This was a great, fast-paced psychological thriller. I weirdly enjoy an unreliable protagonist, I feel it adds to my not knowing what is going to happen. Some will find it disturbing, crimes committed by children are harder for some to stomach, but it happens and this was a well done story. It took me a couple chapters to get really into this book but once I did I finished it really quickly.

I was asked to be on the Blog Tour for ONE MORE LIE, and I am doing a Spotlight Stop. Once I have gotten the chance to read the book, I will come back and edit in my review. For right now, here is the link to my Blog Tour stop.

One More Lie is the second book published by author Amy Lloyd and having read her first I was extremely curious how the second would be. Both of the books are fictional stories based off real life crimes and I was a little iffy on the first but still intrigued but in my opinion this one got even better.

One More Lie tells the story of Charlotte, a woman now in her late twenties that has just been released from prison. The twist with Charlotte’s story though is she doesn’t actually remember whether she was guilty or not as she was only a young child at the time she and her friend had been arrested.

Living almost twenty years behind bars with most being her formative childhood and teenage years it’s safe to say Charlotte really has no idea how the world works or how to exist in it now. Charlotte does have the help of her trusted therapist though and hopes to make a good life for herself now.

Amy Lloyd did a wonderful job writing this one through the eyes of her unreliable narrator. There’s this dark and creepy vibe from the very beginning that makes one question just what happened all those years before. We hear of horrible crimes daily and sometimes those are even committed by children so this had this realistic but sinister vibe down perfectly leaving me to rate it at 4 1/2 stars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I published a Shelf Byte podcast a review for One More Lie. Thank you for sharing this title with me. Have a great day.

http://www.shelfaddiction.com/blog/review-of-one-more-lie-by-amy-lloyd-shelf-byte

One More Lie is the second novel of psychological suspense from British author Amy Lloyd. Her 2018 début, The Innocent Wife, was super dark and disturbing, so I was eager to see what her second novel would be like, and I'm happy to tell you that it ended up being even better than last year's release.

Our heroine has lived most of her life in a secure institution for those with severe mental illnesses. When she was ten, she and her best friend Sean were convicted of killing a disabled classmate, and her time on the outside has been extremely limited until now. When the story opens, she has just been released from the institution, given a new identity, and sent to a city far from where the crime was committed. Now called Charlotte, she wants nothing more than a fresh start, something that feels almost impossible due to her emotional immaturity and lack of social awareness.

The one constant in Charlotte's life is her psychiatrist. She's been seeing Dr. Evelyn Isherwood since shortly after she was convicted of murder, and Charlotte believes no one in the world knows her better or loves her more than Dr. Isherwood does, and can't imagine how she'll survive on the outside without her doctor's help. Fortunately, this is something she hasn't had to face since Dr. Isherwood has moved to a nearby town in order to keep seeing Charlotte as a patient. I'm not sure how ethical this is, but the author makes it work quite well here.

So Charlotte is trying hard to make a new life for herself. She's working in a supermarket, seeing Dr. Isherwood a couple of times a week, and obeying the conditions of her parole, but things just don't seem to be going well. She can't seem to relate to her colleagues, and life in a halfway house is challenging. Plus, thoughts of Sean and the crime they committed are never far from Charlotte's mind, making it difficult for her to focus on her future.

A part of Charlotte longs to reconnect with Sean, who she hasn't seen since before her court trial, but another part of her is afraid of what would happen if Sean were to find out where she is living. The only other time she spent time away from the institution, he managed to track her down, and she was forced to return to in-patient treatment as a result. The reader isn't sure how Charlotte actually feels about Sean since her thoughts and feelings about him appear to be quite jumbled, but, as you might expect, he eventually finds out where she is, causing Charlotte to begin a downward spiral that might cost her her sanity.

One More Lie is a deeply disturbing story with a main character readers are likely to have a hard time warming up to. It's clear from the very beginning that Charlotte is an extremely troubled young woman. She claims not to have a clear memory of the murder she's accused of committing, but I wasn't sure she was telling the truth about that, and in fact, she experiences quite a few vivid flashbacks which made me wonder if she actually remembered more than she was admitting. Even so, I found Charlotte's story to be quite riveting. I was eager to learn the truth about the murder, and even more anxious to figure out what kind of relationship she and Sean actually had.

Most of the story is told from Charlotte's point of view. We move back and forth in time, tracking her present progress as well as learning about the events both leading up to and following the murder. The parts of the novel that focus on Charlotte's childhood are told in a nonlinear fashion, moving randomly over a four year period. This makes the timeline of events a little confusing, but everything eventually becomes clear, so stick with it if you can.

There are a few chapters told from Sean's perspective, but he's definitely not the main focus of the novel. I felt like I knew more about him through Charlotte's perceptions than from the bits and pieces we learn through his own lens. He's not at all a likable character, but then I didn't expect him to be. His life was forever changed by the crime he and Charlotte committed, and although he seems to be a bit more functional than Charlotte, things are definitely not easy for him.

