Mysterious "who dunnit" that will leave readers guessing. When the author of a high school "Gossip Girl" type blog dies, everyone wonders who might have killed him. Four students were with him when he died. Is one of them a killer? Once each of the four students' secrets start coming to light, readers will be anxiously turning pages to find out which one might be lying. Lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing. Definitely recommend!

This was done so incredibly well. It is not too often that I feel really wowed by a debut YA book but I came out of this feeling that way.

It totally is the Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, so shout out to whoever came up with that. The main reason I think this book was so great is that the character development was so well done. In a story like this you need background, you need to understand the characters and you get that with this story.

All of the characters have redeeming qualities that really add to the guessing game of who the murderer is. I tended to keep hoping it was none of them simply because I liked them. For every negative quality you saw a good one, or a softer side.

Overall a really incredible debut. I think fans across genres and ages will really like this book. If someone is smart this will turn into a tv show or a movie.

This book hit most of my 'favorite' buttons: multi-POV, mystery, romance. I liked how the teen characters were realistic, but the drama wasn't over the top. I found all the characters likable too, which is a nice bonus. A minor complaint: for a character who played a fairly important role, Kris was woefully underdeveloped and one-dimensional (imo). But that really is my only disappointment. I read a ton of Agatha Christie as a young teen, and this reminded me a lot of her style and plots. Definitely recommended. :).

It took me a moment to get into this book, but I think it's because I read it right after I read This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston, which has a similar plot in that one person dies in a place with a group of people, and those people become suspects. The tone and mood of books are totally different, and my brain just couldn't reconcile it with the premises being so alike. Really, though, the books are nothing alike when you get into them.

I enjoyed that the characters in One of Us... are not exactly what they seem, although even their secrets are sometimes stereotypical. Like another reviewer, I wish we'd been given more about the friendships between to the characters than the romance between two of them; however, I did enjoy the romance part. I can't say that I guessed what really happened with the murderer, but I didn't really try to guess either. It was "nice" surprise.

All in all, One of Us Is Lying is enjoyable and gives the reader a nice mystery to figure out. If I taught older students, I would definitely recommend this book to them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

When I read the premise of One of Us is Lying I thought it sounded like a book I would really enjoy. I like books with an air of mystery. Books that keep me guessing. One of Us is Lying did both. I liked that the characters were well written, no easy feat when you have several main characters. They all had their flaws, but all had redeeming qualities too. I found myself rooting that each of them had nothing to do with what happened and quickly believed that none of them did. I really enjoyed being kept on my toes until the end trying to figure out whodunit. I found the premise of this book refreshingly different and think that anyone who enjoys YA fiction or suspense novels would love this book.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book. I was very invested until the end. As I read, I did some of the characters and situations cliche, but I did like the ending with Simon as the mastermind. I still didn't understand a lot of the logistics, like who planted the phones in everyone else's bag besides Addy, but overall I enjoyed the mystery and the twisted and turns.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book.
I never thought I would get approved and then I did and I died a little inside from the immense happiness burning through my veins.

DAMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNNNN

this is the book that you want to review right after you read the last word but you can't because you've read an arc and will ruin every single element for anyone who actually reads what i write in my reviews HA.

this book gave me many a clues but i wasn't fast you guys. i kept trying to think which one of them in that room did it.
And KUDOS to Karen M McManus on this brilliant debut.
It was everything I wanted and hoped it would be.

Mare~Slitsread

Wow!

So, I have to admit that I made a tentative—and correct—guess about the "whodunnit" at about the 15% mark. That's mainly because I'm suspicious by nature, but also I somehow had already fallen in love with the other four possible guilty parties. And, therefore, I just couldn't believe they'd done it. I couldn't figure out their motive, even as their secrets were being revealed. Things never added up.

But this was such an engrossing read! From the second Simon died to the very end, I was trying to work out if my guess of the culprit was wrong. Maybe somewhere amongst everything being thrown at me, the truth was there. And it was. It was intricately plotted, and while I did guess one piece of the mystery, there were so many other small details I couldn't have. Ever.

