Intriguing story of the inner-monologue between a young woman, Eliza, and her anxiety-riddled relationship with her aunt, mother, and her inner monologue. Eliza spends countless hours trying to decide if her own demons are driving her need to escape, or if someone else is in on it.

I was already a fan of Sara Shepard because of Pretty Little Liars, so I was excited to read this! This book is more adult then PLL, and it was twisty & turny and I liked it! This story revolves around Eliza Fontaine, who is a bit of a hot mess. She is also a writer, and we see excerpts from her book, giving this a story within a story feel. Eliza was found at the bottom of a pool, but she knows she was pushed. This book is exciting, shocking, and I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Elizas by Sara Shepard is high on my list of To Read books! You might know Sara from the Pretty Little Liars series. I really cannot get enough of mysteries and suspense books, and this one sounds like its going to be really good. The kind of book that keeps you up late at night, reading past your bedtime!

When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness.

Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t it?

The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.

I was just reading some reviews of this book and people are saying there are lots of twists and turns within the pages of this book which makes me think I’m going to read it quickly.

Maybe I was expecting too much - metafiction AND a trashy fun thriller? But that's what this book promised, and for me it didn't quite deliver. It was good fun for what it was but to be honest I've already mostly forgotten it.

The description had be iffy at best on this one, but I'm so glad I gave it a try! It turned out to be far more interesting and complex that I was originally led to believe. Shepard's writing was excellent knowing just how many hints to drop without revealing too much at once to keep readers interested and engaged.

I really enjoyed this novel. I loved the way it kept switching between Eliza’s life and the novel called Dot’s that she has just finished.
Eliza is recovering from brain surgery and goes to Palm Springs and is found almost drowned in a swimming pool. Eliza has a history of throwing herself into swimming pools, but she is convinced that someone pushed her at Palm Springs, no one believes her, so she sets out to find the truth of what really happened. Her memory loss prevents her from remembering big chunks of her life. She struggles with false memories and lies told by her friends and family. She is very afraid of the person who is stalking her and needs to find out who was with her just before she almost drowned at Palm Springs.
This novel will keep you guessing all the way to the end with all its twists and turns.

A thoughtful, original and compelling novel, propulsively paced.

The Elizas is an engaging, fast-paced thriller from the Pretty Little Liars author, Sara Shepard. It's the story about Eliza, with chapters her first novel interwoven throughout her story. The reader spends the entire book trying to figure out just how much the novel is fiction or non-fiction, which was a great twist to the overall story.

This book has an interesting premise. Novelist Eliza is close to the release of her first novel but there are strange things happening and she is losing touch with what is actually happening. She was recently rescued from the bottom of a swimming pool but no one believes her when she says she was pushed. Her memory of the evening are sketchy. She knows she was at a bar with someone--but who?

I wanted to like this book more. The explanation for Eliza's memory lapses pushed the book into SF territory but wasn't fleshed out enough to be interesting. Eliza is a problematic character; I didn't connect with her at all.

A couple of years ago, I got the four-book Pretty Little Liars collections as a library ebook. I started reading it on the G train from the studio, and I read it all freaking night. I could not stop until I knew all the secrets. (The show is fine, but it didn't suck me in the way the books did.)

The Elizas, Sara Shepard's newest book, was also a one-day read for me. The story begins with novelist Eliza Fontaine waking up in the hospital after almost drowning in a hotel pool. She's sure she was pushed, but doesn't know who tried to kill her, or why. Eliza, though, has a history of attempting suicide by drowning, and some memory issues after her brain surgery, and maybe a little problem with alcohol, so she has trouble convincing anyone.

There are a lot of really ominous moments, where it seems like something's going on just out of Eliza's vision. For example, there's a police detective (or is he???) who shrugs off her suspicions of attempted murder by telling her she seems like a nice girl, based on the five minutes he's seen her, so she probably doesn't have any enemies. Gabby, Eliza's strangely passive step-sister, is either way too nice or just biding her time to take revenge on the sister who harassed her for years. And the guy who fished Eliza out of the pool is one odd duck, for way too many reasons.

