When Michael Linden is invited to stay at his friend Jasper's vacation home on Martha's Vineyard, he is looking forward to some time away from the double life he's keeping from everyone at his elite prep school. What he gets is launched into a whodunit style mystery when said friend's arch nemesis is found floating in the family's pool.

The setting and back story of this YA mystery are totally on point for what I love in a good summer read. Prep school thrillers and true beach reads frequently make their way to the top of my TBR list in the spring and summer months. Though I've never personally been the Martha's Vineyard, Ms. Cotugno does a fabulous job of sweeping the reader away to a coast filled with sunshine, privilege and deceit.

The mystery aspect of the story was good, and its characters have the potential to be great. What kept me from giving this book more than just a "good" rating is that some of Cotugno's cast of characters lacked the depth and emotion I've grown accustomed to in so many great YA novels (including several of her own). I think that my minor disappointment may just be remedied in the future, though. This book, though it primarily reads like a stand alone, ends on a cliff hanger that will, no doubt, have me clamoring for the next installment of the series when it is released.

*A special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for an advanced readers copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review*

A story of your typical Martha's Vineyard vacation with boarding school buddies--if those vacations typically include attempted murder.

I haven't read the Agatha Christie novel is based on, so I don't know how it compares, but this was a fun mystery that kept me guessing how it was going to play out. I really hope this becomes a series because the cliffhanger ending was highly illegal, and I'd love to see Linden and Holiday team up again!

I love summer books! Especially books set on the east coast beaches.
Linden is joining his boarding school roommate, Jasper, and his family on Martha's Vineyard for the end of summer. Linden tries very hard to fit in, as he and his mom struggle to make ends meet. He is on a scholarship to attend the school, but doesn't mention this info to his friends.
When a boy who shows up to the house looking for a fight, ends up dead in the pool. it gives Linden, and his childhood friend Holiday, to look into the motivation of everyone in the house.
A great YA mystery, my students will love it!

Edgy, contained and brilliant!

Michael Linden practised fitting into the preppy school he was enrolled at on a sports scholarship. He’s as far away from this rich, entitled crowd as Earth is to Mars, and then some.
An invitation to his “buddy” Jasper Kendrick’s summer place at Martha’s Vineyard might be fun. After all he’s trying to be one of the crowd. That is, until someone’s found at the bottom of the pool after a party. Someone the family had reason to dislike.
Jasper’s twin sister Eliza is very attractive but somewhat unpredictable. Of course some of the guys from Bartley are on the island. It all one big elitist club. Jasper’s parents seem to spend time at the country club and out to dinner, leaving the group alone. Jasper’s father had been sued over some financial issues. He was sent to jail. The father of a family who’d been close friends and had originally hooked Mr. Kendrick up with his financial advisor had received community service in exchange for giving evidence. No love lost! There’s a strange frisson that runs beneath this family. Hard to grasp hold of.
Surprisingly Michael meets up with his childhood friend, Holiday Proctor. Holiday’s parents are academics, somewhat bohemian, egalitarian and kind. He and Holiday had spent their formative years together when Michael’s mom kept house for them.
Holiday is a different type to Jasper and his group. She’s somewhat of a goth, an individual and independent. Holiday decides they should investigate. After all, what if this wasn’t an accident?
The finding of truths can be releasing, dangerous and very complicated. One things for sure money and position doesn’t necessarily make for happiness. Mind you survival might not be a problem.
A summer holiday turns into a nightmare of mystery. Friendships are sometimes only temporary, other times much more.
An incisive, intriguing mystery!

A Delacorte ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

While I am not well-versed in all of Agatha Christie's stories, I can say that Liar's Beach definitely has that classic murder mystery feel. A near deadly "accident" occurs at the beginning of the story, and our protagonist goes down different paths to consider possible suspects until the truth is revealed at the end. I didn't find the answer to "whodunnit" to be much of a surprise, but I didn't really mind. To me this story was more about the journey than the end. Linden is a character trying to fit into a world that he doesn't feel he fully belongs in, and he learns a lot about himself as a person and a friend. And trying to fit in means, while he's digging in everyone else's secrets, he's also got a few of his own. Overall I think it has a simple but enjoyable plot, a good protagonist who is complex and shows growth, and the right touch of love and drama.

