Friday, August 1, 2025

We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda

 Sorority sisters Beth and Roxy’s adult children are getting married to each other, and to kick off an engagement party, Roxy has pulled out all the stops for a sorority sister reunion to celebrate Celeste Harrison and Zach Gentry in the latest from Kaira Rouda, We Were Never Friends.



Roxy has invited Beth, the mother of the bride of course, but she has also included Jamie Vale, the double-legacy pledge who is now a cardiologist. A fourth “sister,” Amelia Dell gets word about the festivities, crashing the party with her current boy toy Brett.

Gathering at Roxy’s Palm Springs vacation home, the “sisters” notice how the home refurbished by Roxy’s husband Ryan looks so much like the hotel where the last gathering of the women occurred, the Desert Sands, giving the gathering a déjà vu moment. A fifth member of the sorority sister group, Sunny Spencer, drowned at that celebration 25 years ago.

But as the title declares, these women were never friends, and the cracks in their relationships grow over a couple of days together. Rouda expertly weaves the women’s past entanglements and simmering resentments into the weekend’s escalating drama. Before the party is over, one of the revelers will not be leaving alive.

Kaira Rouda was born in Illinois but lives in Long Beach, California. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Author Association, and the International Thriller Writers. Her book Jill is Not Happy has been named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Zibby Media. 

 

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