I really enjoyed this read. It's a psychological thriller with a difference and, without giving anything away, the chapters switch between author and character of a book being written. It's very cleverly done in a way that I found gripping and not at all confusing. Although I thought I'd guessed part of the plot, there was sufficient twists and turns to keep me guessing until the very last page.

Liza Jones has thirty days to write her newest thriller, but that's not the only thing she's struggling with she's also in a experimental fertility program and her husband's business partner, Nick, has gone missing.

She distracts herself from her hectic world by falling into her character's life. Beth appears to have the life Liza desires, a newborn baby, a husband and a great career. But Beth's life takes an unexpected turn for the worse that strangely seems to mimic some of the things in Liza's life. Is Liza writing from personal experience or is it all just fiction?

It is completely understandable to believe a victim of severe trauma would bury the event deep in their subconscious but Liza's multiple traumas made it hard to believe she would forget them all; combined with the hormones that are being pumped into her body though I find the idea absolutely fascinating. There were so many twists and turns! I love a good psychological thriller and the added story in a story added depth to the story and helped reveal the killer in an unusual way. I look forward to more from this author!
4.5⭐️'s

Sometimes the truth is darker than fiction.

Lies She Told is a dark and twisted psychological thriller that reads like a book within a book. The first few chapters are slow to start but it quickly picks up soon after - that's when I couldn't put it down!

Liza has thirty days to write a romantic thriller that could put her back on the bestseller list once again. With all the stress of writing her new novel, she is also struggling to start a family with her husband, who is extremely distraught with the disappearance of his best friend and law partner, Nick. Liza's new novel is about a new mother, Beth, a character whose husband is having an affair with a female police officer. As Liza gets further into Beth's story it all starts to unfold. That's when the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Whose story is really being told?

Cate Holahan did a great job writing this one - two great stories combined into one! A fantastic read that was suspenseful and full of twists. Looking forward to reading more of her books very soon. Recommended!

*I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC.

A story about a writer whose world gets enmeshed with that of her character? Yes please! That’s the idea behind Lies She Told by Cate Holahan. I LOVE a book that has an unusual plot, how many times have we seen the same basic idea over and over? When stories come along that are fresh and new it makes reading a joy for those of us who are obsessive readers!

Synopsis:

Liza Jones has thirty days to write the thriller that could put her back on the bestseller list. In the meantime, she’s struggling to start a family with her husband, who is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend, Nick. With stresses weighing down in both her professional and her personal life, Liza escapes into writing her latest heroine.

Beth is a new mother who suspects her husband is cheating on her while she’s home alone providing for their newborn. Angry and betrayed, Beth sets out to catch him in the act and make him pay for shattering the illusion of their perfect life. But before she realizes it, she’s tossing the body of her husband’s mistress into the river.

Then the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur. Nick’s body is dragged from the Hudson and Liza’s husband is arrested for his murder. Before her deadline is up, Liza will have to face up to the truths about the people around her, including herself. If she doesn’t, the end of her heroine’s story could be the end of her own.

Here is a review by Jennifer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2099116609

Wow, wow and triple wow. This incredibly well written and intriguing book had me on the edge of my seat. I felt I was getting two stories for the price of one. I loved the way the two plots intertwined and kept me guessing all the way through. A thoroughly deserved 5 star read. I'm off to see if this author has written anything else and I can't wait for the next one.

Liza a thriller author whose husband is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend and Beth is one of Liza’s characters who suspects her husband of cheating. Told in alternating chapters between Liza and Beth, the lines become blurred as to what happened and who did it.
They say authors put pieces of themselves into their characters but how alike are Liza and Beth?
Liza and Beth were such an interesting duo, both woven together until you couldn’t tell them apart.
Ohhhhhh I do love a bit of unreliable narration especially with such and exciting premise. If you can’t trust the narration, who can you trust?
I loved this book, it was so tense and confusing (in a good way) that I tore through the pages at an alarming rate. I would recommend to any fan of thriller looking for a quick easy tense read with a brilliant plot.

A clever thriller, that shows just how close the lines between fiction and reality are.
Our narrator, Liza, is a best-selling novelist who is struggling to meet her latest deadline. Her husband's work partner has disappeared, and this is affecting the interest shown in what seems to be the latest round of fertility treatment for the couple.
We watch Liza struggling with her day to day life, and grow fascinated by the developing strength of the voice of her latest character Beth, a new mother who learns her husband is having an affair.
The parallels in the stories are extraordinary, and it soon becomes clear that there's more to this than we first suspect.
As the book developed and I grew more attuned to the voices this became more intriguing. One to stick with, as it was rewarding.

Oscar Wilde once said "life imitates art" and Holahan takes that statement to a literary level. Lies She Told is a story of an author, Eliza, and her character, Beth. Each woman has marriage issues, wayward husbands, and while one wants a baby the other has a newborn. If chapters weren't labeled when the author is telling her story, you begin to see how character and author could easily become one with just a bit diference in stories. The book is a fascinating non-stop read while you wonder what more can happen to these two women.

