I have read the first four in the series and was so excited to get to the next one. Stevie Bell is one of my favorite YA detectives and I loved learning more about what's going on in her school, her friends, and the latest mystery. I just love how the author ties all the details together at the end.

3.5

the expectations i had for this one were HIGH and then the book just fell kind off flat, like a flopped pancake.

as someone who love love LOVED david, what happened *insert crying emojis*

all in all it was still fun because I'll always be a sucker for mysteries, more importantly, stevie bell level mysteries

Thank you HarperCollins Children’s Books and NetGalley for e-ARC of the book.

Stevie Bell and her friends are invited to visit London in study purposes but also as an excuse to see Stevie’s boyfriend David. Things go as planned until David’s friend Izzy introduces them to a cold-case that took place in 1995.

I enjoyed reading this book not only for a mystery part but as well as touring London with Stevie and her friends. I was happy to read some interesting stories about British history or the description of London. It was a light and easy read while I was trying to guess who killed whom.

These books are just so fun, please keep 'em coming Maureen! I liked the change of setting, and the new mystery was interesting. Nate is always hilarious, relatable, and heart-warming. The ending made me so angry. Not at Maureen, but at a certain character. I need book six ASAP!

Not my favorite in the Truly Devious series but I will read each and every installment. I really love this cozy teen mystery series because of the characters and their friendship.

This might be my favorite Truly Devious book so far! This one was so suspenseful. And the setting of London was fantastic. I could picture it all so clearly since I was just there a few months ago. I love Stevie. I love how complicated and flawed she is.

Our girl Stevie is back and ready to take on another murder mystery. But this time the whole gang is heading to London. Stevie is feeling lost after solving a huge cold case. While everyone else is obsessed with college apps, Stevie is trying to figure out what is next. So a study abroad invitation from David seems like the perfect distdacrion. But here is the thing, there is a new unsolved case in London. Will Stevie and the gang be able to solve it in time?

What I enjoyed:
- I just love this series in general! I was so happy to read this next installment. This one didn't disappoint.
- I love the general atmosphere ans academia vibes from this series. But I LOVED the change of scenery for the UK.
- I was guessing all along on who did what. I enjoyed the dual time frames. We switch from modern time to the time of the murders.
- As usual I just love Stevie and her gang of friends.

Whoa, I need the next book immediately. I was shocked when I finished this. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the series as a whole. 4 stars out of 5. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Like all the others in the series, this is a win!

The characters feel like home even when there’s suspicious, murdery stuff going on. The pages are so easy to turn when Stevie is going on an an adventure.

I really enjoyed this book! This series is one of my favorites, and I'm very glad she is writing more book with these characters!! This book did start off a bit slow, but getting into it it was good. I love how she writes her twists and turns, and I liked the way she did the flashbacks.

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson was a book I had picked up around its release date to read and could not get into it. I read for a while and tried to get into the book and I just could not do it. So I put it down with hopes of coming back to it. As you can tell based on when this book released, it’s been a while. I wanted to try again and I am so glad that I did. I don’t think I’ve ever come back to a book I couldn’t get into and had it turn into a five star review.

The story follows Stevie and her group of friends as they travel to England to hang out, study, and see Stevie’s boyfriend. But as Stevie gets entangled in solving a murder from 1995, nothing goes as planned. I quite liked the jumping back and forth in this book between current time and 1995. It wasn’t every other chapter and it helped build the backstory just enough without giving away who did the crime. It also gave us a larger insight into the original Nine friends, two of which were murdered in 95. I even quite liked all of Stevie’s friends. There is not a character in the story I really disliked, which says something for Johnson. It’s hard to make me like everyone, honestly; even if I was suspicious of a few of them throughout.

The way Johnson builds tension in this story, not only with Stevie trying to solve the crime, but also with tension building amongst the friend groups and between Stevie and David. There were a few side stories building throughout and I think it gave a bit of depth to this story that allowed it to be very realistic and more relatable to a reader. Life doesn’t just stop because you are trying to solve a crime. Things are still happening in the rest of a person’s world. I loved how Johnson built on that.


This story reminds me a lot of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder in a sense. It’s the same type of book and general vibe, although different stories, of course. I love Holly Jackson and now I love Maureen Johnson. Little did I know that this is book five in this series so, of course, I have already downloaded the other 4 books and have started book one. I cannot wait to see what Stevie and her friends got up to before this. A must read for any mystery/thriller fan, especially if you love that teen detective vibe. A page-turner that you will not be able to put down, guaranteed!

Of all the books in this series, this is the most adult and the most complicated. I have loved Maureen Johnson books for a long time, and this series is one of my favorites. There were just a few too many coincidences and easy answers for me, though (and the weird almost intimate scene wasn't my favorite).

In this fifth installment of the Truly Devious series the group goes to England to visit David, who has been studying there on his own.
While there, for a VERY limited time, Stevie manages to get sucked into another mystery- this one occurring several years past at an English manor house.
Overall a fun mystery, but there was a fair bit of personal drama thrown in as well (a little personal cliff hanger at the end so beware!)

