Friend Request by Laura Marshall

Publication Date: September 5th, 2017
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

“A paranoid single mom is forced to confront the unthinkable act she committed as a desperate teenager in this addictive thriller with a social media twist. Maria Weston wants to be friends. But Maria Weston’s dead. Isn’t she? 1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything Louise’s other friends aren’t. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Within just a few days, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.

2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: Those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever.

Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria’s sudden reappearance threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone with whom she’d severed ties in order to escape the past. But as she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there’s more to the story than she ever knew. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what’s known to Maria-or whoever is pretending to be her-is known to all.

With her mesmerizing debut, Laura Marshall offers a timely and essential story of how who we were shapes who we become, the hidden cost of our increasingly connected world, and the dangerous shape that revenge can take in our modern era.”

Review:

Thank you to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Laura Marshall for providing me with an arc before the release date in exchange for an honest review. 

Louise Williams is a divorced mom of a four-year-old who has been holding onto a secret since 1989. Now, in 2016, she still lives with the drama and guilt from that night. When Louise receives a friend request on Facebook from a girl that drowned in 1989, what will be brought up about that night from the past? Who can Louise turn to?

This story was absolutely wild from start to finish. This was an amazing debut from Laura Marshall. Her writing style was so riveting that I couldn’t put this book down even if I tried. I wanted to know what was going to happen in the end so I felt compelled to sit and read as much as I could in one sitting. I didn’t want to do anything before finishing this book.

The characters were my favorite thing about this book. There were so many individual developments with each character as well as their friend groups. If I had to pick a favorite character, it would be Louise. Louise has this dilemma of no friends, ex-husband, a four-year-old, and nothing to show for what life has given her. After dealing with all of this, she puts on this strong facade even though her life is falling apart. She is a really strong character that the reader will definitely latch on to.

Overall, I want to say great job to Laura Marshall on her debut novel. This was the perfect book to read since we are transitioning into Fall where I live. I honestly would recommend this to anyone, at any age. As crazy as this story was, I feel like it had a very important message about watching what you put on social media.

Rating: ★★★★★