The Better Liar by Tanen Jones

Synopsis: (Amazon) “Like most of the dead, I want to be remembered.”

Robin Voigt is dead. If Leslie had arrived at her sister’s cramped Las Vegas apartment just hours earlier, this would have been their first reunion in a decade. In the years since Robin ran away from home as a teenager, Leslie has stayed in New Mexico, taking care of their dying father even as she began building a family of her own. But when their father passed away, Leslie received a rude awakening: She and Robin would receive the inheritance he left them together—or not at all. Now her half of the money may be beyond her grasp. And unbeknownst to anyone, even her husband, Leslie needs it desperately.

When she meets a charismatic young woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Robin—and has every reason to leave her past behind—the two make a reckless bargain: Mary will impersonate Robin for a week in exchange for Robin’s half of the cash. But neither realizes how high the stakes will become when Mary takes a dead woman’s name. Even as Mary begins to suspect Leslie is hiding something, and Leslie realizes the stranger living in her house, babysitting her newborn son, and charming her husband has secrets of her own, Robin’s wild, troubled legacy threatens to eclipse them both.

An electric, twisted portrait of sisterhood and the ties that bind, The Better Liar is a stunning debut with a heart-stopping, twist-after-twist finale that will beg the question: How far would you go to get what’s yours?

My Review: This was another quick read that I read back in February (I am awful about updating this, have you noticed?). This one was definitely a ride but touched on some deep topics. One constant theme is depression/post partum and suicide. Having suffered from both (I was diagnosed with clinical depression in 2018), I would understand the emotional roller coaster you can't seem to ever get off. 

I really could feel for Leslie and her struggles as a Mom! It's hard and when you add PPD into it, you really do feel that disconnect with your child. Don't get me wrong, I adore my babies but with PPD sometimes you just check out and half the time you don't even realize you had. 

The twist with Robin/Mary I actually didn't see coming. I mean I guess now that I look back on it, it was pretty obvious but at the time I was like NO WAY! So if you had figured it out 😛. 

This one is definitely worth checking out for yourself!

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Good Girls Lie by JT Elilison

**SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW**

Synopsis: (Amazon) Goode girls don’t lie…

Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond.

But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.

In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder.

When a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide.

But look closely…because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.

My Review: Another amazing, quick read thriller! I finished this one last week after only spending 48 hours reading it. Which I feel like has been my experience with most thrillers. Quick chapters plus engaging story and you have the perfect recipe for a good book. I couldn't put this one down at all! 

I loved how it kept you guessing what was happening next. I wasn't expecting the twist that Ash and Alex were sisters and two different people. I honestly thought it was a case of different personalities! I thought the real killer was Rumi all along. But Ford definitely annoyed me. Like this was HER school and yet she had no idea what was going on? I did genuinely feel bad for Becca. I know she was the "spoiled rich girl" but I really did think her and Alex would have been okay. 

This one is a must read for thriller readers!

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher

Synopsis: Thursday’s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She’s never met them, and she doesn’t know anything about them. She agreed to this unusual arrangement because she’s so crazy about him.

But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very different—and horrifying—story about the man she married.

What follows is one of the most twisted, shocking thrillers you’ll ever read.

My Review: Wow! WOW! WOOOOOOOW! I recently read this for a thriller book club buddy read on IG and I am so glad I joined! I started this book and finished it in less than 24 hours. That was a combination of short chapters (which always make you just plow through a book!) and it being that good. This book had everything: intriguing story, people playing mental games and a plot that makes you go 🤯 when you finally figure out what is going on.

I really liked Thursday's character to be honest. I really felt for her when she explored the emotional mind games her Mother played with her. Having had suffered through many miscarriages myself, I can understand the deep emotional and mental toll they take. I LOVED the Seattle setting and could actually picture the places she was visiting as she described them. I liked that the story was set up as she had this idyllic life but is it ever as it seems? 

What I didn't like was how Regina's story panned out. Like she is legitmately just as bad in my opnion as she made Thursday out to be. And I wasn't too keen on that ending. I was just hoping for more, not that abrupt end that it took. 

Given how small this book was, I can't give too much more of a review without seeping into spoiler territory but I do recommend this book a million times over! 

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Synopsis: Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humilated. Alix resolves to make things right. 

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.


My thoughts: "I think it would be best...if we went our separate ways? And that those paths never again...connected." 

Okay. Wow. Do people actually act this way? Because no one I know has and I think that makes me incredibly lucky! I felt that Emira came off kind of standoffish and flippant towards Alix. And I felt that way about everything. Even when Alix was tried to make things okay (and yes I admit for all the WRONG reasons!) she was still standoffish. And Alix, oh. my. god. The obsessivness drove me nuts. Her obsession with Kelley after she found out he was dating Emira. Get. Over. It. Girl. I almost felt bad for her...until she showed her true colors and then I felt bad for feeling bad! 🤣I never liked Kelley and felt he was just as obsessed as Alix was! So I was glad he didn't have a good outcome but I do agree with Emira, neither person actually changed. 

Overall though I think this was a great pick by Reese's Book Club, seriously the best one to kick 2020 off with! An amazing debut novel by Kiley Reid and I hope we continue to see great things from her! 


Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✯

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Synopsis: Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

My Review: I am a sucker for POV and short chapters and this book had both. I also books that flow easily from chapter to chapter (very short chapters=very quick read!). I felt for Lucy but rejoiced that she was finally able to escape that life and ended up with a happy ending. But did anyone else think that Libby was set up for a sequel? (Does anyone have any insight on this and if so, WHEN?!) But also, please tell me I am not alone in thinking that Henry really IS evil and reading his chapters felt like we got a watered down version of what his POV wanted us to see him as? The fact that the author gave me the creeps while reading her words is telling of her writing style. 

Excellent book, I can't recommend it enough! 

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Conviction by Denise Mina

Synopsis: The day Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life exploded started off like all the days before: Packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone.

Reeling, desperate for distraction, Anna returns to the podcast. Other people's problems are much better than one's own -- a sunken yacht, a murdered family, a hint of international conspiracy. But this case actually is Anna's problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life, a life she's taken great pains to leave behind. And she is convinced that she knows what really happened.

Then an unexpected visitor arrives on her front stoop, a meddling neighbor intervenes, and life as Anna knows it is well and truly over. The devils of her past are awakened -- and in hot pursuit. Convinced she has no other options, she goes on the run, and in pursuit of the truth, with a washed-up musician at her side and the podcast as her guide.

My review: "There is warmth and comfort in hearing about people in worse situations than your own." 

In this book we are introduced to Anna McDonald who seems to have it all. A successful lawyer husband, a beautiful home, 2 beautiful little girls. But is life ever idyllic in novels? Anna has a past. A past that she's been running from. And while she's running from her past, people are running to hurt her.

I really enjoyed this book! Being a Reese's Book Club December selection, I was going to read it regardless (my 2019 goal was to read all the books she chose) and this one definitely didn't disappoint. It had mystery. It has thrilling moments. It has a podcast similar to my favorite podcast My Favorite Murder. 

This one isn't staying in my collection but not because I didn't like it. I actually donated it to my library and I hope the patrons enjoy this one as much as I did. 

Have you read this? What did you think? 

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