Her Closest Friend is a thriller with a killer ending, I just wish the rest had been so good.
Naomi and Sophie are best friends since university but are they really? Their relationship is built on lies, manipulation and what else can I say but smothering! Sophie has kept Naomi from the truth to protect her, when they were at university something happened and only Sophie knew the full extent and because of this it has bitten away at her life leaving her obsessed with how she has shielded Naomi from the truth. This story shows how the truth makes one half of this relationship grow stronger whilst the other grows weaker with the whole knowledge.
This was a good thriller that I enjoyed, it was at times a little far fetched but the ending more than made up for this.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview Her Closest Friend by Clare Boyd.

Two women, Sophie and Naomi, are friends from college. They are now married and living their lives. But Sophie's life changes and her husband is leaving her. and she needs Naomi's friendship to support her. And Sophie knows that Naomi doesn't have a choice because Sophie has saved Naomi too - she hold some secrets and so she better.....

I don't know about this book, it is not different than others like this. Nothing to set i apart from others. The plot is ok, but I feel like I have read this plot before.

Just ok for me.
2 stars - disappoiinted.

This is the story of a decades old friendship. A friendship which is deeply ingrained with secrets and denials. A friendship steeped in alcohol, which only seems to bring out the bad for those involved. Sophie is a needy soul, the product of a broken marriage which her mum could not cope with, leaving her alcoholic grandfather as her sole carer. Naomi has a settled childhood, but meets Sophie at uni and feels sorry for her background in a way, wanting to show her that life isn't all bad.
Events during their final weeks at uni mark a significant turning point in the girls friendship, cementing a lifelong bond which the girls each deal with in different ways. Both girls get married, only Sophie once again is unlucky and faces an uncertain future when husband Adam announces he is leaving her for another woman. Naomi fares better in the marriage stakes, finding a reliable husband with a steady job to provide a rosy homelife for them. Alcohol plays a huge part in the lives of the girls, with Naomi running a blog page based on wine tasting and recommendations of what is good to be presenting to guests in different social settings. Sophie can't help but be jealous at Naomi's charmed life, the envy sitting sourly in her gut and eating away at her and making her very bitter.
As the story unfolds we find out more about their time at uni and how this affects how the two women interact. Sophie gets more and more unpredictable however with her revelations of what really happened at the end of their time in Exeter, the power in the relationship starts to shift and it's Naomi's turn to start facing facts. My sympathies switched between the two of them on several occasions but at the end of the day I couldn't forgive Sophie for her actions both then and now. Her inability to take responsibility for anything in her life frustrated me and made me angry so much I cannot put into words. Naomi tries so hard to let her head take control in their friendship but she is so entangled in trying to make life better for Sophie she constantly gives in to her heart. It's not until she feels her own family is under threat from Sophie that she finds the strength to face the truth of all that has gone before.
This is a superb book dealing with toxic friendship, heart wrenching tragedies and misplaced loyalties. It will make you angry, it will make you sad but I guarantee it will keep you turning the pages and you won't ever fathom where the story ends.
This review will feature on my blog page as part of the Bookouture blog tour on 8th March.

A real slow burner of a book, but absolutely riveting. Full of twists and turns and characters to despise. Definitely recommended.

Sophie and Naomi have been best friends since they were 18 years old - now they are in their 40s and as close as every....or are they? Sophie would do anything for Naomi - even protect secrets that could be damning to her future. Now that Sophie's husband is leaving her - Naomi should be the friend that Sophie has been for all these years. Or maybe face consequences.
This is a story of a toxic friendship - one that you find out too far into that it isn't the best match for you. It is a dark, twisted psychological thriller that was entertaining!
Thank you to Clare Boyd, Bookouture and NetGallley for the ARC of this book!

'Her Closest Friend' highlights the toxicity and complexity of friendships in the most twisted way, and the horrors that come when you start to hide secrets from the one person you would trust with your life- your own best friend.

Thrillers are probably one of my favourite genres in fiction, so I was immediately intrigued when I read the synopsis. However, I did not really like this novel. I felt that at some parts of the book it was like it was dragging out and nothing remotely interesting was happening, while other times it got a bit repetitive. I don't typically like to DNF books, but I had considered giving up on this book a couple of times. One thing I anticipate in a thriller novel are jaw-dropping twists and shocking big reveals, and sadly this book did not really have any of that- or maybe it did and I just missed them.

I did like the fact that we got to see both Naomi and Sophie’s perspectives as the chapters alternate between their points of view. I did not connect with any of the characters and even heavily disliked them at times. If that was what the author wanted to achieve then she did a good job of it. There was also this horrifying animal torture scene which I was struggling to read through.

The novel did end in a way that I was not quite expecting, and I can see why others might have been put off by it, including me, but I appreciate the fact that the author took the risk and pulled through with it- despite how dark it was. I did not feel that “jaw-dropping shock” from the ending as I was almost/probably skim reading the last few pages because I just wanted the book to end.

