Novels steeped in the toxicity of love are often breeding grounds for all sorts of unsettling feelings, and make for tense, thought-provoking reads.  I love a relationship gone all wrong, so I knew that Alana B. Lytle’s debut, Man’s Best Friend, would be a book I would find intriguing.  

Featuring the lives of the rich and aimless, Man’s Best Friend follows El, a failed actress, who jumps at the opportunity to get involved with Bryce, who just happens to belong to a wealthy and prominent family.  Bryce (who is not particularly El’s type, but will do) opens doors for El, showing her a world that she has only caught glimpses of while hanging out with her (also wealthy) kind-of-sort-of best friends.  As El discards more and more pieces of her life in favor of what Bryce has to offer, she isolates herself from everything and everyone that makes her who she is.  As time goes on, El begins to wonder if she can truly trust Bryce … or is there something much more nefarious at play here?

Man’s Best Friend gives off major Tell Me Lies (a la Carola Lovering) vibes, and having loved that novel, I was excited about this book too.  For the most part, Man’s Best Friend holds up, showcasing how women often lose themselves to codependency in toxic relationships, putting their entire heart and soul into men who will ultimately destroy them.  On the other hand, Lytle (fun fact - the author is President Joe Biden’s niece!) doesn’t push the toxicity of this relationship quite far enough for me.  Things between Bryce and El stay on fairly solid ground, although major trust issues are at play.  While Bryce is no doubt a liar and manipulator, the book focuses more on how those traits manifested in his past relationships and obsessions, rather than in his current one with El.

Regardless, I still felt compelled to keep turning the pages of this dark and ominous read.  Filled with characters you will love to hate, Man’s Best Friend exposes the scary side of love … or is it just obsession?

Recommended to fans of Tell Me Lies and You.