Friendship | Book Chatter

Friends and Liars
By Kit Frick
Atria, December 2, 2025, 272pp.

*No Spoilers*

The Short of It:

This was a fun, crazy, spin on a whodunit.

The Rest of It:

It’s been five years since heiress Clare Monroe tragically died on New Year’s Eve at her family’s opulent Italian palazzo. Since that time, her college friends have harbored a dark secret—their lies and betrayals led to Clare’s untimely death.

What happened that fateful night was a horrible accident, but Luca, Harper, Sirina, and David are guilty, nonetheless. And their desperate decision to conceal the truth destroyed their once-close bond.

Guilty? But of what? There are multiple secrets this group is hiding so when they receive an invitation to celebrate their long lost friend Clare, they don’t even know how to immediately react. Go? Certainly not. But an all expense paid trip to Italy? How can you turn that down?

So, they go. What they don’t understand is exactly WHO organized the trip and why they were all called to gather again. But soon, like on the first night, they begin to receive “gifts” in each of their rooms. All, have double meaning. As they come together for the strict itinerary they’ve been given, they begin to whisper to each other. Suddenly alarmed and confused.

Clare’s family is filthy rich and they flaunt it every chance they get. The accommodations are plush, the meals and drink, lavish, helicopters at the ready to fly them off to their next adventure. But in those in-between moments, they begin to panic.

Gifts turn into notes and detailed instructions and pretty soon, everyone is doubting everyone. They all miss Clare but they all had a role in what happened that fateful night and the guilt begins to eat at them, causing bickering and hurt feelings.

I was happily surprised by this story. It’s twisty but not in a “red herring” way. The twists were plausible. Set in a palatial home in Italy with the beautiful coast as their view? Good food and drink? I am so there for it.

I felt that this was a solid read. A real page-turner.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

With Friends Like These
By Alissa Lee
Atria, November 4, 2025, 240pp.

The Short of It:

Old friends, a game, poor choices.

The Rest of It:

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this up but I found it to be pretty compelling.

Old friends gather to play a special round of The Circus. What’s the Circus? It’s a game where you are given a target, one of the friends playing and you must KILL them with a water gun or be killed. When a “kill” is made, the shooter takes their medallion necklace and the holder of all the medallions wins the game.

Sounds simple enough but there are few rules which means you can break into each other’s homes, show up at their place of employment or chase them down into a train station. Sounds dangerous? It is.

This special round includes high stakes because unbeknownst to them all, one participant has been investing the winnings and the pot is now quite significant.

As the story unfolds, it’s clear that although everyone appears to be quite successful in life, that money could come in handy for each of them and the game suddenly takes center stage.

What happens when the game gets out of hand? Do they come together to figure out a solution? Or are they suddenly pitted against one another? Sounds good, right?

Recommend.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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