Thank you Macmillan Audio for my #gifted audiobook.

The description, title, and cover of this book got me so excited to read it. Sadly, it just wasn’t for me. I found the writing to be super choppy, and I just did not like the flow of this book.

I listened to the audiobook and did not care for the narrators.

I would not recommend this book.

HOLY HELL OF AN AUDIO!
Going on this journey of the friendship between Kate and Bella was a lot. You go from hating Kate so much to feeling so sorry for her at the very end as she has gotten old. Sadly, she was played as a very narcissistic person and it was just so sad to hear Bella agree with her on everything no matter what.

I really wanted to like "The Best Friend" by Jessica Fellowes. I have read a few of her other books, but this one fell flat for me.

"The Best Friend" follows two women over the span of their lifetime, from children to old age. Their toxic friendship has many ups and downs and periods where Bella, the main character from whom the story is told, must take a break from her friendship with Kate. Kate's narcissistic, manipulative ways easily string Bella along for a strange and tragic holiday. Can their friendship survive -- and should it?

I spent most of the book anticipating some big twist. When the plot twist did did finally come, it was so late in the story and I didn't feel invested in any of the characters, so the impact was not enough for me.

The narrator did a wonderful job and I truly enjoyed the way she voiced the different characters. Although I didn't enjoy the actual book much, it was an easy audiobook to listen to.

This was.... not great. I didn't really find it suspenseful. Bella and Kate had a toxic relationship. Kate was the WORST. Lots of it didn't make sense. Not super into the narrator for this book either. I didn't enjoy the plot and hated the ending. Just lots of things that didn't work for me unfortunately.

I have a habit of not DNFing books, but this is a book I would have if I did that kind of thing.

The moment of full stop came with the scene of gaslighting about rape. Considered a thriller, this isn't like the traditional thriller book and I definitely didn't go into listening to it with the right frame of mind. I start considering DNFing when I realized that I hate every single character and I can say, I hate every single character from The best Friend.

Then there is the aspect of adultery, which isn't normally a hard limit for me, but it's exhausted in The Best Friend. The will she, won't she, did she, didn't she and long periods of dialogue felt forced, disjointed and not realistic.

As a thriller reader, especially a psychological thriller, this should have been a book I was able to connect with and it was a struggle to finish.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for an eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. I wish the best for the author and the release of her book.

Not quite a DNF for me, I found <I> The Best Friend</I> to have a solid underlying story coupled with an interesting choice in writing style that made it harder to follow and relate to.

Bella and Kate have been friends since they were very young. The novel follows their fragile trust and yet unerring devotion across the changing shapes of each decade in their lives. It is ultimately an homage to friendship, and all the forms it takes as it matures. The book's description bills it as "dark and suspenseful," and both the title and cover art lead you to expect a thriller as well -- truthfully, it's not. Instead, it's a character study, and with more attention given to creating it as such, it could shine. The heavy use of dialogue made it harder to come to know the characters than I would like, though, and ultimately I found I just didn't care about the characters as much as I should. I did find the ending redemptive for their friendship, and I enjoyed it enough to push through to the end. I truly wanted to like this one more than I did. If you like screen plays, you may like the "eavesdropping" feel of the frequent dialogue more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advance copy of this novel for an honest review.

DNF

The way this story is told and narrated doesn’t work for me. I also found one of the voices particularly irritating. Sorry!

Thanks net galley for my ARC

I found this book to be very relatable as having a childhood friendship where you come and go from each other's lives along with the love and the struggle you have with each other. I think describing their relationship as toxic might be a bit harsh, but there is hurt and pain that tends to linger. We get an inside look to each woman's life and how a moment, a decision will change the course of both of their lives. It might seem overwhelming to follow two characters from the age of 6 into their 80s, but it was well done to focus on the time when their lives intersected. While Kate is a main character and very important to the story, we only get Bella's inside thoughts and feelings.

I did receive an Advanced Reader's Copy of the audio book from NetGalley. I felt the pacing was good, but I'm not sure if a chapter was skipped because they were working on it or if it was my device. The sound was a bit tinny, and I joke it was recorded in a submarine, and if I went faster than 2x there was some static experienced. I have a feeling the final product will have these issues worked out.

How did this book find me? I received an audio version of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"All those years in between, Kate. What were they for?
We've lived our lives, I suppose."

This is possibly my favorite line in Jessica Fellowes' The Best Friend. It reminds me of standing in front a headstone and seeing the dash between birth and death dates and imagining all the happy and sad times in between.

Kate and Bella are true friends. They sometimes hurt each other, and sometimes they're apart, but they always have a connection. It's really the full circle of their lives, told in both dialogue between the two and narratives that connect the years. I liked that instead of chapters, they were numerated by how old Kate and Bella were at that time.

This book…

I really wanted to like it. The summary instantly caught my attention- but the actual story… not so much.

I was confused as to what was going on 90 percent of the time…and could not figure out why Kate and Bella were even friends… one of them needed more of a personality to make them more interesting. I was not invested in either .

The narration was pleasant at least

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for my copy of this in exchange for an honest review. Okay so I wouldn't classify this as a mystery/thriller or a psychological suspense novel. I suppose this is for fans of The Push, but similar to that it's maybe a psychological family drama? I would definitely recommend for fans of The Favor.

