I liked this book,however it was not much of an edge of your seat kind of story. More of a character study between the two female leads, with friendships strained, and plenty of secrets. Pretty good, just not great.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of FORGET YOU KNOW ME by Jessica Strawser in exchange for my honest review.***

Best friends since childhood, stay-at-home mom Molly and Liza keep their relationship alive on Skype when one night Liza witnesses a masked intruder in Molly’s home. When the police find nothing amiss Liza drives hours overnight, only to be turned away by Molly, the fate of their friendship in question.

FORGET YOU KNOW ME starts off as a promising thriller, but after the first few chapters become more women’s fiction. I wouldn’t have still requested this ARC had I known the genre switch, but would have preferred to know what I was reading to keep my expectations realistic. I’m the type of reader who does a lot of research before choosing what type book I’m in the mood to read, so if I’m expecting a white knuckle read, I can feel let down by domestic drama.

Jessica Strawser’s characters proved deeper and more complex than I initially thought. I loved that Molly and Liza looked toward Eleanor Roosevelt as inspiration beginning in their teen years and into adulthood as she’s always been one of my role models. I didn’t agree with many Molly and Liza’s choices, but won’t say which to avoid spoiling.

FORGET YOU KNOW ME will intrigue and delight readers of women’s fiction.

This is a story that is jump started by a BFF video chat and a masked man. Liza lives in Chicago, and Molly lives in Cincinnati. These longtime friends arrange a virtual "Girls Night Out" at their respective homes to catch up over a glass of wine.

It starts with a fast thriller vibe that is slightly sinister, but then morphs into a slow and steady pace. The masked man fades into the background, and brought to the forefront are the themes of female friendship, marital discord, family, finances, identity, home, secrets, lies, scandal, and personal crisis. It's a character study of two women trying to find their way in life when things fall apart.

The characters were not likeable for me, but they are well developed and by the end I knew them well. I didn't agree with their actions, but Liza and Molly's separate situations are relatable and found myself wondering how I'd face them. How they handle their issues is a test of their own character and the strength of their friendship. By the end, the masked man's identity is revealed and all of the loose ends are tied together with a satisfying conclusion. I liked that the characters changed their perspectives, examined their flaws and decisions, and opened up to doing things differently than they had in the past.

Jessica Strawser is an excellent storyteller. Some have referenced her books as thrillers, but this one is really a domestic drama. If you start the book with this perspective, then you will enjoy it.

Molly and Liza have been close friends for years and consider each other family. After Liza moves out of state and Molly starts a family, friend time is hard to find. One night when Molly’s husband Daniel is out of town they decide to facetime and have a ‘girls night”. When Molly has to step away from her computer, Liza is witness to something horrible. Frantic, Liza contacts the police. She can not get in contact with Molly and decides to drive across state to check on her safety. When Liza arrives to Molly’s house she is shocked when Molly shuts the door in her face and tells her to leave. No thank you. No explanation. Liza is baffled and returns home, only to find her life in ashes and is forced to start over. Molly is forced to confront her drowning financial issues and fears her husband will not understand. Daniel has his own issues that threaten his marriage. This is a story about how secrets and neglect can decay a marriage and how far a friendship can last without communication. I was excited to read this book from Jessica Strawser. It was a good read and I look forward to reading more from the author.

An interesting novel about friendship, love and trust.
These three qualities are the foundations of good relationships.
However; when doubt creeps in, these three valuable qualities will fall away. People change. People back away.
This book tells how four people work through insecurities to reunite in friendship and family.
I read this book in a day as I needed to find out exactly what each chapter held and how would these characters survive.
Most definitely a women's fiction story that most will enjoy and a quick read.

Forget You Know Me got off to a slow start for me but I am glad that I stuck with it. The story about Liza, Molly, Rick and Daniel ended up sucking me in. There were so many different issues and situations going on simultaneously and there I was trying to figure it all out. Jessica Strawser definitely created some unexpected twists and turns!

This was my first time reading Strawser and I am so glad I did. After reading the description I expected it to be more of a thriller than it was, but the plot still had me hooked. The author did a great job developing the characters and making the main character likable and relatable. I read this book in a 2 day period as I couldn’t put it down. 4/5 stars!

Molly is struggling with her life and when an unexpected intruder is seen by a friend she is Skyping with it sets in motion events that could ruin her or save her. How can she explain to her best friend Liza or her husband Daniel what is going on? But can she continue the way her life is? A story of choices and the consequence of those choices.

Liza and Molly have been best friends forever, but their friendship changes as their lives take different paths. Molly is married with 2 children now, and Liza has moved hours away. But they keep in touch and catch up when they can. One night, with Molly’s husband away on a business trip and the kids in bed, Molly and Liza finally meet at their computers for a “virtual girls night”. When Molly is called away for a second, Liza helplessly watches as a masked man in dark clothing silently enters Molly’s house and shuts the computer. Molly doesn’t return Liza’s calls, so Liza calls the police, who show up at Molly’s house, but are turned away after a brief visit. Liza panics, races several hours to her friend’s house, only to be rebuffed.
The characters are well-developed, and the storyline is interesting. Molly is a bit frustrating in her self-centeredness, but that’s how some people are. There are some twists and turns which keep you on your toes. All in all, an interesting read.

