You've lost your fiancé to your best friend, do you run away from it all, hide, or how about a bit of revenge? I love Jane Fallon and her book covers are so appealing, they say, read me read me!!

As the blurb suggests Amy appears to have everything – a career of her choice, a fiancé, and a home. She's filming in New York her big break well almost. It's not that straight forward for an actress but Amy has persevered and it seems to have paid off. This is a surprise visit home. The surprise was meant for her boyfriend Jack and best friend Melissa soul mate and confidante rolled into one. However, Amy has an unpleasant surprise. It turns out that Jacks cheating on her. Wait the other woman is her best friend Melissa who appears to have everything. She's shattered by this realisation, utterly gutted. The bf is downgraded to backstabber. No spoilers here as it's in the blurb. Amy has lost almost everything dear to her. She could unravel or fight back. However dismantling their comfortable life first appears a very appealing proposition. She has quite a few scruples, who says actors are without morals. However, Faking Friends is more than merely a tale of sweet revenge. It is also one gal (Amy) experientially learning life's lessons, a mature woman's coming of age story, an awakening of sorts to reality. The scales fall from her eyes. She realises who her true friends are, that her naiveté and preconceived notions blinded her to the truth. It's not all doom and gloom though. Not quite the typical romance this trope has doubtless been explored before. Yet Fallon's acuity will rip ones heart as she captures her protagonist's pathos, the brevity of an actor's life and the agonising demands of her profession. Her genius lies in perceptively portraying her characters persona, defining and shaping them with words and actions. They are elaborate and real with real problems, more than mere words on a page. There are laugh out loud moments, vexatious tears as one lives Amy's experiences throughout the book almost forgetting that this is fiction or is it? There is energy, an air of mystery, a controlled intensity as Fallon ups the ante. Fallon's wordsmithery does a fabilicious job of intertwining the poignant, the angst, the sheer grit demanded by the profession generating a dazzling read. True there was scope for acidic humour that Fallon unfortunately does not fully exploit. This is my first book by this author, (how did I miss her books before?) so I cannot compare it with her previous books. A worthy read that will grab ones heart and squeeze every ounce of emotion

Does true friendship exist? Is our best friend all she appears to be? Amy and Mel have been friends for years and Amy is everything Mel aspires to be. Amy is an actress in an American series whilst Mel never made it to the big time and has just divorced her husband. Amy unexpectedly comes home to England for Mel's birthday and on going to the flat she shares with her fiancee it becomes apparent he is having an affair but with whom? Amy soon finds out it is Mel and so begins revenge. But who will be the biggest loser and who will realise the meaning of true friendship?

This was my first Jane Fallon book and it will definitely not be my last. I always like to try a new author and even though I was a little dubious about the premise for the book (more about that later) it was on sale so I decided to give it a try. The writing is witty, warm and time has been spent on understanding how people function and this shone through in the telling. To be perfectly honest my personal prejudices about the main theme are what marked this one down a little for me. The whole basic plot is girl finds out her best friend has been moving in on her boyfriend whilst she is working in a different country - actually literally moving in. So, she sets out to get her revenge on both the so-called friend and her boyfriend. Here's my issue with what I thought I was going to get (so glad I was wrong). I was expecting some sort of quasi-feminist tract about being a strong woman and being unrepentantly selfish to get your own back on people. I was expecting nasty people with scary agendas to proliferate and rise to the top like the cream on a pint of Jersey milk. Basically I bought the book so I could get on my moral high horse and be offended - this is 2018 people and we are supposed to be offended all the time after all. Instead what I got was warm and funny and more a story about the nature of true friendship than anything else. Yes the revenge takes centre stage but the main character, Amy, suffers so much guilt over her actions that I actually forgave her for some of her more heinous acts. When she gets a new beau my heart did do a little sinking motion in my chest but even that has a little twist to it that I really didn't see coming. I also liked the fact that Melissa doesn't just lie down and accept her fate - she fights back. Each character felt fully rounded and a truly human mixture of good, bad and indifferent which helped to bring the book alive in my head instead of just on the page. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more from this author's catalogue.

I have to admit that I have no idea what I would do in these circumstances, but probably nothing as bad as this! Highly entertaining with a very dark undertone that will make you question the true nature of your closest friends. Written with definite warmth and understanding, this novel takes a look at the darker secrets that we keep and the pain they can cause.