What a compelling story! I would recommend this to any suspense/thriller readers.

Lies She Told is a fabulous read. The story is artfully woven between two women, two lives, two goals. But which is really fiction? Cate Holahan's novel gripped me from page one. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it, and wishing I could get back to it. Every page was a treat, culminating in a satisfying conclusion. It's the kind of book you need to read a second time, to savour the details, and fully appreciate the wonderful writing.

The prologue grips you tight and never lets go. This taut thriller is masterfully crafted. Alternating storylines keep the tension high and the pages turning at a quick pace. Like most stories in this format the author begins to blend the storylines as the plot unfolds. However, the second storyline in this book is actually being written by the main character. It is a very interesting concept, one that I'm sure happens often with writers as they blur the lines between fantasy and reality.

The pace of the story is slow and methodical at first, but it quickly picks up in the second half of the book. I often found myself having to stop and think for a minute about which storyline I was actually reading. There are many twists and turns throughout that come with deeper character development, and these help to push to a shocking and satisfying conclusion.

I would recommend this book to fans of thrillers and suspense. I received this as a free ARC from Crooked Lane Books on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic read. I couldn't put it down and lost sleep because I didn't want to stop reading!

Another generic thriller that just didn't keep my interest at all.

Cleverly written and hugely entertaining, a story within a story. The outside shell is about Liza, a crime/thriller writer desperately trying to write a subsequent novel that will capture the same sweet success as her first. The other story is the novel she's writing with Beth, her own alter-ego as the main character. Incidents, passions, fears and discoveries from one influence the other in unexpected ways. This was a delicious read.

Thank you, Netgalley for the e-review copy.

Lies She Told is one of those books that is slow to build up but once it get's going it will punch you in the gut hard! WOW. I loved this one. 100% enjoyed it from the second I started it until the second I put it down when it was finished. The concept is interesting, the characters are well placed within the story and add the perfect amount of zest to the story, and the ending worked well. While there may have been some moments that I knew how the story was going to progress it didn't take away from my interest or enjoyment of the story overall. And, I think many readers will truly enjoy this one.

This was suspenseful from start to finish! I truly enjoyed this book & am excited to see what's next from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.

I loved this story! It was full of suspense and the ending surprised me. I usually don’t like a book that has two stories in it but I loved the way the author wrote this story. I’m glad I found this author and I look forward to reading her other books.

I requested this book based on the premise alone: a writer whose reality and fiction begin to blur. This book did not disappoint! I enjoyed every minute of it. It left me waiting, tense to find out what really happened.

I did enjoy the book, it was a little slower than I normally like, but it did keep interested. 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. So story goes back and forth, you have pay attention. So you do not miss out on anything, and you do get absorbed in both women's lives.. The thing that I disliked was ending, it has been done before, so I kind of hoped for a different outcome.

If you are a mystery writer you must have a very creative mind to workout the plot and to make the scenes feel realistic. In fact it might be possible to blend much of your real life back into your writings.

In addition you have just given birth to a gorgeous little girl but are not getting a lot of sleep. Is it possible that being pushed by a serious deadline for your lastest book and suspecting your husband may have been cheating it pulling you more into your imaginary life than you thought.

What happens when real life and imaginary life collide. Can the character you are writing about come up with a way to save you or will the stories and lies just take things deeper hold on for a fantastic ride by the end you may wonder what is real and what was just imagination gone wild. You won't be able to put the book down until you know.

Very good story.....Would recommend. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

Lies She Told is hard to rate. At times, it was engaging and interesting, but there really wasn't much of a mystery. It's fairly clear early on what happened, though the why is to be revealed, so there's not enough to make you want to keep reading. Honestly, the majority of the plot is given away in the blurb.

It takes quite a while to get started and the fact that there were more or less two story lines makes the whole thing feel even slower. It's a short book so it sometimes felt like two short stories spliced together rather than one cohesive novel. I would get interested in one woman's story and then it would stop and go back to the other for just long enough that I lost interest. Also, the real action of the book doesn't start until past halfway and there's not enough in that first 50% to keep the reader interested.

Some parts of this book remind me of The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. One woman is receiving the memories of another woman (in a way) and she's not sure why. But I felt that the reason behind the received memories was better in the Kearsley book. A lot of the reasoning behind this didn't make much sense. Or at least didn't seem very likely. Repressed memories? That's a bit of a stretch.

All in all, I liked the book enough to finish it in a few days but not enough to check out other books by this author. It was too similar to the whole Gone Girl trend but too farfetched to really compare. There's also very little shock because of what the blurb and the names in Liza's work give away. It also would have been nice if there was more of a denouement. It ends very abruptly. There's a decent amount to like about the book, but it still falls rather flat.

I received this book courtesy of Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Review to be posted on Goodreads September 1st and Amazon upon publication.

Unuseually for me I could not get into with this book. I have a rule of giving all books a fair chance by reading at least 50% of the content, but with this one I only got 30% in before giving up.
Maybe it was me. I hope it was and that many other people give this a try and prove me wrong.

This book was great. The 2 stories were intriguing. Loved how then ending kept me guessing!

Very good read. Definitely, keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next. The storyline is very disturbing. You reach a point where you can't tell what is real, and which person is living in reality. Is it Liza or Beth? What really happened and what didn't? Fun book.

I was excited to read this book and it did not disappoint. I liked the way the story was written and enjoyed it very much. I would recommend this book

It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction; in this case the lines between truth and fiction are so blurred that I had trouble discerning which was which and of course, this was the author's purpose! Liza and Beth: one is the mystery writer and one is the heroine of her newest book. But are their lives so similar that they have the same thoughts about their often-flawed husbands? Who has secrets to keep and how will they be revealed? This novel explores the obsession with writing, jealousy, love, grief, and really everything that makes up what we know as the "human condition." How far would you go to protect the ones you love? You may never know until you read this gem!

Liza is an author who has thirty days to write a romantic thriller that will put her back on the best seller list, whilst dealing with fertility issues, hormone implants and her husbands best friend who has gone missing. Interspersed with chapters from her novel, we learn about Liza and her main character Beth's struggles simultaneously.

Beth is a new mother, but when she discovers her husband is cheating, her perfect life is shattered and she must learn to deal with the consequences. Through the 'real life' story of Liza and her new novel centring around Beth and her husband's infidelities, Liza learns things about herself and her world that she could only have dreamt up in her fiction writing.

This story was predictable, unfortunately, because it was a really good idea. I enjoyed the writing style and sped through the story, which is why I have it the rating that I did. But it disappointed me that the story line was so predictable. There were a few narrative punches that I didn't see coming and that shocked me in an enjoyable way. But in general, the way the two stories mixed together and the way the book was written in general makes it an enjoyable read.