Publishing Day 🙌⁣
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This is How I Lied by @heathergudenkauf⁣
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Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟⁣
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This book took me completely by surprise in all the right ways. It was a quick paced thriller that helped me get out of the reading slump I’ve been having this month. ⁣
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When Maggie was a young girl her best-friend was murdered. The killer was never found. Now, as a grown woman and police officer, a new piece of evidence has come to light that re-opens the investigation. Maggie is the lead on the case. As she begins to look into what may have happened, she battles remembering lot of things she wishes she could forget. Everyone has a secret, everyone has a motive - even Maggie. ⁣
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You need to hop on the @heathergudenkauf train because it’s a first class experience. This was my one and only of her books, but I promise I’m coming back for more. My guess at who dun it changed multiple times and I stayed up way past my bedtime. She ticked all my must-read thriller boxes. The writing reminded me of Ruth Ware, Lisa Jewell and Gilly MacMillan. ⁣
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Available to the public today. If you’re a thriller fan, don’t delay. It’s a goodie. ⁣
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Thank you to @netgalley and @harlequinbooks for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. •⁣
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#thisishowilied #heathergudenkauf #netgalley #torontoreads #harlequin #torontoreaders #sloane_reads #🇨🇦bookenablers #bookstagram #thriller #mystery #bookreview #goodreads #bookstagramreviews #bookclub #bibliophile #bookworm #bookstagrammer #booksiread #bookrecs #newreleasebooks #bookstack #quarantinereads #whatimreading #whatimreadingnow #whattoreadnext #quarantbr #canadareads #bookshelf #booksbooksbooks

Happy Publication Day!

3 stars. An unsolved murder in a small town.

Maggie is seven months pregnant and easing off her heavy workload as one of the two detectives in her small town. She reluctantly takes on desk duty and is assigned the cold case of a local young girls’ murder that devastated the town over twenty years ago. This case is close to Maggie as the victim, Eve, was her fifteen year old best friend and neighbour. Digging into the past brings up old memories while new clues surface.

This was entertaining and fast paced, each chapter leaving a little cliff hanger of curiosity. The characters and mystery were interesting and unique. I loved the small town atmosphere.

Even though this was a quick and action filled journey, I never felt fully invested or engaged. There were several questionable plot points and too much drama for my liking. Though there was an air of suspense created in the prologue, it didn’t carry forward or pull me deep into the story. I enjoyed this for being an entertaining, quick, surface level story that was an easy read during quarantine.

This will be a page-turner for many! For me, it lacked the suspenseful intensity I was hoping for. Thank you to NetGalley for my review copy!

Title: This is How I Lied
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5

Tough as nails and seven months pregnant, Detective Maggie Kennedy-O’Keefe of Grotto PD, is dreading going on desk duty before having the baby her and her husband so badly want. But when new evidence is found in the 25-year-old cold case of her best friend’s murder that requires the work of a desk jockey, Maggie jumps at the opportunity to be the one who finally puts Eve Knox’s case to rest.

Maggie has her work cut out for her. Everyone close to Eve is a suspect. There’s Nola, Eve’s little sister who’s always been a little... off; Nick, Eve’s ex-boyfriend with a vicious temper; a Schwinn riding drifter who blew in and out of Grotto; even Maggie’s husband Sean, who may have known more about Eve’s last day than he’s letting on. As Maggie continues to investigate, the case comes closer and closer to home, forcing her to confront her own demons before she can find justice for Eve.

I didn’t really feel a connection with any of these characters. Not even pregnant and struggling Maggie. Especially not Nora, who was vicious and crazy. And, it seems, everyone in the book was a liar, so there’s that. Unreliable narrator, anyone?

I actually didn’t figure out what had happened 25 years ago—how is 1995 twenty years ago!—and the action and tensions kept increasing, making this quick to read, but my dislike of the characters killed a lot of my enjoyment of the read.

Heather Gudenkauf is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. This is how I Lied is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Park Row in exchange for an honest review.)

"This is how I lied, and now this is my truth".

OMG....if I could just give a million stars for this one, it's soooo good, I got hooked from the first page.
It's a dark and chilling story. So many lies and secrets, So many evilness, that got me cringe and holding my breath, my heart racing most of the time, I need to stop to calm my heart and to just take a break from all the ugliness but I just can't stop, I need to know what really happened on that scary night, I need to know who the real murderer is, but what makes this book more interesting for me is that there's a victim's point a view, the days before she got murdered, so that makes everything darker, more intense, more sorrow, it's just breaking my heart at some parts, got me teary at some points. Amazing story, great characters, awesome twist and turns, definitely a MUST-READ for suspense mystery lovers.

When a murdered girl’s Doc Marten is found twenty-five years later, the police reopen the case. The death of Eve, her best childhood friend, had been tragic for Maggie. finding her body with Eve’s younger sister, Nola, was especially painful. Now one of only two detectives in the small rural Iowan town of Grotto, Maggie must investigate her friend’s murder in This is How I Lied.

There are plenty of suspects but few leads in the cold case. Eve, only fifteen, had just broken up with her rich but abusive boyfriend, Nick, when she was murdered. She had also had angry words with her best friend, now-Detective Maggie. Eve’s younger sister, Nola, was known to torture animals as a child. Could she have murdered Eve in a jealous rage? Or could someone that the former police chief, Maggie’s father, wasn’t aware of have done it?

This is How I Lied really gets under your skin in the best way for a thriller. I was racing through the pages so fast that my Kindle had a hard time keeping up. It is an enthralling plot that I read in one three-hour sitting. Nola is a truly fascinating character. She is completely different from the usual thriller character. As the book states, “No matter where she lived, Nola would be scary.” Brava! 5 stars and a highly recommended favorite read!

Thanks to Park Row, Harlequin Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This Is How I Lied centers around a 25 year-old cold case, where the victim, Eve Knox, was found beaten and strangled in Ransom Caves by her best friend, Maggie Kennedy-O' Keefe and sister, Nola Knox. Now a detective at Grotto Police Department, Maggie is reopening this case after a potential new evidence is discovered.

This story is narrated from three different POVs - Eve, Maggie and Nola, and between 1995 and 2020 time lines. I find this type of narration is interesting when the mystery slowly unravels itself as the pieces of puzzle come together. The story is intriguing in the first half, but the plot meanders quite a bit and felt repetitive before it picks up again at about 70% of the story. There are some predictable and some surprising twists, and was pretty suspenseful at times. In the end, I liked the pretty twisty plot , just not so much of the storytelling as it felt somewhat draggy. Overall, this turned out to be an okay read for me.

Pub. Date: 12 May, 2020

***Thank you HARLEQUIN Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) and NetGalley for this gifted review copy in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

This is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf is probably not my favorite of the author’s work but is still an interesting examination of people, their motives and how the lies we tell ourselves can become a truth in our own mind and make it easy to ignore all the other details.
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Twenty five years ago Eve was found dead by Maggie, her best friend, and Nola, Eve’s creepy and strange younger sister. The murderer was never caught and Maggie’s father, the chief at the time, lost himself to the case trying to find the killer. Everyone has their opinions on who did it, Nick the jealous boyfriend and Nola were the top contenders.
Maggie, a cop now, is revisiting the case and all sorts of secrets are being stirred up. Just what did happen all those years ago?
***
The story has a slow, but steady pace. The present story, with Maggie investigating and interactions with Nola (Whoo is so incredibly messed up, oh boy get this lady a psychologist, a therapist, anything, just get her help or locked up for other people’s safety. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book with such an unsettling character, I wanted to bathe myself in bleach after each section in her head.), are interspersed with Eve’s last day as you build towards her final moments.
I’d give this book a 3.5 star rating for sure.
***
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Harlequin for providing me an e-ARC of this title via @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is How I Lied turns the typical police procedural thriller on its head as it twists and turns its story until the very end.

