This Is Why We Lie was a fun fast paced thrill ride. Jenna is at the beach one morning when she sees Adam carrying a body out the water. They try to help the girl, who Jenna knows as a former friend. It's too late Colleen is dead. Jenna and Adam become suspects in a murder investigation. They quickly realize everyone around them is lying. Who's the killer? It gets more intense when another student is murdered. I really enjoyed this book. It would have been 5 stars but I felt like the ending was rushed. I had to re-read the last two chapter a few times because I thought I missed something. It ended very abruptly. Overall, I did enjoy this story!

Got this as an Arc from Inkyard Press (shout out to them.) As someone who has read a lot of YA mystery over the last few months, I find that there are many things that can make or break a mystery novel. While this book had an interesting premise I did find the characters to be a little too "cliche-y" and not written too well. It was one of those books where I could see where the plot was going to go from the first few chapters and was able to spot the "twist" ending from a mile away. Despite this I do think I am a bit picky so I feel like this could be a good beginner book for someone who wants to try out a mystery book for the first time? While not my fave I do think there is some potential here!

This who dun it just wasn't for me. The spoiled kids just put me off. Its hard to care what happens to rich people and spoiled people these days. I ended up DNFing this one around 40%.

Things I liked: suspenseful plot; the layout/format of the story vs flashback vs police reports vs texts; main characters--Jenna and Adam.
What fell flat: character growth and development (especially the supporting characters--very nondescriptive); the dialogue didn't read as authentic; bad boys/rich cheerleaders trope, didn't really bring anything new to the genre.
I found it easy to put down because I wasn't that invested in the characters, yet, because of the pacing, I also found it easy to pick up and fall right into the story again. The mystery "whodunit" is popular with my teen readers so I will expect this to be a hit with those readers.

Boarding schools, rich teens, wild boys, mystery & scandal! If any of these topics appeal to you, you have found your summer read! A great YA debut.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the digital ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This Is Why We Lie was a really fun read. The story was exciting, and will keep you guessing right up to the end. Unlike some books where the twist at the end doesn’t match up with the rest of the story, the twist at the end of This Is Why We Lie absolutely works, and you do get enough information to figure it out before the reveal, if you’re paying attention. The foreshadowing is excellent--there are lots of moments that you don’t really notice at first, but once you’ve finished the book you’ll look back on in a completely new light. Definitely worth a read!

It’s well paced,captivating , intriguing and solid YA mystery, whodunnit thriller centered around the murder of Colleen and the possible culprits.

Two narrators are the ones who have found the body of Colleen; Jesse and Adam.

The impactful opening starts with Jesse’ serene early photo shooting routine at Rookwood Beach. She hears Adam’s scream for help. He’s in the water, soaked to the thigh, legs tangled in gushing net and seaweed, carrying a body in his arms: a girl whose skin turned purple.

Adam performs CPR, shouting at Jesse to call ambulance but nothing he’s done works because the girl is already dead and she’s Jesse’s senior classmate Colleen O’Dell from Preston Prep School: a school for privileged young ladies.

Adam Cole is a part of Rookwood boys clan : a school for problematic boys with troubled pasts. All of them messed their lives by involving into something shady like drugs, anger management problem. Actually one of them is presumed killer of his parent!

Adam still suffers from troubled past in farm and befriends Max Grayson and Tommy Drummond who are also fighting against their own inner demons but it seems like they are not doing a great job. Their paths are already crossed with Preston girls.

Super hot Max seems like dating with Serena who was once upon a time best friend of Jesse and Hollie. But it seems like our bad boy Max plans to use Serena as a ticket to the freedom. He wants to seize her trust fund as an opportunity for his way out of the miserable hand he’s dealt with.

But Colleen who became one of the best friend of Serena also starts lurking around Rookwood cabin to hang out with boys, threatening them to tell everyone their dirty secrets. He might be also dating with Max behind Serena’s back! Did one of the boys kill her or could Jesse’s best friend Hollie who had a big fight with Colleen at lunch in front of the entire classmates be the one who may have hurt her? Or was Serena out for revenge who found out Max and Colleen’s secret meetings?

Or could be Adam who keeps secrets from Jesse, lying her about how he knows Colleen?

