A review by atomwriter
The Friends We Keep by Jane Green

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

• POVs felt muddled - we get a point of view of one of the side characters but only for a short time. There is a child in this book that given the previous character probably should have been given their moment to shine. Also one of the main characters is lgbt and he felt very filler to me.
• I enjoy found family - and while this is somewhat that it’s more like a reconnecting.
• Has an undercurrent of British, thats sometime sets a slow sedate pace. This also made all the characters a bit of doormats to me. Always just going with the flow. Like stand up for yourselves - your grown.
• The narration on the audiobook is terrible. I cannot believe the publisher let the author narrate this. After just a few chapters the character voices are changing - Topher had a deep melodramatic voice in the beginning only for later Maggie to have same voice with Topher now with Maggie’s more sedate tone. Shame on the producers for letting this slide - I actually think the narration harmed my enjoyment of this book - it made the characters seem more like caricatures. I ended up ditching the audio after like 10% to read my physical copy.