Meg Ashley's mom Frances wrote one of the penultimate horror stories of a generation, Kitten. It is supposedly based on some time her mother spent on Bonny Island. Supposedly. It has also spawned it's own cult of readers who are fascinated by the story and trying to figure out just who killed a young girl on the island. Meg's relationship with her mom is strained. Her mother was never really there for her and her life isn't where she wants it to be. When she gets an offer to write a book about her mother, their life and the mystery surrounding the book, she takes it. Meg travels to Bonny Island where she meets Dorothy "Doro", who is supposedly the inspiration for Kitten. (Think the Bad Seed" Things aren't always what they appear to be. People aren't all they appear to be. Meg gets further into the story of the murder and the story of her life.

This is dark and twisty and oh-so-fun. It makes you wonder just what the truth is. I had no clue. At times I thought I did but Emily Carpenter has a way of taking you down dark alleyways and wondering just where you are exactly. I loved Meg. She saw through more than she thought she could. Of course, there are things we might now really want to see. And the cast of characters were equally fleshed out. The side story with the horse and foal was really a good touch into how nature versus nurture works as well. Very good read.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Manipulators. Deceivers. Stone Liars.

Meg Ashley has stared into their eyes up close and personal. She's learned from the very best and carries her own calling card in deception. Funny how one has a tendency to recognize the dark corners in someone else's uneven life..........

Frances Ashley, Meg's mother, is a well know author living the high life in New York City after her blockbuster horror novel, Kitten. Ol' Kitten has led to a series of other successful novels that has made Frances rich. Very rich, indeed.

But Meg and Frances' relationship has always been like a lit match near a canister of gasoline. Meg hasn't had many interactions with Frances for years, but her palm has been turned upward while receiving money into her bank account. Strange how principles can take a hit when it comes to dollar signs. Stranger in fact, Meg has decided to write a tell all book about the famous Frances and heads down to Bonny Island, Georgia where the story of Kitten all began.

"Here Be Dragons." Here be actual murders that took place forty years ago with the Kitten based character, Doro Kitchens, residing in a now closed bed and breakfast. Meg wants the lowdown on Frances who worked there as a young woman. What did Frances know about the young girls who died on this forsaken island? And who is the mysterious Susan Doucette who reigns as the queen bee of the Kitten fan club on overkill? (Oh, pardon the pun!)

Whoa! There are many oddities here with characters who seem doomed to destroy one another. There's the tang of a saltwater marsh, wild horses running the island, Guale people with a Caddo history, and the reality that this isle can only be accessed by boat. But there's also the suffocating humidity in the air that hangs like Spanish moss. Who can you actually trust in this dark, isolated existence?

Emily Carpenter presents a storyline that exists on a very sharp edge. It's not for everyone. My own take, initially, was that this was to be a Mommy Dearest novel with the usual spoiled daughter raging and ranting. Oh, but no. Meg's feet will sink a bit into that squooshy marsh. Carpenter lines her story with snappy dialogue: "I flipped him a mental bird." This one is deeply character driven and atmospheric. Carpenter uses insets of the book, Kitten, interlaced within her storyline that sets a dire tone. My only concern was the slow pace of the final moments of the wrap-up in the finale. Give serious consideration to this one, dear readers.

I received a copy of The Weight of Lies through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to Emily Carpenter for the opportunity.

The Weight of Lies made me feel like I was suffocating. It was like the weight of emotions in this book just kept piling and weaving themselves with the secrets until I was so anxious, it was hard to breathe. The whirlwind of twists and turns this book has... they left me gasping for air at some points. In most books, I can usually guess what it going on, and I don't want to give anything away (because I want it to blow your mind too) but I couldn't with The Weight of Lies. Even the very last sentence had me going "Whoa, wait a second..."
The Weight of Lies is an amazing book. Flawlessly written. Intense. Shocking. Chaotic. Everyone should read it.

I loved the setting. Bonny Island was swarming with people after Kitten came out but now, forty years later, the Gothic-mansion-turned-hotel, is shut down. The owner, a cook, a housekeeper and a groundskeeper are the only ones left on this beautiful, quiet island. It's not fast-paced but the suspense made me keep turning the pages. Who killed little Kim Baker?! There's another twist in the book before we find out who the murderer is, which I didn't like at first, but without it the book wouldn't have come together as well as it did.

