When Carrie's mother-in-law passes away, her and her husband, Pete, are left with her house in Montauk. They decide to move there with their daughter, Kelsey, for a year and rent out their New York City apartment. One day she receives a call from her best friend during college, Maya. Maya asks if she can stop by since her and her daughter, Lola, are in the area. When they are there, Maya tells Carrie that her husband has recently died. Carrie then offers for Maya and Lola to stay with them for a few days. During their stay, strange things start to happening to Carrie; her herb garden gets destroyed, her manuscript has been deleted, and her phone has been tampered with. She thinks Maya may have something to do with it. But why would Maya want to hurt her?

ANYTHING FOR A FRIEND is just what I needed to get me out of my reading slump. I read this in a day and honestly enjoyed it so much that I didn't want it to end. The story is cleverly written. You get snippets from the past during Carrie and Maya's time together in college and learn a great deal about what their friendship was like. I kept trying to figure out why Maya would just suddenly showed up at Carrie's house when they haven't spoken in quite some time, I will say I was not expecting the reasons of why she did. Friendships have never been that easy for me, so I was clearly invested. Overall, I can highly recommend ANYTHING FOR A FRIEND. I can't wait to see what Kathleen Willett comes up with next.

Many thanks to Kathleen Willett for sending me an ARC copy and to NetGalley for sending me this widget.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) close to publication date.

Anything for a Friend by Kathleen M. Willet is an amazing read. I was so impressed with the way the story flowed and ramped up the tension with every chapter. By the middle, I didn’t know who to trust and kept swinging back and forth to who was going to be the villain. Carrie is a great character because on one hand, she’s so relatable. Some of the things that she thought about motherhood really spoke to me. One the other hand, sometimes I was conflicted on her actions. To me, the best characters are ones who are multifaceted and Carrie fits that bill exactly. Anything for a Friend is a gripping and engaging psychological thriller. I’ve added Kathleen M. Willet to my must buy list.

I love the best friend/fractured friendship trope in a book more than just about anything else. Throw in some marriage drama and you have the perfect makings for an excellent book. Kathleen Winlett absolutely crushed it with her second book, Anything For A Friend.

I was immediately engulfed into this book and was flying through the pages at rapid speed. While I found our FMC Carrie to be somewhat unlikeable, I did find myself highlighting and underlining some of her internal thoughts, as the author did a fantastic job explaining Carrie’s feelings as a mother, wife, and friend. As for the rest of the cast in the book, I honestly didn’t know who to trust. At one point I said to myself “they all seem suspicious” so to predict an outcome was difficult with this one.

Hats off to Kathleen Winlett for her writing with her second novel. This book has everything: suspense, drama, perfect execution with the timelines, and an ending that was well done. I will definitely recommend this book to others.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the Arc and also to the publisher.. The author was also sweet enough to recall I loved her first book, and she graciously sent me a physical copy of this one also. I’m thrilled to have both of her books on my shelf.

This book kept me reading. I really wanted to know what happened next. I liked the character development of Maya as jealous of Carrie and Carrie as selfish. I didn’t understand the purpose of Pete’s presence other than for Maya’s crush on him. Maya’s mental instability came out of left field but it made sense in the context of events in her life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC. I really loved this book. The characters were great. It was incredible with some crazy twists you will not see coming! @kathleenmwillett

My Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Publishing Date: Nov 13, 2023

#NetGalley #AnythingforaFriend

Summary:

Claire is a writer and decides to move her family to Montauk for a much needed a change. She doesn’t expect to hear from her former college roommate, Maya.
Maya recently lost her husband and has a daughter. Maya wants to catch up. Claire offers for her and her daughter to stay in her home for a few days. Their are reasons why they lost contact with one another.

Claire soon regrets letting her stay, Maya knows her secrets. Things start happening. Secrets are revealed, how far will friends go for one another?

#read #booksbooksbooks #bookaddict #booklovers #thrillerbooks #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleyarc #netgalley #AnythingForAFriend #bookstagram #booksaremylife #avidreader #kathleenwillett

Great read. It was a page turner and kept me interested. Good plot. Wish more of an ending was given.

Excellent thriller. Kept me turning pages like crazy. Definitely loved this one and can't wait for more!

