Oh this book is a good one. It’s a locked room mystery that takes place on an island during a wedding weekend. I literally read it on a snow day in a couple of hours. This is going to be one of the best mysteries of the year. I highly recommend it.

What could be more romantic than a wedding on the Isle Isola? Surrounded by cliffs and water with an over the top villa where you can get lost if you aren’t careful.

Claire Hunter is an artist. On the rise and to top it off, she is marrying Jack Compton of the uber-wealthy Compton family. The Comptons have secrets. A lot of secrets.

When Claire and Jack arrive at the villa, things begin to go wrong. A skeleton has been found and it has everyone on edge. Brothers are fighting, the help is sketchy at best. When her wedding dress is ruined and people start dying, she has to find out who is trying to get rid of her. And what happened to Jack’s first wife?

And then the power goes out, and things get even scarier.

J.T. Ellison is always on point with her books. No one does menacing characters and twisty plots like Ellison.

Will this one have a happy ending or will the wedding of the year become something more sinister?

Well Done!

NetGalley/ March 9th, 2021 by MIRA

T

I love this theme of destination wedding thrillers. Caught attention for page one. Was completely transported. Wanted to know but didn’t want it to end

The super rich are just like the rest of us. Or are they? Claire and Jack are in Italy for their wedding when all sorts of sinister things start to occur. Who is the culprit? And who pays the price for causing old hurts and keeping secrets? This page-turner won’t let you down!

Wow, wow, wow. Another amazing mystery by the best in the biz. Characters to die for ( and with) and a story to sit you back in your seat. Ellison is a master of mystery

I loved Good Girls Lie and JT Ellison, so I was so thrilled to get my hands on an ARC of Her Dark Lies! It was so well written and immediately seized my attention.

The plot summary from Goodreads:

Jutting from sparkling turquoise waters off the Italian coast, Isle Isola is an idyllic setting for a wedding. In the majestic cliff-top villa owned by the wealthy Compton family, up-and-coming artist Claire Hunter will marry handsome, charming Jack Compton, surrounded by close family, intimate friends…and a host of dark secrets. From the moment Claire sets foot on the island, something seems amiss. Skeletal remains have just been found. There are other, newer disturbances, too. Menacing texts. A ruined wedding dress. And one troubling shadow hanging over Claire’s otherwise blissful relationship—the strange mystery surrounding Jack’s first wife. Then a raging storm descends, the power goes out—and the real terror begins…

I enjoyed the dynamics of this book. The characters were unique and very interesting and I wasn’t sure who to trust. Reading about a ridiculously rich family who can do whatever they want whenever they want is usually fun, and this was no exception. The writing was so descriptive. I could picture the Italian villa and the waves crashing against the rocks so clearly, it's like I was there with the characters in the book. I never really knew what was going on, but the ending wasn’t what I expected at all. I liked the main character, Claire, and also liked the character of Ana as well. I think that this would make a great mini-series for TV. Ellison is one of my favorite authors, and her writing instantly draws you in. I read this book in one sitting because I was hooked from the first line.

I am a new reader to JT Ellison but she is quickly becoming a favorite! This book was very atmospheric, I love an old crumbling manor/mansion/stately home and being on a secluded island just added to the creep factor. The story line moved at a good pace and I loved the ending!

I feel like there is a trend right now of novels featuring weddings on stormy cliffs. This one was a little too predictable for me. And I felt like the multiple narrators were confusing at times. It wasn't always clear who was speaking.

In Her Dark Lies, artist Claire is about to marry extremely wealthy Jack Compton on his family's private island in Italy. Then the bad things start happening. Do you like excessive descriptions of landscape and locations? Would you like to read page after page of details about the island and house? Do you like it when the protagonists gloss over the major events of the book so they can continue to describe their environment? Then Her Dark Lies is the book for you! I stuck it out to the end, but this book majorly drags. There's a lot of good ideas here, and many of the twists have potential. Unfortunately they never quite clicked. Things that should have been dealt with in detail by the characters (like the ruined wedding dress mentioned in the synopsis) are all just waved away. Perhaps this is supposed to reinforce the idea of a secretive, powerful family, but it felt like something was missing. There were a few twists you could see coming from a mile away, and not because I'm some great detective, but because they've been famously done before. I think there is an audience for this book - I might possibly recommend it for someone who liked The Guest List as a "the power goes out at a location wedding" readalike, but Her Dark Lies wasn't for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

Ellison’s “Tear Me Apart” is one of my favorite and I recommend it often. I’ve read her others since then and they have been okay, but haven’t topped TMA yet. This one is no different.

I really enjoyed listening to Claire’s POV but once the second narrator comes into play, the book picks up quickly.

I found it kind of ridiculous to think anyone, even the great Compton family, would move forward after the “surprises” and then Henna. Come on....as if all that could be hidden from the guests. Nope...too hard to swallow.

But overall, I did enjoy this one and flew through the last half in one day. So, that on its own gives it a solid 3.5.

Still an Ellison fan. Keep em coming!

This wasn't a bad book by any means, but I kept thinking to myself that it would make a better soap opera than a book. Some of it seemed a little over the top and unbelievable, and it was very, very ..... dramatic. I had a hard time connecting to the characters, especially Claire, and I didn't feel that there was much mystery behind anything in the book. I think it was fine, but maybe not for me. I am sure there are readers that will gobble this book up, so I don't forsee DISCOURAGING from buying it. Just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean that it won't work for anyone else.

J T Ellison is one of my favorite authors but I had a hard time with this book. It was very confusing and I had a lot of questions at the end of the book. Who did kill her???

I adore JT Ellison and have read every book written. While I did finish this book, it wasn't one of my favorites. I usually cannot wait to continue reading but I was not drawn to this book. It was just okay for me. Maybe others will love it more than I did. I look forward to reading more in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

It should be the happiest time of her life. Artist Claire Hunter is set to marry Jack Compton in his family’s luxurious Italian villa, but human remains have just been discovered on the island. As if that weren’t unsettling enough, Claire discovers her wedding dress has been destroyed and she begins to get threatening texts. What exactly happened to Jack’s first wife? A huge storm that takes out the power leaves the guests at the mercy of a killer in Ellison’s newest thriller.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I have been a fan of JT’s ever since the Taylor Jackson books. Her writing has always drawn me right in, with interesting and fast paced plots and multi faceted characters that you don’t want to stop reading about. Unfortunately this book didn’t have the same effect on me. With that being said though, I still look forward to her next novel.