We Were Never Friends
- Judith D Collins
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
By: Kaira Rouda
Narrators: January LaVoy, Hillary Huber, Tara Sands, Patricia Santomasso
Sourcebooks
ISBN: 9781464244995
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: 02/03/2026
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
"As twisty and suspenseful as it gets...instead of looking to the future, these old friends and sorority sisters discover it’s not so easy to bury the past. A haunting page-turner. I loved it!"
— Robyn Harding, bestselling author of THE HATERS
“Mix one part ruthless college frenemies out for vengeance with another part juicy scandal not-so-deeply buried in the past, then shake it up with messed-up family dynamics and Rouda’s trademark dark humor, and you get the heady cocktail. A fun, clever spin on the revenge thriller and a rollicking good time.”
— Kimberly Belle, USA Today and internationally bestselling author of THE PARIS WIDOW
Sisters? Forever. Friends? NEVER. Who knew a reunion weekend could be so deadly?
Meet the sorority sisters of Theta Gamma Mu:
~Roxy Callahan Gentry, the ruthless former sorority president and current hostess who has painstakingly choreographed every detail of this weekend—even matching the cocktails to her couture—to prove that she remains their undisputed queen.
~Amelia Dell, the widow drenched in old money and alcohol, with her big pot-stirring spoon and uninvited boy-toy in tow.
~Jamie Vale, the double-legacy pledge, straight-A student with no sparkle, now a top cardiologist with a picture-perfect family—and a well-guarded bad habit.
~Beth Harrison, the scholarship student who never quite fit in and was only admitted because her best friend Sunny insisted that the two were a package deal.
~Sunny Spencer, the carefree and beloved friend to all, or so it seemed—until she wasn't.
They've been summoned to Roxy's luxurious Palm Springs vacation home to celebrate the engagement of her son to Beth's daughter. But the refurbished 1920s estate is eerily reminiscent of the hotel where tragedy struck during Spring Break twenty-five years ago. Long-simmering tensions and shocking secrets begin bubbling to the surface like bodies—because while the weekend was supposed to be about celebrating the future, it's not so easy to bury the past…
For fans of Shari Lapena, Mary Kubica, and B. A. Paris, We Were Never Friends is an unputdownable, riveting train wreck full of dark humor and bad behavior.
Cover Reveal
Coming Feb 3, 2026
Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, Paperback, e-book
Kimberly Belle calls Kaira Rouda’s powder keg, high society thriller “a fun, clever spin on the revenge thriller and a rollicking good time!” Four sorority sisters who reunite in Palm Springs despite what happened twenty-five years ago to celebrate what should have been a joyous occasion.
The read is a thrilling toxic brew in which five sisters vying for main character status. Make no mistake, they will bring the house down in an unputdownable, riveting train wreck full of dark humor and bad behavior.
Praise
"A reunion goes horribly and thrillingly wrong...this fast-paced, entertaining read will delight fans of May Cobb and Jeneva Rose."
―Library Journal
"Nothing about these “sisters” is what it seems, and all have their own stories about the night that Sunny died...Mean Girls has nothing on We Were Never Friends."
― First Clue
"We Were Never Friends is Kaira Rouda at her best! Lush descriptions, outrageous characters, and corkscrew twists make this a deliciously fun read."
― Sarah Pekkanen, New York Times bestselling author
"We Were Never Friends is a wicked blend of long-held secrets, backstabbing frenemies, a gorgeous estate, and a relentless dust storm - the perfect backdrop for murder in this riveting, heart-pounding thrill ride from a writer who delivers every single time. Settle in because you’ll only stop reading to catch your breath. Join Theta Gamma Mu for a party that will chill you to the bone, leave you looking over your shoulder, and sleeping with one eye open."
--Heather Gudenkauf, NYT bestselling author of The Overnight Guest and Everyone Is Watching
"Secrets and betrayals abound in this twisty tale of a sorority reunion gone very, very wrong. We Were Never Friends is a delightfully juicy reminder that dark secrets can lurk behind even the glossiest of exteriors."
―Kathleen Barber, author of Sisterhood Above All
"I love everything Kaira Rouda writes and We Were Never Friends is no exception. As twisty and suspenseful as it gets, this book is filled with deceitful characters who spend a weekend at a luxurious mansion in ultra-cool Palm Springs to celebrate a young couple’s recent engagement. But instead of looking to the future, these old friends and sorority sisters discover it’s not so easy to bury the past. A haunting page-turner. I loved it!"
― Robyn Harding, bestselling author of The Haters
"Mix one part ruthless college frenemies out for vengeance with another part juicy scandal not-so-deeply buried in the past, then shake it up with messed-up family dynamics and Rouda’s trademark dark humor, and you get the heady cocktail that is We Were Never Friends. A fun, clever spin on the revenge thriller and a rollicking good time."
