Audiobook ARC provided by NetGalley. I enjoyed this audiobook so much, the narrator is new to me and she kept my interest throughout the book.

The story is about Kate who moves home to help care for her mother after a fall that resulted in her mother being wheelchair bound. Kate’s sister is mute after witnessing a murder years ago and after Kate’s return another murder happens, this time Kate’s best friend Emma is a victim. Kate must find out who is behind the murders before the town believes she’s the murderer.

*disclaimer: I received this as an ARC from netgalley. However, this is my opinion without any type of influence*

I enjoyed this book! I’d give it a 3.5. I listened to it as an audiobook. It was an easy listen : read but it is a little bit of a slow paced book. However, amazing plot and characters! I’d read more of this authors work in the future.

This book was told in dual timelines which I enjoyed as you could see both the past and the present as well as the way that the characters changed over the years. I found that this book was a bit slow and I didn’t really get into it until the last 40% which is when everything happened and several twists took place. I enjoyed the last few chapters of this book the most so I am glad that I stuck it out as I was not expecting the ending that happened.
I enjoyed the narrator of this book and it was easy to distinguish between the different characters and if the story was being told in past tense or if it was happening in the present.

Best Friends Forever is a psychological thriller set in Florida about a tragic event that occurred involving several teenagers and how the repercussions are still being felt ten years later. Kate and Emma were best friends but Kate moves away after the death of Brad in unexplained circumstances. She returns 10 years later after a distressed phone call from her younger sister, but things turn sinister when Emma is found dead.
This is a good choice for fans of drawn out, slow burn novels and it is full of twists and turns.

Whilst I liked this book, I am not great with names and lost touch with who was who for most of the book. My fault. So I was a bit confused as to what was going on in parts of the book. However, it was a good book. I was invested. The end is a twist which I only half saw coming, so all in all a good read

First, Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC audiobook in exchange for a honest review.
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Emma and Kate were the best of friends growing up, that is until everything in Kates world changed. A homeless man she befriended was murdered and her little sister, Lily witnessed it all, leaving her mute. Kate knows its all hew fault, she look Lily out with her that night; and in her mind her biggest mistake was entrusting Emma to protect Lily. Shortly after the murder Kate up and leaves her home town, only to return years later when her mother had a terrible fall causing her hip to break.
Once home Kate learns Emma died just a day or two after her return. As truths come to light Kate is forced to face not only happened that night in the woods all those years ago, but other sinister happenings she was completely unaware of.

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While some of the twists in this book were obvious to me from the start, some weren't and it made the read that much more enjoyable.

Ten years ago, while in the, Kate witnesses her friend, Emma standing over the body of a homeless man brutally murdered. Kate runs away and her sister, Lily left mute. Kate returns to town when she learns her mum has broken her hip and needs nursing. Coincidentally, Emma has just died from anaphylactic shock. Kate’s inquisitive mind starts investigating Emma’s death and the events of that tragic night and discovers some frightening truths.
A really fast paced, gritty thriller. Typically, a twist right at the end that will satisfy. The character details were in depth and really supported the story.

Kate is back in her hometown for the first time in a decade to help take care of her mother. She’s avoided everyone and everything to do with her old life, especially her ex-best friend Emma. Now that she’s back, she wonders if she needs to confront her in order to move on, but Emma is found dead the very day Kate arrives back in town. As Kate begins to wonder if Emma’s death was more than a simple suicide, other secrets about their past and that night in the woods come to light.

The premise of this work was interesting at first, but the more I read the less believable it became. The protagonist sees her best friend standing over a body with a bloody rock when they’re 18, so she runs away and never speaks to her, convinced that she’s a murderer. It wasn’t until 10 years later, when someone mentions it, that the protagonist thinks, “Oh, maybe she had a good reason for doing it, like self-defense? Or maybe I should have just talked to her at some point about it?” It goes beyond that to be even more absurd, but I won’t provide details as it doesn’t come up until later in the book. The author really tried to push Kate’s belief that her friend a was a murderer, and it wasn’t believable – unfortunately, Kate brought it up so much during the book that it was difficult not to get tired of it.

Most of the characters were lacking in depth and development, making it difficult to be interested in the mystery of the story. Kate had many interactions with her old friends/acquaintances, and they were largely interchangeable. Kate was difficult to like as she was just plain stupid for much of the book. And since the story is made up largely of her inner dialogue, we get to read over and over just how silly she is, though at least she’s consistent. Most of the characters’ motivations weren’t really explored or explained at all, which led to them feeling divorced from the plot. Also, the antagonists were revealed to be “bad just because they’re bad” or “bad because undisclosed mental illness,” which does not make for a satisfying explanation.

It was also obvious who the killer was from early on, which was a major disappointment. As the motive wasn’t revealed until the end, there was still a bit of interest for me, but overall, this negatively impacted my enjoyment of the read. I’m sure some folks will still enjoy this read, but I found it to be dissatisfying overall. My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for allowing me to read this work, which will be published on January 12. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Wow what an amazing book! I have to give it 4.5 stars, the audio is a really great way to feel the drama. I really love Kate’s character, she come back home after 10 years away and her best friend is murdered! This story has depth and history, I couldn’t guess who it was! I love trope’s like that. Very gripping and a fantastic murder mystery book.

