I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be recommending it to those who love a good thriller.
Mary meets Willa while visiting the park with her son and the friendship is exactly what she needs. But after she confides in Willa about her nasty divorce, she fears she may have overshared. Because immediately following Willa ghosts her and Mary's husband ends up dead. When Mary ran into her again with a new name and a whole new family my head was spinning with the possibilities, but none of them came close to figuring it out.
This whole storyline had me going, did Willa kill George? Is she a con? I couldn't put the book down until I found out.
Thank you Netgalley and Putnam Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars. Standard thriller, 2 POVs, 2 time lines. My biggest issue was that the time lines were too close -- I felt there needed to be a bigger time separation between "Now" and "Then." Pretty well-written, the plot had a couple reasonable twists.

All in all a solid thriller.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being given freely.

Keep Your Friends Close is the first book I've read by Leah Konen, but I'll definitely be reading more! It was an excellent book with lots of twists and turns. The best part of the book, in my opinion, was the cast of characters. Everyone was complex, believable, and interesting. Keep Your Frieds Closer was engaging from the start. 5 stars!

Wow this books was action packed from start to finish and it had some surprising twists. You think you figure out who the killer is only to be very surprised in the end.

Thank you, NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the copy of Keep Your Friends Close by Leah Konen. While this book started out great, it was really too long so it was hard to stay engaged. The first person narratives had involved inner dialogues that were endless. I ended up skipping them after reading the first sentence of the paragraphs. The story was really good though and I liked Mary but I never warmed up to Willa because I never understood her motivation for the things she did. If you’re looking for a light thriller, this is a good one. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This was a great book based on female friends and trust! It was suspenful and kept you wanting to read more!
Thanks Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this book!

The first 3/4 of this book absolutely dragged. I found it cliche and boring and not very well written. The end didn’t make up for any of it.

I couldn’t put this one down! A good, lighter thriller about friendship, motherhood, marriage and privilege. If you liked The Social Climber, Stone Cold Fox or anything by Kate White, I think you’ll enjoy Keep Your Friends Close.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Keep Your Friends Close is the first book I've read by Leah Konen. The author writes well, and I was quickly drawn-in to the story. The novel is told in two POV and two timelines between protagonist Mary and her new friend Willa. When Mary's wealthy husband George is murdered, we wonder if Willa played a part in his death. And how good a friend is Willa, anyway? The answers to these questions are at the heart of this novel and are explained when the timelines merge in the final chapters. The themes in this book are familiar, but the author puts her spin on this thriller about wealth and power imbalance in love and marriage. An entertaining read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for providing an ARC to read and review. This review will post to Bayside Book Reviews.com at https://baysidebookreviews.com and its Instagram page on release day. Follow us! *NetGalley Top Reviewer*

Had me from the very beginning. I love reading about NYC and the elite who live there.

I found myself rooting for Mary, the MC, from the very beginning. Her love for her son is so relatable as well as her want for a friend. Finding friends with kids that 1) your kids get along with and 2) you get along with can be tricky lol.

I totally thought this was going down a darker path then it did. I liked the development of Willa’s character and getting to know her as the story went on. Thought she was a bit cray at first but was pleasantly surprised how her story turned out. Konen did a great job connecting the characters in the book too.

I loved this one - my head was spinning trying to figure out what and WHO to believe. The familiar feeling of wanting to believe a person you love, far after they've taught you that you should not trust them. I was hooked.

Pub date: 2/20/24
Genre: thriller/suspense
Quick summary: Mary is desperate to escape her ex George, and she doesn't think much about venting to new friend Willa...until she runs into Willa, now calling herself Annie, and George winds up dead.

I love cat and mouse games, so this description sounded perfect! The book was a little bit of a slow starter, but about halfway through, I found myself really invested in Mary's story as she tried to figure out who Willa really was. George's family is far wealthier than Mary, which opened up plenty of opportunities for him to behave badly and cause drama. I was thinking this would be a 3 star reading, but the ending 10% was super twisty, and I loved that I had no idea where things were going. I do think this book could have been punchier with a little editing, but it's a good option for winter reading on the couch!

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.


This book was a great thriller read. They have been all I have been reading lately and the ending of this book definitely surprised me. I loved the back and forth, everything about it!

