KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE by Leah Konen is a wild ride where things (and people) are not always as they seem to be.

Mary Haywood is the mother of 2 year old Alex and so wants to do right by him in the midst of divorcing his father, wealthy George. She really wishes that she had her best friend, Willa, in her corner, however, Willa disappeared months ago, with no forewarning or forwarding address. When Mary spots her on the streets, she is told by ‘Annie’ that she must be mistaken. What? And where is her son, Jack? She used to be tight with her sister- in-law Cassandra, but she is also divorcing George’s brother, Henry and has been MIA for quite some time. When George is murdered, Mary becomes suspect number one in his slaying. As Mary goes it alone and struggles to put the pieces together, as to who killed, George, the police continue to look at her with suspicion. Is Henry stalking her and if so, why? And what of the half million dollars in jewelry that was in George’s safe but has now disappeared?

I enjoyed this book and the story kept me entertained. I enjoy Mrs. Konen’s writing style and will certainly be checking out some of her other novels.

Thank you to Netgalley and G. P. Putnam & Sons for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily .

Wow! I really enjoyed this book! Great tension and female energy. So many secrets and lies. The characters were great and kept me flipping pages long into the night.
Thank you NetGalley, Leah Konen and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this book

Thanks for the free/gifted book, @putnambooks ❤️❤️

Book review of Keep Your Friends Close by Leah Konen

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story is a great thriller read with some good plot twists. Told from two points of view and two timelines, we follow Mary and Willa.
Mary is recently estranged from her very wealthy husband George, and they are in a custody battle for their son Alex. She meets a stranger in the park and becomes instant friends with Willa. Mary and Willa get drunk, and Mary tells Willa a shocking secret. Willa then proceeds to ghost Mary. She doesn't return calls, texts anything.
After several months, Mary's divorce is almost complete, and she is trying to build a new life closer to her mother and sister with her son. She is looking for a town midway from George and her mother, when she sees Willa on the street of this small town. Willa professes not to know her and has changed her name to Annie. What is going on?
George comes to reconnect with Mary and turns up dead the next day. Now Mary is the prime suspect. Mary begins to question everything, especially her old friend, who just so happens to live in this town.
Who killed George? Who is Willa really, and what is she up to? And why did Mary get duped so easily by a friend?
I flew through this book. Grab this book on February 20, 2024. You will ❤️ it.
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A solid read! I loved the structure flipping between the past and present and the differing POVs--it kept my attention and kept the tension taut. I'm a fan of Leah Konen's other books and this did not disappoint.

I’ve read all of this author’s adult thrillers and YA contemporaries. When I saw she had a new thriller coming out, I was definitely intrigued.

This book follows Mary, who is going through a messy separation from her wealthy husband George. Mary had one friend, Willa, who she was close to for a bit but who ended up ghosting her. There’s definitely more to Willa than meets the eye and Mary is trying to find out the truth about who Willa is and why she ghosted her.

Personally, I found the pacing of this book to be pretty slow, and I think the reason for that is Mary. I didn’t like Mary at all as a character. She made a lot of stupid decisions and definitely came off as TSTL. She was very wishy washy as well. I found myself enjoying Willa’s chapters much more.

The mystery was interesting enough, but it seemed like it took forever to get going.

Overall this was a fine thriller but not a favorite.

An overwhelming MEH from me. Obvious "twists", poorly constructed characters, unbelievable situations. Not one I'll be recommending to anyone.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
How much can you trust your friends?
Mary is going through a divorce and trying to get custody of her son, She is so lonely until she meets Willa in the park and they share secrets. But then suddenly Willa disappears. When she runs into her a couple months later she has changed d her name etc. what the heck ? Later when Mary’s husband is killed she becomes the prime suspect but really? How much can you trust your friends.

This book is a mystery/thriller with different point of views from the characters and beautifully written. The timelines were also very well written.

I read this book in a day and I never looked back! The twist and the plot were pretty easy to identify but the different POV's kept me intrigued to see how everything was going to unfold. A couple of the characters were so unlikable that it made it hard to feel bad or connect with them in any way. I do wish that the ending would've given a little more, I wanted to know how the characters dealt with the aftermath.

Overall I give this 5 out 5 because it really was a great book and I will definitely read more from this Author. I enjoyed the thrill of the plot and its twists.

Newly separated Mary meets Willa at a Brooklyn playground and they become instant friends. Mary confides in Willa some of her darkest secrets regarding her marriage, and shortly thereafter, Willa disappears. While in upstate NY, Mary starts to plan for her post-marriage life, when she unexpectedly runs into Willa, who acts like she doesn’t know Mary, even saying her name is Annie. When Mary’s soon-to-be ex turns up dead, the lies start to unravel. Keep Your Friends Close is fueled by deception and misplaced trust, and the suspense is ramped up as the story unfolds from alternating POV’s, keeping the reader off balance, until the puzzle pieces start to come together. The plot flows nicely, with credible dialogue and scenarios. Breezed through this one, well done! I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What does it mean to be friends? How do we know we can really trust? Leah Konen explores this in her upcoming novel Keep Your Friends Close. Mary is in a dark place. She is in the process of divorcing her very wealthy husband George and is desperate to keep custody of their son. She plans to leave New York and move to Woodstock to be closer to her mom and her sister. Imagine her surprise, when she spots Willa, a friend who betrayed her in the worst possible way back in New York, with a brand new family. Even more surprising is the presence of her almost ex brother-in-law and husband in her rented home. After a particularly upsetting incident with George, she attempts a visit to find George brutally murdered. Who can she trust when she finds herself the prime suspect? Anyone?

