Dawn Goodwin has written a fantastic and emotionally charged thriller complete with oodles of secrets, lies, and drama.

Best Friends Forever is my first read by Dawn Goodwin and it won't be my last. I really enjoyed the emotional roller-coaster I was on with best friends Anna and Vicky, throughout the story. Although the characters were not admirable or all that personable, I still had some empathy for several of them. This novel was beautifully structured by the author as she artfully reeled the reader in, spinning a wonderful tale. No-one seemed to know the full story of how Anna died, but as the reader travelled back to when Anna and Vicky first met at school, a great deal about them is discovered but it's clear there are things still to be revealed. As the story unfolds, some sharp and clever writing had me leaning first one way and then another, but I had no idea exactly where it was all headed until the last few pages. Riveting and masterfully told, Best Friends Forever was absolutely a five star read.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Aria via NetGalley at my own request. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Best Friends Forever will really make you think about letting people get close to your life. The premise was intriguing and the pacing just fast enough to keep me reading. There were some predictable moments, but all in all I was quite entertained. The elements of suspense are well woven, and the character profiles complex, which made me doubt the validity of my conclusions at times. I would read more from Dawn Goodwin. 3.5
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

Wow! What a great twist in a psychological thriller! Did not see that ending coming AT ALL! I thought I had it all figured and and then...BAM!
This story has so much twisted “stuff” going on. There is jealousy, secrets, tragedy, intrigue, toxic relationships and lots of suspense.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the arc of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Vicky and Anna were best friends. They shared everything with each other, things that were big secrets that no one but them could know. They were both only children, but other than that, they were complete opposites. Anna lived in an upscale neighborhood and her parents doted on her. Vicky, whose mom had passed away, lived with her Dad and grandma in a poor neighborhood. Anna was definitely the "leader" in the relationship, Vicky was more quiet and reserved and she followed Anna's lead, without question. At times that Vicky would question Anna's action, Anna would manipulate Vicky by threatening to reveal "the secret". Anna was trim and slender with more clothes than she could ever wear, married to a successful man, had two beautiful children, and an exciting career. Vicky lived in a small flat, worked at a failing business and had a history of one night stands. Vicky loved, yet hated Anna and she knew the "real Anna" that others would have been shocked by. Anna had a need to control Vicky and needed to have someone to blame if one of her schemes went wrong. After Anna was killed in an accident, Vicky offered to move in and help Anna's husband, David, with the children. As David's grief begins to heal, questions begin forming in his mind about Anna and Vicky, and their relationship, about the secrets they shared. As things come to light you realize the love/hate relationship, the control/abuse cycle, the truth/lie cycle, the manipulation/abandon factors, the good and bad, and how powerful and overwhelming some relationships can become. Thank-you to Netgalley, Aria Books and Dawn Goodwin for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Best Friends Forever by Dawn Goodwin is being labeled as perfect for fans of the ever popular book The Silent Patent by Alex Michaelides, which I absolutely loved. Those are so pretty big shoes to fill, in my opinion, and I was a little worried that Best Friends Forever would not live up to the hype and fall very very…..very short. Well, I must say Dawn Goodwin definitely put the psychological in thriller in a total mindf*ckery of a story. Holy hell. I may actually have a book hangover!

Best Friends Forever has it all:

Secrets – Check!

Lies – Check

Manipulation – Check

And characters you love to hate – Check. Check…and check!

Where do I even begin? Okay I will start off by saying when I first started and maybe the first few pages I was like “I don’t know…I don’t think this story is going to work for me.” Then it was like that magical moment when the clouds part and you have that A-HA moment and I knew I was a goner. I was sucked in to the story. Oh yes, you know I could not put this book down!

The story goes back and forth from the present to the past. What happened to Anna? Why is she dead? Does Vicki, her best friend, have something to do with it or is there more to Anna than anyone even realizes? Little by little we get into the meat of the story about a toxic friendship between Anna and Vicki, whom at times are the best of friends and at times you really wonder why they are even friends at all. But, through it all they shared a love that withstood through it all.

