I agree with the reviews that say this book could have been executed better. I love a good college mystery and the Harvard setting is always a good one. I like the guessing game type mystery thriller, when you never know who actually did it and I am usually bad at guessing honestly. But their was some unnecessary plot points and I didn’t like Sara as the protagonist that much.

I am a sucker for college-oriented books, and With Friends Like These did not disappoint! Although the plot was a little far-fetched, I think the author did a great job ratcheting up the suspense and keeping the reader guessing about what was really going on. She was able to keep a lot of balls successfully juggling in the air, and I look forward to seeing what she'll do next!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an emotionally driven novel following a group of college friends. I liked that the author kept me guessing not only about what was happening in the current Circus but also about what happened at Harvard twenty years prior. Each roommate seemed to have her own issues that made her a suspect, and Sara as the protagonist was at times questionable. I found Wesley to be the most unlikable and least developed character.
I am still not sure why the Winthrop House game is now referred to as The Circus (?)(maybe a Harvard in-joke?), but I did enjoy the buildup and action that the game brought to the story.
I was kept guessing throughout, and though I'd figured out the twist before the reveal, I think that the author did a good job of providing twists and turns.
Thanks to Net Galley for the book to review.

A great concept with a notsogreat execution.

Following Sara 20 years after she graduated from Harvard, on the heels of one her her roommates tragically falling to her death.
Sara and the remaining 5 roommates have spent the last 20 years honoring their friend by playing a fake murder game called Circus. This year Sara is looking to stop, until its revealed that if they play for one last game there is now prize of almost 1mil to the winner (due to a wise investment made during graduation)

what follows SHOULD HAVE been a cat mouse game while these friends run around new york city trying to get each other out, while an assumed unknown party was targeting them.

instead what I got was the occasional mention of the Circus activities, and a lot of domestic drama i didn't care about.

Unfortunately i do not recommend this, but I do think Lee has promise as the ideas presented here were interesting it just missed the mark for me in execution.
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A group of college friends get back together to play their annual game "Circus" . Since group has grown and matured, they decided that this will be their last time. So what can go wrong???

This book had a great beginning and list of promise. However, for me it fell short. For some reason it just did not keep my attention & and I had to force myself to finish.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC for an honest review.

Friends return to their alma mater to participate in a long standing tradition of a harmless elimination game. But when it seems others aren't playing by the rules the harmless game turns deadly. Friends start to turn on each other and no one can be trusted. Will they all make it out alive?

With Friends Like These is about a group of college friends who have played a game called the Circus every year since they met. One week where you try to take out your targets and be the one to have all the glory. However, this year is the last year they are playing and the stakes have increased since there's careers and relationships on the line.

This book is marketed as a thriller but I found it to be closer to Women's Fiction since there's a lot more content of betrayal and navigating relationships instead of thrilling action sequences. I still did enjoy it to a degree but it wasn't what I anticipated. 3.5/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thriller lovers, watch out for the next one! With Friends Like These by Alissa Lee was a great read!

A group of college friends get back together to play a long-running tradition game called "Circus" - what could go wrong? Welp, someone ends up dead. THAT'S what went wrong.

I feel like this had a lot of potential, but the pacing and writing style kind of just dragged along - I'm not sure if it was the word choice or maybe the sentence formation, but I just couldn't get into this one. The setup and the characters were likable enough, but nothing was developed deeply enough for me to be that invested; by the time the "twists" came into play, I wasn't into it enough for it to be really shocking. That being said, the ideas were solid and I'd like to see what Lee could come up with with more background and development! Thank you for the ARC!

“With Friends Like These” by Alissa Lee follows a group of friends reuniting for a weekend getaway, and let’s just say… things get messy fast. There’s drama, secrets, and some fun twists that kept me hooked. It was a good read—I liked it while I was reading, but I don’t see myself picking it up again anytime soon. Worth checking out if you’re in the mood for something twisty and a little juicy!