Unfortunately I found it really hard to keep listening to this audiobok: the plot for the first half seems a dramatic story, rather than a thriller, one can hear about the musings and internal struggles of the protagonist with very little remarkable happening. There are a few plot twists/revelations later that don't really seem connected to the story, it's like they were added to spice it all up.
The characters are quite vapid and I found their interactions immature and unrealistic at times (maybe this book is more suitable for YA).

I also felt the narrator read the audiobok too slowly, with too long pauses, I had to speed it up to 1.25x.

thank you for the opportunity but i did not finish after listening to 30%. it was moving too slow for me.

I was really excited to listen to this book because the premise is something I usually enjoy reading. Cue- group of best friends in highschool witness the aftermath of a murder, they go their separate ways, and 10 years later are brought back together.

I enjoyed the book overall, although the narration made it difficult to determine who was speaking and what timeframe was being discussed. These are things that are easier to distinguish in a written copy - and that likely would have made a big difference for me. The narrator also sounded significantly older than the age of the characters - which for me took away from the believability and genuineness of the story.

Good twists at the end, even if it was a bit predictable. This was a relatively quick book to listen to, and I enjoyed the portrayal of each of the characters. The best part of the story for me was the last 10% where everything was tied together.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and netgalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This kept book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I didn't even suspect the ending. I thought I had it all figured out too many times, only for another twist to send me back into the guessing game. Good read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Shannon Hollinger, and publishers for exchanging this ARC for an honest review.

Incredible! I loved that it was fast paced, with a wide range of characters that intrigued me. The twists and turns were superb, and it felt even better having as an audio book! So so good!

Best Friend Forever was an amazing audiobook. I usually enjoy the digital copies or physical copies. But this audiobook was worth listening to. Obviously a brilliant thriller with some great twists. Highly recommend.

Honestly I enjoyed this book until the twist.
It kept me interested in the story the whole time I wanted to find out what happened in the past, the story was told in dual timelines which was great and I liked the audiobook but unfortunately I really hated the ending.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an AudioARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

🥀 Release Date: January 12 2023 🥀

3.5 Stars for Best Friends Forever

This was an Audiobook ARC read and it was a great psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns at the end.

Kate had to leave her hometown to escape memories of a horrible event that happened 10 years ago. With one phone call from her beloved sister she realizes she has to return to help her family.

It becomes evident that the event has left Kate unable to move forward with her life and so the book chases the truth and you are along for the ride.

I liked the ending and thought the plot was really creative. What was missing for me and why I didn’t rate it a 4? The character development was lacking a bit. I had a hard time seeing how we ended up where we did with the characters with little explanation as to why. There was just enough of an explain at the end but a bit more development would have made it more believable for me.

All in all, a good light mystery with some twists and turns!

⭐️Rating: 3/5
✍🏼Author: Shannon Hollinger
📖Genre: Psychological Thriller

Fast paced mystery thriller about two best friends Kate and Emma. They are both holding onto a secret from the past, then suddenly.. one of them ends up mysteriously passing away and the other is left to unfold what really happened to her best friend. As she starts investigating she revisits the secret from the past and comes across a bunch of other deaths surrounding her best friend. Along the way, there are plenty of twists and turns that you don’t expect.

The story is fast paced and follows a dual timeline so if you’re listening to the audiobook version- would advice to pay close attention so you don’t get lost in the now vs present. The narrator was alright , I feel that she was very bland and robotic at times and didn’t keep me engaged. The actual story is great though and look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookcouture for the advanced listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

What would you do if your best friend did something terrible? Kate and Emma were best friends their whole lives, practically sisters. Until ten years ago when Kate saw Emma in the woods, holding a rock over a dead body. Since the incident, Kate’s little sister has never spoken, too upset by what she witnessed. Kate left her hometown, trying to start fresh although she was always haunted by what she saw. When her mother is injured, Kate is forced to go back home and confront the past she has been trying to escape.

I listened to this story and although it started off slow, once it picked up the pace I couldn’t stop until I found out what happened! The way that Kate had to unravel her hazy memories of the past while she was trying to come to terms with her best friend in present day was an interesting way to tie the storylines together. Also, I had an inkling of how it was going to end, but that did not stop me from enjoying it one bit.

Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture and Shannon Hollinger for the ALC! “Best Friends Forever” releases January 12th!

This review will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) soon 😊

This book surprised me in a good way! I read a lot of mysteries, and at first I thought this one was a bit predicable, and I thought they were spoon feeding some of the messages to readers. However, every time I thought it was getting cheesy, I was surprised with an unexpected twist! In the end, I loved how it all turned out! I especially enjoyed how the author distinguished the past from the present by going from first person to third person narration. Now, I would love to read a sequel of the same story, but through Lilly’s point of view!