Brilliant and twisty with main characters who you know are just that little bit on the wrong side of trustworthy! I couldn't put it down as I had to see where this one was heading. I wasn't disappointed! Looking forward to what they do with the film version and hoping it's as dark and atmospheric as the book hints at.

The story starts out fast paced but the the pacing really slows down. The writing is average but did keep me interested. An average book

Relentlessly tedious and honestly, just terrible writing. I’ve seen this book appear on several ‘best psychological thriller’ lists and now I will be sure to swerve the recommendations made by those bloggers. I kept hoping it would get better as it takes a lot for me to DNF but frankly, I struggled through it for two weeks and it was not worth it.

Great novel, The well-crafted characters and skilfully layered plot make for a deeply immersive reading experience. I read it in a day and loved it.

Sadly I just couldn’t get into this book. Had been looking forward to it but this one just wasn’t for me

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Michael Joseph and Andrea Bartz  for this digital copy!

I'm very conflicted about about this book. Overall, I did enjoy it. The psychological side of it was very intense and gripping. As their friendship turns darker, it feels that Kristen is smothering Emily, enclosing her in this sinister trap. The momentum starts to pick up and it truly feels like an immersive psychological thriller.

However, the first three quarters of this book was a chore! It was so slow, repetitive and at one point I was seriously tempted to DNF. I stuck with it and I'm glad I did because I did enjoy the thrill of the read but I don't think a book should take that long for the plot to pick up! I rarely give half star reviews but I was so stuck between three and four stars, so a three and a half it is!

* Please research any trigger warnings before reading *

Well, that was a wild ride.
Initially I struggled to gel with the writing style, it felt a little stilted at times - however I did eventually get into it around the 30% mark.
The story was decent, the main characters unlikeable and the narrator felt so unreliable. The story and conclusion was a little far fetched, but as it was fiction that is understandable.
I think fans of thrillers, toxic friendships and unlikeable/unreliable narrators would eat this up.
Big thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A cookie cutter thriller, I can see why it was Reese's Book Club pick of the month but it didn't set my world alight and I didn't feel very invested in the outcomes for any characters.
TW: graphic violence

A tale wrapped around female friendships. Two different women whose lives diverge, Emily and Kristen, take annual holidays. This time to Chile and a man ends up dead. Was it murder, self-defence, suicide? Who was responsible and who do you trust?

Not surprised that this was optioned as a movie. Not convinced that it works as well as a novel.

Nevertheless, fun and thank you for the opportunity to read.

This was a weird one for me. I myself have been the Emily in a toxic friendship (obviously not to this extreme) so I was drawn to this book. I could really empathise with Emily's guilt of wanting to distance herself from Kristen but eventually I got frustrated as I just wanted her to be stronger. (I guess I didn't have the threat of murder charges hanging over my head). I felt that it dragged a lot during the middle part of the story and I also didn't like the ending. There didn't feel like any closure or culpability.
There was no big twist as I'm sure most readers would know the truth far quicker than Emily worked it out, justice didn't happen at the end and also we never really did find out the truth about certain things from the past.
Such a shame as could've been a really great story.
***Maybe it's because I had an advanced copy but throughout the book a lot of words were incomplete, words that had an F and an I in had those letters missing. eg the word confident would show as "condent" I found it very hard at first but eventually got used to it as it was throughout the entire book.
#NetGalley #WeWereNeverHere

Two women on a back packing holiday - one ends up with a dead man in her room. Unfortunate? Indeed - but when it happens twice, questions do need to be answered. I was excited by this start but then the pace slackened, the characters became irritating and there were so many twists and turns that I found myself muttering 'Get on with it'.

The creepy, coercive friendship is described and exampled so many times that although there was tension I couldn't work out why the characters were still in the same situation. I did finish it so in my rating rules that means it gets two stars - but even the end, presumably meant to make you gasp with astonishment, made me shrug my shoulders and say 'meh'. The woolly ending didn't annoy me - mainly because I just didn't care enough.

This book was quite uncomfortable to read at times such was the level of writing describing the toxic relationship between Emily and best friend Kirsten. However I felt that the same level of writing didn't lend itself to the actual.story. The plot was intriguing enough but there were areas where timings seemed off or more depth was needed. Unfortunately I disliked the end and found that it didnt at all live up to the pace of the rest of the book.

This book had me hooked from the moment I picked it up!

The twists and turns between Emily and Kristen make this story a real page turner. Needing to know what happened next! Making you think who is actually right? And the ending… what should you believe?

This book is definite must for anyone who loves a page turning suspense novel.

A huge thanks to NetGalley Publishers for an early eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A story of a toxic friendship

What would you do if your travel buddy was found in a hotel room with a dead man?

Fast paced and chatty writing style

reads like a YA thriller to me

Very young and modern writing style which lent itself well to the plot

I loved the premise of this but struggled to really get into it or to find it Terri le realistic. That said, it's a fiction book so doesn't really have to be realistic. It was a good view into a really toxic friendship though but I just couldn't get into it for some reason and found it lacking. Luckily it's not terribly long so it's fine for a quick read

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Not my favourite read of the year, it started off well, the premise was good, I just found it lacking in places.

This book had a strange structure to it and I struggled to get in to it despite the interesting plot. The characters were not very well written either. Overall it was rather disappointing.

This was an amazing read. It was well written with an enchanting storyline and well developed characters. It was fast paced and twisty and when I thought I knew what was happening or what was coming, I was always wrong. It was so unpredictable and the ending left me on the edge of my seat. I loved it.

‘𝙄’𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙤𝙨, 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙬𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙙𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙨.‘

~

It did take me a little while to get into, I’m not sure wether it was getting used to the writing style or how descriptive everything was. That being said, the story gets stuck straight into the action and doesn’t mess around with hitting you with the big stuff.

The plot was interesting and kept you guessing and constantly wondering what was going on, who was actually responsible, are they going to get caught?! Sometimes I did feel parts slightly repetitive and did feel myself skim reading in areas.

Red herrings thrown in along the way to throw you off the scent all the time, this definitely helped to build up to the end. The ending was a surprise, I thought it would go one way and it definitely went somewhere else entirely.

I enjoyed the book, it was clever and well written. However for me personally, something just didn’t click - hence the rating.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#WeWereNeverHere #AndreaBartz #NetGalley