Twisted and filled with “what just happened moments” this book had me engaged and angry at the cult leader who was the male protagonist. Rainy has finally found someone to love and who loves her. Grant is a dream come true into Rainy’s magical life of sculpting, but he does have a request for her. He wants her to go on a girls’ weekend with other wives from the area and Rainy concedes reluctantly. The beginning of the story was a little slow for me and the dual timeline was confusing at first until I finally realized that Summer is Rainy, with a new identity. Summer was taken to live in a cult by her mom Lorraine and there was brutalized by bully leader Taured. When she finally escapes, her life begins but she is haunted by her past and the evil that she faced in the compound. At the girls’ weekend, one of Rainy’s new friends disappears and Rainy is reminded once again of how far the reach of the cult is. The action from about a third of way through until the ending was very fast-paced. The characters were well-developed in that the likable characters were relatable and the odious characters were hated. There were a lot of nuances in the book, so I did have to read carefully to catch all of the clues. The character of Rainy is one of a desperate girl who becomes a strong and independent woman. The lessons learned from this book are many, including victimhood and remaking oneself into a better person. I enjoyed the book, but there are multiple triggers in it, including physical and sexual abuse, so the book may not be for everyone. That being said, those who enjoy psychological thrillers with a touch of sarcasm and more than a little commentary on abuse, this book will definitely entertain you.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
.l loved the first two-thirds of this novel. Then the plot veered into a storyline that I couldn't believe. It was just not plausible that a successful, intelligent woman would make the choices that Rainey made.

Rainy loves her boyfriend, but it’s too keen on his friend’s wives. In an attempt to play nice she goes to a girls trip with them to Las Vegas. But Rainy has history in Nevada.

I have loved Tarryn Fisher’s books in the past. This one wasn’t my favorite but it would still make a good beach read. For a while I felt like I was waiting for something to happen. It did get exciting at the end but the secondary characters kind of all blended to me. While I used to be big into cult books, I’m just a little over it now.

“Worse idea ever, she thought now. This trip, this gaudy and neon rusted city- these women.”

An Honest Lie comes out 4/26.

I have read all of Tarryn's books now and I would have to say this was probably my favorite! Dual timeline thriller dealing with present day artist, Rainey, still coping with lingering aftereffects of being raised in a cult. Definitely used the theme of never really being able to escape your past and needing to reckon with your past before you can truly make a future for yourself. I really quite enjoyed it!

Rainy has a difficult time connecting with her partner, Grant's friends as she moves to his home in WA. When they ask her to go on their women's trip to Las Vegas, she is less than thrilled, but she agrees to go because she knows it will make Grant happy. Rainy hates Las Vegas because she has terrible memories of long ago from there. She is hoping that she will not need to confront any of those memories while on the trip. The story flips back and forth between the past and the present giving the reader the story of Rainy's life growing up. There are some twists and the ending is very edge of your seat crazy! I love this author and found this book to be enjoyable.

An Honest Lie follows Rainy, who recently moved to a cliquey area amongst her boyfriend's friends. Rainy's a bit different from the other women in the group, she's an artist, quiet, keeps to herself, and has many past secrets that no one knows about, not even her boyfriend. She's convinced by her boyfriend to go with a couple gals to Las Vegas, although the area harbours deep secrets for her.

This was okay! I did enjoy it mostly, and it kept me reading, but it felt a bit disjointed. I really loved Summer's parts in the past, that story was so interesting and not similar to anything I've ever read. Rainy's parts in the present were okay, but a lot of it really felt like immature drama bullshit, especially in regard to her "friend" group, and it didn't connect well enough to the past (Summer). It just felt very random and I had no idea where it was going. The ending was just too unbelievable for me, how did a certain person know she was there...make that connection, etc. It went on too long and I wish Summer's part was expanded on better. Rainy's choices really didn't make sense to me, especially at the end.
P.S. How do you pronounce Braithe? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.

Tarryn Fisher has done it again! This suspense mixed with secrets, murder, a cult and Vegas. Not in that order. I loved the way Fisher created the character Rainy as likable yet complex, she did an amazing job at describing her emotions during this rollercoaster. The pov goes from current to past timelines and took a while to merge… but it was worth the slow start for me. Once you understood the characters, everything TOOK OFF! If you like dark and twisty, then you will enjoy this book!

Please remember to search tw.

Thanks to Net galley for providing me with a complimentary arc in exchange for my honest feedback of this book.

