This was a great read. I loved the characters. Ally was exactly what I’d expect from an editor in chief of a school paper—tenacious and bullheaded. Henry was sweet and such a supportive friend. Best of all was Grace, and how she changed over the course of the book, showing her worth and learning her strength.

I really loved the way the story unfolded. There were so many layers, and just when it felt like the story was resolved, you’d peel back another layer and find another mystery to be solved.

Such a great read!

Solid YA thriller but the multiple POVs was a tad confusing and in my opinion unnecessary. However the twist ending blew me away. I was caught off guard and had to reread parts of the book to see how I was mislead. While I did like the book, I would have preferred to have read it from solely Grace's point of view.

Thank you NetGalley and Liz Lawson for this ARC.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m the right audience for this book. I usually don’t have trouble reading YA but this one was tough for me to get through. I didn’t care about the characters, they were pretty whiny and unrealistic. The way people spoke was very low budget TV show to me. The book is full of twists and turns but I feel like they were pretty predictable and quite silly. I do think this book will possibly do well with a much younger crowd, maybe 12-13 year olds! I’m a 33 year old woman so once again take this review with a grain of salt.

This was very well written YA mystery. I have not enjoyed a YA this much in a while. The storyline was good the characters were enjoyable. The twist was even better.

Thank you for letting me read and review this arc!

I really enjoyed this - the pacing was quick, the characters were interesting, and the story felt plausible. I think my favorite part is that the main characters felt like real teenagers; while I know that I am not the target audience for YA (being an adult) I work with teenagers and I always want to recommend books for them where they can see themselves reflected. I especially like that these characters felt flawed in a natural way - their intentions were all positive, all good! But at the same time, none of them necessarily went about solving their issues in the best way. That being said, they tried their best and worked hard to do what they knew was right. Really enjoyed to novel and can't wait to share it with my students.

I really enjoyed this book! I am a big fan of YA thrillers, and this is a good read alike for A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. It was definitely fast paced, and the extra twist at the very end was perfect and something I didn't predict.

First off thank you NetGalley & Random House Children’s for the chance to read & review this book!

This book was sooo good. I was hooked by the 3rd chapter. The characters are your average teenagers. Henry’s brother is sent to prison for the murder of their English teacher. Grace is Henry’s ex because she is the one who sealed Henry’s brother’s fate but is now thinking she made a mistake. Ally is the third best friend who lost her dad and her favorite teacher in the same time frame.

This book will keep you on your toes, you won’t see the twists and turns coming.

I really enjoyed this book and would love to carry this in my shop and would definitely keep it on my shelf at home as well to read again

Murder Between Friends is a great suspenseful contemporary mystery. The pacing is good and kept me turning the pages long after I should have finished my lunch. Thankfully, this novel has few profane words, so my more mature readers will appreciate that.

This book is a young adult as it has teenagers solving a crime that happened a few years ago. One is the brother of the convicted killer and at the time his gf said she saw him at the scene of the crime. Now the three friends get back together to solve a crime because they are not sure if it really was the brother who committed the crime. The teens go on an adventure piecining the puzzle together but in the end....do they get the bad guy? Good book!

This was a book I requested when I first made my Netgalley account, and (hopefully) the end of an era for me. Teen murder mystery books seem like they may not be my cup of tea anymore, so if this is currently your favorite genre, you'll probably disagree with my review.

Well, I'm happy I finished that. It was a rather predictable story. With enough crazy twists to make them feel less normal, it felt like the characters didn't have to do that much to find shocking and insanely useful information. I also had a really hard time suspending my disbelief. There was one mention of connections to the police, and a mention of them not dealing with a murder case before, but it didn't feel like enough explanation for why they screwed up so badly. And, there were some twists that I had a really hard time believing. Oh, and I didn't like any of the characters. So, not my book, but I could see lovers of the genre enjoying it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's for this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. In my opinion--another hit from Liz Lawson! Fast-paced, fun plot and believable characters with some fun twists and turns to keep the story. The multiple perspectives provided in the narration were pitch-perfect from start to end and added lots of depth to the story.

