{"id":23157,"date":"2026-02-01T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/?post_type=essay&p=23157"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:25:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:25:04","slug":"february-2026-book-review-we-were-never-friends","status":"publish","type":"essay","link":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/essay\/february-2026-book-review-we-were-never-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2026 Book Review: We Were Never Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book by: Kaira Rouda
Review by: Dr. Wendy Hooper-Meletes, Ed.D., owner of Litchfield Books<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo have a loving relationship with a sister is not simply to have a buddy or a confidante \u2014 it is to have a soulmate for life.\u201d <\/em>-Audrey Hepburn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For readers that enjoy mystery, dark humor and lots of suspense look for the Red Herring in this fast-paced popcorn thriller. It delivers friends by chance, sisterhood bonds by choice and a deadly reunion; it\u2019s time for revenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Were Never Friends is the darkly funny, blissfully immersive fiction suspense novel that we all need right now. Sister\u2019s forever, friends never. This reunion weekend does not have time for a slow burn. Roxy\u2019s luxurious Palm Springs vacation home becomes a creepy estate for burying the past. The novel begins with a promise: the refurbished estate is eerily reminiscent of the hotel where tragedy struck during spring break twenty-five years ago for the Theta Gamma Mu sorority sisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roxy Gentry, the ruthless former sorority president, painstakingly choreographs every detail and secret of the weekend at her Palm Springs estate. Widowed Amelia, drenched in old money and alcohol is devilishly clever and jealously stirs the pot. Capturing the zeitgeist, sorority sister Dr. Jamie Vale distracts the reader with her intellectual character from confessions and important truths. Beth and Sunny\u2019s plotline will fill your head with all sorts of wild theories, as they are anything but real and loyal, however keep guessing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cast of characters, frenemies showing up years later to create chaos and a decades old \u201caccidental\u201d death of one of their sisters is reexamined where the truth finally comes out for that fateful night 25 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep this thrilling momentum going, you can meet this author in person on Friday, March 6, 2026, from 11-1pm at Caff\u00e9 Piccolo in Pawleys Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For tickets: www.litchfieldbooks.com\/events<\/a> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book by: Kaira RoudaReview by: Dr. Wendy Hooper-Meletes, Ed.D., owner of Litchfield Books \u201cTo have a loving relationship with a sister is not simply to have a buddy or a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22314,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_gspb_post_css":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"essay_type":[46,48],"essay-category":[101,100],"class_list":["post-23157","essay","type-essay","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","essay_type-features","essay_type-read-it","essay-category-businesses","essay-category-local"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/23157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essay"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/23157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"essay_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay_type?post=23157"},{"taxonomy":"essay-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay-category?post=23157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}