It was fast, riveting reading. I couldn’t guess the culprit but I didn’t much care what was happening around spoiled girls and troubled boys so much! But it was still fun to read!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

A well written YA/Teen whodunnit! Fast paced, riveting, and unputdownable! The author did great on character development, making this riveting, twisted tale even more intriguing! Think it’s done perfectly for a younger Audience, and will definitely keep their attentions and mind spinning; but also feel older thriller lovers will enjoy this twisted tale! Definitely one I would highly recommend!

Will buzz around platforms and use my low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

This Is Why We Lie follows a group of teens as they grapple with the death of a friend and plenty of secrets lurking in the periphery as the town examines who could be responsible for the death of Colleen O'Dell.

Jenna is determined to prove her friend Hollie's innocence. While everyone is ready to point the finger at her after her blowout fight with Colleen in the cafeteria, Jenna knows Hollie is innocent. That leaves an array of suspects as Colleen was no stranger when it came to pushing people's buttons.

As she tries to examine the suspects, Jenna finds herself increasingly drawn to Rookwood, a school for troubled boys. But Jenna herself is troubled when she finds herself drawn to Adam, a boy with a complicated past of his own.

Adam is just trying to get through his time at Rookwood, and when Colleen threatens to expose the secrets of the Rookwood boys, he is determined to keep out of the drama. When he gets pulled in, he's not sure how he can escape this time.

This was a fun read! I could definitely see this being picked up as a Pretty Little Liars-esque YA thriller/romance show. I thought it was really well done, and I loved watching as Jenna as she uncovered motivations from the characters. I thought the red herrings were well done! The pacing was great, and I think this was a strongly written book.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fast paced suspense novel that I think most teens would enjoy. It starts out with a murder of a prep school student, and it quickly turns into a plot revolving around friendships & betrayals. Adam & Jenna are interesting characters, but I would have liked to find out more about them during the story. There were several twists in the story that kept it interesting. The only thing I didn't care for was that the timeline jumped around between past & present a lot, which was good for the story, but the format made it hard to determine when the time changed at various points. I found myself confused until I got a paragraph or two into the change and realized it had already happened and was a flashback.

I enjoyed this fast paced murder mystery. Because there were different periods of time/flash backs that occur during the book it was sometimes confusing to keep track. The main two characters Adam and Jenna were easy to connect with, but I wish there was more background on the side characters. I loved that the book was written from both the POV of Adam and Jenna. This book did keep me guessing until close to the end. Fans of Karen McManus will probably love this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.


#ThisIsWhyWeLie #NetGalley

What a great YA intro into the genre of murder and who done it! This book had me stumped, in a good way, all the way through until the end with a few fun twists along the way. I went through the journey with Jenna as she tries to solve the murder of one of her schoolmates. This is a great mystery with a touch of romance and a lot of good crazy teen girl drama. Strong friendships are challenged and teen struggles are worked through. Little nuggets of the characters back stories intertwine with the unfolding murder investigation. This is a very well written book and I really enjoyed the experience of it. Thank you to Gabriella Lepore for writing this wonderful book and to Inkyard Press for allowing me to read and review it.

To start, I thought this book was pretty good. It’s nothing spectacular or different, but it did keep drawing me in, and I didn’t actually know the guilty one until the end. My main problem came from how it just didn’t sound authentic. Some of the conversations felt forced. The police interviews, news stories, and other little bits just sounded awkward, not realistic at all. I liked the characters. Jenna and Adam in particular were well done, if a bit underdeveloped. The setting could be improved, as it feels like this could have taken place anywhere. I also felt like Rookwood and the girls school could have been fleshed out more - they were intriguing, but weren’t really developed enough either. That felt like a missed opportunity. Regardless, this was well worth reading!

The author grabs your attention from the start. A dead body in the ocean from the prestigious Preston Prep School. Lots of questions to be answered to find out what happened. This book is told from in two perspectives Jenna and Adam are the ones to find Colleen so this is their story. A girl's prep school and a boarding school for troubled boys where the lines between the two blur after hours makes this a mystery that uncovers much more than everyone expects. For those who like mysteries, this is a good one. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My students are always looking for a good mystery, and This is Why We Lie by Gabriella Lepore will be a book that immediately comes to mind. It covers so many genres- murder mystery, family and friend conflicts, and a budding romance.

The novel wastes no time building excitement and curiosity, when Jenna and Adam, two teenagers from two different worlds (and schools), find the body of a girl that Jenna goes to school with. Jenna and the dead teen go to Preston Prep School, an elite school for girls, while Adam goes to a Rookwood reform school for troubled boys. When it becomes obvious that this was a murder, students at both schools immediately become suspects.

