This is a fascinating look at the lives of four friends and how their judgments and assumptions can go terribly wrong. It follows the lives of four women, Alison, Julie, Sarah, and Heather, suburban moms who all met through their children's school. The book is written in alternating chapters in their different voices. They started going to coffee after school drop-off and formed a tight-knit group. As they get closer, they notice bruises on Sarah's body and wonder if her husband Victor is abusing her.

As they get more and more concerned, something happens where the women make a decision from which there is no going back. After that, they spiral out of control and their lives get very complicated. Their actions weigh on their relationships and their families until the finale shocks them all.

I don't want to give away the plot, but it was exceptionally well-done and well written. The ending was a surprise that turned the entire book around. The inner lives of the characters were described so well you could imagine them on the phone to one another.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Just between us...this one is AWESOME! Intense, psychological thriller. Lots of unexpected twists and turns. LOVED IT! Highly recommend.
Thank you netgalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC.

My actual rating of this book is 4.5 stars, but for the purposes of this review (and Goodreads) I have rounded up to 5.

This book totally blew me away. It was the first book I have read from Rebecca Drake and I was not disappointed. The suspense mounted consistently throughout this book, and while I guessed what was going on towards the end, it still was quite shocking.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone that likes a good mystery with an edge. The friend aspect was very interesting and begs the question "how well do you really know someone?"

All these ladies had their own secrets, and it was shocking to find out what each of them were, a couple being more surprising than the others. I thought there was great character development and I didn't dislike any of the main characters. It was hard to put this book down, and was a super fast read. I also think the author did a great job with the abuse in this book. Some books overwhelm you with it, but this one wasn't like that.

I can't wait to read more by this author!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for granting my wish and allowing me to read this very stimulating book. I will be posting my review on my blog (https://readingbetweenwinessite.wordpress.com), Goodreads, and Bookstagram on December 16, 2017, closer to the publication date.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. I wish i could say that i liked this book but I didn't. I skipped through it. I couldn't get into it. I was bored. Sorry.

4.25 Stars

Full of surprises, friendship, stunners, and plenty of wine drinking!

A suspenseful and enjoyable read about a circle of four close girlfriends who find themselves involved in an event that threatens to shatter their lives! It took me some time to "get into" the story, but when I did it was "consuming" me!

The four friends are typical suburban moms raising their families. Heather is the friend who could be envied because she is married to Viktor, a respected surgeon and they live in a beautiful estate. It seems Heather has it all, but wait....why is she hiding bruising on her arms? Is this what is looks like or something else? Why are the friends so quick to judge? Just who has something to hide?

Things begin to escalate and when they do there is NO turning back for these ladies! It is like the ball that starts rolling and you can't stop it! First one of the friends gets a frantic phone call from Heather at 2:00 AM which sends her flying out of the house and speeding off to Heather's house!
Her snoopy neighbor may have "spied" her speeding away too. It is not long before the police come knocking and the girlfriends are sweating it!

If you were a fan of Depths of Lies, you might enjoy this one too. It has a bit of everything-humor with the ladies, stunners, and I think it may have a hint of being "a little out there" at times, but I enjoyed the ladies and the quick pace and many many stunners! I have to recommend!

I guess you should probably get to know your friends better...

This was a wholly entertaining read, if you can suspend your disbelief just a tad and get into it. I'm not quite sure that a group of friends would get themselves in THIS much hot water for one other friend, but maybe I'm just missing friends like this.
BUT the friendships in this book - let's be HONEST - are built on lies and a lot of superficiality, and that's the point. In a tiny town where appearances matter, four friends start to have concern that one of them is being physically abused. Their natural tendency to gossip and gather around the friend with all the drama going on, ends up leading this little foursome into a very tense and complicated tangle of lies and deceit on behalf of their battered friend, and in the end, they're left wondering if it was worth it. And to a very unexpected ending.
Domestic and physical abuse isn't a subject to be trifled with, and in this novel in particular, the plot actually may make some readers who are extremely sensitive to how the topic is used in writing, a little unnerved and upset, so I just want to point that out. Other subjects that may be difficult to come across in this novel are sexual abuse and miscarriage, but these are not addressed in detail and are not the focus of the book.
The author Rebecca Drake cleverly uses the different characters' voices and perspectives for the chapters, alternating the viewpoints of the narrative for the reader. And then just when you think these girls are going to be able to roll out one more 'great idea', something else goes disastrously badly. One quote in the book is quite perfect, and they should have kept it in mind, 'But life so rarely goes according to plan.' You've got that right.
Overall, solid, nerve-wracking thriller!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC copy. I was really looking forward to this book but i feel so disapointed. I am not a fan of different chapters with different views. I always find it very confusing. It started off slow then finally something happened but then got slow again... i don't know how to explain it.. i was hoping something phenomenal would happen but it kept trotting along. Then that final twist with Heather that was nice but even then i feel like the author could have exploited it more.