But I did re-read the ending twice.

Regardless of my low rating of this book, it will not lessen the probability of me checking another one of this author’s books in the future. Despite this being my first book by Clare Boyd, this certainly won't be the last.

1.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of Her Closest Friend

Her closest friend

I received this thriller from
Netgalley. It is about two best friends, Naomi and Sophie, who seem very different but become best friends on their first day of college. We soon realize both of them have many secrets and one is willing to use one of those secrets to keep her best friend close forever no matter what.

I enjoyed this book and read it quickly. It has more twists and surprising revelations than most I read which was impressive. You develop definite feelings about the characters involved. I wish more background of their earlier lives had been revealed.

Overall I give this book 3 stars. A few twists I didn’t see coming along with quality writing along with one of the coolest book covers ever.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this and I hope others enjoy it as well!

Her Closest Friend has a really strong start but I felt my interest disappearing around 40% of the way through and I just can't find the energy to finish it. You know a book isn't good when you'd rather crack on with your chores!

I feel like I can't review this book as well as I'd like to.

When I started reading it I was fully engaged, turning the pages at quite a rate but as the story progressed my interest waned somewhat.

What started as quite a compelling read turned into something more confusing and for me it seemed to lose direction in the last quarter of the book.

The ending didn't make a whole lot of sense to me and I found myself re-reading some chapters.

It was as though I'd missed an important part of the book.

A great concept but in my opinion it wasn't executed quite right.

A suspenseful thriller, a real page-turner, I would definitely recommend to any thriller / psychological thriller fan!

I feel like this book was hit and miss for me, some parts were fantastic, but others did not feel 'real' to me.
The characters were mostly unlike able in my opinion and I don't think I would read another book by this author

This was my first book to read by Clare Boyd. It is a story of two best friends whose friendship is bound by a dark secret. As the secret comes to light it causes many problems in their friendship, until it all comes to an eerie end. Suspenseful and kept me interested. Would recommend and like to read more from this author.

A tense and well written novel.

The moment I read the blurb I knew this was something that I really wanted to read. The story itself is well executed and the characters are interesting and full of life.
I would recommend this for sure!

Although I raced through this I did find it hard going at times . Sophie and Naomi have been best friends for years , when Sophie's husband announces he is leaving her for someone else she starts to unravel , she has been protecting Naomi from a terrible secret from their uni years but as she gets more and more desperate this secret threatens to destroy the friendship she is trying so hard to protect . Quite a shocking twist at the end , and with two not particularly likeable leads , it wasn't an easy read . Would give it 3.5 stars if I could .

An amazing thriller, about the danger in toxic friendships. I love books about friendship anyway, it's such a fun dynamic, with so many possible spin offs. 'Her Closest Friend' follows the turbulent friendship of Naomi and Sophie, as their relationship becomes more and more shocking. It's a tense story, desperately sad in places and completely shocking at the end. A great read, recommend.

I was really keen to read this but sadly it didn’t live up to its description. At times it was drawn out and clunky and I struggled to get through it. Not for me this time.

I am sorry but this book just didn't do it for me. I rarely give up on a book but halfway through I just felt it was going nowhere and it was making me feel depressed. With Naomi and Sophie sharing the narrative and neither of them being particularly pleasant people I was just not invested in either of them. I'm sure Clare Boyd put her all into this book but as they say, you can't please all of the people all of the time...

This is a very interesting novel thatbinenjoyee immensely. It had interesting characters and they really popped

Thank you to NetGalley & Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC copy of Her Closest Friend in exchange for my honest opinion.

Sophie would do anything for her best friend Naomi, even lie to protect her. So when Sophie’s husband leaves her she’s sure that Naomi will be there for her. She has to help Sophie put her life back together. After everything she has risked for this friendship, Naomi wouldn’t let anything happen to her right? What other choices are there when you have a toxic best friend but also a past that seems to irrevocably tie you two together?

This is probably an unpopular opinion but I didn’t love this book. I felt like it started slow and didn’t have any twists and turns. I don’t normally abandon a book in the middle of reading it but I did consider it a few times. I found myself hating Sophie and feeling like it was the same thing being told over and over again. The ending not only confused me but made me mad. I feel like it didn’t make sense with what happened leading up to it.

Naomi and I are best friends. School runs, dog walks, a shoulder to cry on over a glass of wine, we’re inseparable. But now my husband has walked out, I need her more than ever. I know she will help me pick up the pieces. Because she knows about the lie I told to protect her. She knows how much I’ve sacrificed for this friendship. And she’d never let anyone hurt me. Would she?

The cover and the title of this book are what initially drew me into wanting to read this book and I'm glad it did! I loved this story about a toxic female friendship. It felt believable and the writing style of Clare Boyd is one of my favorites. She really knows how to write an excellent domestic thriller. There were a few parts in this book that were difficult for me to read because of the toll it took on my emotions but overall I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #HerClosestFriend
Pub Date: 05 Mar 2019