Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Published by: Quercus Books (Renegade)
Publication date: 18th June 2026
Content warnings: gaslighting, death, sexual assault, medical environment

“The perfect escape. The perfect destination. The perfect lie.”

Jesus christ I am in love with this book and I am so gutted I’ve finished it! It’s so rare that you find that perfect book, the one where every single sentence just hits right. It’s a gorgeous, atmospheric, mysterious book on the surface, but underneath it all is something much darker, something that sinks its claws in from beginning to end. I could not stop thinking about it! It’s one of my favourites of the year so far. I am so incredibly happy to be sharing my review of The Honeymoon Suite by Rebecca Taylor McKay!

About the book

Beautiful young bride Clara Carmichael and her wealthy new husband Spencer arrive on the Amalfi Coast. A glorious month of dazzling blue seas, lemon trees heavy with fruit, and their sparkling, marble-clad honeymoon suite stretches ahead of them.

For the newlyweds, the days slip by in a haze of boat rides, sun-bathing on the private beach, and cocktails beneath a star-studded sky. It’s paradise – until a note is slipped under their door, and everything unravels.

In black ink, the message is unmistakable: He’s lying to you. Suddenly, Clara questions everything. Why does Spencer seem so familiar with their hotel? Why does she have the feeling she’s being watched?

As she winds through the twists and turns of Amalfi Coast’s sun-bleached alleyways and jagged cliffs, Clara is forced to confront the truth: the man she married may not be who he says he is. And the closer she gets to the answers, the more danger she’s in.

The beginning

Wowwww. Rebecca’s writing really caught me off guard! It is stunning. It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything so beautiful and I was just mesmerised by her words from the start. Immediately, I knew this was my kind of book, and I completely inhaled chapter after chapter. It’s 1961 and we meet Clara and Spencer, a couple heading to the Amalfi Coast for a month-long honeymoon. It should be the happiest, most exciting time of their lives, weeks and weeks of the two of them in their perfect newlywed bubble. But it’s instantly clear that something feels a bit off about Spencer. He’s wealthy, and there is no doubt that he’d be able to give her a life of luxury. But something wasn’t right. I was watching him closely. He seems to know their hotel already, staff members seem to be watching them – or, watching Clara – closely. We’re given hints about an incident the previous year, a hospital stay for Clara. Just what had happened? How much danger was she in? She brushes everything off until a note is pushed underneath the door of their honeymoon suite: HE’S LYING TO YOU.

“Oh, why can’t I ever get it right? I think crossly, knocking back the rest of my limoncello in one, my face hot with embarrassment beneath the shade of my new hat. Why must everything be a reminder of what we’d both so desperately love to forget?”

The slow-burn unravelling of Clara and Spencer’s relationship, their past, was just absolute perfection. I loved seeing little details emerge about their lives, how Spencer’s attitude and mood could change so quickly. Clara is constantly treading on eggshells around him, always trying to do and say the right thing to avoid him getting mad, to avoid confrontation. If anything doesn’t go Spencer’s way and his mood escalates, he is often very apologetic afterwards. He seemed fake and I didn’t trust him at all. The author has built up this brilliantly volatile, intimidating image of Spencer so quickly, so flawlessly. These characters felt so real and I just wanted to spend every waking moment with them! The pair meet another couple at their hotel, Fred and Vivian, a couple I was just as intrigued by. Clara is besotted by their good looks, the way they are around each other. The small gestures, their clear attraction to one another. She’s fascinated by it all. And they too seem to be watching them… I adored the mystery, the intensity of all this. My absolute dream book!

The middle

My god, the description of the Amalfi Coast was to die for. I could feel the sun on my skin, the sea breeze on my face, the sand in between my toes. The author’s words transported me here so effortlessly it was like reading in HD. Even mentions of food and cocktails had me desperate to get on a plane! I loved the contrast of the sunny, hot, gorgeous setting with the mysterious elements, the secrets, everything left unsaid. And as Clara and Spencer spend more time with Fred and Vivian, things get complicated. Mistakes happen, lies are told, truths are exposed. I loved how character driven this book was, the complexity of each of them, how I was always ready to dive deeper into their lives, to uncover more of their backstories, to see what each of them was capable of. I felt there was so much more to learn about Fred and Vivian, and even though I kind of liked them, there was something niggling at the corners of my mind about them and their relationship. Was it all a disguise? Did they already know who Clara and Spencer were? Or were they trying to protect Clara from something much bigger?

