I have no doubt that this will be on my top 10, maybe even top 5 list of BEST BOOKS OF 2020.

I was gripped by this story of Kendra, Dani and Lindsey, who have been best friends forever! Now they have children of their own, and each of their teens are best friends to each other. One night, a horrific event takes place while the teens are hanging out. One ends up dead from a shotgun wound, another is in coma due to a shot to the head, and the other is alive but seemingly unable to talk and explain what happened. This creates a domino effect in the lives of the three women and their families.

This is an unputdownable drama that doesn't stop pulling you until the very last page, which has a surprising little twist. The beautifully smooth and descriptive writing by Lucinda Perry makes a great reading experience and very difficult to set the book down. I absolutely loved THE BEST OF FRIENDS, and can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, author Lucinda Berry, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Best of Friends is a heart-wrenching, visceral story of friendships, dark secrets, and tragedy that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Three teenage boys, who’s mothers have been best friends since they were kids, are involved in a tragic sleepover that leaves one of them dead, another in a coma, and another in a catatonic state. What follows is the unraveling of decades-old tensions between the mothers, family secrets, and powerful teenage emotions in a story that is told brilliantly through narratives by each mother in alternating chapters. This is a book full of tension and suspense, as one mother relentlessly tries to learn what happened that night. Powerful 5 star read.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book is based on the secrets that people carry. Three long time female friends find plenty of secrets when their three sons face a catastrophic incident that leaves one son dead and another brain dead. What happened with their sons? What secrets were they carrying? What secrets are the friends carrying?

This is a challenging book to read as a mom, particularly as a mom to a teenaged boy but a good one to make you think about what you don't know.

The families of 3 best friends are forever changed when a terrible accident takes the life of a high schooler. As everyone tries to come to terms with what happened they start to wonder if it was really a tragic accident, or if there is more to the story.

This book held my attention from the very first page. I read half of it in one sitting. After the first half I could kind of tell where the story was going and figured out one of the "twists", but it was still an entertaining read and one I definitely recommend. Since 3 families were involved it took a little bit to get them straight, however once I did there were definitely ones I was rooting for and ones that were extremely unlikable. This is my first book by Lucinda Berry and I will be reading more from her.

This book kept me up half the night! It was so good and I had to find out what happened at the end. I keep wondering if the title "The Best of Friends" refers to the moms or the teenage boys. In either case, it fits the bill. I was not able to predict the ending and reading all the details was captivating.

The Best of Friends wasted no time in grabbing my attention. The action starts in the very first sentence and doesn’t let up from there. I was captivated, wanting to know what happened, to whom, and why.

Kendra, Lindsey and Dani have been best friends since they were children. They grew up, married, moved close to each other, and had children. Their sons, Sawyer, Jacob and Caleb also became best friends, and life was pretty good for everyone. Except that it really wasn’t. There were secrets in each family that just didn’t seem that important, until one of the boys dies from a gunshot wound, one is left on life-support, and one is intensely traumatized. What happened?

The parents, grief-stricken and looking for answers, find their worlds spinning out of control. As they work with the detective to get to the bottom of that horrible night of the shootings, other problems in their lives start to become important, and their eyes are opened to things kept buried or never known until now.

I was intrigued with this story from beginning to end, as the author, Lucinda Berry, releases only small tidbits throughout to let you know what might or might not be the answer to the what, who, and why of everything. I was never able to figure out exactly what happened until she made it clear, and even when I finally learned the truth, there was one more surprise at the end that I never saw coming.

There were so many pieces to this story, and the author tied them together skillfully, never losing my attention. What a gripping tale!

My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Friendships can be tricky, especially in a group of three and this book illustrates that perfectly. One person always feels left out; two are always talking about one; two are always closer with each other, and there's always a bit of competition for attention. I really enjoyed all the sub-stories that gave more depth to the main story as well.

The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry is another pulse-pounding domestic drama from an author who has cemented her place on my must read list. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of Ms Berry's work, and this latest is no exception.

On a tragic night in Southern California, three teenage boys are involved in an unfathomable tragedy. Left to deal with the fallout are their mothers, who also happen to be lifelong friends. Told from the alternating perspectives of each of the women, Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani, secrets begin to emerge from behind the closed doors of each devastated family. How well do we ever really know our closest friends or, in many cases, those who share our homes?

This is a heart-wrenching read that I tore through over the course of a single afternoon. Its weighty, gripping subject matter will linger long after the final page has been turned.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC.

TW: spousal abuse, gun violence, alcohol/drug abuse
There's nothing quite like a "they look perfect but aren't" story. After getting past the confusion of who's married to whom and which child belongs to which mother, this was a book I couldn't walk away from. The chapters are short enough to be read in snippets, but fast-paced enough to warrant you reading until the early mornings.
I enjoyed the family dynamics, but felt too much of the friendships and relationships relied on "we've been friends forever" lines instead of actual scenes demonstrating their relationships. The ending was both satisfying and heartbreaking (but I wish there could have been more development on the "why" there).
Remind me never to move to the suburbs...

