This novel started with such a strong hook! The first few pages really drew me in and seemed to promise a suspenseful novel about a love triangle between three friends that ended in a horrible accident. Unfortunately, the rest of the book simply couldn't live up to the intrigue (and turns out to not really be about that incident at all). The book instead follows one member of the trio, Rose, who turns into the ultimate Single White Female obsessed with her best friend and ends up doing creepy stuff to try and emulate her. I'm actually really sick of this trope - and I feel like I've read several books with this plot over the last few years.

The mystery of the accident is solved about halfway through the book, so it feels like there's basically no drive for the second part of the book. The reader has to just follow along as Rose makes one cringey decision after another. As abhorrent as this character is, I also just didn't really buy any of her actions or the meat of the character. She's a Harvard graduate but has seemingly zero ambition or work ethic (which seems hard to believe). And nearly every decision she makes would drive her further away from what she really wants - a closer relationship with her friend, Lacie. The whole book ended up feeling completely unrealistic because I couldn't believe Rose would behave in certain ways that would jeopardize her friendship with Lacie (pretty much the only thing she cared about in her whole life).

I totally get that not all protagonists have to be likable, but this one was hard to believe on top of being a generally awful person. Oh how I wish the book had lived up to that first chapter! But the plot basically boiled down to a tired theme of how one girl in a friendship must want to take over the other one's life in a way that didn't even seem logical at all. I won't be recommending this one, despite loving the beginning.

A dark novel of friendship and obsession between women, set in the version of New York we so often see in fiction—that of the extraordinarily privileged, who seem to be unaware that their lives are not the norm. I enjoyed the tone of this novel, dark and psychologically rich, but found the writing and the plot itself a bit bland. This wasn't for me, but I imagine it will work well for readers who haven't read a ton of books with similar premises, or set in the same version of New York—for me, it simply didn't stand out among the others I've read in this vein.

This book just didn’t do it for me! I kept waiting for it to get exciting but it just didn’t.
Rose moves to New York and convinces her former best friend, Lacie to let her live with her. Lacie and Rose had a falling out over what else but a boy. They haven’t seen each other in several years but for some reason Lacie is willing to let things go and move her in. On top of this, Lacie is dating Ian who Rose spent a summer working with and history has a tendency to repeat itself. Rose is infatuated with Lacie and sometimes it was difficult to draw lines in her feelings. She is writing a novel starring Lacie and the fight that drew them apart in the first place.
I just don’t understand how these characters could be so dumb. How do you let things go like that to open yourself up for more betrayal. Just
not impressed. Thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Immersive, gripping, and a little bit creepy. It's been a long time since I really was pulled into a book.

I was provided with a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am torn with this review. While the book was very well written and the authors voice rang true throughout, I cannot help but have been bored while reading it.

This book was glimpse into the life of Rose as she moves to New York City to finish her debut novel. Shortly after arriving, she encounters an old friend from childhood. The reader is then taken on a ride into their friendship, how it fell apart and how they still gravitate towards one another.

I struggled to truly understand the motives and steps the protagonist takes as well as the supporting characters. Much of the story feels mundane.

While this is not the typical book I would pick up, I already have recommended this book to friends who enjoy this style of book.

The toxicity of Rose and Lacie's relationship was an unpleasant read. A betrayal in adolescence would foster such psychological fragility in Rose? It seemed a bit too much. At about the 25% mark, I began to wonder if there was an end game for this story. Sorry, it wasn't for me. DNF'd.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Kyle McCarthy for an ARC of 'Everyone Knows How Much I Love You' for an honest and voluntary review.

3 #fillerthriller stars

Well hello there toxic female relationships!

And when I say toxic, I mean call in the HAZMAT team-cuz we've got a MAJOR toxic waste dump.

The characters ran a little flat for me...Rose was a great protagonist, like perfectly scary with her obsessive and unpredictable behavior.

Then we have Lacie, who was such a weak character but at the same time had a strong influence on Roses’ life. With these two polar opposite characters, the story becomes a convoluted and strangely addictive mix of power struggles, lies, secrets, and erratic actions.

I was hoping for a dual perspective story here, it would have been interesting to get the take from Lacie’s point of view.

This one left me wanting more. The books I read don’t all have to enlighten me, but this one didn’t seem to have much of a message for me.

I just don't really know how to feel about it ha.

Author #Kyle McCarthy has a wonderful new novel ‘How Much I Love You’ out for our enjoyment. It’s a dark psychological thriller. And this novel will be on your mind for awhile. No childishness emojis just regular stars.

Everyone Knows How Much I Love You is Kyle McCarthy’s debut novel. He handles his unreliable narrator, Rose, well. She is intelligent, awkward, weird, and obsessed with her former best friend from high school, Lacie. Despite Rose’s intelligence, she cannot maintain a regular job. She has been writing a novel for years under the guidance of her agent and has received awards for her work, like time as an artist-in-residence.