“You tell me a story, you weave me a tale. But I travel alone, Down the dark twisted trail.” YA”LL. THIS BOOK. All the stars. Creepy children (check) intense southern gothic vibe (check) dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship (check) . Brilliant, gripping, heart-pounding and just all around fantastic, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK.

The synopsis: a young woman investigates the forty¬-year¬-old murder that inspired her mother’s bestselling novel, and uncovers devastating truths—and dangerous lies.

Reformed party girl Meg Ashley leads a life of privilege, thanks to a bestselling horror novel her mother wrote decades ago. But Meg knows that the glow of their very public life hides a darker reality of lies, manipulation, and the heartbreak of her own solitary childhood. Desperate to break free of her mother, Meg accepts a proposal to write a scandalous, tell-all memoir.

Digging into the past—and her mother’s cult classic—draws Meg to Bonny Island, Georgia, and an unusual woman said to be the inspiration for the book. At first island life seems idyllic, but as Meg starts to ask tough questions, disturbing revelations come to light…including some about her mother.

The suspense was palpable and I found myself holding my breath several times as I raced through the pages of this exceptionally written southern gothic thriller. I was completely engrossed in the cult classic horror novel setting and just thought the plot was brilliant. While I thought this was a wonderful homage to the old school horror books and films, it is also absolutely modern in the ingenuity with which Emily Carpenter delves in to the psychological thriller genre that we know and love today.
There are SO MANY twists and turns throughout The Weight of Lies and I loved how the chapters in this book alternated between excerpts from Frances’ horror novel and then back to her daughter Megan in the present day. Did Frances write a recreation of a murder she committed? Was she a witness to this brutal crime and drew from her knowledge as an accessory? Or was the story simply legend lore from the island… something that Megan’s mother chose to enhance and cash in on in the form of a book? If you are looking for a chilling summer mystery to lose yourself in – look no further. The Weight of Lies is out now and I urge you to get a copy. Many thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed Emily Carpenter’s last book Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, so I was thrilled to see she had a new book, The Weight of Lies, coming out. I couldn’t get to Netgalley fast enough to see if it was available for request.

Like Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, The Weight of Lies is classified as Southern Gothic. And let me tell you, I think Carpenter has found her niche. She is a master of creating these riveting, creepy psychological thrillers that keep you guessing until the very end.

The Weight of Lies focuses on socialite Meg Ashley and her troubled relationship with her mother, writer Frances Ashley. Frances, who is just a real piece of work in every way and who was basically no mother at all to Meg, earned her celebrity status and a cult following back in the 1970’s when she wrote a best-selling horror novel. The novel, “Kitten,” was about a young girl who exhibits increasingly disturbing behaviors and who may or may not have murdered another young girl. Frances drew inspiration for her novel from an actual unsolved murder that took place on an isolated island in Georgia, Bonny Island, while Frances was staying there. Inspired by Kitten, fans flocked to Bonny Island in droves. Some wanted to meet the real life people who inspired the characters in the novels, while others sought to play amateur detective and see if they could solve the real murder. Kitten created a cultural phenomenon, although it was little more than a burden to the people of Bonny Island, particularly Dorothy Kitchens, who most people believed to be the “Kitten” character in Frances’ book.

When Meg is approached with an offer for a book deal to write a scandalous tell-all memoir about her mother and their troubled relationship, Meg’s sense of resentment to her mother for neglecting her all her life wins out. She knows such a book will wreck whatever remains of their relationship, but the chance to show the world what their precious Frances Ashley is really like is just too tempting to pass up. When Meg is then told that Dorothy Kitchens would also like to have her side of the “Kitten” story told, Meg rushes off to Bonny Island to start digging up dirt on her mother and to hear what Dorothy has to say. Once she gets there, however, and starts digging into not only her mother’s past but also into the events that took place 40 years ago on that island, Meg gets a lot more than she bargained for. Instead of finding the truth, she just keeps uncovering more and more lies about the events surrounding the murders and starts to wonder if she can trust any of the people on the island, or even her own mother since she seems to be somehow involved in things as well. What starts out as a mission of truth seeking and revenge for Meg, turns into something potentially much more dangerous as she becomes determined to find out the truth.