I enjoyed this book. I like to think I’m a bit of a sleuth, and I often think I am one step ahead of an author. I found here that when I thought I had things figured out, Konen would surprise me. The twists and turns were believable and kept me engaged until the very end. Interestingly, I didn’t like Mary all that much. While I didn’t wish her harm, I sure was frustrated by what I thought were obviously thoughtless, perhaps even dumb, decisions. I suppose that makes her human, not thinking clearly in a very difficult situation, but I’d have advised her differently numerous times. As with Rachel Hawkins’ The Heiress: a Novel, I am amazed by the lengths that the very wealthy will go to protect that wealth. Konen provided an interesting glimpse into their world.

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for sending me this advanced readers copy in exchange for my review!
I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller. This was my second book by Konen, first one being the YA novel, The Romantics. Keep your Friends Close had a good number of twists and turns. Many of the chapters alternated between present and past and left the reader with a cliffhanger. I can definitely say it kept my attention. I would recommend this domestic thriller for fans of The Wife Between Us (Hendricks/Pekkanan) and The Last Mrs Parrish (Liv Constantine). Overall, 4 out of 5 stars!

Calling all domestic thriller fans, Keep Your Friends Close is a must read! From the very first page, this novel had lightening fast pacing, with a storyline that lived rent-free in my mind! I enjoyed how Leah Konen created so many layers and with each layer, I created a new conspiracy theory that I am not too proud to admit were all wrong lol! Keep Your Friends Close is a 5 star novel and I am kicking myself for having never read Leah Conan before! I am looking forward to adding her previous novels to my TBR list!

I had such high hopes for Keep Your Friends Close, but this fell a little flat for me! This is described as a mom-friend, Strangers on the Train type of thriller, but there really weren’t any thriller moments.

The lead character, Mary, is a mom going through a divorce from George. Mary goes to upstate New York to try to find a place for her and her son to live post-divorce. George follows her in an attempt to reconcile only to end up dead. The other POV character, Willa, also shows up upstate after “ghosting” Mary’s friendship a month prior.

I really struggled to keep track of all the different characters, especially the men as they all had the same evil-alpha-man personalities. I also really didn’t like Mary, she was so inconsistent and indecisive throughout the whole novel. Willa was the saving grace of Keep Your Friends Close, as she’s the only one who actually has depth.

Thanks to G.P. Putnam/Penguin Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another impossible-to-put-down book by Konen! I absolutely loved everything about this read, from the setting to the fun details (cough cough, Cartier bracelets) to the twisty plot. I've never read a book that explored motherhood in this way and as a Brooklyn-ite myself, I couldn't appreciate the Park Slope + modern parenting vibes more. Konen delivers hit after hit with her books---I can't wait to read what she creates next!

Keep Your Friends Close is a twisty thriller that keep me engaged from the beginning! I enjoyed the pace of this book, first half building up the mystery and then the second half giving the reader so many twists and turns while trying to decide who the killer is. While some items felt a little too coincidental, it didn’t take away any of my enjoyment of the novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Son for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

4 stars! This was the first novel I’ve read by Leah Konen, but it won’t be my last. This was the most exciting, fast-paced, roller coaster ride of a novel that I have read in a long time, and I highly recommend it.

Mary’s husband, George is a controlling narcissist with a wealthy family that is just as heavy-handed. Mary walks on eggshells as her crumbling marriage breaks apart. What she really needs right now is a friend.

She can’t believe she met Willa when she needed a friend the most. Willa is charming, beautiful, outspoken, and fun and Mary feels like she has known Willa forever. After a fun night of sloshy margaritas, Mary “overshares” a dangling thought about George and though she would never act on it, she can’t help but voice her murderous thoughts aloud. Then Willa simply ghosted her.

Mary, now divorced, moves out of the city to start over and she runs into Willa who now goes by Annie. George is murdered and Mary becomes the prime suspect. It just gets more intense and topsy turvy from here. I won’t spoil the fun, but I’ll say that I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and was very satisfied with the ending.

great mystery about love and friendship and some jewelry . Loved that it was told in different point of views and had a time frame of past and present. loved willa and mary. The mom was a piece of work. Great mystery.

This was my first book by Leah Konen. It started out great but I had difficulty getting into the story and the characters. It just seemed to be going nowhere. I also felt the timelines were too close as another review mentioned which caused me some confusion. Overall a decent book. Storyline had promise but just didn’t deliver in my opinion. I had trouble staying interested in it. Thank you to NetGalley, Leah Konen and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mary is going through a messy divorce with lots of money at stake. So when she meets a new friend Willa she ends up sharing a lot of secrets about her husband and her marriage . But after Mary’s husband turns up dead she finds a lot she didn’t know about Willa like her real name
This story has murder, mystery ,divorce ,money, friendship, betrayal and keeps you engaged throughout the story

After leaving her wealthy and controlling husband, Mary is trying to build a new life for herself and her toddler son. Mary is excited to meet a new mom friend at the playground and after a few too many margaritas one girls night, she accidentally spills family secrets. The next day, her new friend, Willa, completely ghosts her. Unsure of who (if anyone) she can trust, heartbroken Mary randomly runs back into her old friend in the most unlikely of places and learns Willa has a secret life she’s been hiding all along. When Mary’s estranged husband ends up dead, her trust and friendship will be put to the ultimate test. Are some secrets worth killing for?

Keep Your Friends Close is a fast paced, quick read that held my attention throughout. A classic who-done-it that’ll have you guessing and alternating theories all the way until the very end.

Overall, a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read. Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.