She Started It follows four childhood best friends—Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe—who reunite for a luxurious, all-expenses-paid bachelorette trip to a Caribbean island. Their former schoolmate, Poppy Greer, is the bride-to-be, they are shocked to see how gorgeous and successful she’s become different from the Poppy they knew and bullied. With lavish accommodations but no cell service, their tropical vacation quickly turns into a nightmare as past secrets come back to haunt them. “Those bitches might have started it, but I sure as hell finished it.”
The mystery was decent, though a bit predictable. I figured out the plot about 20% in, but it was still an enjoyable read. The ending felt a little unsatisfying for reasons I can’t quite pinpoint, but overall, it was alright. It’s more of a revenge story than a thriller as it was advertised.
I didn’t have any strong expectations going in, and while it wasn’t mind-blowing, it wasn’t bad either. The story wrapped up in a way that made sense, though it didn’t leave much of a lasting impact.
One major thing I didn’t expect was the heavy focus on bullying. I really hate bullying, so I wasn’t thrilled to realize that was a core theme. The way the girls treated Poppy was awful, as revealed through her diary entries. Her story was just sad. This book highlights on the long term affects that bullying has. The main characters never actually grew as people they remained shallow and unrepentant through out the book.
The blurb mentioned Poppy was their riend but she wasn’t really their friend. She was more of a school mate and former friend of only Tanya.
She Started It Blurb
A hot, twisty summer debut thriller about a Caribbean bachelorette party that takes a sinister turn. It’s Lord of the Flies meets And Then There Were None…but with Instagram and too much prosecco.
The party of a lifetime is nothing like what they expected…
Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe are best friends—or were, as children. Despite drifting apart in adulthood, shared secrets have kept them bonded for better or worse, even as their childhood dreams haven’t quite turned out as they’d hoped. Then one day they receive a wholly unexpected—but not entirely unwelcome—invitation from another old friend. Poppy Greer has invited them all to her extravagant bachelorette party: a first-class plane ticket to three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation on a luxe private island in the Bahamas.
None of them has spoken to Poppy in years. But Poppy’s Instagram pics shows that the girl they used to consider the weakest link in their group has definitely made good—and made money. Curiosity gets the better of them. Besides, who can turn down a posh all-expenses-paid vacation on a Caribbean island?
The first-class flight and the island’s accommodations are just as opulent as expected…even if the scenic island proves more remote than they’d anticipated. Quite remote, in fact, with no cell service, and no other guests. The women quickly discover they’ve underestimated Poppy, and each other. As their darkest secrets are revealed, the tropical adventure morphs into a terrifying nightmare.
Endlessly twisty, sharply observant, and deliciously catty, She Started It is sure to shock readers until the very end.
She Started It Spoiler Review
In a major obvious twist, it turns out that “Poppy” isn’t actually Poppy. The real Poppy killed herself ten years ago, unable to cope with the torment the girls put her through. She never got into Slade, a prestigious art school she dreamed of attending, because the girls’ bullying destroyed her confidence and chances. The person who orchestrated the entire revenge plot is Wendy—Poppy’s younger sister—who has spent years plotting to make them pay for what they did.
This is pretty obvious if were paying attention – One clue was Poppy didn’t have the scars from cutting over the years.
Throughout the book, Wendy systematically exposes their darkest secrets and destroyes their lifes, ensuring they suffer the same way Poppy did. By the end, she isn’t fully done—she’s now setting her sights on Ollie, who was part of the final prank that pushed Poppy over the edge.
She Started It Characters Breakdown:
Tanya – A drug addict and a terrible friend from start to finish. She was supposed to be Poppy’s friend but she left her to join the popular crew and never stood up for her. At the end, She told Poppy to end it when Poppy told her she was going to kill herself, and years later, karma made sure she got the memo. She went on this trip thinking she’d be sipping cocktails—turns out, she was drinking her last one.
Verdict: Guilty of being a Shitty friend and Drug addict. Sentence: Six feet under with no one to mourn her.
Esther – Honestly, not the most interesting character. She worked in corporate- Boring. Poppy/Wendy got back at her by sending soliciting emails and naked pictures on her behalf to her boss and colleagues. She was the mastermind behind the red lipstick prank because she was jealous of Poppy. After that, the only notable thing she did was expose Tanya’s addiction to clients, which wasn’t that compelling (also, let’s be honest, wasn’t out of concern but pure messiness). In the end, she loses her job, gets humiliated, and even dies trying to kill Annabel, so I guess she never really changed.
Verdict: Guilty of thinking she was the villain when she was just a mid-tier henchman. Sentence: A lifetime in the afterlife filling out job applications with “attempted murder” on her resume.
Chloe – Chloe might be the most insufferable of them all. She was insecure, dumb as a rock, and homophobic on top of it. If self-sabotage were a sport, she’d have an Olympic gold medal. Slept with Annabel’s husband? Check. Constantly made the worst possible decisions? Double check. Died in one of the dumbest ways possible? Triple check.
Verdict: Guilty of being too stupid to survive. Sentence: A VIP seat in the afterlife’s Hall of Shame.
Annabel – Supposedly the smartest of the group, but she didn’t use her intelligence for much. She was a kleptomaniac who refused to work for her own money, wanting to maintain a certain image in high society. She even distanced herself from her own mother to fit in. In the end, it made sense that she took the blame for everything.
Verdict: Guilty of wasted potential and designer theft. Sentence: A front-row seat to the downfall of all four friends and guilt + knowledge that she’s the only one left to take the fall for it all. And maybe that was the worse punishment of all.
Overall, She Started It was okay but didn’t leave me emotionally invested in any of the characters. The story had its moments, but the ending wasn’t all that satisfying.
Would I recommend it? Maybe, but only if you don’t mind a predictable mystery with morally grey characters.
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