A stand-alone novella from the author of Manipulated Lives
A perfect friend … or a perfect impostor?
Alexa is an energetic and charismatic professional and the new member of a Parisian PR company where she quickly befriends her colleagues Rosie and Jack. She brings a much-needed breath of fresh air into the office and ambitiously throws herself into her new job and friendships.
But is Alexa all she claims to be?
As her life intertwines with Rosie and Jack’s, they must all decide what separates truth from fiction. Will the stories that unfold unite or divide them? Can first impressions ever be trusted?
In this original novella, H.A. Leuschel evokes the powerful hold of appearances and what a person is prepared to do to keep up the facade. If you like thought-provoking and compelling reads with intriguing characters, My Sweet Friend is for you.
My Thoughts:
My Sweet Friend is a novella and at 92 pages manages to pack a punch and keep the reader in a choke hold from the first page until the last. What the author has managed to pack into such a slim volume is quite remarkable really, although I expected nothing less really having read and reviewed her previous collection of short stories, Manipulated Lives. You can read my review for that here.
My Sweet Friend introduces us to the somewhat claustrophobic, toxic friendship of Alexa and Rosie. Alexa takes up a position within the company Rosie works at. Alexa is everything Rosie isn't. Alexa is polished, charming, outgoing and confident, whilst Rosie is quiet, studious and incredibly kind. The girls form a somewhat peculiar and unlikely friendship. What this novella deals with is the idea of friendship and what it should be and what is is like when it goes drastically wrong. When there is a power struggle and one party is always seeking to gain the upper hand. It puts under a microscope the fact that appearances can be deceptive and some people really aren't who they say they are when the layers are peeled back.
The author manages to create a tension in her writing that is oppressive and as a reader this means that her writing is not always comfortable, I love it for this as it pushes the boundaries, making it incredibly thought provoking. Alarmingly I would suggest that even if not to this extent if you have worked in an office environment you might have come across characters such as our two protagonists here.
The author writes with great skill and also manages to hone in on how our minds work and the frailty of the human condition. An entirely compulsive and engaging read.
About the Author:
Helene Andrea Leuschel was born and raised in Belgium to German parents. She gained a Licentiate in Journalism, which led to a career in radio and television in Brussels, London and Edinburgh. Helene moved to the Algarve in 2009 with her husband and two children, working as a freelance TV producer and teaching yoga. She recently acquired a Master of Philosophy with the OU, deepening her passion for the study of the mind. Manipulated Lives was Helene’s first work of fiction.
You can find her on Twitter: @HALeuschel
You can find her on Twitter: @HALeuschel
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing my novella. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!
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