get away from it all. Ash, a successful online entrepreneur, isn’t sure what has happened to her marriage. Caro, a doctor, has lost a patient and doesn’t know if she wants to carry on or start all over. And none of them are telling each other the full story …

Title: The Girls Trip

Author: Ally Condie

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Expected Publication Date: April 7, 2026

Review:

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy of this title to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I really enjoyed the last mystery I read by Condie so jumping into this one was a no brainer. The concept of a girls trip with one of those girls gone missing and the mystery surrounding it was intriguing. Add to that they met in a virtual book  club during the pandemic and I thought I'd be hooked. Unfortunately, the execution didn't pan out for me.

Hope, Ash, and Caro have been meeting monthly virtually for a book club since the pandemic when they finally decide to book a girls trip. The catch is that they decide the trip will be one where they go totally off grid and not tell anyone where they are. No cell phones, no social media, nothing but hiking in a beautiful area and bonding. But a flash flood finds one of them missing. But their trip was more than what they let on to in the first place and suddenly the girls are worried their plan has gotten out of control.

This one started off strong. I liked the characters at first. There was good back story to show us who they were and how they became friends. The idea of one of them being famous and wanting to get lost was a central theme that the other two decide to go along with. Their bond isn't just over books but over their lives and how they feel they've lost something of themselves. 

I enjoyed the different points of view. It helped me get to know all the players in the story. 

For the first 50% of this story I was engaged but a bit confused. I figured this would pan out since it's a mystery and I'm supposed to be a bit confused so the suspense builds and I become invested in what happens at the end.. But then the author lost me by introducing more plot lines  seeming to appear out of thin air which just led to an increasing number of plot holes in the storyline. This lead to the mystery just not flowing well. and stuttering out. I didn't really care about the characters anymore or what was going on or even if the mystery would be solved. I no longer felt invested. And the big reveal was lack luster. The villain wasn't anyone we got to know at all in the story. It felt so random and thus, was unsatisfying for me. I really wanted one of the characters we got to know throughout the story to be the villain, or at least have a connection to that person.

Overall I wasn't impressed with this one. Though a quick read, the mystery just didn't hit as I thought it should making the story feel disjointed and having me rush to get through so I could at least see what happened in the end.

2.5/5 stars rounded to 3

Author:

Ally Condie is a former high school English teacher who lives with her husband, three sons and one daughter outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, running, eating, and listening to her husband play guitar.