Kept me on the edge of my seat. This was an excellent book that I'd recommend to all fans of psychological thrillers!

I won't rehash the blurb with this one.

I loved the premise of the lines getting blurred between fact and fiction. You have Liza's POV and then you get Beth's POV via the chapters that Liza is writing. Beth's POV isn't clearly marked, but you quickly catch on to the back and forth between real and not.

It isn't too hard to figure out the ending, as the story unfolds. But the story lies within the details. Once you get to the ending, you really see how blurred Liza's point of view was. She's an author and that's her job... to write fiction. It's how fiction bleeds into her real life, that will keep you hooked reading this one.

I was given a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Fast paced and mesmerizingly realistic, this novel grabs you from the start and does not let go until the final twist! The setting was interesting, an author trying to finish her book, needing it to follow up her previous best seller. Do her personal issues keep her from writing, or is she compelled to write about them? If so, what is reality and what is fiction? Is she a new mother with a cheating lawyer husband, or is she a childless woman with PTSD, accused of a horrible crime?
The characters are all well developed and the descriptions of each setting is great - you can hear, see, smell and feel what is going on. Highly recommended.

Lies She Told centres around the life of author Liza Cole, as she attempts to write a novel – which she hopes will be as successful as her previous bestseller – whilst simultaneously dealing with the death of her husband's business partner, among other personal issues.

This novel follows an extremely interesting structure. The chapters alternate between Liza's P.O.V in the real world, and the P.O.V of Beth, the main protagonist in Liza's novel. We are, therefore, following both Liza's actual story, alongside her fictional story. At first, the similarities between the two are small – a shared feeling or a similar setting for example – but after a while, the similarities become more pronounced, leaving us to answer the question: what is real and what is fiction?

I personally love this structure. As a writer myself, we're forever told that elements of us, our personalities, feelings and life stories will inevitably bleed into our fiction, so not only does this structure work in terms of building tension and results in an awesome novel, it also subtly explores several interesting elements of writing, which I find very clever and engaging. As well as this, the structure offers us, in essence, two novels to read at once, both of which I found clever and full of suspense. The alternation also serves to increase tension, as you jump from one cliffhanger to the other. I always looked forward to the next chapter in both stories, and couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

Lies She Told will appeal to anyone looking for a unique and engaging thriller, or anyone searching for a novel that's a little bit different. Must read!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Cate Holahan created two books in one! Liza, the protagonist in one of the books, is experiencing difficulties in her life and marriage. At the same time, she is writing a book and facing a deadline. As she is dealing with her own struggles, she is trying to create a successful suspense novel. The author has done an excellent job of telling the stories in parallel and keeping the excitement going in each.

I look forward to other books by this author.

Imagine reading two books inside one. Sound interesting? That is what Lies She Told was. Author Cat Holahan found an interesting way to weave two novels into one novel! What do I mean? Every other chapter is from the perspective of the main character, Liza. She is married to a lawyer who has a best friend and law partner, Nick, who has been missing for some time. Liza is also an author. So the chapters that are not her are her chapters she is writing for her new novel.

I will start by saying this confused me in the beginning. It's not really explained right away. I thought there was two story lines intertwining, but turned out I was reading the novel as she was writing it. As confusing as this was, it was also quite interesting because I felt it gave us a glimpse into her mind and what she was actually feeling at times. I had an inkling these two stories, real life and her writing, were tied together some how, but boy was I surprised in the end. Holahan wrote a good story about the mental struggles of someone going through something serious, such as the inability to get pregnant and getting hormonal injections. As a female, our hormones are everywhere, but this lady was crazy. Down and simple. And Holahan wrote crazy really well.

While the book intrigued me and made me curious as to what was going to happen, keeping me flipping pages, I felt it was a bit disjointed. The lack of explanation on the exchanging chapters between story lines ruined the beginning of the book because I spent a little time trying to figure out what was happening. The behavior and decision making of Liza was a little all over the place, but that could be written off to how the story played out. I still feel it made it a bit hard to follow or stay on track with. Many times I confused the two stories in my head thinking Liza had done something, yet it was her character in an off chapter. None of these small irks of mine ruined the book, but I felt it made it harder for me to enjoy.

I would still recommend Lies She Told to everyone, especially if you are a murder, mystery lover such as myself. It does have a lot of suspense and a lot of guessing!

