If I told you I was prepared for the emotional turmoil this book put me through, I’d be lying! I’m warning you now, get your tissues.

I’m disappointed in the GoodReads rating on this book. I respect the fact that everyone has different opinions so mine is….do not choose whether or not you want to read this book based on its GoodReads rating.

The dialogue structure is unusual because there are no quotation marks and you’ve got to use context clues to determine who is speaking at times. It did bother me at first but I quickly got used to it for 2 reasons. 1) it’s back and forth. One line Kate, one line Bella and so on. 2) The two main characters have such different personalities that it’s easy to discern who is speaking as you move through the story.

Following Kate and Bella’s life from age six to eighty-two, we get a rare look inside an entire friendship. Their different personalities and life choices cause some tense situations and their bond is eventually tested. Can a true friendship last a lifetime? Or does there come a point where you stay in each other’s lives out of nothing more than habit?

This story is suspenseful and shocking but also heartwarming and gut wrenching. I recommend reading it if you are a fan of:
❤️ domestic suspense
💙 short chapters
❤️ unexpected endings
💙 deep content hidden behind page-turning prose.

Thank you to @netgalley @minotaur_books and @author_jessicafellowes for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur/SMP, and Jessica Fellowes for an ARC of this book!**

Have you ever seen a broken Merry-Go-Round?

(stay with me)

I personally haven't, but I can sure imagine it. Horses sort of popping up and down in a disjointed way, at odd intervals that don't match the ride music, which also might sound terribly out of tune. Not to mention of course, since the horses are already in a circle, they aren't going anywhere...and neither will you.

That is EXACTLY the sort of mindless and 'why am I still doing this' feeling I got while reading The Best Friend.

This story focuses on the all-consuming, 'toxic' friendship. Kate is supposedly gregarious and dangerous while Bella is sensible and cautious. (I could not have actually told you that until I re=read the publisher's blurb after finishing this. To me, the characters read like they were pretty much the same person). We start early on in life (at 6!) and somehow work up till these ladies are 82, going through life events along the way, most revolving around boys and later, men. There are plenty of parties and we learn Kate is an actress and Bella is a painter. (Maybe this is how one is gregarious and the other isn't? I honestly can't tell you.)

Perhaps the PRIMARY reason these women (and frankly, most of the characters) are impossible to tell apart?

No. Quotation. Marks.

Not only that, but the characters are written so similarly, if one didn't mention the name of another or another identifying detail, it was WORK to figure out who was talking...and their conversations were so snooze-worthy most of the time, I didn't really care to find out. I don't necessarily HATE this device (though I haven't had good luck with it thus far) but I just don't understand why the author used it in this book. Was this supposed to be the 'mystery' of the book?

Because the other half of my problem with this one is that it is VERY clearly marketed as a mystery/thriller...and once again, like so many others with a leading cover and blurb...thrilling it is not. The only event befitting of that sort of characterization happens when the book is almost over, and isn't particularly thrilling in the way it is presented. It didn't really matter 'whodunit' or even what the 'it' in whodunit was...I felt like it made very little impact on the relationship between Kate and Bella, and ostensibly, that's what this book is about.

Some friendships are truly toxic...and some are just forgettable. This one (and this book) unfortunately managed to be both.

2.5 stars

If you like friendship dramas, then this book is for you! I enjoyed reading about Bella and Kate’s friendship and how it evolved in both good and bad ways over the years. They lose touch, reconnect, and are both navigating marriage and motherhood. There are some suspenseful moments, but I was hoping for more thriller vibes. I felt like there were times during the conversations that you had to pay careful attention to know who was speaking due to the format. There are some things left unanswered and I felt like I was a bit lost in different parts of the book. You’ll kind of have to read in between the lines to decipher what’s going on at times. It was a fast read for me!

Thank you so much Minotaur Books for the gifted copy.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Bella and Katie are best friends from the time they’re six years old, but the challenges of growing up and navigating adult lives and relationships—including dark betrayals—repeatedly pull them apart and push them back together.

