This book was A RIDE, let me tell you. It centers around 2 generations of friends: Lindsey, Dani, and Kendra and their respective sons Jacob, Caleb, and Sawyer. The novel opens with a tragic drunken incident that leaves Sawyer dead, Jacob on life support, and Caleb catatonic with frequent emotional outbursts.

Berry manages a striking portrayal of the chaos and deluge of grief. Nastiness, lies, secrets are revealed as the 3 women desperately try to unveil what happened between their sons on that fateful night.

The changing POVs in this book reminded me of BIG LITTLE LIES, but with a more confusing character narrative, as each woman has multiple children which makes it somewhat hard to keep up. Dani, Lindsey, and Kendra’s relationships are complex but I don’t feel there was enough time spent on why one minute they’re best friends, and the next they’re hurling around accusations about something that happened years ago. Speaking of, allegedly something happened on junior prom night that is directly referenced several times, but we never find out what it is!!! Besides too many characters, the extraneous plot-line that never actually gets revealed is my biggest complaint about this book.

Overall I enjoyed THE BEST OF FRIENDS. I found the plot compelling, I found it unputdownable. This is one of those books you stay up into the night reading to figure out what the heck is happening. And in most cases, you find out! I’d recommend this one for sure.


Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book for an honest review.

The Best of Friends is a domestic thriller, that takes place in Southern California. Lindsey, kendra, and Dani are childhood friends, and their sons (Sawyer, Jacob, and Caleb) are best friends. One night at a sleep over, a horrible act of violence occurs with the boys, leaving one son dead. The story continues with many secrets revealed, friendships are tested, and many other twist and turns.

The book was faced paced, and intense!! Lucinda is one of my favs!! Have tissues ready!!! Thanks @Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for this ARC.

5 breathtaking stars!!!!

Kendra, Lindsey and Dani have been best friends since they were children. They grew up, married, moved close to each other, and had children. Their sons, Sawyer, Jacob and Caleb also became best friends, and life was pretty good for everyone. Except that it really wasn’t. There were secrets in each family that just didn’t seem that important, until one of the boys dies from a gunshot wound, one is left on life-support, and one is intensely traumatized.

Wow was this an incredible read. It is an outstanding, character driven novel. I absolutely could not put this book down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy for my honest opinion.

Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani have shared multiple big life events over the year of their friendship. Their friendship has rubbed off on their teenage sons, who have grown up together and are very close.

Then one tragic night, everything is ripped apart, leaving one of their sons dead, the other in a coma, and the other unable or unwilling to provide any details of how, why, or what happened.

Lucinda Berry’s The Best of Friends has a great premise, a solid first chapter, and a great hook. It’s just too bad that the novel never really delivers on the promise of its initial chapter.

Part of this stems from Berry’s utilizing alternating first-person narration by all Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani. What should have been a great way to put us inside the emotions and thoughts of these three best friend as they try to make sense of what happened and why instead gives us three narrators who all come across as so similar that it’s hard to recall who is narrating each chapter were each one not identified at the top.

About a third of the way through the novel, I found myself earning for Berry to make one of the voices more distinctive, but it never happens. And while curiosity about what happened and who did what to whom kept me going, I never felt a connection with the characters enough to be truly shocked or rocked by any of the secrets each is hiding from her other friends.

We do get answers to the central mystery, but it ends of not feeling quite like enough. Maybe I’m spoiled by the likes of Laura Lippman or Elizabeth George who give us mysteries that not only work as puzzles to be solved but also attempt to give us some insight into the implications of the mystery on its characters and the larger world. I have a feeling this will be one of those books that I see crop up on my feed again in the near future and I’ll quickly forget most of the details.

I was beyond excited to read The Best Of Friends and I wasn't disappointed.
Three best friends face up to heartbreaking tragedy and deal with the ripples this creates in their lives.

The story starts with one of the friends realising that something has happened to her son.
As a parent I could actually feel that stomach dropping moment of 'something is wrong' and could easily put myself in the characters shoes and imagine their distress.
As the book goes on and you read the beginning of each mother's story and see the different types of pain it made me pause and think what would I actually do in each of their situations. Berry is skilled at making you feel like you are inside the characters heads and experiencing their emotions.
I often feel emotionally wrung out after reading her books and this one was no different.
There are some extremely upsetting parts that made me cry. I think reading about a mother's grief is one of the hardest to do but I also liked the theme of strong friendship that runs through the story as it gave me hope for the characters.
I became very invested in this book!

