I absolutely loved the first half of this book! Very easy to relate to one of the main characters and written with the ease of someone who knows the day to say struggles of family! In addition, it was interesting to see the opposite position and see how things aren’t always what they appear to be even for the most glam of women! The book lost me a little somewhere around the middle? I kept waiting for a larger plot to emerge that just didn’t? Overall, the lack of “drama” or “suspense” didn’t keep me as intrigued as I would have liked but the characters were well written and descriptive. Thank you again for the advanced copy.

A heartwarming and poignant look at two childhood friends. A touching story of identity, friendship., and reconciliation. Well written women's fiction that will appeal to a broad audience.

Great story following two friends - Iris and Gwen - and their lives. Iris and Gwen were inseparable, childhood friends, but as adulthood and real life took hold, they lost touch. Both appear to have the lives they always wanted - Gwen with her suburban home, picture-perfect family and dog to match- and Iris, with her socialite NYC life and rich, lawyer husband. But not everything is as perfect as it seems. Iris's husband Michael is incredibly difficult and is currently jobless. She's also stuck in a pyramid scheme. Iris is an alcoholic and her husband is sleeping with her best friend.

When Iris decides she needs a break, she visits Gwen in their suburban Wisconsin hometown. Now, both women are trying to keep up with appearances and living the "life they always wanted."

Megan Leavell showcases how sometimes, the grass really does seem greener, and how important friendships can be - and how much it hurts when your best friend disappoints you.

Reasons for Avoiding Friends
by Megan Leavell
Pub Date: September 14, 2021

Thank you to @netgalley and #cedarhousepress for an advanced copy of Reasons for Avoiding Friends in exchange for my honest review.

The book is about two old friends, Gwen and Iris, who’ve drifted apart. At 39, they both seemingly have the lives they dreamed of growing up; Gwen is a married mother of three and Iris is in New York having left her childhood town behind. But both realize they aren’t as happy as they thought they would.

When Iris’s New York life implodes she has nowhere to go, and goes out on a limb and heads to her hometown and Gwen. Both are hiding their dissatisfaction and have plenty of secrets, while also feeling out their old friendship.

I generally enjoyed the story. But there were a few things that were annoying… it got repetitive listening to Gwen constantly complain about her weight, it felt like every time the book was in her voice it came up. As a 39 year old woman, I get it, but I don’t think it needed to be repeated that often. It also got frustrating that people just wouldn’t talk to each other and be honest! And watching Gwen be a doormat to everyone in her life! The title also didn’t resonate with the story for me.

Overall, it kept my interest and I wanted to see what would happen, but just had a few things that bothered me.

#netgalley #reasonsforavoidingfriends #bookreview

I enjoyed this quick, light read about 2 friends, Gwen and Iris. They were the best of friends when they were younger, although they were actually quite different from each other. Then, as life happens, they went their own ways and created quite opposite lives from one another. Now, over a decade later they decide to meet up. Gwen seems to have this perfect family life, a husband, 3 kids, a nice home in the suburbs. Iris on the other hand has a successful career, travels, and is always around influential people. Both of them always posting on social media, making people believe they have this perfect life. But behind closed doors, it's definitely not all peaches and cream.

When they get together, they are both hiding the parts of their lives they don't want people to know. Boy this book truly seems like real life huh. People love to post on social media so others can see how great they are doing, it's so transparent! Lol!! Who do they think they're fooling?! 😂 Hence why I took myself of FB years ago, and do not miss it in the least. I enjoyed reading about this friendship and their eventual true, and real reconnection!

I did really connect with this story. It started off a bit slow, but I did get sucked into this one. This was a fun one for me!

Thank you to the publishers, publicists, netgalley and author for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own!

.Gwen and Iris were best friends as young girls but have drifted apart since Iris married and Gwen moved back to their hometown to raise her three children.

Iris views Gwen’s life as a beautiful and happy one; she’s married to her sweetheart and has three wonderful children. In reality, Gwen is often unhappy.

Gwen views Iris’ life as glamorous and perfect, but this is also untrue. Iris’ husband has been cheating on her with her friend, and she has become dependent on alcohol to get through the day.

The story is told in chapters alternating between Gwen’s story and Iris’ story. I found the book’s pace to be rather slow, and while I liked the overall message of friendship, I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I had hoped.

This was a book I really wanted to like, but unfortunately couldn't get into at all. I was lured in by the synopsis and the cover and expected it to be a book I'd really enjoy, as I've recently loved similar sounding contemporary novels.

The writing often read like a blog, rather than a book, and I found the constant thoughts annoying. I knew from the first chapter that unfortunately this wasn't the book for me. Out of the two perspectives, I preferred Iris as I found Gwen to be an unbearable character. When I'm reading, I love to get fully immersed into the character's universe, but couldn't connect with Gwen and Iris at all. The two seemed very detached from the world around them and this meant that I also felt like I was completely detached from the plot.

The story didn't seem to go anywhere; the first few chapters in particular were slow and uneventful.

Gwen & Iris were the best of friends growing up but drifted apart as adults. As kids they were from completely different backgrounds. Gwen was an only child living with her mom and dad and her mother and her mother perhaps paid too much attention to her in the sense that nothing was ever good enough. Iris was raised by a single mom who basically neglected her most of the time, so the complete opposite of Gwen’s mom.

The story is told in chapters alternating between Gwen’s story and Iris’s story. As adults Gwen has moved back to their hometown and is happily married with 3 kids and a stay at home mom. Iris lives the complete opposite life as the trophy wife of a rich lawyer. At the start it seems the grass is always greener on the other side, but is that really the case? Iris thinks Gwen has the perfect family life and vice versa Gwen thinks Iris has a lovely and simple life with money, a skinny figure and no worries, but is any of this true?