An Honest Lie is a dark thriller that follows Rainy, currently an artist, and fiancee to successful and attractive Grant, who embarks on a Las Vegas Trip with a group of rich, clique obsessed housewife types. Despite being completely different from the girls, Rainy is also grappling with her past, being a victim of a Nevada situated cult, only to lose family, friends and her own identity during her escape. Two completely different stories that find a way to merge at some point in the narrative. These two timelines were so opposing in tone and significance to the plot and characters that the amalgamation felt forced and unbelievable, on many levels. I was captivated when the story focused on the factions, tensions, and tragedies of the compound. However, when fused together with the present time drama, found it undercut the significance of a story that could have stood alone. As a reader, I find cult conflicts fascinating, and never tire of them, so fleshing that portion of the story out from the rest felt very successful. Unfortunately, that was not the direction of the novel and so in the end it felt a little disjointed for me. Still worth the read!

An Honest Lie was thrilling! I am a sucker for a book that centers around a cult, and this did not disappoint. The story alternates between present day, and Rainey's days as a cult member. It was interesting to learn how her and her mother became part of the cult - it made the characters more relatable, and I completely understood how they got there.
I also appreciated how this story was female driven. Rainey was the hero throughout, and she didn't rely on someone to come in and save her. The story had many twists and turns, all of which kept me reading long into the night. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller!

Rainy lives at the top of Tiger Mountain and she is hiding from the disturbing past she wants to forget. She agrees to a girls’ weekend in Vegas but after a wild night, her friend Braithe doesn’t come back to the hotel room. Then Rainy gets a text message sent from Braithe’s phone: someone has her. But Rainy is who they really want, and Rainy knows why. Does Rainy need to step back into the past in order to save Braithe? Are the girls that Rainy meets really her friend? This is a heart-pounding and suspense-filled plot that started out slow but heated up and kept me turning pages until the very end. The timeline switches back and forth between now and then. There were a few twists that I didn't see coming but only enhanced the story. If you like psychological thrillers then I am sure you will like this one. I would like to thank Harlequin Trade Publishing, Graydon House and NetGalley for a copy for an honest review. To be published 4/26/22.

I love any cult book and usually eat it up, but it felt like something was missing here. I loved the alternating timelines and if it were mainly about Rainy's time in the cult, it would have been an easy 5 stars. Those chapters were intriguing, creepy and disturbing and I LOVED them.

But, I found the reasoning behind the plot of the book to be a little off. The pacing in the current day chapters were slow and felt wonky compared to the fast-paced chapters of the past. I hated all of the characters that were on the trip with Rainy, and it felt like they guilt-tripped her the entire time. I think there could have been a stronger reason on why Rainy had to "save the day" but it just felt juvenile and unrealistic.

Regardless of the issues I had with the plot, this was a really quick and entertaining read, I would definitely read more of Tarryn Fisher!

An Honest Lie is a psychological thriller revolving around an artist who is trying to hide her dark, dangerous past from her new circle of friends. Rainy spent years in a Cult but was able to escape before things took a more drastic turn. A girl’s trip to Vegas puts her back near the compound where all her troubles began.

The story is told in dual timelines, ‘now’ and ‘then’. The pacing is very slow but somewhere towards the last 20% of the book it gets entertaining. Sure, it gets a little over the top at its climax but I was enjoying it. The past timeline with the inside look into the cult was much stronger and better developed than the present timeline so it was ultimately my favorite parts of the story. I would’ve loved more from that angle.

Weird little tidbit: The characters names were so absurd and outrageous probably to add a little spice to the dull characters?

While this book missed the mark for me, if you’re into Cult Thrillers you’ll enjoy it!

It Pulled me in and wouldn't let go
From one of the most gifted and talented storytellers of indie romance comes a riveting new novel of suspense, where one woman’s struggle to exist in a world full dangers, while dealing with her triggers.

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What an interesting and downright creepy net of scenarios tarryn weaves. I couldn't put it down even for a second. My heart pounded the entire time. She explores cults in two settings. Urban and rural. And as is the norm, the cultists are isolated, manipulated & Obliterated intellectually, Till thy become mirror images of their own selves, toeing their lines.
It's fantastic to see Summer behave the same in both settings. In the compound and the Tiger Mountain Desperate Housewives Club.
She's a fish out of water everywhere.

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"There was a club within a club when it came to these women; the original group had a secret language and traded private jokes as easily as siblings. "

description

It's a collection of gigantic proportions and stuffed inside a fragile glass case. Tarryn has named it Summertime. The biggest irony is summer is sunshine blanketed with darkness. Sun bound by invisible ropes and locked in abandoned prison. That building may be a literal physical structure, but it's containment exceeds far beyond just a compound. Once in, there was no way out. Caged Forever!

