This was an interesting story and I finished the book in a day but having said that, the end kind of unraveled on me. Wayyyy too much going on when just one of the reveals would have been plenty.

Be careful who you trust and when you think you know who that is, think again. Friendships can be tricky! You think you know your friends but sometimes the closest of friends have the deepest, darkest secrets. Lucinda Berry never disappoints! I loved this book.

What an entertaining soap opera of a book! Keep Your Friends Close is full of housewife drama and gossip, and most characters are a mess. There are serious, real life problems combined with keeping up appearances and fitting in with the "right" crowd. The book centers around the women in the West Hollywood Moms' Club - an exclusive group in which prospective members must apply and submit an essay before being approved. On the outside, everyone appears to have a glamorous life, but we soon learn that most of them have secrets and troubles. There are several jaw dropping twists that kept me glued - holy moly! This was my first read by Lucinda Berry, and it was great! I will definitely be looking for more by her. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the eARC.

With friends like these…🤦🏻‍♀️

West Hollywood Moms’ club. Wealthy, entitled and hiding secrets you couldn’t possibly imagine!

They’ve just thrown themselves an over-the-top party. Now, as the festivities wind down only the core group of women remain.

One mom won’t make it to the end of the nights’ big party. And another may be responsible. Can you figure out who the killer is? And why? I couldn’t! I traveled the path of chasing all the red herrings.🤣 So many juicy secrets! So many profound lies! Everything is about to come to light in an explosive way.

Told from multiple perspectives with a dual timeline. The characters were easily distinguishable and well developed.

This was my first full length book by Lucinda Berry! And I cannot wait to read more of her works.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer

SYNOPSIS:
- Kiersten, Whitney, Jade, Brooke, Natasha, Taylor, & Colleen are all part of a boogie Mom’s Club in West Hollywood.
- Kiersten drowns in the pool, while hosting a party for the Club. Was it an accidental drowning, or was this a murder?

MY THOUGHTS
- Lucinda Berry is my girrrrrl & I love her books👏🏼
- Multiple POVs + alternating timelines (past & presents)
- Lots of twists & layers
- Fast paced & didn’t want to put it down
- Some of it was a little unbelievable, but it didn’t bother me
- Satisfying ending
- Although some of the characters weren’t likable, they were still well written
- Only negative was the use of the phrase “omigod” constantly by all the characters
- Love a neighborhood suspense/drama filled with secrets & twists

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Wealthy moms in neighborhood suspense. Well written & fast-paced. Finished in 2 days.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. It will be published on November 7, 2023.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this e-book.

This was not my favorite Lucinda Berry book but still good overall. It didn't have that unhinged feel that her other books have. It felt somewhat reminiscent of Big Little Lies. Solid 3⭐

This was a solid read. I liked the premise and found the book to be interesting. I was a little confused or thrown off by the ending, but overall it was pretty good and worth reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer & NetGalley for the ARC!

Lucinda Berry has been on my list of must read authors and I was so excited to get a chance to read Keep Your Friends Close. Holy Desperate Housewives murder mystery! Was some of it outlandish? Yes. But my goodness did I devour this book. Easy read, kept my attention and I didn’t know where it was going next! I can’t wait to read her other titles now!

A wealthy moms club is having a party when one of their own is found floating deceased in the pool. No one knows who has done it but everyone seems to mostly be point fingers at the same person, and that person isn’t helping themselves when they’re posting these crazy videos on their social media for anyone to see defending their behaviors. When you think you have this book figure out buckle up, because you haven’t and Lucinda Berry is about to take you on a thrilling ride! This book was fast and fun, this is the second book I’ve read by this author and she’s quickly becoming a favorite author of mine.

📚 Review: Keep Your Friends Close 🩸
Wow!! I just loved this book!! This was Desperate Housewives, but much deadlier. And I loved every second of it. This book was a bit different than other books I’ve read from Lucinda Berry. It didn’t have her usual darkness to it, but it was just as shocking and twisted as ever. There were so many little shockers along the way, some that left my mouth wide open in surprise. And that ending! 😱😱
For those who may be unfamiliar with this newest of hers, it’s about a group of new mothers, who live in Hollywood. Most have lived a privileged life, getting everything they ever wanted. They meet as this group often. At one of their meetings, one of them ends up dead and now we need to know who did it. They all were best of friends and they all had lies that could destroy each other’s lives. Who can you trust? Who’s telling the truth? You’ll have to read this one when it comes out to find out. I don’t want to say too much more, I fears of giving spoilers. But it’s told in multiple POVs and has two different time lines of Then and Now. It’s a fast paced, edge of your seat ride in trying to find out who did this horrific crime and what secrets they are hiding. This was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5 stars for me! I recommend you get this one when it comes out in November. You won’t regret it. Lucinda never disappoints.

Have you read any of Lucinda Berry’s books? Which are your favorites? Mine are Saving Noah, A Perfect Child and now this one. ✌🏻

Thank you to @netgalley and @lucindaberryauthor for the advanced e book copy in exchange for an honest review.
Pub Date: Nov 7th 2023

This was my first book by Lucinda Berry. For the first 75% of the book it was a slow read for me. Then all of a sudden the last 25% came in and I did not want to put this book down! Was not expecting any of those twist that came in at the end! There was so much going on that it felt like something new was popping up with every new page!