I will admit, I hated every single character and yet at the same time I could also feel empathy for each of the characters. At one point I may have even shouted “David grow some balls you wheeny! Then he did and I was like “Oh you are really going to regret doing that!” But just because I dislike the characters in a story doesn’t necessarily mean I also dislike the story. Best Friends Forever is absolutely mindblowing, fantastic, and certainly lives up to its hype. You can insert 65529525820 different adjectives to describe the greatness of this story. Yes, it is THAT good!

Best Friends Forever will take you on a wild roller coaster ride, spin you around, make you dizzy, only for you to get right back on line to do it all over again. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant and a definite five plus stars from me.

Best Friends Forever was a book I was hooked on from he first page, I haven’t read anything by dawn Goodwin before but will be looking out for her in the future.
Anna and Vicky are best friends but they are two very different people with very different upbringing. The book moves from present time to back when the pair were at school and this worked in this book well.
First we have Anna, pretty, slim, parents that although are far from perfect they give Anna everything they can, university degree, loving husband, gorgeous house and two lovely kids and then we have Vicky who has none of the above. I didn’t really like either main character but I sympathised with vickys life and struggles and understood why she was like she was and that was because of her upbringing and the way Anna constantly did the dirty on her in every way possible.
This was a good read with some good twists and I loved it even if the main characters weren’t very likeable. The storyline was a good pace all the way through and kept me intrigued till the end.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Aria for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! What an emotionally charged thriller this is, in the end, somewhat heartbreaking. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is the first book by Dawn Goodwin I have read and it won't be my last. I really enjoyed the emotional roller-coaster I was on with Anna and Vicky throughout that I wasn't sure where or how it was going to end.

Before I go any further, I MUST state that there are a couple of triggers that may effect some.
Rape
Child abuse
Animal cruelty

So where do I start? BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is the story of the lifelong toxic friendship between Vicky and Anna as they grow from teenagers into women now approaching their 40s. Given that they were 13 in 1986 my rough estimate is that they were 39 at the climax surrounding the London Olympics in 2012. Having been friends since high school, I really couldn't understand how such a friendship could really stand the test of time. But they are completely co-dependent on each other and as they grew older, so they continued to be.

Anna is, to put it bluntly, a bitch. She is devious, manipulative and always craves attention - none of which she gets at home. As an only child, her parents are distant but rich. Her mother is a flaky alcoholic while her father is a habitual philandering womaniser.

Vicky is the complete opposite of Anna. She is quiet, meek, insecure and submissive - perfect for Anna to control. And Vicky allows it because she couldn't bear to lose the one and only person who has ever loved her. So desperate for love are both of these girls/women that they are willing to do almost anything to maintain it. There couldn't be anything more toxic.

The story begins with Vicky pondering recent events when she receives a phone call from David, Anna's husband, to say that Anna is dead. Vicky is shocked and devastated to lose the one person who knew and loved her. But did she really? Honestly? Could what they have had really be called "love"? There are times I'm sure she hated Anna but at the same time she couldn't be without her. They were like a drug to each other. It was pretty toxic.

So in the aftermath of Anna's death, David is struggling to cope. His world has fallen from beneath him and he spends his days in an abyss of grief. His mother Louise stays with him for a few weeks to help him get back on his feet but there comes a point when David must learn to pick up the pieces himself and move on - for the sake of their children, Harper and Lewis. But David is still struggling to keep things together and when Vicky stops by to see how they are doing she finds the house littered with takeaway containers and dirty dishes with the children glued to the TV, amusing themselves, and David lost in a void amidst it all.

Vicky takes charge and moves in with them to bring order back into the children's lives while David goes back to work. He finds that Vicky's presence is a Godsend as she manages to keep the place going, the children happy and everyone fed - something he struggled to do. He is so impressed he ends up asking her to to stay on as the children's nanny, for which he would pay her, as they adore her and he admits that he use the help. It's the perfect solution for everyone. Or is it?

It's no secret that Anna liked everything to be perfect. She wanted the perfect life, the perfect husband, to live in a perfect house with the perfect children and have the perfect job. She worked hard to make this happen so everything would remain...perfect. So when she died suddenly, Anna's perfect life ended...leaving Vicky with the chance to have a taste of that perfect life she left behind.

