Best friend, soulmate, confidante . . . backstabber.
Amy thought she knew everything there was to know about her best friend Melissa. Then again, Amy also thought she was on the verge of the wedding of her dreams to her long-distance fiancé.
Until she pays a surprise trip home to London. Jack is out, but it’s clear another woman has been making herself at home in their flat.
There’s something about her stuff that feels oddly familiar . . . and then it hits Amy. The Other Woman is Melissa.
Amy has lost her home, her fiancé and her best friend in one disastrous weekend – but instead of falling apart, she’s determined to get her own back.
Piecing her life back together won’t be half as fun as dismantling theirs, after all.
Amazon | Goodreads
–
–
This is my second Jane Fallon book and I wasn’t disappointed. I have to admit at the start of this one I nearly had to put it down not because of the book itself, more the storyline, it hit a little close to home. Although I reminded myself that there are many of us who have had a toxic person in their life, and just got on with it. I’m very glad I did.
It is a tale all too common that Amy comes home to find that her fiancé has been having an affair, unfortunately, it happens to be with her best friend. In a completely brilliant turn of events instead of confronting them and having a screaming match, she decides to play the long game and find a way to get back at them first.
I loved the deception in this, which does sound strange to my own ears, but the devious moves that Amy makes to counter what has happened to her just made me ridiculously happy. The storyline is brilliantly put together, every time Amy made a comment to show that she had a new idea I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what it was.
The story is mostly told from Amy’s perspective, with an occasional flashback to when she and Mel were younger, however, there is an added perspective in the second half of the book and whilst it helped the story along it came a bit too out of nowhere. Maybe it was a quirk of the proof copy but it very quickly switched with no hint that it had, so much so that I thought the story had gone from a kind of upbeat chick lit revenge story to an uneasy psychological thriller type. It totally threw me and kind of upset my reading mojo but after I had figured out what was happening it was all good again.
What I loved the most about the book though was Amy, for all that she was doing her best to get back at them was still lovely and never, in my opinion, took it too far. She knew when she had crossed boundaries and had a lot of moments for growth, as she realised where she had gone wrong both with Mel and with the people that she found herself relying on.
I have to say that Mel, even though I hate her, was written perfectly. I could feel her smug pretention pouring off the page, she definitely crawled under my skin.
Faking Friends has the strange ability to be uplifting, fun, make you cringe and break your heart a little whilst also making you at points deliriously angry, and keeping you gripped the whole way through it. A great story with some wonderful characters and an ending that will leave you with a smile on your face and a spring in your step.
–
–
Reviews for other Jane Fallon books
My Sweet Revenge
–