Who was it that broke in that night? It did happen, didn't it? How could so many lives have gotten so complicated, so many decisions have turned out so badly?

An intricately constructed story starts with a home invasion incident accidentally witnessed over Skype, but the journey proceeds in myriad peculiar ways. When a pebble is dropped in a pond that has assorted twigs and flowers distributed randomly over its surface, the ripples become random, too, but they are still connected... This plot is like that.

At first, I had no idea what to say about Forget You Know Me.

After reading, I felt the same way I do when I watch a really good trailer, see the movie, and then wonder if I had watched a trailer for the wrong movie.

Don't get me wrong. I liked the book, but the blurb led me astray. This book is not a thriller and it is not a mystery. Once I got past that, I was able to more easily sift through my thoughts and evaluate the book more clearly. 

This is character driven story. The real drama is in the relationships both built and broken, and how far each is willing to go to repair the damage they have done. 

Liza is a relatable protagonist. She is strong and independent, but a major plot point leaves her understandably shaken and she is a bit adrift. She begins to question her choices, and as she learns to navigate through the uncertainty, I find myself cheering her on.

Molly, on the other hand, is easy to dislike. She is pretty miserable through out and she is terrible to her husband, who is no saint, but who is clearly trying. They both have life altering secrets they are keeping from one another and it pushed the boundaries of credibility that they remained married, but seemed to not communicate about the most basic things. I did begin to empathize with her struggles later in the book, but I can't say that I ever really cared about her all that much. 

For the most part, I was pleased with the resolution, especially from Liza's point of view. 

This is a great book for book clubs, and if you enjoy domestic dramas, this is the book for you. 

3.5/5 stars

I received an ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Expected date of publication is February 5, 2019.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy for an honest review.

The book hooked me right away... And then it lost me. I don't know if it was lack of sympathy for the characters but something just lost its luster. One character got too whiny. The husband annoyed me. I did want to know what happened so that kept me intrigued.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5— Forget You Know Me— Jessica Strawser
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This is my second Strawser book and I liked it, but the description is slightly deceiving.
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What sounded like a thriller and starts like a thriller, quickly tapered off. The relationships written about in this book are wonderful. They are complicated and real. These were my favorite part of the book.
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What brought this to three and a half stars was what seemed like a book that teetered on a deep relationship book or what wanted to be a thriller.

Genre: Fiction – Thriller

Rating – 4.5/5

I want to start by sharing that I am a huge fan of Jessica Strawser, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to review her book prior to it’s publication, courtesy of NetGalley. Thank you, NetGalley!

I first discovered Strawser through Book of the Month when her novel, Not That I Could Tell, became one of the monthly picks. Having read the synopsis and finding out that the novel took place a mere 30 minutes from where I lived, I decided to give it a shot. Instantly, I fell in love. I then reached out to Strawser, who invited me to a local book signing. I saw her again later that week at the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop, where she led courses for new and upcoming writers like myself.

Her newest novel, Forget You Know Me, is just as suspenseful, if not moreso, than her other two novels. She has a knack for leaving readers at the edge of their seat.

When Molly and Liza are chatting via webcam from there respective homes, Liza sees something she isn’t supposed to. An intruder, dressed in black, entering her best friend’s home, while Molly is upstairs checking on her young children. When Liza drive six hours from her apartment in Chicago to the suburbs of Cincinnati to check on her dear friend, she finds that she is not as welcome as she thought she might be. In fact, Molly is extremely upset with Liza and utters the phrase, “forget you know me”.

Why is Molly so mad at Liza for coming to her rescue? Who was the intruder? Did Molly know him? Expect him? And where is her husband in all of this?

The questions are endless, and they continue throughout the story. Every narrative has their doubts, their secrets, their lies. Without spoiling more for you, I’ll leave you with this: you’ve got to read this book.

Most thrillers are getting cliche, and this one simply isn’t. We hear the same stories over and over, and it’s hard to find something suspenseful that is unique. But Strawser doesn’t imitate other artists, she’s not reinventing the wheel – she has her own stories, and damn if they aren’t brilliant!

A sidenote: Cincinnatians will love this book because of it’s setting. Liza goes to Graeter’s Ice Cream, they talk about Tafts Ale House (which, I might add, is where I had lunch this week, and it IS indeed gorgeous and one of my favorite places to grab a drink) – it felt entirely familiar, similar to that of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible.

I can’t wait to share this book with friends and family. I highly recommend pre-ordering now!

