POV ~ single 1st
Featuring ~ debut, dual timeline ~ now & then, infertility, IVF, pregnancy, miscarriage, infidelity, secrets, lies

Evie and Alice were, you guessed it, best friends when they were teenagers. What a toxic relationship that was. Now 20 years later, Evie is heading back to London from Boston for work and reconnects with Alice and her husband, Jake, who also just so happens to be Evie's high school boyfriend.

Both characters seem unreliable, but since we only have Evie's POV it's hard to know for sure who is the psychopath, or if they both are. The 'then' timeline was sometimes written as if she was living it and sometimes as a flashback, which seemed odd to me.

Evie and Ollie struggle with infertility. Always a difficult topic, but I liked that Evie did not hide her struggles. Alice was so insensitive complaining about her 3 kids and (view spoiler), which just goes to show how toxic this relationship was.

Overall, a good psychological thriller. There was a good twist and another guessable one that the other side of it gives the ick factor. The pace was more on the medium side with not really edge of the seat moments, but a decent debut nonetheless. Not sure if I love how the ending played out, but I did like the epilogue. I'd for sure read this author again.

Side note ~ both characters are described as blonde, so why does the cover look like they are brunettes?

Evie lives a lavish lifestyle in Boston and she hangs out with a group of mothers who is up on the latest of everything and lives an Insta perfect life and Evie is seething with jealousy. Her and Ali are trying to have a baby but it seems she may want it more than he does. One night while drinking wine she looks up her old friend Alice. Everyone said how beautiful they were and how much they looked alike they live next-door to each other and their parents were all friends. Well at least Evie’s and Alice’s parents were because she didn’t know her father. After a hesitant moment she decides to send Allison a friend request she not only misses Alice but feels like she owes her especially when she looks on Instagram and she who Alice eventually married and had three boys with. Alice was always a woman in control and she always thought she was two steps ahead of the game and that no one could get over on her but this time while stroking her own ego it seems she may just have got beaten at her own game. This book is a barrel full of twist and I know people say that about thrillers but there were so many if you don’t pay attention you may just be confused I almost was but I am going to be honest and say I absolutely love the spot. It is not your average ending but OMG is it a good one. I want to thank NetGalley and storm publication for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Best Friends

What I liked:

I love reading about problematic relationships with high octane women. Ambitious to their detriment. Secrets!

This definitely had secret dopamine.

I enjoyed it most when the plot was really ticking, which started around 60%

What I didn’t like:

It got a little long and pointed at the onset. The things it hinted it were a bit obvious, which made some of the reveals more lack luster. In fact, it seemed like Evie knew something that she was later surprised about, so that was a bit odd.

All in all, it was readable, had some twists (nothing too mind blowing), and the second half moved much, much faster than the first.

3.9 overall!

Not right for my tastes🙁

This psychological thriller missed the mark for me. Not that it was poorly written: I just did not sympathize or connect with any of characters (they all seemed like a bad lot, sort of deserving of each other) and the build-up is rife with little hints and half confessions that I just found frustratingly too vague.

The story includes flashbacks to Evie, Alice and Jake's childhood when the bones for their relationship were set. This was not a title that I could not put down; I had to push myself to the finish. It's all told by one narrator, Evie (one of the two "best friends"), and she's hardly a reliable source of information so, by the end, I still was not sure I could believe what she revealed or what actually occurred!

Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

TW: miscarriage, fertility issues, child abuse, infidelity

Have you ever had a toxic and combustible friendship? These friendships are obsessive and dangerous. I did once. It was not this insane but honestly it could have been. We had a best guy friend too who was wrapped up in it all.
I looked her up recently and I am so glad I was not tempted to make contact. This amazing scary book gets crazier as you read on. I can't even get into it without spoiling something. Read this one for sure.

Evie and Alice are best friends. They live next door to each other and are inseparable. Evie’s mama is quite otherworldly and Evie is often left to fend for herself. Alice’s parents are always on call when Mama decides to take off with her latest man.

Alice and Evie get up to all kinds of mischief, with Alice always getting Evie to take the blame. When one stunt ends in tragedy, Alice is quick to point the finger, which results in Evie’s life changing forever.

Twenty years later, a chance encounter at a conference brings all Evie’s memories flooding back, and, like an itch, she can’t leave well alone.

This was a very exciting reading ride, with plenty of twists to the plot. Some were a little obvious, but that didn’t spoil the enjoyment, and the ending was good, with a little seed of doubt planted in there!

There are some continuity issues, and at times conversations had to be reread as unsure who was speaking, but apart from that, really good!

Thank you NetGalley.

This is certainly a story about friendship with a difference. I really enjoyed the book which I finished within 2 days. It was quite fast paced and i love when books switch from past to present. I didn’t feel the ending was predictable at all. The girls went through so much together in their youth, especially where secrets were concerned, but their adulthoods were so different. Definitely worth a read and i will undeniably pick another book by this author.

Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to read in exchange for my open and honest review. As always, my reviews will also be posted on Amazon, Goodreads and Waterstones and interaction on Facebook and instagram where possible.

Eve is struggling in her life in Boston, her husband seems to be straying and their IVF doesn't seem to take. When she attends a work conference she happens upon an old childhood friend from England and the memories are unleashed. Alice is everything she is not and Alice is the cause of Eve living on another continent.