An advance copy of this book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for an unbiased review. The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry creates the premise of three women whose sons are adolescent best friends in the same suburban neighborhood and an unimaginable tragedy occurs among the three young men. The remainder of the book deals with the fallout from this tragedy.

I wanted to like this book; one of my favorite genres is domestic noir involving legal entanglements. However, I was continually pulled out of the story by the unnecessary descriptive background scenes. Additionally, I found the male characters to be flat and shallow, essentially foils upon which the primary female protagonists could react. The primary characters' actions were so over the top that the characters themselves were not believable or relatable.

The idea behind this novel is excellent and thought out well. I would have loved to see the characters' underlying motivations realistically portrayed.

Serious book hangover! This book has everything! Believable flawed characters drive this suspenseful novel. Three close knit families, a tragic accident and the heartbreaking fallout. This is my first read by Lucinda Berry, but it won’t be my last. #grabahanky

The Best of Friends
by Lucinda Berry
Thomas & Mercer
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 18 Aug 2020 | Archive Date 01 Sep 2020

One of my best reads so far in 2020. Thanks to Thomas Mercer and Net Galley for the ARC. I couldn't put this book down. I had to see how the long time friends resolved this trauma.

Great book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for my electronic ARC in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 stars

The plot centers around 3 high school boys and a deadly shooting. The whole book we are reconstructing what happened to get to the truth of who shot who. All of these families know each other and there are a lot of secrets. The problem is I just wasn’t invested in any of the characters to really care about them. I did not think it was the page turner it was made out to be.

Review also posted on GoodReads.

Lucinda Berry does it again! This is the store of what happened one night between three teenage boys who’ve been friends their whole lives. One boy is dead. One is on life support. The third hasn’t spoke a word since that night. As you read, the story unravels and there’s many secrets below the surface that are revealed. Very very good read.

Kendra, Lindsay and Dani have been best friends since childhood. All 3 have sons close in age that are also the best of friends. They are all living what seems to be idyllic lives until one night a terrible event with the boys shatters their lives forever. As the mothers try to figure out what happened that fateful night, secrets come to light and they all see that things are never as they appear to be. This book was heartbreaking to read and will make me hold my kids a little tighter.

Initially I was confused with all the characters in the beginning, but I soon embraced the 3 families who suffer a terrible loss with their children. The book is a complex and layered story with so many twists and turns.
Loved the story.v It grips the reader from the first chapter. It will definitely be a best seller.

I loved this book. It was emotional and raw and really made me sad at times. The characters were very well written. I am glad we found out what happened in the end and I also enjoyed the little twist on the last page.

One of my biggest pet peeve book-wise are the women who are being abused by their husbands/boyfriends but still keep on giving excuses to themselves to stay.
There are a lot of foolish decisions following this situation and it makes me so pissed off that someone will write women characters portrayed as this weak and stupid. It's not fair.

Anyway, this was a story with a full-on family drama.
A lot of unexpected surprises that somehow made this an interesting read.

5 heartbreaking stars.

Lucinda Berry knows what the F she's doing.

She's quickly becoming an author that I immediately add whatever her new book is to my 'to-read' shelf. I don't even bother reading the description, I just see Lucinda Berry wrote it and I'm already in.

This book, per usual was sososososososoooooooooooooo good.

This story revolves around the friendship of three women. These women have been best friends since high-school, live on the same street, and their three sons (all the same age) are also best friends. A tragic incident happens leaving one son dead, another in a coma and a third one completely traumatized to the point where he cannot speak or function. The story however is not about the incident, it's about the friendship of the three women and the secrets that threaten to break their life-long relationship.

The thing I really love about Berry's books is how raw she writes her characters. Being a woman reading this book, I was in awe of how accurate she portrayed the friendship of these women. There is such a deep love among them, but also deep-rooted jealousy and resentment. Berry has a way of creating characters that are so insanely realistic that when you're reading her books, you often feel punched in the gut because she writes the things that you feel guilty for internally feeling.

This book is heartbreaking in so many ways. It's also ridiculously intriguing and thought-provoking. This book gave me huge Big Little Lies vibes, except this is better.

I highly recommend this book - or any of Berry's books for that matter.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC and wanting my honest opinion.

This is the first book I have read by Lucinda Berry and I am hooked! I read this book in virtually one sitting and was truly unable to put it down. Loved how the story was told in alternating voices - these ladies seem like people I could be friends with. Having teenagers, the book was so much more relevant and timely. Loved loved loved it and I cannot wait to recommend this book when it comes out! I thought the twist at the end was amazing and would love to see a sequel! Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.