Of all the characters, my favorite was Holiday. She's the unique personality, a little different from those around her and embracing herself in a way that it takes a while for Linden to appreciate. She's got a big personality, but she's definitely the most real character out of them all, and so she easily endears herself to readers. She's a part of Linden's past that he's yet to fully embrace and deal with, and I like the tension that creates in the story. And overall I like the way she balances him out. She's a very fun character that helps to make the story more enjoyable.

This book was full of twists and turns. A new suspect was always at the ready for Linden and Holiday to look into. I really enjoyed the pacing of the book and the characters. Each person mentioned played a role and led you down one path after the other. I think the quirkiness of Holiday was my favorite and while Linden made some dumb choices, I really enjoyed his character arc.

The revealing of the who-done-it was a surprise and I like how all the pieces fit together. I also loved/hated the twist at the very end. I hate cliff hangers and I'm really hoping Katie is already done writing the next book!

It sometimes feels like every book with an unreliable character is trying to achieve this sense of horror, dread, or maybe heaviness is the right word. That’s how it felt reading this. I loved being in the main character’s head and how much more I wanted to know. The mystery is there and the Daisy bit is fucking flawless, but that’s not what this book is about. It perfectly captures just how everyone who is not vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard feels about the people vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard.

Thanks to Random House for the advanced copy through NetGalley.

This was a fun, quick read. YA thrillers usually deliver in the moment, but some fail to stand out in the long run. This was another story about a bunch of rich kinds and the one underprivileged character. It’s a popular trope in YA fiction and maybe I just feel like I’ve read a bit much like it lately? Still had a good time, though.

Short and Sweet Review
Michael Linden isn’t wealthy, but he tries to keep up appearances for his boarding school friends. Linden is invited to Martha’s Vineyard by his roommate Jasper, which is where he meets, Wells and Eliza, Jasper’s siblings. After a party one night someone is found unconscious in the pool and it is written off as just an accident but Linden begins to wonder if there’s more to what happened than what’s being said. Holiday is one of Linden’s childhood friends and just happens to be staying at Martha’s Vineyard too and has a love for a good mystery. Together they’ll try to figure out if this was an accident or intentional.
Liar’s Beach was a good mystery it’s a new take on the novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The plot was engaging and we’re introduced to most of the characters in the first few chapters. After the person is found in the pool we see Holiday and Linden go around the island looking for clues and try to find leads but there wasn’t much for them to find so their theories were mainly speculation. I didn’t like Lindens character, he was too busy trying to fit in that he didn’t realize how awful he treated those around him. Linden was also more concerned about getting with Eliza to realize that she wasn’t exactly perfect. I would have preferred that Holiday was the narrator instead she just seemed more likable and wasn’t quick to jump the gun like Linden. The ending was okay I guessed who the culprit was mainly from the process of elimination but also there was a bit of a cliffhanger. I think it would be interesting to see these characters in another book and hopefully Linden has some more character development.
Overall this was a good beach mystery and it’s great for summer. There were a lot of good elements and some things that didn’t work but I would still recommend it and I’d be interested in seeing a sequel.

This book sounded like it was going to be so good. I’m such a big fan of YA thrillers/ mystery books. I thought the mystery aspect of this book was just okay. I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters though.

Linden is spending the last of his junior year summer with his roommate and family on Martha's Vineyard. Linden (whose first name is Michael) is a scholarship student who has spent most of his summer working overtime in a supermarket to bank some cash for his mom and himself. He tries hard to hide this fact from his friends at his fancy boarding school. While at August House (the family's vacation home) Linden flirts with his roommate (Jasper)'s sister, Eliza, and also reconnects with an old friend Holiday.

