First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Liar's Beach. This Agatha Christie-inspired mystery was a surprise at first. I wasn't expecting a male narrator, but once I got over my initial confusion, I enjoyed Michael's voice. However, he didn't hold a candle to the character I consider the true star of the book: Holiday. I loved Holiday so much; I really hope to see her work more mysteries in different places.

I've seen other reviews complain about the *SPOILER ALERT* lack of resolution around Greer and what happened when she and Michael were in an accident. Part of me thinks it's a great device to whet a reader's appetite for more books, and part of me finds it frustrating. The winning part of me admires what Katie Cotugno did at the end, though. I definitely want to read more!

This was such a good YA murder mystery! I will always root for the main character who wants to solve the mystery!! I highly enjoyed this and will recommend to young and old patrons alike!

Thank you Delacorte Press and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. This was a thrilling mystery, was quick paced and kept me intrigued. It was twisty, entertaining, and well written. I think the thing I struggled with the most was reading from Lindens point of view. He wasn't relatable to me but I find that to be the case with most books told from a cis straight male perspective. So if that is not a struggle for you then I'm sure his point of view will be relatable! A good mystery that will suck the reader in, can't wait to read it again!

This book is touted as "A fresh new take on Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery The Mysterious Affair at Styles, with iconic detective Hercule Poirot recast as a brilliant, brash teen girl named Holiday, and narrated by her childhood friend Linden, an athlete-scholar who fits right in at his elite New England prep school—all the while hiding some secrets of his own."

And the description is "Michael Linden—or just Linden to his preppy boarding school pals—doesn’t belong in wealthy, storied Martha’s Vineyard. But when his roommate Jasper invites him to spend the end of summer at his massive beachfront home, August House, Linden tries his best to fit in. Linden wouldn’t call it lying, exactly. Though it turns out August House is full of liars."

I would not have pegged Holiday as Hercules Poirot without the tagline and I'm not sure I see it, but I loved this book despite that. There were a lot of twists and turns and false accusations, but I enjoyed Linden and Holiday. I liked the location. Martha's Vineyard is atmospheric and Linden's Boston hometown was evocative.

I'm looking forward to book 2 of the series and hope the author will delve into Bartley Academy and Linden's accident in further detail.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book. #LiarsBeach #NetGalley

Liar’s Beach by Katie Cotugno was a quick, lively mystery. The characters are well developed - some likeable and some not - and the setting is the always dreamy Massachusetts shore. There are gaps and quirks but in all an enjoyable book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for the opportunity to read this fun ARC.

I thought this was a very good read. The plot was interesting, while slow at times, but really caught your attention. The characters were all very interesting and it was refreshing to read a book with a male main character. I did think that the ending of this book was kind of meh and predictable, but the rest of the story line was great. Linden seemed like kind of a jerk at quite a few times in the book, but I think it helped his character development. I would recommend this book to my friends.

A fun mystery read that is very much reminiscent of Agatha, definitely something you don't see very much anymore, especially in the YA genre. I had fun with this and look forward to that ending hinting at a book two.

Soooooooo good. The kids talked exactly how teenagers talk. Linden's smooth little lines didn't come off as corny, it felt real. I liked the whole way it worked out but please tell me there's a sequel coming. What does Greer want? and I'm not convinced that Linden and Eliza are over!

Good mystery set on Marthas Vineyard. Good depiction of wealthy tern lifestyle there with attendant class distinctions
Not given a 5-star rating because protagonist can be annoying and solution to mystery involves several elements not previously revealed

I thought this book was okay. It didn't really hold.my attention and I felt like I had to push through it. The characters felt unrelateable and I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions. I love the authors work just didn't love this one

I really wanted to love this book, but it honestly fell a little flat for me. The scenes, and conversations almost felt a little repetitive for me with no real excitement. The main character was slightly on the annoying side with constantly comparing himself and his life to his other rich friends and letting that stand in the way of everything instead of seeing people for who they are. The only real excitement I felt from the book was at the end when we finally found out the truth of who pushed Greg.