Eliza's story is told in alternating chapters with chapters from her novel, The Dots. At first, they two stories seem to be thematically similar, but then there are some uncanny similarities between Eliza's life and the book that she believes is fiction. The novel shifts between two mysteries and the realization that the solution to both mysteries is connected.

I was uncomfortable with this book and I realized it was because I couldn’t relate to the main character.

Confusion, amnesia and accusations of instability prevented me from digging down into this book.

This book didn't capture my interest from the very beginning, and I was not able to finish the first chapter much less the entire book. Not all books appeal to all readers, and in this vein of understanding I agree to not publish a negative review of "The Elizas" on Goodreads, Amazon, my blog, or any other form of social/print media.

I do appreciate being given the opportunity to read the ARC of this book, unfortunately it was just not for me.

One of my favorite authors is Sara Shepard; I fell in love with her about 8-10 years ago when I first discovered the book Pretty Little Liars. I then went on to read everything she had ever written and recently I got to meet her when I attended the RT2017 in Atlanta. She was amazing. So when I saw on Netgalley, a new release by her - I just had to read it. The Elizas is written with more the New Adult-Adult audience in mind and like her other series has a psychological twist to the story. In The Elizas, we meet Eliza Fontaine who is now being seen as trying to kill herself by her family and friends, but she knows different - she was pushed into the pool that fateful night. Now Eliza must try and untangle the web of lies and deception to find out what happened that night at the hotel. In The Elizas, we are also given a bit of an Inception twist with it being a Book within a Book. Eliza Fontaine is also an upcoming bestselling author of a book called Dots. It was created after she had surgery for her brain tumor. I have to admit, in some parts, I was like I could see this coming, and in others, it was like just when you were certain it was something - bam - out comes another twist and turn in the story. The Elizas by Sara Shepard keeps readers on their toes as they try to get to the bottom of what happened with Eliza at the hotel and what secrets her friends and family are all hiding. If you are a fan of Sara Shepard's books, then this is one release you will want to add to your 2018 wishlist.

I could not connect with this book.

An exciting, and sometimes disturbing novel, that I couldn't put down once I started reading. Seen through Eliza's eyes life is confusing, never knowing what is real or imagined. Who is telling the truth, why doesn't anyone believe her, and what is her family keeping hidden? Eliza lives each day on a twisting roller coaster, coming closer yet never being further away from the reality of her life. With its many twists and turns this book is a winner until the very end.

Sara Shepard has been a favorite author of mine since publishing her Pretty Little Liars series. So when I saw that she was writing an adult novel I was thrilled! This book did not disappoint. It's thrilling, mysterious, and downright creepy in some instances. Shepard knows how to write a book to keep her readers interested in the story and this is exactly what we get.

Recommended.

When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness.

Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t it?

The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.- Goodreads

This is the first book I've read by Sara Shepard. The Pretty Little Liars series at the time didn't peak my interest. However, after reading this I may give it a shot. The Elizas is Shepard's first adult book and you can really tell that while reading this.

I had a hard time reading this because Eliza was uninteresting and a brat. What I was more interested in was the story Eliza had written even though it tied in really well with the main story, I was captivated by Dots (what it is called). However, it was real obvious what the author was doing with that story and that was extremely unfortunate. The thing that made the Dots story more interesting than the main story was because Dot was a more like-able character. Eliza has some issues, not only trust issues but issues with herself that she works out throughout the book. But she is missing the base in her voice, for a lack of better term. Every time she spoke, it came off like 'wow I have to do this on my own because no one believes me...well that's great.' 

I wanted more personality from Eliza. Something else other than her illness and what happened to her. Some form of connection was missing and when I finished the book, I wanted that. 

The overall plot was slower than I expected but I do give Shepard credit for creativity. Despite the predictability earlier in the book, how she ties everything together makes a lot of sense and it shows that Shepard can pull some twists and turns. I was impressed and that is why I want to read Pretty Little Liars now. 

Overall, this wasn't a bad read. But isn't something that I would read again but I do know a few people that would enjoy this book that is why I would recommend it. 

2 Pickles

I didn't finish it. This is the kind of writing I expect for YA, not adult, novels.