Three friends travel to another country on a bachelorette trip, but their adventure quickly turns sinister.

I really enjoyed this read! It was fast paced and kept me eager to turn each page. The chapters were a nice length and I always enjoy multiple POV. The synopsis doesn’t give away much into the full story, so I encourage going in pretty blind! I didn’t know what to expect but I didn’t mind, it was a fun & fast read.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC

Chelsea Ichaso is so good at creating a great, suspenseful and twisting novel. I was so attached to the book, just waiting to see what happened next, because I felt like anything could happen next.

The plot revolves around three women who have been friends for years- Jocelyn, Rowan, and Cadence - and they’re celebrating Jocelyn’s bachelorette party at her aunt’s isolated Welsh B&B. But as the week progresses, not only does the group find themselves creeped out by some fellow guests, but they begin to feel cracks in their own friendships, as secrets begin to surface. And boy are they going to test the limits of even these lifelong relationships.

The book is set up so that we know something does eventually goes horribly wrong, but the who’s, what’s, why’s are what the rest of the book fills in, and I definitely didn’t guess what was going on before it was revealed! There were enough twists and suspects to give plenty of options, so anything was possible.

And it really did feel like the next chapter could have anything happening - because there was so much craziness going on, but in a good way. Lots of lies, secrets, and strangeness going on, there’s a little bit of everything! And I loved it. The atmosphere was full of suspense and the setting - a Welsh inn, surrounded by woods filled with ancient standing stones used in ancient rituals- was perfect.

When the ending was revealed, I was very satisfied with the outcome. It’s a good one. It felt complete, and wrapped up things nicely.

Chelsea Ichaso is a great author and I’ll be putting her on my list of must-reads for tge future!

Following a group of friends on a bachelorette trip in Wales, Jocelyn, Rowan & Candace are all holding secrets from each other… while potentially running from a killer who might be out to get them.
In this twisty adult thriller debut from YA sensation, Chelsea Ichaso, So I Lied is a multi-perspective rollercoaster of a novel. Nowhere in this book did I anticipate the ending, though Ichaso has always been one of the only thriller authors I’ve always deemed authentically unpredictable in a captivating way.
When the girls meet traveling companions, Magnus & Valentina, the story morphs into something that had me on the edge of my seat with heart palpitations and anticipation watching as their journey unfolded.
Ichaso’s characters are all unreliable narrators with secrets they hold from the rest of the group. Not a single character in this story was regularly likable, but somehow seemed emotionally relatable to the reader in the same capacity.
Time and time again, I’m impressed by Ichaso’s narrative, and I’m always wrong about, “who done it” in a shocking turn of events.
This book will keep you up all night long, hanging onto the edge of your seat. My nails were chewed off entirely as I watched the destruction unfold between the group leading up to an unexpected ending.

Chelsea Ichaso’s writing style is unique in voice with a chilling edge & a promising need for more, more, more. Fans of Stacy Willingham would love this debut from Ichaso, and I’m looking forward to reading more of her adult thrillers!

Ummmm I feel like I just went on the wildest ride. In a good way for sure - but the characters in this story are awful. This twisty, turny story definitely was worth the read and pretty captivating.. I will say I never was bored and didn’t have a difficult time picking it back up. Worthy of a 4 star review but not my favorite at the same time. Will definitely recommend to friends!

Solid thriller with good twists and kept me guessing where it was headed. I liked the multiple POV and that we got to see everyone's motivations for their actions. I would recommend for sure 3 stars, I want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a solidly entertaining book. Lots of characters with secrets, and a lot of twists. I certainly wasn’t able to guess how it was going to all come together. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jocelyn is excited to get married. She plans a bachelorette trip to North Wales with her two best friends. Rowan is a single mother spending time away from her young daughter for the first time. Cadence is going on the trip, but she does not want to. She’s always felt like the third wheel regarding her two best friends. During the trip, stress from all the things they have left unsaid throughout their friendships begins to wreak havoc on their trip and their relationships with one another. Will their friendships survive the trip?

Chelsea Ichaso has done it again! She has delivered another twisty thriller that you won’t be able to put down! Told through alternating points of view of each of the three best friends, you will feel like you are there in Wales with them. Their secrets are jaw-droppingly juicy. The ending twist was completely unexpected. I highly recommend this one to anyone that enjoys thrillers! I give it 4.5/5 stars.

So I Lied by Chelsea Ichaso is a gripping psychological thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats with its twists and dark secrets.

