Her Closest Friend by Clare Boyd
Published by Bookouture
Publication Date: 5 March 2019
Genre: Psychological Thriller
372 pages
My thanks to Noelle Holten and the publisher Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book. All opinions given here are entirely my own and are unbiased.
My thanks to Noelle Holten and the publisher Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book. All opinions given here are entirely my own and are unbiased.
Book Description:
Pop music blares from the radio. She sings drunkenly from the backseat. The thrash of windscreen wipers against the driving rain. The screech of tyres. A thud. Naomi and I are best friends.
School runs, dog walks, a shoulder to cry on over a glass of wine, we’re inseparable.
But now my husband has walked out, I need her more than ever.
I know she will help me pick up the pieces.
Because she knows about the lie I told to protect her.
She knows how much I’ve sacrificed for this friendship.
And she’d never let anyone hurt me.
Would she?
This extraordinary page-turner will suck you in from the very first page and keep you gripped until the breathtaking finale. Fans of The Wife Between Us, The Girl Before and Gone Girl will adore this twisted tale of toxic female friendship.
School runs, dog walks, a shoulder to cry on over a glass of wine, we’re inseparable.
But now my husband has walked out, I need her more than ever.
I know she will help me pick up the pieces.
Because she knows about the lie I told to protect her.
She knows how much I’ve sacrificed for this friendship.
And she’d never let anyone hurt me.
Would she?
This extraordinary page-turner will suck you in from the very first page and keep you gripped until the breathtaking finale. Fans of The Wife Between Us, The Girl Before and Gone Girl will adore this twisted tale of toxic female friendship.
My Review:
This is the story of a decades old friendship. A friendship which is deeply ingrained with secrets and denials. A friendship steeped in alcohol, which only seems to bring out the bad for those involved. Sophie is a needy soul, the product of a broken marriage which her mum could not cope with, leaving her alcoholic grandfather as her sole carer. Naomi has a settled childhood, but meets Sophie at uni and feels sorry for her background in a way, wanting to show her that life isn't all bad.
Events during their final weeks at uni mark a significant turning point in the girls friendship, cementing a lifelong bond which the girls each deal with in different ways. Both girls get married, only Sophie once again is unlucky and faces an uncertain future when husband Adam announces he is leaving her for another woman. Naomi fares better in the marriage stakes, finding a reliable husband with a steady job to provide a rosy homelife for them. Alcohol plays a huge part in the lives of the girls, with Naomi running a blog page based on wine tasting and recommendations of what is good to be presenting to guests in different social settings. Sophie can't help but be jealous at Naomi's charmed life, the envy sitting sourly in her gut and eating away at her and making her very bitter.
As the story unfolds we find out more about their time at uni and how this affects how the two women interact. Sophie gets more and more unpredictable however with her revelations of what really happened at the end of their time in Exeter, the power in the relationship starts to shift and it's Naomi's turn to start facing facts. My sympathies switched between the two of them on several occasions but at the end of the day I couldn't forgive Sophie for her actions both then and now. Her inability to take responsibility for anything in her life frustrated me and made me angry so much I cannot put into words. Naomi tries so hard to let her head take control in their friendship but she is so entangled in trying to make life better for Sophie she constantly gives in to her heart. It's not until she feels her own family is under threat from Sophie that she finds the strength to face the truth of all that has gone before.
This is a superb book dealing with toxic friendship, heart wrenching tragedies and misplaced loyalties. It will make you angry, it will make you sad but I guarantee it will keep you turning the pages and you won't ever fathom where the story ends. Buy your copy here:
Events during their final weeks at uni mark a significant turning point in the girls friendship, cementing a lifelong bond which the girls each deal with in different ways. Both girls get married, only Sophie once again is unlucky and faces an uncertain future when husband Adam announces he is leaving her for another woman. Naomi fares better in the marriage stakes, finding a reliable husband with a steady job to provide a rosy homelife for them. Alcohol plays a huge part in the lives of the girls, with Naomi running a blog page based on wine tasting and recommendations of what is good to be presenting to guests in different social settings. Sophie can't help but be jealous at Naomi's charmed life, the envy sitting sourly in her gut and eating away at her and making her very bitter.
As the story unfolds we find out more about their time at uni and how this affects how the two women interact. Sophie gets more and more unpredictable however with her revelations of what really happened at the end of their time in Exeter, the power in the relationship starts to shift and it's Naomi's turn to start facing facts. My sympathies switched between the two of them on several occasions but at the end of the day I couldn't forgive Sophie for her actions both then and now. Her inability to take responsibility for anything in her life frustrated me and made me angry so much I cannot put into words. Naomi tries so hard to let her head take control in their friendship but she is so entangled in trying to make life better for Sophie she constantly gives in to her heart. It's not until she feels her own family is under threat from Sophie that she finds the strength to face the truth of all that has gone before.
This is a superb book dealing with toxic friendship, heart wrenching tragedies and misplaced loyalties. It will make you angry, it will make you sad but I guarantee it will keep you turning the pages and you won't ever fathom where the story ends. Buy your copy here:
Amazon: https://geni.us/B07N6HJQ2MSocial
Apple Books: https://apple.co/2E665pM
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2DuDhWE
Googleplay:
http://ow.ly/q8Q130nFNL2
About the Author:
Clare lives with her husband and their two daughters in Surrey, where her little green shed at the bottom of the garden provides a haven for her writing life. Before becoming a writer, she enjoyed a career in television, as a researcher in documentaries and then as a script editor in drama at the BBC and Channel Four, where her love of storytelling took hold.
Clare's books LITTLE LIAR and THREE SECRETS are published by Bookouture and are available to buy now.
You can follow Clare on Twitter at https://twitter.com/clareboydclark and follow the tour to find out what other bloggers are saying about 'Her Closest Friend':
Clare's books LITTLE LIAR and THREE SECRETS are published by Bookouture and are available to buy now.
You can follow Clare on Twitter at https://twitter.com/clareboydclark and follow the tour to find out what other bloggers are saying about 'Her Closest Friend':
Great review
ReplyDeletethank you, I loved this book!
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