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Three girls share a room at a fancy boarding school in England. Camilla is the perfect schoolgirl, obedient and friendly. Loulou is the popular girl while Roz, the newcomer, is a rebel through and through. Fast forward ten years and things haven't changed much. Camilla is married and two children and a husband who cheats on her. Loulou has been married a couple of times and is still madly in love with Mac, her second husband, while running an exclusive restaurant. Roz is a television presenter, top of her game but with no attachments. She has tons of men but none she wants exclusively. That includes Camilla's husband with whom she is having a fling.

When Camilla finds out about the affair, she moves out and starts a divorce. Living with Loulou, she needs to find a job and becomes a housekeeper for Nico, a rock star who is one of Loulou's oldest friends. Over the years, the three women fall in and out of love, marriages happen and end, and they all search for happiness. Will they find it?

Jill Mansell is the perfect romance writer. Her characters are fun and people one would love to get to know. The men are handsome and attentive and everyone has tons of money and friends. The characters jump through tons of hoops to finally find happiness and half the fun is seeing how Mansell gets them from point A to point B. This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.

I typically love a good Jill Mansell book but this one wasn't one of my favorites. After reading some other reviews, I saw that it was a reissue of a past story, which I didn't realize. This plot line was just too dramatic for me, and it felt like it stalled at times without much happening.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Not up to Jill Mansell’s usual standard, and I gather that this is a reissue of an older book. It always feels like a con when publishers do this.

As another reviewer mentioned, this reminds me of a Danielle Steele book. I am so over that type of soap opera style book. I was excited with the thought of reading this book, but that quickly fell by the wayside. The characters are not appealing and just arrogant and irritating. While there are some difficult situations that are dealt with, because I couldn’t connect with the characters, I wasn’t invested in those situations. While well written, it was just not appealing to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Publishers for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

So much back and forth romance! I find myself rooting for certain characters and wanting to pull the hair of others. The one thing I didn't like was how much one of the characters focused on her weight, and how other characters said she was so overweight when she only weighed 150! Crazy. Other than that, an enjoyable read.

This was a book I was really excited to stick my teeth into but unfortunately, it fell a bit short of my expectations. While I still liked most of the aspects of the story itself it did seem a tad outdated. This made a bit more sense when I realized it was a re-release of an earlier version. The characters I found a bit harder than usual to get behind and although I still did finish the story fairly quickly, it didn't leave me with that wow factor that Jill Mansell books usually do.

Jill Mansell is one of my favourite authors. I had thought the title sounded familiar and hadn't realised it was a reissue. Even thought it's dated now, it was fun to read again. Classic Jill Mansell. Loved it and highly recommended

At first I couldn't put the book down but after a part in the middle I struggled to finish it. I did but don't think I'd recommend this one after having read it.

Jill Mansell always delivers a great read.
Thank you very much for sharing this title with me.
I will tell all my friends.
Thanks!
Lisa

I am usually a fan of anything by Jill Mansell, but I struggled to 'get into' this book. Found it rather long & drawn out, not one of Jill's best

Fun romp fifteen years after three friends met at boarding school They were fast friends then... and after some tumult, they’re still - kind of - friends now. Little bit of scandal, little bit of laughter, and a whole lotta girl drama. I thought it was a fun read (as expected from Jill Mansell!) though I had a hard time liking the characters.

Fast Friends
by Jill Mansell

A captivating tale about three close friends having lost touch with each other, and reuniting their relationships fifteen years later; but, their lives had drastically changed. A great story, that stands ‘the test of time’! Over the course of several years; each woman had a series of interrelated adventures and misadventures. While all three ladies are quite wealthy; but, none of them were truly happy. Relationships can be messy; often trigger insecurities and hurtful behavior. Each has been: bruised, scarred and humbled, by the time they did find their HEA!

A very enjoyable read, has some quite steamy romantic parts and filled with heartbreak, joy, sorrow, and redemption; that makes any woman fall in love. Her various beautiful, and sexy characters seem so normal and the stories, filled with: sex, tragedies, and everything resembling day to day lives, it's like reading the script of a soap opera! It is an excellent, must read in 2019! I couldn't put this book down, the story captured my attention and kept me wanting to read more, finding out what would happen next, and so very different from her usual; light, fun, and deeply insightful style!

