The authors artfully portray a cast of socialite, self-absorbed, vacuous, vicious, catty, pretentious, and superficial women. Julia is a wealthy mom who has the worst summer dilemma: she has to stay in NYC instead of retreating to the playgrounds of the wealthy. To amuse herself and enhance her social standing, she takes a young protege under her wing. Except the plan backfires as Julia's puppet actually turns out to be the puppeteer. Julia loses face and begins to realize what really matters in her luxurious lifestyle. Frankly, I didn't like any of the main characters, although the games they played with each other were rich bitch to the core. The two characters I thought were the most real were Janet and Benilda.

This book is a quick, fun read about the upper echelon of NYC. Parts reminded me of When Life Gives You Lululemons and part echoes of the Nanny Diaries with a little Single White Female thrown in for good measure. Yet, it was a good read on it's own. Because even if you live in a small town there are always the mommy factions to deal with and that makes the story of Julia and Tatum one you can relate to. There are times you want to reach through the pages and shake some sense into Julia, but the story moves along at a good clip so it never becomes boring. This is a a great beach read!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I really liked this book, although the main character, Julia, wasn't very sympathetic until the end of the book.
She's an NYC mom expecting to "summer" in the Hamptons when her husband discovers a huge water problem that ruins the house, and the family has to stay in NYC all summer. Julia is frantic. All her finds are going away and she's missing all the parties! She meets her spin instructor and decides she's going to help her out, Julia style. It doesn't work out quite the way she'd envisioned.

This is a fun beach read and I finished it in a day. Recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Could not put this book down! Loved everything about it - each character was so well developed, and the twists and turns were really surprising!

What a fun beach read for the Summer! I had so much fun disliking these characters. They were snarky and superficial and don't we just all love to hate our frenemies? This is a fun way to pass a few hours. Don't expect literary greatness, but enjoy it for what it is.

I had a love/hate relationship with this book; which is to say I HATED that I LOVED it! My favorite line "if people gossip to you, they will gossip about you" we all know is true. That being said, it's ironic that I found myself judging protagonist Julia as she is a socialite in the "inner circle" whose life revolves around judging others. So when the new boutique gym, Flame opens and she meets Tatum, the young impressionable spin instructor, she sees an opportunity for herself: mold the girl in her own image and build the clientele. Of course her goal is selfish; SHE will gain the accolades as all of her friends will lavish praise on her for being the first to discover the newest thing in town. This is a little like Mean Girls on steroids; you will laugh, you will cringe, you will judge (for really none of these characters is likable). But that's the point and Littlefield and Gershell nailed it. For of course Julia's plan backfires and some very tragic and some humorous events ensue. You don't have to like them to like this book; just make sure you don't become them! A great summer read! Out the end of July.

Thank you NetGalley for my Arc. I really enjoyed this book. While the characters were not that likable, it was an entertaining read and reminded me of Laura Weisberger books with the storyline. Definitely a good summer read!

I am always weary when a book is authored by multiple people because oftentimes it is hard for me to switch between writing styles. However, this book was so well done! I felt like the voices of each character was distinct and identifiable. The plot-line was very on brand for the influencer era thats currently taking place. This was a fun read!

Thank you for the ARC!

Unfortunately, this book just didnt do it for me. I could not manage to get into it. The characters were unlikable and I just did not care for the storyline. I am a huge womens fiction/chick lit genre lover, sadly, this falls short.

This is a fun beach read that kept me turning the pages. Full disclosure the characters are not all that likable. And the ending felt a tiny bit underwhelming. But overall this is an entertaining look at how some women move and operate in society and the true nature of friendship. It's well written and moves at a nice pace. Perfect for fans of women's fiction.

What a fun treat. As someone who takes spin in NYC, I am familiar with the boutique fitness craze and the role of influencers. Heck I follow quite a bit in my instagram feed. I loved the social commentary that this book presented. This was a fun brain candy read, perfect for the summer.

I will be sharing this book in the Summer Reading Guide Women's Fiction this month on the What to Read Next Blog.

This book was about the social hierarchy in New York City. The goals for the women in this story was money, power and being admired by others in their social circles. The main character decides to take a exercise instructor under her wing, only to advance herself within her cliché and make herself look good. The instructor ends up turning the tables and using the main character to her advantage. The book was a good read until the last couple of chapters, they felt rushed and predictable.

I absolutely loved this book ! Such an interesting look into the lives of private schools and parenting in NYC. I absolutely loved the main character and couldn't get enough of reading about her life and her snarky "friends". Great story, great summer read!

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing and Ballantine Books for my ARC.

This book is an easy light read and a good choice for summer beach reading.

