EXCERPT: Even though 'the girls' have been home for only a few minutes, Maya has already spread out in the kitchen and is preparing dinner. Herbs weren't the only things she had picked up at Round Swamp market; I can see that she also got salmon, arugula, parmesan, potatoes and crusty french bread. 'Is there anything I can help with?' I ask her pathetically, as if it's me who is the guest.
'Nope,' she says. 'The least I can do is make some meals, since you've so generously agreed to host us. Besides, cooking is like therapy to me.'
I nod at her, feeling gangly and clumsy and in the way. It's strange to be rendered so pointless in my own kitchen, my own life; she's made breakfast for my husband and picked up my child, and now she's cooking dinner in the kitchen she organised.
I know I should just enjoy the help that Maya's offering. It's not like I love schlepping to East Hampton twice a day, every day, to take Kelsey to and from school; I've complained about it plenty of times to Pete. My kitchen cabinets are way tidier now that she's had her way with them. I've actually gotten some decent writing sone and might finally be on the right track with my manuscript. I've done two Peloton core workouts. And it's good to have a break from cooking dinner. It should be, at least. I don't really like cooking.
Unlike Maya, who apparently just loves it.

ABOUT 'ANYTHING FOR A FRIEND': Writer Carrie Colts hopes a move to Montauk will be a rejuvenating change of pace for her family. The last thing she expects to see is her former college roommate on her doorstep. Newly widowed, and with a daughter of her own, Maya would love to reconnect. As a gesture to an old friend in mourning, Carrie extends an invitation to stay. Just for a few days. After all, there are reasons that Carrie and Maya are estranged.

Carrie soon regrets her impulsive offer. Someone has taken a pair of scissors to her college yearbook. Her herb garden is destroyed. She’s starting to receive sinister texts. And Maya is making herself a little too much at home. What does Maya really want? What is she hiding? Carrie’s afraid to ask. Because Maya knows all her secrets and exposing them comes with a price Carrie can’t afford to pay.

MY THOUGHTS: Even though I didn't much like Carrie, the main character in this novel, I just loved the story Kathleen Willett has built around her. Carrie is one of those people who sail through life impervious to the chaos and hurt that they cause. Selfish, arrogant, entitled she may be, but she is also a strangely good friend to Maya her college roommate. Maya is the white to Carrie's black; she is conscientious, loyal, and thoughtful. She is also poor, at college on a full scholarship and has never had a friend prior to Carrie. She is enamored and Carrie's safety net. Yet, after college, they drift apart . . .

Willett writes wonderfully believable characters. She imbues the atmosphere with a little innate creepiness that is as hard to pin down as it was to put this book down. I have read it in one sitting over a wet Saturday. Although I had some idea of where Willett was taking me, I enjoyed the journey.

The timelines switch between the present and Carrie and Maya's college years. The tension increases incrementally as secrets in Carries past are revealed and the relationship between the two women becomes increasingly fraught.

Willett's cat, Mr Sparkles, makes a cameo appearance.

A quick, exciting and fulfilling read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.1

#AnythingforaFriend #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Kathleen M. Willett is an English teacher who grew up in New Jersey and London. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, two daughters, and a cat named Mr. Sparkles.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Anything for a Friend my Kathleen M. Willett for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

I dove into Kathleen M. Willett's Anything for a Friend, and let me tell you, it's a rollercoaster of suspense that will make you rethink hosting unexpected guests.

Carrie, hoping for a serene life change in Montauk, finds herself face to face with her estranged college roommate, Maya. Maya, now a widow with a teenage daughter, takes Carrie up on her offer to stay for a few days. Little did Carrie know, this impulsive act would unleash a wave of unsettling events—scissors through her college yearbook, a wrecked herb garden, and ominous texts. As the visit extends beyond expectation, the past between Carrie and Maya unfolds through well-placed flashbacks, adding layers to the suspense. I thought I caught a red flag early on, but the story's twisty and twisted conclusion left me stunned.

