The plot Pretty Ugly Lies definitely lives up to it’s title. I honestly don’t know where to start with this review because there is so much going on in this book. In the opening scene, we discover a family who has been murdered, but we do not know who or why. The story then alternates chapters between four different women, who all live on the same street it don’t necessarily know each other. Some of the issues brought to light are mental illness, autism, kidnapping, extramarital affairs, discrimination and the list goes on and on and on. At the end, we are brought back to the murder and the reasoning behind it.

Quite frankly, there was just way too much going on in this for my taste. I felt that the characters faced some very serious issues, like bipolar disorder and autism, but they were quickly glossed over and never really addressed to any satisfactory conclusion. Each woman’s situation on its out could have been a book and more time could have been put into character development and problem resolution, which would have been much more authentic and validating, in my opinion. At the end, I struggled to find what the author’s overall point might have been in writing this. It was way too convoluted.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Bloodhound Books and Pamela Crane for providing me with a complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At the beginning of this book, I felt like the characters were sort of whining about their lives. However, as the book progressed, the four main characters developed into three dimensional, complex women with overlapping lives. In some ways, the book is realistic about the lives of women who are wives and mothers—someone always wants something from them and very few people value or even notice them. It feels ugly but it also feels true. The characters go to more extremes than most women, but it all feels very relatable. Solid read I would recommend. Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

I've heard so many great things about this book, and it didn't disappoint. The action didn't let up from the first page, and the alternating points of view really worked well, both giving insights into the characters' lives, and adding to the story itself.

I thought this book was fantastic and had me hooked from page one. You read the first person account of a woman who has just murdered her husband and children.
You then return to the past and meet four women all struggling with family, partners and relationships. One of these women you know will end her story by killing her entire family and as each of their stories unfold you can understand how all of them could be driven to this final act but which one?
I loved the characters and their individual stories and how the plot kept twisting. You could empathise with the women, their families and the issues they were facing.
I would definately read Pamela Crane again and highly recommend this book.
Thanks to Bloodhound books and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is the second book I have read by this author, they just keep getting better and better. In this book there are four different women living different lives from their childhood. One very big secret, one of them is a killer! They all seem pretty normal in their own little world, but looks are deceiving. Unfortunely, there are more than just them involved. There is children and spouses. A very well written thriller with complex characters that draw you into their world and doesn't let go. I received a copy of this book from Net Galley.

I need more books like this in my life. Lots more. Wow

I think every mother, every wife; every person at some point in their lives thinks the horrible thought “What would happen if they weren’t here?” If you are a mother and can honestly say that you have never, not once, thought your life would be better off without the hassle of the kids or the husband or the mind-numbing domestic duties then you are either freaking Superwoman or you are lying to yourself. It’s ok. We have all been there; locked in the closet, staying as quiet as we can, hoping that our wonderfully adorable little demon spawn won’t find us and we can finally get that minute of blissful peace before the never-ending demands start again. You are not alone. This book is for you.

I think what I loved most about Pretty Ugly Lies is the realness of it. In a Desperate Housewives way, this book shows all those dark, horrible thoughts and secrets that these four “soccer moms” have. All that inner hate and disappointment and resentment that we all pretend we don’t feel from time to time is right in your face, rearing its ugly head, and it is so relatable that it’s scary.

Though this book is told alternately through 4 POV’s, once you get a handle on who each character is it is really easy to follow. This is a quick and engaging read that might have a few cringe moments but it is really worth seeing it through. The author is excellent at grabbing your attention right away (that first chapter…holy crap!) and keeping it which I actually think is in part due to the different perspectives we keep flipping between. Who doesn’t love a bit of drama and skeletons in someone else’s closet? Crane teases us just enough in each chapter that this book is hard as hell to put down. Actually, I didn’t put it down. This was a one-sitting read for me. I just couldn’t stop myself.

