Cover Image: Friend Request

Friend Request

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Member Reviews

I received this book in exchange for an honest review - for a full review check out my YouTube or Goodreads account

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This is an eye opening book around social media and bullying. It was good, with some twists and turns. A good psychological debut. Would read this author again.

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I couldn’t stop turning the pages of this book.

Totally up to date with Social Media, bullying and the like.

Thoroughly engaged.

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This book is unsettling and the first thing i did when I finished reading was take to social media and make sure everything was set to private.
I did thoroughly enjoy this book though and it certainly gives the reader a lot to think about.

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Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Louise is separated from Sam after he had an affair and has since remarried and she is raising their son, Henry, alone. One day a Facebook friend request arrives from a Maria Weston a friend of hers from school which throws Louise completely as Maria died 20 years ago. Who is trying to ruin her life?

I don’t know why this arc was put to the bottom of my pile and I feel like I missed the chance to enjoy this so much sooner. What a bloody good read and I didn’t guess the ending at all which is a bonus.

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Loved the sound of the premise of this one but actually fell flat when I started to read. Not thrilling or gripping at all.

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I enjoyed this book, twists is she or isn’t she dead and if she is then who has sent the friend request...

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I was so looking forward to listen to Friend Request by Laura Marshall as I loved her last book "Three little lies" However, I could only get to chapter 4! I tried so hard to listen to it but I disliked the narrator, sadly I found her so boring and she repetitive throughout.

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK the publisher. Sadly the audio version was not for me. However, I will go back to it and find a quiet corner and open my kindle and re-read it.

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An unpredictable story set in the modern age of social media and online communication. A tale for now that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

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Sorry for late review - just catching up after a busy 12 months. Loved this book a lot - the author never fails to deliver a great story with great characters and really well written. No wonder it's recommended so much by so many different people. Will definitely read more by this author.

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Friend Request is the best thriller I’ve read so far this year.

It all starts with a friend request on Facebook. Maria Weston wants to be friends… which wouldn’t be a problem if she hadn’t been dead for 25 years.


Louise is terrified that someone has discovered her involvement in Maria’s death and they are coming after her, so she quickly finds herself thrown back into the teen drama she’s desperately tried to leave in the past.

It all comes to a head when she attends her old class reunion, and the next morning the body of one of her old classmates is found. With another death to investigate, it seems likely that the police are going to discover the truth about what happened to Maria, but will they get to the bottom of the mystery before the mysterious creator of the Facebook page gets their revenge on Louise?

The beginning of this book was ridiculously slow. Louise constantly alludes towards the terrible thing she did to Maria, but we don’t find out exactly what that was until quite a way into the book. However, as soon as that secret is out the pace ratchets up dramatically, and I read the last quarter of the book in one sitting in the middle of the night (this is not the kind of book you can dip into for a chapter or two when you’re trying to fall back to sleep!).

Jumping from 1989 to 2016, this book was half adult thriller and half YA drama, so it was right up my alley. The flashbacks fleshed the characters out a lot more, and by the time you reach that fateful night you find yourself really rooting for Maria to make it out alive. I tricked myself that she was going to be behind it all on multiple occasions while reading, even though it was so obvious that that couldn’t be the case!

I wasn’t surprised at all by the identity of the person behind Maria’s Facebook page, but I loved the twist which came afterwards regarding Maria’s fate. Turns out, Louise wasn’t as responsible for her death as she thought she was… But I’m not going to ruin the surprise for you, because I gasped when I realised where the story was going. More often than not I can figure out the culprits in thrillers and I always feel a little disappointed, but Laura Marshall wove the red herrings throughout her story so cleverly that it was such a huge surprise to discover what actually happened.

I’m so glad I read this book. After reading quite a few disappointing thrillers so far this year, it’s nice to find one which got my heart pounding and kept me guessing for the majority of the story.

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A great debut book from a talented writer. This book had me hooked, I couldn’t put it down and would recommend this to everyone.

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"Maria Weston wants to be friends. But Maria Weston is dead. Isn't she?

1989. Within just a few days of starting school, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.

2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever."

My favourite book of the year so far! We all use social media and it is great for keeping in touch, but you can hide so many secrets behind a screen and a keyboard. Can you believe everything you read, and are they all who they say they are?

We all have things that happened at school that we would rather forget, and this concept intrigued me from the beginning, and the idea of reconnecting with old school friends is harmless enough isn't it?. The layers of this book are many and immense and as much as I liked Louise, I was still unsure about what secrets she was hiding, along with everyone else, and I began to suspect everyone. A book that kept me up late at night, with just one more chapter, and if this is a debut, i need to read more from Laura Marshall.

Brilliant psychological thriller, recommending it to everyone.

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Enjoyed parts of this book, but parts did not ring true and I felt a bit frustrated at how the story panned out. Not a good read for me. Sorry

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For the first time in my life, I nearly missed my stop because I was so engrossed and so terrified by this novel. The author did such a wonderful job at keeping you guessing, breathless and thrilled, that I would be very interested to see what she does next.

Louise receives a friend request from Maria Weston, her past school friend, her past guilt, her past horror. But it can't be her, because she's dead. She has been dead for quite some time. So who is haunting her now? Who is doing this to Louise? She accepts the request.

And thus the novel really begins, taking you from past to present and back again, We witness Louise reconnecting with everyone she tried to forget as she tries to figure out who is behind the account, and who knows what *really* happened to Maria Weston.

It was especially great to read because you only know as much as Louise, and Louise only knows as much as you - you effectively get the chance to figure out what happened all those years ago,

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It took me two months to finish it, it was just not very interesting to keep my interest which was the main problem with it that simply I was bored by it.

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Loving a good psychological thriller this book appealed to me and I’m delighted I got the opportunity to read it. Louise receives a friend request on Facebook from someone she belevieves to have died 25 years ago . With this request th guilt and secrets carried resurface and threatens her present life. Told In alternating past and present this book covers many topics including bullying and acceptance . Fab read and my thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my chance to read 4.5 stars

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I enjoyed this book and the concept but it was not one of the better books I have read. I felt it rather repetitive with Louise going over the same ground over and over. The final revelation was a surprise but did not have the wow factor for me.

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What happened to Maria?! This is basically the crux of the story – solve that, and job’s a goodun’.

Every school has those cliques where mean girls who take advantage and guilt trip those around them. Then there’s the cool boys, the jocks who everyone wants to be associated with. Maria just wanted to be friends with Louise. Nothing more but life wasn’t quite that simple for Louise.

My head was spinning as to who was contacting Louise. Was it Maria? Was she alive? Was it one of the old gang? As the story reached its climax, my head was reeling with the constant revelations on the pages.

I devoured this book. Given the opportunity, I would have read it in one sitting but real life got in the way! This is an excellent, well executed debut from Laura Marshall. Friend Request ticked all the boxes for a psychological thriller for me. I’ll be interested to see what her follow up Three Little Lies has to offer!

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A highly topical subject and although it did hold my attention I do agree with some of the other reviews that it lacked a little something. I was very excited about reading this when I was sent the ARC but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. If this is indeed a debut then I’m sure Laura Marshall will improve and grow. I read it in a couple of days so it’s not a slogger. I loved the premise and I do recommend it, just don’t get too giddy!

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