Bella and Kate. Kate and Bella. From childhood they were bosom friends, Bella sensible and cautious, Kate gregarious and just a little dangerous.
Yet in spite of their intimacy, their trust is fragile. Men came into their lives and things changed: a black seed was set in the heart of their relationship. Over decades, acts of both cruelty and love ferment until one shocking event tests them more than ever. Neither will escape unscathed.
Reminiscent of Elena Ferrante and Sally Rooney, and for readers of Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny and Ashley Audrain’s The Push, The Best Friend explores the darkest corners of female friendship, a place where loyalty and betrayal intersect with deadly consequences.
The Review
THE BEST FRIEND by Jessica Fellowes
Bella and Kate were best friends for life. At times, each other’s only friends. They were each other’s secret keepers and dream weavers and were always there to hold each other up and set each other straight.
But underneath that was the cruel criticism passed as helpful and the never-ending need to have more and be more.
Will insecurities lead to the destruction of their lifetime friendship or will their bond endure?
Only a lifetime will tell.
I don’t think readers will know where to put this book on their shelves.
This book, if you focus in, the book is written in an almost romantic style. I’m not talking about the genre or even structure. (Someone else can talk about the missing quotation marks) I’m speaking more about the turn of phrases and the word choices. There are many ways to say the same thing and this author appreciates the way things are said not just what is said.
Having said that, when you step back and look at the macro view I feel like there are some misfires that led to an overall confusing reading experience.
There is a wishy-washy quality to a specific and very integral piece of the storyline that drug on for a while and although it was wrapped up it felt like it was done poorly.
If it were marketed as literary fiction it would have been surprising but as a thriller, it was mediocre at best and unfortunately just a lot like the others.
THE BEST FRIEND…⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies!
This one comes out next month September 13, 2022
With her trademark spare, crystalline prose–a voice infused with “intimate, fragile, desperate humanness” (The Washington Post)–Elizabeth Strout turns her exquisitely tuned eye to the inner workings of the human heart, following the indomitable heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton through the early days of the pandemic.
As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea.
Rich with empathy and emotion, Lucy by the Sea vividly captures the fear and struggles that come with isolation, as well as the hope, peace, and possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. At the heart of this story are the deep human connections that unite us even when we’re apart–the pain of a beloved daughter’s suffering, the emptiness that comes from the death of a loved one, the promise of a new friendship, and the comfort of an old, enduring love.
The Review
Lucy By The Sea
By Elizabeth Strout
I found myself waiting for Elizabeth Strout to tell me how the pandemic ended. How it all worked out.
In this book, LUCY BY THE SEA, we’re following Lucy and William. They’ve quarantined themselves at the onset of the pandemic, in a small town at the edge of the earth, in Maine.
As the pandemic wrecks havoc through the world and other cultural and political issues bring us to a breaking point of sorts, William and Lucy hold on to the last vestiges of hope.
Strout’s writing is done in a pattern of sorts. She often revisits words and turns of phrases, even within the same sentence, like a reiteration. A coming back to.
And not only does it provide emphasis and clarity it also feels affirming like an Amen or a Hallelujah. To me, it feels like an enraptured reading experience-a big hug.
There is a line that is written so finitely I had to reread it and highlight it. And sure, they’re just words and sometimes I can be dramatic but there’s something about the carriage of her words that gets me going every time.
This would make an excellent book club choice as there is much to talk about.
LUCY BY THE SEA…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Random House, Random House for the advanced copy!
Alice Vega has made a career of finding the missing and vulnerable against a ticking clock, but she’s never had a case like Zeb Williams, missing for over thirty years. It was 1984, and the big Cal-Stanford football game was tied with seconds left on the clock. Zeb Williams grabbed the ball and ran the wrong way, through the marching band, off the field and out of the stadium. He disappeared into legend, replete with Elvis-like sightings and a cult following.
Zeb’s cold trail leads Vega to southern Oregon, where she discovers an anxious community living under siege by a local hate group called the Liberty Boys. As Vega starts digging into the past, the mystery around Zeb’s disappearance grows deeper, and the reach of the Liberty Boys grows more disturbing. Everyone has something to hide, and no one can cut to the truth like Alice Vega. But this time, her partner Max Caplan has his own problems at home, and the trouble Vega finds might be too much for her to handle.
The Review
HIDEOUT by Louisa Luna
Alice Vega goes in deep and gets more than she bargained for while on a new missing person case. She’s stumbled upon a white supremacist group and she’s ready to take each member head-on, one by one.
Both Cap and Nell get involved this time around and I’m loving this familial group at work and at play.
I didn’t connect with THE JANES as much, the last book in the series, but feel that the magic is back with HIDEOUT. The magic, I believe is the character makeup of Vega and the interpersonal dynamics between her and Cap.
In this book, Vega’s personality shines. She has always been a strong character but this book really showed how multifaceted and much like a Swiss Army knife she is. No one is a match for her once she sets her mind to it.
Oh, and the teasing that’s done with the ever-present, will they won’t they, question that lingers between Cap and Vega is very, very effective.
It’s a lot of fun to read!
This book is out now and ready for you to pick up.
Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for the advanced copy!
HIDEOUT….⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
