Audiobook Review: Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger
Best Friends Forever
Author: Shannon Hollinger
Narrator: Kate Handford
Published: January 12, 2023
Audiobook: 10 hours 57 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: December 20-28, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 2 stars
Book Description:
I emerge from the trees, drenched in sweat, my voice lost as I take in the scene in front of me. The blood. The body. Emma’s eyes meet mine for a second. “It was an accident,” she whispers.
Emma and I were childhood best friends. We did everything together. Until that terrible night in the woods.
I couldn’t tell anyone what I’d seen. We never discussed it, but our bond was too strong; I could never betray my best friend. Even if she had killed someone.
But I also couldn’t stay in town and watch her live a normal life, knowing what she’d done. So I left.
Now, ten years later, I’m back. The guilt and the fear have stayed with me. And I have realized I need to reveal the truth if I’m ever going to move on.
But I never get the chance. Because the day I turn up, Emma is found dead, and the way she died means I start to doubt everything I thought I knew about that night all those years ago.
As my grief turns to anger at all those lost years of friendship, I realise with horror that Emma might not have been the only killer. Someone else is out there. Someone who was close to us both, someone who knew the smallest details of what had happened back then. Who from our small town could have murdered not once, but twice? And who’s next…?
Jessica’s Review:
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.
Book Review: Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
Just Like Home
Author: Sarah Gailey
Published: July 19, 2022
Audiobook: 10 hours
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: October 25-31, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 2 stars
Book Description:
“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories — she’s come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there.
Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?
There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them, and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.
Jessica’s Review:
Warning: This one goes in a supernatural direction! And I was not looking for that, there was no sign at all about this. I wanted a good old horror novel!
I was excited to finally get this one the week of Halloween: I was ready for a good, scary story dealing with the past of a serial killer father, but heed my warning above, this novel ended up being not for me! If I had known it was going to go in a supernatural direction, I would have skipped it.
This one is a slow burner that got going closer to the end when the supernatural elements came into play. It just didn’t work for me. This one was a big disappointment after I really enjoyed The Echo Wife last year.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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Book Review: After Happily Ever After by Leslie A Rasmussen
After Happily Ever After
Author: Leslie A Rasmussen
Published: April 6, 2021
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: April 24-27, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 2 stars
Book Description:
Maggie Dolan finds herself at forty-five at a crossroads in her life. Once a high-level executive, she’s chosen to be a stay-at-home mom for the last seventeen years. But now with her daughter, Gia, soon leaving for college, and her husband, disconnected and with secrets he hasn’t shared, Maggie decides it’s time to figure out what she wants for the rest of her life. As she begins her journey, she has to deal with a narcissistic mother, a brother who doesn’t like her and most damaging of all, the news that her father, her rock, has medical issues that may take him from her. Overwhelmed by all these issues, she’s led in a direction that could destroy what she’s built and make her question the choices she’s made. She’s torn between the life she’s always known and something more exciting that she never expected.
Jessica’s Review:
This is one I was interested in, as I am close in age to the protagonist Maggie, but it just didn’t deliver. Maggie is at a crossroads in her life with her daughter getting closer to leaving the nest for college and issues with her parents and brother. Maggie has a sort of mid life crisis with the ‘hot guy’ from the gym she befriends. This is where I had all my issues: OMG stop it! You are having an affair! It may not be a physical one, but it was definitely a mental affair. What made it worse is that she knew it, but just kept going on with it.
Her husband isn’t really around for her and her daughter is having her own issues with school life. Maggie also has mom issues and loves her dad, but is slowly losing him to dementia. The dementia story line is what kept me going with this novel. There is a twist that happens that you are not expecting.
The audiobook was almost 8 hours long and I also had some issues with the narrator. She didn’t change her voice any when the narrated pov switched characters: So if you are not paying close attention at the beginning of the chapter you could get confused as to which character was narrating. This could also get complicated since one character has dementia.
After Happily Ever After has been out for just over a year and was just recently released in audiobook form, which I was given a copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks for the copy, I just wish I had enjoyed it more.
I can’t recommend this novel, but would give the author another try in a future novel.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK