I loved the other books by this author so I was so excited to get an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review. 'An unthinkable tragedy forever changes a group of teens and turns family against family in this edge-of-your-seat thriller that begs to be read in one sitting'....that's how it's described and it hit the nail on the head. It grabs your attention from the start and doesn't let go and draws you deeply in. I recommend this and her other books highly.

Kendra, Lindsey, and Dani have been best friends since they were 8 years old. Their friendship continued to blossom as their three sons Sawyer, Caleb and Jacob became close friends just like their mothers. This all changes one night when a horrible incident takes place where one child is dead, one child is in a coma, and one child is so traumatized he cannot speak of the details.

As the women find out which child dies, lives, and is traumatized they are all desperate to figure out what happened that night. As their lives begin to spiral out of control, each woman finds it harder and harder to keep the clean cut image that have created about their families together. Doubt begins to shake their friendship and families to the core as they all become suspicious of the actions of their family members and each other. The boys are good at keeping secrets from their mothers about their lives, just as their mothers are good from keeping secrets from each other.

This novel kept me hooked from beginning to end. The dramatic prologue grabbed my attention and helped set the tone for the rest of the novel. Berry allows the reader to feel the strong emotions each mother felt as their story unfolds in each chapter. I would caution that there are aspects of domestic violence that may trigger some readers.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Lucinda Berry and Thomas & Mercer for allowing me to read this wonderful ARC.

Highly recommend! I can't imagine going through the tragedy that these families face and then all the other secrets, lies, and things they deal with on top of that. I was hooked from the first page finished it in a couple of days.

The Best of Friends is a fast paced, gripping, and realistic story from start to finish (finishing in a day to be exact.) I love when books dive right into the action and keep you glued, and this did just that. A story of three best friends and their struggle to overcome tragedy that flips their worlds upside down - it’s a reminder to to us all of how quickly life can change. The subject matter can be tough for some and is filled with potential triggers - readers beware! Four stars for me on this one because I struggled differentiating between the point of view of three very similar main characters (that seems to be common among reviewers), but otherwise a fantastic and quick read.

Thank you for an ARC of this book, I really enjoyed it!

This was such a page turner - The bonds of childhood friendships can last your entire life, but what happens when that bond is tested by your children's interactions with each other. Definitely left me feeling emotional.

This book is actually a truly amazing story of realistic people and the relationships among them. However, I struggled to keep the characters straight at times because of the POV changes among the three moms, and I felt like it tried to cover too many hot button issues (i.e. domestic abuse, gun control, homosexuality, teenage drug use, use of life support, etc.). I still enjoyed the story, but really it just left me wanting more of each storyline. I was also a little disappointed that once we learned what really happened that night between the three boys that just wrapped everything up. In my opinion, that's just when the story was beginning, especially since there were some major twists. I would definitely read more by this author, but this book didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The synopsis is as follows - Best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent’s nightmare when a tragic accident befalls their teenage boys, leaving one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatized to speak.

This could not be more up my alley.

However....

This book was unfortunately really hard for me to get into. I found it so difficult to differentiate between the voices of the three women who were narrating, that it was impossible for me to decipher which woman was the mother of which child.

I felt a lot of emotions and storylines were touched upon, but never fully developed. Everything was too 'on the surface' for me.

First, a thank you to NetGalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I knew that this was going to be an exploration of female friendship and neighborhood dynamics, but I also expected it to be at least, in part a psychological thriller. Many people have described it as such, but I disagree (although everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course!) Unexpected can be a good thing, and I did quite enjoy this one and found it to be a compulsive read. Not sure I can honestly say that I empathized with the characters - there were moments - but I found the relationships a little hard to swallow. I would recommend it to readers that enjoy family dramas with a hint of mystery and I did plow through it in one sitting. It's not too long and that too, is a scores a point in it's favor. The end disagreed with me in that I didn't believe that it's how it would go down in real life, but it is fiction, so the suspension of belief is warranted. It's good, but not GREAT.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for allowing me to read and review this book*

I absolutely love anything Lucinda Berry writes and this one did not disappoint. This story revolves around 3 childhood best friends, Kendra, Lindsay and Dani. They all had children around the same time who also became best friend's, Sawyer, Jacob and Caleb. During one of the boys many sleepovers, tragedy strikes leaving one dead, one in a coma and one utterly traumatized he stops speaking. The Best of Friends hits all the major aspect revolving the facade of the modern day wealthy family, heartbreak, betrayal and a mother's desperation to find out the truth.

