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Her Best Friend

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Member Reviews

It was very easy to become involved in the story, Sarah Wray wrote Her Best Friend in such a way that in no time at all I was wrapped up in Sylvie's life. It was pretty addictive reading and I couldn't wait to discover the truth mainly because I didn't know who to trust or what information to believe.

It's a deep and spiraling story that reveals itself slowly but surely with bits and pieces from the past surfacing as the reader learns more about Sylvie and Victoria. I loved the two timelines in the story as we get to see the present day when Sylvie returns home after quite some time away. Then we also get to see Sylvie and Victoria's friendship back in 1995. The story is shown from Sylvie's perspective and then on occasion we see Sam's view point. Even though I enjoyed hearing Sylvie's story it was also a good contrast to see Sam's point of view as he looks into the cold case of Victoria's murder. I thought it worked well as we have the emotional connection with Sylvie to the more analytical point of view with Sam.

The mystery is quite intense at times and you can feel the pressure that Sylvie is under being back home along with trying to deal with the memories that this stirs up.

Tense, dark and twisty.

It will grab hold of you until the very last page and what an ending it is!

With thanks to Noelle at Bookouture for the invite to join the tour and for my copy. This is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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This is the second book that I have read by Sarah and she has proven to be consistent in her writing style producing another excellent book!

I loved the front cover of this book, it drew me in and after reading the book blurb I wanted to get started straight away - well I wasn't disappointed - the main character was  superb and I really enjoyed their interaction in the book as the plot developed and the story unravelled itself! 

I was racing through the pages to find out the ending and also didn't want it to end - a really gripping story and I really enjoyed it - a solid four stars for me - highly recommended!

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Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.





Sylvie moved away not long after her best friend was found in the lake and her father died, but now her mother has died and she has to come home to sort things. Soon after she sees Judith, Victoria's mother and she is shocked to find out that Sylvie has had a baby and named her Victoria. Judith mentions that she is working with Sam to find out what happened to Victoria.


Soon Sylvie finds things spiraling out of control, and she feels like she is losing it. Her husband doesn't know where she is. She has run into another old mate Michelle, and is dodging Sam about the documentary. Sam is working to find out what happened to Victoria and soon finds out that she was walking alone that night. Plus she was supposed to meet up with her boyfriend.


As he digs deeper, Sylvie tries harder to avoid the past, and stop her fall into madness. She finally decides that she needs to head home, and answers Nathan's calls, but before she can get on the train. Victoria disappears, will Sylvie be able to find her before it is too late? Will the truth finally be revealed?


So much I want to say. Sylvie and Victoria were best friends, Victoria disappears one night and is found in the following days in the lake. No one has ever been able to find out who murdered Victoria and why. I devoured this book, but I will say I was little underwhelmed by the ending. Mostly the who done it, and how that played out. However, the cliffhanger drew me back in. Well it isn't quite a cliffhanger, you can mostly guess how that would all play out.


It was odd though, I found myself rooting for the wrong person even after everything was revealed. I just felt bad for that person. I was quite a bit happier with the ending though. That was what I wanted once the truth came out.

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I wanted to like this book because the description of the book caught my eye. Unfortunately the book was slow and really didn't get into the story till almost the end. I almost stopped reading but I hung in there hoping for a great ending.. I love a book with lots of thrills and this just wasn't it for me.

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This what I would call a suffocating read. Sylvie returns to her childhood home after her mother’s death to sort the house and escape a difficult situation back at home. She’s with her baby daughter who she has named Victoria after her best friend who died under mysterious circumstances when they were teenagers. Sylvie’s arrival seems to bring this terrible event back to the forefront of everybody’s mind and someone seems intent on tormenting Sylvie.

This book was oppressive and hard to read at times as I felt suffocated by the mystery of what happened to Victoria and who was ‘after’ Sylvie. All the characters were obsessed with Victoria and wanted to know what had happened to her. The setting in this book was fantastic and the small town mentally jumped off the page. I liked how the facts and speculation were used to cloud what really happened. The couch detectives were a fantastic addition to the book and added a lot of realism and depth to the story. Everyone likes to think they know what happened and who done it. So, you had these people who use things like this as entertainment juxtaposed with Sylvie who has been dealing with the real life ramifications of this trauma for most of her life.

It is hard to review this book without giving too much away. All I want to stress is this a fantastic read that will have you whizzing through the pages to a shocking ending. I loved the twist in this book and the ending is satisfying and brilliant. I look forward to more from this author.

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What an intriguing storyline! 

Sylvie is trying her hardest to forget her past, especially considering the fact that her past contains memories of her best friend, Victoria's, death. Buried emotions are brought back to the surface when Victoria's parents put their daughter's death back into the media, hoping someone would finally own up for Victoria's death. Seeing as twenty years has passed and nobody has come forward, the community aren't holding out much hope for the killer to randomly come forward after all of this time...

The storyline of 'Her Best Friends' switches between the past and present. Whilst we do get to go back in time to the night of Victoria's death, we only really catch a glimpse of what happened that night. Predominantly the emotion, naturally. Reading those 'past' parts of the book, it probably sounds ignorant of me to say, but I didn't feel like there was anything untoward apart from the obvious. If you asked me to point a finger at one of the characters who I thought were responsible or knew something about Victoria's death, I honestly wouldn't have been able to. That said, when Victoria's parents brought in Sam to help put the murder back into the media, I only began to suspect a character because of other character's opinions and not because I managed to work it out. In all honesty, putting my faith into certain characters who decided to come out of the woodwork at the 'right' time, really was naive of me. However, due to the way in which the author had told the story, I was able to over think Victoria's death big time which meant that when the story concluded, the truth had my jaw dropping by at least 6 foot.

As horrible as this probably sounds, when I was reading the parts where Victoria was alive, I found myself disliking her almost straight away. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I thought Victoria deserved to die - that would be nasty, but there was something about her character which really, really bugged me. Not that it matters, obviously, as she only appeared in the book for a short amount of time!

'Her Best Friend' is such an addictive read. This isn't the sort of book where you can think 'just one more chapter then I'll go to bed'. Not at all. It's the type of book which is extremely likely to get under your skin, with an even higher chance of removing any sign of logical thinking when it comes to pausing the book. It would not surprise me if most of the readers who picked up Sarah Wray's novel, turned round and said that they finished it in one sitting. 

Even though most of my thoughts of this book are extremely positive, there were a couple of chapters where I felt like the storyline had slowed down far too much, which meant that I was left waiting for everything to pick back up again. Personally I feel that the storyline would have flowed a bit better if the pace was a bit faster. However, I still enjoyed the book nonetheless.

I began this book with no expectations, but I ended the book with my jaw on the floor and the words, 'what the f.....' spilling out of my mouth before I could even stop them. What a fantastic, unexpected conclusion which, in my eyes, was the star of the show tenfold.

Thanks Bookouture.

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A wonderful and thrilling page-turner with an unexpected ending.

A terrible murder of a fifteen-year-old took place in a quiet English town. Two decades later the murder remains unsolved. The journalist, Sam, arrives into the town to shoot a documentary for Victoria's 20th murder anniversary. Sam is not the only visitor in Conley. Victoria's best friend Sylvie is back in town to sort some things out with her estranged mother's will. Since her return, Sylvia is being drowned in the memories of the last summer herself and Victoria spent together. Both girls were inseparable, as their parents have been friends since before the girls were born. However something more then just a friendship is connecting both girls' parents (bam bam bam)... and Victoria accidentally finds out!

Sylvia is the only person left who know's what really have happened that dreadful night 20 years ago. She can no longer stay in town as Victoria's parents, her old school friend Michelle and Sam are overwhelming her. However, right before her departure, Sylvia is being lured into unveiling her secret and... she learns one very significant detail about Victoria's death.

Exhilarating and engaging plot. I could not put the book down. Dear Sarah Wray - you just got yourself a new fan!

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I received an ARC from NetGalley to read and review. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you, Sarah Wray, the publisher, and NetGalley, for allowing me to review.

Two girls. A murder. And a secret that binds them forever.
As a teenager, Sylvie Armstrong’s life was shattered when her best friend, Victoria Bland, was murdered. The killer has never been caught – and Sylvie has never spoken about what happened that day.

Now, two decades have gone by and after the death of her mother, Sylvie is forced to return to her home town, along with her newborn daughter – only to be confronted by the secrets that she has been running from for twenty years.

But then Sylvie receives the locket Victoria was wearing on the night she died – and it becomes clear that somebody knows what really happened to Victoria.

As Sylvie struggles to discover the truth behind the lies, she finds herself in increasing danger from those who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets. Someone who threatens not only Sylvie, but everything she loves...

HER BEST FRIEND is a slow-building mystery thriller that's told in dual timelines. We see Sylvie today and the murder that happened in 1995. Though not quite as action-packed as most thrillers these days, HER BEST FRIENDS was still truly captivating in writing and description. Because we were given two sides of the story (today's version and the version that happened the night Victoria died), we were able to really connect with the main character, Sylvie. I read this is one sitting, and I can't recommend it enough.

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Two decades after a 15 year old girl was murdered a journalist has taken up this unsolved mystery to see if any new leads can offer justice. I thought this book was just painstakingly slow and boring.

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This book really draws you in and I was desperate to know what really happened by the end!
Sylvie goes back to the house she had grown up in after her Mum dies, and it soon becomes clear that something awful happened to her best friend when they were younger.
There is a journalist in town as well hoping to find out what happened to Victoria and her mum has all her hopes pinned on him.
This book centres around hiding the truth and all those involved are struggling in their own way.
This is a good read and one that will keep you gripped to the end.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for sending me an advance copy to read and review.

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Love, love, love this book! I'm a sucker for murder mysteries, especially those that involve teens, long-buried secrets, and a return to the past that resolves things for the characters. When Sylvie returns to her hometown after the death of her mother, she must revisit the circumstances surrounding the horrific demise of her best friend, Victoria when they were just high-school students. Old friends, an investigative journalist, the parents of the dead girl, and the victim's old boyfriend all play a part in the suspense. But I guarantee you won't figure it out and the truth took my breath away! Shockingly good!

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Prepare to start reading, only to look up hours later and wonder where your afternoon has gone. This is one gripping and utterly unputdownable psychological thriller!

Twenty years ago, Sylvie's best friend Victoria was found murdered in a lake. Shortly after that, Sylvie moved away and hasn't been back since. Until now. At the same time, Sam is interested in making a documentary about Victoria's murder, which is still unsolved. Sylvie will be forced to face the memories of that faithful summer in 1995. Will Victoria's murder finally be solved?

Halfway through the book, I had to stop reading due to this pesky thing called sleep. But even while in bed, I couldn't stop thinking about it as I tried to piece together what had happened. There were a few bits and bobs I figured out quite early on but I suspect that's because a) I have a suspicious nature and b) I read too much. Be that as it may, it didn't ruin the story for me at all and the ultimate reveal knocked me for six!

I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author tackled this story. The chapters switch back and forth between Sylvie in the present and the past but there are also chapters from Sam's point of view. So not only do we gain insight into Sylvie and Victoria's friendship back in the day but we also have an opportunity to follow Sam as he interviews various people for his documentary. It made me see connections where there weren't any, making me change my mind about who I thought the culprit was, only to ultimately reverse back to my original thought and still get it wrong. 

Her Best Friend is a truly compelling and engrossing read. It's well-paced throughout, has some brilliant twists and turns, a fabulous cast of characters and builds up to quite the shocking ending. You will not be able to put this one down as it's one fantastic page-turner!

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This one actually surprised me ,with how much I enjoyed it, loved out it was told as a story and as a podcast, never read a book done like that before. Can't wait to see what else this author comes up with.With that said I want to think NetGalley for giving me the chance to read it and finding a new author that I want to keep checking out.

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Sylvie’s life falls apart in a matter of weeks. First her best friend, Victoria, is found dead in a nearby lake. Soon after that, her Dad dies after a long illness, and she’s forced to move away as her mum struggles to work through her own grief. Twenty years later, she’s back in her hometown, clearing out a house full of memories after her mum passes away. Avoiding her past is harder than she thinks though, and when someone leaves her a gift, the locket Victoria wore the night she died, decades old secrets start to push their way through to the surface.

There’s a quality to Sarah Wray’s writing that draws you into the heart of every scene. We spend a lot of time in Sylvie’s head, seeing and feeling everything she does, and in a first person narrative that’s a powerful tool. It’s put to good use here, building the suspense as hints of what happened twenty years ago are drip-fed through. As with her debut, I like the small town setting, and the amount of secrets that can be buried within such a small space rather than a plot whose setting sprawls too widely. A good follow up to her debut earlier this year.

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When Sylvie Armstrong was a teenager her life was shattered when her best friend, Victoria Bland, was murdered. The killer was never caught and Sylvie has never spoken about what happened. Twenty years have passed and Sylvie has to return to her hometown after the death of her mother. Sylvie receives the locket Victoria was wearing on the night she died - somebody knows what really happened to Victoria the night she died!!

The pace of this book is very slow. It seemed to take an age for the story to unfold. Tthe main characters I did not like at all. There also was not very much suspense but there was something that made me want to keep turning the pages. Whether it was to see if my predictions were right (which they were) , I'm not quite sure as this is not a bad read, it's just not a great read. I'm sure there will be lots of readers who will really enjoy this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Sarah Wray for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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3* review for Her Best Friend by Sarah Wray. The tag line is "Two girls. A murder. And a secret that binds them forever" and advertised as an unputdownable psychological thriller.

Sylvie Armstrong's best friend Victoria was murdered one night after a party, and shortly after she leaves town. But she has been running from her past 20 years, and her mother’s death forces her to return to her childhood home with her daughter to sort things out.

She has blocked out what happened that night, but a reporter wants to re-open the case then someone leaves a gift on her doorstep: a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket that her friend Victoria was wearing the night she drowned. Someone else apart from her knows the truth, so is she in danger?

The book is well written by Sarah Wray with plenty of suspicion and intrigue falling on all the members of the family and friends of Victoria and it does have a pull to keep reading one more chapter. However, maybe i have read too many psychological thrillers lately and was not as scared as i could have been and in fact guessed some of the details of the ending about half way through, but the ending itself was quite abrupt and left me hanging.

Nevertheless i enjoyed it and would certainly read another of Sarah's books.

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Sarah Wray her best friend review

This is a story about Sylvie who has a past she wants to forget. When her mother passes away suddenly and leaves her the house in which she grew up in she brings her daughter to clean out the house and get ready to sell.

Her daughter is Victoria who is named after the best friend who was murdered so many years ago.

Syvlie cut off contact with her mother after the terrible events and only wanted to move on with her life as best she could. After returning home she meets up with Michelle a schoolmate who decides to assist her.

Michelle has a little bit of the stalker in her and I feel sorry for her as she doesn't seem to have any friends and always gravitated towards Sylvie and Victoria. She shows that she is a good person though and helps Sylvie with newborn Victoria.

Peter is the father of her best friend who was murdered and while i felt sorry for him as he lost his daughter he seemed too much against Sylvie and held a thinly veiled contempt of her.

This story was very interesting and shows about secrets and betrayals. It also shows the worst of humankind as the lies keep adding up. You never know what could happen.

Loved seeing the story unfold and finding out not just what happened to Victoria but also the why and what it did to the people who loved her.

I am very much looking forward to what this author comes up with next. A wonderful read thathad me guessing the whole way through.

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After a few weeks reading romances, there’s nothing to get you back on track like a good thriller- and despite a slow build up, this book definitely kept me hooked right up until the end.
When Sylvie Armstrong was a child, her best friend, Victoria, was found murdered, floating in the lake near to their town. Almost twenty years later, she returns to her childhood home after the death of her mother, and discovers that the secrets that she thought buried with Victoria are rising back to the surface.
What I liked about this story was the fact that nobody was who they appeared to be. From the very start of the story, Wray does an excellent job of creating a claustrophobic, faintly menacing atmosphere that is exploited to the full, making Sylvie- and by extension, us- suspicious of everybody from her childhood friend Michelle to Victoria’s parents, Judith and Peter. Everybody is drawn in shades of grey, and the truth twists and turns as every new secret comes to light: Peter, who seems destined to be the story’s psychopathic villain, is given a surprise twist at the end of the novel, and the only person that seems removed from it all is Sam, the journalist trying to make a documentary about Victoria’s last days, and what really happened.
Though I really liked Sam as a character- he was driven, polite and with a plausible backstory- he didn’t really merge into the story, and never really interacted with Sylvie, which didn’t make for the character drama I was hoping for. That was a shame, too, because in the present day Sylvie came across as a little bland and unlikeable, somebody who doesn’t really confide in the reader, or seem to feel much at all. Though she does gain layers and become more interesting as the story goes on, that is a problem, especially as Sylvie is the crux on which the entire story turns.
The twists and turns in the story are what kept me hooked all the way through, as did the flashbacks to the past, which served to thicken the mystery- and deepen my suspicion of Sylvie, her relationship with her best friend, and even her parents’ interactions with each other (though some revelations I could see coming a while off, which made it more frustrating that Sylvie didn’t cotton on until later on in the novel). The flashbacks are a great way of making Victoria more present in the story, and actually in getting me invested in the story in the first place. It does make for a very slow burning story, though, and when the climax finally comes it has less impact than the build-up promises- and one that Sam, despite being an important part of the story, doesn’t really factor into.
On the whole, though, Her Best Friend is an intricately plotted, taut and suspenseful character drama that explores growing up, the relationships you have with the people closest to you and the meaning of truth. Sarah Wray has a great eye for what makes people tick, and how poisonous secrets can be- especially in a small community- and that makes for a gripping read.

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Firstly, I want to say thank you to you for letting me have an ARC of this book. I would also like to come clean and let you know that I didn't finish this book and for this reason, I haven't published a review online. I left the story at 31% and I was so bored, despite being over a quarter of the way into the book. I would normally have felt invested enough to want to at least find out what happens.
I feel the book was just too slow for my liking. There were also too many characters being introduced and their inclusion happened to be so fleeting that they were instantly forgotten as soon as we moved onto another chapter.
I am really disappointed, as I had been looking forward to reading this story based on the synopsis. However, the reviews for this book so far seem positive, so perhaps it's just not to MY taste.

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3.5 Stars

I was reading this book with mixed feeling all along. I liked the story but i did not really like the main characters. I definitely did not expect the twist at the end but i was not convinced by the ending.
It is not as if i didn't enjoy it but i was not really engaged in the story. I just kept going because i was curious about what happened.

20 years ago, 15years old Victoria was found drowned in the lake after being missed for a day. Her Family and her best friend Sylvie were completely devastated. Now, Sylvie, a new mother, went back to her home town to sort out the house her mother left her. And their, she was faced again by the mystery of what happened to Victoria that night.

i liked how the story was told, the alternation in chapters between the present and that fatal summer 20 years ago, building up to get us to the point where everything is finally explained. The story itself was interesting, and i enjoyed it, although i did not like the characters of Sylvie nor Victoria or the parents of both girls, basically all the main characters. Still that did not stop me from going on with the story.
My issue was with the end. The final twist was really good and for me it was unexpected. But somehow its effect was spoiled by the events after it. I can't really explain without giving away spoilers, so i'll just say again that it did not convince me and it did not feel right, as if something was missing in it or it was hastly made!
Other than that it was a good story.

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