If you like A Good Girls Guide to Murder and other similar books, I think you would like this. Although as an adult reader, some of the actions of the characters made me frustrated, as a high school English teacher, I can also related because I see young adults make poor choices every day. I would definitely recommend this to my students.

4.25
Three high school friends work to solve a murder of their teacher. The story alternates between the three of them. Henry is the brother of the convicted killer, Jake. Ally is his best friend and Grace was their friend until she testified against Jake. After serving two years Jake has been released on a technicality. They have limited time before he goes back to court to be retried.

This one hooked me pretty quickly and kept me invested the whole way thru. I finished it in one sitting. I didn’t expect the last twist. I’m definitely going to be recommending it to friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Books for providing me a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I never wanted to put this book down! This book had me in constant suspense, and just when I thought we had it all figured out there was another twist! Never would’ve guessed the outcome!

I especially enjoyed that the book was told from 3 different POVs so you really got to know the characters and understand their thoughts. Absolutely loved this fast paced, easy to read thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

I am beyond glad I got the chance to read this book early. Thank you so much!
I absolutely LOVED this book! The character building and the plot building were spot on, and the twists were PHENOMENAL and kept coming right to the end!
If you are on the fence about getting this book...GET IT!

Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review. Honestly, this book didn't hold my attention. Very predictable and continued to the end to see if my "sleuthing" skills were correct.

4.5 stars

I had such a fun time with this book! Anytime teens are solving mysteries? Sign me up!! I really enjoyed the mystery itself and the pace of the book - the twists kept me engaged and I was dying to know what was going to happened next.

My only issue was I did find Ally, one of the povs, kinda annoying and I didn’t particularly like her parts of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review

"Murder Between Friends" by Liz Lawson is a captivating 5-star read! Three friends—Ally, Grace, and Henry—have their worlds torn apart when a beloved teacher is murdered, and Henry’s brother, Jake, is found guilty and sent to prison, partly due to Grace’s eyewitness testimony. Thirteen months later, Jake is released on a legal technicality while awaiting a new trial. Now, the three friends must try to mend their fractured relationships as they work together to uncover the truth and prevent Jake from being sent back to prison.

The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Ally, Grace, and Henry. Each character is grappling with their own inner demons while also trying to piece together what really happened the night of the murder. There's plenty of drama—between the trio themselves, with their high school peers, and within their families. I thought I had the murder figured out, but a twist caught me completely off guard.

There were quite a few grammatical errors throughout, but since I read an ARC, I assume those will be corrected in the final version. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was my first by Liz Lawson, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from her!

Thanks to Random House Children's | Delacorte Press, Liz Lawson, and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read this ARC and share my honest review.

I really enjoyed the story and trying to figure out what part each character played in the situation. It makes you wonder how one would react if we were in Grace's shoes and we truly believed that we had witnessed something, and then to realize years later that perhaps we were wrong and try to right our wrong. Of course, there were times when the characters' actions irritated us, but that makes it believable, as they are high school students. I think this is an excellent YA book, and you want to read a thriller that revolves around solving a murder while trying to repair friendships.


Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc!

What a tangled up mystery. Three friends, Grace, Ally and Henry have had a rough two years. Henry's brother was convicted of murdering their English teacher and the only witness was Grace! Written in the POV of all three characters as they try to sort through and figure out what really happened that night and who really is to blame.
I felt like this book was geared toward the YA audience with some strong profanity thrown around. The story pacing dragged and I kept waiting for things to pick up but they never really did. The story could have easily been half as long and still had all it's twists and turns. A solid 3 out of 5.

Two years ago, Grace, Ally, and Henry were all friends. Then Grace and Henry started dating, Ally’s dad tragically died in a car accident, and their beloved teacher was found murdered, allegedly by Henry’s brother, Jake. When Grace testifies that she saw Jake at the teacher’s house the night of the murder, her relationships with Ally and Henry are over. Fast forward 2 years, Jake is let out of jail due to some technicalities and a new trial date is set. This spurs the three former friends to reunite and start investigating.
This quick read was one that grabbed my attention at the beginning and made me not want to put it down. Full of twists and turns, the resolution completely surprised me. Highly recommended for teen readers 4.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s for allowing me to read this ARC!

This is a YA thriller, it was well written and well paced. Perfect for those getting into thrillers. The dual timelines could get confusing.

I loved the twists and turns. Did NOT see the ending coming. I look forward to more from this author.

over i liked this book. it was fast based and the story kept me wanting me.

it did have flaws which i didn’t expect in an ARC copy based on the previous ones ive read. a whole scene where the author used one name for a character, then switched the a whole new name and then back to the other! hopefully that was fix in the final copy.

i had a hard time keeping the two females separate and had to look back multiple times.

the end did have a twist i was not expecting but it was anti climatic in a way as well?

