This book starts off strong however I wanted more depth from the characters and storyline. I so wanted to love this book but by the end I was really losing interest in the characters.

I waivered between liking this book and struggling to complete it. Nothing specific I could point to regarding the story. It was well written and the characters were interesting, although a bit annoying at times. I just felt there were times when it dragged unnecessarily. I did mostly enjoy it and would recommend it for readers that like books about complex family dynamics.

I received an arc of this book and voluntarily provided a review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I didn’t love or hate this book, but just “meh”. I found it very difficult to keep track of all the Peacock sisters with the short “chapters”, and it felt very haphazardly jumbled. All in all, It turned out to be a cute story, but I found the most interesting parts of the book the history about the castle.

Thank you Netgalley &Ballantine Books Publishing for an eARC ♥️

Lovers and Liars is a great book that follows the lives of the Peacock sisters as they navigate love, family drama, and personal struggles. Each sister has her own unique story, from Cleo's protective nature to Emma's search for love and attention, and Sylvie's journey of self-discovery. I personally loved how the author explores the complexities of family relationships and the power of sisterhood. The romance is sweet and heartwarming, too! I think you'll really enjoy it! It's a great read for anyone who's ever dealt with the ups and downs of family and love. And let's be real, who hasn't?! The book is like having a conversation with your own sister or best friend - it's that relatable. Plus, it's a great reminder that no matter what life throws our way, love and support can always help us through. ♥️

I would like to thank Emma Thomasch , Random House and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. I had read a previous book by Amanda Eyre Ward, The JetSetters, and wanted to give this one a try. I did not like it. The characters were not appealing ( and in one case seemed a rehash of a character from her previous book), it was hard to follow and just plain dull. I really did not see anything to recommend it. It is the story of 3 sisters, whose father is dead and whose mother was a manipulating controlling cheat. Now everyone is coming together for a destination wedding in a castle in England for Sylvie, whose first husband died 10 years earlier. Sylvie is going to marry Simon, whose family owns the castle. Simon was married previously and has a daughter.He also has a secret, regarding his ex wife and money. Emma is married with 2 children and has spent their savings on a pyramid scheme. Cleo is single, in love with her best friend Isaac and living with her boyfriend Danny.It was a story of lies, and secrets and unhappy people. I finished it, but just barely.

A wedding in a castle? Enough said. This tells the story of the Peacock sisters, each with her own life and her own troubles. Once close enough to share a bed and lean on each other for support, the sisters have grown and grown apart. Financial problems, love problems, and the fear of turning into their mother have led to the girls losing touch. But when one of the Peacock girls decides to marry a man WHO OWNS A CASTLE, things get interesting. The sisters come back together for the wedding, but will this reconnection be enough to keep them in each others lives for good?

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing- Ballantine for the Advanced Reader Copy, in exchange for my honest review.

Lovers and Liars is the story of the Peacock sisters- Emma, Cleo and Sylvie. Each with their secrets, who are brough back together by the wedding of Sylvie. The story is about how each of them are struggling with a very dysfunctional relationship with their mother and complicated childhoods.

The characters were realistic and a bit quirky. I appreciated that the story came together and wrapped up fairly well. I liked it well enough but felt that I did not necessarily connect with it all that much (I am a Social Worker and wonder if the family dynamics didn't sit well with me for that reason.)

The premise was great, the setting was beautiful.
Overall, 3 stars.

Since the death of Sylvie's husband, she has had difficulties connecting to her two sisters, Emma and Cleo. When her role as a bookish librarian collides with a match on an app for readers, Sylvie accepts his whirlwind marriage proposal while navigating how she can begin again when so much has been unanswered about her husband's death.

As her sisters now barely respond to her texts, she inevitably loops them in via a dormant text thread to invite them to her fiancée's family castle for the nuptials.

Simon's mysterious wealth piques Cleo's interest as she is a criminal defense attorney, and investigating this informs Cleo of her plans to break up the wedding on this sprawling family property. The fact that her relationship is in shambles furthers her initiative to make sure her sister doesn't fall into the same kinds of traps.

She's not the only sister with secrets, though, as Emma has secretly invested their family's finances into an MLM pyramid scheme selling intimate products to enhance her customer's titillating affairs in the bedroom. As readers, each of Emma's chapters begins with her negative bank balance chapter by chapter- a creeping debt of which her husband seems to be blissfully unaware.

As these sisters are brought together, what surprised me about this novel wasn't the sister drama but the story's castle setting, which makes this novel worth the read. There are unusual funnels like tours, tastings, birthday parties, animal encounters, film productions, and themed Airbnb rooms to immerse people in this experience and try to keep the lights on the crumbling property.

As the staff navigates these period piece moments with the visitor's modern needs for Starbucks coffee, this plot takes some funny turns. The dinner scenes are zany as guests are offered mutton and meat on spits. Still, each family member grows to appreciate this unusually nostalgic travel back in time and discover themselves through the process.

The novel's bookish themes are rich thanks to Sylvie and Simon's deep affection for literature. Sylvie's mother has bizarrely named each of her children unusual names, and Sylvie's name comes from the novelist Sylvia Plath. This distinct detail incorporates a surprising cameo of her favorite children's book, The Bed Book- a classic I was unaware existed until now.

The bubbly and sometimes sexy plot is grounded through the three sisters' childhood trauma as they recall their distinct moments with a narcissistic mother who remains unchanged throughout the story- as one might expect from a selfish character. It is only their daughter's responses that begin to evolve.

The first half was more substantial than the second half, which became outrageous as the story progressed, not only with characters misbehaving, but as the story loses its steam over time.

Still, this is a more than satisfying novel for your summer beach bag that made me laugh out loud for readers craving a light escape.