This is one of those books that grabs you and refuses to let you go until you reach the end. Parts of the narrative feel a bit slow, but, even when it feels like nothing much is happening, the tension is building to a fever pitch. Then, before you know it, things are happening at lightning speed, and you'll be flying through the story. Due to the intense nature of the subject matter, this is not an easy read, but it's definitely an addictive one, and I urge anyone who loves fast-paced thrillers with chilling twists to pick up One More Lie as soon as possible.

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A fast-paced suspense with strong characters. You will be kept guessing until the very end. And that last page, whoa! I thought I had a good idea with where the story was heading but then an epic plot-twist took form. Loved every minute of it.

I enjoy a really good psychological thriller. Sadly, this book did not do anything for me. I found the thrill and intensity that I have come to expect from these types of books to be lacking for me.

Charlotte is the main voice and character of this book. It is her story to tell. The story switches back and forth between the present and past; slowly trying to draw the reader into Charlotte's live. We are then supposed to figure out if Charlotte is reformed or living one big "lie". That lie is played out between the past and present.

It is not hard to figure out what the lie is and how the story will end. Yet, this does not mean that I did not stop reading this book when I put all of the piece together early on. I did finish this book, if only for a slight glimmer of hope that some twist would happen. No twists.

4.5 Stars

One More Lie is a fast-paced, suspenseful engaging and chilling read. From the very first pages, I was hooked wanting to know about the tangle of lies that lead to one more lie.

The premise of this story is disturbing and chilling here with the thought and reality of children so young committing crimes. I was fascinated by the unhealthy and toxic relationships here between the characters at a young age and the impact it had on them after a crime was committed. Amy Lloyd did push that uncomfortable feeling however I never felt that this story was going to go in the direction of anything more than just an entertaining thriller. The tension and suspense increased with each chapter as we become tangled in the web of deceit and lies and I was turning the pages as fast as I could to find out the truth. The truth in end left me completely satisfied with the way it all came together.

Gripping, thrilling, and addictive. This book will have you sitting on the edge of your seat as you read through the chapters and uncover more of the story and what truly happened that one dark, and fateful day. What happened all of those years ago for Sean and Charlotte to get into so much trouble as 10 year old’s that they would be tried in court as adults? Are young children truly capable of such a heinous crime or has there been some mistake?…. some accident?

I enjoyed reading between alternating timelines. Parts of the novel are written in the present and parts are written in the past. I enjoyed how this allowed us as readers to get glimpses into the past and get small bits of the truth a little bit at a time, which I found added to the whole suspense and climax of the novel. Everytime we got a piece of information from the past they in jumped to the present, I was left wanting to know more. As we gather more and more pieces of what truly happened we are slowly able to see the full picture. I also liked how parts of the novel were told from His (Sean’s) and Her (Charlotte’s) point of view.

It was clear that Sean was a troubled boy. He grew up in a single parent home, his father was hardly around to supervise and look over him so it was clear to see how he could easily get into so much trouble and be somewhat of a trouble maker. Sean and Charlotte quickly become good friends, doing everything together. The good and the bad.

In the present, Sean and Charlotte having spoken in years. Charlotte is given a new name, a new identity, to protect her from the public and prevent them from knowing who she truly is. As a part of her parole she has to wear an ankle monitoring device and see her counselor regularly. Charlotte and her counselor have a good and close relationship and Charlotte has been seeing her for years. Charlotte is having a difficult time adjusting to life on the outside of prison, as she was in jail since she was at the young tender age of 10. She has to cope with living on her own with room mates, holding down a job, getting to and from work, etc. Which is a lot for her to handle since this is all so very new to her.

Charlotte cannot remember what truly happened all those years ago that put her and Sean in prison. She knows part of what happened but the rest of the day is blocked from her mind. Was what happened that day so awful that she has blocked out the memory of what happened as a way to block the truth and protect herself? Will she ever regain the memories back and if so, how will she deal with the new memory?

A great book that I enjoyed reading and had me hooked to the very end.

Such a fast read, kept me totally interested throughout. It was more creepy and disturbing than a real mystery though.
The problems I had with it:
As with a bunch of books I've read recently, there's just NO way that kids this young could pull something off like this. I didn't find much that was happening to fit with their stated ages. Maybe I'm wrong, but it just wasn't believable to me.
I thought the punishment for the crime(s) didn't really match their ages and their actual involvement. You can't tell me that a 10 year old had the mental capacity to make sound judgments and deserved this many years of punishment.
Overall, it was a quick, watching-a-train-wreck kind of a read.