Twenty-five years ago, Eve Knox was murdered in the caves near her home and found by her best friend and little sister. For decades, the case remained cold. Now, in present day, her best friend Maggie - an investigator on the police force - is thrust back into the case when new piece of evidence comes to light.

The pacing is quick and the twists in this one are original, surprising, and nail biting. This story goes beyond your typical whodunnit. It’ll force you to ask yourself who should be responsible for it?

While I found all the characters unlikeable, I still remained invested in the story. I was surprised and satisfied with the ending, which is always a plus. Overall, I really enjoyed it and finished it in one sitting because I had to know the ending!

This is How I Lied publishes May 12, 2020. *Will update my review with my blog posts upon publication.

Eve Knox was only sixteen when she died in the caves by her house. She was murdered, her body found by her best friend Maggie and Eve's younger sister, Nola. While there were some suspects--her boyfriend, Nick; the local town drifter--no one was ever arrested and the case, led by Maggie's police chief father, went cold. Now Maggie herself is a detective in her hometown of Grotto, Iowa. She becomes lead on Eve's case when it is reopened after new evidence emerges. Immediately Maggie is transported back to her childhood and her friendship with Eve. But as Maggie digs deeper into the case, she realizes there were a lot of secrets buried with Eve, many of which no one in Grotto want discovered. Maybe not even Maggie herself.

"Over the years, I lost my mom, my innocence and my best friend. This street has been a graveyard to me."

This book was one of those delicious surprises that turns out to be so much better than you expect. I've never read a book by Heather Gudenkauf before, but I certainly will be reading more of her books now! I read this as I was sent a Netgalley widget, and I'm so glad! This is such a dark and twisty tale, and I loved how it kept me guessing the entire time, always wondering and doubting myself about what exactly happened to Eve.

Gudenkauf tells her tale from multiple perspectives and time periods, but unlike so many thrillers these days, she does so deftly. It's heartbreaking to hear from the Eve of twenty-five years ago, knowing her fate, yet fascinating, as she slowly dispenses details and clues about what has happened to her. Eve's younger sister is the "town crazy," a veterinarian with a penchant for extreme creepiness. We also have Maggie's even-keeled husband, Shaun, who runs their orchard (and did I mention Maggie is way pregnant?), her father, the ex-chief, who is suffering from dementia, and her brother, who has been forced to care for him. And lets not forget Eve's ex-boyfriend, Nick, who now runs a store in town.

The small-town dynamics are perfect here. Eve's murder is the biggest thing to happen to this town. Everyone knows everyone else, and they think they all know each other's secrets. But, goodness, the secrets and lies buried deep in this small town are just beginning as Maggie starts investigating Eve's death again. The story unfolds perfectly--new pieces coming at you in just the right amount, constantly changing the perspective and allowing suspects to switch around in your mind. Half the thrillers I read, I feel like I have the "whodunnit" figured out from the beginning, but I was never sure here, always frantically reading, always wondering, and being pulled deeply into Eve and Maggie's lives.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. I loved the surprise of it--finding a book I didn't expect to be so good--and I loved being drawn into such a taunt well-written thriller. 4.5 stars.

This is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf is a mystery about a 25-year-old unsolved murder. When new evidence is discovered, the case is reopened. Maggie, the lead detective on the case was the Eve's, the victim, best friend and is the person who found the body all those years ago. As Maggie begins scouring case files and reviewing the evidence that was collected, she realizes someone in her small town knows more about Eve's death than they've admitted.

This is How I Lied is an intricately-plotted, slow burn suspense novel about the dangers of secrets and how our past truly defines our future. An entertaining, twisty read, I recommend this to anyone who enjoys atmospheric suspense novels with superb character development.

25 years ago, 16 year old, Eve Knox was killed in the caves in the small town of Grotto, Iowa and her murder went unsolved. Her sister, Nola, and best friend, Maggie, are the ones who found the body and were haunted everyday since. Now a new piece of evidence is discovered and Maggie, who has taken over from her father who has suffered from dementia, is the new detective on the case. Can new technology find DNA and point us to the killer?