I’ve been describing this book to all my friends as "NORMAL PEOPLE but with murder” and I honestly think that’s the best possible description. Given that NORMAL PEOPLE is a massive bestseller with a ton of loyal fans, the description is definitely a compliment…except I’m not actually *one of* those loyal fans.


So, suffice to say, I am unfortunately somewhat middling on this one. On the one hand, it’s super unique and some of the prose is beautiful. It was also an incredibly fast read—I polished it off in less than 24 hours. I also appreciated the commentary on friendship and the entire concept of having a “best” or oldest friend who knows you better than anyone.

On the other hand, it had the kind of plot structure I *really* struggle to connect with, and I wanted a lot more resolution from the ending than I ultimately got. I also feel like classifying this one as a mystery/thriller is way off, though I understand why some would say it falls on that side of the line.

And so, overall — far from a bad read, but also far from a favorite.

Recommended if you like: NORMAL PEOPLE; literary fiction with unorthodox plot structures; reflections on female friendships.

CW: Sexual assault/rape; suicide attempt/self-harm; gun violence; death of a child; drug use/abuse; emotional abuse/manipulation; infidelity; mentions of child molestation.

I'm at a loss with how to rate this. Did I love it? No. Did I hate it? No. I just sort of read it, took it in, and moved on. It wasn't thriller-y, or suspense-y or really anything-y. It was written in a strange style, which I think was the intention, but it didn't necessarily work for me. We get a glimpse of these women at various ages throughout their lives and how they move in and out of each other's orbit, and just how toxic their relationship was an continued to be. You never really spend a lot of time with them getting to know them at any of the ages, and while you are a certain time of their life, a few frosty nuggets of knowledge are doled out to piece the story together.

This book was written in a unique format. I’m one to shake things up and try new things - but someone must have said this book just didn’t work? Surely they did right?!?! This book was mostly written in the form of a conversation, one line sentences back and forth - for pages. It was super hard to follow. I thought maybe audio would be better, but that wasn’t the case either.

This book was about a toxic friendship that started at a young age, and sporadically picked up along the main characters lives. Some of the book wasn’t conversational, but told from Bella point of view. The story was so dysfunctional and the friendship was so toxic that it was hard to figure out how these people kept coming back to each other. Thankfully the charters finally died and the book was over.

This story was as dysfunctional as this book. Nothing about it worked. Also, why this book was labeled a thriller is beyond me, it was more of a contemporary fiction. I really wanted to like this one but I can’t find anything I liked about it. Better luck next time.

I do want to extend my thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy. Sometimes I find amazing books and am always on the lookout for more - that’s why I love receiving books from netgalley so much. This one wasn’t it, but the next one probably will be!

"Reminiscent of Sally Rooney" unfortunately here just means not using quotation marks. Really intriguing premise, but just didn't quite work meshed with Fellowes' writing style.

There really is a thin line between love and hate.

This a a dark and suspenseful read by Jessica Fellowes.

The story follows Bella and Kate and their friendship from childhood to old age. The writing style took a little time to get used to. I can understand the mixed reviews. Definitely a uniquely written novel. I enjoyed this intriguing story of secrets, lies, friendship, and betrayals.

This was my first read by the author. I'm looking forward to going back through her previous books and looking forward to seeing what she writes next.

I saw multiple reviews which criticized the lack of quotation marks and the confusion it caused over who was speaking. I actually thought this was a unique characteristic that led to some of the over arching themes of the book.

Bella and Kate’s friendship spans time but is muddled with secrets, lies, and betrayals. It is then further tested by long stretches of time between their meetings and re connections. I thought the fusing of dialogue without quotation marks added to the sense of blurred lines and boundaries in their friendship with each other and relationships with others, but the book itself was SUPER dark and not uplifting in the slightest. Not necessarily knocking it for that, but man, it was a doozy! Going with 3 stars due to some stretches of slowness/ that I didn’t really love either of the main characters, but did think it was uniquely written and interesting overall.