Lies She Told by Cate Holahan published by Crooked Lane Books was provided to me for an honest review through Negalley. Thank you to everyone who took part in deciding to give me my copy I really did enjoy the book. This is my first book by this author.
The Lies She told is crafted to be told in dual perspectives one being Liza the author who is trying to come up with the next best seller, and Beth the character in the novel being constructed. I found myself profoundly confused in the first few chapters trying to figure out how the chapters are laid out, but after you get a grasp of the books construction it is one of those books you want to continue reading to see if fiction comes from reality or if reality has made the fiction.
We have Liza whose husband is worried about his best friend who is missing. When the body is found, her husband is charged. Meanwhile Liza, writes about a woman named Beth, whose husband is cheating on her, and she feels only way to keep marriage is to kill the mistress. The book goes back and forth between both plots that if you don’t play close attention you might get lost in translation. You find yourself feeling bad for both fictional character and the writer’s life that the story is very readable.
As I said this is a new author for me and I enjoyed this read very much. I found myself more drawn to the second half of the book just because once it gets it’s running start you want to take it all the way to the finish line! Readers who like a Then and Now format or a dual perspective novel will love this book hands down!

A very interesting read. I liked the alternation between the chapters of Liza's storyline and Beth's. Like for Liza the two stories seemed to merge at some point for me as a reader, as well.. It is the sort of mindgame I like in suspense novels/thrillers.
I didn't like the explanation for the way Liza was - her background story. It felt lazy and a tad too corny. I caught myself thinking "Really now? That of all possibilities? Eep." But that is personal preference.
The writing was good, the characters fleshed out (more or less) and relatable.

I received an ARC from NetGalley to read and review. The below is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you Cate Holahan, the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to review.

LIES SHE TOLD is told in dual points of view: the first being Liza Jones, a writer given thirty days to pen the next best thriller novel, and the second being Beth, the main character in said thriller.

Liza is struggling in both her writing career and in her marriage: she and her husband are unsuccessfully attempting to start a family and deal with the disappearance of Nick, her husband's business partner.

Beth is a new mother who suspects her husband is cheating on her. One day, while out on a walk with her newborn daughter, Victoria, she spots her husband seemingly on a date with his co-worker. Before she realizes what she's done, she's tossing the body of her husband's mistress into the river.

The stories tell parallel tales, blurring the line between fact and fiction.

LIES SHE TOLD has everything you could want in a good thriller: twists and turns that keep you guessing, questionable narration, a whodunit mystery, dual POV, vivid characters, an engrossing plot, a perfect ending, and amazing writing. I cannot sing enough praise for this utterly fantastic novel. This was my first Cate Holahan novel, and I can't wait to devour her other books. I highly recommend LIES SHE TOLD to anyone who enjoys a unique thriller or just plain ol' good writing. By far, this is my best read of 2017!

There are two thrillers unfolding here, the one that Liza Jones is writing to meet a deadline and the one that she is living. Both stories kept me turning pages to see what would become of the characters. Chapters alternate between the fictional author's life and the book she's writing, but it was always clear which of the two stories I was reading and I didn't come close to figuring it all out.

I love the idea of a Book within a book. Cate Holahan did a great job in creating a dual story line, alternating between the life of Author Liza Jones and her fictional character Beth. There was a bit of confused switching between the two characters. At times the stories blurred together, as it became clear that the two live parallel lives.This didn't cause too many issue and grabbed my full attention throughout.
LIES SHE TOLD was a nice little Mystery - Suspense thriller, well written with great detail. Enjoyable read

This was a well-written book that kept me up because I wanted to finish it!

It starts off super strong and held lots of promise for me. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, as it felt too rushed and wanted to know more, but then a book that I don't want to end is a good book! I wanted to know more about their lives!

More twists and turns than a spiral staircase! Author Liza is writing a book and between her book details and her own personal life, there are plenty of very suspenseful and thrilling plot twists. This is a hard book to put down and it is one of the best books I have read this year.

I wasn't able to finish this book. I kept getting confused and frustrated as to whether or not we were in the character or the "reality."

The line was blurring to much for me. I will continue trying at a later date.

Cate Holahan has written a book within a book. LIES SHE TOLD is the story of Lisa Cole, a woman trying to get pregnant and start a family with her husband David, who is distracted by the disappearance of his best friend Nick and more interested in finding out what has happened to Nick than in fulfilling his wife’s needs.
Adding to the stress of dealing with her declining marriage and her failed attempts to become pregnant - Lisa, once a relatively successful writer, has fallen into a period of stagnation and has just been given an ultimatum by her publisher Trevor - - “one month to produce a trendy new book that will sell”.

In answer to her publisher’s demands, Lisa begins a book about Beth, a recent new mother, who suspects that her husband is unfaithful and sets out to catch him in the act. It is here that the reader enters the parallel worlds of Lisa and her creation Beth.

Author Holahan, is a fluid writer, observant of the world that shapes her characters’ lives and the psychology involved when reality and fantasy become inextricably intertwined. As the twisting plot unspools and the lines between fact and fiction begin to blur, Holahan is in total command of what she’s doing as she explores the overt and subtle ways that trauma, grief, buried secrets and the inability to face the truth can affect minds, hearts and motivations.

Psychological thriller where a novelist, Liza, creates a character, Beth, and their parallel lives alternate chapters. I found it a bit difficult to follow until I made a point to stop at every chapter in order to remind myself which woman's story I was going to read about.

Liza's desperation to have a child leads her to experimental hormone therapy. When Liza's husband's law partner goes missing, David's mourning for Nick displaces Liza's cyclical needs.

Meanwhile Liza's latest novel is about a new mother, Beth, who suspects her husband, Jack, of having an affair. Between newborn exhaustion and postpartum hormones, Beth isn't as rational as she thinks she is.

As Liza begins to trace Nick's last days, her blocked traumas begin to resurface and telling truth from fiction is a blurred line.

Thanks everyone for letting me review the book. This started off very slowly and then picked up and had me hooked.