This is a book I downloaded from NetGalley. I now have another favorite psychological/thriller author in Vanessa Lillie. This is the first book of hers I have read.

Juliet has a drinking problem (this may be a trigger for some folks), but she doesn't seem to see alcohol as an issue. This story starts out with Juliet waking up the next morning from the Genius Grant launch ... only to find out that the main person involved, Terrence, is dead. She learns this when the police knock on her door and have her wallet in an evidence bag. This is a tale that has some deep-seated family strife ... some long-held secrets that are only revealed at the end of the book, with some complicated family relationships thrown in. How far would you go to protect your daughter, and would it be worth it in the end, even if it means destroying your family? An interesting read in which Juliet teams up with a long-lost love of hers, Phillip Hale, to find out the truth and to clear her family's name.

I am now looking forward to reading "Little Voices" my Ms. Lillie. It should be here soon! She will certainly become one of my go-to authors.

This was an easy to read thriller that kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend...go get this one!

Wow.. a mystery thriller that takes a HUGE twist. For the Best is a great read.. literally have to pick my jaw up off the ground... did not see that ending coming!! I literally thought I knew the ending about half way through until I was dead wrong. If you like a good ‘uh what?’ ending please read For the Best!!

This is the second books I have read by Vanessa Lillie and I must say, her talent reads for itself. A 5-star for sure! This book was such a page turner. It a gripping tale about the search for the truth. I loved the fact that there was a character from her first book present and resuming an important role. Do I see a pattern of this character continuing in all her books? Its too soon to tell, but I sure would not mind if he did.

The story follows Juliet Worthington-Smith, a CEO at the Poe Foundation. She awakes to a hangover, no memory of the night before, and a knock at the door. Her son is downstairs, engrossed in a television program. The police are at the front door. There has been a murder close to her home. The murder of the Influential Terence Castle. They were working together on a major project for the foundation, that he concepted. Something of hers was found at the scene. Her world comes crashing down around her. Her past comes back to haunt her in a déjà vu type way. The more we learn about her, her character comes across as a pompous party girl who always gets her way. Always. No matter what must be done. She also cannot seem to get things done sober.

Juliet teams up with her ex-boyfriend Phillip, influential in his own way, to find the truth. Juliet was having no memory of the night of the murder. Was she there? Was she involved? She starts a vlog, documenting her search of the truth. She is the only suspect, according to police. Juliet finds others who have motive. She finds support in her fathers’ own followers. It may not be the help she was wanting but it proves to be useful. Her father is a drunk as well. His crimes follow his family. They have broken them down, but he refuses to hang his head. And to let his family hang there’s. He wants justice. Juliet wants the truth. Is the saying Like father likes daughter true?

Thank you to the author, Vanessa Lillie, publisher Thomas & Mercer, and Netgalley, for providing me with the ARC copy in exchange for my honest written review.

I do love a good amnesia murder mystery, and I especially love when it ends properly! Hats off to Vanessa Lillie for this killer, original ending, which is noir through and through.

Having said that, this book is tough to rate. For the first half of the book I had a tough time getting invested in Jules and her plight to clear her name. The plot moved a little slowly and took some weird detours into red herring-land - some of which became important later and others which just totally dropped off.

But then. THEN! It really got my interest. I really liked the plot line with Jules and her father. The video blogs got more and more interesting. And I loved the very cinematic ending.

There is a lot of sadness to this book and the author doesn’t shy away from it. The way the book ties together some critical elements and shows why the killer did what they did is pretty masterful, poignant and sad.

All in all I would give this book a 3.5, rounded up to a 4 because frankly a great ending is the most important thing to me in any suspense novel and Lillie totally nailed it. I am also putting this author’s previous book on my TBR list.

Thanks to Vanessa Lillie, NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 stars - I didn't connect with this book at all. It kept me interested and I never thought about abandoning it, but because I don't drink alcohol (and never have), most of the time I was thinking Juliet was just a raging alcoholic. I liked the end, a bit surprising, but also a bit hard to believe.

How far would a person go to keep old secrets buried? Vanessa Lillie did a wonderful job creating an intriguing story-line, which kept me turning the pages, and plot twists leading up to the final reveal. This was my first book by Vanessa Lillie and came highly recommended by a friend. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I enjoyed this book more than I expected, it is somewhat of a mystery but more a story of a woman coming to terms with her past and her addiction. It explores the concept of what justice is and how do we attain it for the victims and the perpetrators. Easy style to read.

Thank you to netgalley for a free advance copy of this book.

I hated every character in this book so hard. Every one. But especially Juliet Worthington-Smith. Even the name is terrible. The characters were mostly one dimensional and easy to see through.

The writing wasn’t bad but the story was absolute shit. It made no sense and the reveal was just utter garbage. I’m a psychologist so I say that with integrity. I do not recommend this book.

This is the first book I have read by Vanessa Lillie. I really enjoyed the main storyline of this books. It kept me reading and guessing throughout the entire book. I would definitely read other books by this author in the future. I chose to rate this as a three star based on other aspects of the book. I felt as though there was an underlying issue of racial inequalities that was spoken to at times in this book, but never really fully addressed or wrapped up. I would have liked to see this addressed a little more fully in the book.

For the Best by Vanessa Lillie is a good read. See my full review on Goodreads. I will link my review to Goodreads.