Jocelyn is ready to get married—and more ready to have fun. She plans a bachelorette trip to North Wales, where she can forget about her strained relationship and focus on the tension among friends instead. It’s a welcome distraction.

Her friend Rowan used to be the wild child. But after having a kid of her own and losing the father in a tragic accident, she’s now the ever-responsible single mother, cautious in every way. Except one.

Cadence doesn’t want to be there. For as long as she’s known her friends, she’s always felt disparate. Maybe it’s because those two share a special Jocelyn’s brother was Rowan’s boyfriend, and they still feel his loss. Or maybe it’s because Cadence has secrets they can never know.

As the trip goes on, their friendship begins to crack under the pressure of all the things they leave unsaid…but those might be the only things that can save them.

Loved it.

This author has been on my radar for a while now, but this was the first book I’ve read by her!

SO I LIED is a dark tale of friendship, lies, and deception.

Three women spend a week together on a bachelorette trip in North Wales. Sounds fun, right? Wrong. The secrets they’ve been keeping from each other are bound to unravel — and when they do, there’s no going back.

Told in multiple POVs from the three friends, I was constantly trying to figure out each character’s agenda. None of the characters were likable, but that was only cemented once the lies started unraveling.

I had a hard time believing the friendships between these women. It was truly difficult to imagine them staying in touch when none of them seemed to like each other. Then you add in their secrets… yikes.

This landed around 3 stars for me. It kept me hanging on, but I wanted to be more invested in the characters.

I will be reading Ichaso’s next YA book, WE WERE WARNED soon, and I can’t wait to see how that one stacks up to this one!

One of my favorite thriller writers normally does YA fiction, but with So I Lied she has ventured into her first adult thriller. Three friends since college Cadence, Jocelyn, and Rowan are headed to a B&B out in the middle of nowhere for Jocelyn's bachelorette party. The three haven't spent a lot of time together over the past eight years but this is about to change and soon this weekend of what was supposed to be fun and games will end in murder and death. This weekend not only will blood be spilled, but dark secrets and it looks like these friends are hiding dark secrets that if they got out - would have ruined their relationships from the get-go. To top it off this weekend, the girls are about to encounter a stalker as well and someone who might just be a murderer and not just the murderer within their group of friends. At college, Cadence was set to be valedictorian and was meant for great things, but Rowan's dark secret caused Cadence to miss out and from then on, Cadence's life just spiraled out of control. Rowan's daughter is the daughter of Jocelyn's dead brother Jake who supposedly died of a drug overdose and just before he died, Jocelyn told him a lie about Rowan which caused him to break up with her just before he died and ultimately led to his death. Cadence is in love with Jocelyn's fiance and will do anything to prove to him that he shouldn't marry Jocelyn. So I Lied was a very twisted read and kept you guessing right to the end. I have to say, I did not see the ending twists coming. If you love thrillers and dark secrets and lies bubbling to the surface then "So I Lied" by Chelsea Ichaso is one of those reads you need to add to your 2025 reading lists.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“So I Lied” by Chelsea Ichaso is a dark, twisty thriller that dives into the depths of friendship, betrayal, and hidden truths. The book follows Jocelyn, Rowan, and Candace (nicknamed Joss, Rowan, and Cady), three best friends since high school, who reunite for Jocelyn’s bachelorette party in the moody landscape of North Wales. But this trip is more than a celebratory getaway—it’s a collision course for buried secrets that threaten to unravel their friendships and possibly their lives. This is not a book where you will love the main characters; they are messy and their relationships are messy, but that is what makes them so intriguing.

Ichaso deftly captures the tension and complexity of friendships burdened by past mistakes and hidden grudges. Each woman harbors secrets that, if exposed, could shatter the delicate balance holding them together. The multi-POV narrative allows you to step inside the minds of all three women, though it was a bit challenging to distinguish their voices as they were all written in the same way. The main focus is on how the lines between loyalty and self-preservation blur, leaving you wondering just how far each woman will go to protect herself.

As the friends settle into their stay at Joss’s aunt’s inn, they encounter two mysterious backpackers, Magnus and Valentina. The strangers’ presence adds an eerie layer of suspense, especially as the friends start to suspect Magnus might be involved in the disappearance of a girl named Lisa, who vanished in London. This intrigue becomes intertwined with the trio’s own secrets, creating a tense web of deception and suspicion.

