I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. The story of failed relationships, marriages and friendships was very interesting. The main characters were well developed . Once the plot evolved, the story became very gripping and hard to put down. The plots(s) involve a broken marriage, mistrust , many lies and coverups . When a friend witnesses an intruder in her girlfriend ‘s home ,via the commputer screen, the cover ups and lies begin. Relationships and a marriage are at stake. I didn’t like the extra information and stories the author inserted into each chapter. I wanted to read what was happening, not extra information. I think that took away from the story.

I very much enjoyed this book! I felt that the characters were well rounded, and I cared what happened to them. They were all very sympathetic. I will be recommending this to my book club and students.

Molly and Liza have been close friends for a long time, but distance and life seemed to have gotten in the way. The two friends decide to have a video chat over wine to catch up and things are going great until Molly goes in the other room to check on her daughter. Liza, while waiting for Molly to return, notices a masked intruder walk across the room. Naturally Liza is concerned, she is more than concerned she is freaked out. Who wouldn't be? She makes attempts to contact her friend and calls the authorities. When she finally contacts her friend the next day, she is stunned by her friend’s icy reception which ends with anger and hostility.

The opening of the book is strong and instantly grabbed my attention. Molly's reaction to Liza being concerned had me scratching my head. Just what the heck is going on? When Liza returns home, she gets another shock. Then there is Daniel, Molly's husband who was away on a business trip and is concerned when his wife fails to mention an intruder being in their home. Ummm... that is huge, why not mention it? Sure, their relationship has been strained and over the years, they too have had some distance come into their relationship as hurt, resentment and lack of communication crept into their lives.

It is obvious that there is more going on than meets the eye. The opening scenes along with the book description may make this book look like a thriller but it is really a look at relationships and how relationships can become distant, lonely and lose their luster. It shows how lack of validation in a relationship can damage it. How people want to be acknowledged, heard and respected. It also shows the effects of secrets and how one act of bad judgement, once committed begins to snowball until one is making one poor decision after another. It's a look at what happens when you get in over your head and you don't ask for help.

Relationships. Love. Distance. Secrets. Resentment. Guilt. Intruder.

After the intense beginning, this book slows down and has a slower pace as it explores the relationships of the main characters. Strawser is a gifted writer but even with her great writing, this one just didn't blow me away. Having said that, I did enjoy this book -especially how the Author showed how sometimes life gets in the way and individuals need to make time for their relationships. Friendship is important. Making time for those in our lives is important. Communication is important. I enjoyed Liza but found that I never warmed to Molly or Daniel as I would have liked. I really enjoyed Strawser's other book "Not that I could tell" and had high hopes for this one. For me this was just a little too slow. I would advise everyone to keep in mind that this book is about friendships, marriage, relationships, choices, secrets and lies. It's a slow burn which is satisfying but if you are looking for a lot of action, you may be disappointed.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book started out really strong, and then went down hill from there. After the first couple of chapters I got too bored with it and didn’t finish. I did like the cover thought.

A captivating, 4 star, read that explores modern day marriages, friendship and the consequences of bad decisions. The story is gripping, the characters flawed, yet likable and endearing. I wish there was an epilogue included that tied up some of the loose ends or described how the characters developed after their experiences and questionable decisions.. An enjoyable read that kept me asking for more.

I found parts of this book very dry and slow paced but then I'd read another chapter and I wouldn't be able to put it down so I have a bit of mixed feelings for this story. Some books the reader gets lost in but this was one that required a lot of thought and understanding. The book started off slow but once it got to the plot it was off like a shot. It starts off with our two main characters Molly and Lisa talking over the computer. Both live their separate lives and can't be any more different, one is single other married with children, one lives at work the other lives for cartoons, that kind of thing. However it is a strained video call that changes everything. Both women realize they are drifting but try to stay connected Molly is talking over the computer to lisa who has to suddenly go check on on the crying child. That is when Lisa notices a masked man breaking into her friends house. Who is this man? Why is he breaking into her friends house? Is he coming back? The chilling part is that even when Lisa is informed of the intruder she seems annoyed and brushes it off. Molly is not that convinced though and decides she has to make sure her friend is alright any way she possibly knows how. What I wasn't expecting was the harsh almost cold reaction that Molly receives when she shows up to check on her friend. This book was like a roller coaster of intrigue. Every time I thought the book was going one way it would then switch and throw another curve ball at the reader. I found the characters very well written and while both of
them were very different I enjoyed the chemistry that they had between them. Really good book and I'm
glad I got the chance to check it out.

