📚 Book Review 📚

When three teenager boys find themselves as suspects in a case of a dead girl found nearby, their parents go into action to protect them.

While I wanted to love this one, it wasn’t one of my favorites. I struggled to get excited about the characters and I was confused with flashbacks. I have heard that the ending is different in the published book than in the ARC, so I wonder if that would make an impact.

This is a story of three moms from different backgrounds who became friends in motherhood and live in the same Austin affluent community. The lives of their teen boys gets drastically altered one summer & their bonds are challenged. Loved the layers of character development, the relationship between friends, and mother and sons, and the suspense. How well do we truly know our friends, and what lengths do we/others go to to fit in? A good social commentary on the lengths some go to for a variety of reasons, and accepting of ourselves, and others, are we truly?

A huge thank you to @netgalley and Random House Publishing + Ballantine Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Amanda Eyre Ward's The Lifeguards is a tightly written summer mystery. Telling the tales of three families over one summer, when their three boys are 15 and lifeguards for the local swimming hole. Secrets are revealed behind closed doors and each of the families use the summer to re-evaluate just how far you would go to protect your children, while also saving appearances in the neighborhood.

As a follow up novel to Ward's The Jetsetters (a Reese WItherspoon Book Club pick) this mystery novel is very enjoyable and a easy way to usher your way into the summer months.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for my opportunity to read this novel.

I liked this book! I thought it was intriguing and I truly enjoyed the multiple POVs.

However, the ending felt extremely rushed to me and I would have loved more development. I also felt that there were several plot holes and unanswered questions.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this and would still recommend to those who love a good mystery and family drama! I'm excited to see what Ward does next. :)

I wish I enjoyed this more. I didn’t connect well with the characters, and I didn’t not find myself drawn back to this book. I’m not a big fan of the multiple POVs because I always cared about certain storylines more. I love the cover and title, they really drew me to this book while it was cold and snowy in Chicago.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in return for my honest opinion.

It’s almost summer time in the wealthy suburbs of Austin, Texas and three moms are just trying to survive. One night, the moms are enjoying happy hour when their sons stop to swim after a long day of life guarding and find a dead body. The moms try to do what they think is best for their kids- not exactly in the name of justice. Each mom has their own reasons for trying to keep this quiet.

I love books with several POVs and this one has one of my favorite literary devices- a community message board! This was such a fun summer read. Family and neighborhood dramas are one of my favorite genres.

Thank you so much to @penguinrandomhouse and @amandaeyreward. The Lifeguards is out now!

I actually quite liked The Jetsetters by Ward, so was excited to read The Lifeguards.
The Lifeguards are Xavier, Charlie, and Bobcat who find a woman dead in Austin. But the story really revolves around their self-centered mothers and their affluent neighborhood. I did like the multiple POVs, but felt very unfulfilled by the ending. There were just too many unanswered story lines.

I am starting to think that reading books from more than two points of view is not for me. Was The Lifeguards an interesting story? Kind of. There was a lot going on and it was hard to keep details straight amongst all the characters. The story itself also jumped around a lot without rhyme or reason or flow. Because of this, the overall story of all the characters was hard to follow and understand.

I did enjoy the snippets of conversation from the Barton Hills Mamas. It felt like one of the only things I connected with within the book.

As I read, I was thinking that The Lifeguards was like Big Little Lies, but I think The Lifeguards did not live up to that vibe.

This was a rather slow-moving book but it managed to keep my interest with it's characters and story. With how slow most of the book was, the ending seemed rushed. I would have liked to see more of what actually happened at the end. The addition of an epilogue a year later was appreciated but that too could have been fleshed out a bit more. Overall, though, this was an enjoyable mystery.

I enjoyed this one more than Ward’s last book, “Jetsetters”. The mystery element really kept me interested, but I thought there was a bit too much going on with some of the characters’ backstory and kind of left me struggling to distinguish all those characters. This one follows the lives of women who are friends and the difficulties and drama associated with the raising of their children and a dead body that is discovered. This book keeps your interest, but it’s not one that will stand out tremendously. It’s a solid book that I will rate at 3.5 stars ⭐️. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, but ultimately it failed to really grab me. It was a bit slow moving and I didn't end up connecting with any of the characters. It kept my attention and was an OK read, just not terribly memorable.

