Ruth Thorne is a well-to-do mother that inherited a lot of money and isn't shy about throwing her wealth around - she likes to display her elegance and class. She's divorced and devotes all of her time to her daughter Marley, a shy, introverted girl that is quite the opposite of her mother.
Then there's Gemma Howard, a well-liked widow and mother of popular girl Bee. Gemma and her daughter scrape by and have never really known what it's like to have an abundance of money.
The pair of mothers and daughters meet after after Ruth throws an extravagant party and alienates most of the other parents with her display of wealth - Ruth and Gemma become close with Ruth showering Gemma with attention and money, taking the foursome on fancy dinners and luxury trips. When Ruth becomes involved in a scandal, Gemma uses the opportunity to pull away, feeling that Ruth has become too attached. Years later, when Gemma is the one involved in a scandal, Ruth pops up to save the day. Is it the fate of their friendship or obsession in the works?
I really enjoyed this book - the twists, turns and the ending (which I didn't anticipate at all)! I really liked that current issues were incorporated in the story - how social media and cyberbullying affect us today. I realize a lot of reviews stated that they disliked Ruth - it shows that they author did her job because she wasn't SUPPOSED to be likeable!! 4.5 stars!
Thanks to Melanie Gideon, Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this well-written and haunting story of mothers and daughters, adult “best friends,” and dysfunctional and sometimes abusive relationships. The characters were so uniquely screwed up and well-drawn, and the plot was heartbreaking and uncomfortable to read while still managing to be compulsively page-turning.

This story is about Ruth and Gemma, adult best friends in a wealthy Bay Area suburb, and their daughters, Marley and Bee. Marley and Bee were best friends when they were little, just like Ruth and Gemma, but adolescence and the nastiness of teenage girls in high school have complicated everything.

The most interesting part of this book to me was Ruth. Ruth is a wealthy psychopath who is obsessed with her best friend Gemma in a truly creepy way. From the beginning of the book she uses her wealth and position to manipulate Gemma. As the story progresses her behavior becomes more and more creepy. Ruth is also downright horrible to her daughter, obsessed with making her daughter lose weight, fix her complexion, and just completely controlling poor Marley in a huge plethora of disturbing ways, including padlocking Marley into her room at night to keep her from snacking.

This story had more depth and character development than the typical psychological thriller, and it really made me feel for the children of these two women for all they went through. This was a four-star plus book all the way though, but I had to dock the rating down to four stars even for the ending, which I was ambivalent about. It was not a hard ending to see coming, and it was good from a “twist” perspective, but I think the less twisty and more straightforward ending might have been more true to what the book was about. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this book, and it made me think, while also capturing the horrible pain and discomfort of adolescence alongside the true evil and manipulation of some adults. A thoughtful and carefully plotted psychological thriller. Four stars, and I’m definitely interested in reading more by Melanie Gideon!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this interesting and haunting ARC.

Excellent mystery/thriller with great surprise ending! Finished in 3 days with a busy schedule. Highly recommend! You will be quite surprised at how this turns out. Difficult to say much more without spoilers. Thanks Netgalley for this awesome 5 ⭐️ read

Excellent mystery/thriller with great surprise ending! Finished in 3 days with a busy schedule. Highly recommend! You will be quite surprised at how this turns out. Difficult to say much more without spoilers. Thanks Netgalley for this awesome 5 ⭐️ read

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. I could not get into this book and did not finish so I won't be leaving a full review.

Having read and enjoyed other books by this author I was excited to read this domestic thriller that focuses on frenemies Ruth and Gemma. This book was filled with twists and turns, although some of which I guessed early on in the book. The characters were harder to feel connected with that some of her other characters but overall this was an enjoyable, quick read that I enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book.

This book is very different than I expected from the cover alone. I guess that should teach me to not judge a book by its cover! I really liked the mother’s behaving badly aspect and the flip that the wealthy daughter is the nerd no one likes and the girl from the struggling family is the popular one. I enjoyed this book and it reminded me a lot of “are we there yet?”

Thank you so much to @simonschuster and the author for my ebook copy.

Ruth can’t help her obsession with needing to be loved and needed and she has set her sights on Gemma!
Ruth is desperate to make new friends but going to extreme for a preschool party instantly turns parents off, except for the equally lonely Gemma. Both are single moms with daughters tue same age and Gemma is enchanted with Ruth’s wealth, consisting of incredible vacations and extravagant gifts. This enchantment begins to wear off and Gemma uses a scandal involving Ruth to make her exit but when Gemma is faced with a scandal of her own six years later, Ruth is the one who comes to her rescue. Gemma is tugged back in with the financial help that she so desperately needs and the loyalty that Gemma bestows on her! Ruth is obsessed with her only friend Gemma and isn’t going to let her go that easily again! What will all of these lavish gifts really cost Gemma and is she willing to pay the price?
Thank you Netgalley for the very enjoyable ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is a new author for me which I enjoyed from beginning to end. This is a well written story that is suspenceful and about friendships and families that are torn apart. The characters are relateable and bring life to each page. The are strong characters that bring twists and turns to a new level. They had me sitting on the edge of my seat. This is a story of obessions, betrayals and secrets that will change things for life. I really enjoyed the suspense and the growth of the plot throughout the story.. I highly recommend this book.

