ARC review: We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda

We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda unfolds from several points of view but it feels like Beth is the natural lead character. Perhaps because we meet her first. In the most bizarre of coincidences her daughter is engaged to the son of one of Beth’s sorority ‘sisters’ from her college days and for reasons not entirely sane, Roxy decides to invite Beth and another of their ‘sisters’ to her Palm Springs holiday home (a passion project of Roxy’s husband Ryan) in honour of their kids’ recent engagement. Adding some spice to the weekend, another of their sorority sisters gatecrashes the weekend reigniting the rivalry with Roxy festering from two decades earlier.

Meet the sorority sisters of Theta Gamma

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…

Other than Beth, her daughter Celeste was probably my favourite character and it’s obvious how close the pair are and what an amazing young woman she is. We don’t spend much time with her fiance Zach (neither getting a guernsey in the backcover blurb above) but Beth likes him despite the whirlwind relationship and his family of origins.

Rouda keeps the secret of the women’s past for some time. There’s reference to the dream house resembling the hotel from spring break decades earlier but we’re not exactly sure what happened, until the proverbial elephant in the room is introduced by a drunk Amelia. It’s only then Beth tells Celeste about her college roommate and best friend Sunny.

Things are tense in the present. Amelia’s lascivious date is also from their college days, but (seemingly) only on the periphery. Ryan and Roxy are barely talking and she’s blindsided when he asks for a divorce. Roxy is taking over wedding arrangements and Beth is trying to be acquiescent for Celeste’s sake. And then there’s Jamie, who we probably get to know the least but seems to be out-of-sorts.

Amidst a sand-storm (then a fire) the group is trapped inside the house when one of the guests is found dead… in eerily familiar circumstances, and Rouda deftly offers up several suspects and motivations.

This isn’t the kind of edge-of-your-seat thriller where we’re fearful for our characters. The suspense is more in the puzzle and unpicking the simmering tension to understand exactly what happened decades earlier and how it’s reverberating in the present. I very much enjoyed this – also its brevity and pacing – and continue to appreciate Rouda’s ability to give us challenging characters who keep us guessing.*

We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda will be published in February 2026 by Poisoned Pen Press.

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes. 

*Rouda’s 2017 book, Best Day Ever was one of my favourite books that year.

As a complete-aside, we don’t do the sorority thing here in Australia so the concept is kinda weird to us. I lived at a co-ed residential college when at University and that’s probably as close to a ‘community’ as we get.