Seven lies that Jane told to Marnie. Seven lies that altered the course of their lives. Jane and Marnie had been best friends since childhood but when Marnie marries a man Jane dislikes the lies begin. Smaller at first and life shattering as they progress. A psychological thriller driven by strong character development. You know what's coming but constantly tell yourself "Oh no, she couldn't!" A very enjoyable read.

What a great book! I could not put it down. I finished it in 2 days, even though I have two small children, aka not much spare time.

The narrator and main character Jane, starts off quite relatable but spirals as the book progresses. Even though she spirals, she's written so well that I still feel for her, until we get to the very end. Does this say more about me or the author, I'm not sure LOL

All of the character development is impeccable; each character is introduced separately in a deliberate and well thought out way. I felt like I knew every one of them and they each played an important role in the book.

The story was unpredictable and kept me wondering what was going to happen next. The title signifies the seven lies that Jane tells, and is written accordingly. So we start off hearing about the first lie and progress to the seventh. I loved that every part of this book was relevant to the overall story; sometimes you read books and are left wondering about certain parts of the storyline, or certain characters.

There's so much more I can say but I don't want to spoil the plot!! All I can say is, please read this book, you won't regret it! Highly recommend, and will be recommending it to all of my book loving friends! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a thriller! Man was this book good! Right from the beginning we find out the story is told almost as a confessional. The narrator, Jane, is talking to you (to me, to the reader) as if we are sitting in the room with her. I started off feeling sympathetic with Jane, all that she goes through, but that quickly changes. She can't be happy for her best friend Marnie for having the things she (Jane) wants. She feels almost an ownership over Marnie, as if Jane had to approve of all major life decisions for Marnie. I really just want to go into details about situations in the book but that would be spoiling it. The writing is compelling, and I just kept reading to find out what happened next. There is a lot of tragedy in this book, relatable tragedy, and sometimes it made me tear up. To me that's a sign of a great book since I actually care about the characters and what is happening. Jane is such a complex character, I like her and hate her and at the same time both understand her and don't understand her at all. It makes her more real and kind of scary to be honest.

There were a couple inconsistencies, which my detail oriented brain compels me to point out. Number one being when Jane records someone on her phone at a time where that wasn't even a possibility. The capabilities of phones when Jane was supposedly recording someone were limited to call, texts where you pressed 1 three times for the letter c, and maybe the game snake or something. No recording.

Two, Jane gets an email from Valerie, says she deleted it but then goes on to say she rereads it every day for a month or more. Now I'm aware that you can move an email back from the trash to the inbox, but why even mention deleting it at all then?

Aside from those things, which aren't enough for me to knock off a star, I loved it. Things infuriated me which kept it intense.

My recommendation is if you like thrillers, you definitely need to pick this one up.

Very good storyline! Such a simple story about a friendship that gradually reveals its darker side, written is such a way that you are left intrigued until the last words. Also liked the style of writing, you felt like you were part of the story being Told. Added to the whole experience of reading this storyline.

Wow what a fantastic read. This book had it all for me. Such a well written book that draws you in till the very end. Couldn't put this one down...it was that good.

Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for an early release of this book

AHHHHHHH! Creepy! But creepy in the unsuspecting way that seems normal... until it's not. Then, you are almost required to go back and re read sections that no longer seem so innocent and friendly.

Friendship is so important, and we are often told 'chick before d*cks' to show that while romantic partners may come and go, true friends are forever. But what happens when it goes too far? When is it more than a friendship, and not in a 'sisters from another mister' kind of way, but in a creepy, possessive way? How far will one go to hold on to her newly wed best friend?

Kay takes this light, fun story of two life long friends and page by page masterfully twists the story until you are enraptured and appalled. A good, quick read.

I did not find this book suspenseful or a thriller.
It definitely did not live up to the blurb provided.

Thank you greatly to the publishers and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Seven Lies! I have decided to not continue with reading it, but I so much appreciate the chance to. I originally felt pulled in and intrigued by the synopsis of this book, but upon reading the first couple of chapters realized it is not for me. Domestic thrillers can be a big hit or miss for me, and I think if I don't feel interested in the story right away, I generally am not as I continue through it.

I don't feel this is a fault against the book or the author, the writing was absolutely well done and I have no complaints or issues! It just was not my cup of tea, and I don't want to continue through a book I know quite early on I may not personally enjoy, even though many others may!

Thank you again!

**copied and pasted from my review on Goodreads**

<u>Rating:</u> <b>3.5 / 5</b>

So...*deep breath* let's talk about subtlety for a moment, shall we? The dictionary definition(s) read as follows: <i>"delicacy or nicety of character or meaning / acuteness or penetration of mind; delicacy of discrimination / a fine-drawn distinction; refinement of reasoning:"</i>. From this, I would like to point out the "acuteness or penetration of mind" part of the definition and expand on that as it pertain to a literary work.