Thanks to Kathleen M. Willett, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for this ARC. The tale is a suspenseful ride, and my opinions are entirely my own.

All of the twists in Anything for a Friend kept me enthralled from beginning to end. The complex relationships between old friends, mothers and daughters, and teens felt fully fleshed out and highly illustrated. This book was definitely hard to put down and an author I will surely keep an eye on.

One of my favorite aspects about Kathleen is she writes about complex female relationships and motherhood in an honest but entertaining way. As a result, this was SO bingeable and fast-paced. Honestly I couldn't put it down between the messy characters and snippets of information that leave you wanting more. However at the conclusion of it, it didn't stand out to me as much as her first book did. It was still very solid and I'd recommend it for a quick read, but it didn't leave a majorly lasting impression on me as one of the better books out there.

Thank you kindly to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the gifted eARC. My sincerest apologies for the late review! I did struggle a bit to get through this one and found myself setting it down and coming back to it weeks later only to set it down again. While the plot was intriguing, I had a hard time connecting with the characters and didn't quite get the thriller vibes I was hoping for.

Carrie is still adjusting to her family’s move to Montauk when her life takes another turn as her college roommate, Maya, shows up on her doorstep with her daughter. Maya is newly windowed and looking to reconnect. Carrie decides to open her home to her old friend but only for a few days, after all there is a reason they drifted apart. As strange things start to happen around the house Carrie comes to regret her offer and wonder why Maya is actually here.

I absolutely loved Kathleen’s debut so I was super excited to see she had another book coming out. And let me tell you she did not disappoint! Dual timeline is my absolute favorite format and it was done so well here. There was a great balance of past and present well keeping a good pace to the story. I couldn’t stop flipping the pages, trying to connect all the dots.

Which although I was successful at guessing a few of the twists I still really enjoyed seeing them play out. The story as a whole came together perfectly and was quite entertaining. And even though I think Kathleen’s debut is still my favorite I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait to see what she does next!

Carrie Colts has moved to Montauk for a year together with her husband Pete and daughter Kelsey after her mother in law died and left them a house in Montauk. She is trying to work on her new novel but is struggling with inspiration and has a bit of a writers block. Relations with daughter Kelsey aren't going too good because the teenager resents being dragged away from her friends in the city, friends that brought her into trouble which is one of the reasons for the move to Montauk.

One day Carrie receives a phone call from her former best friend in college, Maya, who tells her she is in the neighbourhood and wants to drop in for a chat. It turns out that Maya's husband has died and she and her daughter Lillytbet are only minutes away from Carrie's house. When Maya tells her that she and Lillybet need to get a break from all that is happening Carrie spontaneously invites them to stay at their house. Something she will soon start to regret. Strange things start to happen, things that after a while Carrie starts to blame on Maya and her daughter, although Pete things she is exaggerating and her daughter is bonding with Lillybet while the former BFF's are drifting apart further with every new development. Slowly we discover that Carrie has some pretty dark secrets from her past that she is desperately trying to hide, although others turn out to have some secrets of their own too.

This is a very interesting thriller with al lot of twists that makes you want to keep on reading. Enjoyed the way it keeps putting you on the wrong foot and although I figured out the plot before it ended their were some unexpected developments that I didn't see coming right to the.

Definitely 4 stars for this one and I'm looking forward to reading more books by the same author.
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Kathleen M. Willett has followed up her sensational debut, Mother of All Secrets, with another domestic thriller about a mom with secrets. In Anything for a Friend, a writer invites her old college roommate to stay at her family’s beach house. But this old friend knows her biggest secret. Will the decision come back to bite her?

Carrie Colts is already hiding one secret—a regrettable extramarital affair with Kyle, who won’t take her ghosting as an answer. Now she’s unhappily living in Montauk, in her deceased mother-in-law’s house, with her angry teenage daughter Kelsey and her oblivious husband, Pete. When her college roommate and best friend, Maya, calls her after her husband dies of a heart attack, Carrie invites her and her teenage daughter, Lola, to stay, even though she and Maya have barely spoken since college graduation. But Carrie soon regrets her invitation. Weird things start happening around the house: Her herb garden is mutilated. Her college yearbook photo is cut out. Is it the creepy neighbor next door… or could it be Maya or Lola?