Also, I loved how the group's true personalities were exposed. They weren't who or what they had been presumed to be. All of them were misunderstood in ways. I think Bronwyn was my favorite, but Addy definitely came in a close second as she grew into herself. I found both to be strong female characters. I also loved the romances that played out (and how they came to light).

But this isn't just a thriller/mystery. One of Us Is Lying also deals with the high school experience in general. Cliques, popularity, friendships, grades, etc. and how it can all affect students. And, how each handles it all.

One of Us Is Lying is an absolute masterpiece of a debut! It's like Clue set in high school and I loved every single page.

Review will be published on May 22, 2017

I’m sure by this point we all know I have a thing for thrillers, correct? So of course when I read the summary for One of Us is Lying I knew that I just had to read it. It sounded exactly like my type of book so when I got approved for an e-ARC, I immediately jumped right in.

While I liked this book and the suspense while reading, it was so hard for me to keep the POVs straight since it alternates between four different point of views. Normally, I wouldn’t have struggled with this as much, but when you combine that many POVs with a timeline of events that I should’ve been paying attention to, it kind of threw me. I kept getting thrown out of the story because I kept having to think about which POV I was in. I think this may be the reason I didn’t get fully invested with the characters and this story.

However, the mystery aspect was absolutely wonderful. Around 30ish percent in, I had a suspect, but as it turns out, I was completely wrong. This normally doesn’t happen to me when I read thrillers so I loved that I got that shock value when all was revealed at the end.

In the end, One of Us is Lying has a clever storyline when it comes to the thriller aspect, although I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I could have formed more of a connection with these characters.

This is a fast faced and uniquely written story that is bound to appeal to many readers. If you are a fan of Pretty Little Liars, this book would also be right up your alley.

One of the most likable things about this story (that should apply to all mystery and thrillers but unfortunately does not) is the fact that you can't correctly figure out "who dun it" until the very end. Kudos to the author for this because it is a seemingly hard feat in this day and age.

I highly recommend this novel to fellow readers and based on this one, I will certainly be reading many more of the authors books in the future.

NOTE: My full review of this novel will be posted on my website and all book retailers closer to release date.

“Some people are too toxic to live. They just are.”

Welcome to detention, where a princess, a jock, a brain, a criminal and . . . a gossip???? Wait, that’s not historically accurate . . . . .

Anyway, they've all earned a spot for violating one of the most serious rules of high school: NO PHONES IN CLASS. They’ve done the crime, now they have to do the time as well as write a 500 word essay about how technology is ruining American high schools. If they fail to do so, well you know the old saying: "Mess with the bull you'll get the horns."

Plans quickly change, however, when the gossip drops dead of anaphylactic shock. (He didn’t belong in the story anyway, right? The basketcase was the final member.) Now the four remaining delinquents are all suspects in his death when the questions of just how did peanut oil get in the disposable cups near the sink and what happened to all of the epi pens in the nurse’s station get raised. But there’s even more in store for these kids when the gossip’s dishy blog starts revealing secrets none of the four ever thought would get out.

First, kudos to whoever was in charge for finally getting a dang blurb right. This absolutely was “The Breakfast Club Meets Pretty Little Liars.” Per usual, I was not the target audience for this selection, but hey the sun shines on an old dog’s butt every once in a while because I thought it was such fun.

I suspect One Of Us Is Lying will become a bestseller P.D.Q. (that’s pretty darn quick for you young’ins) and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it optioned as a movie in the not-so-distant future either. If you read mysteries . . . like ever . . . . you'll probably see the end coming about 12 miles away, but the getting there is all the fun. Obviously this isn't a story that’s going to change anyone’s lives, but if you have a teen (or in my case a 30 year old male attorney boss) who enjoys all the guilty pleasures Pretty Little Liars has to offer on the ABC Family Channel, this will probably be a winner.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, NetGalley!

Karen McManus is on my crap list right now. Not because her book, One of Us is Lying, was bad but because I had a ton of things I needed to get done today and had only planned to read for a couple of hours at the most. But NOOOOOOOO! She had to go and write a book so compelling, so intriguing, so damn addictive there was no way I could put it down until I found out who killed Simon.

