When I say I LOVE a young adult mystery, I mean it. I find it difficult to not pick up any one of them that I read about or hear about and this one did NOT disappoint. The characters were fun and aspirational, even as a nearly 30 year old woman - I'd love to have a summer home in New England and go to boarding school and just be generally wealthy! I thought this one was intriguing and kept me on the edge of my seat but also recognized early on that it was entirely predictable (but that didn't make me enjoy it any less!).

When I'm in a slump, this is exactly the kind of book I want to read! I had gone months without reading before I picked this one up and it really got my momentum going as I kicked off my summer reading! It was overall average but is exactly what I needed to get a jump start!

Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy. This is my honest opinion.

Liar's Beach is a fun (if slightly forgettable) YA mystery/thriller.

I really liked Katie Cotugno's writing. It made for an easy, addictive read. I also loved the Martha's Vineyard setting--the extravagant vacation home, the beach, and the other locations around the island. Furthermore, there was interesting commentary on class and privilege.

I didn't find this novel to be particularly shocking or memorable, but I had a good time reading it. I would recommend it to young adults looking for a quick, summery mystery/thriller. 3.5/5 stars!

Look, I’ve read a lot of YA mysteries and a lot of books by Katie Cotugno. I’ve never loved a Katie Cotugno book but was hopeful that a mystery about rich teens in a beach house would be her strong suit. Unfortunately, I have read so many great YA mysteries that my standards are stupidly high, and Liar’s Beach didn’t stand a chance. I’ve said before that I can handle a mediocre mystery plot if the characters are compelling enough to carry it, but these ones aren’t. Holiday, our MC’s childhood friend almost gets there, but never feels fully developed. Linden, the MC, is your typical jock scholarship kid that is constantly horny and worried about a sports injury. He’s a got rich bestie that is interchangeable with three other rich boy characters. There’s a love interest that is so wildly “not like other girls” it feels like parody. None of them stood out, and the mystery wasn’t special. It’s fun but not great, and the twist was okay. I wasn’t ever bored, but I was never fully invested. This author just isn’t for me and that’s okay!

I read this book in one sitting and I will definitely be reading more from this author! I'm not usually one to pick a book that has the characters still in high school but this was a great book and it gave me similar feelings as to when I read the book we were liars when I was trying to figure out the Mystery as I read. I think this is also the first book I've read from a teen boy's point of view so I don’t have much to say about that since in a 25-year-old woman haha. However, the book was still amazing and I will be recommending this to my friends. Great book for the summertime.

2.5 stars

I love myself a YA mystery but everyone felt a little too young for me. I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book because I do like Agatha Christie and I have read The Mysterious Affair at Styles, however I don't think that every locked room mystery needs to be compared to Agatha Christie. I found all of the characters so insufferable, which is upsetting because I'm pretty sure I'm only a couple years older than them. It was basically rich white teenagers need to solve a mystery, and most of the time I did not care.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book.

I was kind of disappointed in this book, The plot seemed so interesting when I requested, but it just didn’t hit, It ended in a cliff hanger that should not have happened.

great book and I enjoyed the characters growth. Loved the friends and how this all worked out. I enjoyed the characters journey to finding oneself and others. I hope to read more by this author again.

This was definitely an entrancing read. I couldn't stop reading to find out the truth while at the same time seeing that your perception is not always reliable. It was written really well and I enjoyed it!

Michael Linden, or Linden as everyone calls him is not your typical preppy private school student but he attends the coveted private school anyway. Linden is there on a scholarship but he doesn’t want anyone to know so he does everything he can to hide it. When he gets invited to the beach house of one his friends he jumps are the opprotunity to enjoy some time off and get some rest after a horrible ankle injury. He is stressed because he isn’t sure he will be able to keep his scholarship to play at his school. Little does he know what he is going to find out while on vacation! He is in for a shock of his life.

This book was very well written and was a quick read to be honest. I was able to read fairly fast and it kept me entertained. It had a development of characters that truly exposed who they are and what their true intentions are. It makes you think about what you actually see versus what is actually happening. There is moments in the book that are thrilling and fun while other portions that are downright freaky. I really enjoyed the novel!