This book was pretty average. The characters were frustrating and it lacked the thrill-factor. It was an easy read but also one that is easily forgettable.

I'll admit, I was a little skeptical reading Kathleen Willett's new story after I read Mother Of All Secrets in July 2022, which wasn't my favorite (too many characters and a little too far-fetched from what I can remember). I am glad I gave her writing another chance because I really enjoyed this book!

Carrie and her husband, Pete, along with their daughter, Kelsey, are living a seemingly perfect life while recovering from grief. Underneath the surface, told through Carrie's perspective, there are secrets lurking. When an unexpected house guest and old friend, Maya and her daughter, Lola, show up unexpected after her husband's passing, Carrie welcomes them with open arms... After all, anything for a friend.
As things start happening in Carrie's life, herbs getting damaged, manuscripts getting wiped from her laptop, she starts questioning the integrity of her house guests. Though everyone around reassures her that no one would possible betray her like this, Carrie then starts questioning her own thought process on the recent events.
The story line is told from Carrie's POV the entire time, but with the timeline flipping from present to Carrie and Maya in college in the 2000's.

When I first started reading this I really enjoyed how quickly the plot got started. We immediately met both main characters, while my biggest complaint was the infidelity involved. In retrospect it did play a large part of the plot line, I just cringe at the very idea of her husband or daughter finding out while reading this. Overall I really enjoyed this book, I felt that there were no unneeded characters and the whole story flowed very well together.

I'm a bit on the fence with this. It was definitely a quick and easy read, you don't have to think too much and the plot carries you along but it just felt a bit slow and not really the "thriller" I wad hoping for. The twists were quite predictable and the ending was a bit too neat and tidy for my liking. I liked the dual timelines but I just wasn't really interested in the characters for some reason. They didn't do anything to make me want to root for them and they seemed a bit shady at times. That's nothing against the book or the writing though! I'd say it wad an enjoyable way to pass an afternoon but not a book I'd be reaching for to read again

I am clearly in the minority but I thought this book was just ok. It centers on Carrie, who moves to the Hamptons from NYC with her husband and teenage daughter; then her best friend from college (Maya) shows up unexpectedly. Carrie and Maya have a history that is gradually revealed through flashback chapters intermingled with the current timeframe.

I really didn’t like either Carrie or Maya. What is a shame is that they both had such a soft spot for each other but they never admitted it, instead resorting to catty (and often petty) annoyances with each other. I think I would’ve liked the book better if I saw them admit more of the things they actually liked about each other. I also thought the ending of the book was weird. There were a couple twists but one of them came out of the blue for me and I didn’t feel like it was fully explained. The book was somewhat suspenseful, though, with an underlying creepiness even when nothing outwardly creepy was happening.

All in all, decent read for me with some suspense but ultimately I wanted to strangle these characters for not showing a little appreciation for what they had. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was alright. It wasn’t a waste of time, but it was average. The plot was pretty good, I just would’ve liked more excitement or something different than your typical thriller.

Really enjoyed this. It's a slow burner but the tension builds slowly from the start keeping you gripped. From the moment Maya and her daughter turn up unexpectedly on her friend, Carries, doorstep, after not seeing each other for 20 years its clear something is off. Maya says her husband has died and her daughter talks about how she found him slumped at the bottom of the stairs after a heart attack but soon, it emerges that he did not die from a heart attack and Maya and her daughter are lying non stop about what happened and their real motives for being there. Carrie is trying to write her latest book, is under pressure from her editor but as she starts to suspect Maya and her daughter are not being truthful and as weird things start happening around her, she digs in and starts to try find out what is really going on. With a teenage daughter angry at her and a husband who os not much help, Carrie is caught between thinking she is imagining things and going crazy to whether her friend is here to deliberately cause all sorts of trouble, Really good, I enjoyed it alot!

Great Ending!
A bit of a slow start however with good character development. There are many things that seem too coincidental or somewhat hard to believe but as the story unfolds I did gasp out loud and clutch my invisible pearls as the twists developed.
Overall great book and definitely would recommend! Thank You to NetGalley and the author for sharing this early copy.

