A tragedy involving three teenage sons of lifelong friends remains an open ended mystery.

We know the end result, but we don’t know what happened or who, if anyone, is at fault. The sole survivor is so traumatized he can’t speak about it.

As each family attempts to grasp the shocking turn of their lives, at the heart is a story of relationships - between friends, family members, husbands and wives, sons and daughters.

I thought this may be too sorrowful to read during these stressful times, but an underlying lifting sentiment was surprisingly affected by the author. That’s talent!

This was a fast read and flowed easily.

My first novel by Lucinda Berry, but it won’t be the last as I’ve happened upon an impressive “New to me” author.

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Lucinda Berry for my advance copy.

The story was engrossing and compelling the characters were well defined and reliable. There was trauma, drama, tragedy, love, hate, and secrets (oh so many secrets. And the ending....didn't tune into that possibility until the last chapters. I wasn't a fan of THE PERFECT CHILD by Ms Berry and was hesitant about reading the The Best of Friends but am very glad that I did.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

A well developed story with interesting characters, it did take me a while to get into the story line so I am not sure I would read more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

After one explosive night, one boy is dead, one's in a coma and one's too traumatized to speak. Their mothers, best friends Kendra, Lindsey, and Dani, desperately search for the answers to the tragedy that upended their lives. But what they uncover might be more than they bargain for, especially given the lies they've been telling each other--and themselves.

I'm pretty much in the minority here, but I didn't like this one at all. Sure, it's well-paced with good writing, but I just couldn't wait for it to end. And I probably never would have finished it if I didn't feel obligated by the review.

Here's my issue: I hated everyone in this book (with the exception of some glimmers of understanding for Dani and Luna). I know characters don't have to be "likable," but these people were all just terrible. The kids were all brats and the mothers acted hideously and without empathy at all. In a book that leaves two teenage boys pretty much dead at the very beginning, I was expected to be immersed in the mothers' grief. Instead, because of the horrible ways they all acted (before the shooting and after), I had absolutely no sympathy for anyone.

The grossest thing (and there were lots), was the mom who pretty much giggled away one boy being completely drunk/drugged and potentially killing her son with an offhanded "haha I can't be mad because it was so funny when we were all wasted in college and always competed who was the best drunk driver. It's what kids do." Yeah, but no, drunk driving's not that funny, honey.

I'm sure others will love this one--it seems to have a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews here and on good reads, but subjectively, this was not for me at all. I'm going to go hide my face now, because it makes me so sad to negatively rate books like this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing this copy for review.

I feel this is way different than the previous books of hers. The others seemed to be more psychological thrillers than this. But this is a good book. Being someone that works with chemically dependent people she did a great job with these teenagers and the dangers of drugs. Good book. Lots of sadness and secrets.

As a parent, this book rang so true on so many levels. Three women, who have been best friends their entire lives are fortunate to have what many hope for...their children are close in age and also best friends. One night a tragedy occurs that will change all of their lives, and it will end others. As the book progresses, we are trying to figure out exactly what happened. The event will expose secrets kept even from the best of friends, test friendships and marriages and leave everyone scrambling. This isn't a fun read, but it resonates and has so many twists and the characters are so well done that you feel you know these families. This book drew me in from the first page, already had me completely hooked by the end of the first chapter, and gave me one final twist at the very end. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Thank you to Thomas and Mercer and Net Galley for an e-ARC of this title in consideration for my honest review.

Wow, this book is an emotional roller coaster. Be prepared for a heartbreaking read, especially if you are a parent. The story revolves around three women who are best friends, and their teenage sons, who are also best friends. A tragedy occurs that damages the lives of all of the families in so many ways. Kendra's son Sawyer dies, Lindsey's son Jacob is in a coma, and Dani's son Caleb won't speak a word, even though he is the only one that truly knows what happened. Because the events of the accident are unclear, it leaves the families in a sort of purgatory, unable to properly grieve and move on.

Not only do the parents have to come to grips with what happened, but they need to find a way to support their other children and try to maintain normality with their spouses. It is of course too difficult and more than one marriage appears too broken to fix. As desperate as Kendra and Lindsey are to know if Caleb is responsible for what happened to their sons, they know he is suffering, as well, and don't want to push too hard, for fear that he will never be able to tell them the truth. Because the women are so close, they want to believe they can pull through this, but can any friendship survive such a tragedy?

It is a deeply emotional story that at times I had to step back from. There is so much sorrow and loss, but you keep hoping that somehow the characters will persevere. At times brutal and raw, this story makes you reflect on the strength of the human spirit and the love that guides you through the worst you will ever experience. Truly a story not to be missed.

It's a story between the grief between three long-time friends Lindsey, Kendra and Dani. They did everything together from toddlers to getting married, buying a house in the same neighborhood. Lucky for them their friends was expanded to their kids. Can their friendship be salvage after a death of one kid, another one in a coma and the last not speaking?

The connection between these friends was very relatable. It's something that as human could only hope for. The mystery behind the incident did not hinder the exploration of the friendship of these three women. It also did not hinder the exploration of each character and their family life. It has an easy read to it, with a hint of mystery. However, this book by Berry is very different from all of her other books. It's lighter and not so dark. Her other book was much darker, mentally. This book is all about connection and going through something hard even when you suspected your friend's child had hurt your child.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this fabulous ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an excellent novel that kept me literally entranced. The character depiction was on point and the story was fascinating and well developed.

Best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent’s nightmare when a tragic accident befalls their teenage boys, leaving one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatized to speak.
Reeling from the worst night of their lives, the three mothers plunge into a desperate investigation of the bizarre incident. How could something so horrible happen in their wealthy Southern California suburb?
They soon discover that the accident was just the beginning, and troubling discoveries lead to chilling questions: Do they really know their children? Do they even know each other? As more secrets surface, a fog of doubt and suspicion threatens to poison their families, their friendships, and the whole community.
With the illusion of happiness and safety long gone, these women must now confront the hazards of heartbreak, the consequences of jealousy, and the dangers of living double lives.

This started out a bit confusing, at least for me, with the different couples and remembering which kids belong to which couple. It had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what happened and who did what. I disliked a few characters mainly because of the description the author gives (and because some are really douche-y.) I was not expecting it to start out how it did, thought it would make a slow start but definitely not.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 by one of my favs, @lucindaberry22, did not disappoint.
Shocking intro: ✔️
Multiple POVs: ✔️
Trauma: ✔️
what the @&π% ending: ✔️
Best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent’s nightmare when a tragic accident befalls their teenage boys, leaving one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatized to speak.
Berry is a child trauma psychologist and that background gives her a unique voice. I've been a fan for a while now and I'm so glad I picked up this ARC on @netgalley. 🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴 5/5

THE BEST OF FRIENDS
BY LUCINDA BERRY

Lucinda Berry is a trauma specialist psychologist. She is a leading researcher in childhood trauma. She openly admits that she uses her clinical experience to create disturbing psychological thrillers, blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction. I am not going to lie and say that this was an easy book to read because it most definitely was not. In fact, while I began reading this my stomach was churning and it felt sick and like it was churning. So much so, that I had to keep drinking coke to settle my stomach. Once I was reading I knew this was definitely not my kind of book. Still I pushed through it and forced myself to finish it. I did not enjoy it.

What I liked about the book was that it was short chapters. Did I mention I love short chapters? Each chapter is told from the three different mother's of these high school senior's points of view.

Kendra, Lindsey and Dani have been life long friends whom live close by in an affluent neighborhood, They and their husband's are jolted from their sleep to every parent's worse nightmare. Kendra and Paul's son Sawyer is dead. Lindsey and Andrew's son is in a coma and Dani and Bryan's son is not talking. Each set of parent's lives are irrecoverably changed forever.