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

This was a real page turner that took me deep into the book before figuring out what was going on. The perspective/double story was used well in the writing of the book.

Author - 1⭐️
Story - 1⭐️
Ending - 1⭐️
Offensiveness - 1⭐️
Recommend - 1⭐️

Lies She Told is an exciting read that weaves an author's story with that of her developing fictitious character's. Both women find themselves struggling with the emotional ups and downs of trying to be a mother and longing for their marriages to return to happier times. Two murders with similar circumstances, one real, the other a figment of her author imagination, push Liza to question everything she thought she knew about her marriage, her childhood, and her writing.
This was a refreshing thriller in the face of the recycled plot devices and narrative elements popular since Gone Girl. Cate Holahan masters two complicated narratives and slides the puzzle pieces of their plots snuggly into place with intention and well-written ease.
I enjoyed this book and was grateful for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this read. It's a psychological thriller with a difference and, without giving anything away, the chapters switch between author and character of a book being written. It's very cleverly done in a way that I found gripping and not at all confusing. Although I thought I'd guessed part of the plot, there was sufficient twists and turns to keep me guessing until the very last page.

Liza Jones has thirty days to write her newest thriller, but that's not the only thing she's struggling with she's also in a experimental fertility program and her husband's business partner, Nick, has gone missing.

She distracts herself from her hectic world by falling into her character's life. Beth appears to have the life Liza desires, a newborn baby, a husband and a great career. But Beth's life takes an unexpected turn for the worse that strangely seems to mimic some of the things in Liza's life. Is Liza writing from personal experience or is it all just fiction?

It is completely understandable to believe a victim of severe trauma would bury the event deep in their subconscious but Liza's multiple traumas made it hard to believe she would forget them all; combined with the hormones that are being pumped into her body though I find the idea absolutely fascinating. There were so many twists and turns! I love a good psychological thriller and the added story in a story added depth to the story and helped reveal the killer in an unusual way. I look forward to more from this author!
4.5⭐️'s

Sometimes the truth is darker than fiction.

Lies She Told is a dark and twisted psychological thriller that reads like a book within a book. The first few chapters are slow to start but it quickly picks up soon after - that's when I couldn't put it down!

Liza has thirty days to write a romantic thriller that could put her back on the bestseller list once again. With all the stress of writing her new novel, she is also struggling to start a family with her husband, who is extremely distraught with the disappearance of his best friend and law partner, Nick. Liza's new novel is about a new mother, Beth, a character whose husband is having an affair with a female police officer. As Liza gets further into Beth's story it all starts to unfold. That's when the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Whose story is really being told?

Cate Holahan did a great job writing this one - two great stories combined into one! A fantastic read that was suspenseful and full of twists. Looking forward to reading more of her books very soon. Recommended!

*I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC.

A story about a writer whose world gets enmeshed with that of her character? Yes please! That’s the idea behind Lies She Told by Cate Holahan. I LOVE a book that has an unusual plot, how many times have we seen the same basic idea over and over? When stories come along that are fresh and new it makes reading a joy for those of us who are obsessive readers!

Synopsis:

Liza Jones has thirty days to write the thriller that could put her back on the bestseller list. In the meantime, she’s struggling to start a family with her husband, who is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend, Nick. With stresses weighing down in both her professional and her personal life, Liza escapes into writing her latest heroine.

Beth is a new mother who suspects her husband is cheating on her while she’s home alone providing for their newborn. Angry and betrayed, Beth sets out to catch him in the act and make him pay for shattering the illusion of their perfect life. But before she realizes it, she’s tossing the body of her husband’s mistress into the river.

Then the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Nick’s body is dragged from the Hudson and Liza’s husband is arrested for his murder. Before her deadline is up, Liza will have to face up to the truths about the people around her, including herself. If she doesn’t, the end of her heroine’s story could be the end of her own.

Here is a review by Jennifer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2099116609

Wow, wow and triple wow. This incredibly well written and intriguing book had me on the edge of my seat. I felt I was getting two stories for the price of one. I loved the way the two plots intertwined and kept me guessing all the way through. A thoroughly deserved 5 star read. I'm off to see if this author has written anything else and I can't wait for the next one.

