I decided to sit this one aside after forcing myself to read it for over a week and only getting to the 25% mark. I couldn't stand Nofar and something about the way the story was told (the lack of dialogue maybe?) didn't sit right with me.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for giving me the chance to review this eArc.

Thought the premise is intriguing, as I read the book I had a hard time getting into it.

This book is not for me and I have decided not to finish reading it. It's very rare that I DNF a book, but this is one of those times I have to, I even tried skimming pages and didn't want to do that throughout the whole thing. I tried to read it three times now and have only reached 17% into it and the way it's written is just not catching my interest at all.

Only 17, Nofar thinks her life will improve when she begins working after school at the local ice cream parlor. So far, her life has been dull and ordinary especially when compared to that of her younger beautiful sister Maya.
Her life improves when she tells one lie that gets her more attention than she ever wanted. While she struggles between protecting her life and confessing the truth, a neighborhood boy Lavi sees her as the heroine she's always wanted to be.
This book is so well written that it's impossible to say what is right and what is wrong even when an elderly holocaust survivor gives her own somewhat jaded input. This is a classic story that will resonate with everyone who reads it.
I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, and I'm happy I had the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you netgalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I unfortunately could not finish this book. I tried to get into it, but after a few chapters I had to put it down. It has an interesting plot, but the way it’s written made it hard to enjoy.

Unfortunately, I found this book to be boring. The characters, plot, and even sentence structures weren't the best. I found myself skimming through, which is always a red flag that there's no point in really investing in the story.

I'm just going to start off right away that I couldn't get into this one, so I didn't finish it.  It wasn't worth trying to push through.

I read the first few chapters, but I couldn't make myself go any further.  It felt like a chore

The book does seem interesting; a 17-year-old ice cream scooper has a run-in with a disgruntled, washed-up star and allows rumors of an attempted sexual assault to bloom.  But there was just something about the story that didn't pull me in or make me care to know what happens next.

One thing that bugged me about this book was that there was little dialogue to move the story on and instead we're given summary recaps of characters that played a part in Nofar's life.  It was more telling the story than showing it in my opinion.. there was no passion in the narration.

With my new resolution to DNF books that I just can't get into, this sadly had to be the first one.

However, thanks NetGalley for letting me (try to) read an advanced copy of this book and give my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of The Liar.

I was intrigued by the premise, how a young lady's lie spirals quickly out of control and the consequences this deceit has on her family and social circle.

Nofar is a quiet, unassuming young woman working in an ice cream shop during the summer.

She's not remarkable in any way. That distinction belongs to her younger and more beautiful sister.

When a rude, arrogant man, famous for winning a singing competition, berates her and accosts her in an alley, passersby immediately assume the worst.

And Nofar goes along with it. For the first time in her life, she is not unassuming. She is famous. She is looked at. She is known.

But will her newfound notoriety extend to condemning an innocent man?

Unfortunately, I failed to connect with anyone, least of all, Nofar.

In fact, I had a hard time staying focused on the plot. The writing is great, but its written as an encapsulation of what the characters are doing, their thoughts, their wishes, their motivations, their desires.

There is very little dialogue. Instead, readers are given summary recaps of numerous characters that play a significant or subtle part of Nofar's life, her family, her customers, her classmates.

As I was reading, I felt dispassionate about everything, as if we are watching the entire event unfold on a stage.

I found I couldn't and didn't care about any of the characters, especially Nofar. Even after she became the center of attention, she remained a dull, bland character, secondary to the chaos she had created.

She sets something terrible into motion, but at the same time, she seemed disconnected from it all, as other characters whirled and debated around her.

Perhaps that was the author's point; to demonstrate just how insignificant Nofar is.

This wasn't bad, just not for me.

Great cover, though.

I read about 20% of this and then I set it aside. In some ways, the writing was quirky and interesting, but the story just didn't compel me to read on.

Truth about lies, tell a lot about a liar!!!

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, author of “Waking Lions”, brings us “Liar”, ....
a fascinating book about ethics and consequences....
which is every bit as strong as “Waking Lions”.

Nofar Shalev, a minor, seventeen year old, went from being an invisible shy awkward girl to being a household name and face. She accused a famous singer, Avishai Milner, of rape. He didn’t rape her.... but gets tossed in jail.
I cringed at so much injustice....
But the injustice makes for a compelling in-depth look at shadows behind the crime.

After a TV news broadcast interview with Nofar, she became known for being the brave young girl who dared to scream.

The lie and secret that Nofar carried inside her concealed other facts about her. The psychological reasons behind her lie were interesting and revealing. She wanted to feel better!
This young girl spent years wanting to be ‘seen’. She wanted a boyfriend and girlfriends like any other normal child or teenager.

It had all happened so fast.. Nofar’s mistake was like a boulder rolling down a hill that couldn’t stop.
She says:
“At first I just cried a lot, and everyone there thought he did something terrible to me, and he really did, but not that, not what everyone thought, and then everything happened so fast, with the newspapers and the TV, and the people who were so nice to me for the first time in my life, and I wish they could be so nice to you when you’re not suffering from anything special, even if you’re not a victim of a crime, just to be nice for no reason, but it doesn’t work like that, it’s either or, either he’s in jail and everyone is nice to me, or he’s out and everything goes back to the way it was. Only worse, because then I won’t be the girl everyone forgets, I’ll be the crazy one. The monster”.

Ayelet explores many themes: mixed messages passed down to children from parents-
The fight for power,
Antisocial personalities- anxiety- guilt- loneliness- jealousy- coming of age mixed with the confusion about love & sex, narcissistic tendencies, embarrassment- family history/functional and dysfunctional - school communities - war - political strife - even the ice cream parlor.
I never knew there was so much to learn about the workings in an ice cream store.
I had ever given much though about an ice cream employee. ( things they thought about customers)...etc. I’m thinking about them now. It will never be the same for me again....walking into an ice cream store.
What’s behind the question,
cone or cup? 🍦🍧

You’ll meet a handful of other interesting....
characters...including a deaf-mute who knew the truth:
“The deaf mute had indeed sworn an emotional oath to protect the girls secret, but emotional oaths are no different from cottage cheese and eggs— they to have a sell-by date”.

Lavi Maimon is another character who wants to be seen. He and Nofar share many similarities- including attraction to one another and her secret.

Maya is Nofar’s younger sister. The dynamics between them is one many siblings might be able to relate to ( The comparison syndrome).

Definitely worth reading!!!
Plenty of insights into the human nature.... and just darn GOOD!!!!!

Thank you to Netgalley, Little Brown and Company...
and to Ayelet Gundar-Goshen ( I really like her books!!!)