Amazon needs to add a new genre category: dark and twisty. I generally like twisty. I love it when I can’t figure things out until the very end. Dark, I have a love/hate relationship, depending on what exactly makes it dark.

Told in first person, Grace goes back and forth between memories of “something” that happened during her high school years to the results of that event that follow her to college and beyond. Sometimes when a story does that, it becomes fragmented and confusing. But this was well-written and as long as you don’t try to match the two stories too soon, it is great. Just enjoy the ride as the stories slowly merge together.

We don’t find out what the “event” was until the very end, but it all makes sense when it’s revealed. I love when it comes together. The Kitty Committee is definitely a psychological thriller, and I like those. I really like the themes of what happens with bullying, how secrets change you, and eventually some redemption through truth.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this book. First, the good stuff.

I loved the writing style and voice. Sometimes writers mix up the teen voice and the adult voice in a book like this, but this book stayed on track. It was wonderful. The descriptions were brilliant and unique, the characters were absolutely believable, and the plot kept me intrigued. (Like read until 4:00 a.m. intrigued.) I can’t say anything against the writing competency.

But we each have a personal line—things we’re okay with and things that make us flinch uncomfortably. I didn’t like the language. There’s a lot of swearing (including the f-bomb). There are also some sexual references and details that normally would make me stop reading. But I kept reading because the story was so intriguing, and poor Grace was so messed up, and I had to know what happened and how it ended.

If you like books that explore mean and twisty people—and you don’t mind the language or sexy stuff—this is a well-written story. Even though there are huge portions of the book based on the teenage girls in the Kitty Committee, I don’t recommend this as a book for teenagers. For writing and intensity, I give The Kitty Committee a full 5 stars. For the language and other stuff, I give it a 3. So I’m averaging it out at 4 STARS.

DNF at 11%. It feels like a big info dump. It's supposedly a "novel of suspense," but I didn't really see much suspense here. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book. Sorry, it's just not for me.

I had a hard time putting this book down once I started reading it. I really wanted to know what this secret was that had been chasing Grace and the rest of her group of high school friends, the Kitty Committee. Something happened in high school, something so bad that Grace can't forgive herself or let anyone know the 'real' Grace. The problem here is that I was more involved in finding out the secret and I just didn't really care about Grace as a reader. She wasn't likeable or real to me and I just didn't care about her or any of the characters. As I said, I cared more about the secret.

And then the book jumped in time, and I was not expecting that change. The explanation and reasons just weren't there for me. I got used to the jumping but it was offsetting at first. I did keep reading and everything seemed to wrap up neatly and quickly at the end. I think I was just expecting more.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

I was expecting a mystery thriller and found that this is really about 90% contemporary literary fiction and 10% mystery. So it was difficult to get through, especially the second half. There were scenes that I really didn't like and only parts of the mystery are solved, which I didn't appreciate. But I liked it enough to finish it so 3 stars.

Thank you to Amberjack Publishing for a free digital ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Kitty Committee by Kathryn Berla is such an entertaining book that exposes the perils of friendship, especially in the teenage years. This book truly opens the door into the dynamics between young friends and the inner workings of teen girls' minds. Good stuff, enjoyed reading this.

Let me begin with saying that Kathryn Berla's writing is so seductive that I was cast in its spell until turning the final page.

Grace grew up traveling with her missionary parents and brother Luke. She spent most of her childhood being raised in South America. When her father has a back injury and needs surgery they return to California where they decide to make a life for themselves. Grace is completely unfamiliar with the customs of teenagers so to enter into a public school system at 13 is more than daunting for her. On arrival she realizes just how different she is from the other kids with her Goodwill clothing and little boy haircut.

At the local public pool Grace gets the attention of the gorgeous and confident Carly and the sweet girl-next-door Maggie. They quickly take her under their wing forming The Kitty Committee where as each girl has to promise to always have each others back, boys are never to come between them, and should you ever leave the group or break a rule then you are considered dead to the remaining members.

"That was the day The Kitty Committee truly came into it's own, displaying it's sharp claws for the rest of the world to see."

