I loved this book!
I am a big thriller reader, but I have not read anything by Jamie Lynn Hendricks. This was an amazing introduction to her writing!
The twists and turns all came at the right time and the pace was great. I will definitely be recommending this to others! Excuse me while I go find my next Jamie Lynn Hendricks book! :)

*4.5 stars

I'm not a fan of when nearly everyone in a book knows something that the reader doesn't. Little clues are dropped for quite a while until it's revealed what happened at the senior picnic 22 years before, and I couldn't quite figure out why the reader is kept in the dark for so long. It's obvious from the beginning that people lied about what happened, but I couldn't figure out why the original story that was told to the police was kept from the reader.

This made me dislike the first part of the book, until we finally learn what happened and the characters begin to reveal what really happened that night. Basically, best friends Scarlet and Pepper covered up what happened during a car accident at the senior picnic that left two of their classmates dead. Pepper disappeared off to New York, and Scarlet eventually met and married Vince, who used to be Pepper's high school boyfriend. They have a now teenage son and a horrible marriage. But who should show up on the doorstep but 21-year-old Zoey, daughter of the recently deceased Pepper, who has some questions about the identity of her father and about what exactly happened at the senior picnic.

I know we are supposed to be shocked about what happened, but overall I was underwhelmed. I pretty much saw everything coming. I listened to this as an audiobook and if anything, it made the characters seem more annoying. Scarlet calls her son "my boy" every few pages and it was annoying and then just got weird. I felt like an editor should have cut a few of those out. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed it as much had I read the book on the page, but it was silly in the audio.

Overall I found the book predictable and kind of forgettable. There are lots of people who loved this one so read their reviews to balance mine as I'm a bit of an outlier here.

Audio!

So this audiobook was just released and truthfully for the most part, I enjoyed it! I thought that the back and forth of trying to figure out who did it and what the crap actually happened!

The narrator did a great job with most of the characters!! The one that I could not stand was Zoe's though. I am not sure if it was the accent she was trying to do or what but I could not stand hearing Zoe talk.

I loved that there were varying timelines and varying POVs and almost formats! It was super helpful and added to the story so much! I feel like this story highlighted how teens brains really don't develop until later on in life because they were insufferable.

I feel like this book showed love vs perceived responsibility. Vince marrying Scarlett because she was pregnant was that perceived responsibility. All of these secrets just destroy a marriage so epically. It was a pretty good story!

I enjoyed this novel very much. Jaime L Hendricks has a gift for creating multidimensional characters that the reader loves to hate. Scarlett and Vince's rocky marriage hits a speed bump when Zoey, Scarlett's "deceased" long-lost friend from school, shows up on their doorstep, claiming to be Vince's daughter. Zoey then goes on to reopen interest in a car wreck that happened during that time.. The narrator deserves an A+.

I was really invested in these characters, it was a good book. I did not want to put it down. Great read.

This story caught me by surprise. At first I wasn’t sure if I would like Zoey but listening how she navigates searching for the answers to the secrets that her mother kept from her..
The ending surprised me.

Just finished this listen. It was a great listen. Several POVs and alternating timelines pull this whole story together. Most of the characters are unlikable, VERY unlikeable. There were several twists that rolled around, but still so many questions. The story pulls together for a nice neat ending. The narrator did a nice job. I listened to it at 2x the speed very comfortably. I enjoyed this story and will look into this author in the future. Thanks NetGalley and High Bridge Audio for the chance to listen.

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish.

I had the opportunity to listen to the audio while I followed along reading, which is my favorite way to immerse myself in a book.

Scarlett has been keeping her best friend Pepper's secret for more than 20 years. Just after graduation, something terrible happened, and one lovely little lie was told. Pepper left for New York, and no one back home heard from her again. When Pepper's daughter shows up claiming her mother is dead and she is looking for her father, buried secrets begin to resurface.

If you are a thriller book reader, you should be able to predict the plot twist and where this book was going. However, the twist was not what made it so great, it was the character development and watching everything unfold. You know the girls told a lie after an accident, you have a general idea of what happened, but the depths of the lie are worse than you'd think.

I started out hating most characters and liking a couple. They were the kind of characters that you loved to hate and still wanted to read about. As the book progressed, all of my opinions flipped on almost every single character. As we began to see more depth, my opinion changed and by the end, I was left so unsettled by the whole thing.

This was not my first book by this author, but it has been my favorite so far. I highly recommend it to thriller readers.

A car accident in 1999 resulted in the death of two teenagers in a friendship group on the night of their senior picnic. Scarlett and Pepper, best friends, were involved in the car accident and lied to the police about what happened that night. Shortly after, Pepper left town and has not returned or contacted Scarlett since. Twenty-two years later, Scarlett has made a life for herself, working at a hotel and raising her teenage son with her husband Vince. In swoops Zoey, Pepper’s daughter with news of Pepper’s death and a cryptic note her mother wrote about that night of the senior picnic. Zoey is determined to find out what really happened that night as well as who her father is.

This was my first book by Jaime Lynn Hendricks. The story alternates between the night of the senior picnic in 1999 and the present time, twenty-two years later. I enjoyed the short chapters and the narration by Hillary Huber. I was immediately drawn into the story and interested to find out what did happen that night of the senior picnic. However, as the book continued, I didn’t connect to any of the characters. Also, there weren’t any jaw-dropping twists…many of them were predictable. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a short, quick listen that doesn’t mind somewhat predictable twists. I give this one 3/5 stars.

This book had me at 1999.

At their senior picnic, Scarlett & her best friend Pepper are involved in a car accident that leaves two of the their classmates dead.