LIKES

I really loved how atmospheric this story was. Bonny Island is basically a private island that is owned by Dorothy’s family. When Meg heads down there, she learns she can only reach the island via ferry and that there are no businesses and limited cell phone coverage on the island. There used to be a hotel – the one run by Dorothy’s family, where Frances stayed when she came to Bonny Island, but it has since been closed to guests.

At first, Bonny Island seems almost like a secluded little paradise, complete with free-roaming wild horses. It’s the perfect spot for Meg to do her research, interview Dorothy, and then stick around and write her book. However, the things that first make Bonny Island seem so charming soon start to take on a more creepy and ominous feeling once Meg starts getting caught up in uncovering the truth about the murder that took place here. The reader starts thinking about the fact that if Meg digs too deep and uncovers something that people on the island don’t want uncovered, she’s completely cut off from the rest of the world until the ferry comes again. And with that spotty cell phone coverage, there’s no guarantee she could call for help if she needs it. All of these details were great suspense builders as Meg continues to dig for information. And the more information she finds, the more lies seem to fall in her lap. At a certain point, she is so deep in uncovered lies that she doesn’t know who she can trust anymore.

As fantastically creepy as the atmosphere was, I was equally fascinated by the book’s structure. The story is presented to us in alternating chapters – an excerpt from “Kitten” followed by a chapter that follows Meg. Like the setting and the events of the story, the “Kitten” excerpts seem straightforward and harmless enough, but just like Meg’s journey becomes darker and creepier as we move through the story, so do the “Kitten” excerpts. I thought this mirroring effect was a very innovative way to present the fictionalized version of the murder (if it is, in fact, actually fiction) alongside Meg’s journey to uncover the truth about the real-life murder.



DISLIKES

The only real issue I had with The Weight of Lies was that I found some of the events in the story to be somewhat implausible, including the book deal itself. It just seemed highly unlikely to me such a book deal would be offered to the child of a famous writer, and I also didn’t buy into what the book would entail. Half tell all about being the daughter of Frances Ashley, half tell all about Frances’ time on Bonny Island and how her book impacted Dorothy and her family? It's probably just me, but I never could envision how that could come together as a coherent book that people would want to buy. Thankfully Meg gets so wrapped up in investigating the murder though so the implausible book faded to the back of my mind after a while.

One other issue I had was this random leg nerve pain that is nagging Meg at the beginning of the story and that sporadically nags her throughout the story. It ends up being an important detail to the latter part of the story, but taken out of context before it’s revealed to be important, it just felt like a random distraction from the story I was really interested in, which was the truth about the murder.



FINAL THOUGHTS

Even with the couple of issues I had with those plot points, I still found The Weight of Lies to be a very entertaining read. I devoured it cover to cover in less than two days, refusing to put it down until all of the lies had been unraveled and the truth uncovered. The family drama between Meg and Frances, coupled with the intriguing mystery that Meg is trying to solve, make The Weight of Lies a truly riveting read.



RATING: 4 STARS

Huge thanks to Lake Union Publishing, Netgalley and of course to Emily Carpenter for the opportunity to preview The Weight of Lies.

The first noticeable thing about Emily Carpenter’s “Weight of Lies” is the gorgeous cover! This spellbinding suspense family drama is based on a 1970’s mysterious crime that resulted in death of a child, on the lush marsh on Bonny Island, Georgia. The crime inspired the blockbuster cult classic horror novel “Kitten” (1976). The wealthy celebrity novelist that wrote Kitten, Frances Ashley, maintained the book was entirely a work of fiction. Many fans and followers thought otherwise.