This book is written in the POVs of Maggie and Nola in the present and Eve the day leading up to her death which I was happy to see. Everyone else including the ex-boyfriend, creepy neighbor, an ominous drifter and even Maggie's now husband could be possible suspects.

The twists may have been slightly predictable, but so many secrets and drama emerge along the way. Even though I was not shocked at the ending, the journey to get there was satisfying. Some plot points go a little unanswered, but I still think this is a great, fast paced read for thriller fans.

Triggers: Abuse (sexual and domestic), Animal dissection, Bullying

Maggie, now a 7 month pregnant police officer, is drawn back in to the investigation around her best friend's murder 25 years ago. While supposedly no stone was left unturned at the time, small little lies, omissions, and assumptions led to the case not being solved and leaving everyone dealing with some form of guilt. This book is as much a psychological look into the people left behind as it is a mystery to find who the murderer was. The end result is a strong storyline filled with well developed characters all making for a great read! With Ms. Gudenkauf's attention to establishing solid characters, this could easily become a series. A series I would be excited to read!

This is How I Lied is a thrilling ride!

This is the second book I have read by Heather Gudenkauf and this is another WINNER!!!!!

The story revolves around Eve, who was murdered 25 years ago and is yet to be solved. The story is told in alternating time lines, 1995 and 2020, past during the murder and the current time.

The story is told in three different points of view, Eve, her sister Nola, and her best friend Maggie.

This is a well developed, complex, multi-layered well written story.

The characters are well developed and fleshed out.

This story kept me on the edge of my seat!!!! What a rollercoaster ride.

Highly recommend!!!

Secrets, secrets, and more secrets

Twenty five years ago 16 year-old Eve Knox was discovered, murdered, in a local cave near the town where she lives - Grotto, Iowa. Her best friend, Maggie, and her rather demented younger sister, Nola, discover her body.

Currently Maggie is seven months pregnant and a detective for the Grotto Police Department. It is decided that Eve's case, which was never solved, would be re-opened and the evidence would be sent away to have the DNA checked, which wasn't available when the murder happened.

As the story progresses and winds in, out, and about, more and more people are added to the suspect pool.

I've enjoyed author Gudenkauf's books in the past and I liked this one a lot. It kept me guessing all the way through. Just when I thought I knew who the killer was, I changed my mind - over and over.

I recommend this book if you like murder mysteries and/or thrillers.

I received this book from Park Row Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

When Detective Maggie was 15 her best friend Eve was killed. Her father was the investigating officer at the time and the case went cold. Now 25 years later and 7 months pregnant a piece of evidence is found and the case is reopened. Maggie is tasked with going over all the evidence and getting it ready to send to the state authorities. Maggie has secrets from that time that she wants to keep, and someone is determined to bring them to light. While someone else is just a motivated to keep the secrets buried. Eve's younger sister Nola has always been a bit strange, and this new evidence seems to intensify that. She has her own idea of who killed her sister and will do whatever it takes to bring them down. What happened to Eve is revealed in alternating chapters with teasers as to who the killer could be that kept me guessing.

This books starts out with the telling of how Maggie's best friend Eve was murdered at the age of 15. it is now 25 years later and a new piece of evidence has come to light; Eve's shoe she was wearing the night she died. Maggie is now a police officer and wants to re-look into the case. But what she discovers brings back painful memories for her, her father, and Eve's sister Nola.

This book is told in alternating points of view from past and present. I felt that the first half of the book is catching the reader up on what we missed from before the murder to the killing. Once the big revelation is made, the book follows the decision of what to do next. I found this to be a quick, interesting read.

