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.

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.

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 25 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.

They were an unlikely pair --- a blond bombshell and a photographer determined to be taken seriously --- but Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold would make a deal that would change their lives.

They were an unlikely pair --- a blond bombshell and a photographer determined to be taken seriously --- but Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold would make a deal that would change their lives.

They were an unlikely pair --- a blond bombshell and a photographer determined to be taken seriously --- but Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold would make a deal that would change their lives in this dazzling new novel from the nationally bestselling author of MRS. POE and THE WOMAN WITH THE CURE.

In 1952, Norma Jeane Baker follows documentary photographer Eve Arnold into a powder room on the night they first meet. She has a proposition for her. Norma Jeane created Marilyn Monroe to be photographed, and she wants Eve to do it. Eve is better than anyone she’s seen at revealing a person’s inner truth. Together they can help each other. Together, she says, they can make something brilliant.

Skeptical of this cipher of a young woman, Eve demurs. She’s looking for more serious subjects than this ambitious starlet. But she keeps getting drawn back into Marilyn’s orbit, and the women come to recognize something in each other --- something fundamental. Nothing will get in the way of what they want, and when Marilyn’s star takes off to teetering heights, neither will ever be the same.

A lavish and transporting novel, WHEN WE WERE BRILLIANT captures the halcyon days of an icon and the grit of women determining their own futures as it explores the exceptional and complicated friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold.