The Guilty Friend goes back and forth between the future and the past in the lives of three friends. One of these friends, Alex, died and thirty years later the two estranged friends, Karen and Misty, are pushed back together after a picture of a woman that looks exactly like Alex shows up. 
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I think the synopsis for this book was a little deceiving because it's not all focused on the photo, but the lives of the two women and how the death of Alex affected them. Going into this book I thought it was going to be a suspenseful thriller, but it's not really. It's based more on anorexia, which was interesting because I haven't read books about that and it gave me a deeper look at the topic. Karen, has a daughter who we follow through the book and see her spiral downwards with anorexia. Alex also had the disease and Misty became a medical expert in it because of Alex. So mostly the book is about that and then there is a twist at the end, but if you want a good suspenseful mystery I would say to look elsewhere. 
I think I'll give it 3 stars because I thought it was going to be more thriller, but it did end up being an interesting read.
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Thank you @netgalley for the free copy in exchange for a review.

3 friends Alex, Karen, and Misty inseparable in teens, soon lost contact when Alex died suddenly. Karen and Misty got on with their lives. Decades later, a television news and Karen saw Alex on the screen. And she knew she had to get to the truth, even at the cost of her family. 

A wonderfully slow burn of a book, Joanne Sefton kept me engrossed. I knew there would be more at play, and the reasons of the secrets would pull at my heart strings... I was right. Karen captured my eye, she was a mother to three girls, and one of them had an eating disorder. This brought her into contact with Misty, who was a doc at the clinic which dealt with such disorders. 

The author has a great eye for detail, she has etched her characters carefully, each brought out a different facet in the book evoking huge emotions. The book was very slow paced in the first half then got on track in the last 40% ending with an unexpected bang!! Whaddya know!! That was the biggest thrill in the book. 

Overall, a great read.

One of them is dead. One of them is lying.
Alex, Karen and Misty were an inseparable trio at university. But when Alex died suddenly, the remaining two friends could no longer look each other in the eye, knowing they both had a part to play in her death.
Thirty years later, Misty and Karen have long since moved on with their lives. But when Karen thinks she sees her former friend alive, she soon becomes obsessed with a past she thought she’d left behind.
Before long, the perfect life she’s built for herself starts to unravel, and it seems as though history might just be repeating itself…
Can Karen keep her secrets hidden? Or will her guilt tear an innocent family apart?

TRIGGER WARNING FOR SOME: EATING DISORDER
This was an excellent read.
This story is told primarily from the points of view of two friends, Misty and Karen, who were at Uni in the late 1980's. It's now thirty years later and we are still being told this story by the same people. 
The characters are well created and believeable.
Good story line and plot.
Recommend reading.

I want to thank Joanne Sefton, Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the advanced copy; this is my honest voluntary review.

A book that although was not as the blurb described still kept me turning
This is not a psychological thriller but more a book about eating disorders and old friends but none the less was full of drama
Well written and the epilogue was a real shock/surprise

Wow!!
I think any book that brings about awareness of any illness or disease deserves to be acknowledged and respected. Joanne Sefton, The Guilty Friend, was not only brilliantly written but  gives the reader an understanding of what Anorexia can do, not only to the person suffering with it, but the people surrounding them.
Anorexia is becoming more and more widespread due to the media's portrayal of "the perfect body", and we must strive to fight this issue as much as possible before we lose more and more people to this deadly disease.
Thank you Joanne Sefton for writing about a subject that is hidden away and ignored far to much.

THE GUILTY FRIEND by Joanne Sefton is not the thriller it seems to be marketed as. I guess it does have a level of suspense about it but I'm not really sure what genre this falls into, to be honest. But it definitely is not a thriller. 

Having said that, it is still intriguing though a very slow burn. It was so slow for much of the book that I felt it would only result in a 2 star rating from me. Then it finally started to pick up around 65-70% (a bit too long I feel) that it went up to 3 stars where I felt it would sufficiently remain, given the slow pace that almost put me to sleep on more than one occasion. But then I got to the end...and that epilogue! That came out of left field and I never saw it coming! I felt that alone was worth a star in itself, boosting the rating up to 4 stars! However...I still didn't feel the book in its entirety lived up to a 4 star rating because it really did take far too long to build up and become remotely interesting. But that epilogue alone left me breathless that I felt it deserved its own star rating!

So it's the late 80s and Karen, Misty and Alex are all starting university at Cambridge. They befriend each other and over the course of the next few years sees their lives entwine together as they live the student life both on and off campus. Karen and Misty have travelled from home to attend university while Alex is from Cambridge, with her parents - both academics - living nearby in a huge house where the girls will often find themselves over the next few years. Each girl has a secret. But is it dangerous enough to harm them? 

Thirty years later, it's 2019 and Karen is a widow, a mother to three girls - Evie (20), Tasha (15) and Callie (12) - and about to celebrate her 50th birthday. One morning she sees a news broadcast on an attempted bombing at a railway station and upon seeing a photo still of the scene, her world freezes. She feels as if she has seen a ghost...and she must have, for the face she had seen from the past is of someone who has been dead 30 years!

Misty is now a doctor at a clinic specialising in eating disorders. Never having married, her inspiration was drawn from that of her dead friend and the struggles she'd faced...and kept to herself. Misty wanted to make a difference. She has made a difference - to many families. Though she knows that not every story ends well, and some patients just never recover, succumbing to the illness that ultimately takes their life. That morning Misty sees the same news broadcast as Karen...and sees the same photo still. Alex. It can't be. She died 30 years ago. And Misty knows this because she found her.

Karen cannot stop thinking about the face in that photo. It's Alex. It has to be. That same face. Same expression. What if...Alex never really died? Everything that happened 30 years ago comes back to haunt her again. The past. The secrets. The guilt. As life continues around her, Karen finds herself lost in the past as she seeks answers to the questions not even she knows. She becomes convinced that Alex must be alive as she begins to lose her mind to paranoia and obsessive thoughts. But as Karen slowly begins to lose her grip on reality, she becomes oblivious to her own daughters' needs as each of them struggle to maintain life as they know it.

Karen and Misty haven't spoken for something close to a decade or more, having drifted apart after the tragedy of losing Alex. Neither girl was to blame but each of them felt guilty just the same, feeling as though they contributed in some way to her death...and that they could have somehow prevented it, had they not been so wrapped up in themselves. Now 30 years later, they are brought together again and this time Karen must rely on Misty's expertise when her daughter Evie calls on Misty for help out of concern for her sister. 

Tasha is 15 and is battling anorexia. While her mother is otherwise oblivious, her older sister Evie has noticed a huge change in her sister over the past few weeks and months. Particularly as she is away at Uni most of them time, when she returns home she is shocked to discover how unwell Tasha really is. But Tasha claims she is fine. Her new friend "Alex" is there with her to ensure she remains so. But Evie can see clearly that she isn't and she is surprised to learn her mother hasn't even noticed just how much weight Tasha has lost and how unwell she really is. Even their younger sister Callie has noticed - how could their mother not? 

So when Evie finds Misty's card scrunched up in Tasha's room and calls the number begging for help, Misty hopes this is just a case of overreaction. But when she makes a house call that evening on her way home to see Tasha at Evie's urging, Misty knows at once this is no overreaction. Tasha is in desperate need of help and if she doesn't get it now, she will die. But Tasha refuses help and when Karen returns, she is angered that Misty has an order placing Tasha in her clinic's immediate care. But Karen was so caught up in herself she never recognised the signs she had seen before.

Told from the various perspectives of each girl in 1989 and then again with Karen, Misty and Tasha in the present day thirty years later, THE GUILTY FRIEND takes us on a journey to the past and through the present, revisiting old friendships and old ghosts. 

The characters are each well developed though I found myself throwing my hands up in frustration at the older and supposedly wiser Karen many times. She can be incredibly self-absorbed, forgetting the needs of her own daughters and often oblivious to others around her. I just wanted to shake her at times. How could she not see Tasha fading away before her? 
Misty was a well refined character, as she went on to specialise in the area that took her friend. I thought that was a fitting tribute to Alex. From someone who didn't appear to have a lot of self-confidence when she was at Uni she soon found her place in the world and landed firmly on her feet. 

Tasha was a heartbreaking character. While I can never really understand the need to starve oneself for whatever reason - to be skinny, to maintain control, whatever - her story is one that will break hearts to read. Her pain was evident in the pages as was her teenage angst. But her narrative added another dimension to the whole story which in the end is what the book is primarily about - anorexia.

While THE GUILTY FRIEND is marketed as a thriller, I am not sure it really is. It has more of a general fiction feel to it, even slightly chick lit. The author handled the issue very sensitively and respectfully, and it was clear that it had been well researched.

THE GUILTY FRIEND is a very slow burn. So slow I wondered whether it was going to pick up pace at all. And when it finally did - at around 65-70% - I found it was a little late by that stage. However, I am glad I stuck it out because that ending! WOW! I never saw that coming AT ALL and that made it all the more delicious. It added a whole new perspective that just left me breathless! And can I mention...that last sentence...? I don't believe I will be revealing any spoilers in saying it...

..."But Misty kept walking."...

Just WOW! That ending and that last sentence alone gave this book - which I was simply going to rate 3 stars - an extra star, in my opinion. It was that brilliant! Pure genius.

I would like to thank #JoanneSefton, #NetGalley and #AvonBooksUK for an ARC of #TheGuiltyFriend in exchange for an honest review.

Powerfully emotional story about friendships, the lies we tell ourselves and reconciliation through forgiveness. 

This book is an example of how circumstance you experience in your youth can cause you to miss all the signs when trouble comes to your family!

Interesting read!

The Guilty Friend is more of a family drama than a thriller so I think that’s the reason this book didn’t really grip me. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good read with a good plot it just didn’t make me read it.
The book bounces from 1989 to present day, Karen, Misty and Alex are friends at Cambridge university and this time is the background to the main plot. Present day sees the friends having split ways and leading very different lives, Karen is widowed and left to bring up three daughters on her own, Misty is running a clinic helping young adults with eating disorders and Alex is seen by the pair in a news flash in the background after a bomb has exploded in London. Alex died thirty years ago so how can this be her?
This book sensitively tackles anorexia but it is not a thriller so although I’m probably the only one that didn’t manage to click with this book I’ll shut up.🤐 It was still an interesting read though.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

It was an okay storyline though slightly confusing. It comes from several points of view and I found it difficult to keep track of who was who so had to keep re-reading it. Would definitely benefit from tightening up. Not a bad book but it is definitely lacking fluidity.

This is a really good read.
It tells a story of three girls from university and now Karen,Misty and Alex.
It starts in the now when Karen is watching the news on a bomb on a train and she see’s Alex in the back ground but Alex died at university . At the same time Misty is seeing the same pictures.
They meet up after many years at Karen’s 50th Birthday Party where Alex’s boyfriend Andrew brings Misty.
Misty runs a clinic specialising in eating disorders.
Karen is a mother of three girls who is struggling with financial ruin after her husband died.
Karen’s middle daughter Tasha is struggling and is developing anorexia the same disease which killed Alex in university.
Will Misty be able to help Tasha, Will Karen come to terms with what is happening to her daughter . And is Alex really dead?
Thanks Netgalley for this book. Will certainly be reading more from this author.

Absolutely fantastic had me gripped!!! Loved it! Can't wait for more from.this author. Storyline was great, characters were easy to.connect with

Thank you for the advanced copy

The author wrote a thriller that started with a bang and just kept going!  The twists kept coming, so I couldn't put it down.  I cannot wait to read more from this author!

I really enjoyed this book even though it was not what I had expected. It really was not a real psychological thriller, but nevertheless I did enjoy this book. The blurb in the book is a little misleading but let me go on to review this book. It is about three friends who meet at a university, Alex, Karen and Misty. We find out very quickly that Alex died. We know jump thirty years ahead and Karen and Misty have not spoken to each other filled with guilt over Alex's death. The book is told in two POV's, in the past and in the present from Karen and Misty and Tasha, Karen's daughter. In the present Karen sees a woman on the television that looks so much like her long lost dead friend Alex. The book goes back and forth but their is a major element in this book that is not in the blurb. Karen's daughter Tasha has anorexia, which was not indicated in the blurb which is a major part of this novel. I really enjoyed this book and how Joanne dealt with this major issue which is so much in our current lives especially in young adults It is also revealed that Alex died from anorexia.. Also, Misty became a doctor dealing with eating disorders and Tasha, Karen's daughter who also suffers from this disease was someone I was in awe of. There is much more to be said about this book but I don't want to reveal more. Also, the ending was something that will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend this book but be aware to find yourself getting very teary eyed throughout this book. I want to thank net galley and Avon books for this ARC I received for an honest review. An excellent book that deals with a horrible disease. (less)

First, I want to thank Joanne Sefton, Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. 
The blurb goes like this:

Three girls meet in Uni, they are inseparable, then one of them is dead and one of them is lying…. Alex, Karen and Misty were best friends. But then Alex died suddenly and the remaining two friends can’t look into each other’s eye, they both know they had a part to play in Alex death.
Thirty years later there’s a terrorist attack on the news, but there is a photo that calls the attention of Misty and Karen, there, among the wounded people and evacuated, is a woman who is remarkable like Alex...but it can't be...she's death! 

🌼🌼🌼 

This is a compelling drama about friendship, family and mental illness. 
The story is told from four POV, which is good, because I like to know what everybody thinks. The characters are well structured and are very relatable. The pace was a bit slow, but it gave me a chance to know each character better, I think this was done on purpose 🤔, if it was, wel, that's good!

I liked how the anorexia issue was handled, as it is a very complex and delicate matter, the author was very respectful with the subject. 
And THE END, well, you'll see when you read it

First off, I really wish they would include in the summary that this book centers are anorexia. It is a major part of the book. While I do not have an adverse reaction to it, I know many readers do. Why not be upfront about it? It feels dishonest.

That being said, this is a book that covers two timelines: present and about 20 years ago. The story is told from three points of view: Misty and Karen, the surviving friends, and Tasha, Karen's daughter. When I got to chapter 3 and realized there was another point of view coming in, I was a little dismayed. It seemed a bit excessive and potentially confusing. But as the story went along I realized why she was important. Ms. Sefton knows how to create some very messed up characters! I think everyone in the book could have used some serious counseling. The story was a good one and believable with the exception of one small part that even the author states in her afterword was a bit of fictional stretching on her part. A good addition to your summer reading.

I enjoyed reading this book! Plenty of twists and turns throughout, it kept me hooked as I learned more about the past and secrets behind the friends and families.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Ms Sefton's debut thriller, The Mother's Lies, I was eager to see whether this would be a successful follow-up, and it certainly didn't disappoint; in fact, I loved this even more and found it compulsively readable. It is actually so much more than just a thriller as it has elements of women's fiction and a whole lot of credible/believable emotion too. 

It centres around three university mates - Alex, Karen and Misty but after Alex dies unexpectedly with both the remaining girls knowing they contributed to her untimely demise the story takes a dark and troubling turn and the Karen and Misty's lives begin to spiral out of control. Eventually, they move on with their lives and push the incident to the backs of their minds, but when Karen is absolutely convinced she saw Alex alive she begins to lose her mind and once the paranoia and obsessive thought set in there is no escape. What follows is a struggle to maintain sanity and a slow loss of grip on reality and unable to tell the difference between what is real and what is perceived family ties that had been nurtured for years dissolve.

This is a fast, easy and beautifully plotted read with such relatable characters and twists and turns aplenty. The emotional aspect of the novel is what really makes this book stand out amongst the thriller genre jungle. The writing is effortless, flows easily and this naturally leads to being able to read large chunks without even noticing! Many thanks to Avon for an ARC.

This book had me hooked right from the beginning. It is an emotionally compelling story about family relationships, friendship, mystery and anorexia. The part that anorexia plays in the story did come as a surprise as this is not mentioned in the blurb. I feel compelled to mention it, as it could be a trigger for some readers.

Joanne doesn’t waste any time in throwing the reader into the story which is where we get our first glimpse into the mystery side of it. Whilst watching a breaking news story of a suspected terror attack where a bomb has gone off on a tube train, Karen can’t believe her eyes when she sees a woman on the screen that bears the most remarkable resemblance to her best friend Alex. There shouldn’t be anything unusual about that right?….Wrong! Alex has been dead for thirty years!….

Throughout the book, Joanne takes the reader on a journey to the past told from the perspective of Karen, Misty and Alex we then return, thirty years later to the present, with Karen, Misty and Tasha (Karen’s Daughter). I enjoyed going back to the past, as the reader it gave me a good insight into the three women’s friendship and the events that lead up to the death of Alex. Alex died due to complications of a long history of anorexia, and how her death resulted in the breakdown of Karen and Misty’s friendship. The past is then woven into the present day, where history is about to repeat itself with Tasha, and when Karen and Misty are reunited by a mutual friend they must confront the part they played in Alex’s death if they are to have any chance of saving Tasha.

The characters in the book were very relatable and well developed. For me the standouts were: Karen who has been through the most over the course of the story, where she is having to deal with a recent tragedy and other struggles whilst raising her three daughters. This at times can make her a bit self absorbed and oblivious to those around her, and you just want to shake her, especially with her lack of urgency to Tasha’s current battle. She also still struggles with the death of Alex as she feels that she was to blame so I understand that this shaped her into the adult she became.

I really liked Misty’s character and how she turned the death of Alex into something positive, by becoming a doctor specialising in eating disorders. Her never give up attitude when helping her patients and then Tasha was to be admired.

Tasha broke my heart. I felt her pain and just wanted to help her. It was at times distressing to read when the story was told from her perspective and about how she was feeling. You will need the tissues handy for her parts in the book.

The book moved at a steady pace and gave each character the time needed to tell their story without being drawn out. I was so invested in it, that time would get away from me and a couple of chapters turned into just one more, and one more until there wasn’t any more to read!

I also have to make mention of “the ending” and what an ending it is! The last sentence written was jaw dropping and gasp worthy. It is a brilliant twist that has stayed with me long after reading it! For me, this is what makes a book great and Joanne has definitely mastered the wow factor in this story.

I really enjoyed Joanne’s writing style. Having known someone that had everything going for her only to succumb to this terrible disease, it could have been quite hard for me to read. However, Joanne handles the subject respectfully and with sensitivity. It is clear that the book was extremely well researched. I look forward to reading more of Joanne’s work.

While the book is billed as a thriller/suspense, I am not sure that’s the right fit as a descriptor. All round though, this is a great book, I highly recommend it.

Thank-you to #NetGalley, #AvonBooksUK and #JoanneSefton for allowing me to read an advanced copy of The Guilty Friends in exchange for an honest review.

All opinions are my own and are not biased in anyway.

This is an extremely enjoyable and well-written book with a wonderful storyline. The mystery, twists and turns held my interest, whilst pondering which way the author was going to take the story. It flowed extremely well and the characterisation by Joanne Sefton was great as the characters came across as very realistic and well developed. 

"The Guilty Friend" was my first book by this author, but it definitely won't be my last as I intend to read 'If They Knew'. This novel may not win any awards for its originality as a thriller, but it definitely made my list for great summer reads and for that I highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Avon Books UK via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

First off- know that this isn't the thriller you might be expecting where Karen and Misty discover that their friend Alex did not die 30 years ago when they were at Cambridge together.  Told in their alternating voices and moving back and forth between 1989 and 2019, this really is about the guilty friend.  Karen was not as supportive (to put it mildly) of Alex and her mental health issues.  Now her own daughter Tasha has an eating disorder. Misty runs an eating disorder clinic.  Anorexia is a tough subject and one Sefton has done a good job taking on.  This is well plotted (there's a twist I didn't see coming) and the characters are sympathetic (although sometimes annoying).  Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Well done.