The start of the book was rather slow and I even considered not finishing it. The characters were a little to extreme, Gwen a little too chaotic and displeased with her life as a stay at home mom and with her criticizing mother still around and Iris had no real plan and just drunk away her worries. Gwen’s mother infuriated me and I really thought I am reading for pleasure so why I am reading this, but I ended up sticking with it and both the characters Gwen and Iris grew on me.

I think being the same age as the characters helped me get into the story and I could relate to a certain extent with Gwen.

I am glad I finished the book and saw if they would learn anything at all, but I wouldn’t recommend it to others unless you are also around 39 and need a reminder that grass is not always greener on the other side and how friendships can evolve.

Gwen feels like her life is not going at all the way she planned. Everything looks good from the outside; she has three kids, a husband, and a beautiful home. But she doesn’t feel fulfilled. Her husband, Michael, recently lost his job and has been acting a little distant toward her. Her two daughters have been misbehaving at school, and her son is not as talented or skilled as other boys his age. She also keeps comparing herself to her glamorous neighbors. Iris, Gwen’s oldest friend, also looks like she has it all. She moved away to New York City, is married to a rich lawyer, and wears the most fabulous designer clothes. What people don’t know is that she is an alcoholic and her husband is having an affair with one of her friends. Iris decides to come home to Wisconsin and spend some time with Gwen which she thinks through what her next steps in life will be. There she learns that nobody’s life is perfect and everything is what you make it.

I thought this book was very well written and relatable. Everyone puts the best things about their lives on social media, so nobody knows what struggles they are actually going through. It’s so easy to compare ourselves to the highlight reels. I really enjoyed both Gwen and Iris’ points of view. Both were going through similar things and they really helped each other out of their funks. I thought the ending was a little rushed, but it was still satisfying and empowering!

How many times have we peered into someone else’ life and envied what we saw? Seeing what we believed is a perfect life? We also tend to avoid what is uncomfortable. Gwen is simply tired of her life. Ivy needs to get control of hers. Once friends, then estranged, they each realize they need to be more than honest with each other. I thought the character development was good in the book. Both Susan and Eileen were just vile creatures; I thought they should share a house together. Sometimes wayward friends find each other again. But we need to stop yearning for what we fear is lacking in our lives and start enjoying what is fulfilling in them instead.

It took me some time to finish this book, because I couldn’t really get into the plot and it was difficult to find a character I could understand or relate to. Unfortunately this is not the type of book for me, even though I appreciated the style.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read this arc and provide honest feedback.

So, overall, I liked the story. The writing was well done, there were a few overused/repetitive phrases or thoughts. The characters were mostly relatable, but around the halfway point I really was annoyed with the main character Gwen and all her whining and complaining. Although it was all things we've all complained about or felt, it seemed over done. Maybe it wasn't intentional and was supposed to just be a reminder of what she's unhappy about, but it ended up being repeated too often. I do like how the story wrapped up though, it didn't feel rushed at all and everything was pretty much tied up neatly without feeling like something was forgotten or left out, and I ended up happy for both main characters. Overall I liked the book minus the few repetitive/annoyances I've explained above.

Books about friendships are not rare, but books that do a deep dive about the reason we stop being friends with some people are not as common. What happens when you have outgrown a friend? or when your insecurities sabotaging your friendship?. Little by little, the friendship between the two main protagonists becomes so frayed that it takes escaping from a rehab facility for them to re-connect after years. For Iris and Gwen, re-discovering their friendship gave them what they needed in life: gumption and a safety net.

I loved the cover of this book, the characters and storyline could have been more relatable, but they weren’t. I enjoyed reading about the relationship between Gwen and Iris and their back story, for me the interest stopped there.
An enjoyable read but lacking in the connectivity.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to netgalley for the advanced ebook to review.
The book left me feeling rather sad at times as I reflected on my own strained relationships with various people, and I could relate to some of the ways the main characters were feeling.
The ending suddenly felt a little rushed and was a little too neat.

I can't say I particularly liked this book. I didn't dislike, but I felt the characterizations were a bit one-dimensional. We all know that comparison is the thief of joy, and this novel tried to portray that we never know what's going on behind closed doors. This issue for me is that I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable. It's not until you're nearly 80% into the book that you begin to understand the character motivations, but by then, the main characters are almost irredeemable - especially Iris.

I would give this 2.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because of the lovely cover and the premise. It's such a shame that it wasn't executed better.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to read this. Immediately drawn to the cover, the premise was good and while the story was cute and exactly what I thought I just struggled to connect with the characters. Overall the story was good, Iris can’t wait to leave her life behind her. A life of luxury awaits; but it’s not quite as it seems. Gwen, a housewife and stay at home mom, seems to have it all out together. The two lost touch years ago and then Iris finds herself back home after vowing she’d never return. They find themselves confronting each other and the demons they both face lives. If you want a fun, light read that can be read quickly and effortlessly definitely pick this up.

Iris and Gwen used to be best friends, but now they couldn't be more different from each other: Iris is living a glamurous life in New York, while Gwen is still living in their hometown, married and a mother of three.

I liked the relationship between Gwen and Iris, and how despite all the time they could still count on each other when things started to go wrong. The part I liked the most was the middle part of the book, because the beginning was too slow in my opinion.

** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. **

The beautiful cover drew me in, but unfortunately this novel didn't quite do it for me. It was a decent story but none of the characters were particularly likable or relatable and overall it wasn't a memorable read. Gorgeous cover art though.

For me this was a bit of a meh book. I found it hard to feel any connection to the characters. Shame since I was drawn in by its lovely cover.