Charlotte is trying to get her life together. She is living in a halfway house, on parole and with an ankle monitor after being released from prison. She was convicted, along with her friend Sean, at 10 years old of murdering a classmate, although Charlotte has no memory of the crime. Did she block it out, or did things happen differently than what she has been told? As she's trying to get on her feet, she finds it hard to resist thinking about Sean and wondering about him. Sean does get in touch with her and brings out the worst in Charlotte. Charlotte tries to juggle anxiety and grief and her longing to stay connected to Sean. This story begs the question - how can one truly move on after serving time for a crime, especially one that you can't remember?
This book was so exciting! The first I've read by this author, but it definitely won't be the last. I enjoyed the character development, the pacing and the climax! Very enjoyable!
Thanks to Amy Lloyd, Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC of this great book!

Last summer, I read Amy Lloyd's book The Innocent Wife and absolutely loved it so when I heard she had a new book being published, I knew I had to read it! Once again, I was immediately engrossed and intrigued by the story. My attention was grabbed from the start and did not let go until the very last page.

I was shocked when I read that Charlotte was convicted of murder as such a young age. crimes committed by male/female duos are intriguing as you wonder about the dynamic of the relationships. Is one person an evil influence on the other or are they both like minded individuals? In One More Lie, we have two minors convicted of murdering another kid. The reader isn't given much details about the victim or the crime until the end of the book so we are left to make assumptions about who the perpetrator is and what happened that day through flashbacks.

One More Lie is a shocking look at what happens after time is served for a crime. Is it possible for the individual to move on and live a normal life? The reader can sense Charlotte's shame as she tries to keep her ankle tag hidden from others. As for her partner Sean, he is also struggling to fit back into society. Should they get the chance to start anew considering the severity of their actions and the results?

It left me guessing until the very end about what happened that day and why. I kept thinking about the themes of responsibility and forgiveness long after I was finished reading. The author has a true talent in using our worst fears in her true crime inspired books. I absolutely love them and will definitely read more from her!

Did Charlotte and Sean murder a classmate? Charlotte can't remember. Now, 18 years later and on parole, she is trying to put her life in order, figure it out, and stay away from Sean. The story is told in multiple time lines and from both Charlotte and Sean's points of view. At times it all gets a bit turned around and the reader isn't sure exactly what they are trying to learn. Are we concerned about Sean finding Charlotte? Are we trying, along with Charlotte, to find out what happened all those years ago? Other than the timeline confusion, the characters are nicely developed and the story itself is good. Well worth a read.

WoW! This book has everything I want in a thriller. It's unputdownable. Be prepared to be glued to this story! I won't give anything away so just read it!!

Fast paced and lots of twists. One of the best I've read. I would buy anything this Author writes.

Can you overcome your past? Charlotte and Sean were convicted of killing a disabled child when they were children themselves- 10 years old. Now they've been released and given new identities. Charlotte's worked through some of her issues (bad childhood even before the murder) but she does't remember what really happened. This one raises some uncomfortable questions. It also moves back and forth in time- which works well in this case because it builds the tension and questions in your mind. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a page turner.

This was a pretty good read and kept me intrigued; But when I finally found out in the end what had happened I was expecting something so much more!!

I liked but didn’t absolutely love this book. It kept me interested throughout ,but the layout of the plot was kind of confusing. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

3.5/5stars

A psychological thriller that examines the mind of an unreliable character who is struggling with anxiety, grief, and fear.
Charlotte and Sean at the age of 10 were convicted of murdering their classmate. Charlotte spends time in jail for the crime but doesn't remember doing so and has blocked the event out. Recently on parole, Charlotte is trying to put her life together and moves into a halfway house while keeping a job. Everything seems fine for Charlotte until she continues to think about Sean and her pull towards him. Who exactly is Sean and what power/hold does he have over Charlotte?

There were flashbacks that were present at the beginning of the story and felt that they were a tad bit all over the place.. and found myself getting confused with what was happening. Flashbacks of her childhood, murder, memories of Sean, and her present life.

At the final reveal, I wasn't really that impressed with the story. There wasn't really any major twists/turns and just was lacking the depth for me.

I did enjoy this book a little more than her first. I've been seeing many 4-5 star reviews and am clearly in the minority on this one once again.

Overall, 3.25 stars for me

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin/Trade Publishing for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Publication date: 5/28/19
Published to Goodreads: 5/8/19

One More Lie is about a woman named Charlotte. She want s to forget the past and move on. Only she can’t. She sees a therapist and has an ankle bracelet living in a halfway house. She wants to forget Sean her friend from the past. But she can’t because somehow he contacted her. She finds herself remembering more and more of her past and finding out it’s not easy to escape what she has done

Wow!!! This book was so gripping and chilling!! I loved the way it was written, the back and forth in time, but also in a way that really made the suspension hang and you wondering exactly what the heck happened and when! It was very intense, chilling, thrilling, but also dark in the way it had the children act, but I truly thought it made it so much more riveting! I will definitely be reading more by Lloyd, who definitely has a knack for writing thrillers in a manner that really has even those who’ve read hundreds brains spinning!!
Will be highly recommending to the members of Chapter Chatter Pub!!