Thanks to Net Galley & Grand Central Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. A psychological thriller, fast pace, keeps the reader guessing.
Louise has been living with the guilt for years that she was responsible for what happened to a Maria at the school leavers dance. Maria disappeared, persumed to have fallen over the cliff edge.
Why then all these years later had Louise gotten a Facebook friend request from her? Louise has the odd feeling she is being followed. She then receives several text messages from Maria letting Louise know that she is following her. Is Maria really alive or is someone from the past who knows the part Louise played in what happened to Maria playing with her mind.
Will Louise attend the upcoming school reunion, she feels she can’t stay away and wants to know if the others from the gang at school will be there, Sophie, Matt, Esther and then there is Sam, who she was married to for years, the only one who knows all her secrets, but who left her and their son Henry.
Events escalate following the school reunion, Louise feels isolated and alone as she confides her role in what happened to Maria to her one true friend Polly who is appalled. Louise feels on edge and then terrified as her son Henry is picked up at school by an unknown woman, and then Louise receives a text from whoever is pretending to be Maria. Great read - 4.5 stars

This book will be great for a mystery book club -- something our community really loves. It kept my interest and wasn't overly scary.

Louise Williams is a single mom and hard-working entrepreneur. With her school-aged son and her interior design business, she doesn't have much time for anything else. So when a few stolen moments on social media turn her life into a nightmare, she's not sure who she can trust or where she can turn. 

It started innocently enough. Maria Weston, a friend from high school, sent her a friend request on Facebook. The only problem with that? Maria Weston drowned when they were in high school. 

Or did she? 

Louise has spent the last 25 years riddled with guilt for what she and her friend did to Maria back then. Maria was a transfer student, the new kid in a school where Louise had just enough social capital to be near the popular group. And Louise was faced with the choice of keeping that capital and shunning Maria or of friending Maria and losing her chance at the popular crowd (and more importantly, at Sam). She chose popularity, and Maria paid the ultimate price. 

And now she's back, and Louise has to figure out who is stalking her on Facebook. This, with an impending high school reunion, a challenging relationship with her ex-husband (also a former high school classmate), and visits to see old friends and places, and Louise realizes that to stop whoever is after her now, she'l have to go back and figure out what really happened that night so many years ago. 

Friend Request is just as creepily amazing as it sounds, with lots of chills and tension that keep you reading straight through. Author Laura Marshall takes us on the ride of a lifetime, with alternating stories of the current time in Louise's life and flashbacks to high school. And the worst part of reading this? Knowing how stupid we all were in high school and realizing any one of these characters could be you. 

For fans of grip lit, Friend Request is a must. Read. It. Now. 

And be careful who you friend online. 



Galleys for Friend Request were provided by Grand Central Publishing through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free digital ARC of Friend Request.

I was glad to finally read my version of a 5-star book! It seems like I haven't reviewed a good fiction book in a while. The best part of this book was the twists and turns. I changed my mind about how the book was going to turn out countless times and the ending still surprised me!

The book is told from the eyes of Louise, a divorced single mother. Her life was going well. She had a beautiful, healthy child, a great and prosperous career, etc. One day out of the blue she receives a Facebook friend request from an old school friend, Maria. The problem was that Maria was supposed to have drowned after a school dance while they were in high school.

Louise's life was turned upside down from the time of the friend request. She accepts it, and with the reception of the friend request she also accepts much guilt and fear from what she has done in the past.

Through the friend request, she also learns that there will be a high school reunion coming up which will reunite many of the students involved in what happened to Maria.

This book will keep you guessing until the very end.

Review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.

This was a great page-turner, but a bit predictable unfortunately. I loved the premise, and the author's smart use of social media to conjure interesting and new scenarios for a thriller. However, the writing was a big laborious and there weren't as many twists and turns as I had hoped.

SEP
21
Friend Request - Laura Marshall - creepy
#FriendRequest - Laura Marshall @laurajm8 #Bookreview




My Review:

Friend Request is a term most of us will take for granted, you use Social Media you connect with people you know and sometmes you get a friend request from someone you haven't seen in a while. It's happened to me ....

Usually it's a pleasant surprise ....

But not for single Mum Louise Williams it isn't!

The friend request she receives is a bit of a shock - it's from her old classmate Maria Weston. She hasn't heard a thing from Maria since leaving school, unsurprisingly, because Maria died, 25 years ago, didn't she?

Louise can't resist having a little peek at her profile though, because Maria has never strayed very far from Louise's thoughts. Not when she was married to Sam who subsequently left her for another woman, even throughout her struggle to conceive her only child Henry, now 4 years old and the centre of Louise's universe, Maria was there in her deepest thoughts and fears.

