This review is a bit of a struggle for me. I am always excited for a dark, twisty thriller. However, this one fell very short for me. The main character is a woman who is accused of murdering a colleague/pseudo-mentor. She doesn't remember anything of the night in question because she was black out drunk and sets out investigating the murder by way of a video blog (vlog).

Here's what killed this book for me: the excessive and constant references to the main characters drinking! It was too much. Getting desperate and drinking cooking sherry, mixed with Honest apple juice? Gag-inducing. I got it the first time with the black out drinking ... by why did every page thereafter have to include references to gin and tonics, beer, mimosas, cooking sherry, etc. We get that she's an alcoholic from the beginning. It felt over the top and very similar to The Girl on the Train.

I would have rated this book higher if the drinking references were toned down more.

Thank you to Vanessa Lillie, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. This review was also posted on Goodreads.

I finished this book in one day because it was fantastic! It was fast paced, nuanced, heart racing and set in the best place (and my hometown) Providence Rhode Island! Our narrator Juliet is an unreliable drunk at best and a straight liar at worse but when the webs of deceit and lies finally untangle we see the rot at the core. A tale about families and the false memories we keep to hold together despite the pain and hate. As a Rhode Islander this book also struck a cord because it was my home town and set primarily on the East Side of Providence where I grew up!

I recently read Little Voices from the author and I had some second thoughts about the story’s direction and I couldn’t connect with the characters as well. But when I read her new book’s plot, it attracted my attention. I loved the theme: short term memory loss and finding yourself at the murder scene, are you framed or are you involved something shady kind of promising story- line! (I already used the same theme for short movie synopsis and some festival judges decided to give me award! But I wish they sent me cases of Chardonnay for my highly creative scriptwriting skills! Alas!)

Anyways, the book starts at the Jules’ bedroom. She is an ambitious CEO working on a big fundraising company and in her personal life she works as hard as she may endure to build herself a satisfying family life. But her one million dollar project’s celebration resulted with over consumed champagne hangover. Her head is pounding and her legs covered with scars. What the hell just happened last night? She cannot remember anything! How much did she drink? Who’s knocking heaven’s door? Hmm I mean somebody is banging their door nonstop! Who the hell is this?
Wow! Is this a police officer request her accompany him to the station? Why? Wait a minute, he holds a red wallet (classy choice Jules, I didn’t like you so far but you have trendy fashion taste!) in an evidence bag! He informs her that the wallet has been found next to a dead body. Jules feels like somebody pulled the rug from under her feet. Could the dead person be Terence Castle? They have been working for restorative justice practice which was going to be initiative project for the prisons’ reforming.
After her wallet is found at the crime scene, everybody start to treat Jules as a criminal including us because as we get some glimpses about the night crime occurred, we witness her unbalanced and alcohol fueled delirious actions. She doesn’t give us anything to hold on and believe in her innocence. She has a loyal husband and lovely child but after this incident, she loses her job and her reputation ruins and the people in her inner circle think her own father was also criminal and he was involved with someone’s murder, too. So apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.
Jules is so adamant to prove her innocence and she starts her own gin induced investigation but as soon as she learn more about the night Terence died and got more pieces about a tragic incident about her past, she realizes she shouldn’t have dug around if she couldn’t face with rotted and stinking pieces of her past.
Overall: I have second thoughts about the ending and I had hard time to connect with the heroine but I enjoyed the writing style and slow burning mystery keeping your attention alert. So another limbo read is going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars. I decided give 3.5 and rounded them up to 4 eventually because I enjoyed the story’s pacing and interesting plot line and of course restorative justice topic always intrigued my attention. It was much better reading than Little Voices for me.
Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas&Mercer for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

I received an eARC of For the Best by Vanessa Lillie from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
5 stars!!! This book is a gripping thriller that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat! I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it!

