this was spooky! I feel like this is my worst nightmare so im happy I got to read about it instead of it actually happening to me lol.

This was very good and a whole lot of fun getting to that ending. It’s very twisted and will leave you questioning everything.
Louisa Sullivan takes her son to his very first play date at a new friend’s house. She meets the mother, Darcy Lane, and doesn’t realize it just yet but her entire life is about to change.
Darcy has everything. She has the perfect house, a very powerful husband, and so much wealth it makes Louisa’s head spin. She’s perfect.
Darcy is the perfect friend, the perfect wife, and a perfect liar.
This is a great story that takes place in a dual timeline. You are getting the look at the youth of a character and then it snaps back to the present. You learn a whole lot about someone in the past.
This has some bits that might have been predictable but the ending was fantastic!
If you like audiobooks, I received a copy from NetGalley and the narration was brilliant. Definitely recommend!

As I was listening to this I kept thinking it felt super familiar. The further into it I got the more I felt it. In the end I realized it’s very similar to A Simple Favor which is a favorite of mine. While this one is technically older, I read it after and I do feel that this has affected the way that I enjoyed this one.

There are major differences but they’re similar enough that I found myself comparing and this is a recipe for disaster in reading books. This one wasn’t as enjoyable for me. There was so much drama I honestly found it unbearable. By the time it started getting good I was already over it and that’s unfortunate.

It never really redeemed itself from the less than interesting beginning. While it did become gripping and interesting, that just didn’t overcome the early parts.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ since it did eventually become interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley for the 2022 version of the audiobook!

Louisa is married to her loving husband Jared. They have a seven-year-old son, Joe. The home is sweet and cozy. All is good even though money is tight. Oh yes and Louisa is disturbed because a man is following her, but for some reason he seems familiar. Joe has made a new friend in school named Tyler which pleases his mom.

Tyler’s mother Darcy is very popular, classy and dresses elegantly. Darcy and her husband Mike live in a mansion overlooking Sandbanks Beach on the oceanfront. Still with all her wealth, she is kind and friendly. The two couples become friends. One day Darcy and Mike decide to help Jared finance and set up his own firm. Due to her friendship with Darcy, Louisa lets go a bit on mothering and allows Joe to sleepover on a weekday.

Still Louisa doesn't have a good feeling about this visit yet on the other hand she doesn’t want to jeopardize Jared’s opportunity for a chance at owning his own firm. Darcy, taking things into her own hands, confronts the man following Louise in a menacing way. Louise is surprised at Darcy’s mood change further heightening her uneasiness. Jared however, is fed up with Louisa questioning everything…her friendship with Darcy, Mike’s support of his new business and their plans for the future.

There is great tension here compounded by insight into an earlier life of almost 30 years ago, where a girl called Nicole and her little brother struggle to cope, having an alcoholic mother and being physically abused.

Hmmm… How do these stories relate to what is happening thirty years later? Yes.

Meanwhile, Louisa is a bundle of nerves and feels her life is slipping away from her as one event after another takes place. She knows she must regain control of her life again before it is too late.

This is a fast paced book of suspense even though I found the end to be somewhat abrupt. The plot twist to me was unpredictable and satisfying.

Oh my gosh! What a read! I do not want to give too many spoilers, but wow! The twists and turns had me putting this audiobook on fast speed as I just had to know what was going to happen next!

I wanted to reach in and hug Louisa, she reflects back a personality so many of us would relate to, a need and want to fit in, followed by a need and want to be believed. That self doubt and questioning was so relatable too. I couldn’t believe Darcy, how clever, but how scary!

I would recommend this for anyone who loves psychological thrillers, you will not be disappointed… but you might be a little paranoid!

Louisa enrolls her son, Joe, at a private school in hopes that the smaller class sizes and more individualized attention will give him the support he needs to close the gap in his reading achievement. Her son is enrolled at the same school as her sister’s child, He befriends a classmate, Tyler, whose mom is the Queen Bee of the private school. Louisa and Darcy (Tyler’s mom) quickly become close friends. Things start to turn dark and Louisa starts to question whether Darcy is a true friend or has a darker motive. Even Louisa’s husband starts to doubt her.. I well written psychological thriller that allows the reader to put the pieces together before the main character and watch the book unfold.

Great audiobook thriller.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access this book in exchange for my feedback.

Thank you Netgalley for this audio edition of The Best Friend by Shalini Boland.

This is the perfect book to read on the beach, or listen to on a road trip. It is a quick read, that hooks you immediately, and doesn't require much from you along the way. It's entertainment gold.

Louisa is so happy to meet a new friend, someone that is kind, has a son the same age as hers, and seems equally interested in the friendship. But there are small things about this woman that don't sit quite right with Lousia. Small, easily excused digs, and "mistakes" that leave Louisa and her family wounded. And now that Louisa is so far into the friendship, she may not be able to get herself out.

