Thank you for the chance to review this book, however, unfortunately, I was unable to download this title before it was archived

There was a great plot here. I am always a sucker for stories of friendship - particularly lifetime friendships. The story got a little bogged down and cliché in the middle, but ended on a happy note (also cliché). I wouldn't purchase the book, but if I saw it somewhere I would recommend it as a light read.

I’m joining in again with Throwback Thursday which was created by my good friend Renee at It’s Book Talk. She started this weekly feature as a way to highlight old favorites and read books that have already been published. I have so many older books on my TBR that get ignored in favor of review copies and I figure participating in Throwback Thursday will help me to read at a least one older title a week!

This is told from multiple perspectives that of Catherine, Owen, Annie, Colin and Lindy. This group couldn’t be more different, but maybe that’s what made them all connect in the first place twenty years ago. Catherine and Owen are married with children and go the non traditional route as he stays home with the kids and she works. They seem like the perfect all American family on the surface, but resentment bubbles under the surface. Annie is also married with one kid and she tries really hard to present the perfect life to the world, especially online. We all know no one is perfect though… Colin is a successful surgeon with a big secret about their late friend, Bea and Lindy is a famous musician with way too many issues to list here. For such a large ensemble cast of characters I found them all to be really well drawn and relatable. Some more than others, I didn’t have much in common with Lindy’s rock star life but could relate to both Annie and Owen as stay at parents. (I wonder why? 😜)

This isn’t a traditional mystery but rather a story of secrets and long held grudges with mysterious elements. When they reunite at the bequest of Bea most of them haven’t kept in touch at all and all have different issues with each other and things they really don’t want the others to know. I admittedly got slightly annoyed with most of them because so many of their problems could’ve been solved by simply talking to each other, but without conflict this would’ve just been a boring story about a group of middle aged friends, so I get that it was basically the driving force of the book. Overall this was an enjoyable read, the author is a good writer my only complaint was the ending, I felt like there were just too many loose ends that weren’t tied up at all BUT I’m super picky about endings so take that with a grain of salt.

It has been twenty years since six friends graduated from Penn and moved out of the row house they had shared. Now it is twenty years later and their dead friend, Bea, has summoned them home to celebrate what would have been her 40th birthday. Arriving the hot July weekend are Catherine and Owen. They are college sweethearts who have two kids. Owen is a Stay-At-Home-Dad while Catherine is building her "Domestic Goddess" empire. Their once devoted relationship has turned into a marriage full of resentments and regrets. Also joining them will be the social media addict, Annie. She uses social media to project the perfect life that she wants everybody to believe she is living. Instead, her insecurities have pushed her husband into the arms of another woman. Lindy Armstrong, the famous musician, will also be there. She is dodging her "team", her girlfriend, and her fans to be there. Colin rounds out the once six-point star. He is a plastic surgeon with one major secret that he has been keeping from the rest of them. Bea's summons the row house was unexpected, but none of them would ever deny Bea a request, even it was from the grave. Will the friends be able to finally put the past to rest and put their futures on a path of peace and success?

It was very easy to immerse myself in the lives of these six friends. Every single one of them is living a life that they did not expect to be living. And as a forty-one year old woman it forced me to confront my own hopes from twenty years ago. It is easy for me to say that every single one of them is a little messed up in the head. I think Catherine was my least favorite of all of the friends. She was just so mean - to her husband, to her friends, to her employees. Lindy was probably the most messed up of all of them. She used her fame to lie and cheat and nobody ever stopped her. By the end of the book she owned up to those behaviors and admitted that she was not a stellar human being. I think that I felt the most sorry for Annie, she was the most - broken - I think. She suspected that her husband had cheated on her, was cheating on her. And she was the one most hung up on the past and presenting the "perfect" image. Their weekend at Penn brought up so much old stuff for all of them, that it was only matter of time before it blew up. And boy did it. I didn't think there was as much resolution at the end as I had hoped there would be. A good solid "Afterword" would have been appreciated. But I guess that is where the reader's imagination comes into play.

Bottom line - In Twenty Years was a great read about dreams and regrets. Life seldom works out in the ways we plan, but as these friends find out, you can't spend your life mired in regrets. You have to pull yourself up and make the most of what you have. There is some serious food for thought with this one.

Details:
In Twenty Years by Allison Winn Scotch
On Facebook
Pages: 322
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Publication Date: 7/1/2016
Buy it Here!