The story revolves around Julia Summer, a socialite in Manhattan, whose families hails back from old Boston Money, and her protege Tatum - a spin instructor who is money, power and social status hungry. Julia's life is as an upper east side socialite is perfect. Her kids go to an exclusive private school, her husband is a successful real estate developer and her best friends and social circle are part of NY high society. She has her summer all planned out - go to her house in the Hamptons and attend summer barbeques - at least until her summer home gets flooded out, is completely water damaged and her plans go awry. Enter plan B.... find a pet project - to make her friends jealous and maintain her social status - ie turn Tatum, a wannabe spin instructor into a new fitness guru. What could go wrong???? Everything.

The water damage in the house in the Hamptons opens up Pandora's box to a series of financial set backs for her husband, which he keeps hidden from her, until he gets arrested. Tatum snakes her way into Julia's social set and topples her "mentor".... her "friends" start giving her the cold shoulder and her Nanny quits. In short, her world topples in on her.

Sometimes we have to have everything around us collapse, to know who our friends really are, and what is truly important in our lives - and that is the essence of this story. Suffice it to say, that in the end, Julia and her husband triumph and right their world.

I like who Julia becomes at the end of the book. I like how most wrongs are corrected.... The only thing about the ending I did not like, was where and how Tatum ended up. Maybe that might be fodder for a second book - Frenimies with Brooke taking Tatum down. Once can only hope.... (you will have to read the book to know what I'm talking about).

Julia is the person you want to hate and really you don't root for anyone in this book. She is the perfect stay at home mom to two kids. Her husband is successful and she has a close circle of influential friends. The facade all starts to crumble when her Hamptons home is ruined by water and she has to find a project while staying in NYC for the summer. At a spin studio, she finds Tatum, an instructor with potential, but a bit of a mess personally. Julia takes Tatum under her wing and makes her a success, but while Tatum is on the rise, Julia falls. She loses her nanny, her friends drift off, her husband is arrested and Tatum becomes the toast of the town without her.

It is hard to muster up much sympathy for Julia and even though she supposedly learns her lesson not to be so superficial, I don't feel like any revelation will last. She is a social climber. The book is a quick read full of stereotypes and cliches, but I did keep hate reading it to find out what happened.

I never read When Life Gives You Lululemons, so I don't know if all the comparisons between that book and this are accurate. I do know that I enjoyed That's What Frenemies Are For a great deal. Littlefield and Gershell make a bunch of unlikeable characters surprisingly relatable and enjoyable.

You have to be ok with hating most characters in the book you’re reading (including the “heroine”) to be ok with this read. I am, so that didn’t bother me. There were three things that did:

1) The plot wraps up in an underwhelming way. The title has “frenemies” in it - I was expecting some epic final showdown, and nothing remotely like that occurs.

2) The main character and her spouse each make an error. Her error is, in my opinion, unforgivable (it involves bringing illegal drugs into the house in a way that endangers a child) yet he acts like it’s not big deal and immediately brushes it off. His is kind of an issue (it involves money and honesty) but not in comparison to hers, yet she is far more upset with him over this than he was with hers.

3) Completely stereotypical portrayal of an out bisexual character. While I did appreciate that everyone in the book acts like bisexuality is no big deal, the bisexual character is a cheater who does threesomes for sugar daddy style money and performatively engages in f/f activity. She’s also the big bad of the book. While I acknowledge that of course bisexual people can do all these things, it is a harmful stereotype. I ultimately was more ok with it in this book than others because they’re all terrible people, to be fair, but it was still disappointing.

All of this said I was engaged and wanted to find out the ending. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have been disappointed with the wrap-up the way I was.

What a book! This is certainly one of those novels where the main characters (well, really, all of the characters) are people that you love to hate. Offering a glimpse into what it's like to live with money in NYC, Littlefield and Gershall have created the rare book that makes you cringe while not being able to put it down. Julia Summers'
works to raise her social status at the expense of her family through 'mentoring' Tatum, a girl she finds at a local spin studio. As Tatum's star rises, Julia learns what she is willing to do, and not do, for her so-called friends. This is the perfect book to read poolside this summer!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this fabulous ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When push comes to shove, you'll find out who your true friends are. This book put into perspective the true meaning of friendship in a more upper class world. Even though society separates so many into different classes, everyone comes from somewhere. It reminds me a little of the book Big Little Lies. Same little upper class town where everyone knows each others. They even influence their kids and groom the kids to be their future self. The story does speaks to the true outlook out today society. A little vain and superficial. There are little honesty or humbleness anymore. I truly enjoyed this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for an honest review in exchange for an advanced copy.
That's What Frenemies Are For is a great summer beach read! Julia is a Upper East Side mom and is stuck in NYC when disaster strikes their Hamptons house. How will she survive the summer when all of her friends are elsewhere? She turns her spin instructor into her summer project and things start to get messy.

Julia really annoyed me, but I guess that can be the UES life, despite that It was a fun, quick read and I enjoyed the book!