Then one day an unconscious person is found in Jasper and Eliza's pool and Linden goes to Holiday for help. Holiday and Linden start investigating and realize that Linden isn't the only person in August House who is keeping secrets.

Unfortunately the book was pretty uneven. When Linden was flirting with Eliza he would complain about how he didn't really like her and wished he were investigating with Holiday. When he was with Holiday he'd wish he was with Eliza. There's a random ex-girlfriend thrown into the mix, and a sports related injury that really doesn't end up adding anything to the story. The very ending comes out of left field and seems like it is a set up for a second book in a series, but none of the rest of the book reads like the first in a series.

I was interested in the mystery, and I liked Linden most of the time, but some of the characters were so 1-dimensional I couldn't remember who they were.

I was able to read this ebook through #NetGalley!

There are a lot of books out there set in beautiful places, with one poor kid among rich kids, and a mystery to be solved. Because of that, if your book doesn't stand out, then it's not really going to make a splash. This is just another one of those books with no memorable characters or noteworthy plot. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it.

Michael Linden was a good character, but I just didn't think he was interesting enough. The poor kid among rich kids trope is, again, a little trite. I did like Holiday, and the romantic sub plots weren't predictable, so that was nice. I liked the ending, and the actual culprit's reveal was satisfying, and seeing that it was based on an Agatha Christie makes sense. Christie's mysteries were subtle while still being evocative, and I think that part was done wonderfully.

I love a good mystery and this one had me turning pages quickly! Add in privileged kids who have secrets they don't want to get out and it was the perfect page-turner! I never even guessed who the culprit was!

Thank you for the opportunity to read early!

A fun, fast read, this feels like more of an homage to Agatha Christie than a full-fledged reboot of one of her classic stories. Most of the characters were pretty loosely sketched, surface detail only, but the ones that figured into the narrative the most did get some additional detail to help flesh them out a bit. The book ended in a way that seems to have left the door open for a sequel that focuses on the narrator's backstory -- and since any real detail about his backstory was only briefly, maddeningly touched upon, I actually would be eager for a sequel just to answer my curiosity.

Liar's Beach was a young adulty mystery thriller that was a very quick read. Overall, I enjoyed Liar's Beach but something was missing for me.

This is my first read by this author, though I do know she's written a fair amount of YA/new adult fiction. Overall, I enjoyed this--it wasn't my favorite thing, but it was pretty fun and fast. Also, I thought that the choice to have a male protagonist/narrator was really interesting, it's not something you see a lot of, especially in YA. This story wasn't overly deep, but it was pretty fast paced. So, if the synopsis sounds interesting I would pick this up since it is such a fast read!

Styled as a take on Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles, where the Hercule Poirot character is a teenage girl named Holiday and the story is told by her best friend (kind of like the Hastings character) Linden. They investigate after someone winds up dead at a party.

I was so excited for this take as a huge Agatha Christie fan but I didn't get the vibes at all. I think the characters were just lacking that same feel, especially Linden. I think it got a bit better once they started investigating, but overall, this one didn't deliver on the promise.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for sending and allowing me to read this book.
Ive definitely read better but this was still quite enjoyable. I would recommend reading in the warmer months though.

I really liked this one! I've long been a fan of Katie Cotugno's young adult novels and was really interested to see what she would do with a thriller/mystery. I enjoyed the male narrator, which we don't see a lot of in YA. And I really loved Linden's pairing with Holiday. I loved the open-ended ending and CANNOT wait to find out more about Greer and "the accident". Big fan of this one.

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

After loving Cotugno’s Birds of Paradise, I snatched this one up without really looking at the synopsis.

Short Synopsis:
This book is mystery about rich prep school teenagers. Told through scholarship student Linden’s POV, the teens are all shady AF. But when one of the boys is found unconscious in the pool, Linden and his friend Holiday become amateur detectives to solve the case.

My Thoughts:
Mysteries are my favorite genre, so take that into consideration, but I wasn’t pulled into this story. It was a quick one though, and if you’re a fan of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder or Agatha Christie, than this will be a book for you!