Each set of parent's have their issues. All three wives and mother's try to put the pieces of the puzzle together to try and figure out exactly what happened. Their friendships are tested and they are on the brink of so much suffering that their pain jumped off the pages to me. This is such an excellent character study into how well do we really know our children. As I was reading I thought back to when a good friend of mine said to me that I probably never realized what my two son's did. They are 21 and 18 and after reading this I tend to agree with that cryptic warning. They are both out of the house and I don't have any idea what they are doing. I hope and pray that I never experience what these three families did.

Publication Date: August 18, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Lucinda Berry and Thomas & Mercer Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinion's are my own.

#TheBestofFriends #Lucinda Berry #Thomas&MercerPublishing #NetGalley

THE BEST OF FRIENDS
BY LUCINDA BERRY

Lucinda Berry is a trauma specialist psychologist. She is a leading researcher in childhood trauma. She openly admits that she uses her clinical experience to create disturbing psychological thrillers, blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction. I am not going to lie and say that this was an easy book to read because it most definitely was not. In fact, while I began reading this my stomach was churning and it felt sick and like it was churning. So much so, that I had to keep drinking coke to settle my stomach. Once I was reading I knew this was definitely not my kind of book. Still I pushed through it and forced myself to finish it. I did not enjoy it.

What I liked about the book was that it was short chapters. Did I mention I love short chapters? Each chapter is told from the three different mother's of these high school senior's points of view.

Kendra, Lindsey and Dani have been life long friends whom live close by in an affluent neighborhood, They and their husband's are jolted from their sleep to every parent's worse nightmare. Kendra and Paul's son Sawyer is dead. Lindsey and Andrew's son is in a coma and Dani and Bryan's son is not talking. Each set of parent's lives are irrecoverably changed forever.

Each set of parent's have their issues. All three wives and mother's try to put the pieces of the puzzle together to try and figure out exactly what happened. Their friendships are tested and they are on the brink of so much suffering that their pain jumped off the pages to me. This is such an excellent character study into how well do we really know our children. As I was reading I thought back to when a good friend of mine said to me that I probably never realized what my two son's did. They are 21 and 18 and after reading this I tend to agree with that cryptic warning. They are both out of the house and I don't have any idea what they are doing. I hope and pray that I never experience what these three families did.

Publication Date: August 18, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Lucinda Berry and Thomas & Mercer Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinion's are my own.

#TheBestofFriends #Lucinda Berry #Thomas&MercerPublishing #NetGalley

THE BEST OF FRIENDS
BY LUCINDA BERRY

Lucinda Berry is a trauma specialist psychologist. She is a leading researcher in childhood trauma. She openly admits that she uses her clinical experience to create disturbing psychological thrillers, blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction. I am not going to lie and say that this was an easy book to read because it most definitely was not. In fact, while I began reading this my stomach was churning and it felt sick and like it was churning. So much so, that I had to keep drinking coke to settle my stomach. Once I was reading I knew this was definitely not my kind of book. Still I pushed through it and forced myself to finish it. I did not enjoy it.

What I liked about the book was that it was short chapters. Did I mention I love short chapters? Each chapter is told from the three different mother's of these high school senior's points of view.

Kendra, Lindsey and Dani have been life long friends whom live close by in an affluent neighborhood, They and their husband's are jolted from their sleep to every parent's worse nightmare. Kendra and Paul's son Sawyer is dead. Lindsey and Andrew's son is in a coma and Dani and Bryan's son is not talking. Each set of parent's lives are irrecoverably changed forever.

Each set of parent's have their issues. All three wives and mother's try to put the pieces of the puzzle together to try and figure out exactly what happened. Their friendships are tested and they are on the brink of so much suffering that their pain jumped off the pages to me. This is such an excellent character study into how well do we really know our children. As I was reading I thought back to when a good friend of mine said to me that I probably never realized what my two son's did. They are 21 and 18 and after reading this I tend to agree with that cryptic warning. They are both out of the house and I don't have any idea what they are doing. I hope and pray that I never experience what these three families did.

