Apologies, this is going live later than intended but after an unexpected hospital stay things have gone a little awry on the blog. All being well things will be back to normal soon but I didn’t want you to miss out on hearing about this amazing book and I thought World Book Day was the perfect opportunity.
Best Friends by Carys Jones
The Blurb
Four friends, a terrible secret, and one week to stay alive…
Grace doesn’t have a family. That was taken away one dreadful day when she was just six, and her twin brother Peter was killed. Instead she has her best friends and flatmates – Jasper, Franklin and Aaron – and nothing can tear them apart.
Living in London, and trying desperately to make a living, the four friends are rapidly running out of money and hope. So, when they find a discarded suitcase in a skip, they can’t believe their eyes when its contents seem to answer all their prayers.
But then there is a knock on their door, and a very disgruntled thug with revenge on his mind gives them one week to return his belongings, or they will pay with their lives. Soon the fractures in their friendships begin to show, and when one of them ends up fighting for his life, the stakes are raised even higher.
Will any of them get to the end of the week alive, or will the best of friends become the deadliest of enemies…
What I Thought
From the minute I picked it up I knew I would enjoy this book, I just did not want to put it down! I even tweeted about the struggle between knowing I needed to go to bed but wanting to carry on reading and Carys Jones, the author replied saying she was glad I was enjoying it but to get to bed!
The book features four main characters, all flatmates in London. I really liked all of the individual characters and the book seemed to focus on Grace as the central character. I found myself wanting to read on to find out what secrets she was keeping from her friends about her past and found this really interesting. The relationship was clearly strong between the four flatmates and that was really lovely.
The second half of the book took a bit of a turn for me unfortunately. The money, the accident, a pretty forgiving sort of thug – I just wasn’t overly sure about this part of the story line. I had to keep reading on to find out more about Grace and her past but felt the story line about the money not quite as tense and gripping as expected. I felt some parts of the story were not quite wrapped up and some were rather too conveniently.
I would say the book is more of a cross between women’s fiction (chick-lit) and thriller, not quite the hardcore thriller I was expecting. However, I did really enjoy the book on the whole and am glad I read it. The characters were definitely a credit to the author, as was Grace’s story.
Book Club Question
IF YOU COULD GO TO DINNER WITH ONE OF THE CHARACTERS, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
I think I would choose Jasper – as a fellow book lover I think we would be able to spend all night chatting about books which would be great!
Author Bio
Carys Jones loves nothing more than to write and create stories which ignite the reader’s imagination. Based in Shropshire, England, Carys lives with her husband, two guinea pigs and her adored canine companion Rollo.
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Thankyou once again to NetGalley, Aria and the author for my advanced copy of this book. I was sent the book to review and all opinions are my own
The Spoonie Mummy 
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