Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner (2009, Abridged, Compact Disc) : Jennifer Weiner (Audio, 2009) 

Includes a bonus MP3 CD of Jennifer Weiner's Little Earthquakes!

Some bonds can never be broken...

Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat.

Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents' house in their small hometown of La Prairie, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She's just returned from Bad Date #6, when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, with a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. "Something horrible has happened," Val tells Addie, "and you're the only one who can help."

Best Friends Forever is a grand, hilarious, edge-of-your-seat adventure; a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small-town secrets. It's about living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep best friends together.

Addie Downs and Valerie Adler were close until a betrayal during their teen years drove them apart; but twenty years later, a terrified Val shows up at Addie's doorstep wearing a bloody coat, pushing them both into a wild adventure where they must rely on one another again, in a novel by a best-selling author. Simultaneous.

Addie Downs and Valerie Adler were close until a betrayal during their teen years drove them apart; but twenty years later, a terrified Val shows up on Addie's doorstep wearing a bloody coat, pushing them both into a wild adventure where they must rely on one another again.

Industry Reviews
"[T]he thing I enjoy most about Weiner's books is their familiarity -- how her characters' concerns, jokes, insecurities and even homes feel like real life, or at least the embarrassingly tame version lived by average middle-class moms like me."
(07/22/2009)

"In [the flashback] sections, Weiner's writing shines, as she provides the emotional foundation of the book....Weiner has a deft touch in creating an endearing main character that readers want to follow."
(11/16/2009)

"The novel is a welcome addition to the author's collection of tales about strong, clever women who carve their own niche in this world -- much like Weiner has....Themes of [her] previous novels play into BEST FRIENDS FOREVER -- weight issues, unexpected news, even murder mysteries -- but the similarities aren't necessarily bad when the original material is so good."
(08/04/2009)

"I'm not lending this book to anybody. It's a keeper....[W]hat sets BEST FRIENDS FOREVER apart from its predecessors and earns it a place on my treasured "reread as needed" shelf is its tough emotional wisdom. If there are any doubts that a work of mere 'chick lit' can be deeply revelatory, BEST FRIENDS FOREVER should banish them."
(08/02/2009)