I have consistently given every book in this series 4 stars, all for different reason. I hate to say it but this installment was my least favorite. I enjoy these books so much mainly due to the setting of each one and I didn't care much that it was set in England. The settings of the other books intrigued me a lot more. Also I'm starting to find Stevie a little annoying, no rhyme or reason why, but I honestly couldn't wait for this book to end. Which it did end, with a romance-based cliffhanger so now I'll have no choice but to read the next one. Gripes aside, I did enjoy the murder and mystery of this. Was the murderer caught and paying for their crimes? I'm honestly not sure and I really hope that's touched upon in the next book because that's kind of bugging me. Overall this wasn't a bad book by any means, obviously I gave it 4 stars for a reason. I just wish things were a little clearer and that the setting was different. Like I stated above, I will be reading the next book to get my clarity and my answers to my questions.

Thanks to Katherine Tegen Books for the gifted copy for my honest review!

This book was a tad disappointing compared to the previous installments. As opposed to focusing on solving a crime, this one heavily focused on Stevie and David and all their personal shenanigans. While I do love them together, I don't like how it overshadowed what I love more about these books, the ability to let me get lost in the pages of a comfort series. I am glad the awkwardness about lying didn't turn out to be as big as I was thinking it would but that was far from my only issue here. I can only pray the 6th book returns to its roots even though I will definitely be expecting some drama with how this one ended.

I loved the series so far and was really excited for this one! It fell just short of the mark for me though. The characters were had to keep track of and the mystery seemed to be jumping around a lot. I found myself getting distracted often because it seemed there was either too much(characters) or too little (action) going on. Regardless, I do still love this series and will eagerly await the next installment.

The concept of this book was interesting but the mystery element was completely clouded by personal drama and it made the book a little dull. I might look into the earlier books of the series.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

After reading The Box in the Woods, I was a little hesitant to read this 5th book in the series. The original trilogy was fantastic, but that 4th book just didn't reach the bar the others had set. But I am glad to report that with book 5, we are back! It's good again! The whole group is back at Ellingham for their final year when they get an invite to go to London to visit David. Sounds like study abroad! So they go and surprise! there's a cold case ready for Stevie to solve. This one is a bit of a struggle for her while she and the others are also dealing with their own internal conflicts that occur with getting older and venturing out into the adult world. Can she solve it before it's time to go home? I enjoyed it a lot! I just need the next one to come out now, because there's no way we can end the series like that!
Thank you NetGalley and Katherine Tegan Books for the advanced digital copy. All opinions are mine.

A great addition to the series. Upper young adult. Will not have in library due to contenta ms regulations from our school age category, but will recommend to the High School for addition. Will be a good read for high schoolers and young adults. Fans of A Good Girls Guide, which is big at the moment, will
enjoy. Think it’s not as highly as other additions to the series but still great.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved every book in this series and Nine Liars is no exception. That being said, the other books were all 5 star reads for me and this one landed closer to 4 or 4.5 stars.

My favorite aspect of this book was by far the 1995 cold case storyline. I love mystery/thrillers that involve a lot of characters and I really enjoyed getting to know the members of "The Nine" and trying to figure out whodunnit. I also really liked the inclusion of each character's interview transcripts following the murders as a sort of mixed media. It was interesting reading all of their accounts and trying to find inconsistencies in their stories.

The London setting was also really cool. It was fun to see the characters exploring a new city and visiting all of the landmarks.

As for my complaints, they mostly revolve around Stevie and David. A good portion of this story deals with the drama happening in their relationship. To be clear, I thought it was very realistic as they're teenagers and I think the conflicts between them are very common. However, it wasn't necessarily fun to read about and the tension just left me waiting for chapters about the 1995 timeline. I also didn't like how Stevie treated her friends throughout this story. Furthermore, the very end of this book made me really mad--I definitely did not like the direction things went in.

Overall, I enjoyed this new installment in the Truly Devious series. Despite my complaints, I think it's a mostly fun read and definitely worthwhile if you're a fan of the series.

Thank you so much to HarperCollins and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

2.5⭐️

I really enjoyed the first 4 books in this series. While I didn't find them exceptional I had good time following the mysteries and shenanigans of these teens. However, the fun of those first 4 books was completely missing in this one for me.

I held off on reading this due to the strike and then just let it slip off my radar. But Summerween gave me the push to pick it up and unfortunately I think this is where my time with the series ends.

This one follows the same main characters when they return to school after the happenings of The Box in the Woods. They're in their final year and everyone is preparing for college. Except for Stevie.

Instead Stevie does nothing but wade through her life thinking about her boyfriend, David, who is attending Cambridge.

When David sets up a plan for a 1 week study abroad for Stevie and her friends, they all find themselves reunited in London. And Stevie's friends are determined to keep the trip murder free.

But of course, murder finds them anyways.

When David's best friend Izzy reveals that her aunt may have witnessed a murder, Stevie drags her best friends into the chaos despite their reluctance.

And that is where my main issue with this book lies. Stevie was quite honestly, the absolute worst. She lied and manipulated her friends into all these situations that made them highly uncomfortable with little to no regard for their feelings.

And when she was caught, she "apologized" in the way that white women love to do - by attempting to justify her actions.

Look I understand that Stevie is 18. But we're 5 books in and she still treats everyone like they are her side kicks. While simultaneous belittling herself on page and every turn. And frankly it was exhausting.

Not to mention the hot mess that was her romance with David.

I think that the side characters are the one shinning light in this book and they didn't get nearly enough page time.

And the mystery itself, while not bad, felt lackluster and almost like an afterthought to the character work.

Overall this one just didn't work for me. And even though there is at least 1 final books in this series, I don't think I'll be picking it up.