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s for allowing me to ARC read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I applied for this one because I enjoyed the premise of the book. Older brother went to prison because he was convicted of murder. He was released and the person who was the sole reason for the conviction isn’t sure if she believes what she actually saw. Therefore, the 3 teenagers: Grace, Henry, and Ally go on a mission to find evidence that the police missed to attempt to prove Henry’s brother is innocent and was wrongfully convicted.

I enjoyed the book. However, there were a lot of errors and plot holes that made it hard to follow along with. There was an entire section where a character’s name was completely different than what it was at the beginning of the chapter. One of the FMC’s goes to visit JG (Jamel Gallant). He introduces himself as such and the first part of the chapter he is referred to as that. Then about a 1/3 of the way through the chapter he is then referred to as Fraser. It is that way until the very end of the chapter when it switches back to Jamel. I’m not sure if this was meant to be this way or if it was an oversight in the editing department.

I did like the dating of the chapters so I could keep the timeline straight. Without that, I would have been unsure as to how much time was taking place. I like the dynamic between the 3 main characters. The way they interacted with each other and how they didn’t give up on what they believed was right. I did enjoy the twist at the end. It threw me for a loop. I didn’t suspect the actual killer at all.

Overall, I thought this was a decent book. I don’t know that I would highly recommend it. It was a quick, YA read that had a good premise, but had a few holes that were hard to get past.

Review posted to GoodReads on 4/23/25
Review sent to Amazon for approval on 4/23/25 (waiting on it to go live)

This was great! Twists and turns galore. You may think you know what happened…and you don’t. You really don’t.

I look forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the eARC. All opinions are mine alone.

Murder Between Friends is like your classic small-town friendship breakup, except instead of someone stealing someone else’s boyfriend or not Venmoing for brunch, it involves the whole sending your best friend’s brother to prison thing. Oopsie.

Grace, Henry, and Ally were the inseparable trio… until Grace said, “Hey, I saw your brother kill someone,” and everyone else said, “Cool cool cool, we’re never speaking to you again.” Fast-forward two years, and Jake’s been released thanks to a mistrial, Grace is rethinking everything she thought she knew, Henry is oscillating between brooding and accusatory, and Ally? Ally is still mad, thank you very much. The girl holds a grudge like it’s a competitive sport.

This book serves teenage drama with a generous side of twisty-turny mystery. There’s guilt, secrets, second-guessing, and enough “maybe I was wrong” to power an entire season of Pretty Little Liars.

Was the pacing flawless? No. Did I want to shake every character at least once? Absolutely. But did I fly through it like a nosy neighbor with binoculars and zero chill? You bet I did.

Perfect for fans of friend fallout, courtroom chaos, and books that make you shout “WAIT… WHAT?!”
Read it with a cup of tea and trust issues. You’ll feel right at home.

Murder Between Friends is a story of three high schoolers working to prove the innocence of one of their friends. The story alternates between all three character perspectives while they try to piece together new and old evidence to clear their friend from going back to jail after being released due to a technicality.

I really enjoyed the alternating viewpoints which let you into what the character was doing and thinking. I feel like this really helped to round out the storyline. The suspense of who killed the victim continued right up until the last pages of the book.

I this was well paced and well written. It had good twists, and I did not guess the main culprit, which is always a plus in a mystery. I did find Ally unlikable. I tried to not, because I understand she is a teen with trauma, but she didn’t make it easy. I would recommend this to anyone that likes thrillers or amateur sleuths, especially to true young adult readers.

I didn't even realize how quick I flew through this until I started my review. Wow, such a good book with about everything you would want out of a murder/mystery book. twists and turns, kept me guessing on the "who", thought it could have been multiple different characters and ended up being someone who never crossed my mine through the entire book. Mind blown

Truthfully an interesting concept but I felt overwhelmingly it did not live up to the elevator pitch it gave. Though details were woven into the mystery, it was very slow and simple. Twists and turns here and there but nothing that was super tantalizing for a mystery lover.

Highly recommend for new readers especially to mystery but overall, a decent but forgettable story.

I am offering my honest opinion voluntarily.

This book was a RIDE! There was so much back and forth about who was guilty and right when you think you have it figured out... YOU DON'T! And the LAST person you would have thought was the guilty party was!

The dark shroud that covered the pages of this story was so thick that you could feel the tension between the accused's family and the town. And the friends, and the parents. Things were said without them being said, and I loved every messy bit of it!

Grace, Henry, and Ally had a heavy job ahead of them to find out who murdered their teacher and clear someone very important to them.

This story was a gut punch to all of the feels. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Children's | Delacorte Press, and Liz Lawson for the ARC of Murder Between Friends!