Review: Gridley Girls by Meredith First

Gridley Girls

by Meredith First

Publisher: SparkPress

Pages: 400

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Sometimes you have to go back before you can move forward. Meg Monahan feels like she was born to be a secret keeper. From the moment she became a peer counselor in high school, Meg has been keeping her friends secrets from sordid family drama to their sex lives that she never wanted to know. Flash forward to adulthood when Meg is a recruiter for the world's hippest (and most paranoid) high-tech company and now Meg is a professional secret keeper. When sudden tragedy strikes before Meg hosts the wedding of her childhood BFF, Anne Calzaretta, the women are forced to face their past and their secrets in order to move on to their future. In 1978, Meg, Anne, Jennifer, and Tonya were such close friends, they were known as The Group in their hometown of Gridley, California. But in ninth grade, their lives were changed forever. Loss, lies, and secrets separated them, but could not break their bonds of friendship. Thirty years later, Meg and Anne reminisce about those days dealing with parents, school, boys, sex, love, and betrayal. Anne remembers their freshman year as an easier time, but Meg, still feeling guilty about a betrayal of Anne s trust, is haunted. Even now, Meg is keeping a secret she s not prepared to face, let alone share.


Kritters Thoughts:  Meg Monahan still lives in the city where she was raised and is still living with the reputation of being the good girl of the crowd.  All of her friends trusted her with their secrets in high school and some she kept and some she may have shared.  This has been haunting her and many years later she needs to come clean and clear the air with her childhood friends.

This book had chapters that moved from stories of their days in high school to their current story.  I loved this format and I honestly enjoyed both the past and the present.  In most books where there are two types of stories, I usually prefer one over the other, but this one I really couldn't pick I loved them both!  

I loved this book that solely focused on friendship.  Because this book spans a lot of years, the reader gets to see how female friendships can change and evolve over a range of years.  

I will definitely be on the lookout for Meredith First's next book!

Rating: perfect beach read

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from BookSparks PR.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.