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!

Thanks to Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for the copy of this ARC!

Rich kids behaving badly in Martha’s Vineyard and a cast of shady characters? Yes please.

In a locked-room ode to Agatha Christie, Katie Cotugno introduces us to Holiday (the new Hercule Poirot) and her childhood friend, Michael/“Linden.” I didn’t expect this to be a male POV (Linden’s), so that definitely threw me off in the first few chapters as I expected Holiday’s POV. Linden goes to stay in Martha’s Vineyard at his friend’s house when that friend’s enemy ends up lying facedown in the pool. Cue the whodunnit mystery! I found this absolutely bingeable - all the characters were kind of terrible, and I wanted to find out who really pushed Greg in the pool via amateur sleuthing. This is a short, compulsive read and one that is PERFECT for your beach bag for the summer. I’d also make note that while this is YA, it’s definitely older YA due to content (partying / sex / drugs / alcohol / lots of F-bombs).

Read if you:
- like locked-room mysteries
- want a cast of shady characters
- enjoy rich kids behaving badly
- want a bingeable read
- need a read for the beach / pool

Thank you, NetGalley for a sneak peek at this novel. I have enjoyed Katie Cotugno's romance novels and was eager to read her mystery.
Linden, a scholarship kid at a fancy boarding school, goes to spend the last week of summer with his wealthy friends at their beach house in Matha's Vineyard. He is hoping to keep his financial situation secret and hide other information that could jeopardize his scholarship.
As soon as he arrives at August House, Linden starts to see cracks in what he assumed was an idyllic life for this family and their friends. And when the kids find the body of Greg, a former friend turned enemy, floating in the pool, Linden enlists the help of his old friend Holiday to help him unravel the mystery of who might have hurt Greg.
This novel is an enjoyable read. I liked some characters and wanted to smack others. Cotugno includes enough red herrings to keep readers guessing and the final "solution" is believable. There are still some loose ends and the final pages indicate a continuation of Linden's story at least.
I loved Holiday and would like to see her get a book of her own! If the story continues, I hope Linden will call on her to help with his next dilemma.

I wanted to read this novel because I have liked Katie Cotugno's other books. I also liked the fact that it is a remake of an Agatha Christie murder. I did like the story in the end but I found the characters a bit hard to like at times and the story a bit disjointed. It seems that everyone is hiding secrets and lying. At times, the character's detective work seemed a little hard to imagine but the story did have an interesting conclusion. The ending did leave a hint at a definite continuation that I would be interested in reading about. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was an okay book. I liked the setting & it was a very quick, easy read. With that said, I felt like the ending fell flat. It was very abrupt and lacked surprise. Also, the second up for a second book? I don’t think it was entirely necessary - but I will probably end up reading it. Personally, I prefer Katie Cotugno’s romance books over this.