*Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the advanced reader copy of “Did I Say You Could Go”*

Humans thrive on community–no one wants to be alone. As someone from the midwest where family is abundant and people are friendly, it is hard for me to imagine two women as seemingly isolated as Gemma and Ruth. Motherhood can be trying even if you have a supportive partner, we all need friends to lean on. But what if your closest friend was also your clearest enemy? Enter Ruth and Gemma.

Ruth and her daughter Marley are alone in the word until they meet Gemma and her daughter Bee. Ruth’s money and Gemma’s warmth meld them into a family, a family that Ruth tries to hold unto with a death grip, but she slips up. Gemma and Bee pull away until Bee and Marley are starting high school, and Ruth finds her way back into Gemma’s good graces. Now–she just needs to do everything possible to stay there–to show Gemma that she needs her.

Prepare for some abrupt twists and turns. This book starts as a light read but ends on a dark note and will leave you wondering who the master manipulator really is while ardently hoping that both Bree and Marley are able to move forward with their lives leaving past traumas behind them.

This book is set to release August 3, 2021.