Best Friends Forever

by Charlotte Comley

Melanie is so lucky, new house, new school, new best friend. And if others find her new friend, Stephanie, a little abrasive and strange. It doesn't matter to Melanie, who finds Stephanie exciting. But when Stephanie's bizarre games, become increasingly sinister and dangerous, Melanie realises that Stephanie is hiding a dark secret explaining her behaviour. A secret that no one would be willing to believe and no one has lived to tell.

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 2, 2014

Reviews

[Shirley Golden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Friends Forever is the story of Melanie and Stephanie's friendship, and the uncovering of a dark secret. It begins as a contemporary, young adult read with a sense of unease and slips into horror as it reaches its climax. It is gripping throughout with a strong plot, good pace and believable characterisation. The voice of Melanie is particularly well captured although Stephanie's dad, Howard Franklin, edges towards a caricature. Ideally, I'd have preferred a lighter, less graphic touch at the end, and the punctuation needs smoothing out in places; however, this didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the novel, which is highly entertaining.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Without giving anything away I'll just say this is a quick read with a few twists and turns leading to a sinister ending that will make you want another story! This one is worth reading although it felt entirely unedited and much like a rough outline of a book and ideas for one at some points, full of fragment ideas, too many pronouns, incomplete sentances, and the use of conjunctions at the beginning of sentances. Poor grammar and lack of structure would normally make me run for the hills but the story itself was both intriguing and fascinating. 1 star for the editor, 4 for the author that developed this macabre story in their mind and spilled it out onto the page.

[William James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chilling novella. Stephanie's friendship with the girl next door has worrying consequences. It is really difficult to review without giving away spoilers. I couldn't find the punctuation mistakes the other reviewer mentioned. Nothing distracted from the story. It was an outstanding teen read. I read it all in about four hours and was a little gutted that the author didn't have more work out.

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was drawn into this dark tale immediately - also tried the opening chapters out on two classes at school; both were intrigued and wanted to read on. The mystery unfolds quickly and the main characters are easy to imagine and have tangled lives with hidden depths. The ending shocked me ...

[Margaret C · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and easy read, really quite chilling in places. What do you really know about your best friend?

[E.L. Wicker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually read horror, but this may turn me. Thoroughly enjoyable and really creepy! Loved it.

[Abigail Comley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Super fast to read. Melanie is completely trapped by her horrible best friend, there is something fascinating about her. But she gets a lot more than she expected.