Publication Date: August 18, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Lucinda Berry and Thomas & Mercer Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinion's are my own.

#TheBestofFriends #Lucinda Berry #Thomas&MercerPublishing #NetGalley

THE BEST OF FRIENDS
BY LUCINDA BERRY

Lucinda Berry is a trauma specialist psychologist. She is a leading researcher in childhood trauma. She openly admits that she uses her clinical experience to create disturbing psychological thrillers, blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction. I am not going to lie and say that this was an easy book to read because it most definitely was not. In fact, while I began reading this my stomach was churning and it felt sick and like it was churning. So much so, that I had to keep drinking coke to settle my stomach. Once I was reading I knew this was definitely not my kind of book. Still I pushed through it and forced myself to finish it. I did not enjoy it.

What I liked about the book was that it was short chapters. Did I mention I love short chapters? Each chapter is told from the three different mother's of these high school senior's points of view.

Kendra, Lindsey and Dani have been life long friends whom live close by in an affluent neighborhood, They and their husband's are jolted from their sleep to every parent's worse nightmare. Kendra and Paul's son Sawyer is dead. Lindsey and Andrew's son is in a coma and Dani and Bryan's son is not talking. Each set of parent's lives are irrecoverably changed forever.

Each set of parent's have their issues. All three wives and mother's try to put the pieces of the puzzle together to try and figure out exactly what happened. Their friendships are tested and they are on the brink of so much suffering that their pain jumped off the pages to me. This is such an excellent character study into how well do we really know our children. As I was reading I thought back to when a good friend of mine said to me that I probably never realized what my two son's did. They are 21 and 18 and after reading this I tend to agree with that cryptic warning. They are both out of the house and I don't have any idea what they are doing. I hope and pray that I never experience what these three families did.

Publication Date: August 18, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Lucinda Berry and Thomas & Mercer Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinion's are my own.

#TheBestofFriends #Lucinda Berry #Thomas&MercerPublishing #NetGalley

THE BEST OF FRIENDS
BY LUCINDA BERRY

Lucinda Berry is a trauma specialist psychologist. She is a leading researcher in childhood trauma. She openly admits that she uses her clinical experience to create disturbing psychological thrillers, blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction. I am not going to lie and say that this was an easy book to read because it most definitely was not. In fact, while I began reading this my stomach was churning and it felt sick and like it was churning. So much so, that I had to keep drinking coke to settle my stomach. Once I was reading I knew this was definitely not my kind of book. Still I pushed through it and forced myself to finish it. I did not enjoy it.

What I liked about the book was that it was short chapters. Did I mention I love short chapters? Each chapter is told from the three different mother's of these high school senior's points of view.

Kendra, Lindsey and Dani have been life long friends whom live close by in an affluent neighborhood, They and their husband's are jolted from their sleep to every parent's worse nightmare. Kendra and Paul's son Sawyer is dead. Lindsey and Andrew's son is in a coma and Dani and Bryan's son is not talking. Each set of parent's lives are irrecoverably changed forever.

Each set of parent's have their issues. All three wives and mother's try to put the pieces of the puzzle together to try and figure out exactly what happened. Their friendships are tested and they are on the brink of so much suffering that their pain jumped off the pages to me. This is such an excellent character study into how well do we really know our children. As I was reading I thought back to when a good friend of mine said to me that I probably never realized what my two son's did. They are 21 and 18 and after reading this I tend to agree with that cryptic warning. They are both out of the house and I don't have any idea what they are doing. I hope and pray that I never experience what these three families did.

Publication Date: August 18, 2020

Thank you to Net Galley, Lucinda Berry and Thomas & Mercer Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinion's are my own.

#TheBestofFriends #Lucinda Berry #Thomas&MercerPublishing #NetGalley

This book was fast-paced and interesting. I couldn’t put it down because I needed to find out what happened. I felt for all of the characters involved in this story. Overall, a really good story.

Five tragic, emotionally suffocating, heart ripping, soul shattering, tear jerking, extremely poignant stars!