The story is told from both Adam and Jenna’s point of view, so the reader slowly learns what each of them know about the case, as well as their growing feelings for each other. New revelations constantly unfold, making this book difficult to put down once you start reading. Not only do we learn more about what happened on the night of the murder, we also learn more about Jenna and Adam, and the internal conflicts they are facing.

I absolutely loved this book and will be purchasing a copy or two for my classroom library and will recommend it to students looking for suspenseful and/or romance stories.

A huge thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This book had me hooked til the end! Jenna and Adam find a dead classmate and are convinced it’s murder. When Jenna’s best friend becomes a suspect, she does everything she can to uncover the truth.

The book switches between Jenna and Adam’s POV, which helps us get to know the inner workings of the different schools and friend groups. Each school has its secrets, so getting an inside look at both is crucial to the story. Jenna was a great protagonist, but I wanted to know more about her life. We get quick glimpses into her absent mother, but not much more. She lives with her Aunt, who is a cop on the case, but I feel like that relationship could have been explored more. For one of the main characters of the story, I didn’t feel as connected to her as I wanted to. Adam, on the other hand, was great! The Rookwood students are “bad boys,” but he didn’t necessarily fit that role. We got thorough explanations of his past and it helped me understand his character better.

I had absolutely no idea who the killer was! Every time I thought I figured it out, that person was cleared. I couldn’t put the book down because I needed to know who did it. When the reveal came, I was shocked! I didn’t see it coming at all! A lot of books make it too easy to figure out the killer, but Lepore did a great job of keeping me guessing. I’m glad I didn’t figure it out sooner! However, I thought the ending felt rushed. There could have been a little more suspense when Jenna cracked the case, and a bit more story after the culprit was arrested.

This was a quick, interesting YA mystery, and I highly recommend it!

This was a solid YA thriller. I didn't really love the characters and the plot felt a bit predictable, but this was an overall enjoyable read.

If you love Karen McManus you will love this book. The twists and turns kept me guessing. I love the style of having two different narrators ad then on top of that these narrators have something to hide that come out in little details? That is my cup of tea!

This was a fast-paced murder mystery set in fictional Gardiner's Bay. The body of a young girl is found in the bay by two teens one early morning. Jenna Dallas attends the elite Preston Prep School for girls, while Adam Cole attends Rookwood, a boys reform school on the wrong side of the tracks. They both knew the girl they found in the ocean, but they lie about how well, trying to protect the ones closest to them. When the police start to focus on Jenna's best friend, who had a vicious public catfight with the deceased girl the day before she died, Jenna begins to unravel the threads that someone has so carefully woven. Jenna and Adam are drawn to each other, but the more she finds out the more she wonders if he can be trusted. How far would you go to protect the ones you love? How many lies would you tell? This was an entertaining read and I found myself trying to figure out who the culprit was (I was wrong). The story is told through alternating POV's between Jenna and Adam, text messages, interviews, flashbacks, and news stories. While I liked the addition of these different methods, I did not like the execution. It might be because I was reading it as an ebook, but many of these communications would show up in between chapters and were just wedged in awkwardly. I hope there is better spacing given when the book becomes published. There were also times when I had a hard time figuring out who was actually speaking because the dialogue was all mashed together. I also became increasingly annoyed by the bland description of everyone's hair! There were a lot of blondes in this story and they were described as unimaginatively as possible numerous times. Overall this was an enjoyable read and the story had nice pacing. The book is less than 300 pages so I was able to finish it in just a few hours. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

While this is by no means a perfect book, it does carry an interesting premise. While not sounding overly original amongst the realm of YA mysteries/thrillers, it has a solid start. The book opens up with Adam and Jenna finding Colleen's body in the ocean, and right away you're wondering what the heck is happening. While the mystery isn't the most mind-boggling, you can pretty much figure it out when you find Jenna starting to put the pieces together.

Character-wise, Jenna and Adam are solid leads. They offer interesting access into the main groups of the story that are the focal point (Jenna with her connection to the cheerleaders and Adam being part of the Rooks). While we know that Jenna has a pretty clear-cut perspective, Adam's life is a bit more guarded. Despite reading from his perspective you know there is something that he's hiding from the audience. As the reader, we are left hanging until it's revealed later on in the book. Other than these two, most of the supporting cast isn't really fleshed out. Some might have their own defining moments, but that's it.

Overall, a solid YA mystery that's a quick and easy read.