Wow! I didn’t know what to expect when starting Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger. I’m a big thriller and mystery lover, so this ended up being right up my ally. I would recommend to those who enjoy B.A. Paris, Freida McFadden, or Karin Slaughter type novels.

The twists were solid throughout, and while I did guess one of the big ones about half way, I was still engaged to figure out the many other unknown twists. I could envision this as a good screenplay too.

I’m a big audio book lover. Kate Handford’s narration was enjoyable, and easy to understand at a fast pace (2x). I would agree with other reviewers that the change in POVs may have been easier to digest on paper versus audio. Perhaps, some minor changes in the narration could help delineate the perspective change.

Overall, I would be eager to read additional works by this Author and to listen to other audiobooks by this Narrator.

Thanks to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for an advanced listen to this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my personal opinion.

Kate returns home after 10 years. She remembers seeing her best friend Emma kill someone. Living with the guilt of knowing this she left leaving questions unanswered.

This book really relates to YA but the content would put it at a very mature YA. As this was a slow burn at first I did get a little bored but was really glad when the story picked up speed around the half way mark. The characters were likeable enough but some missed the mark on the topic content. The ending had a twist, but I pretty much guessed it early on. Still well thought out but it needed something more to pull it across the line.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture Audio for the opportunity to listen and review this ARC.

Not a huge fan of audiobooks and I really enjoyed this one! I loved the narrator, how she helped distinguish the characters by changing the voice. The story itself was great, the ending was completely unexpected and took me by surprise.

The story was good, but not totally believable. Still several twists and turns that I didn't see coming. The narrator did a good job. Despite thinking it was farfetched, I still enjoyed it.

This is a fast paced thriller that’s perfect for an audiobook. I really enjoyed the narration. It’s about a woman that witnessed her best friend murder someone when they were young. She couldn’t live with it, so she fled town as soon as she could.
Years later, she is back in town and finds out her friend has died. As she talks to people in town, old history is brought up and she realizes there was so much more to everything than it seemed. Is she in danger now?

Ten years prior, after a traumatic incident, Kate leaves her home and family behind and moves states away. Her mother's recent incident forces Kate to return to her hometown. Her biggest dread is facing her childhood best friend Emma. But Emma's sudden death frees Kate of the burden. However, she expects the death of her friend to bring her and the family relief. Instead, it opens a door into a web of many shocking secrets.

For a very ordinary plot, this novel shocks the reader with a chain of surprising revelations and one unexpected ending. I found this book to be compelling and a true psychological thriller, which I’m always looking for. There’s also a romance at the center as well. I definitely plan to read more by the author, I admire her writing style.

Thank you, NetGalley for a free and advanced copy of the novel.

Wow, what a wild ride this was! The narrator was just wonderful and the twisty story was crazy. I really thought I had it all figured out, but boy was I wrong. That's the best kind of thriller in my book.

This is the story of two best friends, Kate and Emma. They live in the same town, go to the same school and might have something else in common they don't know yet. While on high school, a life-changing event happens and their lives will never be the same, so Kate leaves town and starts a new stagem away from everyone.

Years later, Kate is back home and turns out her ex BFF died, so she tries to do some research on how, why and when she passed. Little by little Kate starts to discover new details of the people in town, her family and her former best friend. As there seems to be a serial killer in town and she starts doubting everything she believed in.

The book is written in two different timeframes. First while the girls are on highschool and then, as they're adults. Each chapter is a different chronology and this specific ffeature made it hard for me to understood what was going on at the beginning, but after 3-4 chapters in, I got used to it and in fact, found this literary device extremely useful for the type of story Shannon Hollinger, the author is narrating. In addition, this chronollogy keeps you up reading, as you start matching pieces here and there along with the main character.

I'm, a huge thriller reader so I normally predict most of the "unexpected finales", nevertheless on this book, I gotta give a clap for the author as I did not see the last plot twist coming, nor others in the middle of the story haha. It's a very fast paced read and would definetly recommend it to any thriller fan.

I'm quite speechless when I finish listening to the audiobook because so much happened in the last few chapters.