They lied to the police about what really happened that night & soon after, Pepper left town & Scarlett never heard from her again. It's now 22 years later & the deadly secret has come back to haunt Scarlett.

I loved this book so freaking much! Not only was it dark & twisted but it was filled with drama & mystery. It goes from the present back to the past as it lays out for you what really went down that night. Just when you think you know exactly what happened, more information is presented & you're back to square one.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Jamie Lynn Hendricks, & RB Media for this audio book in exchange for an honest review!

Everyone is pretty much a monster in high school, but this thriller really takes it to the next level. A Lovely Lie is a solid popcorn thriller and binge-able audiobook. The story centers on Zoe, who travels to Florida in search of her birth father, and ends up uncovering more than a few long-buried secrets. Overall, this was fast paced and well plotted, which kept me engaged from start to finish.

There are quite a few horrible characters here and the narrator Hillary Huber did a great job bringing each of them to life. I found this to be a perfect distraction on a stressful day and recommend it to fans of domestic thrillers and mysteries.

Thanks to Netgalley for this arc.
We follow 2 timelines, the night of the senior picnic and the investigation and twenty years later where secrets come to the surface from that fateful senior time. There was a car accident back in the past and there’s so much to unfold between the lies that surface through this book. This is very juicy with tension throughout Scarlett and her family and even with all the lies and secrets from the past. Zoey shows up who is Pepper’s daughter who nobody knew about and now wants answers from her mother’s past. very good storytelling and there’s so many twists and turns I love it! It’s so entertaining.

A great summer thriller that kept me guessing until the end. Sometimes it can be hard to follow different POV especially on audio but I was able to keep up. Kept me guessing until the end. I look forward to reading more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

While it was definitely a quick read, “A Lovely Lie,” by Jaime Lynn Hendricks, did not exactly wow me. The characters were the main reason for this. I honestly can’t name one of them that I identified with or felt some kind of sympathy for. They were all pretty awful, which made it difficult to really appreciate the story or care how it ended. I also have a hard time believing that people really harbor intense feelings for a high school ex that they haven’t seen since they were 18 and are now 40. Not saying this wouldn’t happen but I don’t imagine it’s quite common. Overall, I would read another book of this author’s but I can’t say I’d necessarily recommend this book.

This audiobook was pleasant to listen to. I listen at a bit faster speed (1.25). The narrator was easy to listen to and did a good job with many different voices. Some characters had a fairly immature attitudes and it came across that way, from her tone of voice. The story, although interesting, was a bit drawn out. I felt like either the bulk of what happened in the past should have been hidden more until the end, or the book should have been over sooner...there weren't as many twists towards the end as I personally like. All in all, the story was well written and kept me intrigued throughout.

I typically love JLH’s books, but this one didn’t captivate me like usual. I disliked the character of Zoey so much that I feel like it impacted my entire experience. The cover of this book is absolutely stunning and will draw in readers.

3 ⭐️. This was a fast and easy to binge read but the story was entirely predictable. Maybe I’ve read too many thrillers but I guessed every single twist, which made this feel very young adult. So if you’re a thriller novice, you might find this one fun. This story is about a high school accident that left 2 teens dead and the buried secrets of the past that unfold 22 years later. This was a very ‘summer popcorn thriller’ (think beach read) where I was actively engaged and interested, even if I thought I knew what was happening the entire time. I listened to the audiobook, which was an okay production. I did have a hard time at first with the multiple character POVs and the single narrator but I got the hang of it by the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media, and Jaime Lynn Hendricks for the advanced listeners copy in exchange for my honest review. The book is out now.

This audiobook, narrated by Hillary Huber, was an easy listen without distraction.

Twenty years after a drunken post-senior-gathering, two students are found dead. What initially was ruled an accidental drunk driving incident, is now brought to the present in a clash of those involved. The twists in this story were great.

While the story itself was smooth and well executed, I wouldn’t consider this super suspenseful. There is a need/desire to understand what happened 20 years ago, but the story is also developing in current time too. It read like a popcorn thriller, lightly salted.

Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for this ALC.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Happy release day to A Lovely Lie! I had a really fun time with this thriller. It was a solid 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4), which for me is a super solid rating for a thriller. I found it compulsively readable, to the point I pretty much listened to it in one siting. I liked how this had alternating timelines (high school - 20+ years prior vs. present day) and alternating POVs (bouncing between a bunch of different characters). Both the timelines and POVs created a suspenseful buildup as we tried to figure out what happened in the past and who could be trusted in the present. There were a lot of unlikeable characters but with some endearing ones sprinkled in that you wanted to root for. Even though the plot isn't similar whatsoever, this reminded me a lot of books like Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen and Only If You're Lucky by Stacy Willingham in the way it portrayed mother/daughter relationships and female friendships. I thought the ending wrapped up nicely and in a satisfactory way, but I wanted it to go a little harder at the end.

I had a great experience with the audiobook too. It has a singular narrator, but I thought she did a great job of capturing the personality/voice of each character.

My biggest takeaway though...what was so irresistible about Pepper that had people obsessed with her?! I mean come on, you're obsessed with someone named Pepper?!

All in all, I had a really fun time with this and would definitely read more from this author in the future!

Story: 3.5/5
Audiobook: 5/5 (narrated by Hillary Huber)
Length: 8h18min

A Lovely Lie by Jaime Lynn Hendricks kept me engaged and entertained. Even though I guessed the twist, it did take me a while to figure it out. It was an enjoyable book with a good narration. The characters were just so unlikable, I loved to hate them! Overall, I enjoyed it and I'd read more books by this author.