Rose and Lacie had been best friends since they were ten years old. In their junior year of high school, Rose betrays Lacie, and they drift apart. When Rose “accidentally on purpose” runs into Rose when they are thirty, Rose finagles her way into Lacie’s life and begins the destructive cycle all over again. Rose has all the sociopathic tendencies of Amy in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and McCarthy makes Rose believable. This is women’s fiction at its best—when women’s foibles and failings create the novel’s conflict.

I was given a copy of this eARC in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book, because I don't typically enjoy the unreliable narrator, and I prefer books with a main character that you can root for. In all honesty, I hated everyone in the book. The main character was kookoo bananas, her best friend was a bit of a b word, and the boyfriend(s) were both awful. At the same time though, I couldn't put it down!

Everyone Knows How Much I Love You is the story of friendship that goes back to childhood. Rose and Lacie were inseparable friends until Rose betrayed Lacie. Now they are adults establishing themselves in their careers, Rose as a writer and Lacie working in art galleries and they connect again. Rose persuades Lacie to let her take the spare room and their friendship rekindles though there are areas of silence such as the past, the book Rose is writing, and Lacie’s lover who was Rose’s lover in the past and who brought them back together.

It is the secrets that make them able to live together, but also secrets will ultimately drive them apart. Throughout there is this tension about what happened in the past and what might happen in the present.



So, I am conflicted about what I think of Everyone Knows How Much I Love You. On the one hand, Kyle McCarthy sustains tension and anticipation throughout the book. I was always waiting for a shoe of any kind to drop. On the other hand, those shoes are mighty thin. There was more than once when I was wonder if that was all there was to it? It really does not deserve the amount of suspense I felt. So good on McCarthy for creating suspense, but the payoff is unworthy. In the end, it’s the story of two friends who should not be friends.

I received an e-galley of Everyone Knows How Much I Love You from the publisher through NetGalley.

Everyone Knows How Much I Love You at Ballantine Books | Penguin Random House
Kyle McCarthy author site

My Lord was this book twisted and Single White Female-ish. Holy cow, what a train wreck. But one I couldn't stop watching/reading. Rose is a messy, evil disaster who is hellbent on self-destructive behavior and taking everyone down with her. I LOATHED her and yet I had this compulsive need to see what happened to her and everyone around her. I can't say I found this story enjoyable, but it was definitely an interesting read. It was also toxic and screwed up...and ultimately I'm glad I read it.

3 stars

I have tried a few times to read this and each time I find myself zoning out. At about a third of the way through I have no real reason to care about these characters or their stories. There has been a lot of explaining what's happening, just mundane events, without much backstory to anchor it to.

Our narrator has been describing events but hasn't given us much of a look into why we should care about them. We don't know what her life was like as a kid, despite learning a few events that have happened with Lacie. We don't know her motives as an adult, despite seeing her try to get on her feet and be deeply motivated by that. But so far there's no why for any of this. I haven't been booked by their backstory. The premise promised a scandalous tale from their youth but it hasn't been teased much at all to keep me interested.

Rage that’s the word that repeats in this story. Rage sets the stage as Rose deliberately takes a curve too fast, because she has given herself too fast to a high school crush ,who can only think of Lacie. Rage when again years later another friend through a summer artist retreat is now involved with Lacie. Rage at the privilege of Isabel a high school student she is forced to tutor to make the rent, rent due to Lacie, Rose’s now roommate. And why are they roommates,Rose must finish a novel,one started at that long ago artist summer. A novel that’s a thinly veiled recount of all those adolescent feelings unresolved and now feeding the surface of Rose and Lacie’s lives. Ian is drawn to them both, only Rose seems to need Ian in a desperate way, while the other two blithely go along with their lives. Rage again bubbles at Ian’s on again off again attentions culminating in a confrontation disastrous and telling. Happy reading

I was intrigued by the concept of this book, however, I found it a bit difficult to get into. The characters were interesting, but they did not entirely grab me. I think that this book, while not completely my style, would work very well for some!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the chance to read this book!

When I requested Kyle McCarthy’s Everyone Knows How Much I Love You, I was expecting a suspenseful obsession-driven or suspenseful story line. If I had seen one of the reviews comparing it to The Talented Mr. Ripley, I probably wouldn’t have requested it because I didn’t enjoy Ripley at all. It built up this whole story and then it really just didn’t go anywhere in my opinion. And I feel the same way about this story of Rose and Lacie.

