A review by vlynch5
Forget You Know Me by Jessica Strawser

Jessica Strawser writes suburban life very well. Her stories and plotlines could be right out of Desperate House Wives. She weaves stories around completely normal lives, but concentrates her writing on what really happens behind closed doors.

Everyone has friends we grew up with or grew close to in college that we did everything with. You the same interests, hobbies and were just connected at the hip. But life happens and it’s impossible to stay frozen in time. So these friendships have to evolve too, which is hard, especially when physical distance separates the two.

Molly and Liza are two such friends. Molly has gone the domestic route–two kids, picket fence, you the know the drill. And even though Liza was also super close to Molly’s husband, when two people have children and a life together, a friend is always a third wheel to some extent. So Liza, looking for her own life, moves to Chicago, partly to avoid the new awkwardness. And they grow apart, tale as old as time.

Strawser picks up the story one night as they struggle through their now awkward friendship, trying to figure out where they stand. Liza sees an intruder enter Molly’s house and everything goes haywire. I can’t give much more away, but Strawser paints a very realistic portrait of what happens when a friendship and a marriage break down. And the secrets we keep that destroy everything.

I liked this one, it was a good story. For me personally, as the story shifted and was much more about Molly and Daniel and their relationship, I wanted more on Liza’s life. She was the protagonist and while loose ends about Molly’s life were tied up by the end, Liza was just kind of left hanging.

Liza had issues, but they were swept under the rug and she was given a consolation prize that was supposed to make me as a reader happy. And I guess I was a little happy, but the end just seemed to cut off and the story felt very unresolved. Maybe there is a sequel in the works?

Special thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out February 5! My review will be published on my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on January 22, 2019.