It becomes clear that Grace and Maggie are just pawns in Carly's schemes. To say Carly is a mean girl would be an understatement. She is clearly a sociopath that can manipulate nearly any situation to her benefit. Grace and Maggie are both blinded by her beauty and cool confidence to see what she really is.

"As long as Carly continues to take my calls, I'll continue to make them. Why do I care so much what Carly thinks? Because she doesn't care at all."

When Carly feels she's been wronged then the only acceptable thing to do is to seek revenge and Grace and Maggie must participate to show her just how much her friendship means to them. That is until a tragic event and secret shatters their lives as they know it.

"Carly was a spider, spinning a web around my defenses with her words. I couldn't think or act quickly enough to keep up with her."

Unfortunately for these young ladies some one else knows their secret and on the first week of March for the next twenty years these three women receive an email taunting them with warnings that they know exactly what they did and that they will receive punishment.

"If time heals all wounds, the email was the means to reliably rip the scab from the wound in a predictable way. Never forget. And I never did."

Wow! So very good this one! Highly recommended! 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Amberjack Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Once I started reading this book, I had a hard time putting it down. I really wanted to know what this secret was that had been chasing Grace and the rest of her group of high school friends, the Kitty Committee. Something happened in high school, something so bad that Grace can't forgive herself or let anyone know the 'real' Grace. As the readers, I feel we're supposed to have an insight into who this real Grace is, but really she's not all that likable or real. I didn't find myself caring about her or any of the other characters - I just wanted to know what this secret was.

The first time the book jumped in time, I was a bit thrown off. There was no real explanation or seeming reason, and I felt like some chapters just got put into the book out of order. Eventually, I came to sort of understand it, because the book does jump around a bit - sometimes taking place during the high school years and sometimes at different times in the time after high school. It's pretty much up to the reader to put the pieces together and figure out when is when and what everything has to do with the story as a whole. Overall it does work pretty well. Once you get used to it.

So, it did keep me reading and trying to figure it out up until the end, but the ending was a bit disappointing. It just seemed to wrap up neatly and quickly, and I still didn't really care about Grace or any of the others.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

The anticipation of the day weighs heavily in Grace. Someone knows and will not forget. Someone wants the Kitty Committee to pay. Secrets can't remain hidden forever. This story will keep you guessing. Looking forward to reading more from the author.

I feel like this book tried to do too much and failed. This seemed like two stories inelegantly combined into one. One that was a coming of age type about a girl/woman raised in various countries by her missionary parents and trying to reintegrate into an American high school. Later as an adult, she embarks on a backpacking trip through Europe. I found this fairly enjoyable and liked reading about her travels as I backpacked to most of the same destinations as a young adult. Revisiting these cities gave me serious nostalgia for my own days of living in hostels and meeting fellow travelers.

The second story was the suspense/thriller aspect which I felt was less well done. Right from the start we know that these girls did something horrible and there is some tension in waiting for the terrible event to occur, however the build-up took too long and frankly I lost interest. When the big secret was finally revealed near the end it was anticlimactic as it wasn’t as bad as I had expected and anticipated. This story becomes overly convoluted and ridiculous with the reveal of the identity of another player in this drama and I felt like the personality switch was too great and too unbelievable. It was also an unnecessary addition to the story and while it didn’t add anything for me it did annoy me and make me roll my eyes.

The main character’s complete lack of personality made it very hard for me to connect with her and I just did not care at all about her. It took away some of the suspense as she became increasingly guilty and stressed about their secret and feared exposure and I failed to feel any empathy for her or interest in the outcome. I understand that she was brought up in an unconventional way and left to be an adult at a too early age and this prevented her from developing her own identity. This left her susceptible to being controlled by a stronger personality like Carly but it made her very hard to engage with and I didn't have any investment in her fate.

The Kitty Committee was a bust for me. While it started out promising with a “Mean Girls” story-line which, while not new was at least interesting, it devolved into a listless and boring suspense story with very little suspense. Unfortunately this one was not my cup of tea.

Thank you to Amberjack Publishing for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

This book was great. It has suspense and drama and friendship. It shows the power of peer pressure and how it can take a tragic turn., even in the years ahead. But in the end hope prevails. I would recommend this book.