This was a very intense story of 4 friends in suburbia that meet for coffee ,take their kids to school and play dates until Allison notices ugly bruises on Heather's arms. She confesses that her husband is rough and getting worse. The women dread they will get a phone call that Heather is dead but it's Heather's husband that ends up dead. How many secrets and how far will they go to help her explain how he ended up dead. Before long the police and a blackmailer are involved in all their lives. A great thriller with lots of twists to keep you on your toes.

The main question in this book is: "How far will you go to protect your friends?" Four suburban friends; a couple of whom have hidden secrets. The story is narrated in alternate points of view of the four main characters, each with a different perspective. Fabulous writing, great plot, dynamic characters and an unexpected twist in the story makes for an intriguing story! Very suspenseful and held my interest, especially as the secrets started to come out.....and everything changes. Great book! Will definitely read more from this author.

A very good thriller with lots of unexpected twists and turns. Four very different friends are plunged into a terrible situation and must conspire to solve it in a way I'd never want to have to. Absorbing and original.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me this book to read and review on my blog. I rate this a solid four out of five stars.

Once I started the first few chapters my first thought was "People who loved Big Little Lies, are going to love this book" and now that I am finished, I stand by that statement. It has a very similar feel to it, but it also is very different. You see how far people will go, how seduced people become with the power of lust, greed, obsession, and violence. I loved  how hard these friends fought for each other, to the very bitter end. 

I felt like I connected with most of the mom's, they all had sort like-able-ness to them. They all had similar qualities that I found in myself, and some of my friends. There was a point when one of the gals talked about how she felt being a stay at home mom, made her feel inadequate to her other working friends. I've felt that before, and I could relate to it. I like when books do that, it helps connect the reader to the character, and to the story. 

This was my first Rebecca Drake novel, and I am very impressed with her story telling, and character building. I will have to read more from her.

How far would you go to help one of your friends? We women believe we would do anything to help a close friend--especially if suspected abuse was an issue. So when three of the four women believe Heather is being battered by her husband, they stop at nothing to cover up a crime and rescue her from a bad marriage. Told from alternating points of view, the novel slowly unravels the truth behind each of their facades (as don't we all have a little something we don't show the world?) until events spin out of control. Deftly woven and realistic, this one sucked me in from the first page and didn't let me go until the end!

The book follows the lives of Heather, Alison, Jane and July. They became friends through taking there children to the same preschool. Every Friday they all go for coffee but each and every one of them are keeping there very own secrets, as those secrets begin to unravell there lives are all left in turmoil ! How well do you really know your friends ! And what lengths will you go to to help them !

This novel has so much suspense it will knock you of your feet, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be reading mote books from rebecca drake, I fully recommend it.

ebecca Drake's new novel (due for release on January 9th 2018) is a gripping suspense filled novel with an abundance of twists and turns that keep you hooked from start to finish.

Just how well do you know your friends? Alison, Julie, Sarah & Heather's friendship is put to the test as their relationship with each other is pushed to the limit in order to help & keep a deadly secret from coming to light...all while trying to protect & hide their own secrets.

How far would you go to help a friend? Would you risk everything? In this new psychological thriller we see just how much appearances can be deceiving, and how the further you look the more secrets you'll find hidden below the surface.  As the strain on their friendship affects them, we see just how hard an impact one secret, no matter how small, can have on not only those involved, but their loved ones too.

As the plot developed and I was making my way through the many plot twists and turns, I was sucked into Just Between Us anxious to see how the story would end.  Told through the perspectives of not one but all four friends, this novel gives us a glimpse into their own thoughts, feelings, and the secrets they are trying to keep.  While I did find the story and writing style to be a bit chaotic & disjointed at times, I really enjoyed the book overall. 

I would definitely recommend this novel if you love psychological thrillers and plot twists galore.  This book will definitely keep you on your toes!

**** stars from me!

Just Between Us is another riveting and chilling novel by one of my favorite authors in the genre, Rebecca Drake. I remember starting her books a few years ago and I couldn't stop until I finished them all. This book reminds me of WHY I did this and I am eager to get my hands on more.