Because Maria disappeared the night of the leavers ball at High School and Louise was one of the last people to speak to her.

Please read my full review on my blog

Maria Weston wants to be friends. But Maria Weston is dead. Isn't she?

1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Within just a few days, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.

2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever.

Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reappearance threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to escape the past. But as she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there's more to the story than she ever knew. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what's known to Maria--or whoever's pretending to be her--is known to all.- Goodreads

It didn't take long for me to be sucked into this book. I stayed up late to finish this book and was disappointed in the ending but the overall book left an impression. Louise was a follower as a teen and still is in a way as an adult. What she did and didn't do as a teen is coming back to haunt her in the forum of a Facebook request, guilt and some stalking.

I really enjoyed the vagueness and suspense the author was able to create in a everyday environment. There isn't a lot that actually happens. A lot of the tension and the what will happen next is because Louise is freaking out. Which is completely understandable if the person you thought was dead is physically haunting you. There is no paranormal activity going on in this book, so that may be a hint to where things are going but it is also important to note that because things move slower then what you would think if this was a paranormal book. But there is a constant need to find out what happens next. There is a desire to get to 1: find out about the secret 2: find the truth about Maria 3: find out what is actually happening.

Here are my issues with the book:

1: There are some parts of the book that are very misleading. The author leads you down a specific road but the at the end you're like what?

2: The ending was weak. All that building, waiting for the truth, excitement for the truth just lead to the most lack luster ending I could possibility think of. Think of staying up until 1 a.m. to get to that. -_-

Those were my two biggest issues in this book. I felt that there should have been more going on other then Louise freaking out and feeling guilty and still wanting the approval of others. There should have been some growth in Louise and personality. There wasn't much to her other than what happened when she was a teen and her relationship with past friends and her ex-husband. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book but I know it could have been 5 Pickles as opposed to

3 Pickles

I. Did. Not. See. The. Ending. Coming. A great slow building thriller that by the end I was like just please put me out of my misery only that left me with an awful ache that I didn't see coming. It broke my heart just a wee bit, I kid you not.

We all did stupid stuff or were at the receiving end of the stupid stuff when we were in high school, but I can't imagine a bad prank going so bad or holding onto that guilt for 25 years only to realize that your entire life has been a horrific lie and ....don't want to give spoilers.

This is a riveting thriller that reminds us of how, when it comes to online/social media, people can pretend to be whomever they want. The story is infused with a delightful creepiness and the characters are well-drawn. At times, I wasn't sure whether Louise was trustworthy, which lent added suspense. The plot drags in places and I was less interested in the chapters that took place back when the characters were in school together. However, I understand how they were necessary to develop the present-day story. Overall, this is a really strong debut.

When I finished this book, my whole perspective changed about social media and who you accept back into your life after years and years of not hearing from people. I kid you not. After I got through the first chapter I was completely creeped out but I couldn’t stay away. I HAD to know everything that was about to happen. A few times, I had to put the book down because of the suspenseful content. However, that is a good thing, right? I have to admit, I was pretty tense reading this story and as I understand it, this is the authors debit novel. Just, wow! Friend Request is just about the best thriller I have read all year.

The story reminded me how much teenagers can be so cruel and the consequences that come after by that cruelty. Louise boggled my mind as her story unfolds. She is an adult but is still very much stuck in the past and when the past comes a knocking full force, instead of just telling the truth to the police, she creates more danger for herself and the people around her. I’d have to say that is the thrill and suspense of the story however, and it was told really well. There were some twist and turns I didn’t see coming and the ending was so sad but a good conclusion to the story.

I will certainly be more careful what I share to the public!

I have obtained a review copy from the publishers through NetGalley.

I have rated this book four and a half stars.

Stephanie M. Hopkins

Teenagers want so badly to be accepted by others that sometimes they will do anything for acceptance that later they will regret. Louise wanted to be popular so badly that she dropped her real friends to follow Sophie, something that will haunt her life forever.

Social media has a way of affecting our lives in unexpected ways. Louise receives a friend request from Maria Weston, who has been dead for twenty-five years Louise thought. Louise is terrified. She knows it’s her fault that Maria disappeared all those years ago, and she has spent every day of her life regretting the decisions she made back in 1989. Divorced for two years, her whole life is devoted to her son Henry but as she searches for clues on the mysterious friend request, she finds out there is a class reunion that has been planned for months and she is hurt that no one included her.