This is a story about a friend group from college playing for the last time a game of Circus. The game in question was invented when they were in their twenties at Harvard. I liked the idea of a (fake) killing game, but finding out the characters were in their forties made the story less believable. I doubt that the women were immature enough to play that kind of game at 43. I thing that the idea of the book was very great, but the execution was not at the same level. I liked that the book was fast-paced and showed how quick someone’s perspective can change. However, I did not like the maturity level of the characters and the ending. I thought that it was a pretty abrupt ending that could have been a chapter or two longer.

I would recommend this book to people on vacation who want a quick thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

A nice suspenseful story that was a quick easy read. This is a story I felt like i had read before and of course realized I hadn't. Pretty predictable but still a fun read.

This one did not work at all. I just couldn't get into it. The story didn't grip or hook me. For the shortness of it, it lacked action and mystery, it was very slow and boring. I did not enjoy.

I love the premise of this book but it fell short for me. I felt like the circus was so hyped up as this terrible thing that if it came out would doom them all… but it just didn’t feel believable.
I did enjoy the characters and the twist!

I will start off with saying I did enjoy reading this book. However, I expected it be much more action packed, especially after reading the blurb, and it ended being a bit more of a drama than a thriller. There was a good mystery in the story, but I was able to figure out what was going on pretty early on. Also a bit of an anticlimactic ending. I did enjoy learning about the girls though, and the Circus seemed like a fun game of extreme tag. If you’re looking for a quick read that is a bit more fiction than thriller, I’d recommend this one.

I was intrigued by the premise and the book overall held my attention, although I didn't like the characters, none of them appealed to me but overallit was a good book and worth the read.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the advance ebook.

Harvard promised them everything.

Ambitious futures, peers who pushed each other toward their absolute best, and an education that would open doors for the rest of their lives. And though they started out as roommates, Sara, Bee, Dina, Allie, Wesley, and Claudine soon became family. They had their whole bright lives ahead of them—until their senior year, when a shocking tragedy changed everything.

Twenty years later, five of the roommates still indulge in a secret tradition they’ve kept alive since their campus days: the Circus, a harmless elimination-style “killing” game played across the private rooms and hidden alleys of New York City. The game is a nod to their younger selves and a tribute to the sixth roommate they lost too young. But this year, Sara wants out of the game—until she discovers there is a small fortune awaiting the winner of this final round.

As the Circus unfolds, Sara begins to suspect that the others aren’t playing by the rules, and as the danger turns real and the old friends start pointing fingers, she discovers that even those closest to her harbor secrets of their own…secrets that could kill.

I really thought this book had potential. Unfortunately it completely lost my interest in the second half. 2 out of 5 ⭐️

I feel like this storyline had a lot of potential, but for some reason it just didn't really light me up... I found it a bit slow and boring. There wasn't really any depth to any of the characters so I never felt connected to them. Even the narrator seemed cold, I felt I never really got to know her, so I never really found myself rooting for her.
Six girls shared a dorm suite at Harvard twenty years ago, and every year they would play an assasin style game they called the circus. One girl died, so the remaining five roommates continue the tradition all these years later, playing a round of the circus every first week of the new year.
Now they are older, and some of them feel it's time to stop, but they agree to play one last round... the winner gets the pot of money they started and invested all those years ago - nearly a million dollars. So, this round, all bets are off. People get hurt, a couple come close to dying, and in the end it all ties up neat and pretty.
Not much else to say about this one. It was ok, but not great; I just kept waiting for it to end so I could get on to a new book. meh.

The premise of this book piqued my interest easily. The Circus game and portion of the book kept me reading. I don't mind flash backs but the timing of them seemed a little off. It detracted from the fast pace of the game for me.

I do think this book is worth the read. I was very impressed with how well the author handled the complexity of long term friendships.

Thank you to Atria books, Netgalley, and Alissa Lee for allowing me to read this ARC.

A fast moving book that takes us back to those years of close friends from university, and the settling into our lives and our chisesn careers, all with their ups and downs. The women had made a pact to come together once a year apto play a game called Circus (although the game is far from humourous). This final year, the game took on deadly ramifications; the winner gets the money that everyone had contributed years ago which now surpassed a million dollars. Greed us a nasty thing, and yes, bad things started to happen to each of the women. In the end, the women realized that committment, friendship, and communication are things that mean the most. These are attributes wemust always remember, regardless if the teists and turns that life takes us.