The story opened with Frances socialite daughter Megan, returning from partying in Las Vegas with her “Glitter Girl’s” posse. At 24, Meg was maturing, eager to get a real job without the support of her mother’s money and influence. Estranged from her mother, after not speaking for three years, Meg received a formal invitation to her mother’s birthday bash, and decided to attend.
Oddly, when Meg arrived at her mother’s penthouse, the only person present was her mother’s quirky assistant, Icelander, Asa Bloch—who had an enticing proposal: he suggested she write a “tell-all memoir” revealing her conflicted relationship with her famous mother. Bloch told Meg that he secured an exclusive invitation for her to travel to Bonny Island and get the full story surrounding the murder and Kitten Cult horror novel and following. After initially refusing, she agreed to accept and work with Bloch as her advisor and agent.

During her stay at the Bonny Island hotel, originally built in the 1860’s, Meg sensed a sinister foreboding, as the hotel was no longer open to the public for business. Dorothy Kitchen owner of the hotel, agreed to share her untold story, and Meg uncovered many disturbing connections to the case involving her mother. The murder was listed as solved by the authorities, a cover-up was likely. Could Meg finally uncover the truth? When Bloch suddenly stopped returning her calls, Meg was deeply troubled and became concerned for her safety on the island.

The elements and crush of thrilling crime suspense combined with the cleverness of literary intrigue, (including the Kitten segments at the beginning of each chapter) define the storyline. Carpenter is a skilled novelist and storyteller, keeping readers on a prickly edge until the final pages in a startling conclusion that no one can see coming….. ~ With thanks and appreciation to Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley for the direct e-copy for the purpose of review.

The daughter of a famous author uncovers a decades-old murder mystery between the pages of her mother’s international bestseller in this thriller. THE WEIGHT OF LIES is a slow-building page-turner with a great setting, but the slower pace may not please all readers.

Kitten is the book inside of The Weight of Lies that made author Frances Ashley a household name—think of it as a novel inside of the novel. Throughout the book, Emily Carpenter places excerpts from Kitten every few chapters, the scenes often a parallel to what’s happening in the present day with her daughter Megan as she separates matches fact with her mother's fiction.

Much of the novel takes place on an isolated island deep in the Georgian marshes. On the island is a Gothic mansion owned by the Kitchenses that was open to guests visiting the island. But Kitten’s thinly veiled fictitious names and setting point straight to a very real place and real people, causing a dip in guests and forcing the Kitchen family to close Ambletern's doors. The novel’s setting made it that much more compelling, creating a darker atmosphere which was great. The idea that Meg was completely at the mercy of the people of Ambletern was unsettling, especially when neither Megan nor the reader knew who to trust.

But like I said before, in thrillers don’t trust anyone! The novel had a lot of twists and turns and red herrings that take the reader on a journey towards the truth. While I did like that it kept me engaged to put the pieces together, there were several scenes—especially in the middle section—in the novel that didn’t really add anything to the overall plot. It made the story drag a little.

I admired Meg’s resilience and drive to make something of herself away from her mother’s big shadow. She’s justifiably resentful and has a healthy dose of mommy issues, but the “mommy issues” was the only trait used to give her character depth. For a protagonist, Meg needed to have something more than this one thing to make her feel like a real person. Instead, Meg’s character felt flat.

The novel’s constant pulse is the fantastic whodunit at the center of a nearly forty-year murder mystery. It’s this element that kept me engaged for the most part and curious to find out who killed that little girl. Is Meg in danger? Could her mother really be to blame? But the novel took a little time getting off the ground, which may cause some readers to not feel as connected to the story.

A awesomely twisted, intensely riveting read
Leah's Bookish Obsession
The Weight of Lies - Clara Emily Carpenter


Book Title: The Weight of Lies
Author: Emily Carpenter
Series: Stand-Alone
Genre: Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Splash of Romance
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Setting: Bonny Island, NC
Source: I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review


⇝Add to Goodreads⇜




⇝Book Theme Song⇜
(link will take you to my tumblr post with video)
Lies of the Beautiful People by Sixx: A.M. --Mysteries can be difficult to find the perfect song for, because I don't want to give away anything…so you have to work with what's on the surface, and this song fits with that really well…and with the book in general…it's funny, for over half the book, I didn't think this book was aptly named, but it turns out it really, really is.