This book had me hooked from the first page. The story is about female friendship but it has a brooding darkness to it which leaves the reader in suspense. Very well written, I couldn’t put it down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
3/5 STARS

I went into this book thinking it was a conventional thriller. It was not. It is written in mostly dialogue without quotations that makes it very confusing to know who is talking. This did make it a fast read on the plus side.

The story over all fell flat for me. The plot lacked substance. The whole time I was waiting for some twist that would explain the confusion but it never came. To me it was a story about best friends over the years and how they lost touch over minor things and then rekindled their friendship… more of a women’s fiction than mystery/thriller.

These are just my own thoughts and someone else might enjoy the writing style and plot, but it was not for me.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the advance reader copy! 👩🏼👩🏼‍🦰

Thank you NetGalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. First word that comes to mind is WHOA! This is the story of Bella and Kate who become friends when they are six. The story ends when they are old women. Their friendship is truly off and on. Bella thinks of Kate often though and feels awkward around her. Kate becomes an actress and seems to breeze through life. Until the two spend time with their children at Kate’s father-in-law’s house. The tension is palpable, coming off the page in small waves. Not enough to make you wince, but enough to make you want to read more. This book would be absolutely wonderful for a book club. Read this book

Wow! Great read by Jessica Fellowes. I loved this quirky writing style! So easy to read and get totally involved in. Amazing job on character development. This book hooked me from the beginning and really made me think. Very tough yet super tender.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

I really wanted to like this book. Toxic friends and secrets sounds good. But it just did not hit the mark. Luckily it was a short book.

Just an OK read for me. I LOVE the premise of toxic female friendships, but this one fell a little flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jessica Fellowes, Minotaur Books for the advanced reader's copy. I was unable to get into this book so did not finish. Perhaps I am not the audience for this kind of story.

HOLY HELL OF A BOOK!
Going on this journey of the friendship between Kate and Bella was a lot. You go from hating Kate so much to feeling so sorry for her at the very end as she has gotten old. Sadly, she was played as a very narcissistic person and it was just so sad to hear Bella agree with her on everything no matter what.

Kate and Bella were inseparable as childhood friends. But when Kate disappears after she moves away Bella does everything to forget about her. Fast forward to their 30s when a chance meeting brings up old feelings of the toxic friendship of teenagers. When Bella begins to question her marriage, Kate is there to help her pick up the pieces, or tear them further apart, depending on which way you look. Their toxic friendship spans an entire lifetime, and it leaves the reader questioning just how good of friends they actually are.

The synopsis and cover for The Best Friend had me instantly intrigued. However; I was sorely disappointed by the writing style and lack of quotation marks throughout the book. I was finding it hard to connect with the character storylines and unfortunately, was not able to finish this book after reading to the halfway mark.

This was a very slow burn type of book and the writing style would not agree with a lot of readers, I did finish this book, only because I was curious where the author would take the characters. Bella and Kate meet when they are six (the book chapters depict events at certain ages), the promise to be friends forever. A number of years pass and Bella has a crush on a boy, Peter, Kate gets his interest and Bella is upset. More years pass and Kate's family moves out of town with a promise from Kate to keep in touch, that doesn't happen. Many years later Bella tracks Kate down, she is now a stage actress and quite well known. At this point both are married with a child, Kate also is a stepmother to Randall a son from her husbands' previous marriage. At a party Bella and her husband were invited to at Kate's house, an incident happens to Bella that causes her much distress. Not long after that her husband leaves, something he has done in the past on occasion. Kate invites her to stay with her and engages her to paint a portrait of Randall. This causes memories from the party Bella had attended at Kate's house to surface and she has a hard time sorting through what is a real memory. The conversations at the beginning of each chapter are written without quotes so it's hard to determine who is saying what at times. This was an alright book and if you enjoy domestic/women stories you should enjoy it. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Minotaur for the ARC