I did not connect with the characters in this one, I really actually did not like any of the characters in this one. I almost DNF'ed it but I was on a 12-hour bus ride so I ultimately was like what do I have to lose? There's only one related suspenseful part but it's never adequately explained, it's mostly just discussed in veiled comments after the fact and the comments that are made about it only gave me more questions.

The Best Friend by Jessica Fellowes follows the lives of Bella and Kate from the tender age of six. This has got to be one of the most dysfunctional relationships I have ever witnessed. Kate seems to be the outgoing friend who loves attention and went into acting. Bella, is the quieter friend who cares about her small family and paints.

While this story was different and interesting in many ways, I did not always care for the vagueness that surrounded the story. This one is definitely a very slow burn and it is sometimes hard to follow who is speaking. I really had a difficult time hearing the difference in the two narrators.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting story showing a highly dysfunctional relationship between two friends. I think it was a good in depth look about how emotional abuse can affect a person. It shows highly toxic Kate and her relationship with BFF Bella. It was a slow burn. I don't know that I would consider it a thriller, more of a picture of a seriously messed up friendship. The narrators did a great job and had great emotional depth.

Bella and Kate have been friends since childhood. And even though they are quite co-dependent of each other, their friendship has been through many ebbs and flows and is rather toxic and unhealthy.

I'm not quite sure where I land with this one. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. It's more atmospheric and character driven than it is thrilling and suspenseful. Overall, it did keep me interested and coming back to see where things landed.

I will say, the narrator did an excellent job, but the audiobook did glitch at times leaving me wondering if I had missed something.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have such mixed feelings on this. The audio narration was extremely compelling and I loved both the narrators because they gave so much emotion to the characters and really made me feel for the friendship. However, I felt like this book was so good up until the ending. This has so much lead up to...what? I felt like the ending just fell completely flat and was way too convenient and lazy. There was no real drama and I felt like this could have been really fantastic if the ending was different. I was really compelled by the friendship and why it had broken off and really liked the explanation but it didnt fully make sense either. Overall, I thought 75% of this was really exciting and compelling and the ending was a major disappointment. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is the story of Bella and Kate, whose friendship begins in early childhood and spans their entire lives. Fellowes provides a character-driven interpretation of a strange, rather unhealthy and, at times, codependent relationship. Other characters come and go in this story but Bella and Kate are always at the forefront. The audio version of this was pretty good, though some details were easier to follow with the e-version. The narrator does an excellent job conveying the very deep emotions and conflict of the characters. I wasn’t completely enthralled by the story but I did find it to be entertaining and definitely original. Fans of Sally Hepworth should find this appealing.

The Best Friend follows Kate and Bella through an intense, toxic friendship that spans through their lifetimes. As children, Bella was more sensible and cautious whereas Kate was a bit more dangerous. Over decades, their friendship ebbs and flows - and a shocking event tests them more than ever.

This book starts with Bella and Kate as children and spans throughout their lifetimes. Looking at the cover I thought that this book would be more of a thriller, but when reading found it to be more of a story of friendship with many highs and lows throughout the years. Towards the end, I actually found myself tearing up! This book is not my usual read, but I did enjoy it. I had both the eBook and ALC and the audio version was really easy to listen to, especially with the frequent back and forth between the two MCs. A quick read and looking forward to seeing what else Jessica Fellowes comes up with!

I went into this one mostly blind and I quite enjoyed the ride. A story of friendship over many decades with its several highs and incredible lows. These two main characters just can't seem to every truly be rid of each other. I enjoyed how this story spanned their entire lives from when they were small children until they were old ladies near the end of their life. The drama kept me wanting to continue on, even through the toxic moments. They aren't the most loveable characters but I wanted to keep rooting for them and felt upset each time something went wrong. This was a very quick read and I enjoyed it!

Kate and Bella are the best of friends, but life seems to keep driving wedges between them. First with a move followed by years of silence, then hardship as an adult and the many ways life just seems to go wrong. The women couldn't be more different from each other but they somehow work together, for the most part, that is. Until one life-changing event threatens to tear them apart for forever. The Best Friend is a story of friendship from start to finish.

The narration was wonderful. I thought she did an excellent job of making it clear who was speaking.

This is a story of two friends or friendenemys. Bella and Kate have been best of friends since childhood. Kate seems to intentionally injure and see how far she can push her friendship with Belle, who needs Kate more than Kate needs Bella. Bella seems to always come back to Kate no matter what Kate has done to their relationship. Kate is a beauty with dark hair, wealthy, rather selfish, a risk taker. Bella is a beauty with blond hair who has had to take care of her OCD dementia grandmother after her parents pass away. Bella is the rock that always has had to make her way in life. Both girls grow apart after Kate moves away when they are 17. Later the two women reunite and the tale takes off, often very uncomfortably so for Bella. The main characters come together and apart as they make their way through life. Can Kate ever be trusted, and can Bella ever trust what Kate's intention are? The ending is sweet. The story is really quite short and would appeal to readers who like a frugal, but drama filled novel..

I liked the premise when I read the summary of The Best Friend but I struggled to get through it. The book description accurately uses the word ‘toxic’ to describe the friendship between Bella and Kate. The story seemed to drag on. I didn’t relate to the characters or particularly like them. This book wasn’t for me.
The narration of this audio book was well paced and clear.
Thank You to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.