For me, this is more of a psychological thriller than literary fiction. This is a story about the depths of memory, manipulation, and the search for identity. Janelle Wolf, a woman whose life takes a dramatic turn after a car accident robs her of her memories and shatters her reputation. In her quest to reclaim her past (Janelle Before) and discover the truth behind the accident, Janelle encounters Lana O'Shield, a charismatic spiritual counselor who promises to help her unlock her buried memories. As Janelle delves deeper into her past, she uncovers a web of secrets and lies that threaten to destroy her family and the idyllic life she thought she had. The story takes place in the small southern town of Haven, South Carolina, where the past and present intertwine, creating a suspenseful and intriguing atmosphere.

Her Best Self explores themes of identity, forgiveness, and the power of memory, making it an enjoyable read. I found the pace a bit to slow for my liking and I would've probably wanted a bit more depth in the character description. But overall, a good read.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my review copy, all opinions are my own.

I have been recommending this book to everyone I know. That is even with me not finishing it yet. I have recommended to at least 2 book clubs and multiple other readers. It is a great representation of a person with a disability. Originally I request this book because I was facilitating a live stream that Mindy was the guest on. I have yet to finish but that isnt because of the quality of the book. It is because I want to give the book the attention it deserves.

Oh my goodness, what a spiral of events! "Her Best Self" by Mindy Friddle is a powerful family drama about a woman who is gradually recovering from a traumatic brain injury, which occurred many years prior under mysterious circumstances. Lots of floundering, excellent characters, misunderstandings, deceit, digging up of the past, passion, ambition, family bonds, and large emphasis on appearances. Was a thrilling, dysfunctional, tragic, yet wonderful book. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

A captivating and emotionally charged novel that delves into the themes of memory, identity, and self discovery. The story has dark twists and wry humor and is atmospheric of the small southern town. There is a rollercoaster of emotions with each chapter revealing new secrets and turns.
Many thanks to Regal House Publishing and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion

3,5 stars rounded up to 4.
This was a well written book and some sections were really interesting. However there were so many side plots, I failed to be excited for the main one at the end of the book.

I was really intrigued when I read the blurb and decided to download the book and now that I've read it I have mixed feelings as it did not work so well for me. However, it has an interesting plot and is well written providing good entertainment for a few hours.
I thank Ms. Friddle, her publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Janelle Wolf longs to be the woman she once was (“Janelle Before"), before a mysterious car accident stole her memories, ruined her reputation, and upended her life. Then she meets Lana, an alluring and magnetic psychic healer.
Upon reading through the initial parts of the book, one can't help but feel the weight of the slow-paced narrative, which put my patience to the test. The continuous influx of new characters further contributes to the challenging nature of the read, as it made difficult for me to readily form meaningful connections with each one.
Plot development in the story leads to a shift in genre, transforming the narrative into a thrilling mystery. The revelation of the wrongdoings against Janelle was meant to drive the story forward, but the slow pacing hindered the impact of these plot twists. This caused the suspense and intrigue to be lost, as the earlier sections of the narrative failed to fully engage my interest. Therefore, the subsequent plot developments and twists did not have the intended impact, causing a cognitive dissonance from the story itself.
This had a lot of potential in my opinion which was sacrificed for a writing style that made it very difficult to get through this book. This tension between potential and delivery impacted the overall reception of the novel.

Overall, this turned out to be a very forgetful read for me & left no dents on my memory.

I think this is more of a thriller than literary fiction so for those who like thrillers I think they'll like this one!

Looking to remember her past Janelle engages with a psychic healer and things take an interesting turn as she learns so many truths about her accident. An exploration into the past that explains the present and entertains the deception some wish to keep hidden. One can only imagine being in Janelle's shoes and losing her memory only to find maybe you were better off not knowing what happened. A novel with gumption and great characters that make it well worth reading. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by Mindy Fridde.

I was very intrigued by this one and enjoyed the first part but somewhere along the way I stopped connecting with it. There seemed to be a lot going on but it didn't go as deep into the story line as I would've liked. I worked out what happened before the accident but thought it was a bit of a let down.

Obviously this is nothing to do with the author or the writing but the cover didn't really fit with the tone of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley & Regal House Publishing for an eARC ♥️

Hey there, book lovers! This story about Jannele Wolf ,who is trying to remember her past and get her life back on track, but things get messy when she starts uncovering secrets and lies. Lana, the psychic, adds a cool mystical vibe to the story.

I loved how the book explores the idea that our memories aren't always reliable and how our past experiences shape us. The writing is engaging and the small-town setting is cozy, but the twists and turns keep things interesting.

The supporting characters are well-developed too, with their own secrets and stuff.
It's a great read if you're into psychological suspense with a dash of mystery.

Janelle Wolf longs to be the woman she once was— an adored wife, a loving mother, a career woman, a force in her community— before a mysterious car accident stole her memories, ruined her reputation, and upended her life.

A very interesting and well-written thriller! I didn't know what to expect but I really enjoyed it.

I really liked this book but have a couple of critiques. One is that it's a little bit difficult to get into: lots of exposure through dialogue, short chapters where not a lot happens, and I think that the book needed more editing and also a better cover and description. THAT said, the short chapters work, like a pulse, adding suspense and communicating the brokenness of Janelle's memories and the news stories were some of the best written parts. It's also filled with subtle, dark wit (which, again, isn't evidenced by the cover).