Three families are torn apart one tragic night. Moms Kendra, Lindsey, and Dani have been best friends for years. Their teenage sons, Sawyer, Jacob, and Caleb grow up just as close. Then one night, one boy ends up dead, another in a coma, and the third unwilling—or unable—to talk, leaving one question: What happened that night?

I have to admit that I struggled through a good portion of this book. It’s told in the alternating first-person POVs of each mother, and their voices barely differ from one another that it’s very easy to forget who’s narrating. There are also a lot of names thrown around early in the story—the family surnames, the mothers, their husbands, their multiple children—that I actually had to write each household down to keep it all straight.

The novel has a mystery to it—what happened to the boys that night?—but I wouldn’t consider the book itself a mystery. While that question is certainly a driving force, most of the novel focuses on the daily lives of the mothers as they cope with their varying losses and new reality, which I did quite enjoy once I had all the characters’ names sorted. As predicted, secrets are revealed between the families and cause drama, which is exactly what I love. I will add, however, that some random facts about characters are brought up that have little meaning or payoff. (For example, there’s an allusion that something terrible happened in the women’s high school…but we never know what it is.)

Unfortunately, the ending was where it all went wrong for me. Between a miraculous and conveniently timed recovery, and the truth of what happened that night—which made me furious, not just because it was poorly executed and explained, but because it uses a horrid trope—there’s little payoff for the story’s central mystery. The epilogue was also baffling.

It’s not quite the taut thriller with secrets that threaten to tear everyone apart. It’s a bit reminiscent of Big Little Lies with its struggling mothers, interconnected families, and secrets, but the characters are not quite as complex or memorable. In fact, the writing can feel a bit muddied or dragged down in exposition. I found it was more enjoyable for its examination of grief, loss, and relationship dynamics through it all, than its ultimately disappointing mystery.

Another knockout from Lucinda Berry. A recommended first purchase for collections where thrillers are popular.

The first thing that drew me to this book was the blurb. It just pulled me in. Tragedy, mystery and lies within seemingly perfect lives. But everything is never what it seems, right?

The story is told from 3 different mothers' point of views. Dani, Lindsey and Kendra. To be honest, toward the beginning, I had to keep the mothers' associated with each kid straight (Hint: Dani-Caleb, Lindsey-Jacob and Kendra-Sawyer). Since you have multiple POVs but also are dealing with a huge tragedy that happened to their kids, each family had something so different going on behind the scenes of what happened the one night to their 3 kids. One died, one is in a coma and one is so messed up that they cannot speak. It is a mother's worst nightmare. But how do they handle what happened to their teen boys when they have other kids to take care of and issues within their own lives that they are hiding from one another? And what exactly happened that night? No one knows and the only child left that can talk is NOT talking.

This story is one of secrets, lies and flawed characters that make you want to know more. The 3 mothers have been friends since they were young and now their kids are friends. It's a perfect life for them. But their family lives are far from perfect. They keep secrets from one another to protect themselves. And when the mystery of what happened that night between Sawyer, Jacob, and Caleb comes out, these women will never be the same.

Lucinda Berry did an amazing job with this fast paced, yet detailed story. She brought the reader into the lives of 3 different families that had been connected for years living the dream in the suburbs of California. She dealt with a parent's grief in losing a child. She dealt with marital issues and with abuse. All while focusing on the night the three boys got their hands on a gun. I never felt like there was too much going on, but everything seemed to be an integral part to get us to a conclusion.

There is a lot to take in with this dramatic family mystery and the story had me flipping the pages to find out what was going to happen next. It was a true page turner. While there wasn't a lot of action per se, I wanted to know the secrets. I wanted to know why. And I wanted one particular father to...let's just say I wanted him to take the place of Sawyer.

Be prepared for an epic conclusion and a wonderfully woven plot between these families. It will definitely be one to pick up if you like the twists of a dramatic family suspense. And while some of the ending didn't seem to completely wrap up, we got our answer of what happened to the 3 boys. I'm satisfied with how it concluded and am giving it 4.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for an early copy of The Best of Friends. I enjoyed the book very much, definitely far-fetched but still a good read. The one thing I didn’t like is that throughout the novel, I couldn’t get which kid belonged to which mom that was very confusing for me. The epilogue was a shocker for me.

