Member Reviews
It's senior year and the girls are looking forward to graduating when a fire that destroys Brie's house leaves one of the girls dead.
Told through alternating voices of Brie, Rain and Syd the circumstances leading up to fire are revealed. Each girl faces the heartache, drama and pitfalls of navigating high school life.
A tense, twisty story of jealousy, obsession, friendship and first love.
"Best friends Syd, Rain, and Brie grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in the stifling California desert, desperately wishing for a way out. This is a super fast read about three best friends growing up and apart, their toxic relationship, and a fire that destroys it all.
Told from the perspective of all three girls, Sydney, Brie, and Rain, with alternating timelines in the lead-up to the fire, you can't help but keep reading to find out how this comes to be.
I enjoyed the plot even though I thought the ending was a bit obvious. The plot needed to be good because none of the characters were very likable. Sydney was the most likeable of the bunch and I was happy that she was able to start over and that while Brie was still out there she wasn't getting away with the crime. I think the description saying ""One will do it by dying, another by lying, and a third by taking the fall"" is a bit misleading. This is good for people who like YA mysteries like Pretty Little Liars.
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Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!
Loved this! Full of unexpected twists and turns, with a cast of characters that jump right out of the page. I couldn't stop reading.
All the Best Liars is a fast-paced, twist YA thriller/coming of age story about an intoxicating friendship and the price they make you pay. The author explores friendship and the issues money can bring. Alternating between past and present day, we meet best friends Syd, Rain, and Brie. A deadly fire set two weeks before the end of school will change everything. What happens when the lies get to be too much? Highly recommended to readers who enjoy YA thrillers involving toxic friendships.
This is a pretty standard YA contemporary-mystery. My favorite part is that is felt so distinctly West Coast. It reminded me so much of my own adolescences on the West Coast (but you know, less drama). Perfect vibes. My least favorite part was the characters. I didn't like a single one of them. They are all miserable and awful people in their own ways, but also do fee l pretty true to how teenagers act.
The story itself was just average. The twist was pretty good, but I would have preferred a little more explanation at the end. It definitely wrapped up too quickly and felt a little unsatisfying.
The premise of this book is what brought me to request it, however I just couldn't get into it. I'm not sure if it was the writing style or the characters, but right from the prologue I was just "eh" about this one. I might give it another go, but I doubt my opinion will change.
I rarely read YA thrillers but this got me with this 👇🏻
Best friends Syd, Rain, and Brie grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in the stifling California desert, desperately wishing for a way out.
In the end, each of them will escape—but not in the way they expect. One will do it by dying, another by lying, a third by taking the fall. A deadly fire is set two weeks before the end of their senior year of high school and nothing will ever be the same.
What specifically got me was the dying, lying and taking a fall part, SOLD! So I liked this one ok but didn’t love it, and I know I’m not the target audience here but I think even my younger self would’ve had some issues here. First it was a super slow burn, like very slow buildup and as much as I keep trying to have patience with these types of thrillers it just ends up annoying me, like get to the point already. But on the other hand I thought the writing was strong and the characters were well developed, as much as I can’t relate to a group of teenaged girls I felt like actual teenagers definitely would. There was also something mesmerizing about the atmosphere of this one as it’s set in a dry and super hot California desert town and the author had a lot to say about class and money issues. As far as plot goes this was decent for me, I did guess what would happen before but it was clever in its own right, just not very surprising for me. The ending is where it really lost me, I’m not a fan of open ended, leave things wide open things so I didn’t love that aspect. Overall this may work better for you if enjoy slow burns that you can really sink your teeth into. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks @flatiron_books for my copy.
The premise of this book included some of my favorite tropes (best friends and murder), but I couldn't just get into the writing. I suppose I'm pretty picky about falling into stories and when my attention gets snagged by a (to me) belabored-seeming sentence or two, and that issue certainly came into play here. I think plenty of others will love this, so I'll certainly carry it where I work, but it didn't do it for me.
Three girls, friends from elementary school, grow up on the wrong side of the tracks. One girl's father becomes a successful businessman and moves his daughter to an upperclass neighborhood. One girls's mother wins the lottery and moves with her daughter to an upperclass neighborhood. Both girls have trouble adjusting to their newfound wealth, their relationship to each other, and to the third girl who they left behind. Brie, who is left behind tries to make sense of it all when one dies and is the only one who remains true to herself. Lots of high school drama, implied drug use, and the prejudice associated with class differences. A good read for high school students. I read this as an ARC, and was not pressured to write a positive review.
Actual rating 2.5. This started off intriguing, but the characters ruined it for me. They were too toxic whether they were alone or together. Sydney was more tolerable than Rain and Brie, so I liked her character the best; I definitely could connect to her. As for the good, I didn't see the twist towards the end which was nice. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.
YES!!! Yes. I loved this book. An absolutely perfect psychological thriller for teens....and honestly, adults too. The intensity of adolescence is what makes this story work on so many levels!!! I devoured this and was reading a page wherever I had a minute to spare. Awesome story, twisted characters, good twists. Read it!