"Summer’s body had been physically free of the compound, but her mind had stayed trapped behind its walls. "

The setting is Vegas desert and the story comes a full circle for summer to end where she escaped from......or did she!
I think The compound prepped her, honed her senses, sharpened her instincts in preparation for the ordeal towards the end. And Vegas seemed such a fitting metaphor. Glitzy in the dark and garishly ugly in the day. Much like any cult. Who appeared to be elegant, kind friends for summer, turn out to be conniving, manipulative liars. Maybe they had liked her at one point, but it was only to use her.
Betrayal and lies hide like rattlesnakes just under the thin veneer of slippery sands

"All the snakes were in the desert"

description

Tarryn uses people as symbols of what is wrong in the society. Taured is tyranny & Dark web devil.
The club is like a modern day soap opera.
This is where tarryn is most comfortable at. Penning plots full of mind games. A master of Deciphering narcissistic, obsessive personalities, this book is her forte. I had so much fun reading it, felt instantly connected to Summer. I marveled at her tenacity to grip sanity by her fingertips. TBH I saw her slipping into mania a couple of times and thought that this girl will be the end of it all. Set the entire world on fire, but hats off to Tarryn for playing dramatically with ghost and skeletons.
I especially loved the Welcome Home Moment.

“You never met a trauma you didn’t like to poke.”

Can't keep a good woman down. But bad woman...well they smile while taking you down
Rra..Ta...Ta...Ta...Ta...Ta
4.5 stars for paying it forward

An Honest Lie is a tense and addictive psychological thriller.

A year ago, Rainy moved to Tiger Mountain with her boyfriend Grant. She spends her time working on her art and getting to know Grant’s childhood friends. After countless happy hours, dinners, and the like, the close circle of friends invites Rainy on their girls’ weekend trip to Las Vegas.

She reluctantly agrees to go, even though Nevada is where all her troubles began. In Vegas, Rainy senses strange vibes from her friends and things only get worse from there. Her friend, Braithe, goes missing, and Rainy receives a text threatening Braithe’s life if Rainy doesn’t follow the kidnapper’s instructions. And just like that, Rainy’s past and present collide in ways she’s spent years trying to avoid.

This wild thriller alternates between two timelines.

Suspension of disbelief is a requirement because the plot is pretty over the top in many places. Even though it is OTT, I still enjoyed reading it.

This is the second cult-themed thriller I’ve read this year, and I much preferred this one. This one had the appropriate tension and character development that makes it a compelling and high-stakes thriller. I liked that Rainy was a strong female character. Sure, she made some unwise moves, but I still rooted for her. She isn’t the type to watch and despair as things fall apart; she makes active choices and forges her way.

I recommend this thriller if you don’t mind plots that get a touch outlandish.

Thank you to Graydon House for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

Rainy has uprooted her life as an artist in New York to live with her partner in the Pacific Northwest. Having spent most of her life running from the past, moving to this isolated, nondescript location is the perfect place to hide. However, at the encouragement of her partner, she’s trying to immerse herself in the community, and much to her chagrin, finds herself on a weekend trip to Las Vegas with new “friends”. Here, she comes to come face to face with the horrors of her past, which she’ll have to confront to escape Nevada alive…

It took me a while to warm up to this one, but by around the midway point I was absolutely hooked. This book coiled at the back of my mind, striking out periodically with a deep desire to know what’s happening next, to stop whatever I was doing to immerse myself back in the story.

This book is first and foremost about flawed, complex women, and how they navigate through power dynamics in relationships. I loved how badass Rainy was throughout this story and how she showed incredible strength in the face of vulnerability.

The ending came a bit too abruptly for my taste and there were loose threads lingering that that were not nearly tied up, which still perplex me. But ultimately, this was a satisfyingly tense and twisty thriller. This was my first Tarryn Fisher book, it definitely won’t be my last.

This book is for you if you like:
* Alternating timelines
* All things cultish
* Contrasting settings between the Pacific Northwest, the Nevada desert, and the glitz of Las Vegas.

This review will be posted to my Goodreads (Kayleigh Wiebe), StoryGraph (foldingthepage_kayleigh), and Bookstagram @foldingthepage on April 12, 2022.

An Honest Lie is one woman's story of survival and humanity.

We start out the story in the 'present'. Rainy is an artist living with her boyfriend in Washington State. Rainy likes to keep to herself, although she is continuously being involved in group settings where it's more like a "Real Housewives of...". She is not comfortable with people and she really doesn't trust them. She is persuaded into a trip to Vegas with a group of women and this is where the story starts to add an extra element and we get a taste of Rainy's past.

The 'past' is the story of Summer, a young teenager and her mother that end up in a compound in the desert after her father dies. This compound is where Summer learns about trust and how family, friends and relationships can be altered to the will of another.

As the story returns to the present and adds in the past, we get to understand the complexities of female relationships and how Ms Fisher weaves that into the plot. I will be the first to admit that I wish we would've stayed either in the past or present to have one cohesive story, but it's toward the end during the 'present' when everything comes together and we get to see how the cult/compound life comes full circle to Rainy's present and how she must put her own life in jeopardy for someone that she has little regard for.