This book was good. I enjoyed it, but I would not say it was my favorite., I was surprised by the ending so that is always good!

This was a fun whodunit centered around a group of rich kids at a vacation home-a setting I love. I felt the characters were a bit lackluster but I liked the bit of romance thrown in. The big reveal was well done, but I felt the very end of the book was an odd place to take it. It’s obvious leaving it open to a sequel but was done in a way that didn’t feel completely connected to the rest of the ending. Overall, it was a fairly enjoyable light read.

Liar's Beach by Katie Cotugno is the perfect YA thriller.
This story kept me interested until the final page.
The way the plot unfolded was very interesting and the characters are written that you, the reader quickly wants to know what happened to them.
What drew me in was this cover art. And after reading the description I knew I had to dig inside.
I’ve read Cotugno‘s previous titles and they’ve always been so good and this was no different.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You Netgalley and Delacorte Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. It was started out slow and the pace did not pick up for me. The characters were not likeable and I did not like the main character.

This was a relatively quick read that drew me into the storyline and the characters immediately. The writing was good with twists and turns around every corner. This is a great easy read for both YA readers and adults looking for a quick mystery.

The MC Linden seemed kind of a jerk at times, but also I was wrapped up in his whole mystery that happened back at school. I really liked Holiday and how she was determined to solve this mystery. It was definitely a bit dramatic with all the rich kids on the island seemingly acting like a kid found floating in a pool was not a big deal - even if he had his own secrets. But I did want to see where the mysteries ended up.

I'm hoping this is a series considering some things were not wrapped up. It was a bit predictable for me - but I do read a lot of thrillers and the majority of the time can guess where they are going. I liked the nod to Agatha Christie and wish we could get more mysteries solved from Holiday's POV. Overall, it was a decent read that kept me entertained so it was a 3.5-star read rounded up to 4-stars. I would consider reading more if it turned out to be a series.

2.75/5 stars! This Agatha Christie re-telling had a lot of potential. I liked the premise, Holiday, and the final conclusion. But I disliked the rest of the cast and didn't feel as engaged in the story as I hoped. The pacing was slow for the first 20% of the story and that made the story feel disjointed to me. I think with some improvement in the pacing and making all the characters more 3-dimensional would make me want to read future books by this author.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

What a fun ride! This book has all the twists and turns and a few red herrings besides. Even with all of this it is also a murder mystery that deals with classism, privilege and the identity crisis that often happens to teenagers. Michael is not nearly as rich as his friends, a fact he feels he has sufficiently hidden at his posh boarding school, but when a dead body turns up in the pool of their Martha’s Vineyard pool he begins to think they are all capable of murder. As he and his old friend Holiday begin investigating it is clear that this case has no clear cut answers.

3/5 stars. To be released May 2023.

Liars Beach is another one of the many spins on Agatha Christie novels that have come out lately. They are definitely books I have enjoyed reading, so naturally I wanted to pick this one up.

This particular retelling takes place on Martha’s Vineyard, where our narrator, Linden, goes to spend his final week of summer vacation. Linden is not super rich like all his friends, and struggles with that concept the entire novel. He’s desperate to fit in and because of that became slightly annoying to me.

After someone is found unconscious in the pool, he teams up with his former childhood friend to figure out if it was an accident or something more sinister. Holiday is your “not like other girls”, but still rich, character in the book who just happens to be really into investigations. Together they find out his friends secrets (and do some pretty shady stuff) to try and solve the crime.

The writing is fast paced and engaging, which makes for a quick read. The characters can be pretty annoying at times, but that’s probably meant to happen. Overall, you can probably connect the dots and solve the crime yourself. It was good, but nothing great or groundbreaking that I haven’t read before.

3.5 stars

I liked the mystery of this book, though it didn’t really get interesting until about halfway through. I didn’t care for most of the characters either.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!