The strength of a female friendship can run extraordinary deep. This book explores how far one friend will go for another. It is very hard to put this one down. Written extremely well, and thoroughly enjoyable. Totally recommend

When We Were Friends had my interest from the first page, It was a story of two friends who were inseparable as kids and continued to be friends until college when circumstances caused them to drift.

The story was told in parallel with the past and present timelines as the character’s stories are revealed. There were a few different things going on in this book including a romance element which felt a bit off, but I realized was necessary to the plot.

This was a well-written novel and I really liked the style of this book. This is my first read by Yeager and I will definitely be picking up more of her books!

Rating: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was captivated by When We Were Friends from the very beginning. The book follows the story of two childhood friends who were always there for each other until circumstances caused them to grow apart during college. It's a gripping novel that explores themes of friendship, betrayal, crime, romance, drama, and family dynamics. The story is told through alternating timelines, revealing the characters' journeys in the past and present. The writing style is excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Although it was my first time reading Yeager's work, I am eager to explore more of her books.

Book review :
It is fast read, with twists and turns and community coming together to protect one another. The author does a great job of character building with both women. One starts to see things threw their eyes, and wonder if one would do the same thing for a close friend or sister?

The story of Frannie and Lexi is one of a deep friendship trying to find its way back. Frannie, just weeks from parole, finally meets with Lexi. Four years in prison knowing she failed her best friend, Frannis is ready to disappear but first she must get something from Lexi. She also runs into Seth, a long time love crush. He can mess up her plans.

But when an old enemy surfaces, Frannie realizes her staying endangers everyone she loves. And even though she might have found her heart’s true home, there’s no guarantee she can keep it. Do you have a ride or die?

Author Yeager has a knack for drawing characters with just the right snark hellbent on covering up their vulnerability. And Yeager’s romance chops are on full titillating display when Francie is re-introduced to an old crush. Escalating danger, accelerating romance—When We Were Friends is one fun precipitous ride! I highly recommend it.

Thank you @NetGalley and Red Adept Publishing for a copy of this book for my honest review.

Frannie steals some money to help her friend Lexi escape a terrible situation. Now after 5 years in Prison and probation she is back in town to collect her share of the money and disappear. But Lexi has a different plan. She wants Frannie to stay in town and become a part of her life again. In exchange for all the money and 1 month of her life, Frannie figures she can survive anything. But the people they stole the money from want it back and Frannie is putting everyone in town in danger. A good story of friendship and salvation.

Wow what a book thank you ever so much for the opportunity to review. I could not put it down. Would definitely recommend to others!

A touching novel about the lengths we will go for our friends and the strength of true friendship to make it through the tough times.

Frannie spent four years in prison for grand larceny. The heart-breaking reasons behind it proved how necessary it was. Her best friend, Lexi, desperately needed her help, and Frannie didn’t even blink. Now Frannie and Lexi must come to terms with the secrets and finally make amends with those closest to them….and with themselves.

There are definitely some really hard things to read about in this novel; however, the way they rise above is proof that it is possible to conquer your demons. I felt a sense of triumph by the end and also felt perfectly at ease with how the story wrapped up.

Plus - add a cute kid and a cute dog to the story and I question how you could argue against it!

Thanks to Kate Rock Book Tours and Nancy Yeager for this gifted review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily!

I will not be posting this review in other places. I tried this book on two separate occasions but I could not finish it. I think the idea was a good one but the writing style just wasn't there for me. I was kind of disappointed because I had been hearing such good things about it.

Thank you to @Netgalley, @katerockbooktours and the author for the #gifted copy of the book.

I absolutely love books about friendship. After all, friendships are a very big part of our lives and have the ability to impact our life in big ways. Some friendships will shape us. This book was a tale of pain, but also of forgiveness and new beginnings.

Frannie goes to jail for her best friend Lexi. She gets out and wants to recover the money that Lexi hid all those years ago for a fresh start. Things don't go exactly to plan. Frannie and Lexi both are forced to relive the past in order to move towards the future.

Definitely a book to read and keep on your shelf!

Frannie and Lexi have been best friends for a long time. Frannie just spent the last 4 years in prison for stealing money with Lexi for a very good reason while no one knew Lexi had something to do with it. Now Frannie's out and wants her share of the money to disappear from the life she has led and started over new.
But Lexi wants her to stay and for them to become best friends again.

I really liked the friendship between these two. I like the small town that Lexi settled in and all the people we get to meet. There is also a little bit of romance as Frannie connects with a boy she had a crush on, Seth. The writing style make that are very quick read for me.

