I should know better than to read other reviews before I read the actual book. Some of the other readers of this book left rather lukewarm reviews and I found The Lying Club from Annie Ward to be a rather exciting and different story than the usual run of the mill thriller.

A rich school in Colorado. Brook is a recently separated mother who wants her daughter Sloane to be the best. She knows that she will get into UCLA on a soccer scholarship and will do anything for it, including paying additional for private coaching...and it doesn't hurt that the coach is the handsome Coach Nick.

Asha knows her daughter Mia is good and soccer and has enjoyed watching her play with her best friend Sloane. She's been friendly with Brooke for years but after a strange incident with Brooke and Asha's husband Phil one night, she's tried to keep her distance.

Natalie is the school receptionist. She's got a bit of a shady history, and sometimes she can't help her sticky fingers. She's always got her eyes set on the handsome soccer coach.

This book opens with a BANG - as two bodies are found in the gym. Who are those two bodies...and how did they get there? Keep reading because this book is such more than just a few lies, bad moms and high school soccer.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

When two bodies are found at an elite Colorado private school, three women are drawn into the case. Brooke is a wealthy heiress, but a serial cheater. Asha helicopters her children as she suspects her husband of an affair. Natalie watches the rich school mothers with envy from her front desk position.

The premise of this one isn’t really anything new, but that’s okay because it is just so darn entertaining. You begin thinking you will hate most of the characters, but you end up rooting for them. The ending is shocking. I really was not expecting how it turned out. Right when I was thinking that, another twist came and hit me. This was a great read!

“She was no longer as desirable as normalcy. Boring was better. Young and dumb was better. Poor and needy, low-maintenance and thankful. That was what was attractive. The world had turned upside down.”

The Lying Club comes out 3/22

DNF.
I don't like to leave critical reviews because I understand the challenges of writing a novel and having a book published. For those reasons I will not publish my NetGalley review on my review website, Instagram, Goodreads, or Amazon. I'll leave my thoughts here.

The Lying Club has a good premise, but the author's constant and consistent use of passive voice and the word "was" to describe details or actions became a huge distraction. Examples: "Brooke was filming her daughter's performance."; "He was clapping his hands and shouting"; "Down the mountain was the town center"; "...a quick pat down of her coat confirmed that it was wet." There are other examples, too numerous to include here.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for providing an ARC to read and review. *NetGalley Top Reviewer.*

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I had high hopes for this one but the characters were hard to like for me and the choppiness of the chapters was confusing to me. That could be because it was an ARC but the story just didn’t grab me like the synopsis did.

This is a story about three women, two bodies and a lie with many layers. It takes place at a fancy school with rich kids with rich parents who will do anything to make sure their kids succeed. The story is slow to build but worth the wait. The Lying Club is built bit by bit... piece by piece with everything connecting in the end. The story is told from multiple perspectives and I found these characters to be bold, unique, fierce and well written. It also jumps from past to present until the story catches up.

There have been some comparisons of this one being like Big Little Lies and I would agree that the style is very similar. If you liked that story then you will really enjoy this one.

Synopsis: At a private school in the Colorado mountains, Natalie dreams of having a life like the school moms she deals with every day. Women like Brooke—a gorgeous heiress, ferociously loving mother and serial cheater—and Asha, an overprotective mom who suspects her husband of having an affair. Their fates are bound by the handsome assistant athletic director Nicholas, whom Natalie loves, Brooke wants and Asha needs.

But when two bodies are carried out of the school one morning, it seems the tension between mothers and daughters, rival lovers, and the haves and have-nots has shattered the surface of this isolated, affluent town—where people stop at nothing to get what they want.

Review:
This was a true page turner of a book. It’s got lies, revenge, backstabbing women, and a murder. And so many toxic friendships, whew! It was a bit of a slow burn for me, but worth it in the end. I couldn’t figure out the ending at all, which I always appreciate in a book. Lots of twists and turns and unlikeable characters. I would love to discuss this one with my PTA friends-it would make for an interesting conversation! It’s also an easy book to binge read if you have the time. It was relatable in the way that you do sometimes see “mom cliques’ at certain schools- which makes me very glad my son is passed that age! This one will give off Big Little Lies vibes, for sure. This was a clever book. I’ll definitely look forward to more from Annie Ward.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

DNF @ 50%. I was enjoying the story but found the characters hard to connect with and felt that the story would speed up and then lull in other areas making it hard for me to want to continue with the story.

This book was layered with many different dynamic characters and plot lines. This story focuses around an accident and the build up to it and what happens after. The story molds through out the book, and even though there isn’t a huge plot twist in the end, the journey is beautifully well done. It’s only downfall is I think the ending could have been shortened. Overall loved this book- watch out for its pub date 22 March 2022!

Spoiler: I loved the ending of a group of badass women banning together to take the creepy guy down!

Side note to publisher: the copy I received had a couple flaws in the format but was unsure if it just delivered wrong.

At Falcon Academy, money talks, and the students and parents have plenty of it. The parents want their children to have the best opportunities, while their teenagers use their resources to party hard in their off-time. The Lying Club follows two mother/daughter pairs and an administrative assistant as they navigate this elite world, filled with secrets, and, when the light of day emerges one winter day - pure evil. What happened that snowy morning? The women need to find out because one of them may be involved and wind up behind bars.

The story is told from the point of view mostly from the three main women of the story: Brooke, Asha, and Natalie (the two mothers and the administrative assistant).

This book had a great soap-opera like quality to it, which was just great because I love being able to take a little break and just relax into a good drama-filled world. And hoooo-boy, did this one have the drama - from affairs, to drugs, to teenage love stories gone awry, this one had it all. And I was here for it. The author was really skilled at drawing you in and keeping you on your toes as she wove all of these different threads together without making things confusing.

The ending was really intense and I found myself almost gasping out loud as things fell into place. I won't spoil anything, but as certain things were revealed, I was like, "Wow. I did not even think of that." But it made perfect sense; it didn't come out of nowhere, I just hadn't really picked up on it until the author made the connection, you know? THAT is what a good thriller/mystery can do for you. Make you think and blow your mind.

Overall, I will definitely be reading Annie Ward again. Anyone who can make me feel that satisfied after reading a book is worth another read and this book 100 percent let me feeling satisfied!

I liked the story well enough & am a big fan of the author’s previous book “Beautiful Bad. The problem I had with this book was, hopefully, due to the fact that this was an ARC & the story seemed to change from one of the different protagonists to another, at another location, at another point of time with no warning, chapter change, anything. I found it a bit different to follow though the story was interesting.

This book sucked me in and did not let me go! This was another book where I was sneaking pages whenever I got a chance because I could not put it down. This was dramatic and suspenseful and I don't think I could have ever figured out the final reveal. I had lots of suspicions, and none of them were correct.

The setting here is an elite prep school nestled in the mountains of Colorado in an extremely affluent community. The main protagonist is Natalie, the school's office assistant. The other two voices are those of mothers of girls on the school's soccer team. There is as Brooke, a bossy, entitled women and then Asha, a more demure, but fiercely protective mother. The story revolves around school politics, rumors and the coach of the girl's soccer team. One morning two bodies are carried out of the school gym after a snowstorm. But who are the victims and what happened?

This is a very smart, sassy story that gave me Housewives vibes--but with murder--and I LOVED it.

I had a bit of trouble getting into this book. There are a lot of characters with distinct roles, so I went back and noted who belonged together in families. Once the characters were clearly marked in my brain, the book took off.

This dark mystery is set at an elite private school in the Colorado mountains. An unlikely tangled web of lies draws together three vastly different women. Natalie is the school’s young office assistant, who desires a life like the school moms she deals with every day. Brooke is a gorgeous heiress, ferociously loving mother and a cheater. Asha,is an overachieving and overprotective mom who suspects her husband of having an affair. And Asha learns she is unexpectedly pregnant.

Their lives are interconnected by their relationships with the handsome, charming assistant athletic director Nicholas, who Natalie adores. Brooke wants him and Asha needs Nick.