♫Save yourself from all the lies of the beautiful people
It's time to run from the lies of the beautiful people♫




⇝OVERALL RATING⇜
4.8/5 STARS
A

⇝My Thoughts⇜


For the first couple chapters I felt like this would be something I wouldn't be able to get into…I soon realized that wasn't to be the case. The sinister atmosphere, the beautiful backdrop of the island and the ultimately the lies, oh the lies…This book had me like…




This book has a little bit of everything…a splash of romance, mystery, lies, betrayal, poisoning, and even a bit of the fantastical. It also has a book within a book, but that may be why I had the small deduction in stars. --Before each new chapter there is a small excerpt from Meg's Mother's book (KITTEN), which seems like it would be a bonus…the only problem was they really confused me. Although, as the book progresses they did become less confusing and more intriguing.

⇝Ratings Breakdown⇜

Plot: 5/5
Main Characters: 5/5
Secondary Characters: 5/5
The Feels: 4.5/5
Addictiveness: 4.5/5
Theme or Tone: 5/5
Flow (Writing Style): 4.5/5
Backdrop (World Building): 4.5/5
Book Cover: 3.5/5
Ending: 5/5 Cliffhanger: Nope

Will I read more from this Author? Yes, I would

The description of this book had me wanting to read it right away. There are also many positive reviews for this book right now. I wondered if I would love it as much as everyone else.

Megan (Meg) is partying with friends in Las Vegas. Celebrating a friends recent divorce. Sitting around the pool relaxing when someone brings her an envelope. Right away she knows what the elegant envelope is.

"A bomb. The kind that explodes without making a sound. The kind that destroys".

As soon as she sees it she starts feeling the needles and pinpricks, what feels like stinging wasps on her fingers and toes, aching, eventually most of her extremities would go numb. She's done some online searches about this neuropathy but hasn't yet sought out medical attention. Her mother favored doctors but she doesn't. Meg says she's an otherwise perfectly healthy twenty-four year old. Usually it only happens when she's stressed.

The envelope = stress

It's on her mother's favorite stationary. To say her relationship with her mother, Frances is strained is putting it mildly. They clash, always have. After a particularly brutal verbal altercation, they haven't spoken in three years.

So she's more than surprised to open the envelope and find an invitation to her mother's birthday. It's for the next day.

"Darling I miss you and love you. Please do come. Edgar isn't well".

Those words set Meg into motion.

Edgar...

She's also been waiting to find out if she's been hired by a company she has been volunteering with. She really wants the position she applied for. It's the most fulfilling work she's ever done. But mainly it offers INDEPENDENCE...something she's never experienced.

A story within a story...a book within a book - which may or may not be based on real events.

Before each chapter is an excerpt from the book "Kitten".

Kitten was an odd child.

"The child had some oddities - a few secretive tendencies and strange habits"

KITTEN is the book that haunted Meg's childhood. When she's given the option to challenge her mother AND the book....will she take it? Will she write the tell-all exposing her mother, her childhood, and only god knows what else?

I'm still not sure exactly how I feel about this book. I was definitely gripped by the story and quite often didn't want to put the book down. But I also found myself getting distracted with so much going on at once and I wasn't always sure if something was happening in the present or the past.

Overall, I did think this was an entertaining and unique story and I look forward to reading more from Emily Carpenter.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing an advanced copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review.

Took a bit to get into it - very well written, story plot is quite relatable. The only thing scarier than a Lie is the truth in this novel.

4.5 stars. Kudos to Ms. Carpenter who can take a somewhat unlikable character like Megan - spoiled, whiny, little rich girl who is still living off her mother but seems to even whine about that - and turn her into a character that you start rooting for. Some nice little twists and turns in this Southern-Gothic-Thriller, that make you want to keep turning the pages. There is a whole lotta lying going on (as the title suggests) and we get to try to figure out the truth.

As a side note, I found myself wanting to read "KITTEN"! Another testament to the author.

**Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley in exchange of an honest opinion.**

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Poor little rich girl Megan Ashley decides to write an 'expose all' book about her childhood life being the famous author Frances Ashley's daughter. Digging into the past brings Megan to Bonny Island, Georgia, and Dorothy who is said to be the inspiration for her mother's famous book. At first island life seems idyllic, but as Megan starts to ask tough questions, disturbing revelations come to light…including some about her mother, Dorothy and herself.

