Girls Night Out

Girls' Night Out is a book I have mixed feelings about. Mostly I liked it- three women go to Mexico to re- connect and spend time together, but when Ashley meets a guy named Marco, everything starts to go wrong. And when Ashley disappears and Natalie wakes up with no memory of the night before, things really go bad. Where is Ashley? Did someone spike Natalie's drink or has she repressed her memories? Did she have something to do with Natalie going missing? All these questions kept me turning pages- it's a very readable story- and I had to know what happened. The story is told in dual timelines- both before and after the night in question- and also from all three perspectives. 

It was fascinating to see events from the point of view of all three women. Natalie seems like the sensible one, and I liked her the most, while Ashley is the reckless one, and Lauren was a little harder to get a read on, at least for me. They've been tight for years but some things have happened in the last year or so that have definitely impacted their relationships, and so things are tense as the story begins. 

Ashley organized the trip with the goal of bringing them all back together, and to seek forgiveness, but it doesn't quite work out that way. She's in an abusive relationship with her husband, and is thinking of leaving, but when she meets charismatic Marco she starts spending a lot of time with him, to the annoyance of Natalie and Lauren. Complicating matters is the fact that Ashley and Natalie are business partners, and are on opposite sides of whether to sell the company. As the story progresses we see that each woman has secrets she is holding back, and reasons for how she does or doesn't engage with the others. It's quite fascinating to see how this all plays out. 

The reason I have mixed feelings is mainly due to some realism issues and also Ashley's character. Ashley is a go- getter and reacts to things with her gut, and that includes Marco, who seems like more of a new age spiritualist than an actual threat, but how do you know? Natalie and Lauren don't trust him at all. My issue with Ashley is she's a little too reckless, a little too trusting of Marco. She's obviously a smart woman, been around the block- the fact that she falls for his bullshit seemed like a stretch. And Ashley is manipulative as all get- out, she spends the whole book lamenting that things aren't going like she planned with the other women, but she doesn't do anything to make it happen. 

This book does take a hard look at women's friendships, and the changes that can happen when women grow apart or go through changes in their life. I thought it was effective at examining where things can go wrong even with lifelong friends when something truly awful happens. Do you trust your friend when she says she can't remember what happened the night before? Do you stand by her when the police get suspicious? There's a sense of dread that pervades the story as memories return and Natalie fears what she will uncover. Between that and the lush setting of Tulum, with Mayan ruins and tequila- soaked nights, you have a winner, as long as you can get past Ashley being a little ditzy.