I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, in classic Rosoff style it features beautiful, sparse description and characters that could walk off the page. On the other hand, I was hoping for more - more events, more development of secondary characters, more book, really. The whole novel is itself a sort of humid fever dream, but maybe that’s the point.

Meg Rosoff really manages to evoke the feeling of being at that young in-between stage between school and the rest of your life in this book. It's not really a 'coming of age' story as much as a story about learning more about what other people aren't and who you aren't. As such I think it would be appreciated most by older teens who are starting to feel a bit disillusioned with the world. Rosoff's descriptions are vivid and intense. Her descriptions of New York in a heatwave made me feel hot even though I was reading it in a freezing cold Bristolian Spring!

A really compelling coming of age story focused on the story of Beth over the summer before college when she takes up an internship in New York. I really enjoyed every page of getting lost in Beth's world and seeing her grow over the course of the book

Meg Rosoff has a wonderful talent for description and I could feel the unbearable heat and discomfort of the New York summer, it was as if I was there with them everything was so clear. The story is about four interns working at a New York newspaper but mainly concentrates on Edie and Beth, their relationship and how it changes over the weeks.

There's very little plot, just a gentle meander through their fairly intense friendship told through Beth's eyes and covering Beth's introduction to sex, love and independence. A gorgeous read with real emotion.

After having never read anything by this author before, I was excited to read this book after reading the description.

The story is mainly based around the turbulent, intense relationship between Edie & Beth in the Summer of 1980’s New York and their Summer jobs as interns before they head off to college. The book involves relationships, sex, drugs and the discussion of AIDS whilst it’s in it’s peak in New York City.

A short book, but an enjoyable read part of Meg Rosof collection is YA reads.

I would give it 4 stars, thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing to me read this E-ARC.

It’s the 1980s, a very hot summer in New York, and Beth takes a job before college as an intern at a newspaper. It’s her first time away from home, and she’s glad to make a friend in Edie, a native New Yorker, who rescues her from the slum she’s renting when she invites her to stay at her family home.
Edie is sophisticated, knowledgeable and fun, and Beth is swept up into an intense friendship. But soon she realises Edit might not be as good for her as she thought.
This is an atmospheric, evocative novel, with fully rounded, interesting characters. It really immerses you in an uncomfortably sweltering, grimy summer, and is a fascinating portrayal of the kind of intense friendship that subsumes your own identity and individuality.

An irresistible storyline…. An intoxicating novel about a summer of unforgettable firsts: of independence, lies, love and the inevitable loss of innocence Beautifully written and I got really invested in the story. I would highly recommend reading this one. A clever, engrossing story with fabulous characters.

A coming-of-age story set in New York City in 1983, during a very hot summer. Friends like These tells the story of eighteen year old Beth arriving in Manhattan, fresh from the suburbs and meeting native New Yorker Edie, another an intern at the company where they are to spend the summer working.

I’m not the target age range as is this is a YA novel, but I don’t think it really matters, any age group I think could read this and enjoy the story. It conjures up memories of youth, leaving home, meeting new people, encounters with new partners in a fresh city and all the possibilities that lie ahead. Beth is a very sympathetic character and actually it felt a shame to leave her. I’d love to read another book about what happens next.

I found it hard to put this down and enjoyed reading a story set when New York was far more dangerous, and Manhattan eateries and stores were more diverse, with fewer ubiquitous chains. I first visited during our English summer holidays and it was unbearably hot and humid, it felt edgy and completely unfamiliar to London where I had lived. This novel made me want to jump on a plane and go again. .

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC,

I enjoyed Meg Rosoff's previous novel How I live Now and so was excited to have the opportunity to read Friends Like These. Set in New York City in the hot summer of 1982, 18 year old Beth arrives in the city for a journalism internship. Subletting a cockroach infested apartment she is drawn to fellow internship student, the cool and stylish Edie. What follows is a short coming of age story about female friendship and how it can be equally supportive and toxic. I absolutely loved the author's easy writing style which really drew me in to Beth's life. I am a little younger than Beth but found parallels in her story with being a teenager in the 1980s and my own female friendships from this time. I felt that I was right there in the New York summer of 1982 and really rooted for Beth. A wonderful read that I would highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

2/5 stars.

Honestly, I unfortunately found this book to be extremely disappointing. While I adored the concept, and from the blurb thought I'd end up loving the book, I found it to be lacking in both depth and interest. This is my first of Rosoff's books, and I didn't love her writing style (it felt, for me, a bit too simplistic – though this could just be personal taste). Along with this, I felt that the novel hardly had a plot, and while I might've been ok with this had there been well-developed characters and relationships, both felt equally surface level, which was really a shame. Since one of the main points of the book was the friendship between Beth and Edie, I was expecting there to be a strong study into both characters and their relationship, but I found that at the end of the novel I cared and understood very little about either of them. Additionally, while the book was set in NYC at the height of the AIDS epidemic, the discussion of AIDS felt, once again, to be very surface-level, almost as though it was written as an afterthought, rather than being a well-researched and considered element of the novel and its plot. Overall, despite the positive reviews I have seen, along with the exciting concept, I personally found the novel to be extremely underwhelming, and wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

*I was given an eARC of this book by the publishers & Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Content warnings: discussion of AIDS, discussion of the Holocaust, suicide mentions, mugging at gunshot, toxic familial relationships.

There is something I find so compelling about Meg Rosoff's books, I absolutely loved "The Great Godden" and this has been another triumph as far as I'm concerned.

Set in NYC at the height of the AIDS epidemic, this coming-of-age story follows Beth who has won an internship at a newspaper and finds herself overwhelmed by the big city and it's inhabitants. She makes a fast and intense new friendship with fellow intern Edie that opens the door to an unforgettable summer full of hazy fun-filled days that gradually get more and more toxic.

For such a short book I really felt like the characters had alot of developement as the summer and drama unfolded. The exploration of the trauma still being felt by holocaust survivors and the new generation within those families was unexpected but beautifully done.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this read and read it in one setting. It was well written with a gripping storyline and relatable and believable characters that are well developed. i couldn't put this book down it was twisty and unpredictable..