I really enjoyed this book! It was fast paced with a dark storyline that left me feeling disgusted and uncomfortable in the best possible way. I wouldn't classify this as a thriller though. It was more of a mystery steeped in psychological drama. A very well written story, but it was a little confusing at times trying to distinguish between which characters were narrating. They were all very similar and extremely unlikeable. Blakely was the only one who really stood out to me. It was sad how desperate these girls/women were that they would do anything to feel like they belonged. The ending wasn't a shocker but definitely held a few surprises. I can't say that I was happy with it and I'm sure others will agree once they've read the book. (No spoilers from me) I was unsatisfied with the result and felt that it was cut short. I wanted more information on a few of the characters instead of insinuation. It was still a very good read, and I would definitely recommend!

Thank you to the author, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for granting me digital access in exchange for my honest review!

I said this before and I'll never get tired of saying it, Lucinda Berry is a mastermind. The story revolves around 4 privileged girls on their last year of summer camp. But of course, what do you get when you put those together? Trouble. This is like a crossover between Stand By Me and I Know What You Did Last Summer, which is I'm totally here for. When I read the last chapter, I just wanted to scream and throw my Kindle across the room. But you know what? (view spoiler) This book is so real with that ending.

You'll never go wrong with Ma'am Lucinda Berry, I tell you. She writes books that are so real and attack the human psyche that you just can't help but relate to the characters and the situations that they're in. Definitely would be another hit. I didn't find many grammatical or typographical errors on the EARC that I got, so that's great. Thank you for this amazing exxperience.

‘Bestselling author Lucinda Berry serves up a haunting thriller about four friends sworn to secrecy over the events of one fateful summer—and the dark truths that threaten to erupt years later.’

Told from alternating perspectives and past and present timelines, If You Tell a Lie was composed of the most miserable and unredeemable characters ever. As teenagers, they were unlikable and stupid, and as adults they were even worse. And then there was the “social contagion” aspect….
Sorry to say, I just had a really difficult time with this one as a whole I was left with so many questions.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this arc.

Pub date: 7.23.24

If You Tell a Lie by Lucinda Berry had me hooked from the first page. I always like dual timelines and this one was great, going between the story of four girls at camp and what happened twenty-six years later. Lucinda Berry never fails to deliver an amazing read and she’s done it again with this book.

This book had such a good set up and could have been so good, but for me the first half dragged and then the second half was super rushed and I felt like the story wasn’t complete. The beginning focused too much on all of the back stories of the 4 women. I understand that we needed to know what happened at camp, but did we need to know every disorder, mental health issue or family drama for each girl? Way too much time was spent on this for it to really never come back around in the present tense in a meaningful way. Then the ending felt so rushed. Like we never really got closure on anything. Also, Regina’s cell mate had access to the home security system so I feel like that should have played a part in the ending personally. It wasn’t a bad book and I liked the twist, but ultimately it’s just a 3 star read for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the ARC.

Thank you net galley for letting me read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Welp I read it in a day which is always a good sign. The storyline revolves around 4 friends who go to summer camp every year: the basis of the thriller revolves around the girls doing a “senior prank”. This prank leaves a real bad feeling in the depths of your soul and for me as a reader I was mad for the entire book about the prank gone wrong….which is why I probably read it so fast! Anyways if your a fan of Lucinda Barry and enjoy reading messed up thrillers…than you’ll enjoy this quick read

Blakely, Grace, Meg and Thera are reunited every year at summer camp for the gifted. Back home, they are unpopular but here they thrive and look forward to it every year. On their last year at summer camp, Blakely is determined to lose her virginity and has her eye on a camp counselor who is much older. Things go too far and someone is murdered and another imprisoned. 20 years later and no longer in each other’s lives, another murder brings the girls together. Things are not always what they seem and soon they will find out you can’t always trust your friends. If you tell you lie was another brilliant book by Lucinda Berry. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book had so much potential. I loved the concept and storyline and there were some decent plot twist, but that got lost in all of the unnecessary and repetitive parts. I’ve enjoyed some of Lucinda Berry’s other books, but this one was just slow and uneventful - every time it started to get exciting, it would just plummet back into nothing. The main characters were different but similar enough to where it was hard to keep track of who was who at times. I appreciate that she shed light on different social issues, but overall it didn’t do enough for the character development. The ending was good but predictable. This wasn’t bad but definitely not great, like some of her others.

3.75⭐️ This was fast-paced and fun. Not my favorite Berry book but she always manages to make it engaging and twisty. All the POV’s were a bit hard to track but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I just wish the ending had delivered more of a punch.

📖 If You Tell a Lie
✍️Lucinda Berry
🗓️ 23 Jul 2024
📝Thomas & Mercer

I was so excited about this one, stalking NetGalley for it! I do love Lucinda Berry, even if her last one and Under Her Care were not my favourites. But I still had hope.

This was different from her earlier novels but similar in a way too. I think she’s back to her roots as an author who doesn’t fear to write about the ugly. She makes ugly work. She’s twisty but not to the degree of having to have a twist every other page, she makes her novels play out brilliantly on their own.

The story was so much more complicated and intriguing than I anticipated. I won’t give a summary this time. I went in blind and that served me right, I think. The whole thing took me by surprise and I let the story do its magic.
Always when I thought I had it figured out, nah, I never did. It always went in a different direction. I was wondering for the longest time how the two storylines (Like the first half and the second half of the book) made sense, but they did.

