Faking Friends by Jane Fallon

Revenge is best served funny.

Genres: Fiction
Published: 11th January, 2018
Goodreads
Series: N/A
Rating: 3.5

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.

Well, guys, this book was a weird experience for me. On one hand it was a great revenge story. Nothing too dark, nothing too brutal, but twisty enough to actually keep me on my toes. On the other hand, reading this felt like having an identity crisis.

You see, Amy is a 40-year-old woman who works as an actress, and after losing her job, finds herself being cheated on by her fiancé and betrayed by her best friend (some friends, eh?), and then goes on a mission best suited for someone who just turned 20. Or so I thought. But then again, I’m not sure I behave like a 35-year-old either. I certainly don’t feel like one. She kept having these throw-back thoughts to her uni years, and I must say, neither her general behaviour, nor the way she sounded changed much in two decades. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it’s definitely confusing.

I had to come to the conclusion, what bothered me the most came down to my own expectations. I’m not much younger than Amy, and seeing her go through all this shit just worried me more than it should. I’m not her, after all! Her not having a stable home, or in fact a stable income doesn’t mean I will end up like her too! But it’s been a secret fear of mine for a long time, and it’s actually funny how a silly book made me confront my own worries.

If you can get over all this, what you are left with is a thoroughly entertaining story of a woman who puts her life back together from scratch, at an age when most people would more or less have everything settled and figured out. Don’t be fooled by it being categorized as romance. Yes, there’s some flirtation and dating, but that’s almost besides the point. It’s not cheesy or tacky, and it just happens quite naturally.

Faking Friends is about mustering up the courage to start over, the power of friendship, and finding strength within ourselves. Jane Fallon’s writing style is witty, simple, but with a feisty kick to it.

What about you, guys? Ever taken revenge on a cheating ex? How did it go?