An amazing cross between "The Last Mrs. Parrish" and the 1980s movie Body Heat. It takes a lot for a book to stand out in the crowded "nanny" space, and this one does it. The nanny is a confessed pathological liar, and yet the reader sympathizes with her. While some of the plot points were predictable, the ending was not. Fabulous debut from an exciting new voice in domestic suspense.

Boy meets girl. Girls meets boy… and boy’s daughter and wife. Wife invites girl over for dinner. Girl gets offered a job as a nanny for their daughter.
How many lies can girl keep up until she cracks? unless she is not the only one telling lies…

"Count My Lies" is a gripping and suspenseful novel that explores the dark side of human nature and the consequences of deception.

This book has taken the internet by storm and has left us all gawking in its wake and let me tell you, it's well deserved. Sophia Stava delves into the complexities of deception, identity and allure of having the perfect life.

Sloane, a habitual liar, is a compelling and complex protagonist, creating a sense of unease. I constantly questioned what I was able to believe.

So many twists I swore I suffered from whiplash by the time I concluded

Check out this teaser :

Sloane Caraway is a liar.

Harmless lies, mostly, to make her self-proclaimed sad, little life a bit more interesting.

So when Sloane sees a young girl in tears at a park one afternoon, she can’t help herself—she tells the girl’s (very attractive) dad she’s a nurse and helps him pull a bee stinger from the girl’s foot.

With this lie, and chance encounter, Sloane becomes the nanny for the wealthy, and privileged Jay and Violet Lockhart. The perfect New York couple, with a brownstone, a daughter in private school, and summers on Block Island.

But maybe Sloane isn’t the only one lying, and all that’s picture-perfect harbors a much more dangerous truth. To say anything more is to spoil the most exciting, twisty, and bitingly smart suspense novel to come out in years.

The thing about lies is that they add up, form their own truth and a twisted prison of a world. And in Count My Lies, Sophie Stava spins a breakneck, unputdownable thriller about the secrets we keep, and the terrifying dangers that lurk just under the images we spend so much time trying to maintain.

Careful what you lie for.

The ending of this one makes all the difference. Sloan Caraway is a know liar who enjoys adopting other women's life style. What happens when she meets her match in Violet Lockhart, a woman who is looking for an escape from her daughter Harper. It's a classic, be careful what you wish for.

Positives:
Written from three POVs: Sloane, Violet, and Jay (the husband)
Twisty!!! Just when you think you have it figured out, there was another twist thrown in
Fast paced
Wrapped up nicely at the end with some suspension of disbelief

Negatives:
I wish we could have heard back from Caitlin/Sloane right after Violet's part to see if she was catching on to anything. I know we heard from her at the end.

This book was a wild ride. I thought so many times I knew what was happening, and I was never right! I loved this. It was like Single White Female meets A Simple Favor.

3.5⭐️ When compulsive liar, Sloane Caraway, works her way into the acquaintance of the wealthy Jay and Violet Lockhart, and subsequently becomes a nanny to their young daughter, she has no idea that this family has quite a few secrets of their own.

Overall, I would say I liked this one. It reads very fast, is easy to follow, has pitch-perfect pacing, and has a fun cast of characters who I was endlessly curious about as the story opened. Because of the entertainment factor (it is the epitome of the popcorn thriller), this book is perfect for rainy-day reading or as a palate cleanser when you have read a few denser, emotionally heavy reads.

While there are quite a few positives to Sophie Stava’s debut, I didn’t love that it’s yet another take on a book that keeps being recycled. I won’t name the book because of the spoiler factor, but it is clearly the inspiration here. However, there were a few twists that made it different enough for me to enjoy it even still. However, my biggest criticism is how over-the-top the conclusion is, a Swiss cheese of plot holes if you will, and yet everything ends tied up in the most pristine bow ever.

I would give this book two ratings: one for the first half (4.5⭐️) and one for the second (2.5⭐️), which ultimately gets me to the 3.5 stars I have rated it. If you have not read the book this one is inspired by, you will love it, at least until the final chapters (DM me for the title if you’d like to know).

Read if you like:
▪️debut novels
▪️psychological thrillers
▪️domestic suspense
▪️twisty books
▪️multiple POVs

Thank you Gallery Books for the advanced copies.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really liked this book, but there’s are two things that took it down that 💫 level. The first is that I thought it read slowly, and I love thrillers that read quickly and your, like, yes! So satisfying. This was satisfying, but without the Yes! That leads into number 2. I figured out the direction of the book about halfway through. There were a few twists, but since I knew where it was going, some of the fun was taken away.

@netgalley
@bookofthemonth
@gmabookclub
#readmorebooks
#readmorebooksbywomen
#readersofinstagram
#bookstagram
#bookstagrammer
#netgalleyreader
#netgalleyreviewer
#netgalleyarc
#bookish
#mybookishlife
#wearebookish
#readinggoals
#readin2025
#goodreads

This book's pace was great, with just the right amount of twists to keep me engaged. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and this was my first read from this author, but I am very interested in more of their work. It was suspenseful, well written and was very hard to put down.