Keep Your Friends Close by Leah Konen is a quick, fun read. This is a book suitable for anywhere you want to be engrossed, be it the beach, an airplane, or a cozy couch during a snowstorm.

Mary is a New York mom who has just separated from her ultra wealthy husband. She meets Willa at the playground and feels an instant affection for the younger mom, and she immediately feels comfortable telling Willa everything about herself and her life. But is Willa who she says she is? And does she have anything to do with the fact that Mary’s husband has now been found murdered?

The plot of this one was suspenseful, but not necessarily fast paced. I enjoyed the time changes between chapters, which worked with the flow of the story, but did slow down the action a little. I liked how the plot all came together in the end, but maybe would have liked some more of the Cassandra story line.

The characters were pretty well done, though Mary was a bit weak, though I see how that was a stylistic choice for her ultimate character development. I just didn’t really like her much. Willa was much more intriguing to me, and I liked how her ending was ambiguous. I think she would definitely go back to the type of life she was leading. Again, give me more Cassandra, I didn’t really believe in her as a whole person. She seemed more of a plot device.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, and give it ⅗ stars.

4.5⭐️ rounding up to 5⭐️

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do if your closest friend turned out to be someone else? More specifically... what would you do if they turned out to be a con artist?
Wow this book was great! Full of lies, deceit, drama, murder... my kind of book. This was my first Leah Konen novel and I definitely want to read more!
The writing was so detailed for a thriller. We got to see glimpses into the lives of these characters - past and present. The way the author was able to make me feel certain emotions towards certain characters... loved it.
Being a thriller, there are twists and turns. I did not find the twists to be particularly shocking, but they made sense and I was happy with them. There was one twist (the one where Jack ended up being the person to kill George) I wish could have been done differently since the connection to the plot seemed a little muddled, but overall, no complaints.
I liked that this story was unique. I had never read a domestic thriller quite like this one, where we get to see the workings of a con artist. But it's also so much more than that.
Overall, great book. If you're looking for a more unqiue thriller, definitely give this one a try.

I love a good twisty tale and this book delivers that. it is told through two POVs and keeps you fully engaged the whole time. Super-fast read but because the book is soooo good. Highly recommend checking this one out. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to the publisher for my arc!

I actually really enjoyed this. Told in multiple perspectives we follow Mary who has just left her husband and meets Willa a young mom at the park with her son until one day Willa dissappears only to pop up 2 months later but under a new name.


This was fast paced and kept me engaged and guessing who was really telling the truth. Highly reccomend!

Keep Your Friends Close by Leah Konen seems like a fairly straightforward story about a woman (Mary) who is going through a divorce. She meets a woman (Willa) at the playground where both of their toddlers are playing together and they become friends. They decide to meet up for drinks without the kids and share stories about life.

After becoming closer, Mary starts giving the real “dirt” to Willa, who is very interested in ALL the details. Mary’s husband, George, comes from an old-wealth family and so it is hard for many people to understand what Mary’s complaints could be. She is not taken seriously by her husband, he belittles her and does things that many women could deal with to live the lifestyle. Not Mary. She also did not want her son to become a replica of his father. Her sister-in-law Cassandra was the same. She divorced George’s brother even before Mary decided she could not live that life. Cassandra was cut off from everything and cut out of the family like she never existed. She asked for Mary’s help to get her jewelry, which caused problems between Mary and George. Cassandra got nothing when she left and neither will Mary. But George is not going to give up his son.

It all becomes a rather tangled mess, and Willa is ready to soak up all the details until one day she disappears without so much as an explanation. Keep Your Friends Close has an apt title, the end is twisty and surprising as well as suspenseful. It is spellbinding and could possibly be a cautionary tale to those who are paying attention.

Keep Your Friends Close
by Leah Konen
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group for the opportunity.
What an excellent book! It had everything one needs. This book also had suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery, and lies and the POVs of the women were a plus. I LOVED this one.

This book had my glued to the edge of my seat. Cleverly told through the POV of two women who cross paths, it was so hard to put this one down once it got going. The writing was smart. The women were easy to cheer for. The plot was original and twisty. Highly recommend! Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC!