The cover of the book says "Three Women, Two Bodies and One Big Lie" - although this is true...a fourth woman is involved and numerous other characters who had motive to commit the crime!!! Great suspense book!! This is the first book I've read by Annie Ward and look forward to more.

This past week I have just felt so flat when it has come to my reading, after managing to read 9 books in the first 10 days of the year - I was excited that I was on a bit of a roll, and then out of nowhere - I felt myself in a bit of a slump as the next handful of books I tried since Monday were DNFs- I couldn't get into anything as nothing was grabbing me. Often when this happens, I find myself needing something gritty like a mystery. The Lying Club has been one I have been wanting to read as it sounded right up my alley. This book once finished it reminded me heavily of the story Big Little Lies as it seemed a conspiracy, an all-for-one pact around the murder of an individual. The book starts the day of the murder and Natalie wakes up in her school carpark. She goes to the gym and sees a dead crumpled body. The book then flashes back and leads up to this moment. During the flashbacks we meet the other main players of the book - Asha who sells Real Estate, is pregnant and thinks her husband is cheating on her and has two children Oliver and Mia, Brooke - she thinks she is all that and is currently separated from her husband Gabe and has a daughter Sloane, Brooke is also a bit of a cougar and likes everything to be hers, Nick Maguire who is the school's hottie Coach for Soccer in which Sloane and Mia play and last but not least Natalie who is the School's Admin lady. In The Lying Club we have Sloane and Mia who are top soccer athletes and whose parents have paid for them to have private lessons with Nick but when scandals and moodiness start to happen, has Nick been doing more than teach Soccer? Natalie is young and pretty and has a Klepto problem but has she finally found a HEA with Nick or was he using her like everyone else? Asha is pregnant and feeling like her family is distancing themselves away from her, can Asha save her family before it's too late? Brooke is all too consumed with appearances, can she put her opinions aside before her daughter is marked with scandal and peer pressure? Nick has everyone eating out of the palm of his hands but what will happen when his dark secrets start to bleed into his facade as the great and caring Coach Nick Maguire? The Lying Club is perfect for those edgy psychological thriller readers as The Lying Club has got something for everyone from drugs, lies, secrets, cheating, and sexting pictures.

From the perch behind her desk Natalie watches them flounce in and out of the school with their perfectly dressed bodies, fancy jewels, and ability to catch the eye of every around them, and she wishes she had just a taste of what they have. She is envious of the lives they get to live and don't fully appreciate. The wounds of a miserable childhood ever present in her mind, constantly taunting her of the life she aches for and doesn't have the courage to go after. It makes sense that she'd be a suspect...

Brooke, the drop dead gorgeous heiress who always dresses to impress and manages to steal the spotlight every time she enters the room. From outward appearances one would assume her charmed life is perfect, but it's anything but. It's riddled with lies, marital affairs, and plots to take everyone down who dares to compete with her perfect children. It makes sense that she'd be a suspect...

Then there's Asha, the overbearing and over protective mother who is always hanging around the school trying to catch the attention of a certain handsome assistant athletic director. She is like a bulldog when it comes to her children, and making sure they get the best of everything shifted their way... even if it means playing dirty on her part. It makes sense that she'd be a suspect...

One elite private school in Colorado joins all these women together, and also wrecks their lives in ways they never imagined. When two bodies are carried out of the school and they top the long list of suspects you have to wonder what has been going on behind the walls of that school and just how deep are these women involved? It's anyone's guess as to whom carried out the crime and why?

The Lying Club is an enthralling domestic thriller that kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. Once my eyes found the words and I met this intriguing cast of characters I couldn't pry them away. I just HAD to know who was to blame! This action-packed page-turner had me second guessing myself every step of the way, just as I would start to settle on a suspect, another would appear. It was the perfect who done it!! Highly recommend!

I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Harlequin Trade Publishing and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Thrilling read set in an elite Colorado private school. A fast paced read with non-stop adventure.

This was a pretty weird book. It's one of those books where you can't trust anyone and it goes back and forth in time.

Natalie works at a private school in Colorado full of rich kids. She deals with the parents who are constantly coming in. She moved there to help her brother after an accident. In the beginning of the book, she wakes up, finds a dead body at the school, and wonders what she did.

Brooke and Asha are moms to two young soccer stars. Brooke's husband recently left and her daughter is dating an older boy that she doesn't approve of. Asha thinks her husband might be cheating on her. Her daughter has been acting odd lately and fighting with her friends. The daughters, Mia and Sloane are both competing in soccer and want to play in college. Their coach, Nick, does private lessons and talks to the moms about the things they need to do. He encourages injections to help with minor injuries. Asha and her husband argue about this, but Asha wants what's best for Sloane. Mia has already been taking the lessons. Both girls decide they want to go to UCLA which makes the moms angry with each other since it's likely only one girl will get in. Asha sells houses and thinks that someone has been in her open houses when no one is there. Brooke has a huge crush on Nick. Things just get really weird with all of them. There is a lot of drama and it's hard to really like anyone in the book. But it was fun to read and try to figure out what happened and who the body actually was. All of the people in this book have secrets and lie constantly. Some are insecure and most use their money and power to get what they want. Their friendships aren't really real and anyone will backstab the other.

I gave this book 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc.

I do love a good domestic thriller! That being said, I can't recall the last time I've enjoyed one this much. (Probably Liane Moriarty's early books.) This book does not disappoint. Finished it over the weekend because I could not put it down.

Beautiful setting ✔
Different families with secrets ✔
Plot twists that keep coming ✔

I will definitely be reading more from Annie Ward.

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in return for my honest review.

You know with a title like this one it is going to be a crazy read! Definitely was and I am so glad I was able to read it. The characters were out of this world and oh my goodness such a thrill. Must read!

Natalie is an office assistant at an affluent private school located in the Colorado mountains. Natalie can’t help but to be jealous of the soccer moms that she interacts with every day. Brooke and Asha are two examples of this who seem to both have eyes for the assistant athletic director, Nicholas. When a body is discovered at the school, this perfect community starts to show some cracks and things might just fall apart.

Annie Ward brings a new spin on a familiar theme. Nothing like a dead body to shake up an affluent suburban community that seemed perfect on the surface. Plenty of dysfunction, lies and deceit can be found here. The author did a nice job with the twists and turns as well.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Park Row Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

Well, this was a fun one!

I knew I had to read this one because I really liked Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward and The Lying Club was a solid read for me. I liked the Colorado elite school setting and the drama. I did not enjoy the unlikeable characters here. They can go either way for me. I either love them or hate them but barely ever anything in between. Unfortunately here, it was hate. However, I did like the twists and turns here. If you're a fan of the amnesia trope, unlikable characters and an unreliable narrator, this one is probably for you!

Overall the 3 from me.

The Lying Club by Annie Ward is a first time for this reader. At first know what to expect but found this story quite interesting and enjoyable. The story’s location is at a school in Colorado where the female students are giving every opportunity provided by their mothers to get them into excellent colleges…pretty much very competitive from my reading. It follows the lives of Asha and Brooke and their daughters. It also includes an office assistance named Natalie.

Are the characters likeable…at times they are and at times they are not. Competition and scandal bring out the personalities of the characters and what they would do to get one up on another and defend the ones they love. It is a slow build read that sometimes had me puzzled. The characters from my perspective are dysfunctional and somewhat flawed that I couldn’t piece their development into the plot at times. If you like twists, turns, lies, deceit and backstabbing, this may be a story for you but not quite what I was expecting.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing (Park Row) for this ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review. All opinions are my own. (note: 2.5 rounded to 3 Stars)

Do you ever read books that you love because the characters are SO unlikeable that you love it? That's what the Lying club was for me. I really enjoyed reading this book and I had a hard time putting it down. Would definitely recommend for thriller lovers!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for. Allowing me to read an ARC of The Lying Club by Annie Ward!!

This book takes place at an elite school in Colorado where parents will do anything to make sure that their daughters are getting ahead in life. The story starts off with Natalie, who is an office assistant, not remembering her night and a janitor at the school discovering two dead bodies at the school.

If you love twists and turns, unlikable characters and unreliable narrators than this is the book for you. It took me awhile to get into this book but once it got going it really took off.

*thank you to @netgalley, Annie Ward & @parkrowbooks for the e-arc of this book for an honest review*

Triggers: pedophilia, substance abuse (two biggies in the book)

Rich families, an elite school up in the mountains of Colorado, deep secrets & two bodies…. 🥴

THIS BOOK took me far too long to read and that was MY fault. I blew through the last 70% of it (the holidays had me exhausted). I love the writing style of Annie Ward & it gave me MAJOR ‘Big Little Lies’ vibes. I kind of figured it out, who the bad person was in all of this, early on but it was still a great book!! There were other secrets that came out and I didn’t see em coming!

☃️Natalie is an assistant at the front desk of a very elite school, she’s always wishing she could live a life that these powerful moms do.
Brooke- the cheater.
Asha- is suspicious of her husband and thinks he’s having an affair… but with who?

All three women have one thing in common- Nick. The assistant athletic director. Natalie loves him, Brooke wants him and Asha needs him.

The day two bodies are carried out of the school, everything changes… secrets are revealed & they are SHOCK👏🏼ING!

Be careful who you put your trust in 🥴

Unlikeable characters make or break a story for me. For this particular story, it made it. I enjoyed the story, centered around female students in a competitive school, whose mothers will do whatever it takes to get them into a good college. Enter Coach Nick, with his promises of elite college contacts and physical therapy and training that the best money could buy. However, my red flags were waving around because something about him seemed instantly off. He seemed sleazy, someone who flirted with the mothers, got too close to their daughters, yet as the story developed, I felt conflicted. My assumptions hadn’t come to the surface and I began to wonder if maybe I had him all wrong. An obvious unlikeable character from the get go is one thing, but an unreliable potentially unlikeable character is a completely different animal and one that added depth and continued mystery to the plot!