I only got about 25 percent in before deciding to abandon it. I might not be in the mood for this type of book at the moment so I am open to picking it up again in a few weeks to see if I feel differently.

Loved this book! I thought I knew where the ending was going but the author gave a twist I wasn't expecting!

This book was meh. It is told in dual POV. The first chunk of hte book is told from Sloane (aka Caitlin’s) POV. I did NOT like her. I found all her lies annoying and redundant and really didn’t care about her as a character. Once we got to Violet’s POV chapters, I found myself more engaged. It has a few twits and is definitely a slow burn. The books main trope is unreliable narrators, so if that frustrates you, I’d steer clear. If you like female protagonists, lying, and con women than this may be for you.

Sloane has been a compulsive liar since she was young. All she wanted was to fit in and by telling elaborate lies (i.e her dad was a rockstar, she had a mansion with a pool etc) was her way to connect with people. Fast forward 20 plus years and she still cannot help but lie to EVERYONE around her. One day, she finds herself reading in the park, and helps a father and his daughter with a bee sting. She tells him she is a nurse and that her name is Caitlin. She continues to see this family and eventually weasels her way into becoming their nanny (despite her checkered past as a teacher where she got fired). She keeps up her fake persona as she becomes closwer with the family. Especially, the wife Violet. She finds herself wanting to be as close to her as possible. Constantly checking her phone for when Violet will text, dying her hair to look like hers, and even starting to wear clothes that are similar. Violet loves the attention and is constantly flattered by “Caitlins” love of her, but Violet also isn’t who she seems. Behind closed doors, Violet has a secret plan. The plan will destroy everyone in her way and no one is safe from their lies.

Thank you Gallery/Scout Press for the ARC!

I love a good psychological thriller. As I read the craziness of the story, I knew I had it all figured out; but wait - NO I was totally wrong. I just couldn’t put this fast-paced additive story down. I needed to know, who was really lying? Are they all lying? This is a must read!
Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for my ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

It’s hard to say too much without spoilers. This book was a fun and twisty ride. The main twist came on slowly but when I realized what was happening, I was in a race to get to the end to see how it played out. Was every part of the book completely believable? I say this a lot…..NO, IT’S FICTION! Did I still enjoy it? Absolutely! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this reader’s copy.

I fear I've read too many similar thrillers to really be invested in this one... along the same lines of THE HOUSEMAID, THE LAST MRS PARRISH, and THE WIFE BETWEEN US, it features a nanny who befriends a couple with not-so-honorable intentions (only for everything to be topsy turvy of course).. I did really enjoy the characterization of the two main women, sloane and violet, and seeing how similar they were in their bones. it was refreshing to get honesty among two liars, and I loved how they both knew it all along from the beginning! although the story itself was repetitive and way too similar to other books, it was a quick-paced bingeable one! and under 300 pages, it was an easy read! the ending was very satisfying and a bit neat for a thriller - and while it definitely wasn't my favorite, it was entertaining to say the least...

Sloane Caraway lies about everything. She lies about her profession. She lies about her childhood. She lies about her friends and her parents. Her lies have never caught up to her until she meets Violet and Jay Lockhart. Because they think she is a nurse (lie) they hire her to be a nanny for their young daughter. What Sloane doesn’t know is that she is not the only liar.

Told in the voices of Sloane, Violet and Jay, Count my Lies is a well crafted puzzle that is almost impossible to solve. The lies that swirl around are told from insecurity, deviousness and manipulation. The truth is hidden and only revealed in an unexpected conclusion. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books and Sophie Stava for this ARC.

I love the idea of a thriller where the main character is a compulsive liar. I loved reading and getting wrapped up in the lies and the family drama. The ending was not what I expected, as I tried guessing what was happening throughout the book.

What a fantastic book! The first one I have read by this author but definitely can't wait to read more! Fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time!! Highly recommend!

Give me every unhinged thriller that is available, please!

From the start of this book, you know our narrator is a liar. She openly admits it. And it weirdly made me like her more? Yeah, I know that sounds strange, but there was something about watching Sloane knowingly dig her hole deeper as she gets to know the Lockhart family. Oh and if you think she’s the only liar, nope! Chaotic goodness!

Aside from loving the characters, I was captivated by the plot and hanging on to every word thanks to the pacing. COUNT MY LIES is a total popcorn thriller that is meant to be binge read.

Twisty fun that I highly recommend!

I’m pretty convinced this book was originally two books she combined into one. Because the first half was PHENOMENAL. loved it. Then the characters became completely different people and the plot changed and it just became a hot mess.

It was so hard to finish this book. It was cringy, uncomfortable and painful. And not in a fun thriller kind of way.

What a ride! This thriller truly kept me guessing. It is always fun to read a book in which all characters are a bit terrible, and Count My Lies is just that book. Multiple POV, all unreliable narrators, so many twists, and it left me guessing up until the very end- this debut is a fun one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for the digital ARC.