Let me start this review by saying that I will read anything Katie Cotungo publishes. I think Katie is a really talented writer with a knack for tackling messy topics that a lot of other YA writers steer clear of. I’ve really loved all of her YA contemporaries and I am so thrilled to see her tackling a new genre (one of my favorite genres no less) while still bringing her classic Katie Cotugno charm to the characters and the setting. Liar’s Beach is an Agatha Christie inspired YA mystery that takes place in Martha’s Vineyard where the rich go to summer. We’re following Michael Linden, a scholarship student at a New England prep school, who was invited by his roommate Jasper to spend time at his family’s massive beachfront home August House, and is trying desperately to seem like he belongs there. The morning following a big party, Jasper’s sister Eliza discovers an unconscious body floating in the pool and this is where the story really picks up. Something seems off about the whole situation so Michael reconnects with Holiday, the daughter of the family his mother is a housekeeper for, and the pair begin investigating the attempted murder. They uncover a ton of secrets, and strain relationships, including their own, along the way. Going into Liar’s Beach, I think it’s important to note that this is definitely a YA contemporary leaning mystery and not a fast paced thriller. The stakes never feel too high. Overall I enjoyed the book- I was able to binge read 60% of it in one sitting which is a rarity for me these days. My one gripe is that the dialogue felt a little cringey. I’m not a teenager anymore. That might be how kids are speaking these days, but I much preferred inner monologue to audible conversations. I think Katie took a lot of risks with this one between switching genres and writing from a male perspective so while I commend her for trying something new, it was not my favorite of her books. However, should Liar’s Beach get picked up for a sequel as the ending would imply, you can bet that I’ll be grabbing myself a copy!

Katie Cotugno forever. This was the perfect rich-kids-vacation-house story with a dark twist. It was exactly what I needed. Incredible.

Michael "Linden" is visiting his boarding school roommate, Jasper, at Jasper's parents' mansion in Martha's Vineyard for the last couple weeks of summer when someone is found unconscious in the pool. The whole situation rubs Linden the wrong way and he spends his vacation working with his childhood friend, Holiday, to figure out what exactly happened. I think the "poor kid solves a mystery while navigating the wealthy vacation / boarding school / camp environment" is a bit overdone now but Liar's Game was a fun, quick read with a bit of a letdown of an ending. I would recommend it.

This was a great murder mystery that kept me guessing. I really enjoyed reading it.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this review copy.

I live thrillers and this was no exception

I love Cotugno but haven’t read her latest releases for one reason or another. The synopsis of this one really appealed to me and I liked that she was working in a different genre. There are very few reviews and the overall Goodreads rating is pretty low, which is interesting, but I was still cautiously optimistic. I haven’t read THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES but it’s definitely on my Agatha Christie to-read list now.

Linden is off to Martha’s Vineyard to spend some time with his roommate Jasper and his family at their gorgeous house on the beach. He’s hiding a lot about his true background/socioeconomic status but tries to fit in with them nonetheless. He’s on a lacrosse scholarship at a fancy boarding school and has to keep up appearances. His childhood friend (his mom works for their family) Holiday is there too. When a body of a guy everyone hates shows up in the pool, Holiday and Linden set out to solve the mystery.

I ended up really enjoying this! It’s a little surface-level and super short, which made for a breezy Memorial Day Weekend read on the porch in just a couple of hours. I don’t actually wish it was longer though – she achieved what she needed to in under 300 pages. There are definitely discussions on class, Great Gatsby vibes/themes, and manic pixie dreamgirl energy, which was all a part of the wider story and message Cotugno was trying to convey.

The ending was interesting and I didn’t predict it, so that was good, but the VERY ending (last sentence) was annoying lol. I don’t want to spoil it or call it a cliffhanger (because it isn’t in the sense of the actual mystery), but it was one in other ways. Overall, I think I’d recommend this to those who enjoy YA books centered around rich and privileged kids like I always have lol. It really was a good summer mystery to kick off the season the weekend I read it.

3.5 stars

It's me, back again reading another book about rich people doing bad things to each other. I know, I'm surprised, too. We've already been over my fondness for Gossip Girl et al, but knowing "Liar's Beach" is also an Agatha Christie retelling, I had to pick it up.

Linden, a lax-playing teen on scholarship at a fancy boarding school, is staying with his rich friend Jasper's family for the summer at Martha's Vineyard. He's desperate to seem as cool & carefree as the rest of them--especially Jasper's sister, Eliza--even when (as usual) things aren't always what they seem. After someone is found unconscious in the pool, Linden & his childhood friend, Holiday, decide to (in Linden's words) "LARP an attempted murder in order to spend time together". Of course, everyone is a suspect, culminating in a dramatic hurricane party where everyone is locked in a house together, a la "Bodies Bodies Bodies".