I will say that there are some parts of this book that might be hard to read. We immediately get thrown into a family murder and if that isn’t something you think you can handle, this book isn’t for you. If you think your children were created from unicorn dust and cannot imagine someone thinking any less of theirs, this might not be for you. If, however, you are overworked, over stressed, feel the need to lock yourself in the car until the screams of “MOMMY!!” stops for just 5 freaking minutes and cannot wait until your favorite time of day (bedtime) to fawn over how cute Junior looks when he is sleeping, all the while praying he doesn’t wake up until morning….you need this book. Right now.

5 amazing stars from me and I plan to buy this for every mom friend I have.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book.

4.5 stars

Four soccer moms .. living in an ideally suburban neighborhood featuring stately homes that show an upper crust lifestyle. Manicured nails ... designer clothes. Keeping up with the Jones' with Mercedes and BMWs ... wealth, beauty and perfection.

So what causes a woman to murder her entire family when she has everything she ever desired?

Four women ..all married to men they love or have loved .. all with children .. all with hopes and dreams, mostly unfulfilled.

Four “perfect” families.

Four life-altering secrets.

One lie that leads to a killer.

All four women have their say in this well-crafted book. Even with all the 'players' it's easy to follow each family and what consequences they face when secrets and lies are exposed. The first chapter is a killer ... the ending came as a huge surprise.

Many thanks to the author / Bloodhound Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this Psychological Suspense. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own

This was my kind of book. It was a very fast and exciting read. All of the main characters were moms dealing with "mom" kind of problems and stressors which held my interest. I was able to relate to all of them even if I didn't agree with them. I thought the reveal though was a little out of left field. Nothing like that was on my radar and the ending was just ok. I liked that the ending was not a perfect one but this lacked something. I would recommend this for sure, especially to those who like family dramas.

ARC Provided via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.


Think Desperate Housewives, with a dark twist.
I wasn't too sure what I was getting into with this novel, but I felt I had to read it. I'm glad that I did.
It's told from 4 POVs which in the beginning I found a hard to follow, but after you get to know the characters it no trouble at all.
Pretty Ugly Lies, is full of EVERYTHING. Murder, mystery, love, betrayal and friendship.
Pretty Ugly Lies follows the lives of 4 very different women, and the challenges and difficulties they face, and how quickly lies can almost destroy you.
I enjoyed Pretty Ugly Lies, and will most definitely recommend it.

"...sacrifice could teach us how to live fuller, that being true to oneself wasn't about temporary happiness, but about enduring the hardships and finding strength within."

Oleander Way, North Carolina. Four families. Four wives who are also mothers. Mothers who are drowning under the weight of demanding husbands and children. Something has to give.

This psychological thriller and mystery is told from the viewpoint of four different women. All are doing their best to take care of their children and their husbands -- and largely failing. One of these women decides to take matters in hand. The result is family annihilation. How did it get to this point -- was there a moment when everything broke or was it a slow, eroding process borne of frustration and futility?

A slow burner of suspense, this novel shows motherhood and marriage as a thankless prison. The anguish of the women is palpable, all the more because I struggled to understand it and empathize. The mother with a special needs child, the one whose husband was having an affair, the other with a secret lover who wouldn't let go, and the woman whose child was kidnapped from the park as retaliation for a long ago mistake. What do these women have in common? Real life and all its toll on their hearts, minds and time. NO SPOILERS.

An extremely fast paced book that begs to be read in one sitting. At the outset, the reader knows that a there has been murder, but it takes most of the narrative -- told from different points of view -- to get to the who and why. Although I'm not quite sure I liked how it all turned out, it definitely was a compelling read. I feel that the overall tone was quite depressing and certainly would make me question my desire to have children or a family (if I hadn't already gone that route with much different results). We read about women who "snap" and commit horrific crimes against their families and always wonder -- what was the last straw -- and WHY? There are no answers here, really, but maybe just the underlying theme: endure.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloodhound books for this e-book ARC to read and review. This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

This was a quick and easy read, it kept me entertained. I wouldn't say this was a mind blowing book but it was pretty decent.

