MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL by DOROTHY KOOMSON

MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL

BY DOROTHY KOOMSON

THE BLURB:-

Best friends Kamryn Matika and Adele Brannon thought nothing could come between them- until Adele did the unthinkable and slept with Kamryn's fiancé Nate. Worse still, she got pregnant and had his child. When Kamryn discovered the truth about their betrayal she vowed never to see any of them ever again.

Years later, Kamryn receives a letter from Adele asking her to visit her in hospital. Adele is dying and asks Adele to adopt her daughter Tegan. With a great job and a hectic social life, the last thing Kamryn needs is a five-year-old to disrupt things. Especially not one who reminds her of Nate. But with no one else to take care of Tegan and Adele fading fast, does she have any other choice? So begins a difficult journey that leads Kamryn towards forgiveness, love, responsibility and, ultimately, a better understanding of herself.

THE REALITY:-

This will have you crying intermittently throughout. We've all been hurt and betrayed- and sometimes that action comes as a complete and utter shock, as it does to our Kamryn. But there is more to it than meets the eye, and this novel deals with the reasons behind the infidelity as much as the infidelity itself. The emotions Kamryn has to deal with regarding Adele- her once-best-friend, who is dying, come across in a blur of pain. This character should probably have got to the bottom of her issues with her fiancé, Nate, and Adele a long time ago, for her own sanity.

There are some very real characters in this book, the most awful being Adele's father and stepmother. It makes you question how their abuse towards both Adele and Tegan could go unnoticed in this day and age. It's quite fun watching Kamryn transcend from being a party girl to a mummy, and also a career woman to someone whose work plays second fiddle to her daughter, and it's also interesting looking at her difficult relationship with her new boss, how she deals with it, and how things develop between them.

The fact that Kamryn is a black woman who is trying to adopt a white child is not dealt with in depth, and that's good- I wouldn't have wanted racial differences to become an important part of this book as they don't seem highly relevant to me, whereas Kamryn's love for Tegan is. The story moves towards its conclusion with Nate and Kamryn having the talk that should have occurred WAY back, and dealing with the fall-out. And you are made to face up to facts- that some things can't be repaired, and perhaps weren't meant to be.