Sometimes you read an article in newspaper or see a story on evening news and think: “ what if this person used their intellect for something good instead of having done what they did”. Meg is going to make you ask that question first and then going to blow your mind.

Meg was a con artist and she never considered herself something else. She targeted men who could wholeheartedly trust her and see her for who she was. Her goal was never to get rich; her goal was to be Wonder Woman. The only problem was there was another woman waiting for her to resurface within California state lines because Meg’s one miscalculation resulted in biggest trauma of this other woman’s life.

I finished this book in one sitting. With its short chapters and flowing language, it’s pretty easy to get sucked into these women’s lives and see the method to their madness. If you like girl power stories with good twists and turns, you should definitely pick this up.

"The difference between justice and revenge comes down to who's telling the story." This is proven as the plot unfolds in The Lies I Tell. "A good story can be suductive." This story seductively pulls you in as the tension rises and the line between right and wrong is blurred. Meg, the protagonist, reminded me of a cross between Dexter and Gloria Steinem. Is she heartless or selfless? Undoubtedly, she is one of the most complex and interesting characters I have read. The story is entertaining, compelling and unpredictable. The original plot left me captivated and obsessed with knowing where each twist would lead. This is the epitome of a page turner! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for my ARC.

4.5 stars
Talk about holding a grudge – and this book has two of them! Kat Roberts has been waiting 10 years to expose Meg Williams for the con artist she is. Meg has been waiting even longer to ruin Ron Ashton’s reputation and life.

This story alternates between Kat’s and Meg’s perspectives in basically two time periods – the present day, which is 22 weeks before the senate election, and ten years prior, when Meg pulled her first con and Kat was helping the lead reporter with the story. Ten years prior, Meg was working at the YMCA and living in her car. Her goal was to go on enough dates to get several meals each week with leftovers. It was a way to survive. She didn’t set out to be a con.

One day as she’s scrolling through her dating app, she discovers the profile for one of her high school teachers, Cory Dempsey, who is now the principal of the same school. It’s then that she realizes this could be an opportunity because she knows he has an “affection” for young girls, particularly a girl who always defended Meg in high school, claiming “girl code” when no one else liked her. Meg sets up a no-show blind date so she can “accidently” meet Cory and bond over her own no-show blind date. When he doesn’t recognize her, she realizes that this is more than just an opportunity to blackmail him over his past.

Even though she knows that there will have to be a sexual element to their relationship, Meg decides that she can easily manipulate her way out of her car at least a few nights a week. Over the course of several months, she manipulates her way into a lot more, but when she discovers that Cory still has an affection for young girls, she decides that it’s time for revenge. This is when she sets out to be a con.

I don’t want to give anymore away because there was one part when I told my daughter, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I didn’t see that sooner!” And I was totally wrong. And I didn’t see the ending coming. I couldn’t decide at first whether I liked the ending or not, but I was definitely satisfied with the ending. But I can’t say anything more!

The only reason I dropped this half a star is because when it comes time for Meg to con Ron Ashton, we are supposed to believe that he didn’t recognize her. Granted, he lived with her and her mother probably 15 years before, but I find it hard to believe that you wouldn’t know someone you lived with and completely screwed over…or at least remember the name and make the connection. That was a pretty big leap.

This was my first Julie Clark book. It won’t be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Julie Clark for an advanced copy of The Lies I Tell in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed that this book was written from two different points of view but also across alternating timelines. I found Kat and Meg to be very interesting characters but didn't 100% trust either one of them.

I ultimately didn't end up loving the "why" of the plot, though I did find the end resolution to be pretty satisfying. I also had kind of a hard time with Kat and Meg's relationship for one reason (but I won't spoil it).

At the end of the day I love Julie Clark's writing and I will absolutely pick up her next read without hesitation!

The Lies I Tell will be on bookshelves June 21.

I love a girl story where the girl decides her own destiny. Where she makes her own path despite everything against her.

This novel by the author of The Last Flight - very entertaining - follows two main characters. Meg a con artist who goes by many names, and Kat, a want-to-be journalist, who wants revenge against Meg for a phone tip 10 years earlier that resulted in an assault that transformed Kat’s life in a devastating way.

Meg is the character we’re not supposed to like, but this anti-heroine rocked. She is devious, cunning, and smart. We learn her motivations for conning a long list of men are not what they seem.

Kat gets her chance to expose Meg - who is now a luxury real estate agent - for the swindler she is by conning her right back. She gets close to Meg by becoming her assistant and the two start a keep-your-enemies-close relationship. But who is conning who? Kat can’t help but admire Meg and even grows to like her.

“The difference between justice and revenge comes down to who’s telling the story.”

Told through both voices in alternating chapters, this story was a quick entertaining read. The ending made me cheer and I can’t wait to read more from Julie Clark.

“This is the mark of a true con artist, when the people she leaves behind can know what she’s done and still want the best for her.”

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

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

4 stars

Julie Clark does it again. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The dynamic between the two women is incredible and I loved seeing the character growth of both women throughout the book. They both grow in ways you wouldn’t expect. Julie Clark expertly weaves their stories together and she’s made me an automatic reader of any book she releases.

I went into this one completely blind and was shocked by how sinister it was. It was far more twisted than I imagined (and I loved it)! I will certainly be checking out other books by this author. Thank you for my arc copy!

Let me tell you! I was not expecting to love this as much as I did. Julie Clark keeps you on toes with this wickedly twisted domestic thriller/revenge story!

The Lies I Tell has you asking the most important question— who’s the con?

This is the first book by Julie Clark that I have read and I really enjoyed it. The clever premise revolves around two main characters, Meg and Kat. Kat is a less than successful journalist. Meg is a grifter. Ten years ago their paths crossed with dire consequences both personally and professionally for Kat. Kat is intent on tracking down Meg and exposing her. When Kat attends a political fund raiser and espies Meg she sets out to score the biggest story of her faltering career. But will Meg be able to keep one step ahead of Kat's exposé?

Chapters in the book alternate between Kat and Meg as well as past and present. This is not a technique that I am overly fond of but Ms Clark handles it with finesse. She reveals just enough to flesh out the characters, their motivation and their personal tragedies in each chapter to keep the reader turning pages. There is a surprise twist or two to add tension near the end which are believable. And at the end the reader is left to speculate what Kat and Meg will do in the future. This reader wishes a sequel is planned to answer the questions left hanging at the end of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Read Now for my chance to read my first, but not my last, Julie Clark novel.

Another fast paced read from one of my favorite author finds of 2020. This book tells the story of two women, a con artist named Meg who learned to con people from an early age in order to protect herself and a woman named Kat who blames Meg for something that happened to her in the past. What I loved about this story is that neither character is good or bad. There is a lot of gray area between the two of them. Thus as the story unfolds you are not rooting for one character or the other to come out on top. You see the reasoning behind each characters motivations and your feelings toward each character shifts as the story progresses.

This is definitely a page turner, with surprises and twists galore. I love how the ending takes the characters on paths that you would not have imagined for them in the beginning.

Another fast paced read from one of my favorite author finds of 2020. This book tells the story of two women, a con artist named Meg who learned to con people from an early age in order to protect herself and a woman named Kat who blames Meg for something that happened to her in the past. What I loved about this story is that neither character is good or bad. There is a lot of gray area between the two of them. Thus as the story unfolds you are not rooting for one character or the other to come out on top. You see the reasoning behind each characters motivations and your feelings toward each character shifts as the story progresses.

This is definitely a page turner, with surprises and twists galore. I love how the ending takes the characters on paths that you would not have imagined for them in the beginning

Meg is a con artist; Kat is a journalist. When Kat recognizes a woman that upended her life 10 years ago at a political fundraiser, she needs to find out more. Why is she here? What is her game plan? Who is she pretending to be now? Kat is determined to find out everything and write an amazing expose about Meg Williams and all the lives she has destroyed. However, as she befriends Meg, she realizes there is more to Meg than meet the eye.

The story is told from the POV's of both Meg and Kat, also jumping back in time to what happened years ago to both of them. There are a lot of twists because there are a lot of secrets. A psychological thriller that will keep you reading and wanting to find out what happens at 'the end' when all the secrets are revealed.

The Lies I Tell is a fast-paced, sinister thriller that will keep readers enthralled throughout! I loved every minute of this unputdownable novel!

I have a thing about con artists. I’m always curious about what makes them tick and how they infiltrate the lives of the people they con. So, this story called out to me.
Meg Williams has a beguiling back story - a young high school girl loses her mother after her mother fell victim to a con. She’s reduced to living in her car and vows vengeance on the man who stole the family home from her mother. But in the process, she becomes a con artist herself. But one with a moral code, a “girl code” she picked up from a high school friend. And then there’s Kat Roberts, a reporter whose life was upended by Meg ten years ago.
The story alternates between the two women, going back and forth in time. It takes a while to set up the premise, but I soon got caught up in the story. There were some interesting twists, especially with Kat’s storyline. Once the two women intersect, the suspense ratchets up and there’s a lovely tension to the story. “I’m stuck with the irony of two women, each of them trying to spin a web of lies and manipulation around the other, never knowing whose strings are wrapped around whom.” Both characters are richly drawn and equally engaging. Both are also surprisingly relatable. The story flows well and it was easy to see the scenes unfold in my mind. This would make a great miniseries. And I’m betting it’s going to be one of the favorite summer reads.
I didn’t read Clark’s first book, but I’ll soon remedy that.
My thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for an advance copy of this book.