Good book. I was considering the game of "Clue" as I was reading, trying to put the mystery together, who the 'real' murderer was held until the last portion of the tale. I would definitely recommend this book.

4☆

I really enjoyed this one. A gothic murder mystery that takes place on Bonny Island, Georgia. The story kept my interest all the way though. Definitely recommend.

In this novel, Meg Ashley sets out to destroy her mother, Frances and in doing so needs to investigate a forty year old murder mystery that her mother, Frances, was involved in. Frances had written a highly successful novel, Kitten, based on the murder but things within the novel take on a life of its own as the novel generates cults dedicated to solving the mystery as well as having been a huge success for Frances. Meg's relationship with her mother is tumultuous and to get even, Meg decides to write a tell all book about her mother and of course this murder portrayed in the novel, Kitten, plays a huge part of it.

Meg returns to Bonny Island, Georgia, where the murder took place. The owner of a hotel Dorothy, and her mother, Frances, were friends as children as Meg's mother spent time there. Other characters involved in the murder come forth in Meg's investigation, many of them being suspects as well in this murder as the supposed murderer died before being brought to trial. Is it possible that the real murderer is still alive? As Meg tries to delve into secrets and lies that have been told, she is immersed in the novel and its peripheral characters to those who are real. The further she investigates the more lies appear and eventually the sinister nature of the book is fulfilled in Meg's life.

This sinister tale left this reader a bit dizzy as it flipped back and forth from excerpts from the original novel, Kitten, to present day and what Meg herself was living through. At times, the story line seemed to get quite murky as it wends its way towards its conclusion. However, it was an interesting read and one in which those who enjoy suspenseful tale that have a somewhat gothic feel will enjoy.

Thank you to NetGallery and Lake Union Publishing for an advanced copy of this novel for an unbiased review.

When I started this story, I didn't like the main character. It's due to the skill of the writer that she can make a character I have nothing in common with and initially found irritating into someone who was likeable and relatable.

I was getting the "poor little rich girl" vibe at first. She claims to be estranged from her mother, but lives off her money and continues to enjoy a cushy lifestyle. She wouldn't have that without Frances Ashley... famous author and celebrity. Skilled in weaving a tale, Frances lacks that mothering instinct and Meg has always felt it. Their relationship has been tremulous to say the least, and after a final blow-out, they haven't spoken in years. Until Meg receives her usual invitation to her mother's birthday party. Planning to ignore it, an added note gives her pause: Edgar, her mother's agent and the only person Meg considers family, isn't well.

She rushes to be by his side and see her mother, but Frances isn't there. Spurned by her mother yet again, this is the straw that breaks the camel's back. She accepts a proposal to write her version of Mommie Dearest, a tell-all about her famous mother and her various issues. That won't be all of the book, however. Her mother's most famous book, Kitten, is nearing it's 40th anniversary. Still popular, it boasts many devoted fans. Rumors have swirled about the story of murder being based on truth for years, which has effected the lives of those thought to be characters in the book in major ways. The truth about Kitten and Frances Ashley is sure to be a bestseller... and with the help of others exposed by Frances, Meg is going to write it.

Meg heads to an island where the former hotel Kitten takes place at sits, slowly crumbling. Closed to guests, only a few staff members and the owner is left behind. She's determined to get to the bottom of the story behind the book that made her mother a celebrity, but there may be people out there unwilling to let those secrets see the light of day.

Some light romance, mostly suspense and family drama. Very enjoyable. If you figure out this book before the last third or so, I commend you because I had no idea where it was going. I found it extremely hard to put down. If it weren't for some niggles I had with the ending, it would be a five star read for me. As it is, it's a 4.5.

My thanks to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for granting my wish to read an ARC of this novel! My opinion is honest and unbiased.