An Honest Lie is a slow build for the first half. It was slow to start out, but once we got pieces of the past and the cult life, I was hooked. I wasn't too invested in the women of the present. They honestly weren't all that likable and I never understood why they wanted Rainy on their trip. She never fit in. But we see that Rainy has always felt that way. After all the bricks are laid for the groundwork in the present and we get to the point that someone's life is in danger, that's when our past and presents collide. We get to see Rainy become the hero in her own story.

What is so enjoyable in a psychological thriller is being able to get into the heads of complex characters and try to understand their reasonings for their actions. Ms Fisher really called on the females to be the strong characters, even when the males thought they had the ultimate control. If you're a Fisher fan, you should know that the females hold all the cards. She delivered the twists that we all crave with a side of revenge that was oh so impactful. A slow start that turned into a suspenseful page turner towards the end.

This was an okay thriller, but the plot was all over the place. I didn’t find anything very powerful or redeeming from reading it, and wouldn’t recommend it. If you’re a thriller fan, it might be for you, but definitely not for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to review.

Another Cult Book

An Honest Lie is a psychological thriller about an artist whose dark and twisted past comes to light during a girls' trip to Vegas.

Now: Rainy, an artist, moved from NYC to Washington state to start a new life with her significant other, Grant. To please Grant, Rainy begrudgingly joins a group of female friends, known as The Tiger Mountain Group. When the cutthroat friends suggest a weekend in Vegas, Rainy cringes but gives in even though she knows that there is a chance that her secretive past could be exposed.

Then: Summer, a 13-year-old girl, is mourning the loss of her father when her mother makes the decision to move to a cult run by her childhood friend, Taured. Their life in the cult is one filled with terrors and abuse.

When now and then finally converge, Rainy must fight her demons to save an innocent life.

The chapters in the present are narrated by Rainy, and the chapters in the past are narrated by Summer. Both are likable.

I am so sick of cult-themed books and the now and then narrative trope. I have read several cult-themed books during 2022, and I will say that this was my favorite. However, this book has flaws in other ways.

The pacing is slow, as I was just waiting for something to happen. I was more intrigued with Summer’s narrative than Rainy’s chapters. Summer's fear is palpable, and her chapters are filled with tension and suspense. Whereas Rainy’s chapters are dull, and not much is going on outside of her having to deal with a bunch of bitchy so-called friends.

It isn’t until deep into the Vegas trip that something finally happens as a result of a stupid decision made by Rainy. The plot turns chaotic and messy at this point, but it also becomes very entertaining. The believability factor falters towards the end, and there are many convenient memories interjected from Rainy’s past to help wrap up the mess nice and neatly.

Even though I took a lot of issues with the plot, I still found this to be an entertaining and intriguing read. I think I just need a break from plots that revolve around cults for a while!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Can a former cult member ever escape her past?
What was supposed to be a simple fun girl’s weekend, becomes anything but in this new thriller from Tarryn Fisher.

Rainy Ives has a big secret. One she hopes she'll never have to reveal, but as she establishes a new life with her boyfriend, Grant, and his group of friends, she seems to be on the edge of a breakdown at all times. As this book switches from present to past, we learn just why she is always on edge.

Formerly known as Summer, we learn about her time spent within a cult and how she eventually got out. What surprised me was how much this cult felt like a prison, not just because the home base was literally an old women's prison. Past cult stories I have read seemed more free willed and respectful. In this book, Taured, the leader of this cult, treated his followers more like slaves. Sure, there are a couple loyal ones who reap the rewards others sow, but the lack of freedom Summer and her mom faced was frightening.

For years, Rainy hid her past from the new people in her life, and she tried to avoid the trip to Las Vegas that would bring up bad memories, but her female "friends" were quite persistent. Let's just say, Rainy should have followed her instincts and stayed clear of this town.

I wasn't sure who to trust in the group, all the women seemed to be off at one time or another, either being incredibly rude or just avoiding her altogether. But I didn't expect the crazy turn of events that turns the whole trip sideways. Although I thought Rainy made some foolish choices, she was very brave, and it turns out, also well prepared. Something that makes all the difference in the end.

If you enjoy thrillers, this is probably my favorite one from the author in this genre, so check it out!

This review is published on Goodreads, 4-9-22. I received this ARC through NetGalley, and am glad for the opportunity to read this book. My review is not influenced by the fact that I got an ARC. I breezed through the book in two days, that’s how hooked I was (and the fact that I’m a fast reader lol). The plot was unpredictable, and I was drawn into the MC’s story. It is very important to focus when reading this book, or else you will miss some crucial information. The book was very thrilling and suspenseful, and I will be reading more from this author. There were a few unpredictable plot twists which I liked. Generally I read mostly romance, but the plot was very interesting. One-person POV