Member Reviews
One of the best YA thrillers out there, the plot is so strong and intriguing that i would love to read some adult thrillers by the same author
This is a very good psychological thriller, which I enjoyed listening to, as it had lots of twists and turns, and it kept me engaged. The audiobook narrator did a great job, and portrayed the story well.
The story is told in a dual timeline perspective, and it is about a woman called Kate, who left home after she thought that her friend Brad, a homeless man, was murdered by her best friend Emma. However, when she returns home after ten years away, to care for her Mum, something happens to Emma which makes her wonder what is really going on. She sets out to find out the truth.
I highly recommend this book, and I will be looking out for more books by this author.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.
#Jawdropping bombshells! This is a fantastic thriller of a read!
Kate Handford is amazing as narrator!
Thank you, Shannon Hollinger, Bookouture, #bookoutureaudio & netgalley for my copy & #audiobook to read! All opinions are my own.
Best Friends Forever did not work for me. I think this is a combination of the narrator who I found I could just not comfortably listen to and the storyline, which felt disjointed and did not flow with ease. Sometimes with an audio version, if there is something about the narrator that doesn't work for me it truly impacts on the story and my ability to invest in it. Perhaps my opinion would have changed if I had read the written version.
This book was average for me. The main plot was okay but wasn’t anything memorable or stand out neither were the main characters.
This book had SO MANY twists and turns throughout!! Just when I thought I had it figured out, something else would happen that had me questioning everything. Such a fun read! I flew through it in a day!
Best Friends Forever
Shannon Hollinger
Author Shannon Hollinger offers readers a Psychological Thriller with a unique plot. This tale has a dual timeline; it moves back in forth between the present and ten years ago. The present is told in 1st person and 10 years ago is told in the 3rd person.
Best friends forever, inseparable and friends from childhood until that terrible night when Kate found Emma standing over a Brad’s dead body, holding a large rock. Could Emma have killed someone? Kate’s younger sister was there and has not uttered a word since that night. Kate cannot deal with her suspicions and leaves town.
Kate returns to town to take care of her mother after a hard fall. Emma, Kate’s best friend dies, and the death is ruled a suicide. Kate has her doubts. She feels guilty that she wasted 10 years of not spending time or even speaking with her best friend, Emma. Kate begins her own investigation into the deaths.
This book is a bit slow at the beginning. We know that Kate escaped her hometown due to a disturbing event witnessed by Kate and her younger sister Lily, but we have no idea what that event was.
This tale leaves readers questioning how we understand what we see, wondering if we really know the people in our lives and how does the answer to these two questions impact our lives?
My main criticism was too much repetition. Author Shannon Hollinger kept me guessing to the end; she has provided the reader with plenty of red herrings along the way.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing and allowing me to review this book. My reviews are my unbiased opinions.
Wow! This had more twists than the largest rollercoaster in the world and I was certainly turned upside down whilst listening to it! Murder, deception, lies, dirty cops, this book has it all.
I started listening to Best Friends Forever while on a long walk in the countryside with the dog. I was obviously hoping that I wouldn’t get lost but when I told my Bookstagram friends what I was doing that day, one of them said, and I quote...‘we are gonna write a book about our friend lost in the countryside while listening to a murder book’!
I honestly loved it from start to finish, and I didn’t work out who the murderer was at all. I discovered the culprit right alongside our protagonist. For me, it was totally unexpected and a real shocker. There were lots of characters to hate in this book and not many to love! Shannon Hollinger got it so right and every character just added to the interest of the story. Kate Handford was a well-chosen narrator, and she simply made the book come alive.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger.
I listened to this audiobook until 40% complete before I abandoned it because it fell flat for me. I felt it was slow in the beginning but wanted to give it a chance. By 40% I stopped and thought about why it was not grabbing me. I feel like the author did not reveal enough edge-of-your-seat plot twists to grab readers attention. I attempted to listen again a month later but confirmed my first feeling.
What a fun thriller that kept you on edge of seat. A story of two best friends that goes awry with friendship .
Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger is a good psychological thriller. Are you looking for a creepy and disturbing read? If so, this one is for you. Go in blind and enjoy the ride.
Many thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for sharing this listening copy for me in exchange for my honest review. This is the twisty psychological thriller we have all been waiting for. Happy Reading!!
Thank you NetGally for the audiobook!
Wow I really enjoyed this, I’d give it 4.5 stars.
I really love Kate’s character she comes back home after 10 years away and things have changed. Her friends may not be the same friends she left behind.
I enjoyed the twist in this book, I couldn’t work out the killer! Brilliant murder mystery book a must read you’ll not be disappointed
Enjoyed this book. a little slow moving but good towards the end. Lookin forward to more books from this author.
The narration of the title was really good - it was clear who was talking and where we were all the time I was listening along.
It took a while for the book to find its feet - but once it does it really ramps up the action. Lots of predictable twists, with a few shockers - but all a fun ride. Nothing that really requires a lot of your attention/thought (in fact...some parts of the plot work better if you do switch off slightly).
Thank you NETGALLEY for this arc audio in exchange for a review
Thrilling and overall fast paced. There are secrets and a nice twist. Quick read. I read a lot of thrillers, and this one was a decent read. 3.5 stars
Best Friends Forever tells the story of Kate who returns to her hometown when her mother is injured from a fall. Her childhood best friend, Emma, then turns up dead. Something doesn't seem right to Kate about this, so she is forced to delve back into their past to see if she can piece together what happened to lead up to her friend's death.
The book is written with a dual timeline, allowing us to discover the story in the present tense as well as learning snippets from 10 years prior. I always like a book written this way as I enjoy piecing the bits together.
The characters fell a little flat for me and I really didn't feel a connection with any of them. The book was also a little slower paced than I usually go for. That said, I did still want to see how it all ended.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.
Best Friends Forever was a great read by Shannon Hollinger. Katie and her little sister witness a traumatic even that happens on graduation night. It seems as though her little sister hasn't spoken a word since that night. Katie returns home after a ten year absence and she wants to make amends. She wants to help her little sister get better and confront her best friend Emma about what she saw that night. They were best friends until that night in the woods. She knows that even if Emma killed the boy, she couldn't betray her and tell what she knows. Unfortunately the day she returns, Emma is found dead. Katie finds herself with more questions than answers as the story unravels. I enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to read more by the author.
4⭐️
Kate stayed away for ten years, ten years keeping a secret that has eaten her alive. But she has to go back, has to go back to where it started, back to Emma. But on the day Kate returns Emma is found dead and it was no accident. Emma’s death makes Kate go back over that night ten years ago and begin to question what exactly she saw. Did Emma kill a man or someone else kill him? Did they kill again? Did that someone else kill Emma to silence the only other person that could tie them to the murder?
Best Friends Forever is a single first person POV (flashbacks in third person), dual timeline, suspense, murder mystery book. *Note TW: SA.
This was a very enjoyable book! At the beginning it is a little slow to get into, it takes some time to figure out exactly what is going on but it moves pretty quick and by the 60-70% point I couldn’t put it down! I guessed the plot twist pretty early on, 54% to be exact, but there was little twists that keep me interested in the story. It was an excited ‘I was right” reveal, rather than an eyeball “I was right” reveal iykyk.
I received an audiobook version that was narrated by Kate Handford. She wasn’t my favourite narrator but she still brought life to the characters. With the audiobook it took some time to get used to the time jumps but once I realized that the flashbacks were in third person it became easy to follow.
Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for an advanced audio copy for an honest review.
A good read though I did find it rather slow for the first third of the book. It then picked up pace and had so many twists and turns with an ending that you just didn’t see coming !
Audio version of this book 📚, narrator was good and made the book easy to listen to.
A Solid Psychological Thriller, Told from different POV in different timer lines this story moves fast and has enough twist and turns to make you dizzy. A good array of characters you will live to hate and a ending to shock. i felt the characters could have been better developed and the wit the narration it was sometimes hard to know if it was past or present but all in all a good solid thriller.