Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK and the author Lianne for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is brilliant! I wanted to read this book before I watched the TV series and I am so glad I did……… it’s really, really good. I cant imagine the TV Series being better than the book!

What a well written story! For any parent that’s child has just started school – you will be able to completely relate to this book…. I did! From the school gate politics to the bedtime stories they read to their children…. Spot on! I can’t recommend this book enough!

An enjoyable read with believable characters and a good storyline, interwoven in an uncomplicated way to come to a satisfying conclusion, one of her better ones

This is the first book I have read by Liane Moriarty and it won’t be the last. This is a classic suburban novel dealing with the hang-ups, over protectiveness and competitiveness of the white middle classes when it comes to their children. There is humour, satire and also a serious message about domestic abuse.

The novel opens with the aftermath of a tragedy which occurred at a trivia night at the local primary school. Although we know it is a ‘murder’ we don’t discover who and why until the final stages of the novel.
The three main protagonists are Jane, the new mum in town, Celeste the beautiful but distracted mother of twin boys and the feisty Madeline. The narrative starts six months before the fateful trivia night but is interspersed with individual recollections (these are extracts of interviews by a journalist) of what happened that night and who was to blame.

Madeline feels that she in competition with her ex-husband’s new wife who seems to be drawing her daughter away from her. Jane has a mysterious past which includes not revealing who is the father of her little boy, Ziggy. Celeste is the victim of domestic abuse which is impacting on the behaviour of one of her twins. Gradually their lives unfold as the book progresses.

The focus of the book is big bullying and small bullying and the effect it can have on people’s lives. The characters are well drawn and there is humour and pathos.

I would recommend this book: certainly a good one for the beach.

I was provided with a complimentary copy by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book flows very nicely, leading you down a delicately plotted path through the lives of parents with kindergarten children. It starts innocently enough with one child being accused of bullying, but as the drama around it unfolds the lies and truths coming out get bigger and grander until the finale being set up in the first few pages. It's easy to race through this book to the end and have no idea where your day went.

Gripping, intriguing story with an unexpected twist at the end.
So many sensitive issues were incorporated in the story,
You never know what goes on behind closed doors!!
I absolutely loved this book, couldn't put it down.
There are so many great authors around but I will definitely be looking out for Liane Moriarty.

I can see why this has been made into a show, though I am loathe to watch the show, as I am not sure it can live up to the book! I loved the characters in this book and really felt their actions were true to the people the author created. The premise of the story is believable and very interesting. It is also very true!

It was interesting to see just how one lie can multiply and grow to become so much more than you originally started with, and I felt the author really showed that in the way the story progressed.

The pace of the book was brilliant. You were given plenty of time to take in what was happening, let the lies build and then see what happened as the truth wreaked havoc on every little lie created. It was also very interesting to see how the author had the characters react and interact, based on that.

Overall, a brilliant read! I think a lot of readers, especially if they like real-life drama and excitement, will love this book!

This book will keep you completely hooked from start to end. Big Little Lies focuses on 3 mums whose children are starting kindergarten. The typical mother scenario happens when one mum thinks their child is oh so special and can do absolutely nothing wrong, blaming all the other children for any mistakes. Under the surface of the 3 parents we follow, is a rather dark layer for each of them. The author tackles many situations such as; bullying, spousal abuse and many others. The women deal with marriage issues, trauma from the past, and keeping their children safe. Everything going on throughout leads up to the schools trivia night where murder is involved, a mystery is to be solved and the answers will completely blow your mind!

Very readable book about an event at a school fundraising evening, so we go back in time to 6 months before the event to learn more about the main characters and their families. Great holiday reading.

I loved this! It's a real exploration of humanity based around parents in a school playground, which is just a brilliant idea.

There were lots of times reading this when I laughed, it's a genuinely funny book and the friendships are beautiful and imperfect and well thought out.

There were also lots of times when I cried- mostly for Celeste, especially when she blamed herself for what was happening, often for Jane harbouring that secret for so long and then finding out what she did, even for Bonnie at the end.

Also that plot twist! I had to put my kindle down and message my friend because I was completely shocked.

Basically, this was about a million times better than I was expecting, I'm going to buy it so I have a physical copy and whilst I'm at it I may as well buy everything else Liane Moriarty has ever published.

An amazing book. The main story is of three women and their families with the school, other parents and the school children adding to the dramas. Throughout it is easy to relate to the scenery and most importantly to the vivid descriptions of the characters. The main point of the story is the various types of bullying and the effect on people's lives. Liane Moriarty has once again written a spellbinding story that demonstrates the social problem of bullying as well as the results of keeping secrets. Highly recommend this book and this author.

An interesting social commentary. Not really my kind of book and not sure I liked the way it was written.

A brilliant read. Tackles the subject of bullying on 3 counts - child, domestic violence and mothers gossiping in the playground. All the characters are well written, starting a novel with being told there is a murder but not who has died ,why or by whom, is a brilliant touch. I spent the whole book wondering who would be killed and desperately hoping it was not one of my favourite characters, and hoping it would be others. Really cleverly written giving view points of the various characters as the story goes along. 'can't wait for Ms Moriarty's next book!

Loved this book, the back and forth between storylines was intreresting. The life stories of all the couples was very true to life.

I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. Having worked in schools I could recognise many of the issues and the mums. Although it deals with some serious issues there are parts that are just so funny.
It's a light, enjoyable read, which is a positive, but I think that the combination with themes of bullying, abuse and domestic violence doesn't quite work successfully.
Despite this, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it as a good holiday read.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is set in a close knit, suburban community full of unique characters. There is a school in town where almost all the drama takes place. On the orientation day for the kindergarten kids, Madeline meets Jane, the newest mom in town. On this day, we are also introduced to the other moms and their kids. There are cliques at the school and no, it is not the kids. It’s the moms who are in cliques. Obviously, if cliques exist so does a lot of drama.

