4 stars

Gemma Bradley and her husband Peter have two children, Rosie and Noah, and another on the way. Gemma is frustrated with her children and frazzled in her personal life. The nice house and the appearance of happiness just doesn’t do it anymore. She is barely holding it together with her children, especially her daughter.

The next door neighbor Mira worries about the children, Rosie especially. Her husband Barry thinks that she is over-worrying the issue. She hears her screaming frequently. After yet another episode of screaming, Mira goes over to Gemma’s house and notices scratches on Rosie’s arm. She dithers and listens and then finally calls the police.

With Gemma in trouble with the police and social services, her mother comes to stay with them. Both Gemma and her mother want to look at Rosie’s diary. For some reason the child writes in it constantly. The story in interspersed with paragraphs from Rosie’s diary, so the reader has an opportunity to look into the child’s mind.

This is the story of two women. One misunderstood and the other fleeing from her past. They collide in a perfect storm over children. When Mira is betrayed, the perfect storm explodes.

I am not sure how I feel about this book. As someone who has had someone very close to them accused/arrested over something they did not do, I truly sympathize with Gemma. The story saddened me. I’m still pondering it days after having finished the novel.

The book is well written and plotted. The suspense begins at the opening of the story and as the story continues, the reader understands just how weighty the subject matter is. I don’t believe that I really liked either of the two protagonists, flawed though they were.

I want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read.

Children push their parents’ buttons like no one else. Gemma Bradley’s trying her best to deal with Rosie’s daily and often loud tantrums, but things do not always work out the way she wants. When a neighbor’s misplaced concern brings the police and the child services to their house, the Bradley family’s timed-to-the-minute, “perfect” life comes crashing down. Mira believes Gemma is physically abusing Rosie, but is Mira really interested in Rosie’s wellbeing or is she just looking out for herself?

As a mother, some of the scenes dealing with Gemma’s despair were a bit too hard to read. Without doubt, Clare Boyd’s Little Liar is easily one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve read this year. Fast-paced, intense, and riveting – you won’t be able to put it down until you find out how it all ends. I will definitely look out for more books from this writer!

Very enjoyable read, well written, story flowed nicely and kept me interested. At times it was very heartbreaking and I could feel all the pain and doubt of mother for failing her daughter. Personally I think too much has been revealed too soon but maybe it was necessary. Nonetheless it had still tense and surprising ending so it all worked out. I would definitely recommend it.

An intense and addictive read. A child screaming. A neighbour calls the police. Social services becomes involved. The family's life is turned upside down. Is the child being hurt and in need of protection? Thank you NetGalley, Bookoutre and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.

I would like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Little Liar’ by Clare Boyd, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Gemma Bradley has a high-powered job which she juggles with caring for her two young children, Rosie and Noah, with another baby on the way, and husband Peter. Rosie has screaming tantrums which disturb the next-door neighbour, Mira Entwistle, who phones the police to report that Rosie is being ill-treated by Gemma. Rosie says her mother hurts her and although both she and Gemma know this is a lie, the police arrest Gemma and report her to social services.
Clare Boyd has written a disturbing novel about a family where a child can make up lies about her mother but doesn’t know how to detract them for fear of getting into trouble. ‘Little Liar’ is a tense well-written psychological thriller that gripped me from the beginning, with a fitting but unexpected ending that left me open-mouthed. I can wholeheartedly recommend this novel.

Little Liar is Clare Boyd's debut psychological thriller, and what a ride it was! 😱😢🤬💖

To the outside world, Gemma Bradley has it all, the perfect house, perfect job, two perfect kids and the perfect family life. Behind closed doors she is a mum at her wits end due to her daughter Rosie's tantrums. Things start to spiral out of control when her next door neighbour Mira phones the police after hearing Rosie's screams. Mira then befriends the young girl and Gemma's world turned upside down. Dark secrets from both the women's pasts are unearthed as the plot unravels in nail biting fashion!

The story is told in 3 different narratives, Gemma's, Mira's and little Rosie's diary entries, I love books with different POVs myself so I really loved this set up!
I absolutely loved this book and it had me hooked from start to finish! Clare has written a great story here with believable characters that really hit home! I found myself shouting, wanting to head butt a certain character 🙊, needless to say my husband gave me a reality check ("it's just a book Courtney" 😂)

As a mum, some of the aspects of the book were a bit hard to read, but reading Rosie's diary entries definitely hit home and there was definitely a clear message to be taken from it - stop trying to give your children "perfect" lives and just let them live!

The only criticism I have is how rushed the ending feels, (without spoiling the plot) after everything that Gemma goes through, everything is forgotten about and we are left to assume that the powers that be have just dropped their investigation. I loved the plot twist regarding Mira, although I was gutted about how the ending left her!

All in all a great book and definitely worth the read! 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

P.s as always thank you so much to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Enjoyable book. Interesting to see how it developed. I thought it captured the dynamics behind seemingly perfect families and the spiralling impact lies and influence can have.

Wow! What a book! A thrilling, tense, roller-coaster of a story! So very believable and all the more scary for it! Once I started reading this, everything else was set aside as the gripping story swept me along, not letting go until I had reached the absolutely mind-blowing end! One of the best psychological thrillers I have read this year!

This was a pretty intense (and tense) read.

It’s just all too easy to put yourself in Gemma’s place, accused of horrific actions against her child – actions that she swears she didn’t commit.

The read is heartrending. I didn’t know if Rosie was some sort of bad seed or just dreadfully immature. I didn’t know if perhaps Gemma was darker than she (and the reader) believed. And Mira…oh, Mira. She was such a strange and unlikeable character – but what if she was right?

Now, this isn’t one of those twisty thrillers that are all the rage right now. It’s strictly a suspense thriller - the kind where things just get worse and worse until you wonder how on earth the characters (and you, yourself) can take it.

I didn’t love the ending. I wanted some sort of righteous retribution, but didn’t really get it.

But a good, solid read that made me very uncomfortable!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

How well do you know your children? Gemma Bradley has a very busy life, with a job, husband and two children. Some days it feels like she never has a moment to herself. Then one night the police are called by a neighbor when they hear Gemma’s daughter, Rosie screaming. Gemma may be an over exhausted mother, but she would never hurt her children. Explaining that to the authorities, however, is harder than she would have imagined, especially with the skeletons in her closet. But Gemma isn’t the only one with secrets. Rosie has some of her own, secrets she’s been keeping in a diary. This is every woman’s nightmare and Boyd does a good job of capturing the frustration, exhaustion and sometimes sheer terror of trying to be the perfect mother