Childhood best friends Liza and Molly decide to catch up over a Skype call trying to bridge the gap of a friendship that has been strained by living apart . But when Molly goes upstairs to check on her daughter, Liza sees a masked intruder enter her house. This sets off quite a chain reaction of events that i was tearing through pages to find out what was going to happen next.

This is a fantastic domestic suspense . The character development and incredibly well crafted characters are outstanding. This book is about friendship, life , lies and how well we really know each other, even our husband or best friend.

This was a really interesting read. I was actually mentally preparing myself for a way more sinister and disturbing plot so I actually didn't see the twist coming even though looking back it was somewhat obvious.

My only criticism is that Molly's character was very thoroughly fleshed out, while Liza is still a mystery - her motives and apprehensions aren't relatable because I didn't know her well enough. I don't get why she wouldn't respond to Max when he clearly wanted her to or why she kept everything so bottled up throughout her trauma. It's tough because Liza is the more fun, intriguing character that you're ready to jump in with, but she's just kind of there moving Molly's story along instead.

4.75 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press.

Molly and Liza have been friends for most of their lives. They grew up together in Cincinnati but after Liza moves to Chicago and Molly gets married they begin to slowly drift apart. Trying desperately to reconnect the two woman plan a Skype date. Molly's husband is out of town so this is a perfect idea, until things start to go terrible wrong. For one thing the women struggle to find anything to really bond about. Liza finds Molly to be cold and distant. She doesn't seem to want to connect. As Molly gets up to tend to her daughter Nori Liza finds herself trying to figure out why she is even trying to salvage this relationship she sees something frightening pop up on screen. A masked man in black appears in the frame. As Liza tries calling Molly and screams her name the man walks calmly to the computer and closes the screen. Freaked out Liza calls 911 but still not feeling okay she decides to drive to Cincinnati. She knows that she will not rest until she sees Molly for herself. Molly is fine but her response to Liza however is not very nice. and in fact she is angry and sends Liza away!

Things don't get any better for Liza because after arriving home she finds that her apartment building had a fire and she is the only survivor. Dealing with survivor's guilt and anxiety Liza moves back to Cincinnati. Living with her brother and sister in law she finds herself becoming obsessed with death. While LIza is working through everything that has happened, including the end of her friendship Molly finds her life falling apart. In constant pain and desperate to find something to help she has gotten herself into trouble financially, emotionally and her marriage seems to be slipping away.

Told through the POV of Molly, Liza and Molly's husband Daniel this novel tells the story of desperation,anxiety and grief over the loss of relationships. I think that many people will come into this book thinking it is a thriller but it is more of a character study. Some of these topics hit home. I lost a lot of items in a house fire so I totally understood the feeling of anxiety and loss.

I would recommend this novel to just about everyone.

3.5 Stars for this ARC. This was my first time reading this author, even though I already have her other books on my kindle. I will say, I found the write-up of the book misleading from the content. Or, I just didn’t read it closely enough. I did enjoy her writing and her jacket covers can sell me alone.

Molly and Liza are bffs who have drifted apart and want to reconnect. They set up a ‘date’ to skype and get caught up....then there is a frightening turn....and the story is off from there. I somehow had it in my mind that this was a thriller, which it did display elements. More of a woman’s fiction book. Characters are flawed, not lovable; some more likeable than others. I found a lot of different scenarios going on at the same time, and the ending left me with quite a few questions...maybe more questions than answers. I enjoyed how the chapters were specific to a certain character.

Thanks to St Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone!

