Hilarious and relatable, this book kept me chuckling, nodding in agreement, and sighing in sympathetic frustration as I turned page after page. Not a new concept, bur it does a great job of standing out, bringing fresh stories and new lights, and rings out with an honesty any parent will appreciate.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

a very funny, down to earth book about a father writing letters to his grown children.

best quote from the book "Sorry to disappoint, kids, neither one of you was adopted. You are both members of my gene pool. And what a dirty pool it is."

At some point we have all related to the author and have said to ourselves... my parents told me that...or you were guilty of telling your children the same lies........ or the best of all " I was today years old when I found out that was a lie HAHAHA

a quick, fun, up-lifting read

Ok, on what planet did the publisher think this was a good book to publish. It is a bunch of rambling from a father to his children in a "pretend letter" now that they are adults. The story starts with "if you ever look back and want tell therapists what horrible parents your mother and I were and how we ruined your lives, this book might help exonerate us." If the kids wanted to go back and tell how horrible their lives were with this father, I would send him to jail in a heartbeat. My goodness how self centered, selfish and immature can a grown man be. From saying that he didn't have love at first sight with his now wife to holding his nephew up against his helmet because he was trying to recreate the play from the Superbowl and then he dropped him and talked about how he wasn't quite right after that and he kept thinking that was the reason why. Talked about his wife's friend who seems to one-up him all the time so he started doing things to have them spend money. Talked about how one Halloween he didn't want to go and he pissed off a 13 year old kid who then egged him along with other things so the next year he got dressed up and got a whole bunch of little kids to go stalk that kid and have retaliation and still lost. I could go on and on and on as it never stopped it was always like this. I know this book is supposed to be fake but he wasn't even likable, not even a little bit.

Lying to Children by Alex Shahla had me laughing on page 1, and I really did not stop until the end. The book reads more like a collection of essays with a memoir like quality than a novel to be read beginning to end. I relate to the narrator and the situations. I laugh...a lot. I look forward to sharing this book with my children as the “other side of the story” to childhood.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/07/lying-to-children.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

It's a cute idea, but I didn't really connect with it. It sounds like a fun family!

Maybe because I am a childress old crone (wink), I didn't identify with these stories. They were humorous, but nothing was familiar to me.

A must read for parents, though.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I liked the idea of this book, but it didn't live up to my expectations.
This is a topic that has been done too death after all, so to make it into a book (rather than the usual articles, opinion pieces and blogs) would need something special - I would have to feel a connection with the family involved. But I didn't.
The style just didn't work for me. I couldn't picture this father in my mind. The language and tone he used just didn't seem to match his age.
At times it felt too close to being about Homer Simpson. I appreciate it is a piece of fiction, but the anecdotes should still have felt like slightly exaggerated real life situations.
Some anecdotes would have benefited from being heftily shortened in length.
This book did make me laugh in places, but sadly not as often as it should to keep me engaged.

Parents, or other caring caregivers, are going to love this book! I don't know whether you'll enjoy it more if your children are still young, but as a parent of an adult child, I can tell you I could relate! Yes, we lie to our children; it's our feeble attempt to protect them, keep them kids, who knows! It's not done in malice. We love our kids- we're human! Funny, sad, poignant - lots of emotions will get stirred. You've been forewarned! Read it and enjoy!

Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a hilarious book and I pretty much carried it around with me until I finished. Probably the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that maybe some of the humor got a bit old - probably should have read each chapter and then put it down.

But it is a must-read for parents of older children. It's written from the viewpoint of a fictional dad writing the book for his kids who have just gone off to college. So it's kind of giving the kids the backstory to why their dad acted the way he did and filling in the blanks.

It's all so true - you'll definitely laugh through your tears! Bravo!

What I expected to be a funny collection of essays ended up being a epistolary novel that meandered around quite a bit without really having a strong plot. Funny at times, but not enough to keep me interested.

If Alex Shahla writes a holiday letter about his family, I bet it's funny and if this book were edited to fit on one page, I'm sure it would make me laugh. Although his book Lying to Children is stylized in letter form, it reads more like the personal journal of a smug, snarky one percenter. Bragging about having spoiled your children isn't sustainably endearing or entertaining, I find.

Based on the blurb, I had high hopes for this one. A Dad of two grown children writes a book length letter to them about their childhood and the lies he told (think Santa, Tooth Fairy, etc). Instead of being adorably funny with some sweet pieces of wisdom, which is what I was hoping for, this is a series of just a few anecdotes. These stories are somewhat funny, but overly drawn out and not as humerous as stories of your family and friends. Additionally, his digs at other family members came across to me as mean, rather than funny.

Why do I like it? It resonates with me as a parent, it made me realize that there are worse parents out there. Best part is that Lying to Children made me realize that I am not alone, that people do feel lost and scared some times, we are just better at hiding it.

If you want a good laugh, or an eye roll... keep this one