Ms. Jill Mansell has created a story with raw emotion, character growth, and over-the-top drama; betrayal, jealousy, and infidelity. Fast Friends has been previously published and released originally in 1991; but, the 610-pages, will still take the readers on quite an emotional journey, wondering if these people will ever wake up and make better choices. This is the type of book that the reader keeps on wanting more, wanting to know what will happen next, and will be cringing when it is evident that something big and bad is coming. No one tortures her heroines better than Ms. Jill Mansell before giving them a HEA. I really enjoyed reading and look forward to reading some of her other books. As always couldn’t stop reading! I received an ARC in exchange of my unbiased opinion, and therefore feel Ms, Jill Mansell’s book, Fast Friend receives 4-stars.

I really wanted to like this book but i just could not get into it. Jill Mansell is an incredible author but I feel like she missed the boat on this one. The cover caught my eye but once I started reading I found myself skimming through. It was a bit too long and I could not connect with any of the charters. I will keep reading you Jill, but please don't do another book like this one. :)

I hadn't read a Jill Mansell for a while and realised I'd forgotten how much I enjoy them. It was wonderful to escape into the glamorous world of Roz, LouLou and Camilla and follow their stories through their, on occasion, epic highs and lows with the gorgeous men they encounter along the way. It made me laugh and it made me cry,  whilst making me a little green with envy. What more could you ask for?

I didn't realize until I finished reading Fast Friends that it was a re-release of a previously published novel. Now that I do know, my feelings about the book have changed. So much of the novel seemed out of date, which confused me, since there was no reference to it being in the past.

Book is very well written, and I was immediately invested in the character's lives. I had a love hate relationship with most of them, which made the book more entertaining... At times I felt it was a bit too long, but when I got to the last chapter I wished the book went on a bit more.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read Jill Mansell's Fast Friends. I've read a couple of Mansell's other novels both of which were light romantic comedies so I was expecting the same light read from this book. Fast Friends, in comparison to those chick-lit rom/coms, is a bit heavier as it deals with the way we, as women specifically and flawed human beings with our own baggage, tend to sabotage ourselves especially when it comes to romantic relationships but also in regards to friendships. The story follows three former classmates through three tumultuous years starting when Camille learns that her husband (a rather cruel jerk) has been cheating on her with the glamorous Roz. I found the story overlong and I often wished that the author had focused on just Camille's story or even Camille and LouLou. However, even when I was growing tired of the ups and downs and twists and game-playing, I was aware of the many truths about human nature the story revealed and I needed to know if each of the characters got the happy ending they deserved.

I tried to read this book, however, I just couldn't get into it. I ended up not finishing up because the characters were so tacky.

2.5 Stars

This tale about three women who start out as high school friends is quite a long, at times wild, and very angst filled ride. Of the three main characters, only Camilla is truly likeable although Loulou is zanier and much less intentionally cruel that Roz, who causes herself and everyone a lot of misery. When Camilla discovers Roz has been having an affair with her cheating husband, her life comes to a screeching halt. Determined to come out of her housewife shell, Camilla sets about with Loulou’s help to make major changes in her life. Being caught up in the whirlwind and seemingly vacuous pool of the rich and famous, Camilla manages to maintain her innate goodness despite those around her. Loulou is still crazy in love with her Scottish ex-husband and he with her, but every time they get together, one of them makes a spectacular mess of it. Roz seems to get off on being rich, a famous television personality, and every man’s desire with no bother for the consequences.

Each of these women have a series of interconnected adventures and misadventures that reminded me of a soap opera much of the time. It’s hard to find likeable characters in this story especially any men of quality. In some defense of Roz and Loulou, they had very detached, uninterested parents who set the stage for much of their daughters’ faulty behavior. Most of the train wrecks in their lives are of their own doing although in Camilla’s case, it’s those around her whose cause most of her pain and turmoil.

At 610 pages this book, which had been previously released several year ago, will take readers on quite an emotional journey wondering if these people will ever wake up and make better choices. The cultural references give it a dated feel which would have been helped by the book being presented as taking place in a particular time period. It is the type of book that can suck in the reader keeping one wanting to know what will happen and, at times, cringing when it is evident the big bad is coming. Try the sample to see if this story is your cup of tea. It reminds me of a lot of Women’s Fiction these days that can be emotionally overwrought so I can see why it was republished as such.