Thanks NetGalley and Regal House for the ARC!

This is a cleverly written, slow-burn,Enjoyable read!
Janelle Wolf. Wife, Mother, career women, Social butterfly.
She is trying to remember the person she used to be, before her horrible car accident. "Janelle Before"
Enter Psychic Healer Lana. Lana is hired by Janelle to help her recall the events behind the night of the accident and they begin to piece together a dark and twisty story of Deception, Betrayal, and many secrets. The Plot switches back and forth between Janelle and her family, offering each of their perspectives. Great Book! I personally don't love this cover for the book, doesn't do it the justice of such a great thrill of a read. Highly recommend this book!

Thank You Netgalley, for this wonderful copy, in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this book sounded interesting, but unfortunately, I didn't really connect with it. I finished it, but I couldn't really warm to the characters or care about them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

This was a NetGalley selection, from an author with whom I was unfamiliar, so I had no expectations beyond the official description. The story began slowly - almost too slowly for my general taste - but it really picked up steam and created tension along with the development of the characters and the underlying mystery.

*Spoilers Ahead*

The central character, Janelle, was once the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect civic leader, a person who was well known for being calm, pleasant, efficient, beautifully-dressed, and someone with unerring instincts for people and promotion. Anything she touched was a success. She is also cast as the power behind the successful business figure her husband became. Then a mysterious car accident, and a complete loss of memory surrounding that accident, changed Janelle from a social butterfly into a dependent, fluffy and weak person, a person who is now avoided by her former acquaintance, and who is so desperate for a friend that she is easily taken in by Lana, a grifting "spiritual guide" whom she meets in the waiting room at her psychologist's office.

We meet Janelle's (weak) husband Charles, who has more money than sense; their worry-prone daughter Mira, who hovers over her mother, then bartends and thus does not live up to her family expectations; their son Burry, who married a sensible and pleasant middle-class woman who came into the marriage with Spec, a special needs child; and Teddy, the child of Charles' business partner, who swoops into town to take his rightful place in the firm, along with his grasping and aggressive PR expert wife, Reagan.

This story, set in the American South in the present day, switches back and forth between the perspectives of the family, all revolving around Janelle and they mystery of what happened to her, and what might still happen to her. in the final third of the story, the pace quickens to a denouement that feels almost too calm.

Good but not great. Goodreads doesn't allow half stars, or I'd rate it 3.5, not 4.

This book reads as more of a thriller/mystery than literary fiction. Background is revealed slowly to fill in the missing pieces of the situation upon which the story opens. It’s the kind of reveal style that I like, one where the reader knows something major has happened, but doesn’t know the details.

The story centers around Janelle Wolf, a prominent woman in her small town, the wife of a local business owner. Janelle was in a life-changing car accident 30 years prior to the opening scene. What happened to cause her accident and what her emotional state of mind was just prior to the accident, are gradually revealed as Janelle works with a therapist. It’s a mystery that some people, including Janelle’s husband, would rather not have brought to light.

I enjoyed this book. It kept me interested throughout and turning the pages (or whatever gets turned when reading on a Kindle). The characters were well-defined and the plot believable. That’s saying something as there’s a lot going on within the pages of this book. But it all worked for me and I’m glad to have read it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Regal House Publishing for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a really slow book that I just struggled to stick with. It lacked the grip factor and I soon lost interest.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I leave this review on my own. My first by this author. I enjoyed the writing style. Lots of quirk. Right up my alley. Good story w great characters

No surprise to learn from a bio of Mindy Friddle that, like another writer from the same neck of the woods, Pat Conroy, she hails from the Carolinas. No surprise because fictitious Haven, S.C., is the locale for her latest novel, “Her Best Self,” in which the protagonist, Janelle Wolf, is striving to remember the details of an auto accident from 30 years before that injured her badly and robbed her of her memory of events surrounding what happened.
Helping Janelle in that effort – or so she thinks – is Lana, a self-professed spiritual midwife for whom Janelle’s best interests may not be foremost and indeed whom Janelle’s husband, Charles, is singularly put out with – he thinks she’s an out-and-out fraud – at a time when he’s preoccupied with rebranding the family business.
Also preoccupying him is the upcoming marriage of his daughter, Mira, who it develops has been having a fling with the son of Charles’ now-deceased business partner. Indeed, it’s that affair that was the occasion for a particularly cringeworthy moment of realization for me that had me wondering if I’d understood correctly only to learn that, yes, I had understood correctly. So cringeworthy, indeed, is the situation that author Friddle notes in her bio that the “winks of humor” in the novel were intended to leaven the novel's “ominous backbeat,” as she puts it. To my mind, though, the “winks” keep the novel from realizing its fullest potential in the grand Gothic Southern tradition. Also, contrary to the opinion of another reviewer, I found a postscript superfluous.
But each writer has to dance to his or her own tune and it will be interesting to me to see what Friddle comes up with next, particularly with how, like her and Conroy, I’m a military brat whose stops included nearby states Georgia and Kentucky.