Thanks to NetGalley, publisher and author, for allowing me to have a free copy of this book for review. The premise of this book was interesting. Three best friends whose kids are also best friends. Then one night, one of the kids gets fatally shot. What happened? Why? This event changes everything unsurprisingly. It changes the friendships, the couples and everything around them. Twists here and there. This book did not wow me but it was fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kendra, Lindsey and Dani are best friends from childhood, their husbands are also on good terms. They were more than happy when their 3 elder boys Sawyer, Jacob and Caleb also choose that path...But on one sleepover some tragedy occurred. Sawyer is dead, Jacob is in comma and Caleb is too traumatized to speak a single word.

The book is told from all 3 mother's POV, It was hard to get all of the relations and stories first. I am glad that all 3 POV sounds different and all the mothers had unique personalities which made it easy to keep tab son characters. Kendra is that cool Mom with whom children share everything. Lindsey is proud herself to be perfect Mom who does everything according to the textbook. Dani is living in an abusive wedding, she is kinda shattered Mom.

I liked the structure of the story, the author took her sweet time to build all the characters. Even in the end, I was learning something new about each one. Dani's POV was my favourite, she had a lot to offer.

I guessed a few things so it wasn't that well-kept mystery. But there were a couple of things which were hidden so well that even author didn't bother to tell us, like what happened at that high school of night. Why Paul and Dani's friendship was mentioned when it didn't play any role, I was expecting these both to be connected in some way but turned out to be dead ends.

The Best of Friends starts out about one night with a shooting tragedy amongst three high school friends. However the rest of the story is about three other best friends and the secrets, and secrets, and secrets they have. And some of the story was about finding out what happened on that devastating night. These three friends just happen to be the mothers of the three high school boys. Each chapter is told alternating between the three mothers. I found it very difficult to like any of them. Unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC.

A solid 4.5 stars! Lucinda Berry does it again! She is absolutely on my list of authors to watch.

The Best of Friends was a tumultuous journey to say the least (FULL of potential triggers, so readers beware). I couldn’t put it down.

The one challenging piece of it was that there were a TON of characters introduced very quickly. I often had a hard time remembering which friend with which husband and had which kids or was going through what hard time.

Three boys, friends since birth, are looking forward to a future which will soon include college, scholarships and new relationships until one night when an unspeakable tragedy overtakes them. Three mothers, friends for over thirty years, with lifestyles they have worked hard for and families they would do anything to protect are left to pick up the pieces. With no one able to say what happened that night, the parents of all three boys try to keep their lives on an even keel, as one secret after another is discovered and they realise none of them are the people they thought they were.

As always with this author the story is beautifully written and flows throughout. The three friends, from whose pov the story is told, come alive in their own chapters and are shown as others see them when their friends' voices take over. The three households' stories cover some of the problems of middle class America which are not escaped because of money, influence, or their position in their local communities .

I have read other books from this author and once again thoroughly enjoyed her work, only this time, when I got to the epilogue, it all fell apart. All six main protagonists had secrets, things no one would have discovered had they not been part of a nightmare. Again, until the epilogue, they were realistically enacted, sympathetically revealed, with a hope for a future where the friendships could endure the negative consequences of what happened. With no spoilers the final chapter was an unbelievable coincidence which, with hindsight, was set up half way through. Maybe I didn't consider it because it seemed inconceivable and once I'd read it found it coloured my impression of the whole storyline and not in a good way.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and was sure I would be awarding it a five star rating. If you enjoy this author's work, for the most part you won't be disappointed but there is no denying I was.

This is a story about friendships, and the ways in which they can hold us up in one moment, and smother us in the next.

This was a tense mystery, centering around 3 friends after a tragedy impacts their children. I simultaneously loved and hated the dynamics present, and appreciated the skilled manner in which the 3 characters were fleshed out in a way that made each voice distinct & unique. I would recommend this for readers who enjoy contemporary fiction, family dramas & mysteries.

Meh.
Just a meh book.
Nothing exciting really happens, the ending wasn’t really satisfying, but the writing was good. Just an average all around read for me.

Now, I don't claim to be the smartest person on the planet, trust me, but the ENTIRE time I read this book I had the hardest time figuring out which son belonged to which parents. I'm not sure if it is because it was never really "settled" but I had to back track each time a new chapter started.

The Best of Friends was a book that kept me turning the pages and hooked from the get go but by the time I was finished with it-- nothing exciting had really even happened. Isn't that odd? You can't put a book down but yet you can't pick out anything extraordinary about it? That was this book.