This is the story of six friends who shared a house together twenty years ago. One of them passed away, and the group splintered for good. Now, they've reunited. They have secrets that will come out while they are together.

Okay characters and a storyline that dragged a bit for me at times. This wasn't one of my favorites by the author, but I'm glad I read it.

I really enjoyed this story! This story is all about love, friendship, and family, and I loved the different messages that this book shared through the thoughts of the different characters. All of the characters were so well-written and entertaining. This is such a great, quick, and touching read!

"Remembering where you came from helps clear the path for where you actually need to go" sets the tone and overall theme of this enjoyable story about five friend from college & where they end up 20 years later.

The concept of this book was fascinating. Six friends from Penn who shared a house together until one of them died. They all gather to celebrate what would have been her 40th birthday and secrets are soon revealed. This sounded like a great book, and the cover was the reason why I wanted to like it, but I could not connect with any of the characters and wasn't able to finish the book. I may pick it up and try again later.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I've read other books by this author, and this seemed to follow the same writing style. I connected with several of the characters, although there were some that I would like to know more about.

I thought I would be more emotionally involved, but for some reason I wasn't..... I enjoyed the story for what it was, but it didn't evoke a lot of emotion.

Overall, a good read and I will continue to seek out books by this author.

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a a very quick and easy read but lacked from characters that were really likable. The book was full of very selfish, self-centered characters, which makes it hard to be invested in their story.
On the eve of the deceased friend Bea's 40th birthday, 5 estranged friends gather at their old college residence for the first time in years after a betrayal caused their friendships to splinter. Now each is carrying secrets and regrets of their own and they will all collide over the one weekend where they gather reluctantly to remember their friend. Each one is forced to face the past in order to move on with their future.

Six college friends at Penn share a house and assume that they will always be friends. Years later after Bea dies, the group is for the most part estranged and out of touch; other than two who are married. On the eve of what would have been Bea's 40th birthday, they reunite at the house. Unfortunately, I found almost every single one of these characters terribly annoying. You would think that maybe by 40 at least one of them had grown up, but it really didn't seem that way. They all have major issues they are struggling with as do most of us, but I just really couldn't find any sympathy for any of them. They were all just really a mess. The ending was okay, but sappy.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel to review in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is the story of five friends who are summoned back to their college house by their deceased friend, the sixth roommate, or rather, via her estate lawyer. Although they promised to remain friends after college, circumstances had splintered their relationships over time. When they all come together on Independence Day weekend, they are forced to deal with their issues with each other, the problems in their personal lives as well as their unresolved grief for their friend.

I enjoyed this book. The development of all the characters stood out and Scotch did a great job weaving their stories together as the group makes their way from college into middle age. Although there isn't a whole lot going on while they are all together, as far as action, the dialogue, both internal and with each other, is very interesting and is the highlight of the book. I had a hard time putting this one down.

*I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.*

This book was ok. It took a lot of time for the story to unfold and in the end the only nice character was Bea,

This book was amazing. I felt like I couldn't put it down. I like how each chapter was based on the different point of views of each character we meet. I think I relate to Katherine the most because I have my own blog and it can go out of hand time to time and can lead to burning out or running out of ideas. This book should get a sequel or spin offs because I want to see how everyone fixes their situations such as Annie with her husband, Lindy with her pregnancy, Owen's and Katherine's marriage, and does Collin end up with Annie or not. Awesome book!

"Twenty years ago, six Penn students shared a house, naively certain that their friendships would endure—until the death of their ringleader and dear friend Bea splintered the group for good. Now, mostly estranged from one another, the remaining five reluctantly gather at that same house on the eve of what would have been Bea’s fortieth birthday."

This book reminded me of "The Big Chill" so much, the premise of old college friends getting together after many years apart for a big event.

Loved the drama, the laughes and the tears.

Six friends who decide on their last night of college to create a time capsule to open in 20 years. They also decide to always be friends-to be a six pointed star. The story then jumps ahead 20 years. The 6 friends are no longer friends, in fact they no longer speak to each other. The one friend who wanted them to remain 'family' has since died and on her 40th birthday the remaining 5 gather at their old college haunt to fix their friendship. The story starts out really strong, you are rooting for these 5 friends to find themselves and rediscover what made them friends. They are all broken in some way. It then gets long, slow, and sad. The ending isn't quite a happy ending and the reader doesn't get a clear answer on all 5 of the character's futures. Still a pretty decent reunion type story.