Keep Your Friends Close by Joanne Ryan is what I crave in a thriller...suspense, tension, close quarters, characters you love to hate and tongue-gnawing anxiety. The pace is quick and snappy and the beginning is as delicious as the ending. Nothing like being grabbed from the first sentence to elevate blood pressure!

Twenty-somethings Mia and her best friend Carrie are also roommates. They've been through hardships together and keep each other's secrets, some deadlier than others. Carrie helped Mia through her darkest times, the resulting nightmares and paranoia. Mia, who is well off, provides a home for Carrie. They're fiercely loyal to each other. Win-win.

Months later, Mia begins a relationship with another man and is finally happy. For a time. Until she sees her ex who she knows she killed. He was not a good person. Her head starts spinning and she plunges into mere existence. She must watch her back and every aspect of her life suffers. She questions everything, even her own sanity. What happens next is crazy, in a good thrillery way.

Though bits of the story are predictable, others sure aren't! I zipped through this quick read in two hours and thought about it for ages after. Talk about an enjoyable reading experience.

My sincere thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this riveting novel.

Mia is extremely insufferable. She sounds like the type of person who would say anything about anyone as long as that'd make her, Mia, look better. And she doesn't seem to have a clue what she's talking about. For example, she wastes a lot of breath trying to convince us that her friend, Carrie, doesn't care about clothes at all and would wear a tracksuit at a posh social event. Only to have the same Carrie, immediately after that, parade in front of the mirror asking 'How do I look?'
As the murderer, Mia is an excellent choice. But as a POV character? No! I don't care about her ramblings. I want to know what the police is doing to catch her and lock her up.

Another new author for me. This took a little while for me to get into, but when i did, i thoroughly enjoyed it. Lies, deceit, trust....... who can mia trust? Her best friend carrie? Who always solves her problems. Mia was very well provided for when her parents died, she bought a sought-after appartment and let carrie live there rent free. But carrie holds a deadly secret of miahs, what could it be?

Such clever writing! The characters and the story really grab you in. I found myself questioning the things I was reading. Highly recommended.

This is a real rollercoaster of a story. As I was reading I kept thinking I had the characters figured out then it was totally twisted round and definitely left me guessing more than I was expecting.
I like how it gets straight into the story, there’s no warming up it’s just straight in with the drama and that makes it a book that’s really hard to put down.
Overall it was great read from an author I’ve not read before and the last twist will have your jaw dropped.

oanne Ryan's "Keep Your Friends Close" is a thrilling ride filled with secrets, suspense, and the unbreakable bonds of friendship. Mia and Carrie share everything, including a dark secret from their past. When Mia spots her supposedly deceased ex-boyfriend alive, the story takes a suspenseful turn, making readers question reality and loyalty.

Ryan's storytelling keeps you hooked with its evocative prose and cleverly crafted characters. The dynamics between Mia and Carrie add depth to the narrative, exploring themes of trust, guilt, and redemption. The short, punchy chapters maintain a brisk pace, delivering surprises at every turn.

In this gripping psychological thriller, "Keep Your Friends Close" offers a rollercoaster of emotions, making it a must-read for fans of suspenseful tales about friendship, secrets, and the unpredictable twists of life.

A twisty psychological thriller! I will admit the writing style could be a bit dramatic and unrealistic at times but the overall storyline was engaging. This is not my first novel by this author and will not be my last.

Mia, snobby rich girl, has just murdered her abusive boyfriend Marco in self defense but Carrie, her best friend since childhood has just walked in to save the day. Carrie has helped her to cover up the murder of Marco, keeping Mia out of getting in trouble. Move forward a few month, Mia and Carrie are living a lovely new life. Mia now works for an art gallery and is seeing her boss, Sebastian. Carrie has a decent job and is living rent free with Mia. However, Mia starts to believe she is seeing Marco but how is that possible, he is DEAD, right?!?! Mia's behavior becomes irrational and sporadic. Is she losing her mind? Is Marco a ghost haunting her from the dead?

Oh, how I loved the ending of this novel! I can admit you can kind of guess what is going on midway through but I NEVER could of guess the ending. What a great read!

Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for providing me with ACR in exchange for my honest review.

Keep Your Friends Close has an intriguing description but I found it to be quite a slow predictable read. It had a few twists in it but not enough to make me want to keep reading. I did finish it but for me it was just an OK read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

A slow start to this book and I did find it quite predictable in places but a very good ending
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in return for an honest review

This is the first book I’ve read by Joanne Ryan. I am a suspense fan and the concept of this book drew me in, it was a slow burn at first with a few twists thrown in, but towards the middle it became a quick read.

I enjoyed reading about the friendship of Mia and Carrie and how their friendship unfolds throughout the book. The author is good at making you guess, then second guess why Carrie is along for “the ride”. Parts of this book I had to sit and wonder “is this believable?” but it still kept my attention. Just when you think you may have figured out where the story is going…..nope, another suspenseful twist that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

Keep Your Friends Close by Joanne Ryan was an okay read for me.

I loved the idea of the story- Carrie has taken care of murder while never telling her best friend Mia what she did with the body. Now Mia feels like she’s going crazy, seeing her dead ex-boyfriend everywhere. Is she hallucinating? Surely as Carrie is her best friend, she’d be honest with her if there was a problem.

