Compelling, intriguing and unputdownable. 3 words to describe An Honest Lie. If I wasn’t reading An Honest Lie I was thinking about it. Delving into 2 timelines, now and then, I couldn’t decide which timeline fascinated me more. The then time period had all the information I needed to know to fully understand the now period but the now period was surrounded in so much mystery and secret that I just needed to know what was happening! I loved the cult vibes; cults have always interested me in how they work and what happens so this was a happy surprise. I went in completely blind and applied for this ARC because I love Tarryn’s work. And I wasn’t disappointed.

I really liked this at first. Rainy is a fun, likeable character, and her interactions with some of the women are really entertaining. The flashbacks to her childhood are also fascinating and horrifying, and keep the book moving quickly.
*
Unfortunately the last 75 pages or so completely fell apart for me. Rainy makes some really stupid choices that have no logic behind them, there were a lot of plotholes, and red herrings brought up that didn't end up making any sense in retrospect.
*
I'm disappointed because I think it had a lot of potential, and I really enjoyed the characters and some of the twists, so hopefully some of the inconsistencies are addressed by the final version.

I enjoyed this dual timeline revenge thriller featuring a woman trying to forget her past trauma. Summer and her mother sought refuge in cult thinking there were worst ways to live - boy were they wrong. Fast forward to when Summer is now an adult going by the name Rainy and starting over in a new city, her boyfriend tries to get her to make friends with the wives and girlfriends of his friends. A wild weekend in Vegas ends up triggering her past but she uses the opportunity to get revenge on her mother's killer. Twisty and edge of your seat thrills. This was an easy read that was hard to put down. Add it to the list of great cult thrillers out this year. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!

Secrets and lies. Of course. There has to be when you spent your formative years in a cult and you have never known quite how to bring that into your new life. This book was sometimes frustrating. I wanted to scream, "These people are not your friends. No one who loved you would force you to be with these people." There was a little too much time spent changing for others, in and out of cults. Everyone was very manipulative and quite bullying. This was a quick read with fast paced action and a main character you may find frustrating in her own weaknesses. Still, enjoy.

As a huge lover of cult books, this one was a no from me. I didn't feel like the storylines felt very cohesive and then when you FINALLY figure out how they overlap, it almost felt like too much explanation making the ending feel brutally long.

Unfortunately, this will not be a favorite. But I can't stay away from Fisher so I know I'll be back for the next one.

Two cult books in a row! This always happens to me. If I read a book about a group of friends in a remote location where one turns up dead, I'll inevitably read another right after. Same thing with books that take place in winter snowstorms. Anyway, this was my second cult book, and while I liked the other one a bit better (I'll Be You), I loved this one too. Fair warning, the plotting is over the top and will require a suspension of belief, but if you can just relax into it, I promise you a fun read.

An Honest Lie is about a woman named Rainy, an artist, who moves from NYC to Tiger Mountain in Washington where her fiancé, Grant, is from and where many of his best friends live. Grant really wants Rainy to get to know his friends so he is constantly pushing her to join the other wives when they have their regular happy hours. When they invite her to a girls' weekend in Vegas, Rainy says 'NO.' However, when she gets home, she discovers that Grant knew all about the weekend and had already accepted on Rainy's behalf. Wouldn't have stopped me, but Rainy reluctantly agrees to go. Her hesitance is something she's never explained to Grant or anyone else. When Rainy was 13, her mother dragged her to a commune-type place that is run by a guy she knew years ago. Rainy and her mom are flat broke with no place to go, but her mother insists that their stay will just be temporary. This "commune" is on the outskirts of Vegas and is a place that haunts Rainy's nightmares.

Enter the cult portion of the novel for that's what this commune is really all about. Rainy loves it at first, but soon she's being separated from her mother and falls under the leader's spell. Everything obviously spirals out of control until Rainy is finally able to escape. Now with this girls' trip to Vegas, all the memories come flooding back. What's worse, the other women on the trip are treating her strangely, and Rainy is miserable. She's about to leave for home when she gets a text telling her that Braithe, the leader of the women's group, has been kidnapped and will be killed unless Rainy can save her. Given their location, Rainy is pretty sure this all relates back to the cult, and even though she doesn't like Braithe at all, Rainy feels she needs to stay and save her.

