I really enjoyed this book as I love a novel with different viewpoints. Susannah has just moved to the small London village with her two young sons after a rather bitter divorce. Charlotte, who has four sons--two the same age as Susannah's--sees this as an opportunity to make a new friend with whom to share secrets and impress with her lavish lifestyle and handsome husband. The two do become fast friends but of course nothing is as it seems, and Susannah appears to be getting a little too close to Charlotte's charismatic husband Dan. We also get a glimpse of Susannah's past where she took drastic measures to eliminate her boyfriend's new woman. Neither of the two women are incredibly likable but that doesn't bother me in the least. It's a fast-paced read and I will definitely read more of Day's novels in the future!

In The Best Of Friends Susannah and her two boys are rebuilding their lives in the small village of Biglow. Newly divorced and harbouring resentment towards her ex for finding herself alone and financially constrained, Susannah is keen that her and the boys settle into this new, if less than luxurious way of life. The possibility of friendship comes in the form of Charlotte Hegarty, lady of the manor, married to the ridiculously handsome and super rich Dan. Charlotte wants for nothing in her life although unfortunately Dan’s wealth can’t buy them a more harmonious relationship. These two women couldn’t be more opposite with Susannah timid and self effacing and the glamorous Charlotte lauding her fabulous lifestyle over the rest of the village inhabitants yet they quickly become the best of friends. With their lives rapidly entwining, hints of troubled pasts that beset both women come floating to the surface reminding the reader that first impressions can be deceptive. What are the secrets this pair are so desperate to keep hidden and should you place your faith and trust in someone you’ve only just met?

The story of Susannah and Charlotte’s whirlwind friendship is told simply with chapters devoted to one or the other, allowing the reader a different perspective on their current and past lives. Almost immediately the storyline suggests one woman’s past could undermine the future of this friendship and/or that there may be more sinister motives behind insinuating themselves into each other’s lives.
Every range of emotion you’d expect to encounter in any psychological thriller can be found within this storyline with jealousy betrayal, secrets, lies and the desire for revenge complicating this so called friendship. It really is a simple case of keep your friends close and your enemies even closer as these two perfidious women dance around each other like opponents in a boxing ring. Three quarters of the way through when the author finally decides to increase the pace, the battle between Susannah and Charlotte truly commences. In keeping with the tennis theme present in these pages, my mind conjured forth an image of an umpire taking turns to call “advantage Ms Hegarty” or “advantage Ms Carr.” Who will reign victorious? This question leads to yet another; will you even care? With both women extremely unlikeable they both become fair game!

Annoyingly whilst this is a nice easy read to curl up with there really are few, if any surprises to knock the reader off balance. The various clues scattered throughout this storyline are not as well hidden as I’d have liked and I found it way too easy to guess the secret Charlotte is desperately trying to hide from her husband Dan. As for Susannah, details of her background and past relationship history allows the reader to jump straight to the correct conclusions which is such a shame as I wanted the author to confuse, mislead and surprise me with a knockout ending. Instead it’s predictable, lacking in the requisite tension and thrill elements so reluctantly I can only rate this as disappointingly mediocre. On a slightly more positive note despite the lack of ambiguity and obfuscation I still found myself racing through the pages, unwilling to give up on the storyline until I’d read the final words, even if only to confirm my original suspicions. Ok, these thoughts may not amount to a ringing endorsement of this thriller ( think more along the lines of psychological drama) but there are far worse books you could spend your time reading, in my opinion. As this is also the first book I’ve read by this author, I feel I wouldn’t be averse to investigating her back catalogue on the basis I found the writing style easy and undemanding. My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

Unfortunately this book didn't stand out to me in any way. I was able to finish it just says something but it wasn't an OMG book. I still recommend reading it.

I received an advance copy of, The Best of Friends, by Alex Day. I found the book and characters to be boring. Others might like this book though.

The Best of Friends was a fun and entertaining read complete with enough mystery and plot twists and turns to keep me engaged and wanting to read more. Once I started I really did not want to put the book down and was happy that I could devote the day to reading it.

Susannah and Charlotte strike up a friendship and while they both bring their own past to the relationship they quickly find that they are able to be themselves with one another and share in life's ups and downs. However - both of them are keeping secrets from each other that are bound to affect their friendship.

This author writes a really good story -complete with complex characters with just enough description to be able to imagine them in your head. I really felt like I knew the main characters by the end of the book .

While some might think the plot is predictable (and it was in some instances) there was enough of the "whodunnit" in the story to keep me reading and enjoying.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author and publisher for a free copy for my honest review.