There are some twists and turns to the story, but I figured it out early on and for some reason, I didn’t connect with the book or any of the characters. I blame myself and my mood for not loving this one because others feel very differently.

Here’s the plot:

He knows your darkest secret… Can she keep it?

It’s a normal sunny day when Mia sees her ex-boyfriend on the street where she lives. But she knows that’s crazy. She knows it can’t possibly be him. She knows… because she killed him.

Mia and Carrie have been best friends since school. They share everything: clothes, shoes, a home… and their secrets.

Only Carrie knew what Mia did that night. Where everything went wrong and Mia’s boyfriend attacked her, so she attacked him right back.

Carrie made the problem go away. Like she always would for her best friend. They’ve got on with their lives. Mia’s even met someone new – a man she thinks she could be with forever.

But now it looks like her ex is back. Alive and well. So either Mia is losing her mind, or somebody very close to her has been lying…

Out on the 25th!

Just WOW! This book has certainly got Joanne Ryan on my radar as a new favourite author!

The story is that of wealthy twenty-something, Mia. Having secured a substantial inheritance following an earlier tragedy that took her parents lives, Mia finds herself living an opulent lifestyle, working for fun rather than necessity, flirting with her hot art gallery boss, and living with long time best friend, Carrie. Mia has a skeleton in her closet, a skeleton than haunts her nightmares, and that could land her in serious trouble. Carrie is not only privy to Mia's deepest secret, she could also be considered an accessory to the crime. - yikes! The way this story plays out is seriously, and deliciously twisty! If there was ever a book that you could skip the epilogue on, IT IS NOT THIS ONE. Poor genius, and a book I will. be recommending for years to come!

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

I’d like to thank Boldwood Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Keep Your Friends Close’ written by Joanne Ryan in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Mia believes she’s losing her mind as wherever she goes she sees her ex-boyfriend Marco. She knows this is impossible as she shot him dead eight months ago and her best friend Carrie helped by arranging the removal of his body.

‘Keep Your Friends Close’ is a psychological thriller with an interesting plot that’s relatively short and I read in a day. I found it difficult to empathise with any of the characters especially Mia who was naïve and snobbish with more money than sense and I was disappointed there was very little intrigue or edge-of-the-seat moments. I was disappointed I was able to guess from early on what was going to happen and I wasn’t proved wrong. I did enjoy the conclusion that was a big surprise and totally unexpected and although an entertaining read I would have liked a bit more intrigue and dramatic twists and turns to get my teeth into.

3.5 stars rounded up.

It's a normal, sunny day when Mia sees her ex-boyfriend on the street where she lives. But she knows that's crazy. She knows it can't possibly be him. She knows.... because she killed him.

Seventy-five percent of this book is repetitive and predictable. Mia thinks she saw her ex-boyfriend Marco, but it can't be him, as Mia killed him and her best friend Carrie helped her to dispose of his body. This is a story of friendship and deception. It's also a bit of a mystery. Mia has many flaws. There are lots of twists towards the end. The pace is on the sloe side. The ending was a lot better than I thought it would be.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #BoldwoodBooks and the author #JoanneRyan for my ARC of #KeepYourFriendsClose in exchange for an honest review.

This psychological thriller was brilliant, it’s a proper page turner that you can’t put down. There is plenty twists and turns throughout, with an excellent ending. The characters were great and story itself was very suspenseful and the style of writing was perfect. This is the first book that I have read by this author… it certainly won’t be my last, can’t wait for the next book out.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes reading this genre.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

Mia just killed her boyfriend Marco and Carrie her roommate and her best friend helps her hide the body. But just when Mia meets another man she thinks she sees her ex walking down the street is she seeing things or did she not kill Marco and did Carrie really dispose of the body?
This author has a way of writing where she builds up the suspense and leaves you guessing. I did figure out what was going on but it’s still full of twist and turns.
She if you can figure it out

This was a really good book. I read it in one day. It kept my attention and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. I was drawn into the book from the beginning. The twists in this book caught me by surprise. I thought I had figured out what happened and I was way off and then the ending just blew my mind.

Thank you in NetGalley and publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.

I love suspense books, and this one was no different! I enjoyed the plot line and the way the characters were written.

I found this book to be fairly slow and redundant. There were definitely some good moments when I was on the edge of my seat, but most of it just felt mundane. All of the characters were unlikeable in some way or another. The writing also left quite a bit to be desired. I felt like the author just chose whatever punctuation mark she happened to click on at times. The misuse of commas, semicolons, and colons was distracting.

OK, maybe I've just read too many books in this genre but by 15% through I was thinking I know exactly what's happening here, surely not?... Then by 30% I was one hundred percent sure I was correct, and I was. This made the book really quite boring and I couldn't quite believe how naive the main character was and to be honest how we, the readers were meant to be so perplexed by it all, it was all just so obvious.
Fortunately, the ending had a bit of turn to it that redeemed the plot slightly but I just found it all too much in afraid.
Sadly I can only rate this 2. 5 star. Which I'll round up to 3, but thank you #NetGalley for the copy