― Kimberly Belle, internationally bestselling author of The Paris Widow
About the Author
KAIRA ROUDA is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of contemporary fiction exploring what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. Her latest, Jill is Not Happy, is USA Today bestseller and has been named a 2025 Most Anticipated Book by Zibby Media. Her next novel, We Were Never Friends, is set to publish in February of 2026. Her novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and have been selected by Library Reads, Amazon and Apple Books Editors as Best Books of the Month and Strand Magazine’s Best Book of the Year. She lives in Southern California with her family. WEBSITE
My Review
Acclaimed author and personal favorite, Kaira Rouda—the reigning queen of dark humor—makes her triumphant return with WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS. This deliciously wicked psychological whodunit crime thriller follows the reunion of five former sorority sisters at an extravagant engagement party set in a lavish Palm Springs mansion.
As old secrets and rivalries begin to resurface, tensions escalate, culminating in a deadly confrontation that echoes a haunting tragedy from their past. Prepare to be captivated by a twisty whodunit mystery that intertwines nostalgia with suspense, leaving readers on the edge of their seats.
The Characters...
Roxy Callahan Gentry:
The hostess and "queen bee" who loves to show off her seemingly perfect life.
Amelia Dell:
A wealthy widow who crashes the party uninvited with her younger boy-toy, ready to stir up trouble.
Jamie Vale:
A top cardiologist with a picture-perfect family but a hidden "bad habit".
Beth Harrison:
The scholarship student who never quite fit in and the mother of the bride-to-be.
Sunny Spencer:
Beth's best friend, a beloved sorority sister who tragically died during their college spring break, an event that haunts them all.
About...
Former sorority sisters reunite for a celebratory weekend that devolves into a locked-room mystery as long-buried secrets about a sorority sister's death 25 years prior come to light.
Set in Palm Springs, at Roxy's luxurious mansion, which is eerily decorated to resemble the hotel where a tragedy occurred during their college spring break 25 years ago. The hostess, the "ruthless former sorority president" Roxy Callahan Gentry, has meticulously planned the weekend
The central event is an engagement party hosted by the wealthy and image-obsessed Roxy Callahan Gentry for her son, Zach, and Beth Harrison's daughter, Celeste. The women are haunted by the mysterious death of their fifth sister, Sunny Spencer, during that spring break trip. At the time, Sunny was dating Ryan, who is now Roxy's husband.
From the beginning, old rivalries, jealousies, and resentments resurface. The characters were never true friends, and deep-seated grudges and secrets. Strange things begin to happen at the house: unexplained sightings of a woman who resembles Sunny, odd postcards appearing, and photos from the past are discovered.
A massive dust storm traps them as the tension culminates in another death at the mansion during the weekend's events, creating an intense locked-room mystery scenario. The secrets are unraveled, and the characters finally uncover exactly what happened to Sunny 25 years ago and the role everyone played in her demise cover-up.
My thoughts...
A long-time fan of Kaira, having read all her books, you know you are in for a treat once you start one of her books.
The luxurious Palm Springs setting and a raging sandstorm provide an excellent and intriguing backdrop for a "locked-room" feel, contrasting with the glamorous exterior and the characters' moral decay.
Through multiple perspectives, Rouda cleverly peels back layers of the characters' pasts, revealing their individual actions, hidden secrets, and their role in the original tragedy.
The reunion turns into a locked-room mystery as a dust storm traps them inside and strange events, including possible "ghostly sightings", begin to happen.
Atmospheric, the "haboob" —a massive desert dust storm—is a critical plot device that transforms the psychological drama into a high-stakes locked-room whodunit mystery, with power outages and cell service with no way to call for help, trapping the characters inside the mansion, cutting off their ability to leave just as tensions reach a breaking point.
With a creepy atmosphere and intense claustrophobia, the characters must identify a murderer among themselves while unable to escape, mirroring the internal instability of the characters and the secrets resurfacing from their past.
Rouda, known for her dark humor, delivers with shocking, clever twists, unreliable characters, and a cast of "narcissistic" and "morally grey" characters, for a highly entertaining thriller appealing to fans of authors such as Liv Constantine, May Cobb, Freida McFadden, Shari Lapena, and Mary Kubica.
Themes...
~Toxic Female Friendships and Rivalry:
~Secrets and Betrayal
~Wealth, Privilege, and Appearances
~The Inescapable Past
~Power Dynamics and Ambition:
~Memory vs. Truth.
The title itself conveys the book's core message: that shared history and trauma do not equal genuine friendship. The characters are bound by "forced bonds" rather than affection, illustrating how toxic alliances can persist simply out of a need to protect a shared narrative.
The central takeaway of WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS is an exploration of the toxicity of performance and the impossibility of escaping a shared, buried past. It examines how early power structures—like those in a college sorority—continue to influence adult relationships decades later.
Recs...
Readers who enjoyed WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS may enjoy other thrillers focusing on toxic female friendships, college reunions gone wrong, and locked-room mysteries.
~In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
~Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight
~The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
~One by One by Ruth Ware
Other Rouda books exploring seemingly perfect lives:
~Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda
~The Favorite Daughter by Kaira Rouda
Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for sharing an advanced digital and paperback copy in exchange for my honest thoughts. I look forward to listening to the audiobook performed by an all star casts of favorites.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Feb 03, 2026