“As for my old self, I hardly remember her. She’s somewhere far away, biding her time, testing my resolve. She wants to know, just how badly do I want my life back? And when the time comes, will I be ready to face the truth?”

Clara reaches a certain point where she is desperate for answers, desperate to uncover what her husband is hiding from her. So much so that she takes matters into her own hands. She asks questions, she becomes more confident and driven, more sure of herself. She finds lying to Spencer comes easier to her and she rather enjoys it. Where the first half of the book was a much slower burn, the pace certainly picks up here and there was such a wonderful build up of tension that changed the feel of the book completely. It became darker, more complex, and I just fell in love with it all even more. I reached the end of part one feeling like I’d just been slapped across the face. Excuse me?! The twist here flipped everything on its head and I went into part two looking at things so differently. It was so incredibly clever! I started to think such contradicting thoughts about certain characters, even felt a surprising pang of emotion and sympathy for those who I wouldn’t have necessarily thought deserved it before. Each snippet of secrecy started to make sense, the pieces of the puzzle slowly connecting.

The end

The trauma Clara experiences here had me stunned. I was staring into space after one certain powerful scene, completely mind-blown by how the author had navigated the whole thing, how everything made sense, how the clues were all there for Clara to find on her own terms. The truth was so gutting, shocking, life-altering, so unexpected it stole the breath from my lungs. It had me revisiting every detail over and over again. How can one person suffer so much, in so many different ways? I couldn’t stop thinking about each pivotal moment, how one event changed the entire course of these characters’ lives. How if one thing hadn’t happened, things would have turned out so differently. My mind was swimming with questions and thoughts about fate and cause and effect, about just how much you can trust someone after thinking you know them well enough. I felt as though I knew these characters by now, but most of them still managed to surprise me at one point or another. As we’re taken forward in time a couple of years, it was clear there was still more to discover.

“Why do these awful things keep happening? Why does tragedy follow me at every turn?”

Those ending chapters were intense, some of the best I’ve read. The ball of anxiety in my stomach just kept growing, each twist hitting in the most satisfying of ways. I just never wanted it to end! We see the shocking true colours of certain characters, the horrifying lengths people will go to get their own way. And that ending chapter felt unexpectedly chilling, leaving me to think of everything that had happened leading to that very moment, everything that was to come. It is certainly one of those books that leaves you feeling all the conflicting feelings when you’ve finished. With an open ending, it left so much opportunity to think deeply about what came next, such an impactful, powerful and, quite frankly, a perfect end to a book I will never forget. I’m finding it really hard to compare it with another book I’ve read, and I think that’s another reason why I’ve just fallen in love with it. Yes, I will automatically buy anything this author writes from now on. And yes, I will be shouting about this book to anyone who will listen! Absolute perfection. What a ride!

Overall thoughts

The Honeymoon Suite is a glamorous, sun-drenched destination thriller set on the Amalfi Coast in the early 60’s. I absolutely adored the setting. It had such a unique vintage feel and the author’s words transported me back in time effortlessly. You quite literally feel like you’re basking in that Italian heat and to be honest, I was craving a cocktail every time I picked this book up! We meet Clara and Spencer, married for a year and finally taking their month-long honeymoon in beautiful Positano. But underneath that gorgeous picture-perfect backdrop, there is something wrong. Clara knows something is off with her husband. Why does he seem to know this hotel, its staff? Why does she feel like she’s being watched wherever she goes? When a note is pushed underneath the door of their honeymoon suite claiming he’s lying to her, she becomes desperate to find out what he’s hiding. Is the man she married who he says he is? What is he covering up?

This book veered in such an unpredictable direction and I could not get enough of it. I became suspicious of everyone along the way, including Fred and Vivian, another couple they spend time with. They came across as wonderful, friendly people, but just how much could they be trusted? The first half of the book was the perfect slow-burn. I felt so connected to these characters because of it and I loved Clara more and more as we learn her story, dipping in and out of the past to a hospital stay, the moment she met Spencer, their wedding day. I became so immersed in this whole thing. The twists hit just right, the shock and complete horror of the truth palpable and intense, with everything unravelling in the most satisfying of ways. It’s dark, evocative, filled with secrets and drenched in mystery, and explores how well you can really know a person… and the lengths you’d go to cover the truth. I am insanely jealous of everyone who is yet to read this for the first time. My perfect book – I loved every minute I spent with this!

You can grab your own copy of The Honeymoon Suite right now over on Amazon* or wherever you buy your books. Make sure you’re following Rebecca on Instagram for more updates!

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