How do you adapt in friendships that started in college? How do you not let life get in the way? The truth of the matter is, it does and it’s up to you to determine if those friendships are still good for you. This is the theme in Ms. Chamberlain’s book about 4 friends who are bonded by shared experiences but will have life make them questioning their long term bonds.

this was an entertaining and engaging book!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this book to review.

Friendship Over Time

Who We Are Now by Lauryn Chamberlain spans fifteen years and follows the intertwined lives of four friends: Rachel, Clarissa, Dev, and Nate. The story begins in 2006, on the eve of their graduation from Northwestern University. As they navigate the challenges and changes of adulthood, their once inseparable bond is tested by the diverging paths they take in their professional and personal lives. The narrative is driven by the concept of "Sliding Doors" moments—those seemingly insignificant decisions that ultimately shape their futures.

Lauryn Chamberlain's Who We Are Now is a poignant and engaging exploration of friendship, personal growth, and life's small but significant moments. It is a must-read for anyone who enjoys character-driven stories that reflect the complexities of real life.

Who We Are Now is a complicated and dramatically delightful story of four friends over fifteen years that will make you laugh and cry and want to call your best friends. I was reminded of the poignancy of Dolly Alderton's Ghosts in the stories of these friends, with the raw humanity bouncing off the page.

Beginning at college graduation, four friends navigate the real world. Although they all take different paths, they try to maintain their relationships and connection despite the challenges they face.
The point of view changes between the four characters throughout the book, so you get a little of everyone’s perspective. However, I didn’t really like how we would get part of the story from one character’s POV, and then go backwards to get more of that story from someone else. I would’ve liked to just see the story continued, without the backwards and forwards.

I was really excited for this book because of the themes of friendship and self-discovery. The writing style is unique in that it follows each of the friends year after year, showing us how their friendship changes and what takes place in their lives. It tackles some heavy topics, but one thing I feel is missing is depth of the characters. I don't feel like I was able to get into their heads as much as I would have liked to. I did enjoy going on the journeys among this friend group, but overall wasn't quite a read I would consider a favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

“Who We Are Now” is a story of four friends spanning 15 years, from when they were roommates in college to when they find their place in the world as adults. This story kept my attention from beginning to end, I wanted to know what happened to each character. The conflicts between characters were very relatable - often simple miscommunications that spin out into a more fractured relationship. I liked how even though the characters were not in constant contact throughout the 15 years, each chapter somehow referenced the other characters. I wish the book had spent more time on how they met and initially became friends, because I did not really understand their relationship.


Thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for the eARC.

I had high hopes for this coming of age tale of four college roommates. Ultimately, I liked rather than loved it. The pacing felt off and I didn’t find any of the characters to be particularly relatable.

Reading this felt like watching a 2000s friendship drama! I really liked this one, and it made me feel lots of emotions. If you love developing friendship dynamics, and characters who are highly influenced by their relationships and surroundings this might be a book for you. 3.5 stars

Sadly this book didn't work for me or hold my attention. I do hope it works for others. Thank you for the opportunity!

Rachel, Clarissa, Dev, and Nate are best friends, fresh out of college and excited about the dreams and possibilities that life holds for them. The one thing that seems certain is their friendship. But over the years they will each make choices that pull them apart, back together, and apart again, until they ultimately have to decide: are their friendships in the past, or are they for life?

I love a good friends from college story, and this one definitely had its moments. At the same time, I would have liked a few more flashbacks that established the closeness of the characters, beyond their shared college house and parties. This also would have helped with shaping each of their personalities, which felt a bit distant throughout (one of them in particular). I liked this, but I didn’t quite get the emotional resonance I look for in a friendship story.

Follows a friend group over 15 years – Dev, Nate, Rachel and Clarissa meet at Northwestern their freshman year and have different paths/interests.

I loved following them over the years to see how their careers and relationships shaped their lives.
Friendship novel with a few romances along the way, but definitely not a focus.

Explores “what if” and career choices, relationship choices, and grief.

Book Review:
Title: Who We Are Now
Author: Lauryn Chamberlain
Rating: ⭐️⭐️/2 stars

While I usually enjoy plots following a timeline from college to adulthood, this one seemed to go too slow. At times, I struggled with keeping interest, but I rarely DNF a book.

The story follows graduating college seniors Dev, Clarissa, Rachel, and Nate, who are best friends. Basically, the book follows each of these characters throughout their 20's and 30's. Nothing really happens, so there doesn't feel that there is much to review. I definitely struggled with this one!

