I found this book a little slow. I think the technique of 'then/now' has a drawback in that you know the characters will survive the scary past so this in itself reduces the tension in the older storyline. I liked the split viewpoint moving into each person's head.and the description of the Australian outback is lovely.

I think that The Geography of Friendship suits readers that are interested in reading a book that deals with female relationships, past experiences, reflections over what went wrong in life. If you like me are more interested in thrillers, nerve-racking and heart racing ones that leave you almost breathless, well then this is not the book to pick.

Lisa, Samantha, and Nicole experiences something that would define their lives for the next two decades. Through flashbacks do we get to know what happened and why they stopped being friends. The book is wordy, lots of reminiscing about the past, growing up not to mention their lives after they split. There is a brief event towards the end when we learn what happened and that's the only real action-filled moment. What makes it worth the while for me is that the writing is good. I was just engrossed in the story and I'm not sure if I would have finished the book if it had been longer.

So, if you are interested in reflecting books, about friendship, growing up and looking back. Then, why not go for this book.

The Geography of Friendship is the story of 3 women who were once friends. When they were 20, these 3 girls took a five day hike down the Australian coast. Something traumatic happened on that hike, and the girls went their separate ways. Now, twenty years after that event, the same three now 40 year old women take the hike again. The story line is slow and literary. It's introspective about how that traumatic past event carried forward and affected each life differently. The suspense lies in learning what exactly happened twenty years ago that drove them all apart. It's told in past and present so it's bits of information. The description of Australia is beautiful and lyrical. I wanted a faster pace for this story, but it was well written as it was. The characters are flawed and real. It's a good story about female friendships. I recommend for anyone who enjoys women's fiction. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
T

"The Geography of Friendship" by Sally Piper.

My first time reading that author, I don't regret it!

3 friends went on a hike 20 years ago and something happened... Now 20 years later they retrace their steps and find themselves in danger...
Different POVs, memories of the past...
Set in Australia.

4 stars. I liked it. It is well written, easy to follow, interesting and realistic characters, you feel for them... A little slow at times.
I loved the descriptions of everything around them, the details, the atmosphere...
You keep reading because you want to find out what happened 20 years ago, what is happening on the current hike and you feel like you are right there with them.

Thank you NetGalley and Legend Press for the ARC of this book. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own!

Review shared online on NetGalley, Goodreads, Twitter...

Wow! The Geography of Friendship was unexpectedly marvelous. I do want to caution anyone who reads the blurb and thinks that this is a thriller--it is not. It is an extremely introspective book, and while there is a great deal of suspense, it is the slowest of burns, and readers expecting a lot of action might end up bored. I was not bored, however. This book is so beautiful. It's about female friendship and what it looks like after it shatters. It's about about women's fear and women's rage, and about nature and healing.

We start with Lisa, Samantha, and Nicole on a backpacking trip in the Australian wilderness. We know that they are retracing the steps of a trip they took more than 20 years ago, and that something terrible happened on that trip, something involving a man. They have not spoken to each other in the decades since. The POV rotates between each of the three women, as they each walk and think. They think about the early days of their friendship. They think about their lives since that friendship fractured. And they recall their fateful previous trip.

The story slowly builds to just what happened back then, and the author does so well crafting tension and suspense for the reader. Just what happened to them? And what did they do? But along the way, we also get gorgeous descriptions of the wilderness around them and pensive meditations on who they are and what their lives have become. This is not going to interest every reader, because it really is such a slow and thoughtful story. But I love backpacking, and I know so well that feeling of being lost in your own thoughts as you walk through the wilderness, and the combined feelings of pain and accomplishment that come with a backpacking trip. So, women hiking and thinking is kind of my jam. Complicated female friendship + nature + a slow, tense buildup to a shocking climax added up to a really lovely and affecting book for me.

A very good and engaging book about female friendship.
It's a sort of an emotional roller coaster and it's quite easy to recognize some of the the situation we lived with our female friend.
The book is well written, the characters are relatable and realistic.
The book is well written, the two story-lines work well together and there's no confusion.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

A tense emotional read ,a book about female friendships.Three women close friends go for a hike a day of fun friendship talk.Three women who realize they are not alone.I was drawn right into the setting the mood the women and suddenly the atmosphere changes a sense of danger .A page turner I could not put down.Highly recommend .#netgalley #legendbooks,

Synopsis: Lisa, Samantha and Nicole used to be inseparable. Now, many years later, the girls decide to relive the hiking trip that marked the downfall of their friendship. After having gone their separate ways, the girls struggle together to answer the questions they've been carrying with them all these years. But what could have happened on that hike that would drive them so far apart? Are they the ones to blame, or was it someone else?

I really dislike writing negative reviews, but I personally had a really difficult time connecting with this story. I really wanted to, because I respect the authors mission to tell this story about friendship, shared trauma and the search for identity. But while there were strands of the story I found really compelling, there were also parts that failed to grab my interest.

I have nothing against non-linear narratives, but personally felt that this one jumped around far too often, which left me struggling to invest with any of the storylines properly or the story as a whole. After a while I realised that I did enjoy reading the story of the girls' original camping trip, as that is where most of the tension was. I wanted to know what would happen with this mysterious threat that was following them. However, when it kept switching back to their older selves I felt the story growing a bit tedious and kind of had to push myself to keep reading.