When it comes to best rich friends and family, who do you protect with all you got? The rich friends or the family? This story centers around 3 teenage boys who lifeguard. It is also about their rich Mom's who enjoy shopping, and drinking margarita's. When a young women is found dead of an overdose where the boys hang out the story gets interesting. It explores the life of the rich and what they can and will do to protect themselves. One of the lifeguards has a twin sister. She is a frightening psychopath who scares her brother and her mother. As a detective gets closer to solving the case the moms and boys realize who their real friends are. I like the way Amanda Eyre Ward writes and how she can get you very involved with the characters. Would definitely recommend this book with a little twist at the end. Thanks to #ballentinebooks, #netgalley and @amandaeyreward for an ARC of this book.

This book reminds me of "Little Fires Everywhere. or "Big Little Lies". Where you are examining the ties between families and friends, where you are asking how well do you really know someone and what is really happening behind closed doors. In each chapter, something new is revealed and it makes you want to keep reading. I was really invested in this book....


HOWEVER (Spoiler alert), what happened at the ending. No really, what happened? I feel like we are missing an entire chapter. They go from being in a bunker to talking to the police. How did they get out?! Did the other boys save them or did Whitney back down? It's so disappointing when you are really enjoying the book, and it feels like a major plot point is missing.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly, this book just didn’t meet my expectations. According to the book previews, it is a riveting suspense but I got more of a women’s fiction vibe. I felt that there were some issues throughout the book and it needed to be completely reworked. In the beginning, a girl is narrating her point of view of these lifeguards who she is attracted to. I was intrigued by the impending doom, and wanted to learn more about this group. Then it was as if the author decided to go a different route and switched to the lifeguards’ mothers’ point of view. The suspense and mystery disappeared and I was confused by the point of it all. It felt like the author spent the majority of the book focused on the mothers instead of the lifeguards. By the time she reached the end of the book, it felt like there were a lot of unresolved issues and I was extremely unsatisfied.

This book about three moms of teenage boys in Austin, Texas who end up in the middle of a murder investigation had an interesting plot line but the relationships didn't work for me. The friendships between the moms seemed unrealistic and I also didn't like any of them. Pretty much every character in the book either felt flat to me or felt like a stereotype. But if you can look past the characters and focus on the murder, this is a quick read.

In a luxurious Austin, TX neighborhood, a group of three women have formed a friendship around their sons, now teenagers. Their neighborhood is filled with greenbelts, open space, and pools, including the one where their sons are lifeguards. Whitney, Annette, and Liza come from different backgrounds, but feel like their friendship is as strong as ever. They are enjoying a happy hour one evening when the boys come home, saying they found a body on the greenbelt. The discovery will change everything.

"But our friendship was unbreakable, as safe as the neighborhood where we'd raised our sweet little kids. Or so we thought. By the end of the summer, one of us would be gone."

LIFEGUARDS is told from the perspective of the three women, along with, Joe, the local detective charged with investigating the body. It's certainly the kind of story that keeps you reading. It's part mystery, part family drama. Still, I confess that it's hard to truly engage in a story revolving around rich women (and their husbands) trying to protect their spoiled, rich children. I liked Charlie (Liza's son) and Joe, though.

This is an interesting story, if not a particularly original one. It will keep your attention, but probably won't stick with you long.

I couldn’t get into this one… I DNFd after a few chapters. I personally have a hard time reading romances with characters 40+ and not in the same stage of life as me as a 25 year old. This may change when I’m 40. Lol

Based on the description I really thought this was going to be right up my alley. I saw some family dynamics, some Stepford Wives mixed with a little mystery. However, this book had a slow build and moved with an agonizing pace. I found myself getting bored while reading and wondering when we were going to get to the good stuff.

In reality, I did not finish it because I couldn’t keep my focus long enough to make through all 300-something pages. I struggled to tell if the author was focusing on the mystery or on the three mothers lives. It felt as though the storyline was being pulled in two directions making neither one particularly good.

A suspenseful domestic thriller that tests the bonds of motherhood and female friendship in this new book featuring the interconnected lives of three women who have grown close raising their boys in a Texas suburb.

When the boys come back one night claiming to have found a dead body, the moms decided to keep it quiet. The dark secrets of that night come back to haunt each family in different ways as the authorities come closer to discovering what actually happened.

Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, The good son by Jacquelyn Mitchard or The neighbor's secret by L. Alison Heller. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy.

This book. I started off thinking I was reading one thing and ended up reading another and I loved it all.