One of the reasons domestic thrillers are so popular is that the main character is an ordinary woman trying to live her life. That’s also why it’s important that the protagonist be someone the reader can identify with. And Carrie, who has enormous flaws, is easy to identify with, and even with those flaws, she’s highly likeable. Having a character like her puts the reader in an enjoyable, superior position: We can like her and feel sorry for her, all the while knowing we’d never be so stupid or thoughtless to get ourselves in the same mess. (At least, that’s what we tell ourselves!)

The novel, which is primarily told from Carrie’s first-person point-of-view (with third-person flashbacks to their college days from Maya’s perspective), unfolds at a good pace, with the tension steadily increasing and the stakes getting higher. And during the “all is lost” moment, Willett does a nice job of tying together two separate subplots.

But the ending didn’t really work for me. Even though the narration is first person, Carrie holds onto her secret until the bitter end without providing a single clue about what she’s hiding. Willett does a great job establishing Carrie as the type of character who could do what she did, but I needed more hints about this huge episode in her past. And I found the climax and denouement to be unbelievable. A thriller with big twists should end with the reader feeling like all the pieces have slid into place and wondering why she didn’t see what was coming. Anything for a Friend had me questioning character intelligence and motivation.

Of course, this is just my opinion, and a more astute reader might have seen clues that I overlooked. And my dissatisfaction with the ending won’t stop me from reading whatever Willett writes next. Every writer has some missteps in a book. In Anything for a Friend, my dissatisfaction with the ending wouldn’t keep me from recommending it.

Would you do Anything For a Friend? Would you lie for them and keep their deep dark secrets even if you know that it is wrong? Well that’s exactly what Maya did for her best friend Carrie for decades. But keeping someone’s secrets comes at a price and eventually led to the estrangement between Maya and Carrie. But years later, after the death of her husband Maya shows up with her teenage daughter in tow, on Carrie’s doorstep. Despite her shock of seeing Maya after so many years Carrie welcomes her into her home to stay for a few days. Carrie hopes they will reconnect and pick up where they left off, before a huge secret tore their friendship apart. But strange things start happening which strains the relationship between Carrie. And what’s worse, Maya seems to have no intention of leaving Carrie’s home.

What a twisty, page turning story. Anything for a Friend is told in dual time lines, alternating between past and present and dual pov. I loved how the author shared snippets of Carrie and Maya’s past like she was dangling a carrot in front of me enticing me to read on. While Anything for a Friend started out slowly, the intensity built with the turning of each page, ending in a crescendo of fireworks. A job well done by author Kathleen M. Willett. I was very intrigued by the plot and loved the building intensity. I will definitely be reading Mother of All Secrets by Ms Willett.

I enjoyed the first novel by this author and really wanted to like this one but I had a few issues with it. Main character Carrie comes off extremely unlikable and un self aware. She’s a terrible friend to Maya. Later revelations didn’t seem plausible to me. I also just felt the twists tried to hard and the ending wasn’t believable. Overall just not a very believable story with one dimensional characters

I would like to thank NetGalley, Kathleen M. Willett and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3⭐- This is my first time reading a book by miss Willett, after seeing many positive reviews for this book and reading the synopsis - I decided to read this book.

Two college friends who shared everything in the past, are unexpectedly reunited and old secrets come to light. I liked the characters, however the plot was although filled with lots of twists, predictable.

The move to Montauk was supposed to bring Carrie’s family closer, but it’s only proved to make the opposite happen. So when Maya, Carrie’s college best friend, reaches out for a place to stay, Carrie welcomes the distraction. After all, Maya’s husband just passed away so it’s the least Carrie could do.