Madeline stands out for various reasons. I really liked how loyal she was. She was very protective of her friends and especially Jane who was having trouble fitting into the new school. Madeline was also quite a funny character. I also sympathized with all her struggles with her ex-husband and his new wife. It broke my heart when her daughter seemed to be picking her ex over her. On the other hand, Jane was sympathetic. She was the only single mom at the kindergarten. In addition, her son Ziggy was being accused of things that made the other moms pick on Jane. Her background story was even more heartbreaking .I really liked Jane and her kid. Even her folks were interesting to read about. On the other hand, Celeste was a mystery. She is the one character that I didn’t expect to like so much at the start. She seemed aloof. In addition, she was portrayed as being a bit too perfect. However, her story is the one that will most likely stick with me for a very long time.

True to the title, this book is full of deceptive characters. There are so many secrets in the town; everyone seems to be harboring one. Some of the secrets were shocking. Others, simply scandalous though admittedly, all of them made this a very gripping tale. I also liked the suspense in the book. Right from the start, it is mentioned that a murder has taken place. There is a lot of gossip around town and speculation about the night when the murder took place. I wanted to know who died. I also couldn’t guess how the murder took place and especially who the killer was. This made this book an intriguing read from start to finish.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty was quite an interesting read. It sort of reminded me of Desperate Housewives with all the drama that was taking place in the town. I didn’t expect the book to be heavy but it actually was. There were themes of bullying, sexual and domestic abuse. There was also murder. However, the drama and gossip also added humuor to the story. I liked the theme of friendship especially between the moms. I am usually not a fan of long books (this had 500 pages) but I enjoyed reading this one. The pacing was great, characters memorable and the storyline addictive. Now I can’t wait to start watching the TV show.

Loved this book, the characters are very strong and it just proves that money doesn't equal happiness! The ending was a good twist too . Will definitely read more from liane moriarty

Hi Readers, how are you all today? I've just finished a great contemporary book!

NOTE: There are scenes of abuse and bullying in Big Little Lies so if you're sensitive about either of those topics this book maybe isn't for you.

Big Little Lies tells several stories at once. There's the story about the trivia night that runs throughout, the story of who one of the main character's father is, the story of an abuse victim, a story of a teenage girl putting her virginity up for sail in the internet and the main story for most of the book, little children lying about who bullied another child. All these stories were handled well.

We see the characters, both major and minor be interviewed throughout because of the murder that happened on trivia night. I'll be honest in saying that at the beginning of the book I thought that another character had been killed so it was a surprise to read what actually had happened.

Spoilers below...

The main characters are written well. Jane is very protective of her son, Ziggy so when she hears that he's hit another child she doesn't believe it. Another story that involves Ziggy is the reader finding out who his father is. This is probably where the title Big Little Lies stems from because although Ziggy himself never finds out in the novel because he's only 5 years old, we as the readers do after many lies, twists and turns.

Celeste is the character that's being abused by her husband, Perry. She's written well, too. You can tell the author did her research about abuse victims, and what makes the abuser abuse in the first place.

Madeline is the character who's daughter is selling herself online to the highest bidder. This was interesting to read. Abigail only wants to support and raise awareness of children who do have to sell themselves for money. She's willing to do it, too. It's only when she receives an email from someone she doesn't know, telling her they'll pay a lot of money to her cause that she takes the auction down. It's said that Madeline and Abigail are as stubborn as each other. Madeline has split up with Abigail's father and is instead married to Ed. We see all of these characters sometimes struggle with life. Abigail wants to go and live with her father and his new wife at one point because she's sick of living with her mum.

The book, Big Little Lies is set in Australia because the author is Australian. I don't read many books that are set here, so it's nice to vary it up a little. I believe the TV show, Big Little Lies is however set in the USA. I plan on watching the show soon, now that I've read the book.

What I liked about Big Little Lies...

I liked the amount of stories involved and how they each touched on a different demographic of people (bullies, those that are abuse sufferers, those wanting to do whatever they can to help charities etc).

I liked how the author did her research about these storylines. It really felt that I was reading true life events, however shocking they were.

I liked how we were kept guessing until the last few chapters, just what did happen on trivia night.

What I didn't like about Big Little Lies...

I thought that the first 100 or so pages were rather slow. For epic fantasy that's okay because the world needs to be built but in a contemporary I think events should move along faster.

I thought the story wrapped up a little too nicely. I would have liked to have seen more conflict.

Overall, I really enjoyed Big Little Lies so that's why I'm giving it 4 stars. The only things that let me down were the pacing of the first 100 pages and the wrap up. I look forward to watching the TV series soon so I can compare them and choose which my favourite is.

Stand by for my next review that will be coming in a few days :).

i loved the to series based on the book so was really looking forward to reading this, and it doesn't disappoint. If you have watched the series I would highly recommend reading the book to add to the story. And if you have yet to watch the show. I urge you to read the book first.

The book is much funnier than I expected, especially given some of the topics covered - domestic violence, sexual assault, bullying to name a few. The characters are brilliantly written and very relatable.

Another great novel by Liane Moriarty. I was determined to read this before watching the TV adaptation and I am very glad I did.
Great characters, clever story line and an interesting way of moving backwards and forwards between past and present adding to the suspense and anticipation of what is to come next.

I will continue to look out for new novels by this author and to recommend them to others.