If you like suspenseful reads that are bound to get the goosebumps raised on your skin, this is the book for you. I can already tell it will be a favorite of 2018.

This is a story of friendship. How well do we really know our closest friends? How far would you be willing to go to help if they asked?
Four close friends (Alison, Sarah, Julie and Heather) all bond over their school age children. After the morning ritual of delivering the youngsters to school, they enjoy starting their day getting together for coffee. As their relationships develop, they schedule play dates, as well as occasional outings that include their husbands. Just every-day women enjoying ordinary friendships. That is, until Alison notices a bruise on Heather’s wrist. Suddenly everything changes.
The main downside for me was I had difficulty keeping the characters straight. Told from all 4 women's POV I would often have to refer back to the name on the chapter to see who was narrating that particular chapter. I just didn't feel the character development was deep enough to differentiate between the 4 women. Even though some background was given on each of the women, it was just touched on and not explored enough to take hold.
The premise for this book was great but somehow I just didn’t totally connect with it. There were parts that had me totally enthralled, but by the end I didn’t find it all that memorable. Yet…curiously it has taken me three days to write my review as this book keeps turning over in my mind! So, maybe this had a bigger effect on me than I thought?!
I did enjoy all the twists that were laid out along the way. As these women discover more about each other and their ‘friendship’, you will be delightfully surprised!
3.75* rounded up to4*
Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press and Rebecca Drake for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Four friends in suburban America. Some of them have secrets deeply hidden and despite meeting and talking about their lives, not everything is known to everyone.

Misreading a situation and acting upon it takes them into dangerous territory. Now they have a secret that is dangerous not just to themselves but to their careers, their professional lives are at stake and their family security has been jeopardized. Trying to cover up in the midst of an investigation is not easy. The women are easily startled, and the tricky thing is that they all have to come up with the same story. The detectives are suspicious but there is nothing to tie them into the crime. Nothing on the surface that is. Until a letter arrives to each of them, and blackmail begins.

How four amateurs decide to deal with their blackmailer, and to what extent they would go to safeguard their lives - even to kill and cover up again, is not beyond their scope. How it ends and dovetails very easily is also very plausible, very believable!

The characterization was spot on. Each woman different, looking at life differently and thinking they knew it all. Most of them were supercilious thinking they were a cut above the others, despite being friends. Most of them were judgemental. All common flaws in humankind but the need to survive beat all odds and this all had a common goal and interest in maintaining.

Story was quirky but held my interest throughout while it unravelled slowly. I always thought someone was going to blurt out the truth or get caught down the line but they managed to pull it off.

Goodreads review posted on 5/9/2017. Review on Amazon not permitted as yet. Review on my blog3/10/2017. Also connected to FB

Secrets, secrets, and more secrets...

How far would you go to help a friend you believe to be in danger? A question that three friends Julie, Alison, and Sarah don't even have time to ask before they are completely entangled in a web of lies so sticky they will be lucky to get out alive.

When Alison first notices the bruises on Heather's wrist, she doesn't hesitate to let their other friends, Julie and Sarah, know her suspicions of abuse. She's got experience in this. She has to be right, right? After one fateful evening, the four of them get caught up in so many secrets and lies, it's hard for them to tell when exactly they crossed the line from friends to accomplices. All they knew, was they most definitely had. And then the truth started coming out and it changed everything forever.

This book was great and I want to thank NetGalley for the granted wish!

Excellent thriller, a situation between 4 women that got really out of hand. Well worth a read.

First line: <i>"Funerals for murder victims are distinguished from other services by the curiosity seekers."</i>

As always, a big thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Also, a special thank you to St. Martin's Press for granting my wish to read this!

This is the first novel I've read by Rebecca Drake, but it most certainly will not be the last. Drake has a way with words, able to spin an ordinary life shared by four different women with four different backgrounds into a suspenseful, mysterious and compelling story. The plot was superb. I found it started off somewhat slowly, but once it started...it did not stop. I was surprised by a couple twists and turns, simply because I didn't see them coming. There were certain things that were slow to reveal that I started to become suspicious about a little early on, but that just made the book better.

I really liked how Drake interchanges between the four women's perspectives. It made the novel more dynamic and held my interest quite well. I did find that I was having trouble discerning who I was reading about, but that was mostly my fault, nothing to do with the writing. I was often so into the story that I would forget to read the name at the top of the new chapter.

I found the main characters, Alison, Julie, Sarah, and Heather, to be really well-written and realistic. They all had some quirks that reel you into their stories and make you form a certain connection with them, almost like you could be friends.