The commune years had me on the edge of my seat, and the action of the present was fast paced. Rainy is a great, strong character, and author Tarryn Fisher did a terrific job keeping the action moving and exciting. If you're in the mood for an escape from real life for a little while, this is a great book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Tarryn Fisher, and Harlequin Books for providing me an eGalley in exchange for posting an honest review.

Tarryn Fisher's latest thriller combines a girl's trip to Vegas with a religious cult. Unfortunately I felt a strong disconnect between the flashback POV and the present day POV and the end of the story just didn't really come together for me. I've really enjoyed Fisher's past books, but this just wasn't a favorite for me. I'll still be excited to read what she comes out with next!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader digital copy of this book. Taryn Fisher rarely disappoints. Another great thriller that leaves the reader turning pages quickly. I enjoyed the back and forth chapters of different time periods and narrators. The plot line is very similar to other books. If it were a bit more original of a story, it would have been a 5 star read.

Rainy has escaped a gruelling past and is trying to build a new life for herself. When she starts to get weird texts from her new “friend” Braithe, she is quickly thrown back into her past. She fights to uncover things she has left forgotten and is forced to fall back into her past in order to survive.
A suspenseful read. Recommended for all who enjoy his genre.

* I received this book from NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House in exchange for my honest review

Tarryn Fisher once again delivers a story that has yet to be told. She is a genre of her own. The concept of honest lie is one I have yet to see. Tarryn busted into a genre that can be overly saturated, and stands out. Her story telling is truly one of a kind and Honest Lie will keep readers up all night turning every page.

First off, thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this digital ARC.

While I've not read any of Tarryn Fisher's work prior to this book, I had heard nothing by great things about her and her writing! This book is told between two timelines, which can sometimes been a bit to follow but I did enjoy these intertwining perspectives. this book didn’t have me flipping the pages and gasping but it was a fast paced which is my preferred type of book vs a slow burner. It was an entertaining thriller that intertwines family, cults and relationships within the dual timeline perspective. Overall, not my favourite from from 2022 so far but still one that I would recommend and enough for me to grab the book everyone raves about (the wives)

Haven’t read a book in one sitting in a long time! This one kept me always wanting to know what was going to happen next.

Told between alternating time lines, past and present, Rainy Ives is trying to live with the trauma of spending her childhood in a cult where she was tortured and brainwashed. Her present life takes her back to where it started and she has to rely on her instincts in order to save herself and others.

I personally really like reading about cults, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. You could really sympathize with Rainy as she recounted her time in the compound. Also, didn’t absolutely hate any of the characters. It was fast paced, short chapters, and an easy read. This is the second book of Tarryn Fisher that I’ve read and I look forward to reading more from them. I give this one a 4/5.

Thank you @netgalley for an advanced ARC in exchange for an honest review. An Honest Lie by Tarryn Fisher will be available on April 26, 2022!

In my opinion, this is not the worst Tarryn Fisher I've read but it's close. It is by far the most disappointing.

Her plotlines read louder than her plot.

Like a literary siren, she draws me in, drowning me in the deep dark sea of nothingness.

In this book, we follow Rainey, who in the opening pages is being encouraged by her partner to join his friends for a weekend away. Peril ensues.

Interwoven between the scenes of this weekend of danger are flashbacks to when Rainey was younger. A lot of thrillers are doing this dual timeline pov and it might be time to move on to something else. There's a craft to bringing the timelines together and still having a reader at the end that cares. I'm not sure it was successful on either the individual timelines or the summary.

But I can't ruin this book for the lot so this one lands around the middle. I enjoyed parts of it and other parts felt overwritten. I think we could eliminate some of the persuading chunks of the book and live more in the action parts, which is what the book promised.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House, and Netgalley for this advanced copy!

Out April 26th

An Honest Lie...⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately I did not like this one. The two storylines felt weirdly forced together and the end was just too far fetched for my taste. I liked the storylines separately but they felt disconnected like I was reading two different books. This also was nothing like I thought it would be, I wish they’d mentioned the back story a bit more in the synopsis.

Pub date: 4/26/22
Genre: thriller
In one sentence: Rainy has buried her dark past - but a girls trip to Las Vegas will unearth her hidden secrets.