Carrie, her husband, and her daughter Kelsey, make the temporary move to Montauk after inheriting the house from her deceased mother-in-law. One day, she receives a phone call from her former BFF and college roomie, Maya., Maya recently lost her husband and needs to get away. She shows up on Carrie's doorstep with her daughter, Lola. Carrie welcomes her former bestie and daughter into her home to stay.

At first, things are great. Maya and Carrie are able to reconnect. Kelsey and Lola instantly click and become friends. However, strange things begin happening. Someone has destroyed Carrie's herb garden. Someone cut Carrie's picture out of her college yearbook. Carrie begins to second guess inviting Maya into her home. The thing is, Maya knows every secret about Carrie. What are Maya's intentions? And what is Carrie hiding?

This was a fun, fast-paced novel! We get dual timelines - the present and Carrie and Maya's time as roomies in college. There were plenty of twists and turns. Although some were predictable, including the final reveal, the author still did a great job building up suspense. I also was not a huge fan of the ending, which is why I deducted a star. Nonetheless, this is a fun and easy read.

Thank you Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mother of all Secrets debuted back in 2022. Right there I felt instantly bonded to Willett, her writing was fluid and easy to get sucked right into. After I feverishly stalked Amazon to find more from this author I was shocked to find out this was a debut 😳 You can’t be serious right now. Low and behold, it was. I knew right then I would sweat out waiting for the next book.

Then came Anything For a Friend. I was in the middle of reading something else but I just could not wait! It was Kathleen Willett and I had been waiting for this moment!!!

Sometimes I make the smartest decisions 😏 and this was definitely one of them . Kathleen Willett grabs us by the throat and throws us straight into an intricate web of lies and deceit .

Dual timelines give us a first hand account of what really happened all those years ago.

Girlfriends can be scary, you can end up with one better than your partner or you can get stuck tugging the knife out of your back as they offer to get you some neosporin.

Who is Maya and what are her intentions? Who is Carrie, truly, and what is she hiding?

My eyes bulged right out of my head when the twist was revealed! I loved Mother of All Secrets but let me tell you, Anything For a Friend, is literary gold. Don’t believe me? Check out this teaser :

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.

After giving myself a few days to process this book, I find myself having mixed emotions about it.

Carrie, along with her husband Pete and their daughter Kelsey, make the decision to move to Montauk after inheriting a house from Carrie's late mother-in-law. Hoping to reconnect with their distant teenage daughter, they embark on this new chapter of their lives.

However, things take an unexpected turn when Maya, Carrie's long-lost best friend and former college roommate, and her daughter Lola, reappear after years of no contact. This surprising reunion becomes even more unsettling as mysterious things start happening immediately following their arrival.

The author skillfully weaves together present-day events and past flashbacks, seamlessly integrating them into the narrative. This balance can be a challenge, but the author handles it with finesse, allowing the story to unfold and revealing how the choices we make in our youth shape who we become.

Although the plot twist wasn't entirely unpredictable, it was executed in a manner that felt plausible and comprehensible.

My main qualm with the book lies in its final chapter. While I understand the desire to tie up loose ends, the conclusion felt too neatly packaged, almost at the expense of the rest of the story.

Are you ready for a Fiction story you can't put down? That means you're ready for "Anything For a Friend" by Kathleen M. Willet.
A well written friendship story interwoven with secrets, family sacrifices, life choices, and love.
Meet Carrie a mother and wife lost in trying to make it right for her family but doing all the wrong things.

Do you ever wish sometimes that your bad past was lived by somebody else? Well, it's "your past" for a reason. Don't make others pay for your mistakes.

Enjoyable story with a lot of lessons to learn.

4,5 stars for Anything for a Friend, by new to me author K.M. Willett, published by Lake Union Publishing, is a thriller of its finest. A complex read that had me in suspense from start til the last page.
Carrie, Peter and their daughter Kelsey just moved to Montauk, when a former friend shows up and puts their whole world upside down and inside out.
Carrie, the 42 year old writer carries ecrets that threaten to come to light with this visit. The author's dropping hints right from the start, a bit annoying sometimes, I just wanted to know what Happened!!
Like I already mentioned an intriguing read, complex with some lengths, but fascinating in the end.

Slightly torn on this one. I read it all so the story was sufficiently gripping to keep going. It just wasn't particularly convincing and the younger and older versions of the same characters were so completely different. Just average for me.