Published: August 8th, 2023

Thank you, @netgalley and @duttonbooks, for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The premise of this book made me so nostalgic, I couldn’t wait to pick it up! I loved how this book starts with 4 best friends in college in the mid 2000s, and then follows them for years post-graduation. 🎓 When we first meet our 4 main characters they can’t imagine life without each other. But, as we know all too well, life happens, relationships drift, and time keeps moving forward. 🏙️

•what I liked•
-the writing style with each chapter covering a different year and character. It focused on one specific person while also managing to subtly give an update for that year on the other characters.
-the references to college life. Just made me think of my college days which were the best! 💜

•what I didn’t like as much•
-none of the characters were super relatable, at least not for me. As someone who loves to write I could relate a bit to Rachel who was an editor and dreamed of writing more. But besides that, the lifestyles and career aspirations just didn’t do anything for me.
-I never really felt the deep connection the characters supposedly had. It might be because we meet them at the end of college and at the beginning of their time starting to drift apart, but I didn’t feel myself rooting for these friends to come back together, if that makes sense. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I thoroughly enjoyed this very character-driven, friendship forward novel Chamberlain does an excellent job weaving together four friends' lives as they come into adulthood together. I loved watching their relationships morph and evolve as they got older and added new people (or cast out) to the mix. It's meandering and slow, however there is a lot of heart packed into this book!

I know romance is all the rage, but there's something I love about a friendship novel (we need more of them in this world!). WHO WE ARE NOW follows a group of four friends as they graduate from Northwestern in 2006, and start their lives and careers. Three of them (Rachel, Dev, and Nate) move to New York City, while Clarissa stays behind in Chicago. Although everyone in the group has aspirations of a creative career, Rachel and Nate decide to go into the corporate world, while Dev writes a novel and Clarissa begins working the comedy circuit. Each year is told from one character's point of view, following the group through their twenties and thirties. If you like coming of age stories, then I strongly recommend picking up a copy of this one!
The structure is so unique, and allowed us to get a peek into each character's perspective on different points of their lives. Although the cover is bright and fun, this novel dives into some rather serious topics like alcoholism, drug addiction, cancer, and struggling with parental reactions to coming out.
The characters aren't always likeable, but they felt very human and were well-developed. A lot of this novel revolved around career, and as someone who
a) loves career novels, and b) has also grappled with a creative v. corporate career, those sections really resonated with me. I really enjoyed this novel, which I'd classify as a slow-burn that explores life's "what if" questions.

Thank you @netgalley & @duttonbooks for sending me this book for review. Opinions are my own.
Who We Are Now follows four best friends/roommates (2 guys and 2 girls) starting with their university. We follow them through the next couple decades, including moving to NYC, careers, relationships, and their evolving friendships. It’s really a coming-of-age story.
I liked getting the perspective of a year in the life of each of the friends in rotation so that each of them narrated a few times as the years passed. We learn about their year during their narrating, and they also fill us in a little bit on the other characters during their turn. We hear about books being character-driven or plot-driven and this one is definitely character-driven.
The description mentions that a tragic turn of events brings the characters together again, and we find out what it is in prologue, but not all the details, so I spent the rest of the book trying to piece it together. I will say that if the author didn’t want us to know, she probably should have labelled the chapter titles differently, So, if you want to be surprised, don’t look at all the chapter titles.
While I liked the different perspectives, some serious things happened in their lives that weren’t always explored enough. Although maybe that was the point – they weren’t always fully there for each other so they didn’t know the details either. I thought the battle between creativity and financial security and how it played out amongst the friends and their careers was fascinating. However, I didn’t understand how they all came together as best friends. We don’t see their university years and I guess people change a lot from undergrad to adulthood. The author writes, “People always talked about timing in romantic relationships, but how much of friendship was down to timing, too?”
Overall, I liked this book but didn’t love it.

Who We Are Now follows four friends who are starting their life after college. This is a time of big change but these friends are determined to continue their bond as they begin this time of change.
This book wasn't my favorite and I found it hard to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the eARC of Who We Are Now.

I really tried to get into this one but unfortunately was a DNF. Maybe just wasn’t in the right mood when I picked this book up. I think one day I might come back to it and try again

There were parts of this story I really loved and there were parts that fell flat for me. But it was a very cute story and I would definitely recommend this to my audience even though it wasn’t my favorite.
This is my first time reading a book by this author so I think I need to try more of their books.