Lifelong friends Liza and Molly have grown distant since Liza moved to Chicago. One night, when Molly's husband Daniel is away on business, they have a video chat in a bid to reconnect. After an awkward start, the conversation is flowing easily when Molly has to go check on one of her children. Liza is horrified when she sees a masked man enter her friend's house, and panics when the screen goes dark. She calls the police, and then—unable to get Molly to answer her phone—Liza jumps in her car and drives all night to make sure she is okay, only to be turned away by an angry Molly. Confused, hurt, and angry, Liza returns home only to find more heartbreak waiting for her as she tries to figure out what happened that fateful night.

For some reason, I thought this book was a thriller when I read it, even though it's clearly marked as women's fiction on Netgalley. (Something I realized while preparing to write this review.) I originally rated this book at three stars, which would have been fair if it was being marketed as a thriller. Since the correct genre is women's fiction—which puts things in a different light, story-wise—I'm bumping my rating up to four stars.

The main focus of the story is Liza and Molly's fading friendship, as well as the strained relationship between Molly and her husband, Daniel. Molly's life as a wife and mother created a distance with Liza, and it became greater after Liza moved away from their hometown. I felt a great deal of sympathy for both women. I understood Liza's perspective because I've had dear friendships fade away, but my greatest empathy was for Molly. She came across as distinctly unlikable in the beginning, but as the story progresses it becomes evident that Molly is struggling with unidentified medical issues that have her in constant pain, which causes a rift in her marriage and makes mothering her children an often difficult for her.

The main characters—Liza, Molly, and Daniel—all face other obstacles in their lives that complicate the mending of their relationships. Issues faced by Molly and Daniel, in particular, often eclipsed the problems in their relationships... which, I suppose, illustrates how easily day-to-day life interferes in how people interact with those we care about the most.

This was an enjoyable book that I'll have to add to my reread list, so that I can properly enjoy it without misconceptions about what genre of book I'm reading.

If you enjoy reading women's fiction, do give this book a try!

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of St. Martin's Press via Netgalley.

This was an intense and well done book. Very well developed characters and scheming plots! It was very easy to be drawn into the complicated lives of each character. Kept me interested and wanting to find out more.

A wonderful novel of domestic suspense! A Skype call between friends, a masked intruder, a friend in danger, A story of people we love and the lengths we will go to to protect them. Dangerous deceits, friendships in question and a marriage eroding. Well written and kept my attention until the end. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Forget You Know Me is a lovely examination of relationships and different types of love. It follows multiple perspectives and for me felt more like a domestic drama than the 'thriller' I am used to reading. The book starts off with a bang - BFFs, Liza & Molly, who have grown apart in recent years, decide on a catch-up Skype date while Molly's husband is away. As Molly is away from her computer momentarily, checking on one of her children, Liza sees a stranger enter Molly's house and it all goes wild from there. However, again, I wouldn't classify this as a 'thriller'. As a portrait of adult life, f/f friendships, marital relationships, m/f friendships and new loves, it is wonderfully done. As a thriller, it is lacking a bit of the thrill. Besides that first chapter, I was never on the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting a big reveal. A creepy thing happened and we just sort of moved on. In the end, it is wrapped up but the end was just sort of okay for me. It was a good book for sure but I don't anticipate lying awake tonight thinking about it.

I did really enjoyed Stawser's writing style and absolutely plan to read more of her books. The prose is well-thought out and rich in detail. As far as the characters go, they were all very well developed and we spent a good amount of time learning the main characters thoughts, past and motivations. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys contemporary literature, especially those that revolve around the complications that can arise within adult relationships.

Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate it so much and as always, look forward to hearing other reader's thoughts on this one.

I did not like this as much as I was hoping but it's still a pretty good mystery. The main issue I had with the book is that all the main characters are REALLY unlikable. I found Molly to be the most unlikable of all. Her constant mystery health issues and anger at her husband when he was TRYING to do better were really annoying!

Forget You Know Me starts out like a superb thriller, but after the first few chapters it turns out to be a book about the complications of friendship and marriage and the damage that secrets can do in those institutions.

Liza and Molly are lifelong best friends whose friendship has lagged following Molly's marriage to Daniel and Liza's move from Cincinnati to Chicago. Without giving anything away, the novel starts out with a bang that threatens to end the Liza/Molly friendship. (Personally, I would not have gotten over it.) However, from there, the book is focused on daily life. Molly is a woman in great physical but undiagnosed pain, and she is hiding a really big secret from both her husband and her best friend. Strawser does a phenomenal job of bringing the reader into her world and developing empathy for all she is experiencing. And Liza is just a normal person struggling with a bit of PTSD from something that happens early on in the novel. She too is written sympathetically.

To be honest, I was just a bit bored once I realized that the thrilling start wasn't going to be the focus of the novel. It's a lovely story about friendship, but not a mystery and not a thriller. Three stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me an ARC.