This books starts out as a charming novel about love, loss and 3 sisters who share a toxic mother. It seems that the author quickly loses her footing and the book becomes a trite predictable satire of other romance and family novels.
As the sisters move to England to celebrate the wedding of the youngest, the book devolves into absolute page filler nonsense. The author pulls it all together, but with an unlikely, simplistic ending.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC, in return for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
I generally enjoyed this read. It felt a little rushed in spots and underdeveloped as well. But the premise was really engaging and I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened to these sisters and how they resolved their trauma.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on May 14, 2024.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Whew. The Peacock sisters - three red-haired girls raised by a narcissistic mother, their lives spiraling out from each other and full of self-sabotage. As Sylvia, the baby of the group, sets to marry the mysterious British Simon, the whole family gathers in a castle in England where everything falls apart/finally heals(?)

At first, I did not like this book - the beginning was a bit jumbled and unclear - but as things unraveled I found myself settling in and enjoying the prose and plot. I kept going because I wanted to know more, there were so many mysteries at the outset. I don’t know why but I got a vibe of Cold Comfort Farm? Maybe it was a combination of toxicity and weird buoyancy running through the narrative. In the end, I was pulling for these fragile women and their families and enjoyed the ensemble cast.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for sending me an ARC for an honest review.
Lovers and Liars was an introspective view on how a traumatic childhood can deeply and diversely affect different siblings. Throughout the book, the three Peacock sisters reminisce about how they grew up while navigating adulthood and the turmoil of love and loss and complacency. Though I did not grow up with a narcissistic parent, my of my past experiences have led to similar feelings and behaviors that the sisters have. Cleo has a sense of protectiveness over her sisters that as the oldest sister, I very much relate to. Emma just wants those around her to love and need her, which can definitely be both a positive and negative trait. Like Sylvie, I also can feel myself disassociate when I experience any sort of strong emotions.
The short chapters kept me enticed and had me speeding to the finish. There was a fair amount of repetition around thoughts the sisters would have or feelings they needed to express. From personal experience, trauma can bring out the need to repeat yourself or go back over memories or thoughts in a continual loop.
My only criticism is that the conversations would sometimes feel disjointed or out of place in the context of the chapter.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book and I want to look into more of the author’s work.

This was a quick read but not my favorite. The ending just seemed off to me and not believe able in the least. I just didn’t feel for these three estranged sisters like I thought I would.

I wanted to like this one more but it just didn’t capture my interest. I felt like each of the three storylines could have had more time and depth and trying to intertwine them just left them short changed. The resolution felt rush as well.

Three sisters, as different as night is from day, are the focus of Amanda Eyre Ward’s latest book, Lovers and Liars. One sister is getting married to a man she barely knows, one is a high pressure attorney with no time for love, and one is a wife and mom in debt up to her eyeballs. But just who exactly are the lovers and who are the liars? That’s the question you’ll ask as you begin reading, but it won’t take long to realize any one of the characters could be either or both.

"Lovers and Liars" was such a fun read. Three sisters reunite for an English wedding and each carry a secret with them. One is in love with her best friend, one has lost her identity and money to an MLM and one is still carrying the weight of something she experienced as a child. The sister and family dynamics were done well and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the stories of Sylvie, Cleo and Emma.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is a little peculiar but some may find it to be just right.

On the surface, many young women dream of a perfect marriage in a castle with a man that is wealthy, kind and incredibly attractive. Sylvia, a librarian in Miami, felt like she just met her charming white knight. Simon was wonderfully romantic and gave her a huge diamond engagement ring. Perhaps, he was her prince. But the Prologue revealed that she wrote him a note at the castle to tell him she was sorry; it was over. Readers know right away that reality was going to hit hard.

Sylvie’s two sisters told their story next – both miserable. Emma was deep in debt and Cleo was in love with not the man she was living with but an adored Jewish friend. His mother said he had to marry a Jew and she wasn’t the right match. The sister’s divorced mother, Diane, was diagnosed as a narcissist. And these were the people that Sylvie hadn’t seen in ages. And now she wanted to get close to them again -- at her wedding? Well, that would be her second marriage. It’s crazy, insane and made my head spin.

Yet, it was fun to imagine the place where the wedding was set: the Mumberton Castle in the northern part of England. Simon’s family owned this mansion from the 1200s with the kings who ruled and women who were there to serve. It made me want to read more about the many wives of King Henry VIII who had connections at this place. The family also had adventures before the wedding date with birds, sea animals and specialty shops in town.

It’s was a quick read with the suspense that made me eager to find out if Sylvie and Simon would be living happily ever after at the end. However, I couldn’t relate to most of the characters. I found Emma, Cleo and Diane to be annoying. Yet, I get it. This is set up just in time for a beach read with those wanting to sink into a fantasy world of tender love.

My thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of May 14, 2024.

This book left me baffled as to how it received high praise from some readers. I could not get into it at all and had to force myself to keep reading. The characters were wooden the plot contrived. Even the writing style was painful. Every sentence of dialog – and much of the story was told in dialogue - was followed by a “said” tag even when it was obvious who was talking. There were a few harrowing moments, particularly toward the end, but they were wrapped up too quickly and too conveniently. And then it was followed up with an epilogue where everything was rosy and the dysfunctional characters were suddenly functional again and everyone lived happily ever after. Sorry this one didn’t work for me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this advanced copy to read and review. The book is about three sisters that meet in England for one of their weddings. It details their relationships with their romantic partners and how they impact their family relations. We learn about the lies and deceptions between them and their lovers. I decided to read the book in “read out loud mode” on the NetGalley app. I found it challenging to keep the characters and their lives straight. I think if I had read the book it would have been easier. If you don’t mind juggling a number of characters and their stories you will enjoy reading the book.