With the setting of a private school, the book was slow to start with a large number of unlikable characters. The parents were willing to do anything to further the academic lives of their kids. Some of them went into hyperbole. The secrets and lies that the author revealed at timely intervals made me stick with the book. I loved how the writing managed to redeem itself and give me a proper thriller. A fun read.

I enjoyed the book. There were moments where I was looking at my phone with wide eyes as I read certain parts. The characters are no where near perfect, but that makes them real. I have enjoyed both of Annie Ward's books so far and I am interested in seeing what she comes out with next.

This is a great thriller that kept me guessing. The story takes place in an upper class neighborhood in Colorado and centers on three families at an elite high school. Brooke, Asha, and Natalie want what's best for their children, and this story explores how far people are willing to go to get what they want.
I did have part of the story figured out early on, but that didn't make the twists along the way to an explosive ending any less engaging!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Lying Club by Annie Ward.

Holy cow! Talk about a spider's web of intrigue! This book hooks you immediately, and keeps you guessing all the way to the end.

Natalie is a young administrative assistant at a private school in Colorado. From afar she pines over the beautiful and glamourous lives of the moms of the school. But all of the glitter fades after walking into a crime scene at the school. Not only that, but now she finds herself as a suspect of the crime...

The way this book works is that you're immediately smacked in the face with a great hook, and then on the edge of your seat the entire rest of the way. I loved all of the different women, including the teen students. I loved their unique stories, personalities and struggles. I thought the story came together very well and was thoughtfully pieced together.

👠 BOOK / REVIEW 👠

So, I am struggling a bit with my review of #thelyingclub. I listened to this on #audiobook thanks to @hoopladigital and while it kept my interest, this one wasn't a showstopper for me unfortunately. Lots of privileged white families and children getting away with everything because of money. A creepy athletic coach who essentially slept or intended to sleep with all of the females in this book. And lots of disjointed characters or storylines that werent needed to make or break the plot.

It was definitely fast paced and required no effort to dive right in, but this one is landing at a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 for me.

This book was amazing! I was hooked from the first page and I couldn’t put it down! I loved how everyone’s stories intertwined and how the ending was a shock! I love it! I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Not what I was expecting…

This was a slow burn, which isn’t my favorite. The premise is a fun soapy dramatic one. There is a lot going on in this story, perhaps to a fault. If it had a bit less drama and side plots/characters I think it would have been a tighter more comprehensive story.

I was entertained though and did want to see how this would wrap up (much darker then I thought when I requested it). I would try more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Harlequin Trade Publishing for a copy in exchange for a review.

This was a suspenseful book and kept you guessing throughout. It had strong and damaged characters that played out well together.

3.5 rounded up to 4
The lying club is a about the parents, students, and staff an an elite school.

Natalie, the office assistant who starts dating Nick, the couch to Asha and and Brooke's daughter.
Everyone adores Nick, he seems like the perfect man, coach, and mentor, but is he everything everyone thinks? As all 4 of their lives start to get more intertwined everyone's secrets start coming out.

This book was a slow thriller, I found it to be very slow the first half and a little bit confusing.
It did pick up a lot more the second half.
Overall I think anyone who enjoys a slower pace thriller will enjoy this thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley, Annie Ward, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

This mystery follows the lives of three mothers and their teenage children in an affluent community. This book is not just about money and privilege, it’s full of lies, secrets, scenarios and twists that keep you guessing.

** I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

I always love stories that take place in private schools (I've taught in them for over 30 years!). And I really liked the character development in this story, especially of Natalie, the protagonist. I felt like tension was building and building throughout the story (which is told out of chronological order) as you came to know the backstory behind the events that start the novel, and I could not put it down. My only disappointment was that I felt that the tension built and built and then the ending wrapped up rather quickly. I don't know what I was expecting, but it felt "quick" to me after all the build up to the "accident". However, I think it would make an awesome movie!

If you like this genre, then I think you'll love this one! Thank you for my copy and for making me part of the tour!

The Lying Club ended up being a pleasant surprise for me. It has twists and red herrings galore, so I was definitely kept on my toes. The story is told through multiple perspectives. None of the characters were particularly likable, but I found that made the book much better. All of them have secrets that eventually come out. There are also a lot of misconceptions about each of them by those around them. Trying to figure out what was the truth was part of the fun of the book. I won't talk plot because I don't' want to spoil things. Instead, I will just highly recommend this thriller. It was a good story.