Very relatable characters and story line. In today’s day and age anything and everything seems to be ruled by social media and Friend Request is a prime example of what can happen. The characters were not much older than I am, so I found that their school days brought back memories of how cruel kids can be when dealing with their insecurities. As adults, it is easy to still want others to like us and Louise was no different. Full of surprises you won’t see coming if you are looking for a new book to check out this is the one!

Awesome read on a very on point subject - Social media and all its goods and bads. Another great author find for 2017!

With a great premise this one grabs you from the first page, but somehow loses its suspense somewhere along the way. Marshall has a nice writing style and the pages were easy to turn, but the big twist seemed contrived and just didn't work for me. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the journey!

OH MY GOD !!! Really suspenseful novel...what would be your reaction when a dead girl adds you on Facebook...why now, after so many years presumably dead ? The chain of consequences that this friend request might give to Louise Williams, one of the high school friends of this dead girl, the secrets that were buried over two decades, it has submerged...

When Louise Williams unlocks her phone's screen and sees this weird notification request in her Facebook account, it got some curiosity, so she opens this "stranger" profile,where she surprisingly knows who this woman is. Her life turns upside down, the only dark secret she has kept by herself for more than 25 years, is related to this woman, a dead woman. Her life slowly gets in danger, her son safety will be jeopardize...all because of this secret that has submerged again.
5 stars to this novel, love it and really addictive, you will always want to know what's next, what will happen to Louise, her friends, her decisions.

Thank you Netgalley for accepting my request on reading this book, also to the author: Laura Marshall and the publisher: Grand Central

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect with this book. I usually tend to read pretty fast paced books and this was a bit more slow than I'm used to. It still kept me wondering what happened though and I definitely didn't see the end coming.

This follows Louise in present day and back in 1989. Louise has a secret that only she and a few others know about. She believes she's responsible for the death of a classmate back in 1989 at a school party.

When she gets a friend request on Facebook from the girl who died back then, she's worried that the girl is still alive and is coming after her due to the threatening messages she's received.

I did enjoy this book more than I thought I would. Definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

How often have you received a friend request from someone that you went to school with but you don’t quite remember? That can be bad enough. But what if you got a friend request from someone who mysteriously disappeared and was presumed dead 25 years ago in high school?

That’s exactly what happens to Louise, the main character in Laura Marshall’s debut novel, Friend Request. I really liked this premise and I appreciate the use of social media as a narrative element in this story. Because like it or not, it’s just life these days. I don’t know how much time I spend checking my phone everyday. Clearly way too much!

The story jumps back and forth from present day to 1989, detailing the events leading up to the disappearance of Maria Weston. Marshall does a good job weaving the story through the alternating narratives, introducing the characters both in present day and 25 years ago.

Both stories are equally intriguing, and although the present day story was the main one, the back story was very interesting as Marshall revealed Louise’s deep dark secrets, and why she was filled with such guilt about Weston’s disappearance.

Marshall’s writing is fast-paced and I loved the twists as the story behind the story was reveals. For me, the ending could have been better, and actually there were several points where I thought we were done, and then it kept going. But I did enjoy the book. I’ll look forward to seeing more from Marshall.

I could hardly put this novel down. This is a gripping, often tense drama with a very current theme running through it - Social Media. So if you want a page turning 'guess who' to sink your teeth into then this one is for you.
In many ways the writing style is pretty good, not exceptional, but as this is a debut novel I feel this writer is one to watch in the future. I would read more from her.
Marshall's strengths are in her use of dialogue and scene setting. She creates tension with ease but at times it was a little contrived, especially when she was going for big effects. I think a little less spelling out of the narrator's feelings would have improved my enjoyment. Mostly I liked to be 'shown and not told.
I did like that I didn't 'guess who' until the end which meant the plots and twists worked for me.
Having said that, this is one I would recommend and I know it will be enjoyed by a great number of readers.

Great big thanks to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing and Laura Marshall for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful debut novel!

This psychological thriller is ripped out of today's headlines and is very relatable to most of us. The story is told in two different timeframes - 1989, when Louise is trying desperately to fit into the "it" group of girls at school, letting go of those friends that felt more like a right fit but definitely weren't popular. Maria was the new girl to school, with a questionable past, who felt like a fast friend to Louise but she let herself go down a path led by her popular friends. 2016 - Louise is a single mother to 4-year-old Henry, building her own design company. She has tried to put her past behind her but one day gets a Facebook message from Maria asking to be Facebook friends. But Maria is dead. Or is she?

Buckle up for a wild ride - this was a great book that will keep you guessing. With the subjects of bullying and being bullied so prevalent in the news as well as how our ever-increasing publicizing of our lives on social media can lead to bad consequences, this book wraps all that into a great thriller.

Kudos for a great debut novel - can't wait to read more from her!