While I appreciate the lovely figurative language that the author uses in describing the Australian landscape (home sweet home) I also started to skim over some of it as the story went on. I just felt it was a bit long-winded, and as meticulously worded as it was, I was more interested in what was going to happen next. A bit more ruthless editing of unnecessary description and I think it would have turned out a bit more snappy and engaging.

The characters are tricky to comment on, because even though we got to know them quite well, I found them difficult to connect to and empathise with. They all had distinct characteristics they struggled with. For example, Lisa was very short-tempered and full of pride, which in turn had a negative impact on her life and relationships. However, this trait was stressed to the point where she began to seem almost two-dimensional and I started to wonder what else she was really bringing to the friendship. This could have just been my personal experience. Perhaps it would have helped if we had gotten to spend more time with the girls on their camping trip, so we could have gotten to know who they were as girls a bit better.

Overall, I personally wouldn't recommend or read this book again, but it wasn't all bad. Sometimes I struggled to put it down and sometimes I didn't. I think it's a good idea with an intriguing premise - I just wish it had been structured a bit differently (and maybe edited with a tad less mercy). I wish the author no disrespect with this review and wish this novel all the success in the world. 

The Geography of Friendship is to be released on the 1st of February 2019. I would like to thank Legend Press and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Enjoyed the book. Loved the description of all the wildlife and scenery. I felt like I was hiking with Lisa, Samantha and Nicole without actually having to leave my house. Besides being about friendship the book had a bit of a mystery and was full of suspense. I wanted to know what happened to the girls twenty years ago on the trail. Honestly, I don’t know why they decided to hike after what happened in the parking lot. The guy was definitely crazy and I would have been scared to be out there alone with him. I watch too many Datelines and kept hoping they told someone where they were going in case something happened.

I enjoyed the story, although sometimes I was confused and wasn’t sure if it was present time or twenty years ago. I didn’t mind the characters but I never connected with them. I can understand why they were traumatized from their original hike. Instead of bringing the girls together, it tore them apart. None of them ever talked about what happened, with each other or other people. It definitely affected their lives, especially Nicole.

I recommend the book. This was the first book I read by the author and look forward to reading more. I really liked the cover of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Legend Press and the author, Sally Piper, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.

When they were twenty years old, friends Lisa, Samantha, and Nicole went on a several-day-long hike through a secluded part of Australia. At the beginning of the trip, head-strong and quick-to-anger Lisa pissed off a man only a few years older than they were at the time because of her erratic driving. He continued to haunt them through the trip with lewd drawings in the sand and leaving excrement and stealing their swim wear while they were asleep. Basically, getting control over them by instilling fear.

Twenty years later, the estranged friends come together once more to take basically the same trip. Samantha, who was never a skinny girl, has put on additional weight over the years, not just literal pounds, but the weight of having a husband who no longer touches her, having men leer at her large breasts, raising three boys she hopes become good men. Lisa has a divorce behind her. Her husband was the bread winner and didn’t at all value her contributions as a mother because that is unpaid work.

This is a slightly depressing though well-done novel. Because it bounces back and forth between present and past, it wasn't always easy to figure out if I was reading about twenty-year-olds or forty-somethings. Despite that, I enjoyed the book. There is a low simmer of unease as the full story of what happened when they were young women and what it did to impact their friendship and their individual relationships with men.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book, which RELEASES FEBRUARY
1, 2019 in the United States.

3.5 stars. This was an interesting read. This was my first book by the author. The writing was good; the descriptions were incredible. I did like that this book took on female friendships. It was a very creative concept, overall. I will say I had quite a bit of trouble determining whether it was the past hike or current hike. I can’t say that I really connected with any of the characters to deeply either. But, it was well written and an enjoyable read.

* ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

REally interesting book. THE GEOGRAPHY OF FRIENDSHIP explores the lives of three women who were childhood friends but became estranged after a traumatic incident on a hiking trip along the Australian coast in their late teens. The book describes how the incident affected each of them as they grew into adulthood. Now in their mid-40s, the return to the seaside to recreate the hike and banish the demons of the past. Great character studies and gorgeous descriptions of the flora and fauna that surrounds them. Piper effectively builds tension as each of the women remembers the traumatic incident through their own lens. Excellent read!

Samantha ,large in statue and in her forties , is on a hiking trip with friends lisa and nicole.they have not seen each other in years.the girls were close in high school , a bunch of misfits. Now they haven’t talked to each other in 20 years after their last hiking trip.samantha is swearing and falling behind on the new reunion hike but she should relish the peace, she once walked out on her three sons all under eight at time in a fit of frustration . I felet like there was too much emphasis on samantha falling behind.I felt like I had a good mental picture of the women . Something bad happened the first time they did the 5 day hike in their twenties . It was a bit confusing what was happening current and what was memories . #the geographyof friendship #netgalley

I loved the blurb for this book much more than the book itself. I am not a fan of "chick lit," and the one-dimensional characters and predictable plot made it exactly that. For me, at least