Charlotte Vinge is the Keto Queen and known in Norway and beyond having multiple followers. She and husband Andreas now live in Wimbledon, London and through Andreas’ work her paths cross with that of Bianka Langeland, newly moved to London. The two hit it off straight away although they are wildly different. Charlotte and her two best friends holiday annually in Ibiza and Charlotte extends the invitation to Bianka. What should have been a fun, relaxing holiday spins out of control in a way none of them could have predicted. The story is told by Charlotte, Bianka and Bianka’s stepson, Storm.

I do like the premise of the novel with female friendship and forming strong bonds is done well. Clearly both women have issues from the past and that is murky but does inform much of the present day. The dynamics between the various groups is interesting but none of the characters are especially likeable which makes it hard to connect with the storyline. As it progresses lies multiply with revelations and secrets bubbling to the surface which gets intriguing and entertaining.

However, all of the above takes a long time to emerge. It is very slow and not especially riveting for the first fifty per cent. It takes awhile to figure out why Storm’s point of view is there and I think we could have done without it although one key thing does emerge from it. The three perspectives feels disjointed and lacks flow. There’s some dialogue with cringe factor as well as some that feels inauthentic. As for the ending, it makes my head spin for all the wrong reasons. Parts of it are ridiculous in my opinion and after all the build up it feels eagerly rushed to a conclusion.

Overall, Alex Dahl is a way better author than this rather average book so I’m left feeling rather disappointed.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Head of Zeus, Aries for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

I don't really know what to think of this one. On one hand it does have an engaging storyline with interesting twists and turns and characters you can't trust. However on the other hand I felt it was repetitive in parts and slightly confusing or convoluted with the best part of the book being when they're in Ibiza. However I could actually see this being a film as it has the right amount of action and suspense.

I stayed up way too late reading this as I had to see how it would end! It's that kind of book - really gripping plot and intriguing characters. At first I was disappointed it wasn't set in Norway as that is what I love about this author's books but after a while it didn't matter. It kept me reading and I loved the characters, almost all slightly over the top but still really believable. I really enjoyed the Storm parts too. This will be a great holiday read this year.

I was kindly given this ARC by NetGalley to review

I tried so hard to love this book. But it all just felt really rushed

This book needs to become a film! What an ending! I love the story, so many twists and turns. Obsession, coercion and murder. There were some dark bits! I recommend this one, a good ready whilst on the beach or by the pool.

I have previously read novels by this author and was excited to read this one.

I couldn’t get in to it, unnecessary detail and completely far fetched behaviour made it so hard to read or believe. I feel like it needed to be sharper.

This novel has a fascinating premise and the story didn't disappoint. What starts as a slightly sly look at the Scandi community in London and the 'influencing' trend turns into a dark psychological tale. The plot unfolds in a compelling way and the characters develop and increase complexity over the novel. Whilst occasionally far-fetched the story is engrossing and will keep you turning the pages. The ending felt a little brutal and again lightly far fetched but overall it was satisfying. I'll read more from this author.

This is very character driven and descriptive. A lot of the book, especially the start is just the lives of these characters with very little happening or much point. It does give a really clear insight into who they are though I guess

Once they get to Ibiza then it get a tad more interesting but its still a bit of a long haul and takes effort to stay engaged. A lot of the description is unnecessary and doesn't add anything to the plot. There was a bit of a twist but nothing to write home about and it does all just suddenly end which seems a bit abrupt after how ling the start of the book dragged on.

It's a good book, I liked the characters and the premise but the pacing is off and as a thriller I found it a but lacking. Maybe more as just a chiclit it'd be appreciated more

Oh I really wanted to love this book and I really did try to love this book. But it just felt a little bit disjointed to me. The blurb and prologue were really gripping and I really hoped that it wljld have gone throughout the book. But I think it lost its way a bit and lost the gripped feeling. I don't think it was helped that the part of Charlotte was written in the first person well mostly which was confusing in itself. But Bianca and Storms parts were written in the third person. I usually love these books where it is split into different character chapters. But because of the way it moved around so much it didn't work for me in this book. It was also rather slow. There were too many descriptions at some points but at other points it was rushed without much description and sometimes I think that the descriptions were used when the author didn't really know where the story was going so it was dragged out to fill out more space so that it was more bulky. Which wasn't great to be honest because it felt like the editing was a bit lazy so this should be fixed before it goes to print. There were big parts of the story that I really didn't think was necessary at all. But in contrast there were parts of the story that were way too rushed that could have done with a little bit more of the descriptions and more time spent on it.

I want to say that there were some good twists in this book and I didn't actually have it all figured out. I liked the last few chapters but really wish they had been drawn out over a few more chapters as it felt a little bit rushed and the ending just didn't do the last few chapters of the prologue justice and just felt unfinished and fell really flat.

I really liked the concept of the book and the prologue there were parts of the book that I did like and as I said there are some twists that I did like too.

I'm hoping my review gives the author and the publishers someplace to get better and think about and maybe change before it goes to print. I know the author can do better as there were some great bits of the book. I also think the publisher's could have been better with rereading the book and checking for errors and give the author more help with points where to change things. I'm sorry I didn't love it. But at least it's an honest review.

I was excited to read this novel by an author that I have never read their novels, but it really did not work for me. I could just not get along with the style of writing and found that my mind was wandering loads. Therefore I did not finish this novel, which I hate to do as I was like to try and finish a book.

Main character Charlotte, quite a famous woman meets Bianka, they quickly hit it off and are inseparable. They decide to go to Ibiza to get away from their lives and be free for a bit but not all is as it should be.

I found the story quite conflicted in areas and the characters seemed extremely flawed.

Thanks to Alex Dahl, Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Girl Friends was not quite what i expected.
I found it quite slow and put it down and went back several times.
Overall rather a disappointing read.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for my copy but sadly this just wasn't for me.

Thank you to Head of Zeus, NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of this.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get into this story and found it to be quite ridiculous at times. I found myself skimming through it. I have heard good things about the authors other novels so I will definitely check those out but unfortunately this one didn’t hit the mark.

I just could not get into this book. It sounded really good with lots of exciting things to come. But it was very slow; I didn't see a point really to the beginning, and just gave up. Not enough to grab my attention.

Girl Friends By Alex Dahl
⭐⭐⭐

I couldn't wait to get stuck into this book, after reading the blurb, and the prologue had me excited for what was to come.

Charlotte perspective was written mostly in first person, whereas Bianca and Storms mostly followed a third person pattern. This was the only part of the writing style I found a little confusing.
There was also points I was unsure why storm was a person of interest.
I found that the book was slow at first, it involved a lot of description and sometimes it did come across to descriptive, or that it was used to fill a gap.

When the book started to progress around half way through I was enjoying following the story of their time in Ibiza, however some parts did feel as if they could be left out. Between 3 perspectives I was really starting to form my own suspicions and I was shocked when I learned of some of the outcomes, I had been completely wrong.
Parts of the book almost felt rushed, I wish the last few chapters has started sooner, creating a more climatic end to the book, but I felt the ending fell flat and finished to suddenly.

I noticed a few spelling mistake which i know can happen in a book arc read and hope these have been passed on to the author and publisher

Overall I gave this book a 3/5 star rating. I really enjoyed the concept behind the book, the plot that had been created, but I feel that parts that really would build up the moment where rushed, Or there wasn't enough Suspense in those moments. I would like to thank Alex Dahl and the publishers for choosing me to review the book.