I felt like something was off about Lacie from the first time we meet her, and since the story is told from only Rose’s perspective, we don’t know if what we’re reading is actually how Lacie feels or just Rose’s perception about how Lacie feels. She’s hesitant, she’s excited, she’s stand-offish, she’s welcoming. As the story progresses, Lacie says things that make you think she is setting Rose up for something, and honestly Rose is so unlikeable that you want her to be set up. You want Lacie to get revenge.

***SPOILERS***SPOILERS***SPOILERS***

I kept waiting for the revenge element. I kept waiting for something to happen to resolve the past one way or the other. I kept waiting for Leo to come back into the picture. I kept waiting…and waiting…and waiting. I’m still waiting.

At the end of the day, Rose seems to idolize Lacie. She wants what Lacie has. I don’t think she wants to BE Lacie, but she wants to be LIKE Lacie. She wants to be charismatic, the ultimate hostess, the girl that all the boys want. And she clearly wants to be loved by the men who love Lacie.

I also thought the ending was so anticlimactic. Rose needs to get her comeuppance, but she just kind of walks out of the story. She writes a “novel” about how she cheated with her best friend’s boyfriend in high school and tried to kill him. She cheats with her best friend’s current boyfriend and may have a hand in his death. Her novel is published, and the movie rights are sold, and several years later, she returns to New York for a gallery opening featuring some of Ian’s artwork, and Lacie gives her a key to a locker that has some of Ian’s old (and crappy) art that she says she thinks Rose should have. Rose believes that Lacie wants her to take it, thinking that she can’t let Ian’s memory go. I thought for sure that she was going to get locked in the room or something, that this would be Lacie’s revenge. But Rose just drops the keys down a drain and walks away.

There is no resolution in this story! I really thought this was building up to be an excellent read, but it felt like such a letdown.

This book is about a toxic friendship. I did not fully engage with the characters because I felt really irritated by them: Rose for being a stalker and Lacie for continuing her friendship with her. The story was well written though and maybe that is how the author wanted me to feel.
Many thanks to Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Everyone Knows How Much I Love You" was a pretty impressive and intense debut novel. After reading it I am definetely an instant McCarthy fan and I am eager to read more from her. This novel ticks off so many things from my guilty pleasure checklist; Dark secrets, raunchy sex scenes, toxic female friendships, obsession and murder just to name a few.

In "Everyone knows how much I love you" you follow the storyline of two women, Rose and Lacie, who have known each other since they were ten. Rose has been jealous and obsessed with Lacie since highschool going so far as to sabatoge Lacies highschool relationship. The two women have a major falling out and do not speak for 12 years. Fast forward and Rose can not help but to reinsert herself into her former bestfriends life, honestly through actions that are borderline stalkerish. Surprisingly enough Lacie lets her back in, not only into her life but also her home. Rose’s obsession with Lacie ruined their friendship in high school and now it seems that history is bound to repeat itself.

"Everyone knows how much I love you" is told soley from Rose's perspective. As the reader you get a deep glance inside her head and it makes it really difficult to like her. She is at her core a truly awful person and yet I found myself repeatedly pittying her. I wish I could say that I cared more for Lacies character but I would be lying. Their friendship was like the train wreck that I simply could not peel my eyes from.

I recieved a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone Knows How Much I Love You by Kyle McCarthy is a peculiar book that looks deep into female friendships while also touching on the lives of the wealthy people of New York. It's on the short side at under 300 pages but it was a slower read for me and I don't know exactly how I feel about it.

One thing that can be said is that I couldn't tear myself away from this book. I found that I only wanted to read this until I finished it (I usually read more than one book at a time), and Rose is such a vile creature that it was a little like a train wreck. I didn't find her likable at all and because of the writing, I wasn't a huge fan of Lacie either. I loved that the present intertwines with the past, and you also get a bit of a coming-of-age story in the pages. It is told entirely in the head of Rose and I honestly don't know if this made me like her more or less. Overall I thought she was awful, but there is just something about her that also makes you feel sorry for her.

I think that Everyone Knows How Much I Love You can definitely be considered a slow burn, and it was in the vein of Necessary People which is a book I really enjoyed. The vibe of this book is different, but the overall themes I saw were female friendships and obsession. Obsession books don't always work for me which could be why I got settled on a 3/5 for this one.

For a debut I thought Everyone Knows How Much I Love You was pretty impressive, and McCarthy definitely has a very unique writing style. Even though I didn't love it, I definitely want to read more from her, and I will make sure to grab her next book when it comes out. I will be recommending this to people that I think it will be a good fit for, and you should check it out if it sounds appealing to you!

Thank you to the publisher for my advance review copy via NetGalley. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Deeply engrossing and wonderfully dark and twisted. Kyle McCarthy's debut novel, Everyone Knows How Much I Love You, brings a new voice to the growing crowd of stories based on the subject of toxic female relationships.