Good Morning and welcome to my stop on the first leg of the blog tour for Margot Hunt’s Best Friends Forever! This is one of my most anticipated releases for 2018; I’ve been anxiously awaiting its release for MONTHS! Now that it is almost here (January 23rd!), I am gearing up to dive in and I figured, what better way to get excited about this book than to share an excerpt with you!
First, let’s check out the synopsis:
Kat Grant and Alice Campbell have a friendship forged in shared confidences and long lunches lubricated by expensive wine. Though they’re very different women—the artsy socialite and the struggling suburbanite—they’re each other’s rocks. But even rocks crumble under pressure. Like when Kat’s financier husband, Howard, plunges to his death from the second-floor balcony of their South Florida mansion.
Howard was a jerk, a drunk, a bully and, police say, a murder victim. The questions begin piling up. Like why Kat has suddenly gone dark: no calls, no texts and no chance her wealthy family will let Alice see her. Why investigators are looking so hard in Alice’s direction. Who stands to get hurt next. And who is the cool liar—the masterful manipulator behind it all.
This one gives me some serious Mary Kubica vibes! I cannot wait to dive into this one. Stay tuned, as I’ll be on the blog tour later this month with a full review, but, until then, here is an exclusive excerpt for your perusal!
Three Years Earlier
“ATTENTION, PASSENGERS ON Flight 523 to West
Palm Beach. We are experiencing mechanical difficulties with the aircraft that will cause a delay in our departure time. We will update you as soon as we get additional information. Thank you for your patience.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply through my nose. It was the third time a delay had been announced over the crackling airport intercom.
“How much longer are we going to be stuck here?” Liam whined.
“Forever,” Bridget moaned.
I privately agreed with my daughter that it certainly did feel like we would be stuck there forever in airport purga- tory. The terminal at JFK was crowded with holiday travelers. Everyone looked grumpy as they slumped on uncomfortable seats, their luggage and possessions scattered around them. When the announcement had begun, the herd had raised their heads hopefully, ears pricking up. At the news of an- other delay, shoulders sagged and groans rang out all around.
“Mom, my tablet is almost out of power,” Liam said, waving the device at me for emphasis.
Like most modern mothers, I firmly believed that my chil- dren should spend less time on electronics, staring at screens, and more time in the real, nondigital world. Looking at the scenery, interacting with real people, reading actual books. I was, however, willing to abandon these scruples completely when we were in crowded airports, only halfway through our journey, with no hope of being home before—I checked my watch and stif led another groan—midnight.
“Let’s find a place to charge up.” I looked around.
Liam nodded toward a bank of high stools in front of a counter equipped with touch screens and electrical outlets. Most of the spots were occupied, but miraculously one of the screens was free.
“Hurry. Let’s grab those stools.” I moved swiftly, pulling my small wheeled suitcase behind me. The kids took longer to gather up their belongings, so by the time they joined me, I had already claimed three stools, by sitting on one and put- ting bags down on the other two.
“Are you, like, using all of those?” a twentysomething girl asked, her voice a contemptuous squawk. She had squinty eyes ringed with black eyeliner and long, straight hair in an odd shade of pink-streaked blond.
“Yes, I am.” I nodded toward my approaching children. “My children are sitting here.”
The girl let out an exasperated snort, rolled her eyes and turned away. I felt a surge of petty pleasure at this small victory.
Once seated, Liam and Bridget were keenly interested in the touch screen. After they each plugged in their devices, they started tapping and discovered the screens offered very slow internet access as well as the ability to order food and drinks from a nearby restaurant in the terminal.
“Hey, Mom, can we get fries?” Liam asked.
“Only if there’s something resembling dinner on the same plate,” I said. “Do they have hamburgers?”
I got out my credit card while Liam tapped at the screen.
He frowned. “It’s not working.”
“Maybe you’re tapping it too much,” I said. “Give it a chance.”
“It’s really slow,” the woman sitting next to us said. “It takes forever to place your order.”
“Did you get it to work?” I asked.
“Yes, finally. And not a moment too soon,” she said as a waiter arrived, bearing a single martini on a tray.
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