I loved his book! The friendship between Liza and Molly, and Molly and Daniel’s troubled marriage all drew me in to the story. Terrific story and characters.

Intense! Simply intense! What a fabulous, twisting, nerve wracking novel Forget You Know Me turned out to be. Secrets abound and fears mount for Molly, Daniel and Liza as they traverse rocky and treacherous ground. Each of them is dealing (poorly) with events that have happened to them separately. It all begins when Liza sees a stranger in Molly’s house while they are video chatting and goes downhill fast from there. The real question is whether any of them will face their dilemmas and seek solutions before it all gets too far out of hand.

I am in the middle of the road for this book by Jessica Strawser, it just did not enthrall me. That is not to say that I would discourage others from reading.. I just had a hard time getting into the story because the characters seemed off to me.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Molly and Liza have been friends for a long time.  After Liza moves away, things are strained between the two women.  While Molly's husband is away on business, the two women agree to Facetime each other one evening after Molly puts her kids to bed.  When Molly leaves the room to check on one of her kids, Liza sees a man in a mask enter the room where Molly is and then her screen goes black.  Liza drives all night to get to her friend to help her, but Molly is cold and unappreciative when Liza gets there.

This book explores a friendship that was close at one time, but has changed over time.  It also explores a marriage that has some issues.  This book explores the things that go unsaid in a relationship and how that can be isolating and effect what was once a close relationship.  I thought it was good, but it got weird in some parts in a way that I didn't find believable, which is why I am giving it 3 stars.

I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book REALLY starts out well and thoroughly captured my attention. Liza has her friend Molly on a video chat and while they are chatting, Liza sees a masked intruder come into Molly's house. Liza scares the intruder off and saves her friend from harm. From there, the story pretty much falls apart. Molly doesn't seem concerned at all that an intruder was in the house and disregards the situation and begins to ignore Liza and their friendship. While it is a mystery why Molly doesn't seem concerned about the intruder, the storyline doesn't create any suspense or mystery with these facts. Combined with the dislike of the whiny, clueless Molly and a plot line that basically fizzles and cannot keep up the suspense of the opener, it was a struggle to finish.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ecopy for my Kindle.
What will a couple do to save their marriage? Some times the means are extreme with the thought "the ends justifies the means."
Also, what is true friendship? Who can you trust and depend on when times get tough?
A good book, except for the profanity.

Molly’s husband is away on business and her two young children have been tucked into bed.

She and her oldest friend Liza have planned a “Girl’s Night”, or the closest thing to it, being that Molly still lives in Cincinnati and Liza in Chicago. A long overdue, video chat, with a goal of reconnecting...of bridging the distance that has come between them over the years.

The wine has been poured, and the chat has begun but Liza can tell that Molly’s smile seems forced...a little too bright, a little bit too polite.

“The woman currently lifting her glass of red wine in a virtual “cheers” was not the Molly she missed. The image on Liza’s monitor was Molly 2.0-the version you eventually have no choice to upgrade to but then can’t figure out how to navigate.”

But before Liza can delve too deeply into what she is perceiving, one of the children calls out to her mother.

As Molly goes upstairs, to check on her crying child, a man in a mask enters the room. Startled, Liza calls out..alerting the man that he is on camera and telling him she is calling the police. The video chat is shut down.

Frantic, Liza attempts to call her friend repeatedly and when she cannot be reassured that Molly is okay, she drives through the night to check on her. But instead of gratitude, the greeting she receives is icy.

As if she has overreacted.

What transpires next is the kind of women’s fiction that I enjoy most. Well developed characters dealing with “real life” issues of friendship, marriage and family. Imperfect. Sometimes disappointing. Sometimes hopeful.

I have had friendships end, some by circumstance, and some by choice, and I am definitely not the same version of myself that I was 10, or 20 years ago.

A “masked man” may have entered the house, and started a chain of events, but he wasn’t the only one wearing a mask.

I would like to thank Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Jessica Strawser for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for a candid review. If you enjoy women’s fiction with a dose of domestic suspense, you can pick up your copy of this on Feb , 2019!