The story is so well told. It was five POV’s, dual timeline, which is usually too much for me, but I could keep up well. In “The Best of Friends” I was deeply confused but here I could easily distinguish the different characters.

I really enjoyed this book and would happily recommend it to lovers of twisty thrillers!

⭐️Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own, I was under no obligation to review.

I like Lucinda Berry's books and this one had a promising synopsis, but sadly I just could not connect with any of the characters in this one. I loved the flashbacks of summers at camp, but even then I hated all the characters. I do appreciate the way Lucinda tells a story and how she ties everything up at the end. Many readers will absolutely love this one.

Thank you NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Lucinda Berry for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! There were so many twists and turns up until the very end. It was a bit confusing at first to remember which character was which, but once I got into the books, it was easy to tell them apart. I couldn’t put this book down. It was so amazing!

Reserve your favorite cozy chair, grab your popcorn and be prepared to not do anything for the next 24 hours , because If You Tell a Lie is one of the most bingeable novels I have read in a long time!

This is the summer camp thriller you didn't know you needed !

"It wasn't that she'd stabbed her husband 117 times. As awful as that was, nobody really blamed her for doing it , especially after what he'd done. Lots of people thought he deserved it ."

If You Tell a Lie is told from multiple POV's and between past and present timelines .

It's 1998 and Alanis Morissette is blaring in the background, Beverly Hills 90210 is your favorite TV show and you are a misfit that is a nobody in your regular school ,...until summer camp at Camp Pendleton where you are the star of the show .

Follow Theran , Grace, Meg and Blakely as they enter their final year at Camp Pendleton where there is many secrets and the haunting horrific night when the hot and sexy tennis coach Mr. Crosby was brutally murdered. Will the truth every be revealed of what really happened , who is lying and who is telling the truth ??

" They treated us like celebrities, and for a bunch of social misfits , it was like a small piece of heaven . But we didn't know what to do with it when, the rest of the year, people treated us like the gum on the bottom of their shoe"

This story has Drama , diabolical characters , jaw dropping moments , scenes that will make you cringe and a plot twist ending I did not see coming !!

I really think fans of The Girls are All So Nice Here , In My dreams I Hold A knife and TV fanatics of Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale will devour this book!!

Some people may have trigger warnings to sexual abuse .

Thank you Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer and Lucinda Berry for this digital ARC !!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Lucinda Berry never disappoints! I've read all of her books and she is definitely a favorite of mine!

If You Tell A Lie had me hooked from the very beginning. The dual timeline was great, going between the story of 4 girls and what happened during their last summer at camp, and the twists that came 26 years later. At first it was a little hard to follow and keep track of who was who, so it wouldn't hurt to keep notes in the beginning.

Another page turner from the queen! My favorite part of reading Lucinda's books is the emotional dive we take into each of the characters. It helps put all the pieces together. Finished in two sittings!

I’m a big fan of Lucinda Berry’s books, every new one is a must read asap. I’ll happily admit I prefer her dark and disturbing psychological character dramas to some of her psychological thrillers and I’m happy to report that If You Tell A Lie sits somewhere in the middle and is a great book.

Four friends, close friends since their teenage summers spent at a summer camp for gifted children, outsiders in their everyday lives they formed special bonds at the camp.

A lie that went too far at camp had fatal consequences, and twenty years later a sinister notes brings it all back with all the fear and threat you might imagine.

There’s a few characters, they are well developed over time, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep notes. The plot rolls along very nicely, there’s strong tension, some dark and disturbing elements and some big shocks.

My favourite Lucinda Berry book in a while. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer

Lucinda never disappoints to take you on a wild ride! When 4 girls from Camp Pendleton bond over an incriminating secret, how long will it be before the truth comes out?

26 years later and the girls are reunited after that fateful summer. All the twists and turns in this one are wild. Just when you think you might have it figured out, watch out!!

When I read the synopsis for If You Tell A Lie I knew it was just the type of thriller I had to add to my TBR. I really liked the dual timeline of the past when the girls attended camp and years later after they hadn’t had contact with each other after what went down at camp. I also liked reading from each of the girls perspectives along with tidbits from Jared’s wife. I had to skip the parts about the kids because that’s under my no-go for reading. Blakely’s character was so unpredictable and exciting to read. I really enjoyed this book but I was hoping there would be more of the future timeline. I really liked the twist and the ending that I didn’t see coming but again would have liked more.

I received this ARC review from NetGalley in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

This book gave me so many different feelings. The whole situation around the circumstances regarding the murder of the tennis coach by his wife at camp left a lot of unanswered questions. The roles that Blakely, Thera, Meg, and Grace played that night, and their keeping what happened a secret for 26 years, had me on the edge of my seat, wanting to know what happened. I have to say that Grace was the only character I connected with, and I was rooting for her. The other three, well, what can I say without spoiling anything? The plot kept my interest throughout the entire book, and I couldn't wait to see how the reunion of the four of them would all play out. I normally guess at least some of Lucinda Berry's reveals in her books, but this truly wasn't the ending I was expecting. It was an amazing, twisted, suspenseful read, 5 stars.

Summer camp is where the secrets, lies and double crosses started with the female characters in If You Tell a Lie. Now they are grown up women and the messy situation just gets messier. Author Lucinda Berry is great at writing intricate plots that keep you guessing right up to the last page.