When two bodies are carried out of the school early one morning, everything familiar comes crashing down in this affluent town where people will stop at nothing to get what they want and jealousness abounds,

Enjoy this tangled web of lies, revenge, murder and a shocking conspiracy. I think you will be surprised to learn the victims aren’t who you might suspect.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Lying Club.

First, I didn't find anything original or unique about the plot: privileged brats at an elite private school are up to no good, which is expected, but nearly all the adults are behaving badly including:

Natalie, the school's office assistant who self medicates and gloms onto a man for self worth and validation

Brooke, an heiress and mom and serial cheater and Asha, a hard working realtor who suspects her husband of having an affair, juggling a new pregnancy and two children

The sexual predator athletic director, Nicholas, who, naturally, is a hottie, because this is a book and everyone is gorgeous.

When two bodies are discovered at the school one morning, the women must face their fears and hold themselves accountable for the tragedy. Or not.

I didn't like anyone; not Natalie who was a doormat, always scampering and stalking Nicholas, not for Brooke who is a typical MIL desperate to be wanted after throwing her marriage away for an affair; Asha wasn't bad and her fears for her possibly cheating husband were nothing new.

I did like the ending when Nicholas' gets his comeuppance and whodunit, and the writing was okay, but I didn't like the women or the plot.

My favorite characters are Natalie's brother and dog, Rocky, and they're barely in the story.

I recommend THE LYING CLUB for fans of domestic suspense novels.

The pacing is, for the most part, very good. However, this one takes a little while to get going. I recommend patience as you are introduced to the various characters.

Ward is very skilled at plotting and I felt like this story was intricately planned out from start to finish. I especially appreciated the way clues, twists, and red herrings are sprinkled throughout the narrative.

The elite school provides a captivating backdrop.

Thoroughly entertaining!

Grab your popcorn and drink of choice and and settle in at your favorite reading spot because you are in for a fun read! This is my first book by Annie Ward, and it was captivating and kept my attention the entire time.
The story is built around a fancy prep school in Colorado and the affluent families who send their children there. There is a lot of lying, drinking, cheating, and hiding going on here. Doesn’t that make for a great story? The lives of three women cross in this elite community, and it gets sticky when two bodies are discovered in the gym.
Who will be blamed? Did they do it? What were they hiding? Just sit down and read this book to find out.

I spent most of my evening absorbed in the story of three women. One cheated in her marriage, one is convinced she is being on, and the other is just well, stalker ish and slightly delusional. Teenagers are involved as well. One character is particularly vile and got everything coming to,that person. I didn’t have any affinity with the main characters, but I liked Asha the best.
The story is twisty and absorbing. Many realizations are made by the women. Find out who is telling the truth and who isn’t in The Lying Club.

Thank you to HTP Books for our gifted ARC of The Lying Club. This book comes out March 22nd.

Rating: 3 star
Genre: Thriller

I read the synopsis and had high hopes for this book. Although I like some parts, this was a miss for me. Too many characters and stories for me in this one.

When picking this book up, get in some comfy clothes,a drank, and some snacks,and tell your friends your all book up because once you start reading this you won't want to stop at all , or you might say ok just a few more pages , but it'll be more then at believe me, I didn't want to stop when I start it. One of the things that made it so much enjoyable was how it was told, in such a way that it had you question everything you thought you knew about the characters and their lives, as well as who was the bodies that where carried out of the school , and was the tension between mothers and daughters just your typical teenage growing pains or was something else going on, there was one character in the book that right from the start I just couldn't stand, it seemed that he was always saying one thing and doing the exact opposite , and playing everyone against each other , the way he played the good guy was sicking , and the way he would talking the mothers into stuff by saying it was the best thing for their daughters just showed what type of person he was, and in the very end he got what was coming to him because he showed his true shelf, to find out who and what happened you have to pick this up and read it for yourself.

What a great domestic thriller! Annie Ward has written a great suspense novel for fans of “Luckiest Girl Alive” and “Gone Girl”

Nothing here was original or really well done. Was an average read. I didn't alwaya enjoy the place of characters, tho the ending was good. And to start I hadn't been sure where it was headed but it worked out well.