This book was a little rough for me, it took awhile for me to get into. Once I did I enjoyed the book but I definitely think you need a decent amount of suspension of disbelief for some of the plot points. The author does do some great character development with some of the characters. There were characters I loved and loved to hate. As the book went on the writing got even better and I had to finish it to find out what happened. Overall a dark, disturbing but enjoyable story.

There were several twists and turns in the plot. Interesting story line and most of the characters were pretty well developed. I got a little confused when the big reveal was made and didn’t recognize the character at first so I think that one could have been more developed. Overall I recommend the book and thought it was very good.

I couldn't stop listening to this it was such a fast paced enjoyable story with twists and turns at every corner. I loved how I couldn't guess what was going to happen next and every reveal was a surprise that left me needing to know what happened next.

Best Friends Forever tells us the story of Kate revisiting her home town to look after her mom after she's been injured from a fall. However Kate hasn't been back for 10 years since one awful night she saw her best friend, Emma, standing over a body holding a rock. . Kate unable to get over the belief that her best friend killed someone had to escape. Also Lily, Kate's younger sister was also there that and has not spoken since.

But now she's back and Emma is dead. She has to face her past as secrets unravel and she needs to do her own investigation into what really happened that night, and what's been happening since.

I have to say I loved this book from start to finish. It drew me in from the beginning and I loved the pacing of the story and the dual timelines with the true story of what happened that night being unravelled slowly. I felt myself go on the investigation with Kate, asking questions myself, and finding answers in synch with her. I also loved how unlike most mysteries I truly couldn't guess what was really going on so I continues to feel drawn into the story until the very end.. I will definitely be looking out for more of Hollinger's works.

This was a very intriguing thriller that really kept me on my toes was more on a slow burn thriller that revved his engine was we neared the end. As we got to know a lot of the main character and the family and the death of her best friend, but there was enough to get my on for the mystery.

Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger was thrilling. The story follows Kate, who witnesses her best friend Emma standing over a dead body the night of their high school graduation. Ten years later she comes back to town and the secrets start to surface. It immediately reminded me of me Pretty Little Liars. Everyone in the book has a secret and the moment you think you can trust them, you start you second guess yourself. I really enjoyed this one, if you are looking for a solid domestic thriller, with unreliable/questionable characters this is a great choice.

Thank you netgalley, Shannon Hollinger and publisher for the audio ARC of this book

This one was addictive and written well. The narrators did a great job at captivating the audience and telling the story.

This one I was certain I knew who was guilty a few times and I WAS WRONG. Well done Shannon to creating clever twists and turns

The characters are protrayed well to really make everyone look suspicious and also make you feel for each of them.

I enjoyed this book thank you!

Katie comes back home to take care of her mother. She fled her home town because when she was younger she saw her best friend standing over a man with a rock. The man was dead. Her friend killed him.
While in her home town she discovers that every yr of the anniversary of the dead man, another death occurs
Is tge best friend killing people yearly
Also her best friend ends up dead and now Katie wants to know what happened to her

Thank you NetGalley for the audio copy in exchange for a honest review. Kate fled her home town following a murder and witnessing her best friend Emma holding the murder weapon. She had her little sister Lily with her and she has been mute ever since. Ten years later she is called back home as her mother has had an accident and needs her support. Then Emma is murdered and Kate is forced to face the past. A brilliantly written thriller with some great twists.

Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger follows Kate, a woman who has returned to her hometown to finally uncover the truth about a murder that occurred ten years early.

Kate returns to her childhood home in Florida after fleeing ten years earlier to Boston to finally confront her past. The past that she was running away from involved a murder near the orange groves, a bloody rock, the victim Brad, a 30-something homeless man and Kate's best friend, Emma Daley. Kates also also has a younger sister
that she regrettably abandoned when she decided to leave Florida. Her sister was also a witness to the murder that took place near the orange groves and has been traumatized ever since and subsequently has not spoken since witnessing the brutal murder.

The story features a single 1st person & 3rd person POV, and a dual timeline ~ now and 10 years ago.

One would believe with a premise like this how can a story go wrong but unfortunately it does, not only because it is very slow to reach it's climax but it is very disjointed at times. Though, I often dislike when I read a review and the reviewer writes that the book was unbelievable, this one even being fiction is extremely unbelievable. The characters are in their 30's yet they act as if their in junior
high school. The novel reads more like a YA book, the female characters are involved in plenty of petty drama that doesn't add to the story line.


This book might appeal to YA readers

Narration: I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kate Hanford. I found the narrator for the most part engaging
despite the story line dragging and being repetitive. However, I did have to increase the speed on the audio because the narrator had some unnecessary pauses at times and her cadence was too slow at times.
📖Book: 2.5 ⭐️
🎧Audio: 3 ⭐️


Thank you to #Bookouture and #Netgalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook.
Pub Date: Jan 12, 2023

Thank you NetGalley bookouture and Shannon hollinger for allowing me the experience to read best friends for ever. Let me start off my saying this was a phenomenal book. And I will be recommending it to probably just about everyone I know and on all my social media platforms.
Summary:
Kate moved away from home after finding a dead body in the woods on the night she was supposed to be celebrating her graduation. She soon comes home to take care of her mom and younger sister who’s been mute since that night in the woods ten years ago. Lily and Kate’s best friend Becca end up being the killers in the end.
The characters were all described amazingly. I really thought I knew the killer multiple times throughout the story and I was so wrong. This books had so many twists and turns I couldn’t put the book down till I finished!
I will definitely be reading more from this author since this was my first read.