The Lying Club - Annie Ward
Natalie has stepped up to accept her sisterly duties and moved to Colorado to help her injured brother. She finds herself a job as an office assistant at a private school and as she takes in her surroundings and the people, Natalie begins to dream of having an easy life just like many of the wealthy mothers.
Asha and Brooke are two women who would be very unlikely to have anything in common with Natalie, however, Natalie finds herself as an ear for Asha to vent her marital concerns and finds herself and Brooke to have eyes for the same handsome athletic director, Nicholas.
When two bodies are removed from the gymnasium, Natalie becomes an instant person of interest, and the discovery of her journal, stolen drugs, a random tie adds to her looking guilty, and worst of all, Natalie can't remember what happened when she went into the gym that night. As Natalie struggles to put the pieces of that night together, she is unsure of who she can trust and what Asha and Brooke's role was. As truth comes to light, Natalie knows what to do to ensure the right people pay for what they did.
This was just wow. From beginning to end, I loved this book. The three points of view were well told and easily distinguishable. Natalie's downward spiral gave me the feeling of watching a trainwreck, but her growth was also remarkable. This book told more than the story of how the two bodies in gymnasium got there. It shed light on the twisted relationships between friends and spouses and how you really never know what's happening behind closed doors.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I didn't know what to expect with this read but honestly I REALLY enjoyed it!

With just the right amount of twists and turns and unreliable characters everywhere, I didn't predict what was happening until the absolute last second. This book has one of those endings that is actually satisfying.

Without wanting to spoil anything here, I would highly recommend this to any mystery and thriller lover.

The Lying Club by Annie Ward starts off well, with a story about the elites in a small Colorado town. The setting is in an elite school and the story follows the lives of Brooke, Asha, their daughters Sloane and Mia, and a clerical worker in the school, Natalie. All of these characters are woven together with the coach at the school, an aging womanizer. If you enjoy themes of infidelity, the haves and have not, and women jumping for joy at a man's attention, this book is for you. Otherwise, it gets old quickly. Did not enjoy this one.

Such a good book about how the mothers of students in a high end prep school mix with the secretary. The secrets they hold between each other makes for a wonderful story.

This book is centered around a private school, scandal, and SO many lies. It begins with a death and chronicles the multiple stories that lead up to it.

A story of backstabbing, lies, and defending your loved ones to get them the future they deserve.
2 moms competing for the best life for their family, 2 daughters trying their best, a secretary with a secret, and an assistant athletic director that everyone has eyes for 😏

I could NOT put this book down until I found out who was dead and what led to it.

Thank you to @netgalley for the early release of this thrilling, captivating, and impossible to put down novel

Bring out chilled Chardonnays, popcorn, pecans, potato chips, whatever suits for you! Don’t make plans and leave open your weekend night to have quality time with this wild ride!

Even though the book seems a little longer, it never gets bumpy or loses its direction! The opening is promising. The slow burn mystery keeps you guessing about the identity of victim and the culprit! Three heroines are flawed, dealing with their own insecurities but they were not one dimensionally portrayed that helps you to resonate with them easily.

This opens at the crime scene at elite school’s gym located on Colorado Mountains where Natalie: 25 years old office assistant, was high and dry, finding someone lying in blood pool and then we see how her testimony goes on! It seems like she’s the person of interest! What the hell happened in the school!

Natalie: an artist,moving to Colorado for taking care of her brother who recently had an accident, extending her stay by getting recruited by elite school, working on her art and selling it on Etsy, trying to form a lifestyle but still suffering from abandonment issues ( thanks to her useless father), hoping to heal herself with edibles.

Her faith crosses with two mothers of the school. Their common interest is gym teacher Nicholas. At age 45, charming, sexy, getting along with all those trophy wives. She actually has a huge crush on him!

Asha raises her two children, lately having troubles with her husband Phill who lies about his whereabouts, probably having a secret affair. And now she’s pregnant again when her relationship is on the rocks. Nicholas seems like great mentor and coach her daughter who can help her get approval any college she’s dreamed of!

And Brooke might be the bitchiest and less likable one: interestingly I got invested in her more than the others. Yes, she’s cutthroat bitch! She says her way or highway all the time. She’s cheater! She’s liar! But she does her best to take care of her daughter Sloane who turns into small version of herself- mean girl who always does anything she wants to win the game! She already lost her husband to his half age trainer girlfriend. Everything seems falling apart. Even Nicholas she likes to flirt dating with that skinny, pale faced assistant Natalie. She’s middle aged, slowly losing her charm and control of her life.

Brooke and Ash already declared war because their daughters are both talented soccer player and they both aimed the same college. Poor Nick stays in the middle of the chaos, trying to help both of the girls.

But things aren’t as it seems. Mia and Sloane’s rivalry is not based on their college choices. There’s something deeper going on.

The mystery of the book was building so slowly but I enjoyed to read the characters’ dilemmas, their cat fights, misdemeanors, revenge plans, hypocrisies. So I didn’t care to reach to the end of it faster.

It was absolutely entertaining, smart, unique, fun read! Highly recommended for book clubs!
I’m looking forward to read more works of the author! This was great!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.