*3.5 stars*

When Danny commits suicide, childhood friend Ruby heads home for his funeral. She expects to leave as soon as she possibly can, wanting to put miles and miles between herself and her hometown. But Danny has left each of his old friends envelopes full of secrets, leaving them entangled in old memories and startling revelations.

I loved that this debut novel was a character study. We learn a lot about each of the friends, especially Ruby. Everyone felt very three-dimensional and fleshed out, which is a giant thumbs up for readers like me!

My only complaint was that sometimes the writing itself was very dry. It took me a long time to get through the novel because of this.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for an ARC.

Great rainy day read! A group of childhood friends come together in adulthood for the funeral of one of their members. Reminiscent of The Big Chill, memories are shared and secrets revealed in this fast-paced read.

This was a easy quick read. The story is about a group of friends “the crew” that is told by different POV’s of each crew member and going back and forth between past and present. It had enough drama and questions to keep me reading. Some parts were a bit slow and maybe more like a young adult read, but still a good story. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book and post my early review.

I liked this book. I enjoyed the characters and the overall storyline. However, I went into this book expecting it to be a mystery/thriller and that is not what this book is. It is more of a drama which is less my kind of genre for a book. All this to say, I do not believe I am this book's intended audience.

This story was so easy to sink into. The events are so easy to relate to and understand. I loved how the 'voice' of the story jumped around from different friends within the circle. The most interesting being Danny...considering he was dead. Each person is wrapped up in their own struggles and hardships and reasons for lying and they are quick to forget how their decisions affect others. The transition between past and present is seamless and easy to follow. It is a simple story without a lot of twists and surprises, but it is honest and true to life.

All the stars! The bad news - this is Coble's debut novel, which means there are no others for me to read immediately. I hope that changes, because I raced through this book. The friendship of 'the crew' has been tested several times since they met in elementary school - and again one final time when one of the original members, Danny, commits suicide. As his final wish, he asks each member to reveal their deepest, darkest secret - or else.

I cannot reveal too much without spoiling the book, but the writing style, character development and mystery surrounding each crew member kept me reading late into the night. I loved the choices the author made with which voice to use, navigating between past and present, and interspersing the main characters with a few chapters of a different voice, for a different perspective. It was all done so well - I cannot wait until Coble's next novel.

I pretty much blew through Friends and Other Liars by Kaela Coble. This one gave me some PLL and Love Letter to Whiskey kind of vibes. The book is told in past and present with multiple POVs (👍🏼👍🏼).

So what’s it about? The crew! Ruby, Ally, Danny, Murphy and Emmett are all in the crew. The crew grew up together and mostly all of them have stayed close except for Ruby. Ruby wanted to get the heck of their small town and never look back.
For 10 years that had worked out for Ruby, until Ally calls with the devastating news that one of their own, Danny, has committed suicide.

Ruby returns to her hometown, Chatwick, for the funeral of her old friend. Little does she, or the other crew members know that Danny has left them each a letter containing their worst secret that he knows. Even though Danny is dead there is threat in the letters that the secrets will come out if they do not reveal them to each other. Ooo juicy!!!

Lies, sex, betrayal, drugs, suicide and all the dramas!

I really enjoyed this. It kind of felt I was reading a YA novel because of the “past” chapters but there is a little mystery to it, as we slowly learn the secrets. 4.5 Stars. Recommended.


I received an advanced copy from the publisher, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, via Netgalley. Many thanks.

The “Crew “is a story of a group of five friends, Ruby, Emmett, Murphy, Danny and Ally. They form an early friendship in school and decide to be honest and stay together no matter what, but life happens and everybody goes their separate ways. Eventually they are brought together at Danny’s funeral but Danny left a letter for each of them revealing their biggest secret, threatening to expose them beyond the grave if they are not truthful to each other. Will exposing the secrets bring them closer or drive a wedge between their friendships never to be mended again?

The book is divided between different POV’s going back and forth between the past and present. I felt it was a little slow at times and no big suspenseful reveals but interesting dynamics between friends. A good contemporary read about relationships and how they shape us. 3 ½ stars from me

Many thanks to a Sourcebooks Landmark & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

When Danny kills himself, it brings his old group of friends back together. As a sort of revenge for not being there for him, Danny leaves each of the friends an envelope containing their worst secret that he knows, with the threat that all the secrets will come out if they don't reveal them to each other. It flips back and forth between the present and various stages of the past. I really enjoyed this a lot. It was suspenseful but not in a mysterious way; it drew me in and I wanted to learn all the secrets. I liked Ruby, who is sort of the main character, although the story is told from several other characters' points of view as well. Overall 4 (maybe 4.5) stars.

Wow. This was an emotionally exhausting addictive book that I was completely immersed in. And loved every word.

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

Friends and Other Liars is nothing short of spectacular! I couldn't get enough of this story and its characters. I simultaneously wanted to continue devouring it while wanting to savor it at the same time. From the moment I learned Danny had kept their secrets and now wanted them to divulge to the group, I couldn't help but wonder and guess at what they all were. And since this is told in both the past and present, it made it a bit easier to envision what they could all be hiding.