The whole point of being subtle, as I'm sure all readers and writers are aware, is so as to be a mixture of cryptic and expository, to present things in such a way that they're not too hidden but not too obvious either. They are "acute" in the penetration of the mind <i>of the reader</i>, and really get the reader to <i>think</i> in order to understand the many layers of information that the author is presenting to us. It's a middle line that's very thin and difficult to walk, so for any authors that even attempt it, regardless of whether they succeed or not, I think that there's due credit in store.

However, it's only the ones who succeed in subtleties that can truly be regarded as geniuses of their genre and of their writing style, and unfortunately, Elizabeth Kay is not one of those geniuses--or, at least, she has not proven herself to be as such in this novel.

What do I mean by this? Why, I'm glad you asked!--Tone. Narrative tone and voice. To reveal not only who the narrator/protagonist is, but also what their agenda is (if applicable), what we can expect from their narrative, and, via subtleties, whether they are trying to get the reader to think or perceive things in a certain way. This is something consistent in almost all first person POV narratives, and, in a thriller/drama/mystery, because it is also a limiting element, it increases the tension all the more and is an excellent narrative choice.

If done properly, it engages the reader to such an extent that we overlook things like consistencies, sanity, and whether what they're reading is reliable information or not. Those of us who have studied literature, whether academically or otherwise, will be familiar with the unreliable narrator. Not just the term, but as a persona within the literary realm itself, someone that most people will shy away from due to the ambiguity of the content, whereas others are fascinated by this persona and wish to dissect it down to the bone and marrow composition. In any case, it's a tricky person to admit having as your narrator.

Now, some try to make an unreliable narrator <i>seem</i> reliable by having them be a neutral party in the story they are telling--i.e. Nick Carraway in [book:The Great Gatsby|4671], whereas others can claim some form of innocence--i.e. Jem from [book:To Kill a Mockingbird|2657]--or insanity--i.e. Pi from [book:Life of Pi|4214] to make themselves seem reliable--or, at least, to excuse the aspect of their unreliability in narratives that, like it or not, readers just have to take their word for. In the end, perhaps the unreliable narrator does not matter so much since we don't get any other narrative voices anyway. (Some rare instances, like in Wilkie Collins's [book:The Moonstone|6138] and [book:The Woman in White|5890] do accomplish this, but we're talking here about a master whose mysteries are not diminished by this, but rather aided by it. Don't ask me how he does it, because I don't know; I just appreciate and love it.)

But then there are those rare instances of a narrator who doesn't care so much about unreliability, but rather about sympathy. The best example of this is none other than Humbert Humbert from Vladimir Nabokov's [book:Lolita|7604], whom I like to particularly point out as a unique narrator that not only engages the reader in a direct dialogue, addressing the reader as "you", but also tries from start to finish to elicit sympathy for the story and for his actions, painting what is basically a twisted obsession as a tragic love story.

I bring up Mr. Humbert in particular because he is the character that I kept thinking of while reading through the narrative of this novel. The unreliable narrator, Jane, is similar to Humbert in both of the aforementioned aspects, justifying everything she thinks and does into a love story between friends. If anyone happens to read both books, even back to back, I guarantee you'll feel the similarity of the narrative voice.

However, whereas Nabokov was an unquestioned master of subtleties, that is precisely where Ms. Kay fails. Not only are Jane's justifications and thoughts too straightforward and direct, but she literally tries to "guess" what the reader will think and then tell them exactly what to think otherwise. Rather than be clever or elicit the sympathy that she's so obviously going for, I think this diminishes any tension or suspense from the story and thus make the story itself fall...well, rather flat.

Now, I'll grant you that I'm not the biggest fan of <i>Lolita</i>--in fact, I tried reading it several times all the way through and each time got bored somewhere in the middle and had to stop--but I will give Nabokov the due credit he deserves as a brilliant writer and master of subtle prose. While Ms. Kay held my attention for the majority of this story though, that's about all I can say. My attention was held, but no excitement encouraged, no tense moments, no sympathy elicited, and no general caring for what happened to the narrator. There was simply no...substance to it besides the premise, and "a dark gripping novel" it most certainly was not.

However, despite this, I still round it up to four stars because it is not an average 3-star read for me. Three stars is generally where I cap off something that's completely average and forgettable, generally something I'd forget as soon as (and if) I finish it. While <i>Seven Lies</i> was borderline into that category though, in the end I decided that because it held enough of my attention for me to get through it fairly quickly, I'd sooner round it up than down. Call it a spurt of generosity on my part, perhaps.

As for recommendations, I guess I'd recommend it to all fans novels in general, but I'd hesitate to call it a "thriller" or "suspenseful" or anything like that. Take a try at it if you'd like, but I wouldn't say it's a mandatory must-have or anything. Better than average, but only just.