The book is described as the Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars and there really is no better description. I got into PLL through the TV Show then discovered it was based on a book series and couldn’t wait to find out who ‘A’ was so I read the whole series. Only later did I find out the books and TV show weren’t the same but the essence of someone being behind the scenes and pulling the strings of a group of people like they are toy puppets remained the same which is part of what make McManus’ book so good. She just did it with a more diverse group of characters so you get a wider variety of issue that have to be dealt with adding to the intrigue.

Her plot line moves fast. Where it took Sara Shepard 16 books to flesh out her whole story, McManus did roughly the same in just this one. Thank god for that because between PLL’s TV show and 16 books, I’m not sure I have the attention span for a lengthy drawn out who the hell is the Big Bad behind the scenes arc again. It also goes to McManus’ credit that she can fully develop characters, including their back story, in such a similar fashion in just the one book. This story was incredibly detailed, thought out and planned perfectly from page one. I didn’t see the full arch of where she was going until it was revealed and almost dropped the book in shock. It was right up there with the big reveal in PLL – not the first A, but UBER A. It’s just that shocking. Once you know it makes perfect sense. There is just so much more I want to say about that but there is NO WAY I’m spoiling it because you deserve to find out like I did.

I have to give McManus a lot of credit because even though it IS very comparable to Breakfast Club and PLL she has her own stamp all over this, she took a theme that has been done before and made it hers to the point you walk away feeling like this is just going to be stuck in your head for a while.

Note to McManus – next time you write something like this give people a heads up they should clear their calendar because now I have a ton of stuff to do tomorrow to make up for not being able to put your book down!

An intense ride. I loved it! I am proud to say I was partially right about the murder mystery, but I'm also glad to report that there was more to the story than "whodunnit." While the multiple narrator thing sometimes flops, when there's a weak or flat character in the bunch, this case, it worked because each character was strong and developed well. I genuinely liked each one, and cared about what was going to happen to them.

I really enjoyed this book. The changing points of view made the mystery more compelling and really kept me guessing, and I was caught up in the story right up to the end!

It’s like the breakfast club.

The Bad Boy.
The Good Girl.
The Jock.
The Popular Girl.
The Nerd.

But what happens when The Nerd ends up dead…and the others end up as the main suspects?

One of Us is Lying is a book about secrets and lies and all the terrible things that can go wrong when you try to hide who you really are. Told from the points of view of our four suspects, the story brings us heartbreak, betrayal, and even a little hope.

I did find, from the point of view of an adult reader, that some of the secrets were a little tame and some of the resulting behavior over-the-top, but when I put myself back in my teen age brain, when drama ruled, I kind of get it. I also wanted a touch less romance. I mean, murder charges? What do those matter when he has brooding eyes and she’s so cute?

All in all, though, it was a good read. It kept may attention through and through and I was dying to know who had done what!

One of Us Is Lying is a fun romp of a read about 4 teens all thought to be guilty of murder. There are five teens and one teacher in detention one day when one of the teens, Simon, drinks from a cup, goes into anaphylactic shock and dies. Simon's epi pen was missing, all the epi pens in the school were missing. Simon was a notorious gossip and lots of people would have benefited from him being out of commission but right after his death a blog is posted telling secrets about the other four teens that were in detention. Now the suspension is on them. Did one of the four kill Simon? Did someone else kill Simon? Is someone framing the four? You'll have to read all the way to the end to find the surprising twist.

3.5 . Great concept for a book. Breakfast Club with a deadly twist. Definitely a page turner. Sometimes it was hard keeping all the secondary characters straight but still a quick and enjoyable read.

I loved this book! I started it at 11pm last night and was up reading until 3am - it's virtually impossible to put down. All four main characters were flawed but relatable, and I loved them all (especially Nate <3). I loved how each character had something to hide, and how in the end they were all connected. My one question / plot hole was how Simon was able to find such secret private information about everyone that no one else knew? This was a great, voicey thriller that I'm going to recommend to everyone.

A mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end! I really liked all of the characters and the plot had just enough twists to make you wonder who did it.