 In this video, I will be sharing the top reviews of the book called, We Were Never Here, authored by Andrea Bartz who is a Brooklyn-based journalist and author of the forthcoming thriller We Were Never Here. Her debut thriller, The Lost Knight in 2019, was an LA Times bestseller, and her sophomore thriller. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, Martha Stewart Living, L, and many other outlets, and she's held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among other titles. But before we get to the reviews let's see a little bit of what this book is about. Emily is having the time of her life. She's in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of their trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she'd been flirting with attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking, the scene is horrifyingly similar to last year's trip when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can't believe it's happened again. Can lightning really strike twice? Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving head first into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her friends' motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can she outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom, even her life? Now let's get to the reviews. Marilyn from the United States says every year Emily and Kristen, best friends since college, go on a backpacking trip in a foreign country. Last year's trip, in Colombia, didn't turn out so well, leaving Emily an anxious mess once she got home. But Kristen supported her, often for hours each day by phone, since Kristen has been living in Australia. This year's trip to Chile ends with a very similar disaster. The most common denominator of this year's disaster and last year's disaster is the role that Kristen plays in both horrors. Now Kristen wants Emily to commit to taking off work to spend six months backpacking together. Emily just wants to escape to her home, job, and new boyfriend. Not long after Emily gets home, Kristen shows up on her doorstep, back in Milwaukee for good. This is a story of codependent bad judgment, manipulation, and gaslighting, with strong Amanda Knox vibes. Or, at least, Kristen likes to bring up Amanda Knox to get Emily to bow to her wishes. Finally, Emily is getting suspicious and realizing that Kristen might not be the kind of friend she thought she was. The story starts out strong but then drags with Emily's detailed reflection of all that has gone on in the past and present. As crazy as the first part of the story is, the last part of the story is even more over the top. It becomes hard to tell where one crazy ends and the other begins between Emily and Kristen and still, the final paragraph of the story seems out of place. Nilufer from California says all right. Here are the facts. I enjoyed the herd and at the beginning, I thought this book was truly giving me five stars alert. Two traveling friends, two murders they got away with Amanda Knox meets Heather's single white female and girl interrupted vibes of obsessive female friendship as an intriguing and dreamy formula for my huge thriller appetite. But, yes this could have been a five star red for me even though the opening was a little wordy but also contained an impressive analysis of both characters and their dysfunctional, needy relationship. Emily was the shy, obedient, insecure woman is about to be 30, suffering from trust issues after dating demanding, possessive men. Thankfully her best friend Kristen, her polar opposite, independent, good looking, free spirited, risk taker. A dominant woman was always at her side after her breakups or her sexual assault. Actually she was the witness of the assault, helped her bury the body. Lisa from Mississippi says Emily is on vacation with her bestie, Kristen when things take a turn for the worst. Arriving back in the States, Kristen is acting as nothing happened but is acting very strangely by showing up randomly. Emily is learning more and more about the past. What really happened on vacation? This book felt like two different authors wrote it. The first 25% and the last 25% were really page turning and exciting. The middle 50% was way too much inner monologue by the main character, Emily. Also, the author tried to paint Kristen as super creepy. Sorry but maybe you don't know your besties as well as I do nor care about them as much as I do but if my bestie told me she was moving in a few houses down, I would jump for joy and give her a hug and thank my lucky stars. If she wanted to go to my yoga class, I would be thrilled. What else is she supposed to do? Just move to the same city and try to live as far away as possible? I wouldn't find those behaviors creepy at all. Let me tell you about my best friend. She is sunshine. She is always late because she makes friends everywhere, standing in line at the checkout counter, at school, at church, with children. She emits feelings of warmth and belonging. She gives generously and open-handedly. She would give you the shirt off her back and would never bring it up, never say, do you remember the time that I did X for you? She is super smart, but she never gloats about it. She is completely fluent in two languages and she is incredibly brave and enjoys new things. She aspires to serve her family from her farm where she has horses, chickens, goats, and dogs, as well as a garden. She does not come from a family of farmers so she has had to learn all about farming and animal care. If she calls at 3 a.m., I answer. If she needs help, I would move heaven and earth to do so. Melissa from Washington says this book had some strong parts and some weaker parts. It is basically a character study of an insane person and a codependent person who doesn't really recognize that fact until it's too late. From the beginning, I had bad feelings about Kristen. She seemed off to me and I couldn't figure out why Emily couldn't see it. When I learned more about Emily's background and how the trauma she had experienced the year before had affected her life, I could see why she was clinging to Kristen, who had a strong, forceful personality. When the girls get home after their second disaster-ridden trip in a row, I really felt like Emily should have seen the writing on the wall, especially when Kristen shows up. So many times I just wanted to shake Emily for acting so nervous and frantic and dithering around. Yes, I guess most normal, people would act that way after what she experienced, but it was frustrating to read over and over. The beginning of the book is good and the ending is good, but the middle part did drag on and on. Ash from the United States says I read Andrea Bartz, the herd last year and liked it, I think, more than most. It wasn't my favorite, but it was enjoyable and I had a fun time reading it. I hoped to get a similar experience out of we were never here. The book starts with a familiar premise. The protagonist, Emily, is an average woman, about to turn 30, with a job she likes but doesn't love and bad luck with romance. Her best friend, Kristen, is more attractive, more charismatic and more exciting, but nevertheless showers Emily with constant attention and support. All is well until Kristen gets Emily in serious trouble that could end with both of them in jail. I've seen versions of this dynamic and other female focused mysteries and thrillers, so we're not exactly breaking new ground here. That said, the setup to this story, roughly the first quarter of the book, was very well written. Bartz transported me to Chile with her detailed descriptions and lush imagery, and I thought she handled the death that kicks off the book. Kristen killing the backpacker in self-defense, not a spoiler, it's in the synopsis of the book, and the aftermath perfectly. This was, in my opinion, the best part of the book. Getting to know Emily and Kristen, witnessing their idyllic Chilean vacation take a turn for the macabre, learning what happened the last time they took a trip together, seeing how Emily handles it. Overall a fairly decent read, if you can get past all of the hand-ringing in the middle section. I have provided the sources of this video in the description. Please feel free to check them out. Thank you for watching this video. If you like this video, then please subscribe to the channel and share this video.