I was excited yet nervous to read this one because I enjoyed the author's previous novel so much. I'm thrilled to report this is a worthy follow up!

This story follows two women, each bent on revenge for different reasons. The characters are compelling and believable. The story is intense, I couldn't put it down and I couldn't guess what was happening next. This is a fast paced, twisty story that hops around in time yet is easy to follow. The writing is strong.

I highly recommend this one for readers of thrillers.

The Lies I Tell, described as a “twisted domestic thriller”, follows Meg Williams, a con artist and Kat Roberts, a journalist who has been waiting years to expose Meg for who she really is. When Kat hatches a plan to befriend Meg and get the scoop she needs for her career making story, Kat soon finds out that not everything is as it seems.

First off, the beginning of this book had me hooked. We get a glimpse of how Meg started her “career” as a con artist and how she targeted her former high school teacher, a man who supposedly had something to do with the disappearance of another student. Based on the first third of the book, I was expecting to love this story. Unfortunately, the plot started to meander around the 50% mark when Kat befriends Meg. There was too much real estate jargon to hold my attention, I became a bit bored.

While this book is predictable (I guessed the twist super early), the ending was satisfying and redeemed the slow parts, so I’m settling on 3 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 6/21/2022

I was totally absorbed in this thriller and read it in one sitting. Cheering for the con artist and cheering even more when the despicable were brought to ruin. Multilayered characters and an excellent storyline, especially as this con is served with revenge.
Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an early copy of this book. This review is voluntary and the comments are my honest opinion.

Meg’s target is a man she has patiently waited for the last ten years. She was just a girl when she and her terminally ill mother Rosie lost their home, their stability and life as they knew it. All because of one man, Ron Ashton. Alone in the world Meg became a chameleon changing her personality, skills and her name as the situation required. Like the Robin Hood of emotional trauma, Meg focuses on men who have ruined the lives of women by taking all of their power away. Narcissistic, often good looking, successful men who believe they are above the law. Kat Roberts has also been biding her time. As a young journalist in Los Angeles she received a tip on a hot new story her boss was covering. Unfortunately, following up on this lead alone and inexperienced Kat was physically and emotionally traumatized leaving her life in shambles from which she has never truly recovered. Supporting her detective boyfriend Scott in gamblers anonymous, Kat finds herself at a crossroads. She has discovered that Meg is back in town. She is posing as a realtor, licensed and with a surprisingly authentic web site. Kat is determined to befriend Meg, infiltrate her latest con and put her sorely missed journalistic skills back to work. The two women quietly remain optimistic that justice will be served and are often reminded that the teacher is sometimes the student. Extremely fast paced suspenseful domestic thriller. Author Julie Clark has done it again with this absolute perfect beach read. Bring lots of lotion because you will not be able to put this one down.

4.5 Rounded Up
There is something special about a book written by Julie Clark. She expertly crafts strong female characters and makes you fall a little in love with them and cheer for them, even those with some major flaws. Meg is a con artist and she's come back to Cali for revenge. Kat is the reporter that is determined to figure it all out and cover the story. Back and forth, back and forth, the chapters alternate perspective and it was very entertaining to see it all unfold from both of their points of view. There is a bit of time hopping as well and it all flowed quite nicely. Well done, Ms Clark.
There are some triggers in the book, so beware of that. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The Lies I Tell will be available on 6/21/22.

This book was seriously addictive! I had a hard time putting it down and kept wanting to come back to the engrossing story and compelling characters. Meg and Kat were both well developed and fascinating narrators, and I loved seeing the dynamic play out between the two. I highly recommend this fast-paced, twisty thriller! Julie Clark hit it out of the park once again with another 5 star read and I can't wait to read what she writes next!

I love a book that is smart, that makes me think, that makes me appreciate the gift the author has for telling a great story. The Lies I Tell by Julie Abbott Clark is exactly that kind of a book. For ten years, Meg has been running cons as she crisscrosses the country, and Kat is a journalist who wants to expose her. But of course it’s not as simple as that, because there are layers to Meg that prove that she is not just a grifter, and there are things in Kat’s past that not only draw her to Meg for the sake of the story, but for personal reasons as well. The Lies I tell is a twisted, tangled web of deception, revenge, justice, and manipulation that I could barely put down. Throughout the book, I never knew who to believe, who to condemn, or whose side to be on. The ending was unexpected, brilliant, and perfect. This brilliant line from the book sums it up for me: “The difference between justice and revenge comes down to who’s telling the story.”

I love how Julie Clark writes strong female characters. Meg and Kat wove a story that was so fun to unravel. There were so many twists and turns!
It is no secret that I do not like unreliable narrator plots but this one was so good! I loved the misdirects. It felt like I was inside a movie!
This almost felt like Dexter meets Ocean’s Eleven!

review ✨

This was a quick and twisty thriller I had a hard time putting down! Just like Clark’s novel The Last Flight, Meg and Kat are complex and well-fleshed out. I had fun as a reader getting to know them; my opinion constantly changed as their layers were peeled and the story unraveled.