But Anna was far from perfect. She was a complete bitch that had me twisted in knots throughout most of the story. A despicable person, I felt nothing but contempt for her. She was an entitled narcissist who was so obviously a sociopath. She had no remorse for anything she did or who she hurt, trampling over anyone to get what she wanted. To her, their feelings were not her problem. Even as a wife and mother, Anna was bored. She just could not see how lucky she was...because she wanted more. And what Anna wanted, Anna got. But what made me hate Anna even more was her brutal attack on her mother's cat in such an uncontrollable rage that Vicky had to stop her. But it was too late...and Anna still didn't care.

My heart ached for Vicky. I could relate to her and identify with some aspects of her personality as a quiet, meek and somewhat insecure young girl who just ached to be loved. So low is her self worth that even when she has been wronged she will still apologise and blame herself. Her young life goes from one trauma to another as she just yearns for acceptance. And when abuse she endures at home becomes too much to bear, Anna hatches a sinister plan to help Vicky escape. But it came with a cost which bound Vicky in a whole new way to Anna, who never missed the chance to hold it over her whenever she wanted Vicky to do her bidding.

This manipulation extends into their adulthood and made me just loathe Anna. Many may not like Vicky because she could appear weak when succumbing to Anna at almost every whim...and when she didn't, Anna would sulk and remind her of that one thing from her past. As if Anna herself was completely guiltless. However, if Anna did anything she taught Vicky how to be deceitful and manipulative...and this plays out in the days, weeks and months after Anna's death rather brilliantly as Vicky becomes too close, too obsessed and too desperate for that perfect life. Has she slipped up? Has she gone too far? Either way, still haunted by the secrets of her past, she continues to be influenced by Anna's transgressions.

BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is cleverly written in the past and present as we witness the evolution of their friendship, with a rather dexterous touch included in the form of letters to Anna from Vicky in the present day. Since no one else knew each other as well as they did it was rather ingenious of the author to have Vicky confide in Anna once again, despite the fact she would never read them.

This toxic tale from start to finish is both intriguing and chilling that hynotises the reader, as Anna and Vicky both play with fire and we simply can't look away. With secrets and lies, toxicity and drama, BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is fast paced, gripping and unputdownable.

But the question remained...who wanted to kill Anna?

The only problem I had with this book was the end. Oh, it was satisfactory but it did leave you with questions...and I like things tied up in a nice little ending. This...well, it was different...an ending with a twist. It wasn't a bad ending but, for me, it wasn't perfect.

I wasn't sure what I expected when I dived into this book, but it wasn't this! I had heard mixed reviews about it so therefore I expected it to be mediocre but it was anything but! I loved it and loved to hate Anna! The more I read, the more I hated her. And the more I hated her, the more I wanted Vicky to have the last laugh. But does she? Grab yourself a copy, read it and find out! You know you want to.

4.5 stars - due to poor Murphy and the "OK-but-not-perfect" ending.

I would like to thank #DawnGoodwin, #NetGalley and #Aria for an ARC of #BestFriendsForever in exchange for an honest review.

Crikey what a story.

A story about best friends Anna and Vicky. When Anna dies Vicky sees a chance of having what she’s always wanted.

Who killed Anna?

I honestly didn’t know what to think with so many secrets and lies.

It’s rare that I come across a book that I dislike the main characters but this is one of them.