Is any of it believable? No, this is silly, goofy stuff, but it takes itself seriously enough to enjoy it. It's written well and is paced perfectly for an easy summer read. Lots of fun!

I found this book infuriating at times and found myself shouting at the narrator more than once. Louisa meets Darcey through their sons being in the same class. Darcey is perfect - too perfect in fact. Things start happening - Louisa becomes unwell and can’t write her column for the newspaper. Darcey volunteers to step in, Louisa looses column. A lot of what happens is predictable although there iis an alternative timeline narrative that weaves through the book which at is difficult to see where it fits in at first.
Not one of Shalini Boland’s best books I fear.

Talk about twisted!!! There’s so so much I want to say but I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. I really enjoyed this authors style and definitely want to read more in the future.

I loved this book and recommend it to everyone so when I was offered the chance to listen to the audio version I jumped at the chance.
The narrator Katie Villa really brought the characters to life for me and it was so lovely to take in the book in a different format. It's still my favourite by this author.

I have recently read several psychological thrillers about 'frenemies' and this is definitely one of the best. It's well-written, tense and gripping, pulling the reader into the characters' lives from the first page. Even though I thought the ending was a little far-fetched, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and highly recommend it to all the fans of the genre. Shalini Boland is a new author for me and I am going to buy her other books now. .

So glad I listened to this one as Katie Villa was a great narrator. Her narration along with the story, of course, kept me making excuses to listen.

I want to be careful so I don’t spoil anything, but this was a wild ride. I was invested through the whole book and would read anything she writes.

A decent run of the mill psychological thriller. No great surprises, but a good read nonetheless. Perfect as a throw away holiday read.

I love Shalini Boland and always look forward to her new books. The Best Friend is a solid, quick read, although a bit predictable. It has fun twists and turns and the audiobook narrarator was supurb. All in all, an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for allowing me an audio copy of this book for my review.

Such a fun and juicy audiobook by Shalini Boland. I was captivated from the beginning and my interest remained high throughout - I could not wait to get home to pick up where I left off.

This story sounds like it might be your typical best-friend-stalker-wants-to-steal-my-life thriller fare, but it's really much more than that and very well done. Darcy is a new friend to Louisa who seems glamorous, fun, and interesting, but soon enough strange things start happening and Louisa wonders if Darcy is after everything in Louisa's life...her job....her friends...and even her husband. The plot is fun and twisty and the suspense builds at a fast and intriguing pace as Darcy's craziness becomes more and more obvious to Louisa....but of course, not to everyone else. When we finally get to the reasons Darcy is acting this way, legit bombshells are dropped.

Shalini Boland is a whiz of a plotter who also writes juicy prose and relatable characters, and this book was no exception. I also really enjoyed the audiobook narrator who brought an appropriate sense of drama and suspense without crossing over into melodrama (which sometimes annoys me in narrations of these kinds of books). This was a totally engaging, fun, and juicy listen that pays off big at the end. I will continue to gobble up every book Shalini Boland writes!

Thanks to Bookouture Audio, the author, and NetGalley for this thrilling listen!

The Best Friend was a great read by Shalini Boland. Louisa Sullivan takes her little boy to his first play date at a new friend's house. She never realized that life is about to change for her family after meeting Darcy Lane. She has everything, a dream house, a powerful husband, and enviable wealth. She seem's to be the perfect wife and friend, but she's also the perfect liar. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.

This book was definitely eerie but didn’t veer toward horror, so I would absolutely classify it as a thriller. Sometimes thrillers can get a little intense, and this one seemed pretty realistic to me which made the story more enjoyable. I really enjoyed the plot and how gaslighting was utilized - again, all believable behaviors from characters and I could see myself getting into the exact same situation as Louisa.

<i><b>"I can tell we’re going to be the best of friends...."</i></b> is what Darcy tells Louisa when they strike up a friendship after their own sons befriend each other at school. And what a 360° turn that statement takes nearly ripping Louisa's life apart!

This is my first Shalini Boland book and being an audiobook I managed to get through it at a decent pace. The Best Friend is fast paced, intense, nutty and like some of the psychological thrillers I have read gets frustrating when seemingly intelligent persons refuse to see/believe the truth. My stress levels always get a bit high when it feels like the bad guys will get away with their evil plans! The reason for why Darcy does what she does is a bit over the top but I guess to a psychopath's mind nothing must seem far fetched.

The narration by Katie Villa was done well.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture Audio and the author Shalini Boland for the audio Arc of the book.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really listening to this book and felt really engaged with the narrator. the story was fast paced and didn't drag i was eager to find out where is was all going, however was a little disappointed with the far fetched plot as although fiction and am happy to suspend the reality of the story, this i thought was taking a little too far.