Eve concocts a complex plan to plant herself back in Alice's life. Alice is welcoming but eventually shows her true colors. The question is - who is tricking who? Plenty of twists and turns and thrills in this very fast moving book. Sure to keep you intrigued and guessing until the end!
#stormpublishing #bestfriends #rebeccadewinter

Fast paced psychological thriller about a woman scorned and a toxic relationship.

The story begins as Evie’s marriage starts to crumble. She’s angry and rightly so! She feels like she’s been denied a whole life that she has strived to achieve and she’s surrounded by liars/fake personalities and quite frankly, bland people.

I loved the depth to which Winters describes her heart wrenching struggle of trying to become a parent. There’s a lot of truth behind these seemingly fictional words. Ones which I must admit found slightly triggering.

The book flip flops between THEN and NOW. Bringing you up to speed with the finer details of Alice and Evie’s toxic relationship and their respective upbringing’s. Needless to say you’d struggle to find a more sorrowful story to apply to a character than the ones in which these best friends have. They broadly cover all of the bases for a damaged or spiteful person.

I really enjoyed the book and it’s fair to say I was totally hooked and couldn’t put it down. That said, I found the ending a bit lack lustre compared to the build up throughout. A few of the twists I had figured out already as a lot of hints had already been made or suggested. And as nasty as the girls are, I really wanted them to be much more devious and artful in their planning of each others demise. I wanted to be utterly shocked and confused to have not seen what was happening. Sadly, for me at least, it just felt a bit too safe of an ending.

That said, I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fast paced, page turning thriller. And as the saying goes‘, keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer!‘

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

What a debut! I really enjoyed this tale of bitter sweet friendship that started as children and the reconnection between the two girls as adults.

A lot is hinted at, the back story for both however we are rooting for the protagonist and her marital struggles and difficulty to fall pregnant.

It's a perfectly spun tale of revenge which gets sweeter by the page and I'm sure this author will have a illustrious career.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me the opportunity to read.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this advance copy for my honest review. This book was full of twists and turns, and one of the best books I’ve read in quite some time. Highly recommend!

This book started with a bang that in itself carried me through the book. The main character had a complicated and traumatic past that was very well shown. However, I think the story lacked tension and build up you expect from a thriller novel. The pacing was off and I found the reveals to be a bit predictable. By the end, it was just reveals stacked on top of each other without a lot of reason for me to be invested in them. I think the very conclusion of the story was well done.

This book was a gripping, fantastic read. I read it in two days because I really wanted to know what was going to happen. This is the work of a talented author. It had me on the edge of my seat. The main character really was my favorite, I couldn’t wait to see what she would do next. I honestly can’t wait for the author’s next book!

This book definitely took me by surprise, it was better than I expected it to be. It felt like a dark 'Firefly Lane', with all of the twisty memories from the MC's childhood.
I think the book was brilliant at highlighting struggles in marriage, fertility and parenting as a whole. It did not falter once when it came to drawing attention to these unfortunately 'very common' issues in the modern world.
We really felt for Evie throughout but also Alice, and the ending was just fantastic. I found it difficult to predict what was next and I appreciate that as sometimes I figure it out and spoil it for myself, but this did not disappoint!
I did think the ending was a little choppy and I had to re-read a little to follow along with what was actually happening but I'd say that was the only downside.

Emotional Rollercoaster..
The utter toxicity that some friendships can generate is explored in this emotional rollercoaster of suspense, drama and murderous consequences. Effectively relayed by way of potentially unreliable narrators and with a fiendish plot populated with deftly drawn characters and a constant underlying vein of menace. As the reader is pulled into Alice and Evie’s friendship, the tension ratchets and twists come thick and fast. The reader may well not warm to these characters but that may well be the very essence of the tale.

I loved this book! What a twisted and dark friendship the pair have.
I was gripped from the start and raced through it.
The ending was outstanding. This is a book that I would certainly recommend, and is the perfect psychological thriller.

Wow that was a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

Talk about toxic friendship I'm not sure I've read one so twisted for quite a while

The dynamic between these two women is hugely compelling and the author does a great job with an unreliable narrator in order to keep you on your reading toes.

I didn't like anyone in this book if I'm honest but in a good way - love to hate characters are some of my favourites - what I particularly liked about this was I really didn't know where it was going.

Overall a tense and addictive read I'm more than happy to recommend.

I did enjoy this book and I’m sure it says more about me than the writer but I did get a bit confused at times between ‘then’ and ‘now’. It seemed to go a bit off-piste around 3/4 of the way and I didn’t enjoy the ending as much as I thought I would.

None of the characters are at all likeable which I don’t have an issue with, in fact I welcome it, but neither did I feel invested in finding out what was going to happen. After a strong start it got a bit convoluted towards to the end and then the twist lost any impact.

It’s a well written psychological thriller with interesting characters and an intriguing premise which just falls short for me.

Mesmerizing Tale of Love, Betrayal, And Revenge
This is the first book I have read by Rebecca De Winter's, and it was a riveting novel. The story alternates between the past and present slowly revealing secrets full of twists, betrayal, and suspense. As you find yourself engrossed in the story you find there are dark undercurrents that flow through the lives of each of the characters.
This psychological thriller gets more sinister as the story moves along as dark secrets are slowly revealed, with snippets from the past and the present.
Best Friends which is very doubtful is a fantastic thriller and the ending does not disappoint. This book is for readers that likes a good thriller and I look forward to reading more books from this author. Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. Two best friends in childhood. They find each other later in life. But can they get past what happened years ago? This book was fast paced, I loved it!