This may just be the start of an auto-buy relationship. I read and loved The Last Flight so I had to snag this one when it came up on NetGalley. I needed a good "I am woman, hear me roar" story and man was this ever it.

This has it all, and would make a fun movie too. We have women wronged, plans in motion for revenge, men that must pay, lies ALL over the place, and at the core - evil with good intentions. Meg is the perfect morally gray character in this one.

This is a quick read too, even though it's not really all that fast-paced. With good writing and the "I need to know what's next" incentive, I breezed right through this one. Definitely snag this if you want a refreshing and fun revenge with a sort of happily ever after.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

This is a story of 2 women, one a con artist, the other her victim. I had some trouble getting into this book, which is the reason for the 3*. The action didn’t pick up until about the last third of the book. I had a hard time connecting with the characters until the later part of the book. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

I loved this story - I'm such a sucker for stories about conmen/women and Meg Williams sure fits that description ~ or does she?? Told by Meg and Kat Roberts, a woman who was deeply affected by one of Meg's cons and who would dearly love to expose Meg and all her games. But as Kat gets closer to Meg, she begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her, This is a thriller that keeps you second-guessing every move! Thank you to Julie, the publisher, and Net Galley for my copy of this terrific story.

Similar to the author’s 2020 novel, THE LAST FLIGHT, which I LOVED, we are presented with two female POVs, Meg and Kat, living different yet connected lives. The majority of the book also features alternating storylines. All of which is enjoyable. The development of these complex characters is exquisitely executed by the author. ⁣
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Meg Williams has lived a hard scrabble life. She attributes the primary cause to a man who took advantage of her mother just before Meg’s senior year of high school. After this incident, Meg and her mother were forced to live in their minivan. Her mother died a year later. ⁣
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Meg becomes a vigilante con artist who follows a code. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦, that is. She seeks justice against men who have wronged women, be it herself or others. Her ultimate target is the man who took advantage of her mother. After 10 years of perfecting her craft across the country, she returns to Los Angeles to exact justice on him.⁣
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Ten years ago, Kat Roberts was a budding investigative journalist on the fast track with the LA Times. Now, she is a freelance writer, researcher, and copy editor, barely scraping by. The person she blames for derailing her life is. . . . Meg Williams. Kat has been obsessing over getting her revenge for far too long. Thanks to her Google Alert, she learns that Meg is in LA, and her time has finally come. ⁣
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The more we learn about Meg, however, the less likely it seems that she intentionally set out to cause any harm to befell Kat. In fact, I started to think that Kat was a bit neurotic, even bordering on annoying, for failing to see that her rage was misdirected. ⁣
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The cat-and-mouse dynamic between Meg and Kat is such fun. I could not turn the pages fast enough! The dramatic detours were fantastic. ⁣
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Like THE LAST FLIGHT, this storyline is propulsive, and at times, has you 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘵. I think that you will be surprised by how it all ends. I know that I was. 😉🤫⁣
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Now you really want to pick up a copy of THE LIES I TELL when it goes on sale 6/21/22, am I right? 🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♂️⁣
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I give it an emphatic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️! ⁣
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Enjoy, my friends! And please let me know what you think about it after you read it. ⁣

Thank you, Sourcebooks Landmark for the free e-galley via NetGalley

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

Meg Williams is a con artist. She is skillful and savvy. When a reporter befriends her to try and obtain a break in an old case, she learns that Meg has a lot of secrets. Things are not at all what they seem.

I love the ending.

Julie Clark has become one of my favorite authors. I loved her first book, The Last Flight, and The Lies I Tell is even better! She pulls you in from the first page and never lets you go. What a ride! The story is brilliant, suspenseful, and engrossing. The characters were so well-developed that I felt like I knew them personally. I didn’t want to stop reading, and I hated to see it end…although the ending was quite shocking and satisfying. A sequel would be fantastic! Looking forward to Julie’s next thrilling novel! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! Can’t wait to buy it and recommend it to my family and friends when it comes out!