I found this very easy to read, not only because of the story but in the way it was written. It wasn't too 'wordy', the language was kept simple and that worked so well. It meant the heart breaking emotions could be the star of the show.

Another Lucinda Berry winner.

No! I read this book in two sittings. It is a page turner but the ending was a big disappointment. Granted I didn't see it coming and I love a surprise, just not that. The story is told of three woman, best friends with best friend 16 year old sons. There are lots of well built characters and I struggled at first to keep all the husbands and children straight. There is a tragedy that brings them all together and splits them apart. It's a fast read. I love this author. I just wanted a different ending. Thank you for the Advanced copy for an honest review .#netgalley #thebestoffriends @lucindaberry

A great page turner with twists at every turn! I liked how the story was told from three different perspectives. That really made me want to keep reading to see what would happen next.

Heart wrenching, heart stopping, and reflective read. The things you thought you knew about your children and adults you consider friends come into question. A suspenseful read.

I’ve been a fan of Lucinda Berry for awhile now and I’m making my way through her other books. “The Best Of Friends” is probably her finest book to date. Three families, a horrific event and everyone has a secret. I finished this book in a few hours. Yes it is THAT good! I couldn’t put it down. The twists and turns this story takes will keep you reading through the night. Just when you think you know....you have NO idea.
Thank you Ms Berry for this wonderful book.
I could go on and on but I have to go start another Lucinda Berry book!

Gripping, suspenseful, and heart wrenching are words to describe this tale of friendship and family bonds stretched to their limits. It brought me to the edge of my seat and to tears all at the same time. It’s definitely a rollercoaster ride until the last page. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone that wants to take an emotional journey with many intriguing twist and turns along the way. Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for giving me an ARC of this captivating and emotional story.

This was a quick, engaging read centered around three childhood best friends and tragedy that befalls their sons. We get glimpses into each of their lives behind the scenes to find not so perfect households as well. It's a "who done it" tied in with a friend, family drama that was definitely engrossing. I had trouble at times delineating the three main female characters, however. I don't know if it's because they switched so quickly, their home lives were so similar, but I often had to stop and remind myself - Ok -this one is so and so's mom and the other one is this one. That was distracting for me and I don't feel like I was able to get as immersed as I could have. I am used to reading multiple POV books so that wasn't the issue here. It was enjoyable, and the ending was surprising and heart wrenching. I look forward to trying more books from Lucinda Berry and am thankful for the ARC.

I found this book to be interesting. I can't say I enjoyed any of the characters. All three women were confusing at first but then quite unbearable. The author did a good job of showing true grieving mothers. I found the twists didn't have much of a build up and could have had more.
Overall it was entertaining.

The Best of Friends was for me not the best of books, but it wasn't the worst either. The cover didn't really grab my attention or tell me why I would want to read it. But within the first few pages Berry had my attention. From a story standpoint it was engaging and I was interested in finding out the truth along with Kendra. As a mom of young kids one of whom I worry about more than the others it was a little hard for me to read, to be forced to contemplate a potential future where I could lose my son so horribly, but I could understand the drive to understand it all. However from a writing perspective I just didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I didn't feel like the voices of the mothers were distinct enough and it was sometimes hard to remember who I was reading. I also got a little tripped up in just how many secrets and how entangled it was. In the end I did want to finish the book and was satisfied with how it turned out. Thank you to netgalley for this free copy in exchange my my honest opinions.

I DNF’d this book, because I just couldn’t connect with the characters or the storyline. It’s a great concept but it just wasn’t my cup of tea so to speak. However I was enjoying the mystery of what occurred that night.

I know many people who will enjoy this book and I will definitely check out other books by Lucinda Berry.

Thank you netgalley, Thomas & Mercer and Lucinda for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Finally a book I stayed up at night reading because i didnt want to quit. So many twists, very well written. I loved this, one of my favorite books and the best book I have read all year.