This review is a bit of a struggle for me. I am always excited for a dark, twisty thriller. However, this one fell very short for me. The main character is a woman who is accused of murdering a colleague/pseudo-mentor. She doesn't remember anything of the night in question because she was black out drunk and sets out investigating the murder by way of a video blog (vlog).

Here's what killed this book for me: the excessive and constant references to the main characters drinking! It was too much. Getting desperate and drinking cooking sherry, mixed with Honest apple juice? Gag-inducing. I got it the first time with the black out drinking ... by why did every page thereafter have to include references to gin and tonics, beer, mimosas, cooking sherry, etc. We get that she's an alcoholic from the beginning. It felt over the top and very similar to The Girl on the Train.

I would have rated this book higher if the drinking references were toned down more.

Thank you to Vanessa Lillie, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. This review was also posted on Goodreads.

I finished this book in one day because it was fantastic! It was fast paced, nuanced, heart racing and set in the best place (and my hometown) Providence Rhode Island! Our narrator Juliet is an unreliable drunk at best and a straight liar at worse but when the webs of deceit and lies finally untangle we see the rot at the core. A tale about families and the false memories we keep to hold together despite the pain and hate. As a Rhode Islander this book also struck a cord because it was my home town and set primarily on the East Side of Providence where I grew up!

I recently read Little Voices from the author and I had some second thoughts about the story’s direction and I couldn’t connect with the characters as well. But when I read her new book’s plot, it attracted my attention. I loved the theme: short term memory loss and finding yourself at the murder scene, are you framed or are you involved something shady kind of promising story- line! (I already used the same theme for short movie synopsis and some festival judges decided to give me award! But I wish they sent me cases of Chardonnay for my highly creative scriptwriting skills! Alas!)

Anyways, the book starts at the Jules’ bedroom. She is an ambitious CEO working on a big fundraising company and in her personal life she works as hard as she may endure to build herself a satisfying family life. But her one million dollar project’s celebration resulted with over consumed champagne hangover. Her head is pounding and her legs covered with scars. What the hell just happened last night? She cannot remember anything! How much did she drink? Who’s knocking heaven’s door? Hmm I mean somebody is banging their door nonstop! Who the hell is this?
Wow! Is this a police officer request her accompany him to the station? Why? Wait a minute, he holds a red wallet (classy choice Jules, I didn’t like you so far but you have trendy fashion taste!) in an evidence bag! He informs her that the wallet has been found next to a dead body. Jules feels like somebody pulled the rug from under her feet. Could the dead person be Terence Castle? They have been working for restorative justice practice which was going to be initiative project for the prisons’ reforming.
After her wallet is found at the crime scene, everybody start to treat Jules as a criminal including us because as we get some glimpses about the night crime occurred, we witness her unbalanced and alcohol fueled delirious actions. She doesn’t give us anything to hold on and believe in her innocence. She has a loyal husband and lovely child but after this incident, she loses her job and her reputation ruins and the people in her inner circle think her own father was also criminal and he was involved with someone’s murder, too. So apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.
Jules is so adamant to prove her innocence and she starts her own gin induced investigation but as soon as she learn more about the night Terence died and got more pieces about a tragic incident about her past, she realizes she shouldn’t have dug around if she couldn’t face with rotted and stinking pieces of her past.
Overall: I have second thoughts about the ending and I had hard time to connect with the heroine but I enjoyed the writing style and slow burning mystery keeping your attention alert. So another limbo read is going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars. I decided give 3.5 and rounded them up to 4 eventually because I enjoyed the story’s pacing and interesting plot line and of course restorative justice topic always intrigued my attention. It was much better reading than Little Voices for me.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas&Mercer for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

I received an eARC of For the Best by Vanessa Lillie from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
5 stars!!! This book is a gripping thriller that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat! I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it!

#ForTheBest #NetGalley #BookReview
Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas&Mercer for.providing me with Arc.
This is the first novel by Vanessa Lillie but i don't like it.
The novel is very very slow in the beginning, i don't feel excited or found any mystery. I returned a lot of pages to reach the final and guess what i know, juliet who killed Dr Castle, but in the end.
I loved the cover so much and i chose the novel because of it and maybe this is the reason that i will give this books 3 stars.

Waking up with a hangover with police at your door is not the best way to wake up - However, I found it hard to feel sympathy for Jules when she consistently fought her battles by turning back to the bottle - This was a fast paced read and kept me guessing until the very end - literally. This book was full of twist and turns which I like and I was able to read it very quickly because it kept me intrigued. I had never read anything by Vanessa Lillie so I will be looking forward to more books by her!

A fast paced thriller with many twists and turns. Jules is accused of killing a well known person and she does not remember anything because she was so drunk she had blacked out. She works hard to expose the truth but she has a very bad crutch, drinking. A very surprising end. I recommend this book.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

This book is different than the many others in this genre! It has classic elements of what makes a thriller great (flawed characters and a solid mystery), while bringing new twists and turns that will surprise even the most avid suspense reader! Fantastic writing and I loved the vlog aspect of this one. You don’t want to miss it!

Thank you to net galley for sending me a copy of this book for review. I was realy intrigued throughout this whole book. My only issue was that it seemed to tell us how to feel instead of show ya and I didn’t really like that. I would read more by this author!