I have been a fan of Dawn's work for a little while now. I love a good psychological thriller and Dawn has written a couple of them now. I read the synopsis and it sounded just like my kind of read. I jumped straight in and began to read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Best Friends Forever' but more about that in a bit.
Although I loved the characters of Anna and Vicky, I can honestly say that I didn't warm to either of them at all. Anna comes across as little Mrs. Perfect. She has the perfect life. She is slim, beautiful, has the perfect career, the perfect home life, the perfect husband and the perfect children. She is also a complete narcissist. Anna and Vicky are supposed to have been best friends but I think they would be best described as being best enemies rather than friends. Anna then dies in uncertain circumstances. It doesn't take long for Vicky to want to just step into Anna's shoes and try to take her place. However, questions start to be asked about Vicky's motives as regards taking Anna's place. The situation soon intensifies and soon becomes even more tense and there are undertones of murderous intent.
Oh my word, it didn't take me long at all to get into this book. I got to the bottom of the first page and I just knew that this was going to be one of those books that I would binge read the book over the course of a day. I picked the book up only intending to read a couple of chapters but I was still sat there reading over half an hour and 5 chapters later. The pages of the book increased increasingly quickly as my desperation to discover the truth grew and grew. The more I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages were turning. Sadly I got to the end of the book far quicker than I had anticipated. I was enjoying the author's writing style, the characters and the storylines so much that I just wanted the book to continue.
'Best Friends Forever' is very well written. Dawn certainly knows how to grab your attention from the start and she keeps that attention all the way throughout the book. I had my own suspicions as to how the story would pan out but my suspicions were wrong. Dawn describes things so realistically that I really did feel as though I was part of the story myself. I found myself trying to interact with the book in the sense that I wanted to cry out to warn certain characters of what other characters had in mind for them. I then gave myself a kick and realised that the story is fiction and the characters can't hear me.
In short, 'Best Friends Forever' is one hell of a read and I would definitely recommend it to other readers. I will definitely be reading more of Dawn's future work. I can't wait to read what she comes up with next. Here's hoping that we don't have too long to wait. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

Twists and turns, a little bit creepy - this is a cracking read!

Anna is dead. Her husband, their children and her best friend are devastated. But what really happened? That's what we're here to find out but, trust me, it's not that straightforward. Following the lives of husband David, both children as well as best friend Vicky, we discover a labyrinth of secrets and lies - which to believe?

This is a beautifully structured story, reeling the reader in to understand and sympathise with the main character's plight. She spins a wonderful tale, and I was drawn in from the word go. But how did Anna die? No-one seems to know the full story, but as we travel back to when she and Vicky first met at school, we discover so much about both of them, but it's clear there is something we don't know. As the book unfolds, there is some very clever writing turning us first one way and then another but I had no idea exactly where it was all leading until it was spelled out clearly in the last few pages. Wow, what a read! Masterfully told and riveting throughout, this is absolutely a five star read, and a sparkling one at that.

My thanks to publisher Aria for my copy via NetGalley, and especially to Vicky Joss for my spot in this Blog Tour. As always, all opinions are completely hones an entirely my own.

This is a complicated story full of lies, deception and twists dating back to school days. I enjoyed it and would recommend it

Favorite Quotes:

He smiled at her and everything around them seemed to hold still for a moment, like a caught breath.

Brian had a squashed face like a fat troll, all folds and furrows. His gut hung over his well-worn belt and his shirt strained at the buttonholes. Vicky had never liked him.

Secrets and lies. That’s what friends are for.

My Review:

I am still vacillating in how I feel and in how to rate this twisty and complex story of retribution, manipulation, lies, and secrets. The characters were not admirable or all that likable as people, yet I had empathy for several. Sometimes poor choices started out as no choice, and then continue to mushroom until they pervade every inch, breath, and thought. That is but a part of what happened in this slippery brain-burning tale that kept me on edge and off-kilter. I devised and cast off and reworked a multitude of theories. My curiosity and cynical nature were so active they may have overheated, and I fear the poor little pea in my brain may have been scorched.

Anna was all kinds of wrong and simply vile, beautiful, yet rotten to the core. She was a cruel, volatile, vain, and a manipulative and narcissist sociopath. She had been toying with others and honing and steadily progressing her deviousness since childhood. And Vicky was her perfect victim, needy, eager to please, lacking in confidence or self-control, and able and willing to take abuse. And David, well, David was an idiot, completely under his wife’s spell. In real life, I would not willingly share air with either of them and found them to be heinous and exasperating individuals, yet their encounters and exchanges made compelling dicey storylines that I just couldn’t seem to get a grip on or leave alone. Dawn Goodwin is a crafty minx and led me on a merry chase. So while the ending was not as satisfying as I would have desired, I have to concede to her advanced level of craft – she had me well invested and kept me guessing to the very end.

Anna and Vicky had been friends since school, Their relationship has always been a bit dysfunctional, full of manipulation, dark secrets, deceit and jealousy. When Anna is killed in a tragic accident, Vicky having always lived in Anna’s shadow, uses this a perfect opportunity to take over where Anna left off, working her way into Anna’s family.
A brilliant, dark and intriguing story.