The story went in a completely different direction than I expected which I loved!! It’s very much an anti-heroine psychological suspense.

⚠️ there are graphic depictions of sexual assault and abuse in this novel so please keep that in mind before picking up ❤️

Thank you to @bookmarked and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

🗓 PUB DATE: 6/21/22
📖 320 pages
✨ my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow, I devoured The Lies I Tell in one day. Julie Clark’s second book is even better than Last Flight, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Again it focuses on 2 women whose lives cross paths. Each perspective compels the reader to champion for the truth behind the lies. The friendships that develop feel real and natural. The amount of character development over chapters is a feat to be applauded. It is a tale of justice and revenge, and while there are not many twists for a thriller, it is oh so satisfying. I cannot wait to read what Julie Clark writes next!

Meg is a female con artist that goes by various names, depending on her location. She has managed to swindle millions of dollars from men without ever getting caught by the police. Now she's after one man in particular, Ron Ashton, who's running for Senate, and has wronged her family in the past. Now Meg is out to claim what was hers all along.

Kat is a writer, engaged to Scott, a recovering gambling addict. His addiction has burdened their relationship and sent them into a deep debt that Kat is working hard to pay off. Kat has also been wronged in the past by a man and it has caused her trauma for many years. She has been interested in writing about Meg for a long time and she's determined to gather as much information as possible to hopefully sell her story and kick off her writing career.

The story is told from the POVs of both Kat and Meg. At first, I really disliked Meg's character, but towards the end, I began to lean more towards her side than not. The author will keep you guessing about Meg's integrity for most of the book. My least favorite characters were probably Nate and Ron, mainly because they are just horrible human beings.

I would not categorize this book as a thriller because it's just not that thrilling, unlike The Last Flight. There are no real major twists in this novel, so don't be disappointed because I told you so. That being said, it's also not boring, but it did take me longer than normal to get through this book even though it is an appropriate length. I think I would have preferred listening to this book on audio and I would have finished more quickly. I just did not feel compelled to pick it up and keep reading.

Special thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Lies I Tell isn't even out yet, but I have already recommended it to a half dozen readers. One of the best thrillers I have read in years!

4.5 stars

Is it wrong to cheer for a conman, or con-woman, in this case?
When presented in books or movies, I usually hate them, as they usually target a rich yet vulnerable person. But the more I learned about Meg Williams and how she selected her targets, the more I liked her.

This story is told from two POVs, Meg and Kat Roberts, the latter being someone who believes Meg ruined her life. One the outset, I didn't care for Meg and had to wonder what she could have done to Kat for her to seek vengeance. When Kat reveals the reason, I actually thought her anger was misdirected, but I was sympathetic to her experience.

What was most interesting in this book was reading how the two women tried to play one another in order to meet their own goals. Meg had an unfair advantage, with years of practice, but I thought Kat did much better than I anticipated.

In the end, are they friends or foes?
It was fascinating to read it all play out, and witness some powerful people taken down a notch or two along the way. Justice served with a big cup of f**k you, lol.

Loved this smartly written novel of drama and suspense in which two fiercely brilliant female protagonists face injustice and revenge! I will read anything author Julie Clark writes.

An excellent first book to read by Julie Clark, and it certainly will not be the last!

This is an entertaining cat-and-mouse thriller between two women -- a con artist who has made it her life's mission to avenge a family wrong from her childhood, and a writer/reporter who is inadvertently swept up in one of the cons.

I really enjoyed this read, and will gladly recommend it! 4.5/5 stars

I was really looking forward to this book following the excellent prior book. The Last Flight was one of the best thrillers I had read recently. But this book just didn’t do it for me. The characters were good but I found it a bit monotonous and I didn’t really care for the ending. All good, it was still a pretty good book.

Such an excellent read! Think Catch Me If You Can meets Revenge and you’ve got The Lies I Tell. Female grifter with a penchant for paying back those who deserve it and taking care of this hurt - can’t wait to see what Julie Clark does next!

A psychological thriller that isn't really thriller-like. No hostages, no blood, just clean and pure con artist fun. Meg is a con artist and is back in town. Kat is a reporter that is trying to write Meg's story. For their own benefits, they become friends and the lies they tell are to keep each other at arm's length.

It may not be a very thought provoking, deep think book but for summer it is a perfect psychological thriller. Not too heavy but enough twists and turns to keep you interested.

I happily accepted the surprising change of pace since The Last Flight, and I really indulged in The Lies I Tell! I really liked the two rivaling characters going back and forth and trying to one-up each other the entire novel, and it made for an extremely fast read. I was a little bit more invested in Meg's earlier chapters and became a little bit frustrated with Kat's later on, but this is a very good follow-up for Julie Clark. I can see almost every reader finding something they enjoy in this book, so it's definitely worth a shot.

Julie Clark does it AGAIN.

I really liked The Last Flight, but dare I say, I enjoyed The Lies I Tell even more?

What a spectacularly woven story, stand out female character with believable and readable flaws, and a powerful study on "right vs. wrong"".

I will be recommending this one to everyone for a great summer read.