When We Were Friends by Nancy Yeager is a story about friendship. I always gravitate towards books about friendship because I think it is such an essential part of life. I loved reading about Lexi and Frannie. I wanted their friendship to overcome the circumstances they had been in. There were many emotions throughout and the way this was written with dual timelines allowed me to become attached to these characters. I highly recommend this one!
Thank you @katerockbooktours for having me on this tour!

Synopsis: Five years ago, Frannie Willets committed grand larceny to help her best friend, Lexi Maddox, escape an awful situation. Now paroled and prospectless, Frannie needs to disappear from her dead-end life. To do so, she’ll need her share of the stolen money that Lexi has been hiding all these years. But Lexi has other plans.

By all appearances, Lexi is thriving, but in truth, nothing in her life is going according to plan. She can’t carry a pregnancy to term, her sweet stepdaughter hates her, and even the family’s new rescue dog knows she’s a failure. Lexi’s only path to happiness is making amends with the friend she dearly misses. But the only thing Frannie wants from Lexi is cash.

Out of desperation, Lexi offers Frannie all the money, with one catch: Frannie must stick around for one month. Stranded in their suffocating small town, Frannie gets tangled up in Lexi’s issues, her mother’s questionable dating life, a lonely kid’s desperate attempts to find friends, and a high-school crush’s fantasies about what could have been. Suddenly, leaving doesn’t look as easy as it once did. But when an old enemy surfaces, Frannie realizes her staying endangers everyone she loves. And even though she might have found her heart’s true home, there’s no guarantee she can keep it.

Do you have a ride or die?

#whenwewerefriends #nancyyeager #redadeptpublishing #romanticsuspense #friendshipfiction #friendshipbracelets #pandorabracelet #bookreview #booktour #bookstagram #readers #readingtime #readersofinstagram #booksofig #bookphotography #newbooks #bookrecommendations #bookreader

This has such a great mix of suspense and heart-warming drama. I could relate to Lexi trying to make amends with a dear friend, as I have recently gone through that myself. Although the friendship is an integral part of the plot, the story reads much like a romantic mystery. Highly recommend you pick this one up!

Thank you @Katerockbooktours and @nancyyeagerauthor for having me on tour and a gifted ebook.

EXCERPT: Frannie Willets drove north on Indiana State Road 3, hoping for a sinkhole, a spring flood, a twenty-car pileup, anything to keep her from the reunion with her ex-best friend.

ABOUT 'WHEN WE WERE FRIENDS': They were best friends. Sisters of the heart. Partners in crime. Until they got caught…

Five years ago, Frannie Willets committed grand larceny to help her best friend, Lexi Maddox, escape an awful situation. Now paroled and prospectless, Frannie needs to disappear from her dead-end life. To do so, she’ll need her share of the stolen money that Lexi has been hiding all these years. But Lexi has other plans.

By all appearances, Lexi is thriving, but in truth, nothing in her life is going according to plan. She can’t carry a pregnancy to term, her sweet stepdaughter hates her, and even the family’s new rescue dog knows she’s a failure. Lexi’s only path to happiness is making amends with the friend she dearly misses. But the only thing Frannie wants from Lexi is cash.

Out of desperation, Lexi offers Frannie all the money, with one catch: Frannie must stick around for one month. Stranded in their suffocating small town, Frannie gets tangled up in Lexi’s issues, her mother’s questionable dating life, a lonely kid’s desperate attempts to find friends, and a high-school crush’s fantasies about what could have been. Suddenly, leaving doesn’t look as easy as it once did. But when an old enemy surfaces, Frannie realizes her staying endangers everyone she loves. And even though she might have found her heart’s true home, there’s no guarantee she can keep it.

MY THOUGHTS: When We Were Friends grabbed my interest at the start, and other than the odd one or two moments where it wavered, never completely let me go.

Frannie and Lexi were the sort of friends who were inseparable as kids. They had a shared love of books and reading that set them apart from the other girls in their class. They stayed close right up to college when circumstances sent them in different directions. But when Lexi finds herself in a situation she can't handle alone, it's Frannie she turns to for help.

I enjoyed the way the timelines alternated between the present day and the past, so that the friends' backstory is slowly revealed. Each woman, as an adult, is capable of being manipulative to get what she wants, and each is fragile in her own way. The problem is, what each woman wants is vastly different to the other.

I'm ambivalent about the romance element of this story. It just didn't sit quite right with me, and yet Seth was necessary to the storyline. There are a couple of sex scenes in the book, but they are not particularly explicit.

I liked When We Were Friends, but didn't love it. I think I would have liked this more had it concentrated on the two women rebuilding their friendship, rather than throwing a couple of other genres into the mix. When We Were Friends is a quick and easy read.

Lovely cover art and pertinent to the plot.

