Book Review: You Are Not Alone

YOU ARE NOT ALONE | Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
03.03.2020 | St. Martin’s Press
Rating: 4/5 stars

Shay Miller’s life has taken a downward slant that she wasn’t expecting to find herself in at her age. She has just lost her job due to downsizing. She doesn’t have a love interest. She’s losing her only friend and roommate to his girlfriend. Nothing is going right. Could a new potential friendship change everything for her?

The Moore sisters are a manifestation of Shay’s dream life. They have a glamorous life filled with an unbreakable circle of friends, perfectly styled outfits, and a successful PR firm. 

Shay would love to have their life. The Moore sisters want Shay’s.

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen have quickly become one of my favorite writing duos. Every year I look forward to their latest release and they never fail to come through with a new book for me to love! 

The premise for YOU ARE NOT ALONE is ultimately a simple one. This is the story of a woman who wants more from her life and she believes she has found that in the Cassandra and Jane Moore. They’re basically living Shay’s dream and thanks to some bizarre circumstances the three women have bonded. What isn’t obvious is the truth behind the events that led to their meeting and the interactions that have taken place since. I absolutely loved the cat and mouse feel to this story as Hendricks and Pekkanen flip between different POVs to give the reader a full perspective. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie where you found yourself screaming at a character to not do something or not to believe something because you knew the truth that was eluding them? That’s this book!

Hendricks and Pekkanen drive YOU ARE NOT ALONE with Shay Miller as their star. Shay is relatable and her past is so realistic that the reader can easily find themselves sympathizing with her actions. I constantly found myself asking what I would do in her situation. Would I go to some of the extremes she went to in order to win the approval of the Moore sisters? Probably not, but until I’m in Shay’s exact situation I can’t know for sure. That’s the beauty of this book! You can feel yourself saying that decision feels wrong, but I get it.

In addition to our main character, Hendricks and Pekkanen ramp up the pace with glimpses into the minds of Cassandra and Jane. I loved these parts of the book! There are other perspectives from a handful of other characters the reader gets to know along the way that feel important to have as details needed to form a complete picture. This isn’t just the story of one woman or three women, but all of the individuals surrounding the meeting of this trio.

Chapters are kept brief and often filled with cliffhangers in order to continually lure the reader to reading just one more chapter. I found myself unable to put this book down, as I didn’t want to look away from the disaster unfolding before my eyes. Several times Hendricks and Pekkanen drop twists or large revelations on the reader that again propel the pace of the story. I don’t think I came up for air in the last fifty pages of this read. I needed to know what crazy shenanigans were going to come next! 

If you’ve read Hendricks and Pekkanen before, this book is a no brainer for your TBR. If you’ve never experienced this duo I’m telling you now to order this one and their previous two at the same time. Prepare yourself to become addicted to the drama that Hendricks and Pekkanen create!

This book is available to buy from: Amazon | Book Depository

A huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Instagram’s #mysterybookclub for sending me a free copy of this book!

Disclosure: What Jess Reads is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way influences my opinion of the above book.