It's not groundbreaking, but I read it in a day & had a good time. There were moments where Linden reminded me of Leo from "Stargirl" with how he viewed both Eliza & Holiday (manic pixie dream girl vibes) but the behavior was called out, making it a refreshing angle on the trope & also almost making me spit my drink out:

"You've spent the last week projecting every Daisy Buchanan fantasy you have onto this girl & now you can't even consider the fact that you might be wrong about her, because your entire worldview will come crashing down like some sad house of cards & you'll have to shoot yourself in the head to cope with it. I've read that book already, in ninth-grade Honors English. It was boring then too."

The line-by-line writing was a blast; I highlighted a ton that made me snort & may have liked the author's voice more than the story itself. The main mystery was solved, but there were some backstory elements about Linden that weren't clarified that make me wonder if there will be a sequel. I'd have preferred a longer standalone that tied everything together, but I'll check out a book 2 if there is one.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review of “Liar’s Beach”.

Liar's Beach
by Katie Cotugno
Pub Date: 02 May 2023
This was a fun, fast thriller just in time for summer!
Michael Linden-just Linden to his friends- is ready for his summer break away from his prep school where he is one of the only students who doesn't live the rich lifestyle, but none of his friends know that. He keeps his poverty a secret from all his megarich peers.
His roommate/best friend invites him to stay with his family at their uber-rich beach house for most of the summer. He'd love to live how the other half lives for a bit, so he takes him up on the offer. As the summer progresses, Linden is shocked to see how the other half truly live: wasteful, rude or dismissive to the help, and incredibly entitled. They also have secrets, and lots of them. When a former friend turned family enemy is found face down in their pool, Linden is forced to face the truth, one of these people did it, and no one is really concerned about it.
In comes his long-lost childhood friend Holiday, who is also well-to-do. But Holiday is different, she cares. And she seems to be the only other person who doesn't believe this was a freak accident.
As they begin to look into the night of the drowning, suspicions arise, allegations are made, and friendships are destroyed. Truth is sometimes harder to handle than fiction.
#liarsbeach #netgalley #katiecotugno

Would recommend for fans of…
👙 Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot
👙 Nancy Drew
👙 Teen detectives
👙 Jessica Goodman mysteries

Liar’s Beach is a prime example of why you should never judge a book by its cover. Thanks to the bikini on the cover, I picked this one up expecting a soapy teen drama filled with gossip and rich girls behaving badly and instead got a modern, YA take on an Agatha Christie novel.

The mismatch between the story and the cover was actually a great thing because I was so surprised by how things played out and once I caught on to the fact that it was an homage to Christie’s mysteries, it was fun to spot all of the allusions and references Cotugno wove in. The novel has a male narrator who is not the detective, which I found unique as it was interesting to watch the detective solve the mystery from another character’s POV. I did find myself wanting a few more scenes with Holiday, the detective, and would not complain if this novel sparked a new series.

The late-summer setting makes this a perfect beach/pool read, so save this to your TBR for summer reads!

Liar’s Beach is out now. Thanks to Delacorte and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was enjoyable enough, and the characters were okay often privileged teens in books are a hit or miss for me and unfortunately, these ones were a miss. I found the story and characters reminded me so much of we were liars so if you were a fan of that one then I would give this one a chance as well. now for what I did enjoy, I liked the fun mystery and how reminiscent it was of Agatha Christie although it wasn't the most complex it did still keep me interested and turning the pages.

This was a quick, short read and I'm sorry to say didn't stand out to me in any way. I read a lot of mysteries and I love Agatha Christie, and this one was just okay in my opinion. I didn't feel connected to the main character in the way I would've liked and didn't come to care about the outcome of the mystery. I'm not sure if there will be a follow up book, but I probably won't be picking it up. Thank you so much for the opportunity!!

May 22, 2023
This is a good, quick summer YA read. It feels a bit similar to WE WERE LIARS so I found that appealing. The story centers around a young prep school student (Linden) who also happens to be a star athlete and a scholarship student. His roommate at school, Jasper, is the scion of a very prominent family who summers on The Cape. Linden spends a few weeks of his summer with Jasper's family. In the middle of all of the flirting and partying someone ends up unconscious in the family swimming pool and all the secrets of Jasper, Linden, and their friends and family are revealed.

I liked this book, primarily because it's a fast-paced, twisty read, The setting is perfect for the season (summer), and the author does a great job of gradually revealing different layers of each character's back story/secrets. I loved Linden's friend Holiday and felt that the addition of her character balanced out the book nicely. I am giving LIAR'S BEACH a 4/5 because I felt the ending was abrupt and flat. 9th grade and up. Many thanks to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the ARC.