Take a photo of a barcode or cover
apuckingbibliophile 's review for:
We Were Never Here
by Andrea Bartz
My first book by this author and it was a pretty wild journey! I was so intrigued by the synopsis of this: two friends going on annual international trips with each other, but the last two have ended with a man being killed. Coincidence, or is one of these friends not as sweet or innocent as they seem?
The book is told through the eyes of Emily and from her perspective, she recounts the origins of her friendship with Kristen, their history and dynamic, the events that led up to that first (supposedly?) accidental killing, what recently happened during their trip in Chile, and everything that follows.
First off, this friendship between Emily and Kristen is filled with toxicity! And as a result kind of made them both unlikeable in their own ways— Emily for not recognizing it and just letting herself be walked over and Kristen for being so controlling and just so…TOXIC. I seriously hope I would be able to recognize the signs of a domineering friendship like that if I was ever in one!
However, Emily’s unreliableness as a narrator did make for some interesting developments and had me questioning both woman’s ulterior motives, their stories, and their actions. Kristen’s backstory especially kept me on my toes and had me wondering what the truth was behind everything and which of the tow (if any) could be trusted.
And that ending! Of course it’s then where true colors are shown and it was like “bang bang, holy cat fight, what just happened?!”. The height of the story definitely concludes in a very outlandish way but was still entertaining.
Overall, I enjoyed this, just didn’t love it. The characters were so hard to side with, I personally was not of fan of Emily’s new boyfriend, Aaron, and the co-dependent, toxic, gaslighting type of friendships just make me so angry sometimes. I mean I suppose frustration is the point, but sometimes I just don’t like being frustrated at characters while reading!
Definitely some Amanda Knox-y vibes if you’re into that and an ambiguous ending that I am curious to see what others though of!
The book is told through the eyes of Emily and from her perspective, she recounts the origins of her friendship with Kristen, their history and dynamic, the events that led up to that first (supposedly?) accidental killing, what recently happened during their trip in Chile, and everything that follows.
First off, this friendship between Emily and Kristen is filled with toxicity! And as a result kind of made them both unlikeable in their own ways— Emily for not recognizing it and just letting herself be walked over and Kristen for being so controlling and just so…TOXIC. I seriously hope I would be able to recognize the signs of a domineering friendship like that if I was ever in one!
However, Emily’s unreliableness as a narrator did make for some interesting developments and had me questioning both woman’s ulterior motives, their stories, and their actions. Kristen’s backstory especially kept me on my toes and had me wondering what the truth was behind everything and which of the tow (if any) could be trusted.
And that ending! Of course it’s then where true colors are shown and it was like “bang bang, holy cat fight, what just happened?!”. The height of the story definitely concludes in a very outlandish way but was still entertaining.
Overall, I enjoyed this, just didn’t love it. The characters were so hard to side with, I personally was not of fan of Emily’s new boyfriend, Aaron, and the co-dependent, toxic, gaslighting type of friendships just make me so angry sometimes. I mean I suppose frustration is the point, but sometimes I just don’t like being frustrated at characters while reading!
Definitely some Amanda Knox-y vibes if you’re into that and an ambiguous ending that I am curious to see what others though of!