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Maybe I’m a bit out of practice with mystery novels. Maybe this book is really, really good.
What I know is that I was at 85% of it and I had NO IDEA how it would end. I always know. This time I didn’t. Which is great.
At NetGalley, the book was described as General Fiction, and from the synopsis I kind of expected it to focus just on the mother-daughter drama. In the beginning it does reads like a drama. Then it flirts with romance (by the way, thanks Emily Carpenter for not pursuing any of the opportunities you had of making this book one of those cheap newsstand romance novels of my teen years. This was really classy), and becomes full on mystery, with a little bit of terror for good measure, then it revisits all of the above at the end.
This book is very well written, very well thought out and a very gripping read. The twists kept me reading way past my bedtime and it was hard to drop the book when I had to. With long books like this (paperback edition is 380 pages long), I tend to get tired and give it a rest for a week or so. Not the case here. If I didn’t have a busy life, I would have finished this in a day and a half, so curious I was to know the end.
Miss Carpenter won a reader for life. Here’s to many new books after this!

Last year I read the fantastic Burying the Honeysuckle Girls by Emily Carpenter and I've been waiting a while now to read her next book The Weight of Lies. So, was this book as good as Burying the Honeysuckle Girls? Yes and no. Yes in that the story is intriguing and frustrating puzzling. But, no in that I was not as taken with the story in the book as in Burying the Honeysuckle Girls. Don't take me wrong, Emily Carpenter has once again proven that she can write a story that keeps your interest all the way until the end. But, I found the chapters from the book Kitten that intervened the story not as interesting as the rest of the book. Can't say why really, it just never really truly got to me in the same way that the rest of the story did.

Nevertheless, The Weight of Lies is a great book. Several times during the books progressed was I frustrated beyond words. I really wanted to find out what happened all those years ago when Meg Ashley mother was staying at the hotel on Bonny Island, Georgia. The events inspired her to write the cult classic Kitten. But, is there any truth to the book? Or is it all fiction? Meg travels to the island to investigate the truth and meets the woman behind the main character Kitten and is charmed by her. But, she keeps discovering lies after lies while she digs for the truth. And, it seems that her quest for answers is perhaps not healthy for her. Could she be in danger?

I liked this book because it's such a fantastic story with lots of twist and turns. Emily Carpenter has once again proven what a fantastic author she is and I can't wait to see what she write next!

4.5 stars!

Such tuaght writing for a mystery with so many twists. This will be the book in every beach bag this summer!

This is a difficult book for me to review, I have mixed feelings about it. This book is told from the point of view of Megan Ashley, the daughter of a very well known horror book author. Now that she is an adult, age 24, she has distanced herself from her mother, they were never close. Her mother was always busy writing or doing something to further push the sales of her book. Megan spent much of her youth in boarding schools. After one particular confrontation between Megan and her mother Frances, the two haven’t spoken in about three years. Megan is surprised when she gets an invitation to her mother’s birthday party on the date of the party. She decides to go, mainly because her mother wrote on the invitation that Edgar is sick. He is her mother’s agent and the only person that Ashley ever felt close to.

I was having problems with this book by this time. Although Ashley states that she doesn’t want to have anything to do with her mother she is still, at age 24, living off of the money that her mother gives her. I really didn’t like her character. She seemed really wrapped up in herself and not really caring about anyone else. She has pretty much failed at getting any kind of a “real” job and seems like a somewhat weak, whiny young adult who has led a rich kid lifestyle, even if it wasn’t exactly what she wanted. Maybe more back story on the mother-daughter relationship would have been good.

At any rate the plot starts revving up from here. Megan is approached by her mother’s assistant to write a “tell all” story about her childhood and what it has been like to be the daughter of someone who even has a cult following. After some trepidation she finally decides that she wants to do this.

Megan goes to Bonny, Georgia, the place where the book “Kitten” took place. After each chapter we switch back to passages from the actual book “Kitten” and events now taking place on Bonny island between Megan, the keeper of the hotel and other people who were all written about in one way or another in her mother’s book. I will not get into the plot, there are lots of other reviews for that.

I usually am fine when a story switches back and forth in time but the inclusion of chapters from the “Kitten” book just seemed like an unwelcome distraction at times. There was just too much going on. I will say that the “tell all” was a surprise to me, even though I had my suspicions.

I would recommend this book to people who like mysteries but would really just call it an average read for me.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, thank you.
I will also review on Amazon upon publication.