Ichaso’s skill in crafting flawed, “messy” characters shines through. Each of the women is deeply imperfect, haunted by past choices that have damaged their relationships with one another. Rowan, for instance, is struggling with the loss of Joss’s brother (her former boyfriend and the father of her daughter), while Joss contemplates her attraction to Magnus despite her engagement. This messiness makes them relatable, if not always likable, and gives the story a raw authenticity as it delves into themes of grief, guilt, and betrayal.

While “So I Lied” succeeds in building suspense with its short, fast-paced chapters, the shifting focus between the friends’ internal drama and the intrigue surrounding Magnus and Valentina can sometimes feel scattered. The final twist was difficult to believe, as it feels more like an abrupt pivot than a natural conclusion, so you have to suspend your disbelief a bit as you read. The plot’s unpredictability does keep you guessing and makes for an entertaining ride.

Overall, “So I Lied” is a gripping journey into the secrets people keep and the lengths they’ll go to keep them hidden. With its dark setting, messy characters, and unraveling mysteries, Chelsea Ichaso’s latest thriller promises a memorable, if unsettling, read for anyone willing to navigate its tangled web of lies.

Suspenseful, adventurous, and packed with uncertainty, So I Lied has it all for a perfect thriller! The twist at the end was jaw dropping and unexpected. There is plenty of drama between friends to go around. I didn't know who to trust and who not to trust and I love stories like that. The story perfectly weaves between the now and the events leading up to the now. As the story progresses, more secrets between the friends are revealed. This one was unputdownable for me!

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

So I Lied is about a group of 3 friends on a bachelorette trip to North Wales. I love the atmosphere and setting of the novel. It was all moss and woods and damp. Early on in the novel, we start to learn that each of the friends has character flaws, really serious character flaws. The reader learns this because the book is told in multiple points of view. I like that concept, but the execution was flawed. None of the friends has a unique voice. They are defined by their flaws. And they are so flawed that it is hard to understand how they are friends at all. The ending has a couple big twists but they were not that satisfying because the characters were too vague for the reader to be surprised. Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this novel.

I’m struggling to figure out how I feel about this book because I did enjoy many things. The multiple POVs was well done and helped with the tension in a way that was needed. All of the lies came together in a way that made sense and raps the story up in a satisfying way.

Ultimately though I couldn’t buy the basic premise of the story. It didn’t feel like any of these characters had any close friendships. They all seemed to dislike each other, which I guess could have happened over time but there wasn’t enough to make it feel like they even had a close friendship. We were just told this. As a result I could not believe that any of them would have chosen to be in Wales.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for an early copy.

This one was pretty good. You could definitely foreshadow what was going to happen in the book. But still ok read not terrible !

It's thrilling, it's nicely paced and the characters are a nice aquintance. I really enjoyed this book! Thank you to the author, the publisher and to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer for providing this book for review consideration via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! It was filled with tension and mystery. All three friends had so many secrets that they were keeping but that all had had so many consequences in their lives. And the way the story slowly unraveled each of these secrets was sublime. Every time I thought I knew it all and had it all figured out, out came another secret that totally shifted my perspective again.

Besides the three friends, there were some pretty creepy characters that happened to be everywhere the friends were, giving the book an overall eerie feeling of being watched and played with.

The only downside of this book for me would be that it was written in first-person point of view, alternating from the perspectives of the three friends. However, the writing style was exactly the same for each perspective and their characters were also pretty similar in some ways, so there were some points that I got confused about which perspective I was reading from and had to look at the beginning of the chapter again to check.

Other than that though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was eerie and mysterious, and contains a multitude of gasp-out-loud moments. I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to get into thrillers!

This was a wild, crazy, twisted ride. Three longtime friends are hiding so many secrets from each other and all will come out on their trip to Wales to celebrate Jocelyn's bachelorette party. This was a very fast read and kept me interested the whole way through. I did not see the ending coming. I definitely recommend giving this one a read.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. Jocelyn and her friends Rowan and Candace go to Wales for her Bachelorette party. The three have been friends for a while but each has their own secrets and they don’t want the others to find out. During their stay the secrets being to come to light. Apart from their own secrets they are also leery about Magnus and Valentina, other guests at the place they’re staying, who also seem to pop up at all the same places the three girls find themselves. Will the three girls be able to last the whole trip? Or will everything fall apart? Secrets, lies, and so many twists! A quick thrilling story that you won’t be able to put down!