The "Kitty Committee" of Grace Templeton's youth was a group of teenage friendship and support. But over time, the group falls victim to a ringleader’s manipulative personality. Set on a course of vigilante justice, and a violent act that will forever change their lives, Grace and the other girls spend the next 20 years battling the guilt born from their shared secret. But someone outside the group knows what they did all those years ago, and won’t forgive—or let them forget.

The Kitty Committee was slow to get off of its feet but once there, it took off. I really enjoyed the character development and the plot so I felt the slow burn was somewhat needed. This book deals with some very real subject matter.... Mean girls, manipulation and bullying and the future ramifications.

I think this would be appealing to any age from YA to WF but, be forewarned, it has it's fair share of strong language.

I very much enjoyed The Kitty Committee and thank Netgalley and Amberjack Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is the story of Grace, professed mean girl led around by ringleader Carly back in her high school days, now older and attempting to deal with the guilt from her actions back in the day. The story skips back to things that happened in high school and then how they played out later in Grace's life....in college and as an adult. Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of Grace which made the book harder for me to like. Very similar to the movie Mean Girls and read more like a YA book to me rather than women's fiction. The story kind of lengthy, not terrible but didn't hold my interest probably because it kind of dragged in the middle, and Grace, although remorseful (with good reason when the ending is revealed), is yet another "mean" girl grown up, nothing too original. THANKS for the ARC!!!!!

Every girl knows the fears of not fitting in at school, but how far would you go to change that?
The Kitty Committee explored the friendship of 3 girls over the decades and the consequences of the choices they each madd.
With unexpected twists and true morals this novel is relatable and deplorable in a way many girls,and women, can relate to.

Girls can be mean, and that can make for a very twisted dynamic between so called friends, and that is what is at the heart of this taut little thriller by Kathryn Berla. Grace has had an unorthodox upbringing, her parents are missionaries and she has spent much of her life abroad. This has done nothing to prepare her for high school back in America, and in her determination to fit in and make friends she makes some decisions that may well come back to bite. As part of the Kitty Committee, along with queen bee Carly, Maggie and Jane , she becomes part of a scheme that will literally haunt her for almost twenty years..
One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the way it transitions between the current day and the girl's teenage years, I think it will appeal to a wide range of readers. The dynamic between the committee members was incredibly well described, and so believable, and easy to relate to as a reader. The author does a great job of showing how Carly manipulates the other girls and wraps them around her finger , but also gives us a little glimpse of how her life may not be as idyllic as it first appears. I think the only thing that lets the book down slightly is that after all the hints given and tension built throughout the book, the actual event that is the hinge of the story feels a little rushed. Otherwise it is a masterful description of manipulation and guilt, and how the things we do in life have effects that linger on.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are entirely my own

Thanks for the chance to read this before it hits shelves next month. This book was good, It took me a little bit to get in to it but once I did it satisfied all my answers in the end. I liked how it went back and forth in the plot telling what happened to lead up to the end. I had it figured out just because it was too good to be true I guess. I liked that Carly got what was coming to her, I liked the ending for sure. Good Book!

I really enjoyed The Kitty Committee, the first chapter starts off strong and carries through. Grace (the narrator) and the other members of the committee were interesting and well-developed. I found myself constantly wondering what terrible thing they had done, as the author takes us through a story that moves seamlessly between Grace's childhood and her travels as a young adult. An enjoyable, mysterious, addictive read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this title.

I should not have read a review before I was to review a book. It said that this book should be classified YA. I could not disagree more. The portions of the characters high school years are necessary to understand the story. Overall it is a good book for which I give a solid 4/5. Thank you for allowing me to review this book.

I took a while to get in to this with the time frames switching every few chapters and I never really connected to the superficial main character. Her choices, although understandable, were not commendable and not remotely relatable. There were some twists and the main event driving Grace’s torment was huge enough to give a proper insight into her feelings of guilt but mostly I felt adrift and not connected to the story.

I thought it was a great read. I really enjoyed it! I didn't want to put it down. I stayed up half the night reading.

vigilante justice seems to be a trend in books lately and this one adds the twist of teenage girls. Somewhat relateable, the book was quick paced. I think it would make a great beach read.