This book took me by surprise. At first I thought it was another group of entitled women and their bratty kids getting their way and ignoring the rules but there is much more to this story than meets the eye. It starts out immediately with the discovery of a body and a very confused witness? Killer? The story unravels quickly as the author continues to feed you little bits of information through multiple narrators and a police interview.
Well done! Reminiscent of Big Little Lies—lies, thrills, deception and secrets galore!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
#TheLyingClub #AnnieWard #NetGalley

Book: The Lying Club
Author: Annie Ward
Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing
Pub Date: March 22, 2022

I was over half way through this book and still had no clue what was going on. I hadn’t really read the synopsis so I had no idea what would happen or who was going to be hurt. I had a lot of questions that weren’t ever answered. For instance why did Asha never question Natalie about being at all the open houses? And there were so many parts that didn’t make sense like when they were shooting guns. At times I liked the book but then by the end I just wanted it to be over. The ending was way too neat.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is March 22, 2022

#TheLyingClub

This book was a great mystery/thriller, whodunnit type of read. It definitely gave me Big Little Lies vibes and it was fun figuring out how all of the pieces of the story fit together! I wasn’t expecting a lot of the twists! And was pleasantly surprised with how the story wrapped! Would recommend to any thriller lovers!

This mystery centers around three main characters, Natalie, Asha, and Brooke. Each have different lives which intersect with their kids, or students, at a private school set in the mountains of Colorado. I have seen other reviews describing this book as a "slow burn mystery" and I completely agree. It took awhile for me to get into the story and like the characters. At first, I really struggled to relate to the characters and, even in the end, I'm not sure I really liked them. That being said, once the story took off, I was enthralled and couldn't quit reading. The ending was not what I expected, which I liked because it wasn't too predictable. Overall, a recommended read for fans of Little Fires Everywhere or Big Little Lies.

Thank you to NetGalley, Annie Ward, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was gripped by the plot line early on. Lots of unexpected twists and turns that were fascinating. I really enjoyed this novel.

It serves as a cautionary tail for parents.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Chilling, shocking and so addictive readers will end up losing sleep, Annie Ward’s The Lying Club is a must-read for Liane Moriarty fans.

Natalie works as an office assistant at an elite school high up in the Colorado mountains and spends her days yearning to be like the school moms she deals with every day. Natalie would love nothing more than to escape her mundane and humdrum existence and become like beautiful heiress Brooke or overprotective Asha. However, little does Natalie realize that beneath their sophisticated exterior, Brooke and Asha have dark and dangerous secrets of their own.

Brooke is a woman with a problem with fidelity whereas Asha is convinced that her husband is having an affair. These two moms seem to inhabit a completely different world from Natalie, however, they are all bound by one man: Nicholas, the assistant athletic director at the school. Natalie is head over heels in love with him. Brooke is desperate to have him and Asha needs him. But is Nicholas all that he seems?

When two bodies are carried out of the school one morning, tensions begin to run high and long-buried secrets threaten to come rushing to the fore. Some people in this exclusive town have got a lot to lose and with the stakes having never been higher, what will they do to keep the truth from getting out. Would they commit murder? One thing’s for certain: in the Colorado mountains, nothing stays hidden for long…

Annie Ward knocks it out of the park and keeps her readers on tenterhooks with her latest novel, The Lying Club. Twisted, juicy and terrifying, The Lying Club is a highly charged tale of lust, vengeance and deception that will keep readers guessing till the very end. Annie Ward grabs her readers from the very beginning and keeps them riveted and on the edge of their seats until the final devastating twist.

Superbly plotted and brilliantly written, Annie Ward’s The Lying Club is a top-notch thriller readers will devour in one sitting.

I have such mixed feelings with this book. I love reading about rich people, but these characters were way too entitled. The parents and children were all bratty and annoyed me so much. The pacing was also off - I didn’t mind the author’s writing though! I might be in the minority but I just thought this was an okay thriller.

432 pages of slow burn, domestic, private school, rich folk thrills. Turns out The Lying Club isn't even a real club. 🙄😄 The beginning of this story drew me in straight away and I was IN it once I saw the direction it was going. All those red herrings were fished, fried and eaten! Teens being teens with access to all kinds of shit. Parents parenting, or not. Affairs, gas lighting, fancy dinner party - you name it, it's likely happening in this town where everyone is screwed up in some kind of manner.

I do think this could've been shortened a bit. Once I figured out the main gist, I was happy to see how it unfolded but.... I did go a bit foggy eyed towards the end. I have so many things to say but can't as I don't want to spoil this for you. I did find the ending a bit of a bow tie but I wasn't hating on it - sometimes you're happy with the gift you're given. And sometimes people really do get what they deserve.

Definitely had Big Little Lies vibes so if this is your jam and jelly then grab a biscuit and get to spreading.