But quickly, she regrets inviting Maya and her daughter to stay. Maya is intrusive, her daughter seems like a bad influence on Carrie’s, and Carrie’s husband is getting too close to the pair of them for Carrie’s liking. Paranoid or not, just how long is she expected to put up with allowing her “best friend” to make her feel unwelcome in her own home?
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This started off great, but quickly unraveled about 3/4 of the way in for me. I felt the plot was pretty linear and sinister enough with great hair-raising moments up until that point, but then it felt like the author wanted to get too twisty and it threw the vibe off for me. Also felt like at that point that the *flashbacks* of Carrie’s and Maya’s college days made Carrie out to be a horrible person and completely different than the character she was in the present. Not that I don’t believe she could’ve grown, but I didn’t feel like there was any pivotal moment we got to see through Carrie’s POV that tied her past and present self together.

And lastly, the end was total bogus. I’m sorry but if someone put me through all the stuff Carrie got put through, I’d walk away from them all. Just no way I’d forgive someone or feel any ounce of compassion for them after turning my life into a reboot of “Single White Female”.

This book follows the story of Carrie who moves from New York to Montauk with her husband and daughter. When she hears from an old college friend looking a favour will it impact her life?
A brilliant book!

This book captivated me from the beginning. I was thoroughly engaged in this story of Carrie and Maya. There was just so many questions- why were they no longer friends? Was someone a fake friend? Can we trust Maya? The book takes you through all these emotions and twists. I was so engaged in the story it was a quick easy fun read for me. It was told in dual timelines in present time in Montauk and then in the past during college with Maya and Carrie. There are so many secrets and lies told throughout the book left me guessing and questioning everything. Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

That one friend that knows all your secrets, ones that you were trying to put in the past. But when the past shows at your door, how do keep secrets from coming out? I felt this story fell short and I could not connect with the characters and the ending still left me hanging.

Two friends Carrie and Maya, college roommates did everything together, shared clothes, secret's they were family. But sometimes secrets are not meant stay buried.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of this book for my honest review.
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Special thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and Kathleen M. Willett for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Short chapters, easy storyline, and great twists that I did not see coming. Highly recommend.

What a great one! Interchanged with the twists in the present are flashbacks to the college years of Carrie & Maya to add to the anticipation of the crazy secrets revealed in the end!
This is my first book by #KathleenWillett & I’m excited to read anything else she writes!

Thank you, Kathleen Willett, Amazon Publishing, Amazon Books, Lake Union, & Netgalley for my advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I will start by saying that this is my second book by Willett, and I was so excited when I saw the release of ANYTHING FOR A FRIEND. It was twisty but foreseeable and had realistic characters that I enjoyed. I thought the pace of the story was done well. Although it wasn't a favorite, I'm glad I read it, and I look forward to seeing what Willett releases next!

This is my first time reading a book by this Kathleen Willett. After reading several reviews, it appears that her first novel received more positive reviews. With that being said, I’m interested in reading her first novel.

The title of the book caught my eye as friendships play a significant part of my life. It proved to be a swift and straightforward read, requiring minimal mental effort as the plot guided the reader along. However, the pace felt a tad sluggish, falling short of the gripping thriller experience I had anticipated.

The author adeptly intertwines two timelines, seamlessly navigating between the present and the college days of two roommates. This narrative technique enriches the story, creating a captivating and multi-layered reading experience.

While certain plot twists, including the final reveal, may have been somewhat foreseeable, the author's expert storytelling ability maintains a firm grip on the reader's attention. The gradual build-up of suspense throughout the book is a testament to the author's skill, injecting an extra layer of excitement into the overall narrative.

In summary, I would recommend this book to those seeking a narrative infused mystery with suspense, relatable characters, and a pace that ensures a quick read. Comparing it with other thrillers that I’ve read, my opinion would be that it isn’t a five-star thriller.

I'm grateful to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read and offer my review on this book!!

Best friends from college come back together after years apart. I really enjoyed this book and will be looking for more from this author. It really keeps you wondering why the friends drifted apart and there are some major twists. I love her writing style and it kept me hooked from the beginning!