#ForTheBest #NetGalley #BookReview
Special thanks to NetGalley and Thomas&Mercer for.providing me with Arc.
This is the first novel by Vanessa Lillie but i don't like it.
The novel is very very slow in the beginning, i don't feel excited or found any mystery. I returned a lot of pages to reach the final and guess what i know, juliet who killed Dr Castle, but in the end.
I loved the cover so much and i chose the novel because of it and maybe this is the reason that i will give this books 3 stars.

Waking up with a hangover with police at your door is not the best way to wake up - However, I found it hard to feel sympathy for Jules when she consistently fought her battles by turning back to the bottle - This was a fast paced read and kept me guessing until the very end - literally. This book was full of twist and turns which I like and I was able to read it very quickly because it kept me intrigued. I had never read anything by Vanessa Lillie so I will be looking forward to more books by her!

A fast paced thriller with many twists and turns. Jules is accused of killing a well known person and she does not remember anything because she was so drunk she had blacked out. She works hard to expose the truth but she has a very bad crutch, drinking. A very surprising end. I recommend this book.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

This book is different than the many others in this genre! It has classic elements of what makes a thriller great (flawed characters and a solid mystery), while bringing new twists and turns that will surprise even the most avid suspense reader! Fantastic writing and I loved the vlog aspect of this one. You don’t want to miss it!

Thank you to net galley for sending me a copy of this book for review. I was realy intrigued throughout this whole book. My only issue was that it seemed to tell us how to feel instead of show ya and I didn’t really like that. I would read more by this author!

Definite 5 stars I have just finished this with tears rolling down my face. Its been a long time since I have reacted this way.
Juliette Worthington Smith has issues, this is clear within the first chapter. Her wallet is discovered next to the body of a high profile colleague, when questioned by the police she cannot recall what happened as her drunken escapades are becoming ever difficult to recall.
As the finger is pointed at Juliette she goes on the offensive with a video log to prove her innocence. But as time passes she discovers things in her past that explain so much to her mental state. She finally takes the route of least resistant when she finds out what happened to Santiago all those years ago. It was here I started to cry .....
With thanks to #NetGalley

A great second book for Vanessa Lillie! I really enjoy stories that bring the past to the surface while finding the truth in the present. FOR THE BEST was a fast paced thriller with excellent twists for both the past and the present, making it hard to put down, especially in the last third of the story. The main character, Juliet, is accused of murdering a well-known community member, but she doesn't remember anything because she was blackout drunk. In order to save herself and her family, she's motivated to expose the truth, yet she still relies on alcohol to get her through her accusations from others, even those closest to her. The woven multi-media scripts and video transcripts truly emphasized a distinct narrative style that works well for this story. The ending truly surprised me and the journey to get there was very satisfying. If you're a fan of unlikeable and unreliable characters, a drive to discover the truth, and unexpected twists, you will enjoy this story!

Jules wakes up hungover, with a loss of last night's memory and the police at her door. Not a scenario anyone would look forward to...

She is the CEO of the Poe Foundation in which Dr. Terrance Castle was the brightest star. However, Terrance is found dead - and Jules was the last person he was known to be seen with...

Jules works hard to pull herself out of incrimination. Even by starting a VLOG of her own. But there are more roadblocks in the way than she imagines...

A solid, good read. Fast-paced and enjoyable!

Many Thanks to Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley.

At first, I was in the mood to read a juicy new thriller and the summary of For The Best stood out to me. The book centers around the main character Jules who is a suspect for killing her boss. Jules decides to make a Youtube channel documenting her trying to figure out who actually killed her boss because she does not believe the police are doing all that they can to solve the murder.

The only catch is the night her boss was murdered she was drinking with him and does not remember a thing. Jules's wallet was found with the body. She believes that as she uncovers facts about the murder her memory will begin to resurface. The whole book she believes herself to be innocent.

Most of the novel, I was very bored. I found the main character to be a very unlikable person. The family was toxic in this book. The only scenes that I really enjoyed were with Jule's little boy. I felt bad that her son had to grow up in such a toxic household. Both Jules and her father are excessive drinkers. I had a hard time reading this book. The story was not for me.