I did have a hard time keeping tabs on all the characters and story lines. I felt like they were all similar. I also, kept waiting for a big event to happen that would intertwined the four characters lives together, like the summary mentioned, but I didn't get any of that. I felt like it was two sets of best friends helping each other out of their problems. Which is fine, the stories were pretty original, especially to have four stories going on in one book.

However, I felt like there was major plot wholes in this story. I would of liked a little more explanations on some of the stories. However, the writing was great, the story ended okay, and I did like all the characters. I would recommend as a quick read.

This book was told in the point of views of 4 women and opened with a murder scene. I was captivated from the first page and couldn't put it down. Pamela Crane has a gift for writing and making the reader feel invested in the storyline.

Firstly thank you to net gallery for enabling me to read this book. It's very well laid out and keeps your gripped. Is depressing in parts as realistic as a busy working mom being taken for granted. But lots to twists and not sure who ends up doing the final crime toll the end. Good story, gripping

Right from the start of this book you find yourself thrown in to the story, and it is pretty much non stop right from there!

I really enjoyed the story, it had a great plot and the pace was spot on, it kept me focussed and hooked to the storyline. I really enjoyed the characters and I think the author achieved some excellent characterisation with them which brought it to life and made it a believable book.

I loved the different points of view used to tell the story and this is definitely a book to make you think about what you have in life.

The story flows very well and I loved the ending – four stars from me for this one! Highly recommended!

This story follows the lives of 4 women who all have lives that involve some form of secret whether it be in the past or present and what happens when those secrets are revealed. It shows how lives are interconnected in ways that one would never think and the characters are well written. This book was an easy read and one that I didn't want to put down. Thank you Netgalley for giving me access to this book.

Sometimes, when reading domestic noir, I find it’s much of the same, the same recycled story over and over again. But Pretty Ugly Lies was a breath of fresh air. I loved the multiple viewpoints of the four women (Jo, Ellie, Shayla and June), I was interested in each drama, making this an engaging read throughout.

While each of our leading ladies didn’t necessarily have a distinct personality, it didn’t matter too much, what was key here was the scenario each lady was in, and that was easy to distinguish. So, despite the fact that I couldn’t always remember who belonged to which drama, I was fully invested in the drama. It’s like when you watch TV shows such as Desperate Housewives, or reality shows such as Love and Hip Hop – there’s always plenty of drama and it’s thoroughly entertaining. And amongst all the drama, you get the thread of emotion, the parts you really care about – in Pretty Ugly Lies, you care about how the children are impacted by each scenario, and wow, are there some intense moments featuring the children.

And when one of these women snap, they snap, like what in the holy hell kind of craziness is this – and I mean that in the best possible way, the shock of the event that occurred ensured I’d stayed thinking about this one.

While this is an entertaining read, it is also a thought-provoking one, because once you strip back the layers of drama, you see the suffering. The pain of living a life you didn’t imagine, second guessing the decisions you made, those scary moments when you feel trapped in your own life… Crane doesn’t hold back, she makes these women honest in their feelings – they voice what, perhaps, many mothers are afraid too, the fleeting thoughts that can enter a mind. Everything has a darker side, and motherhood is no different!

This was my first time reading a novel by Crane, and I shall be seeking out more of her books because I found this one so engaging and entertaining with enough emotion to make me care. I absolutely recommend this novel to fans of domestic noir.

This book will drag you in from the first chapter alone… It will have the reader wanting more and to know all the answers. This story is told through four different women, all with differing lives but all with a secret!

This story for me got me thinking about my life as a stay at home mother of two, it can be stressful like some of these characters point out but you’ve got to appreciate the good side too. I.E. watching your kids grow up, seeing their smiles and making memories! Parts of this story are dark and are hard to hear as a mother myself. Every mother should love their children beyond the world so what happened in this story really shocked me and shook me up.