⭐⭐⭐.6

#WhenWeWereFriendsNancyYeager #NetGalley

I: @redadeptpublishing

T: @RAPublishing

#contemporaryfiction #friendship #romance #smalltownfiction

THE AUTHOR: I spent my early years longing to be an English countryside vet thanks to James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small series, and an adventurist archaeologist like George Lucas's Indiana Jones character. After studying veterinary pre-med and earning an anthropology degree, I realized my true passion is story in all its forms.

When I'm not writing, reading, or binge-watching stories, I'm often pursuing a physical challenge like studying Krav Maga or aspiring to achieve the perfect crow pose. I also spends her time drinking too much coffee, not enough red wine, and just the right amount of bourbon.

I live in Maryland with my fabulous family, which includes some very spoiled rescue cats.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Red Adept Publishing via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of When We Were Friends by Nancy Yeager for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Five years ago, Frannie Willets committed grand larceny to help her best friend, Lexi Maddox, escape an awful situation. Now paroled and prospectless, Frannie needs to disappear from her dead-end life. To do so, she'll need her share of the stolen money that Lexi has been hiding all these years. But Lexi has other plans.

I was quickly pulled into this story of friendship. Frannie is out on parole and can't wait for the day when she will finally be a free woman. She plans to leave Indonesia and start afresh somewhere new. But Lexie wants Frannie to stay. But can their friendship survive everything they've been through? This is a well written book, and I loved the authors writing style. The characters are well developed and likable. This is my first read by the author, but it won't be my last.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #RedAdeptPublishing and the author #NancyYeager for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Yeager's When We Were Friends is a story of a decades-spanning friendship that has been pushed to the limits. Lexi and Frannie, both currently in their mid-twenties, reflect back on their childhood, when they first met, and their their early twenties that would cause them to lose touch for many years. As they reunite, their friendship is tested by events of the past, and their current relationship is tested, too. Can a friendship survive all that they've been through?
*Trigger warning for sexual assault. I felt the subject was handled fairly well, and integral to the plot of the book."
This was written very much like a mystery meets romance novel. I love mysteries. I don't love romance novels. I really enjoyed the story of the two women and their surrounding environments, however.
The last chapter was a standout for me, and overall made me appreciate the book more.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. This review contains my own opinions. I appreciate the chance to read books by independent publishers!

I just reviewed When We Were Friends by Nancy Yeager. #WhenWeWereFriendsNancyYeager #NetGalley
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Great read!! Love the past/present POV’s and second chance friendship between Frannie and Lexi! This book had me guessing if Frannie was going to stay or go till the. Very end!

Nancy Yeager has written a story about the ultimate sacrifice Frannie made for her childhood friend, Alexi. This suspenseful novel covers the lives of these two women who grew up in a small town in Indiana. The friendship between two middle school girls brings back memories for all women in both a positive and negative light.

The present-day story presents a dilemma for each woman. Frannie has served prison time for a crime done solely to help Alexi. She is on parole and wants to reach the day she is free to leave Indiana for good and leave all her pain behind her.

Alexi wants Frannie in her life now and forever. The battle of wits between them makes this book exciting and addictive. I had to read it in as few sittings as possible. There were surprises and love written beautifully. I recommend this heartfelt story.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Red Adept Publishing and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Friendship and life long bonds. Heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Frannie and Lexi..so many layers to this relationship it reminds me of some of my longest friendships where some things stay the same and others almost make you feel like strangers when you reconnect, minus committing crimes and one of us going to jail. Lexi being jealous of Frannie and always wanting to be her friend and included while Frannie always thought she had to go it alone to protect everyone especially after robbing Jack Green was an interesting juxtaposition. Jack dating Frannie's mom..phew. Glad mom came around and believed Lexi once she was able to share her story. The rape and miscarriage were heartbreaking. So glad Frannie decided to stay and trust Lexie and Seth! This book was a quick read with so many important topics and relationship dynamics

Taunt, intricate and ultimately warm-hearted, When We Were Friends is one of the best girlfriend friendship stories I’ve read. Grabbing me from the first sentence, my curiosity quickly morphed to caring for Frannie, a parolee just freed from prison who served time to cover up a crime for her BFF Lexi. Frannie has a plan to see Lexi one last time, tie up loose ends and disappear—only to find the past doesn’t clean up quite so neatly, especially when a horrific enemy plots revenge. Author Yeager has a knack for drawing characters with just the right snark hellbent on covering up their vulnerability. And Yeager’s romance chops are on full titillating display when Francie is re-introduced to an old crush. Escalating danger, accelerating romance—When We Were Friends is one fun precipitous ride! I highly recommend it.