A gripping and fast-paced domestic thriller that I finished in one day across two sittings. This book does a great job in building and developing the suspense; I found myself unable to put it down because I was dying to uncover what happened that fateful night (not that satisfying but I don't think that's the point of this book).

The engaging storyline makes up for the poor and unpolished writing (not sure if this was because I read an ARC). Firstly, there is a lot of confusion as to who is married to who and who are whose kids in the beginning because there are zero mentions (be it directly stating it or subtly hinting at it). Also, I never got a clear idea of how old all the kids are even by the end of the book (especially since in my part of the world, we don't go by 'grades' or 'freshmen/sophomore' etc in our schools).

Next, it was hard to tell which paragraphs were flashbacks and which were present. This is not just due to the font on my Kindle being the same throughout (were there supposed to be italics?), but also due to the author's poor use of tenses and subpar writing.

The three women's POVs sounded more or less the same. The only distinction is they are all weak in their own ways.

I did cry at one scene though, that was beautifully written and why I rounded it up to 4 stars. Hopefully the published book will be much more polished and refined.

BOOK REVIEW: The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry
5 smoking guns out of 5
*
The Best of Friends is gripping, heart wrenching, touching and unforgiving in it’s demands that we examine our darkest fears as parents, partners and individuals – from it’s opening lines! The Best of Friends is the latest thriller by Dr Lucinda Berry, clinical psychologist by profession, who draws from her extensive clinical expertise as a trauma specialist. The result is a story that compels readers to embark on a critical examination that leaves you to a similar dilemma: “She pushed so hard for answers. Is she satisfied with what she got?” (Berry, pg 278).
*
Best friends, Lindsey, Kendra and Dani are proud mother’s where each of their oldest children, sons, are also the best of friends. In a seemingly idyllic setting of Southern California the three families are catapulted in every parent’s nightmare. One child is fatally wounded, another left in a coma and the third is left suffering from severe trauma and unable to speak of the horrors trapped in his mind.
*
Told in alternating points of view of the mother’s, The Best of Friends tackles a myriad of complex issues that affect our society. Gun violence, school bullying and issues related to connection, sexuality, hopelessness and heartbreak. The mother’s and young men’s stories emphasise the intersectionality of gender-based violence, role expectations, mental health and the faces we present when societies expectations are unrelenting and unforgiving.
*
As a bereaved parent, I was touched by the authenticity of the mother’s grief, loss and parental guilt that often follows as our hearts are shattered despite needing to continue our journey in the darkness.
Lucinda Berry expertly taps into these raw and tender pieces allowing the reader to vacillate through the stages of grief through realistic and relatable character development. As a social worker I am deeply appreciative of how she interlaid professionally informed story lines (ADD/Adderall) while also inviting readers to challenge the truths we hold dear yet are often fearful to examine.
*
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the electronic ARC in trade for an honest review.

The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry begins with Lindsey, Kendra and Dani living their childhood dreams: neighbors in a sunny California suburbs with their husbands and children three of whom, like their mothers, are the best of friends. One shocking act of violence among their teenaged sons shatters their dreams. With all of the boys unable or unwilling to talk, Lindsey, Kendra and Dani have to investigate what happened and why by themselves, thus laying bear tensions in their friendship and marriages, unearthing secrets and forcing them to rethink how well they really know the most important people in their lives. I've read a couple other novels of Berry's and The Best of Friends shares their shocking twists and breakneck pace --I basically read it in one night. The Best of Friends differs from the other works I've read because of an increased focus on relationships and all kinds of love; there were moments in the book that genuinely brought tears to my eyes. If you want a heady thriller with some heart, I recommend The Best of Friends.

I enjoyed this book, but could not keep the families straight- who was married to whom, whose kids were whose, and how old the kids were. Maybe it's because the characters were only introduced after the tragedy, so I had no backstory. I didn't start to keep the characters straight until at least 50% of the book. But the story kept me interested. What happened in the epilogue seemed a little too 'convenient' and didn't ring true.

I was really into this but the ending left me a little unsatisfied. I could definitely feel the grief of the mothers, and it even almost brought me to tears at points, but in the end I think this was a little too unrealistic for me, once everything was revealed, especially the very last page.