Nothing ended up being surprising in the mystery aspect of the book really. By the time I got to the end of the book, I literally rolled my eyes at the actual outcome of the ending. Really? That is how the author decided to end this book? There was nothing surprising that this thriller ended on.

The characters in this book are the biggest snobs and not in a good way. I felt extremely sad for all of the victims. The story felt very unrealistic. Many times, I wanted to stop reading the story but I pushed on to finish it. Usually, I like reading unreliable narrators but Jules was a boring character. She was an entitled person and not in a good way. I read thrillers to be shocked and have plot twists. For The Best was not the thriller that I wanted. The book was horrible but it was not good either.

This was a decent read. It centers on Jules, the CEO of a non-profit firm in Maine, who becomes under suspicion for the murder of a colleague, Terrence. Her wallet was found next to his body and she knows she was with him that night, but she was so drunk she cannot remember anything. She sets out to find out what really happened and take the suspicion off of herself. She ends up finding out a lot of information and also uncovering some other life-changing things related to her relationship with her father,

There was some mystery in this book, and I liked being taken along with Jules as she figured out more of what happened, and found additional potential suspects. There were a few things that bugged me , though- one was that I didn't really understand Terrence's stance about restorative justice- maybe it's just me, but I couldn't totally make sense of what he stood for and how he felt it differed from what others were trying to make it. I also had to suspend my disbelief around the blog that Jules made, as I didn't believe the police would allow that to happen, and I also didn't know why she said some of the things she said that could incriminate her, primarily admitting to being "blackout drunk" the night the murder. And speaking of that, I didn't know why her husband enabled her clear alcoholism without seeming concerned- I got it from her parents, her dad an alcoholic himself and his mom, used to the situation and the enablement, but why didn't her husband raise the concern? And lastly, the climactic scene towards the end of the book didn't seem like it's something anyone would actually do, much less get away with.

So overall, I didn't love the book, due to the reasons above, .but I did enjoy the surprises throughout and the overall figuring out of who the villain was, both in the current situation and in the ghosts of Jules' past. I think it's probably worth a read, if you want something different and aren't opposed to suspending your disbelief a bit.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

R E V I E W 💥
For The Best BY: Vanessa Lillie
🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

First off, I want to say thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this ARC and write an honest review.

Have you ever read a book and halfway through you were able to guess what happens and be correct about it?
This is the first time I’ve read a book and have been able to correctly guess what happens and who did it.
I loved this book, it was such a page turner and so dark and beautifully written. From page one I was instantly curious who did it. It was so easy to keep up with the characters and the choices they made. I enjoyed following along with the story. For The Best is dark and thrilling and I would recommend this to anyone. I’m looking forward to reading more from Vanessa Lillie

I enjoyed the premise of this book. The comparison of the father ruining his career and the daughter sort of filling in as a superstar until the murder happens. I enjoyed the dynamics of the family life and thought the writing was good. I still found myself scrambling to get to the actual point of the plot you know? Writers sometimes think that if they fill up a page with details it will make the story more interesting. That doesn't always work. I did enjoy the book.

Jules is in trouble but desperate to clear her name! Only problem- she was black out drunk when the murder happened and can’t remember anything!
I hated Jules but I couldn’t stop reading about her! I liked the true crime vlog aspect of the story .
The book did drag a bit for me but that ending made this one worth the read- wow!

Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy!

I wasn’t sure how Lillie was going to top her awesome Little Voices debut- she did.

For the Best is a slow chilling thriller that blurs line between morals and characters keeping you wondering throughout. I actually stopped the book once and just said...”No way!” out loud to anyone that would listen.

Thank you for the advanced copy!

The author thought we'll about introducing characters and plot in a fast, curious way . Great read as it is hard to put the book down. If you want to take your mind away from your everyday struggles, this is the book!

A good gripping thriller, the plot is twisted and kept my interest throughout.. not as much thrilling as Little Voices.. overall a good reading experience.
Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for ARC of this book. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way.