Excellent psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! Well-developed characters and plot. Highly recommend!

I have mixed feelings about this book. It had an interesting premise as you can read from the blurb. As you read this book which goes back and forth from present day to the past and their long friendship from school. Their relationship is so toxic and they really are not likeable characters. I persevered because I wanted to know how Anna died but the book was mediocre at best. I hate not giving great reviews but I received this book from net galley as an ARC for an honest review. I also want to thank net galley for this ARC. (less)

Dawn Goodwin deftly and skillfully explores the many intricate layers of a toxic female friendship in her latest addictive thriller, Best Friends Forever, a must-read chiller that will shock, grip and terrify readers everywhere.

Anna and Vicky had been best friends for decades. Despite the fact that the women couldn’t be more different from one another, their friendship seemed absolutely rock solid and nothing and nobody was going to be able to come between them. Or so they thought. When perfect wife and mother Anna dies, she leaves behind her husband David and their two young children. Life for this family is never going to be the same ever again. However, Vicky is waiting by the sidelines determined to be there for her best friend’s family. Vicky is more than happy to step into breach and help David and the kids through their grief and through this difficult and heart-breaking time. Vicky is more than happy to step into Anna’s shoes. Perhaps, some might say, a little bit too keen…

His wife’s passing had changed David’s life, however, Vicky has constantly been there by his side like a rock. Nothing is too much trouble for Vicky. However, David cannot shake off this gut-wrenching feeling that there is something not quite right about his late wife’s best friend. As David starts asking questions and digging deep into the friendship between Anna and Vicky, he is stunned by what he discovers and things soon begin to get a little more frightening and terrifying for him and his children.

Just what on earth happened the night Anna died? Who would go to such great lengths as to kill her? And is her best friend Vicky as innocent as she is making out to be? Is David ready for the shocking answers he is about to uncover? Or are some things better left dead and buried?

Dawn Goodwin certainly knows how to keep her readers turning the pages and Best Friends Forever is no different. Written with style and flair, Best Friends Forever is a sophisticated thriller where tensions run high, danger is ever present and nothing is quite what it seems. Intricately plotted, brilliantly written and spine-chillingly terrifying, Best Friends Forever is a book that will make readers question how well they really know their friends.

A page-turning emotional roller-coaster of a thriller with plenty of twists and turns, Best Friends Forever is a brilliant read grip lit fans are sure to love!

2.5 stars

This had an intriguing premise, and I was able to enjoy parts of the story. I was disappointed in the ending, as I was left with a number of questions. I'm not sure if a sequel is planned that will address them or not. I also had a hard time caring about or connecting with the characters. I was never really able to get into the story as much as I'd hoped.

Trigger warning: Animal cruelty and rape

(Also posted on my GR account!)

I wanted to like this book but some things are still nagging my mind.

What I like from it:
(1) It was different! It sounds like your usual psychological thriller but it isn't. I promise you.
(2) I love the main characters (Anna and Vicky) and I did wish that Anna was still alive and it could make the book more amazing because David was just meh

However, some dislikes:
(1) BFF should come with a warning of animal cruelty and rape
(2) David was the weakest link of all
(3) I didn't like the resolution at all, much like David, it was sort of... there

Were Anna and Vicky really best friends? Really? Anna seemed to have everything-including husband David and two kids- but she also had some ugly secrets. The only person who knew those secrets was Vicky, who in the classic way of this genre, had nothing of the happy life Anna had. Anna is killed in a car crash but was it murder? And if it was, who did it? Vicky takes advantage of Anna's death to move into her life, which gets kinda creepy. You might have read the broad outlines of this plot before but Goodwin does a nice job with her characters and there are unique twists. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Will keep you guessing.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC. Vicky and Anna were best friends but Anna was the controller and narcissist. Always holding everything over Vickys head. Putting Vicky down. In the end there is a twist that you will not see coming. KARMA is one way to put it. Just when you think you know the ending! I highly recommend this book. Amazing writing and my first book from Dawn Goodwin.