Liza a thriller author whose husband is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend and Beth is one of Liza’s characters who suspects her husband of cheating. Told in alternating chapters between Liza and Beth, the lines become blurred as to what happened and who did it.
They say authors put pieces of themselves into their characters but how alike are Liza and Beth?
Liza and Beth were such an interesting duo, both woven together until you couldn’t tell them apart.
Ohhhhhh I do love a bit of unreliable narration especially with such and exciting premise. If you can’t trust the narration, who can you trust?
I loved this book, it was so tense and confusing (in a good way) that I tore through the pages at an alarming rate. I would recommend to any fan of thriller looking for a quick easy tense read with a brilliant plot.

A clever thriller, that shows just how close the lines between fiction and reality are.
Our narrator, Liza, is a best-selling novelist who is struggling to meet her latest deadline. Her husband's work partner has disappeared, and this is affecting the interest shown in what seems to be the latest round of fertility treatment for the couple.
We watch Liza struggling with her day to day life, and grow fascinated by the developing strength of the voice of her latest character Beth, a new mother who learns her husband is having an affair.
The parallels in the stories are extraordinary, and it soon becomes clear that there's more to this than we first suspect.
As the book developed and I grew more attuned to the voices this became more intriguing. One to stick with, as it was rewarding.

Oscar Wilde once said "life imitates art" and Holahan takes that statement to a literary level. Lies She Told is a story of an author, Eliza, and her character, Beth. Each woman has marriage issues, wayward husbands, and while one wants a baby the other has a newborn. If chapters weren't labeled when the author is telling her story, you begin to see how character and author could easily become one with just a bit diference in stories. The book is a fascinating non-stop read while you wonder what more can happen to these two women.

Lies She Told by Cate Holahan published by Crooked Lane Books was provided to me for an honest review through Negalley. Thank you to everyone who took part in deciding to give me my copy I really did enjoy the book. This is my first book by this author.
The Lies She told is crafted to be told in dual perspectives one being Liza the author who is trying to come up with the next best seller, and Beth the character in the novel being constructed. I found myself profoundly confused in the first few chapters trying to figure out how the chapters are laid out, but after you get a grasp of the books construction it is one of those books you want to continue reading to see if fiction comes from reality or if reality has made the fiction.
We have Liza whose husband is worried about his best friend who is missing. When the body is found, her husband is charged. Meanwhile Liza, writes about a woman named Beth, whose husband is cheating on her, and she feels only way to keep marriage is to kill the mistress. The book goes back and forth between both plots that if you don’t play close attention you might get lost in translation. You find yourself feeling bad for both fictional character and the writer’s life that the story is very readable.
As I said this is a new author for me and I enjoyed this read very much. I found myself more drawn to the second half of the book just because once it gets it’s running start you want to take it all the way to the finish line! Readers who like a Then and Now format or a dual perspective novel will love this book hands down!

A very interesting read. I liked the alternation between the chapters of Liza's storyline and Beth's. Like for Liza the two stories seemed to merge at some point for me as a reader, as well.. It is the sort of mindgame I like in suspense novels/thrillers.
I didn't like the explanation for the way Liza was - her background story. It felt lazy and a tad too corny. I caught myself thinking "Really now? That of all possibilities? Eep." But that is personal preference.
The writing was good, the characters fleshed out (more or less) and relatable.

I received an ARC from NetGalley to read and review. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you Cate Holahan, the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to review.

LIES SHE TOLD is told in dual points of view: the first being Liza Jones, a writer given thirty days to pen the next best thriller novel, and the second being Beth, the main character in said thriller.

Liza is struggling in both her writing career and in her marriage: she and her husband are unsuccessfully attempting to start a family and deal with the disappearance of Nick, her husband's business partner.

Beth is a new mother who suspects her husband is cheating on her. One day, while out on a walk with her newborn daughter, Victoria, she spots her husband seemingly on a date with his co-worker. Before she realizes what she's done, she's tossing the body of her husband's mistress into the river.

The stories tell parallel tales, blurring the line between fact and fiction.

LIES SHE TOLD has everything you could want in a good thriller: twists and turns that keep you guessing, questionable narration, a whodunit mystery, dual POV, vivid characters, an engrossing plot, a perfect ending, and amazing writing. I cannot sing enough praise for this utterly fantastic novel. This was my first Cate Holahan novel, and I can't wait to devour her other books. I highly recommend LIES SHE TOLD to anyone who enjoys a unique thriller or just plain ol' good writing. By far, this is my best read of 2017!