Review: The New Year's Party by Jenna Satterthwaite

Author: Jenna Satterthwaite
Publisher: MIRA
Publication Date: November 2025

New Year’s Eve hits different in your thirties. Especially when the party ends in murder.

It used to be an annual thing—the raucous New Year’s party full of games and hors d'oeuvres. But for Olivia and her friends, the chaos of their thirties has really challenged the definition of annual. It’s been a few years since the close friends were last…close. But this year is gonna be different. The burnout, parenting stress, credit card debt, job drama, marriage troubles, addiction—they’re going to set it all aside for the night. No, really. They swear.

Oh, except for the secrets. Every last person has one… But secrets are only as good as the people you trust to keep them, and when the wrong one slips out…well, friends or not, that just might become motive for murder.

Everybody thinks they know their closest friends—until somebody winds up dead.

The New Year's Party features a group of old friends who get invited to a party to ring in 2020.  IT's been about five years since the last party.  While some attend reluctantly, a few of them are hoping to just enjoy the night and forget what's been going on lately in their lives for a little while.  The reality is that we  can never really put aside the noise because it will always creep in.  This time, it results in a dead body.

This book proves that I can read and like a book with horrible characters. It was like passing a car accident.  You know it's going to be a mess, but you can't look away from the wreckage. There is only one character in this book that I was actually rooting for ... Bennet.  He was honestly the best of all of them. The story is told through multiple points of view.  They are all enablers, narcissists and like to justify their actions while not taking any responsibility for their choices in life.   Despite the awful people in the book, I was pulled into the story and really wanted to know who died.  As the story progresses, it's pretty easy to figure out who the victim ends up being.  The reveals were twisty and in the end I think everyone got what they deserved.  I highly recommend this one.