I've been having trouble concentrating lately. How to entertain my children while stay at home orders are in place. The uncertainty of our household finances as our jobs take on different dimensions. The fear of what will be waiting for us on the other side of this pandemic - what world we will be stepping out into. I say this to say that as a bibliophile reading is usually my therapy, my escape from the travails of life. Recently I find that most books haven't been able to clear the clouds that are in my head. But Heather Gudenkauf's This is How I Lied was able to transport me to another place. For a moment (or a fast-paced thrilling day), I had a reprieve. My mind was in small town Grotto with pregnant deputy Maggie Kennedy- O'Keefe.

New evidence has popped up in the murder case of her best friend Eve Knox. Maggie's emotions surrounding the case are further compounded by the fact that it was she who discovered the body 25 years ago. This was a bit of a sticking point for me. I had some trouble suspending disbelief here because we all know in real life this wouldn't happen. Maggie was too involved with the victim and too involved with the case to be considered for the assignment. But let's face it the real world sucks right now so I'm down for making exceptions. If you think that Maggie is intriguing, wait until you meet Eve's baby sister Nora. She is a nut I'm sure you would like to crack. Her character adds many suspenseful moments and plenty of twists and turns. I wonder if she will pop up in any of Gudenkauf's future work. I certainly would read anything with her in it.

Blog Tour Date 5/14/2020
https://carryabigbook.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/blog-tour-this-is-how-i-lied/
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A tragic reader's hook leads into a mystery that endures for twenty-four and a half years, leaving a small Iowa community unsettled and rumours rampant and undying. Three days prior to Christmas, a fifteen-year-old girl is discovered dead inside a cavern. Accident? Homicide? Too many persons of interest are uncovered, including her wealthy abusive boyfriend, a neighborhood sex offender, the victim's own thirteen-year-old sister--a strange and sociopathic girl. But these are not the only individuals with toxic secrets to hide. All these years later, new evidence comes to light, and the new police chief decides to send all the collected evidence to the state crime labs. In charge of the cold case, he assigns Detective Maggie O'Keefe: seven months pregnant, and once the victim's very best friend.


A toxic morass of secrets, emotional and physical abuse, sexual predation, and an unreliable, emotionally fraught narrator, create an unsettling novel of psychological suspense.

An absolute 5/5 stars! Loved it!

This book combines the stories and major players of past with the present perfectly, creating a compelling mystery that really packs a great punch. Not only do you want to figure out “whodunnit,” but what the heck is going on with some of these characters.

Gudenkauf is a fantastic writer, as evidenced by the numerous fascinating characters that you are just absolutely fascinated by - both in good ways and bad ways, because many people in the small town of Grotto have some big secrets to hide. Nola, Nick, Shaun, Maggie herself, everyone is hiding things and as the reader, I was feverishly trying to work out what was going on. There were so many moving parts, but they all slotted together nicely and created a cohesive, character-driven narrative that I loved.

I also really enjoyed the addition of the different elements that helped to flesh out the story - newspaper articles, therapy transcripts, social media posts. It was really cool.

There are also some great twists in the book. There are several times when readers will think they have it all figured out, only to be thrown for a loop. It’s a wild ride, but I’m so glad I took it!

I am definitely adding myself to the ranks of Heather Gudenkauf fans  and highly recommend this book.

This is a pretty run of the mill thriller mystery that doesn't reinvent any wheels, nor does it push many boundaries. It's your usual mystery of a dead girl story, and told through three perspectives. The first is Maggie, a pregnant police officer who was best friends with the dead girl back when she was murdered. The second is Nola, the possibly psychopathic younger sister of the dead girl, and then flashbacks to Eve, the dead girl herself and her last days leading up to her unsolved murder. There are twists and turns, but none are terribly interesting. And while some things pretend to be revealed, it's pretty clear that nothing is as it seems and that it's going to be revealed to be something else down the line. I also didn't feel that any of the characters were that interesting or complex, none of them really moving outside their two dimensional tropes (the police officer who may have secrets, the sociopath, the victimized kind teen from a hard home life). It was disappointing to say the least.

THIS IS HOW I LIED just didn't quite move past a simplistic storyline or dry characters.