Did I Say You Could Go is an outstandingly unpredictable domestic thriller featuring a toxic friendship. Ruth and Gemma bond from the moment they met at their daughters' kindergarten meet and greet. Gemma, who lives paycheck to paycheck, is enchanted by the lifestyle being friends with Ruth offers - Aspen vacations, fancy dinners, VIP access, etc. Sometimes we don't realize the cost of a friendship is greater than we're willing to pay. The story is a bit of a slow-burn and filled to the brim with twists. There is plenty of scandal, teen drama, catty moms, gossip, and all that's in between. Readers of Big Little Lies will be thrilled to pick up Did I Say You Could Go. Highly recommended!

Four stars for being compulsively readable and hard to put down despite the unloveable characters and holes.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review

A bit overdone, a bit too immature for my taste, but overall I was hooked. It kept me engaged until the end and overall I enjoyed it.

Ruth and her daughter Marley are rich but they become friends with the poorer Gemma and her daughter Bee. The girls are friends starting in kindergarten and stay that way for years but the teenage years warp their relationship.
This book showed you how people can change and not always for the best. A good read.

[Pretend there is that gif of old-timey people in fancy dress giving a standing ovation right here]

I shouldn't have waited on this. I've had a copy of this book for MONTHS. I have wanted to read it for MONTHS. I kept putting other books in front of this....this insane little story of domestic, thriller goodness.

The end of this book. The last chapter of this book. I thought I had it all figured out and then.....and then.....those last few pages. Holy. SHIT.

Okay - this book:

Ruth and Gemma used to be best friends. They met when their daughters were in kindergarten - quickly becoming close - they were the class's only single mothers. Ruth, the wealthy divorced one, wants a fresh start for her and her daughter and connects with Gemma, a new widow. They become family - traveling to fancy vacations, VIP concerts and expensive dinners - all funded by Ruth. As the years go by, Gemma starts to feel buried under the weight of Ruth's friendship and after Ruth's affair with the father of one of their daughter's classmates - Gemma see her chance to escape.

Six years later, Gemma is now the one with the scandal. Ruth sees her opportunity to get her friend back. The women reconnect and soon, the families are back together....and things are back to normal. Manicures, dinners....a new car....The debt to Ruth starts adding up again....

Melanie Gideon does an excellent job switching between voices in each chapter. I think the openness about mental health and the dangers of social media are very good - I do think that it might date this book - I'm cringing at the Fetty Wap reference - but that's just such a tiny little book.

Other than that - this is...a domestic thriller that should be made into a Hulu show right now. NOW.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I could not put this down. I stayed up way too late last night (well this morning) reading this. Another Netgalley approval led me to this book. It’s everything I want in a book. I don’t want to spoil anything!! I WANT a copy of this book when it comes out and have added it to my wishlist. Another book that has left me without words. Wow.

This could’ve been so much better if it wasn’t so CRINGY. Personally, I found the characters (particularly Ruth and Bee) to be a little over-the-top at times, bordering on caricatures of an obsessive suburban helicopter parent and a sassy popular teenager.

4.5 Stars rounded to 5

Twisty, curvy, jaw dropping, emotional, scary, and in this day and age, all too realistic! Characters are not what they seem. Storyline has been played out in different ways in the newspaper, and yes, I did figure out the ending, but it in no way changed my enthusiasm for this book. Great domestic suspense…once you start reading, you won’t be able to put it down! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Ruth and Gemma bond over being the only 2 single moms in their daughters Kindergarten class at an upscale school. Gemma runs into a social issue and becomes blacklisted, Ruth reaches out although Gemma wasn’t as gracious when Ruth ran into issues earlier on. Ruth is quite well off and loves to flaunt her money around and plays the good friend when she helps Gemma out. This makes Gemma feel obligated to Ruth. Mallory and Bee (Ruth and Gemma’s daughters) have been besties since they met. As it happens, they grow apart while in middle school. One is popular the other more book smart. But opposites attract right?

Thanks to Ms. Gideon, Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

Melanie Gideon gives us a great page turner in Did I Say You Could Go?. This is my first book by this author and I really felt the details and story were well thought out and sparsely fed, to keep the psychological thriller moving along. Gemma and her daughter Bee became fast friends with Ruth and her daughter Marley in kindergarten, but now that the girls are in high school their friendships along with the mothers’ have waned. With secrets and plots for attention and manipulations of friendships and love…. I could not put this one down. I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

Be sure your sitting for this book because the amount of twists will spin you into oblivion! I'm still dizzy! This was so much dang fun! Great writing, characters I didn't care about and weren't very likable (I happen to love this trope). Obsession, greed and what-the-heck did I just read seems to be the overall theme! I loved it!!

This was intense! A great plot about females and their relationships. Girlfriends, mothers, daughters and their peers. It was full of envy, betrayal, lies, complications and confusion. A hot mess that pulls you right in to the chaos. I couldn’t put it down it was crazy and satisfying. I recommend it if you like a psychological thriller.
Thanks Simon & Schuster via Netgalley