This is book is about testing your friendships, being a mother and dealing with the grief and terrible loss. How far a mother goes to learn the ugly truth behind the loss of her child? Should she deny the facts to move on or should she still dig more till the terrifying truth comes out and destroy everything she has: including family, friendship and her reputation. I have to repeat famous quote of Jack Nicholson’s character at “A Few Good Men” movie screams at Tom Cruise at the court scene: “You cannot handle the truth!” But it eventually comes out!

An unthinkable tragedy hits hard the suburban lives and destroys everything the families build forever. They were divine members of sisterhood: Lindsey, Kendra, Dani who grew up together, aged together, became mothers and confidantes of each other. Their kids also befriended each other like their mothers did. But one eerie night, the gun blasts tear the silent night apart and too many terrible things happened at the same time. A big tragedy changed the lives of three kids of those close friends: One of them is dead, one of them is in coma and one of them is too traumatized to talk about what happened.

Kendra’s son Sawyer is dead and she cannot deal the fact tells them it is a simple accident. She knows this is so easy to accept. There is something more sinister about the night and as the investigation continues she becomes more frustrated. And Lindsey’s son Jacob is still in coma. Only Dani’s son Caleb may tell them what happened but Dani’s abusive, control freak husband prevents Kendra to talk with his son. So what happened that night? Did one of them try to kill the others or is the truth more complicated they can deal with.

Take a seat and flip the pages to get ready for heart wrenching, devastating and shocking ending. Minor spoiler alert: after truth comes out, three women’s lives will never be the same. They will be haunted with that ominous night’s events forever.

This is fast pacing, intriguing, well-developed, thought provoking, argumentative story is told by three women. They are both flawed and broken characters but it is easy to resonate with each of them separately. The story hooks you up and captivates your attention till the end. I was dying to binge watch new season La Casa Da Papel (Money Height)s new season but this book occupied me so I couldn’t put it down. My fingers were already glued and my mind was already addicted!

I haven’t read the Perfect Child which I read so many great reviews about it and after reading this amazing book, I’ll go back to my frightening Mount TBR and choose it ASAP! I’m so happy to be introduced with a talented author.

So many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas&Mercer for sharing this gripping ARC in exchange my honest review and true feelings.

Wowww!! All I can say is if you have read this author's other book and loved them you will love this one! As soon as I received the ARC I was excited beyond words to start reading it. I had to read it in one sitting cause I HAD to know how it ended omg just wait. You must read this book

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved Berry’s novel The Perfect Child and was very excited to read this one. It did not disappoint! Three women, all friends, have sons that are also best friends. After what appears to be a horrible accident with a gun, one of their sons is dead, another is in a coma. What happened that night, and was it really an accident?

I really enjoyed this novel. I couldn’t put it down - the writing was good and the plot was interesting. If I had any complaints, it would be that the three women kind of blended together in my head - I had to keep reminding myself which was which and whose son was whose. My patrons will really enjoy this mystery.

This is one of my top favorites! It was absolutely brilliant. Lucinda Berry lays out and weaves such an intricate tale of families, love, hate and secrets. I read this book in one day and cannot get it off my mind! So many soulful lessons here. The characters were so well developed that I felt like I knew them personally. The trials each family tries to survive, the swing from the minutiae of everyday life to those gut wrenching times we all pray we never have to face.
I laughed, got mad, loved and cried in this book. Wish I could give it more than 5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Do you really know what is going on in the day to day lives of your teens? You may think you do, but most parents live in a bubble of their delusional ,"don't rock the boat" reality. Three families that are close because of their mothers' friendship endure a tragedy that brings them together as they try to figure out the events of that horrific night. We don't know what really happened because the only teen that can tell us what happened that night cannot speak and suffers from severe trauma. The police and the families dig deeper to try to understand what happened that night and as they dig many secrets are unburied. The secrets revealed involve not only the teens but also the parents.I enjoyed this book so much. The twist at the end was icing on the cake!