Thank you to @stmartinspress for this ARC! 🔻

Forget You Know Me tells the story of two best friends, Molly and Liza, who have grown apart. One night, they try to reconnect via a video chat, but things are cut short when Liza witnesses a masked intruder entering Molly's home. The call ends, and unable to reach Molly, Liza hops in her car and drives to Molly's house. However, when Liza shows up, Molly is very short with her and all but slams the door in her face. What unfolds from their is a story of broken friendship, failing marriage, and the secrets that keep us apart.

Sounds pretty exciting right? Forget You Know Me definitely starts off with a bang. Based on the beginning and the synopsis, I was expecting a thriller of sorts, but the story turned out to be something completely different. The story went in a different direction than what I was expecting. The characters were well developed and complex. Their friendships and relationships were a realistic examination of all of the "unsaid stuff" that often wedges itself between people. I thought the story was intriguing, but it didn't really have the suspense that I was hoping for. The incident at the beginning almost became a distraction, and the plot was more about Molly and Liza's broken friendship, and Molly's near-broken marriage. I expected Molly and Liza's lives to intersect more, but it felt more like two separate stories with an occasional interaction between the two. This was the first novel by Jessica Strawser that I have read. It was an average read for me. 3/5.

I liked, but didn't love, Strawser's "Not That I Could Tell". Something didn't sit well with me about it, but I couldn't figure out what. People raved about it a lot, so I figured maybe I was missing something. When Netgalley offered "Forget You Know Me", I eagerly requested in, hoping to love Strawser's third novel.

Instead, I found it unreadable.

The premise sucked me in: best friends Liza and Molly are feeling distant from one another and attempt to reconnect over Skype and wine one night. But when Molly is called upstairs by her daughter, Liza sees the kitchen door open and a man in a mask enters the house. He closes the computer and Liza can't see anything else. She panics, desperately calling her friend over and over. When Molly finally get in touch, she is incredibly cold and distant.

Unwilling to accept this, Liza drives overnight from Chicago to their mutual hometown. Molly rebuffs her coldly. It seems the friendship is over.

But when Liza returns home, she finds that her apartment building has burnt down, forcing her to return home and bunk with her brother and his wife. She gets a job as a manager of an airport restaurant where she causally flirts with a pilot.

Meanwhile, Molly is struggling with chronic pain and crushing financial debt. Her friendship with a single father is pushing boundaries and her relationship with her own husband, Daniel, is strained. As for Daniel, he is being pulled into shady dealings with work.

And that's about as far as I got. I just didn't like or connect with any of these people, which I think was my issue with her last book. I felt no empathy for the main character either time. I was intrigued by the whole situation with the masked man, but as that was showing no real sign of being addressed again, I gave up.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Forget You Know Me explores friendships through the lens of secrets we keep from even our closest friends. Although it is not strictly speaking a thriller, I did find it to be a page turner that was hard to put down. Good clean writing and parallel plot lines that hold back what will be revealed made for a very enjoyable reading experiences.
Molly is facing challenges with her health (which are never fully explained), her relationships and her financial situation. In the opening of the book, she’s reached out to her friend Liza who has moved away and fallen out of touch. When Molly is called away from the computer, Liza sees a mysterious person in Molly’s house and the plot is set in action.
A beginning such as this would be typical for a book that is more of a thriller than this turns out to be. Forget You Know Me becomes an exploration of personal relationships as we learn that all the characters have secrets, and they can’t be kept forever. As the plot and secrets unfold, Molly finds herself deeper in a hole that she can only climb out of with the help of the people around her, if they’ll still be there when they learn the truths. And Molly’s not the only one with secrets that are changing their own lives as they become revealed.
Through the book, I wanted to know more about each character which is why I couldn’t put it down. It’s a true page turner in that respect. In the end, however, there’s still more I want to know about each. It’s a fine line between important background and bogging down the reader with too many details, but I would have liked to see more to complete the characters and to fill what I think are a couple of small holes in the plot. Overall, that doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of this book and I recommend it.

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