This was an interesting read.
The narrative was really good and the plot had plenty of potential.
I really disliked the characters but I just had to keep reading to try and figure out what would happen or if my opinion about them would change.
There were some twists in the story but some parts were a bit predictable.
I felt like the book was a bit slow paced but started picking up at the end.
Although it wasn’t one of my favourite books I would still recommend it and am quite curious to read more about the author as I think the writing style is interesting and promising even thought this book didn’t manage to grab my full attention.

Thank you #Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for allowing me to read this ARC. The blurb sounded great, but I had a tough time with the book. None of the characters were likable at all. It made it hard for me to read because I didn’t care about any of them. The story was good even though I knew who did it. People who don’t need to like or sympathize with characters would like this book. I’m sorry, it was not for me.

Five stars is just not enough for this book. Utterly fabulous mystery with plenty of suspense. Wonderful writing, unique plot and the characterizations were great. I had to finish it one sitting as I simply could not put it down. Highly recommend

The Best of Riends by Alex Day, published by Harper Collins UK and One More Chapter is a mystery thriller stand-alone.
Meet Susannah, she's a divorced mother of two who had to start over. New city, or rather new countryside, still an outsider.
And there's Charlotte, mother of four who has her own agenda.
The storyline is full of unexpected twists and turns with no real hea and had me guessing till the last page. Charlotte is the perfect anti-heroine and I really really disliked her fresh from the start.

Meh.. the writing was good but the story line was just flat. Took me several attempts to pick this one up as it just wasnt catching my attention. The ending was good the best part if the book as it seemed to start slow.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately it wasn't for me. The story wasn't gripping & felt very flawed with several plot holes It was also more of a dramatic than a thrilling book.

I thought this was an interesting whodunnit, two women with secret pasts. While I wasn’t surprised, the ending could have gone either way.

I really enjoyed reading ‘The best of friends’ finding it gripping and well written with a fantastic plot.

Lonely and broke, Susannah moves from London to a village location, freshly divorced and with 2 young sons to support. Through their children she strikes up a friendship with the glamorous Charlotte, a woman who seems to have it all. Charlotte is married to Dan - who with wealth, charm and good looks, turns heads wherever he goes. Susannah is not immune to his charms and enjoys spending time with both Charlotte and Dan.

It becomes clear that Susannah has a dark past and Charlotte has a few secrets of her own. Are these 2 the best of friends, or just really good actresses?! All becomes clear!

The narrative alternates between Susannah and Charlotte, with the
narrative of Charlotte voiced directly to Susannah, which I found refreshingly unusual, and utterly menacing! It instantly lead to the perception that something in the friendship between these 2 women isn’t as it should be!

Only during the last few chapters do we discover exactly what is going on, and with a few fantastic twists there really isn’t a dull moment!

For keeping me utterly entertained I don’t hesitate to give this book 5 stars!

My thanks to Net galley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I couldn't get into this book. This is a new author for me and I thought I would give it a try. Unfortunately nothing hooked me so i gave up early.

Susannah has had a tough year. She’s had a bad divorce that left her with nothing. Moving to a small town in England is what she and her boys need.

Charlotte is delighted when Susannah moves in. She appears to have it all, perfect house, husband and kids. The only problem is, Charlotte is lonely.

The two become instant best friends. Friends that don’t tell each other everything. There are a lot of lies, betrayal and secrets. When the truth comes out, not everyone will live to tell the tale.

The idea of this book was good. Both characters are equally unlikeable and cuckoo which would normally make for some fun. However, this felt a big stretch, and very predictable. It felt like it went on and on and than wrapped itself up with the last 20 pages like a lifetime movie. 😖 The writing style was well done and like I said , the thought was there. Unfortunately this didn’t do it for me. I hate leaving bad reviews because at the end of the day, a book written is a tremendous feat and one I’ve never done so I do truly respect all efforts.

Thank you to Netgalley and One More Chapter for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

2 STARS

Unfortunately, I would not classify this as a Mystery/Thriller, as it was more of a women’s fiction/drama. It wasn’t great of a plot. I didn’t enjoy the characters. It seemed boring and messy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, and Alex Day for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published on April 8, 2021.

OMG. This book was fantastic!! I was so happy when I got approved for it because I just knew it was going to be a crazy one! Such a great thrill and the characters are awesome.

This book took a long time to really get going- it was way too slow for me and only got exciting towards the end by which time I was no longer interested. The ending was not twisty enough either and had no major surprises. It is just an average book.

Great psychology thriller. I absolutely loved these characters. The plot was great.
Susannah is rebuilding her life… and Charlotte seems to have it all…
Someone is not who they seem to be! What happens is crazy and you won't need it coming

I expected this to be a psychological thriller, but to me it seemed more of a story about a complicated (and toxic) friendship. I kept expecting plot twists or to be completely caught off-guard, but unfortunately there were no impactful moments. Even the very ending, which I think was supposed to be a surprise, was underwhelming.