A murderer getting released on a technicality! A group of "friends" determined to solve a case. A beloved teacher killed & another with some secrets to keep.

I was hesitant about this book at first because of the YA aspect. But it blew me away! Liz Lawson wrote this so well and kept me interested from the very beginning.

Watching these teenagers face dilemmas and try to solve the case was engaging and felt very real.

I was CONVINCED I knew the twist, but boy was I wrong. Definitely shocking ending!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC ebook for my review.

When a beloved teacher is murdered in cold blood, and the killer is released after only serving 2 years due to a mistrial, pandemonium and fear take over the community. There are those who are against the Hanson’s, practically the entire community, and then there are Henry and Ally. Henry Hanson cannot accept that his older brother could be a killer. Ally Copeland still cannot believe that Grace, Henry and her’s ex-best friend, testified that she saw Jake in their teachers yard the night she was murdered. And, after 2 years of being cutoff from her friends, Grace Topham wonders if she made a mistake that night, if she really saw Jake. A fun, drama-packed story of friendship, mystery, lies, and lots of twists and turn.

This was my first book from this author and she definitely did not disappoint! It was jam packed with twists and turns, absolutely the way I love it!!! I’m definitely a fan of YA thrillers!!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!!!

This was the first book I read from this author and it definitely won’t be the last. It was a great mystery that grabbed me from the first chapter. I love books that do that. It was a great mystery with many twists and turns that had me guessing to the end. I really enjoyed this book and I definitely recommend reading this. I will absolutely read more from this author
Thank you Net Galley and random house children’s, delacorte press for this ARC.

This book is RIGHT up my alley! Murder, suspense, romance… you literally cannot go wrong. It reminded me of How to Get Away with Murder which is one of my absolute favorite shows. Thank you so much for this arc, and I will be buying this for my shelf!

I requested this book for multiple reasons, mostly because of the author, but additionally because the synopsis sounded really good! I am always a sucker for YA mysteries, and I will die on the hill that they are better than adult mysteries (most of the time). I believe that people judge YA mysteries too harshly, but this one was fantastic.

📖 Book Review 📖 Liz Lawson comes in with hot with a delightful new thriller that reminds us never to discount the young adult genre for an amazing read! Two years after the murder of a local high school teacher and the arrest and conviction of a neighborhood boy rocks a community, his release turns their world upside down again. Did they put the actual killer behind bars the first time around? Murder Between Friends is a thoughtfully suspenseful whodunnit that touches deeply on relationships with both family and friends, leaving this group to question who they can truly trust. Lawson leaves the reader furiously turning the pages in bated breath until the very end…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Murder Between Friends was an interesting YA thriller with minimal gore and enough going on to keep a reader drawn in. It also unfortunately shares enough similarities to a current popular YA series that I worry fans of the other series may be distracted by comparing the two.

What did I like about this book? I think the general plot was solid. There were enough side plots that all come together in the end to keep things interesting. There were a lot of characters but they were all easy to keep track of and easily differentiated. With three different narrators, Murder Between Friends also benefited from perspective changes that keep the storytelling fresh.

Now, unfortunately for me, I found 2/3 of our narrator main characters to be unlikeable. They were self absorbed and while they had growth by the end of the novel, I wish there had been even more. I struggle with books where I don't find my narrators likable. We all relate to different people though and that may not be something other readers note.

It's also worth noting that Murder Between Friends shares many similarities with a currently very popular series andI think fans of the other series may be turned off when reading this novel. Some similarities can't be avoided because there are certain tropes that are fairly common in these types of thrillers, and I can see where Ms. Lawson tried to create differences in her work (which I appreciate), but unfortunately there are so many similarities that the comparisons will be unavoidable.

I think this book is worth a read. The plot is solid and it comes together well in the end, if a little rushed. It's age appropriate for the intended audience and benefits from multiple narrators. Unfortunately, I think the comparisons of this book to other popular YA thrillers may end up being a problem for some readers.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.