The narrator was pretty good for this one. I found the story to move a little slow for my liking and as such it was difficult to stay engaged. The plot was well thought out and the twist and turns were great. There were some well done characters as well. I just wish the story had moved a little faster with more suspense.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I expected. It was too slow for me, and I failed to connect with the main characters. The potential in this storyline is huge, but just didn’t work for me on this occasion. This maybe due to being an audiobook, and I’m not against reading future releases by this author.

dual timelines (past and present)
I found it to be very slow and lacking details and the details that were told just didn't seem to fit the book. I was uninterested at times but I was willing to finish to see what happened with Emma and Lilly. Kate isn't the most likable character in the book, I found her annoying and her judgment poor...which I guess makes sense? It all kind of felt childish...all in all the ending was alright. I was very hopeful for this one and felt a bit let down.

3.5⭐

Featuring ~ single 1st person & 3rd person POV, dual timeline ~ now and 10 years ago, death, pedophilia references

We've got some amateur sleuthing going on by Kate when she comes back to town to care for her mother and her old BFF, Emma, dies. Initially deemed a suicide, Kate isn't so sure. And then she learns other men have turned up dead throughout the years in the same manner as Brad 10 years ago. BTW ~ Brad's death is the reason she hightailed it outta town, which was weird.

The now timeline is in the 1st person and 10 years ago is in the 3rd, which was really the only way I knew which timeline we were in. I could have went for it to be titled or something. Maybe it's easier to decipher in a print version? With that said I did enjoy this one for the most part. The dual timeline helped build the suspense of how Brad really died. There were some secrets and twistaroos I hadn't guessed.

I gotta round my 3.5 down because after Kate reads Emma's note it felt like I heard her wonder who she could trust like 87 times. I didn't really care for any other characters either, except for Kate's mom and Jimmy.

Narrated by Kate Handford for 10 hours and 57 minutes, easy to follow at 2-2.5x. She sounded robotic at times, but overall did a fine job.

Best Friends Forever....With friends like these I do not think I want them in my life as friends for any length of time.

Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger was a great book with plenty of twists and turns. I was sucked in by the plot summary. Kate is at a graduation bon fire and witnesses the worst, her best friend Emma kills a man. Kate's younger sister, Lily, witnessed the entire attack and has not spoken a word since the incident. To escape the horror Kate leaves her hometown to never return, that is until she gets a silent phone call from Lily. Upon her arrival death is lurking in the background by taking the lives of those close to Kate. Now of course if this was me, I would confront my friend and not leave town for ten years. I would want to find out what happened, but trauma impacts people in so many different ways. This book starts off with a fever pitch and does not let go.

Kate returns primarily because her mother was injured. Despite feeling the need to leave her family so many years ago she does have regrets. She wants to be the daughter, sister and friend she was not in the past. But in the wake of her arrival her best friend Emma dies. This does not make sense to Kate, and she begins investigating. This investigation leads to more bodies, and so many other questions including what really happened that fateful night at the bonfire. But Emma sends a message from the grave telling her to trust no one. Who can Kate trust? Who has been on a murder spree? Who killed Emma? Was Emma a cold-blooded murderer?

I really enjoyed that this book was from the perspective of Kate. But we also jump into the past to learn more about the events of the bonfire. The only problem I had with that was I sometimes was not sure what time frame I was in. I would have liked either chapters with titles or words like "Past" or "Day of Murder", so I did not have to guess. I liked the pacing of the book and thought it was done well. Although this is an adult book with adult characters it felt more like a YA mystery, thriller to me. Since I enjoy YA books, this did not bother me. The ending had me guessing. I really thought I knew who was responsible for all the murders and I was wrong. I loved that I did not get it right. I do have a few questions that were not answered at the end, so I just took a guess as to what may have happened.

Best Friends Forever is a fresh look at a thriller with a YA-esque vibe and just a twisty ending that had me guessing until the very last page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read and review the advanced copy.

I received this as an audio galley to listen to for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for giving me access.

If this book is the guidelines for best friends, I don’t want any…or any siblings.

This book didn’t quite meet my expectations and I’m not sure if it is because of the writing or the audiobook narrator. It was difficult to tell the difference between which female character was talking at one point (you’ll know the area I mean if you listen)

While the story had great bones, I did feel the ending was just tossed in there to “blind side” the reader. Half of it just didn’t really fit with all the lead up. Overall, it was still enjoyable, just won’t be in my top favorites any time soon.

Kate and Emma where the best of friends until one fateful night changes all that and Kate leaves town. Ten years later Kate is back and it's time for her to really find out what happened on that night that changed so many lives.

Felt a little slow to get going, it did pick up around half way in when all the twists statreted to happen. There was a definite young adult feel to the book although I don't think that is the original target audience. The charecters for me weren't very likeable but the ending was intense and a bit of a shock.

Thanks to Netgalley for the Arc.

Unfortunately I got the twists from the first few pages. Not all of them but I knew one of the murderers straight on.
However I liked the different plots within the main plot especially with Jeff for example.
It was nice but a bit Predictable !

Thank you to Bookouture, Shannon Hollinger, and Netgalley for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. It grabs you right from the beginning and keeps you guessing throughout the book. I really had no idea who the killer was until the end. The narration was awesome. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 solid stars for this one. I’ve read so many psychological thrillers, that it is few and far between where I don’t know who’s done it before the ultimate reveal!

As a huge suspense and thriller fan, I loved "Best Friends Forever". Shannon Hollinger is skilled with the likes of Karin Slaughter and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.