Lie. Lie. Lie.  Holy buckets people, can anyone tell the truth?  It wasn’t like these individuals were digging themselves into a hole with their deceptions, for they were already sitting in their holes.  They were now just wondering how they were going to get out of it, successfully. 

The “therapist” definitely had some unusual techniques which gained her some new clients but at a cost.  Avery knew how to be a professional, she knew which lines not to cross but Avery preferred to get to the heart of the matter and get results.  She was a therapist and continued to be one, even when they removed her license.  Avery had expectations, she was motivated, and if you were serious and willing to put everything on the line, she’d be the one to help you through your most difficult time. 

Marissa and Matthew, they were the golden couple.  I tip my head back and laugh…...ha, ha.  On the outside, they put on a good show (like so many other individuals) but beneath it all, there’s a storm brewing.  Perhaps their storms will calm down and perhaps they’ll turn into a hurricane, who knows how the wind will blow. I thought it was sneaky how Marissa got Matthew to come into Avery’s office at the beginning of the book.  This got the story started for me and I felt that perhaps Marissa values her relationship with Matthew and wanted to save it.  Tennis Match: Learning more about Matthew, I began to think I was rooting for the wrong person, what the heck is Marissa think she’s doing?  They’re a couple because? This book was more of a mystery for me than a thriller.  Lots of fun with this book.  4.5 stars  #thegoldencouplebook

This one is full of twists and turns. So many characters with many possibilities. I knew who the culprit was about a quarter into the story, but the side storylines made this an excellent read. Grab this one or add it to your TBR list.

I picked this novella-length Audible Original up because it was free and because I'd heard of but not read "The Wife Between Us" from these two writers and I thought this might be a quick way of seeing if I'd like them.

I'm a third of the way in. So far, the storytelling is competent and the tone is creepy, laced with latent threat but I'm struggling to believe in or care about the main character.

She's too conveniently tragic. She's also incredibly trusting. She's supposed to bright (straight-A-student, political activist) but she's remarkably open to psychobabble be-the-best-teapot-you-can-be stuff and sees charisma where I see predatory charm.

I may simply be too old and cranky for this stuff. 

Still, I can manage another hour and a half. Maybe I'll discover a hidden affinity for our heroine if she snaps out of naive victim mode and gives this guy the beating he deserves.

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen show that you are not alone when you're surrounded by "friends":

Shay sees a tragedy happen right in front of her, a woman commits suicide. Shay cannot understand what happened and why this woman would do this. Shay finds herself thinking about it all the time and this leads her to attending the victims funeral. What Shay was not expecting was to meet her friends and for them to want to get to know her. Shay is a bit of a loner and has a hard time making friends, but it seems this tragedy has lead her to a new type of life. However, the friends have a different idea of what they would like to do with Shay's life.

This is the second book that I have read by this duo and I am extremely impressed. Although they are both in the psychological thrill genre, they had a completely different plot and story line compared (The other book I have read by them is Anonymous Girl). They do a have a bit of a formula surrounding the psychological aspects and manipulation of one of the characters, but this is achieved in different ways was still very interesting the second time around. I will also say that I wasn't sure which avenue Hendrick and Pekkanen were going to take at the beginning of the book when Shay first meets the Moore sisters. Honestly in a way Shay would have been an asset to their team, with all her data searching knowledge and abilities, if they did not need her for other reasons.

Shay is a puzzle of a character to me. There were times where I just could not follow her thought process at all, but I guess that is why she was so easy to manipulate throughout the book as all Shay really wants is to be accepted. You realize this through the continued stats that she writes in her notebook about what she is thinking about and more than one are about friends. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to reach through the book and shake her, tell her to think straight and to think her plans out. She truly was a perfect mark for the Moore sisters. She is a likeable character, just a frustrating one.

I liked how Hendricks and Pekkanen took the time to explain how each individual came to be a part of the Moore sisters team and how they would do anything at all to protect each other. It was also interesting to see how far back Moore sisters began their manipulation of everything around them. The whole team is pretty amazing and scary at the same time, when they set their mind to something, well when the Moore sisters set their minds to it, as they manipulate everyone.

There was a little bit of a twist at the end, but it was not Earth shattering or anything like that. I actually wished the book had ended differently, not so clean cut and predictable. 

I really enjoyed this book by Hendricks and Pekkanen and I recommend I would recommend it to people who like psychological thrillers books that are not police or courtroom related. The storyline was interesting and it was interesting to watch all the manipulations play out. I look forward to see what they come up with next.

Enjoy!!!