This book was much darker than I expected, especially in the past timeline. Rainy grew up in a very controlling environments, and we get flashbacks to her childhood abuse. These scenes were hard for me to read, and they didn't fit as well with the present timeline as I would have liked. Sometimes it felt like I was reading two separate books, rather than two timelines of one book. The story's conclusion also disappointed me - it felt very over the top and unrealistic.

If you like really dark thrillers, this may be a winner for you!

Thank you to Graydon House/Harlequin for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An Honest Lie is a psychological thriller about Rainy who has recently moved from New York to Washington for her boyfriend Grant. As she is adjusting, Grant pushes Rainy to join an all-girls group for a weekend away in Vegas. As Rainy is forced to look back at her past in a cult, secrets, and mysteries arise when one of the girls in the group goes missing.

The story was told through the then and now. I found myself more encaptivated by Rainy's past. I enjoyed reading those chapters but had a harder time with the now. I think the book would have been more promising by just sticking with the past. There was no real tie-in to the present and it felt like the book was doing too much. While I didn't love this book, I have enjoyed much of her writing in the past and will continue to read her future books as they come out.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book that I have read by Tarryn Fisher, and I rather enjoyed it. I did not know what to expect when reading the synopsis but you find out fairly early on in the book. The story revolves around the main character, Rainy, and it is written with a dual timeline; now and then. At first I couldn’t decide what I wanted to know more about, the past or the present. I found them both to be equally intriguing, but when you find out what her past life was like, you start to want more of that story.

This is the first book that I have ever read about a cult and there were so many moments in Rainy’s past that makes you cringe. Taured definitely gave me the creeps! I wanted to scream at the characters to get out of dodge! And it also made me think about what I would do if I was stuck in that situation.

There were only a few things that I had trouble keeping up with that made this book fall a little flat for me. The dual timelines were completely fine, but there were so many characters that I would forget about them as I was reading. I felt like things were left out but I think that was how it was written so not everything was given away all at once. Rainy went through so much trauma as a kid that I wish it would have carried over more into her adult life. You get to see some of it when it’s in the now perspective but I think it just lacked some and It could have made the girls trip more stronger for me. I also would have really liked to see more of Grant, Rainy’s boyfriend.

Overall I think this is a good read, it’s very fast paced and different. I look forward to reading more from the author. Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House and NetGalley for a digital ARC to read for my honest review!

I’m gonna be honest. If it’s about a cult, I’m probably gonna love it.

I picked this as one of my HCC Influencer digital ARCs and I really had no idea what it was about. I’ve read one other book by this author and enjoyed it, so I wanted to give this one a try as well.

I’m soo glad I did because wow, what a THRILL(er). Are you guys sick of my puns yet?

There are flashbacks between then and now. “Then” is all about Summer and her life growing up in a compound as part of a cult. “Now” shows us Rainy (aka Summer) all grown up and trying to forget about the past. But I think we all know that your demons are gonna catch up to you and you have to face them eventually.

I loved the characters in this one. This should shock no one, but Taured (the cult leader) was probably my favourite just because he’s disgusting and twisted and I love it.

I will say that there were some instances in the writing where I thought I missed something. There were several moments where Rainy seemed to think she couldn’t possibly contact the police when she most definitely could and should have. So the plot holes and confusing moments brought it down to a four for me. BUT I would definitely still recommend this book for the cult storyline alone. That was just… *chef’s kiss*.

This one comes out on April 26th so make sure to add it to your TBR! Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Canada for this eARC. I have posted this review on Goodreads and also on my Bookstagram account (link provided).

Pernicious. Twisted. Warped.
It took me several chapters in to discern the gist of the story. Rain’s narrative flits from past to present. What happened in the cult marked her. I wondered why she was even on the girls’ trip since she wasn’t enjoying herself.
I liked how she outwitted her enemies. There is a lot of action on the book and it kept my interest,

She didn’t always call herself Rainey. She began using the name after… she doesn’t talk about before, the before she was an adult and a semi famous artist. She’s just moved to Tiger Mountain to be with her boyfriend, Grant. She’s been accepted by the local wives and invited on their annual girls trip to Las Vegas. That is the last place she wants to go, but is cajoled into it by Grant. While there, one of the wives is kidnapped and Rainey must decide if saving her is worth reliving parts of her past.