I was completely immersed in this story from the very beginning. I absolutely LOVE these tales of childhood friends who grow up and are connected. It's only made better when one (or all) have something to hide.

The main focus of this story isn't necessarily Danny and his death (and what caused it), but Ruby and why she left and hasn't been back since graduation. At one time, they were a close-knit group, The Crew, and even within such a small group there was even closer dynamics between members. I won't get into those details since they play a big role in the bigger picture, but the one I found myself most drawn to was the relationship between Ruby and her best friend, Murphy.

Now, the secrets aspect was brilliantly done. I know I mentioned above that I was trying to guess who was hiding what, but I only succeeded in that with Ruby. The rest, I had absolutely no idea! Some weren't as shocking in nature (and this could be my fault since I found myself zeroed in on Ruby and her story), or maybe I just wasn't as invested in those characters' lives. It sounds crappy, maybe, but I also am drawn to some characters more than others. So, I definitely was more focused on a single aspect of the story, I think. Not to say that the entire story lacks, because it doesn't! At all. I just had to know what happened to make Ruby stay away. So yes, some secrets weren't as exciting and I found myself wanting to skim those reveals and their repercussions to get to what I perceived to be 'The Big One.'

But, I have to admit that the manner in which this story is told is part of what makes it so tantalizing. Seriously, the past and present---little pieces and slivers slowly released. The puzzle begins to come together. And the entire time, the blaring in my face of RUBY AND MURPHY and what they were to each other. It was the one thing I couldn't let go of. And to be 100% honest, theirs were the secrets I wanted to know the most. And with the way things play out, they are, of course, the last to be revealed. I cannot lie, his made me angry. Perhaps irrationally so, but at the same time not really. I expected better from him. Maybe that was my fault. I perhaps romanticized him, too. I spent the majority of the book hoping and wishing that he and Ruby would get together romantically. Which, considering the overall theme, was probably stupid in itself. But I can't help it.

The one thing I need to mention is that I think most people will expect these secrets to be huge, terrifying ones that once exposed will destroy friendships. I think I did, too. But really, they aren't. I don't know if Danny intended to break up the group permanently, but his final wish did the opposite. It brought them back together. To some extent. His prologue and epilogue were strengths. I definitely appreciated the latter in wrapping up the story. I think it did a great job in giving closure once all had been revealed. I may have been disappointed by one thing mentioned, but I won't let my hope die quite yet. And really, I feel that I'm supporting a lost cause considering what had been discussed and how. However, there's a comment made in the epilogue that gives me hope it WILL turn around and that we just might not have seen the last of Danny and The Crew.

I found Coble's debut to be layered, well-written, and gripping. Fans of Lianne Moriarty and Sara Shepard will probably enjoy Friends and Other Liars.

Ruby returns to her home town for the funeral of her friend Danny and the story goes from present to past revealing how a once close set of friends grew up and apart and the secrets that they all kept from each other.

This is a great debut novel and I enjoyed the way the story was told by the weaving together of the past and present. The close friendship ties were reminiscent of two of my favourite films - St Elmo's Fire and The Breakfast Club and I loved this. A really good read.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

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Five friends all very different and I loved mentally watching them grow, making all the silly mistakes that people do along the way! The plot was simple but strong enough to keep me guessing right until the end and I did approve of the ending. The characters were well drawn, I liked them, foibles and all and thoroughly enjoyed their story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of the book in return for an honest review.

Friends and Other Liars' stories surrounds four friends whose friend has overdoes and died. After his funeral, Danny leaves a letter telling Ally, Murphy, Emmett and Ruth that he knows their secrets. The secret they each are holding onto and no one else knows-- or at least they think no one else knows it.

From there, we are brought between the present and the past. What happened to this clan while they were in high school? What happened to them since?

While I liked where this story went, it took a while to get there. It took me probably 20% to get into the book. I liked the premise and I liked the book. But it was just fine. I know others who probably would love this more because it was a good book, it just didn't make me go wow!

This is the type of book that makes readers think. What would you do if you found out secrets are coming back from the grave.? Will you realize that secrets revealed may make you a stronger person, or will the secrets break you? Each person in this story must face life both past and present on order to grow as a person and live. Danny was one of the group, he somehow became the keeper of secrets but in death he wanted the secrets revealed, will he actually have their secrets revealed? Thank you NetGalley and Kaela Coble for allowing me to read the ARC and write a honest review.

The death of her old school friend Danny has brought Ruby St. James home where she comes face to face with old friends, “the crew” and the secret that made her leave years before. Danny has reached out from beyond the grave to leave his old friends one final “gift”. Each of them have an envelope that tells their ugliest secrets. If the friends don’t share the contents of their envelopes, a trap Danny has laid will reveal their secrets to everyone. Coble does an admirable job of building each character, as the plot peels back like an onion, layer by layer