Give me more more more! This book was impossible to put down!
I read it one sitting. The twists and turns are crazy. The different perspectives make it a page turner. It was a bit slow in the beginning, but it didn't last long. Full of neighborhood drama mixed in with tons of drama amongst family and friends. When Kiersten is found dead in her pool at a mom's party everyone there becomes a suspect. This book is fast paced and alternates between different viewpoints and past and present which helps keep the pacing. I just wish it had been longer!

Lucinda Berry is one of my favorite authors and Keep Your Friends Close is another one of her edge-of-your-seat, propulsive novels. When one of the moms in a West Hollywood social group is murdered at a party, the suspicion turns from one member to the next. Is Brooke’s erratic behavior triggered by her divorce or is there more to it? Is Whitney the grieving best friend or does she have some shocking secrets of her own? And where were Jade, Natasha and the other moms when the crime was committed? The answers will leave you reeling….

Lucinda knows how to keep a reader interested, and wanting to know what happens next…

Unfortunately, I did not love this one.
Hollywood housewives “whodunnit” with a lot of twists that fell flat, for me.
The story started out strong, but as the investigation rolls on, it just lost all momentum and turned into a different story.
The ending felt rushed, and left more to be desired with the last twist.

Overall, I feel like it’s a good starter book for getting into the thriller genre, but still felt more like a drama.

What a twisted group of friends! I loved all the different perspectives of this story. Lucinda Berry never disappoints! Fast paced and full of so many twists. I hope there’s a sequel. Thank you to Thomas and Mercer publishing and NetGalley for this advanced reading copy.

I’m a new Lucinda Berry reader. She got me with The Perfect Child. I loved her recent novella follow up.

This one just missed the mark for me. The story is about a group of girlfriends, one of who dies during a party. The first half is sort of about that. Then the second half is almost entirely NOT about solving the murder. It focuses on a few of the women in the group. The book felt like two stories.

I will say the second half did hook me and I was interested in the ending. The last chapter made no sense to me. 😬

This doesn’t mean I’ll never read her books again. No one gets it right all the time. On to the next!

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This was a perfect guilty pleasure type of story! A bunch of wealthy West Hollywood moms who think they are above other mothers’ groups, but really aren’t any different. They do the same activities (drink) and because of their hired help, often spend less time with their children than regular moms. After a party one night, the president of their little club is found murdered in a pool. There’s no shortage of suspects and we see the story unfold from multiple perspectives. Everyone is hiding something, from slightly scandalous tidbits to horrifically dark secrets. Will the true killer be discovered before anyone comes to harm?

The women are exactly what you picture when you think of West Hollywood. Affluent and obsessed with image, no matter if they came with money or worked hard to earn their position among the elite. They refer to each other as their best friends but carry on affairs with each other’s husbands and gossip about one another behind their backs. Typical shallow women, so you can’t take it too seriously. Many of this author’s books can be quite emotional and hard to get through, so it was a pleasant change to see her write a breezy and wickedly fun story. No matter the genre, her books are always compelling, and they keep you guessing until the very end. So go on, take a break from the serious psychological thrillers, and lose yourself in this one!

LUCINDA NEVER DISAPPOINTS. Like seriously, her books always get me thinking. This one was so dang good, I loved the premise of it & of course we have the crazy twisty ride we can always expect from Lucinda.

There were SO many things I didn’t see coming in this one. This book was filled with so many things I love in thrillers - unreliable narrators, characters you love to hate, and all the suspense.

I would recommend this one to pretty much anybody. It wasn’t as morbid and dark as some of her other books, so I think it is really just a perfect edge of your seat thriller recommendation.

I grabbed this one as soon as I saw it on NetGalley because I've been a fan of Lucinda Berry since reading The Perfect Child. I was honestly torn between a 4 or 3 star rating, and finally ended in the middle with 3.5 stars. This one isn't as gripping or sinister as her other books (at least on the surface). But "oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." All the main characters, the "friends", have secrets (some originated by trauma) others simply diabolical. The women, all in the same social circle, and mothers, belong to a club that is supposedly supportive, and meant to ease the stress and burden of being wives and mothers. However, they are all drowning in secrets, lies and betrayal that ultimately threatened their lives, livelihoods and survival. The book is filled with twists and turns that will give you whiplash! It toggles between the past and present, revealing details in sporadic bursts. An easy read that grabs your attention, and keeps you engaged. Biggest takeaway? Trust no one!

This was another great mystery by Berry. She sucks you into the complicated lives of her characters and you can’t put the book down. A group of friends, think Real Housewives, and their drama and secrets start to surface as one of them is murdered.

I enjoyed how everyone’s stories were intertwined and was kept guessing til the very end. This wasn’t my personal favorite by Berry, but it did keep my attention.

This is a good lesson in life that our actions have consequences, which can be so far reaching.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.