At the beginning, I suspected that person to do such thing but I didn't dwell on it because I got convinced to Kate's perspective of the story. But once I got in the end I'm quite right but I also didn't expect the twist after the twist. The last few chapters was thrilling that there's one time I have to take a breather to process what's going on.

The only reason this isn't a complete 5⭐ for me is it lacks describing the people's features at the beginning so I have to come up with a face that best fits the given short description. However, as the book progresses, I think the characters features then got too over described. In addition, I'm also confused because there's no indication if the chapter is in the present or the past. The past was told in third person while the present was told in first person. So as I'm listening, its confusing and needs a little bit of adjustment. I think it would be better to put "Then" and "Now" as chapter titles just for the readers to know which to picture the scenes are.

Overall, I never expected this book would be good, thrilling, and twisted. I really love it 💕

Super easy, slow burn thriller. Flew through it and didn’t expect some twists. I’m giving it a 3.5 rating because I didn’t really connect with any of the characters and felt like it fell flat in some areas. But still enjoyed this one.

This author is new to me. And I definitely will be picking up more by her. I love a good mystery and this did not disappoint. I did not see the ending coming at all. All the people I suspected at one time ended up being innocent. This is a great read with a big twist. I reccomend to anyone who enjoys this genre.

Best Friends Forever
by Shannon Hollinger

I would suggest you to pick up this book blindly as it has a lot of twists and turns. I feel you will enjoy this book more then.

Thanks to the author, Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for my audio copy. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review

I flew through this and was pleasantly shocked. Best friends, secrets, and returning to your hometown, mix them all together be prepared for an adventure.

Best Friends Forever just did not work for me. It reads more like a YA novel with the way the adult characters of 28 years old were acting, but there were some adult situations involved. It was also slower for me and a bit confusing as it went back and forth from present day to the past. For me it was obvious who the killer was so I wasn’t shocked when we got to that part. I was all excited because I figured it out, and I usually hate when I figure out who the killer is. It just wasn’t believable at all for me and the reason why just did not work for me. I would be willing to give the author another try.

I think some of my issues might have been the narrator. Maybe the novel is better to actually read. Some novels just don’t do well on audio.

Many thanks to the publisher Bookotoure Audio for granting me an audio arc, I just wish I could have written a favorable review.

While this thriller was super predictable (to me anyway), it was pretty interesting route to get to the end.

We follow a MC that is convinced she knows what happened during a traumatic event during her teenage years that caused her to leave her hometown and end friendships. After a phone call from her sister (who has remained mute since the incident) she returns to help her mother recover from an injury. Chaos ensues.

While I know “who dunnit” almost immediately, there were enough red herrings and misdirections to make it less predictable than some. Even knowing (or being pretty sure anyway) where it was going, it was still and interesting journey. We hear about the past, learn about friendships and other relationships that had been going on throughout the course of the story and then the ending comes up and is equally dramatic.

I received an audio copy through NetGalley and the narrator was perfect for this book. It was such a great listening experience.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First things first, I really enjoyed this book! It was slow to start if I’m honest I didn’t think I was going to like it. However I’m not somebody who DNFs and this held my attention enough to keep going and I am glad that I did. I really loved some (but not all) of the characters and yes I did guess the biggest twist as I approached the reveal but it was still a really enjoyable twist followed by another I didn’t see coming. I was praying for the last quarter of the book that it wasn’t going to be predictable and be somebody I liked! I was invested and gripped towards the end of this book, will definitely be on the look out for more by this author. Great read, would recommend!

Best Friends Forever is a well-paced and riveting. Initially, I had to get used to the many characters, but after a while, each character had a distinct personality and backstory. The narrator's voice was pleasant to listen to and did the book much justice. Thanks for the advance review copy.

Twisty and fun. There were some things about the MC that I didn't like -specifically how easily she jumped to assumptions. There were some extra twists that I thought were unnecessary but overall an engaging thriller.

Really good narration experience.
The mystery murder plot was easy to follow and expertly delivered by Kate Handford. Lots of dialogs and really good and easy to follow action scenes.
Very satisfying storyline :)

This was an enjoyable read, but I guessed the first part of the twist right away. The plot was very layered, but the main character was a little one-dimensional. I do give points for originality and a hidden second twist.