A thrilling, chilling, captivating story. Had me hooked. Fast paced, easy to devour and can easily be finish in one sitting! A brilliant story but did it hit me quiet hard in parts. Poor children. The story also includes my worse nightmare… An abduction. A well deserved four stars. Highly recommend.

4 Pretty Ugly Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book takes a dark, real, and raw look at motherhood... I want to start off by saying I thought this was a really good book... it was very readable... probably too relatable, maybe hit a little close to home at times.... it was also a quick and compelling read filled with extremely well developed characters.... my only issue with this book is the characters themselves, I will go on a mini rant about that at the end of my review, LOL

The book starts out with a bloody murder scene, a mother has snapped and murdered her entire family.... we are then introduce to four different mothers with plenty of dirty laundry both literally and figuratively... some of these mothers I found more likable and more relatable than others... Jo was probably the most sympathetic character for me, I mean how can you not feel for a mother whose child has gone missing? Dark secret or no dark secret this is every mother‘s worst nightmare.... The rest of these mothers rub me the wrong way and I will address that more later.... but you do not need to like the characters in a book to like the book and I thought this book was really well done... I loved trying to figure out who snapped and I really thought it could possibly be each of these mothers at some point during the book.... this was a fast paced Book, that kept me turning those pages.... I enjoyed knowing the outcome while reading the book it really made the amateur detective and amateur psychologist in me happy....

Strongly encourage you to pick up this book it was a real look at the darker side of motherhood, filled with secrets and plenty of twists....

warning rent ahead*
The mothers in this book seriously frustrated me with the exception of Jo.... now I do understand motherhood is hard I have three kids and my first two are only 13 months apart, I get it! I also suffered from postpartum depression after my second child was born, so I get that as well! BUT these women did not seem to have any love towards their children... these are women who chose to have children, who are living in a upper-class neighborhood by choice, and they just could not seem to see the forest for the trees.... and the expectation that your young children are going to shower you with love and appreciate you is insane! Seriously I don’t think I truly appreciated my parents until I had children myself.... I just ultimately had a hard time with these women whining about their almost perfect lives and blaming their children for what was wrong with them.... they all clearly needed a friend like me to smack them back into reality! LOL I think it says something about the amazing writing and character development in this book to have evoked such strong emotions in me!

*** many thanks to Bloodhound Books for my copy of this book ***

Author Pamela Crane had been on my radar for a long time now. So when Bloodhound Books announced that they are publishing her next, I had to get my hands on it, and I’m glad I did.

The book starts off with a woman at home which has now turned into the murder scene of her husband and children, awaiting the police. Now that is what I call an attention grabbing first chapter. From that point on, there was no turning back, I had to read the complete book. The story follows four women living in the same neighbourhood, tackling all the curveballs life has to offer. With alternating chapters presenting the different point of views of the the four women, it is, at first, a bit difficult to follow them but you slowly get a hang of them. This book shows what all a woman goes through as a wife, a mum, a member of the society. With ever story I was hanging by the edge, wondering what’s next. I could feel the stress each of the four women and could see that they could snap any moment now. As humans, our threshold of tolerance is limited, one negative incident and it’s easy to lose it all. This book shows to how much depth a person can truly go before harming themselves or their loved ones and the author skillfully managed to express this through the story. This book is perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and B.A. Paris.

Pretty Ugly Lies is a twisty, thought-provoking Domestic Noir which will make you wonder what a wife and a mum goes through and what are you doing in that equation.


Pretty Ugly Lies by Pamela Crane gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.

This book starts off with a family being murdered, then moves on to introducing you to four different wives/mothers and ofcourse you have to finish it and see which one actually cracked and committed the murder. It was a good story, however, at the same time you never really get to know each character besides the incessant whining that eventually takes over each and every chapter. Good premise though.