Relationships | 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.

Finding Grace
By Loretta Rothschild
St. Martin’s Press, July 2025, 336pp.

The Short of It:

The first chapter cliffhanger left me with my mouth open.

The Rest of It:

I have to be very careful with this review because for me, the draw was the absolute shock of those first few chapters.

Honor seems to have everything: she adores her bright and beautiful daughter, Chloe, and her charming, handsome husband, Tom, even if he works one hundred hours a week. Yet Honor’s longing for another baby threatens to eclipse all of it―until a shocking event changes their lives forever. ~ from the publisher

This was the perfect read. It’s about relationships, love and loss, and what happens when things don’t go quite as planned. How do you deal with such heartache? Can you? Can you go on? How do you rebuild a life when everything seems to have fallen down around you?

This was a clever story. The set-up leads you innocently by the hand and then you are completely sucker-punched in the best possible way. I mean, I was floored. I kept re-reading one page over and over again. Completely in shock. Honestly, I was a little mad at Rothschild because when I settled in for a good read, I had NO idea what I was signing up for. Wow. Well done. And it’s a debut? What?

All I can say is read it. It’s not perfect but what a read.

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

Chatting with friends about books and life…