Saturday, February 25, 2023

Rapid Review: We Were Never Here


 We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz 

I grabbed this book as one my extra selections for BOTM last month and was immediately immersed in the story of Emily and Kristen, best friends since college and world travelers.  On a trip to Chile the two BFF’s—admittedly more like sisters—run into trouble when Kristen takes a backpacker to her hotel and he attacks her. Emily comes into the room and sees Paulo dead and Kristen completely out of sorts, spouting out that she had to kill him in self defense. 


What makes the circumstances even more surreal is the fact that last year’s girls trip to Cambodia was eerily similar when Emily was assaulted and her attacker ended up dead too.  How is it possible this could happen twice?? 


After burying the crime (literally), the two head to their separate lives—Kristen in Sydney and Emily thousands of miles away in Milwaukee. 


Emily tries to put the crime out of her head and go on with her life, which includes new boyfriend Aaron and her decent job at a pet food upstart, but the tragic last night in Chile keep haunting her. Texts from Kristen are vague and she acts as though all is fine, which bothers Emily even more.  


When information regarding Kristen’s past starts to surface, Emily has to push back thoughts that perhaps she doesn’t know her best friend as well as she thought. And when Kristen suddenly appears on her doorstep and continues to acclimate back into her life—almost relentlessly—the story takes a few twists and turns that kept me guessing! 


I loved this story of two best friends and a hidden crime (or two!) that they are both trying to deal with.  Emily appears to be the protagonist here but there were times I had to sit back and think…wait a minute….am I sure she’s on the up and up?  


This was my first book by this author, I’ll definitely check out her others. 

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