An Honest Lie has an enticing premise, but the story just fell flat for me. The past and the present never really came together in an organic way at the novel's resolution. It was disjointed and hard to connect with the main character or side characters.

I wanted to love this book. It has so many features of an author's craft that I enjoy: 2 different time lines/perspectives, a cliquey mean-girls group, a cult setting, a girls' trip to Vegas.

It started off very strong but somewhere along the way it lost its luster. It did keep my interest and I was invested in the characters from the cult timeline, but it still didn't quite connect with me and I even found the end kind of difficult to follow. I will definitely read her next one. This one just missed the mark for me.

4.25 Stars

A year ago Rainy moved from her artsy Manhattan city life to Washington State to be with her boyfriend Grant.
With Grant came a nice, quiet life on a mountain and a bunch of friends. Even a girl lunch every week - which is not really her thing - but she goes for Grant.
And now they're asking her to join them on their girl trip to Vegas.
But she can't go to Vegas. Never again.
Why? We don't know.
But in the end she'll go - for Grant - and her past and present meet in some very dangerous ways....

What will happen with Rainy?
What happened to her in the desert 20 years ago?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT!

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Well, that was... great. I really enjoyed reading it.
But... the blurb is completely ... wrong/misleading.
The kidnapped friend doesn't happen until waay more than half the book is through!
Someone needs to make a better blurb for this story!
Because now I feel that I can't say anything about what happened because nothing about what happens is mentioned in the blurb - only that Braithe disappears. And I'm not even at that point in the book. I'm writing this now that I'm at around the 66% mark!

But still - I really like the story and Rainy.
We so want that happy end for her. But she still has a lot of healing to do - about whatever happened to her as a teenager.
This book is very sad and heartbreaking, but also hopeful and sweet and a bit funny. And we have some very awful people and mysterious and suspensy moments.

We also do this back in time thing that I hate in books. One chapter NOW and the next chapter THEN. I don't know why I don't like that - in the end I always love the books and I love the back in time chapters, but I always hate it when I start a book and it says THEN on the first page. 🤔
There were also some tiny plotholes and some wrong ages/times/timelines that bothered me a little.
And some of the writing is a bit weird - as if Tarryn grew up somewhere where they use very different expressions. But that could just be me being a weird reader. 🤣
And then I wanted a tiny bit more epilogue - or even a tiny bit more Grant. Or more relationship. I know this is not a romance - it's more a Women's Fiction Hear Me Roar thingy - but still - a tiny bit more Grant to make him a bit more likable for the reader.

But anyway...
Great cover. Great book. I wouldn't mind seeing this on Netflix one day!

► AN HONEST LIE was a heartbreaking and suspensy YA + Adult Women's Fiction Therapy Session Thrillery kind of book. I loved reading it! Run to your nearest amazon for your own Rainy - she'll be sold out in no time!

An Honest Lie will take you on a ride that is emotionally difficult but so worth it in the end. If you love books that are a little tough to read but have an ending that is over the top, you will love Fisher’s newest thriller.

Rainey has a troubled past but she is trying to leave it all behind when she moves to Washington State with her boyfriend Grant. Grant has friends and Rainey is trying to fit in so when she gets invited on a girls trip to Vegas, she is hesitant to go but ultimately says yes. Her last begins to reveal itself and it seems like everyone is acting strange during the trip. Are these women really her friends or is something more sinister going on?

The revenge on multiple sides, the guessing of who is involved and who isn’t, and the ultimate ending is what makes this book a 4.5 star read for me. I love Rainey and her attitude. So many times women are belittled for just saying the truth but Rainey does not care. Her resilience is shown throughout and I love how Fisher creates small twists and turns to keep you guessing on the ending.

My first book by Tarryn Fisher, yay!
I still haven't read The Wrong Family or The Wives by her but I know they’re pretty popular books on bookstagram.

This is a good domestic thriller overall and there’s one subject in here that I’m reaaaaally interested in: cults.

The chapters switch between Rainy’s present and past.

When she was young, her mom made them join a community (errr…cult) after her dad died. The cult is clearly based on The Branch Davidians (If you’ve watched Waco, David is exactly the person I pictured in this book).

I didn't really care for Rainy’s present chapters so I just “skimmed” to go back to the chapters about the cult lol

Overall, a very predictable but enjoyable read.

I went into this book blind, not having a clue what to expect. This author definitely has a way to suck the reader in and wait with baited breath to find out how the story will unfold.

No just. No

I loved her old books. Mudvein is probably one my most favorite indie books of all time. A I guess I’m looking for that in each of her new ones. But this was a cult like book , which tbh has been done so much lately. And it just didn’t hit home with me.
It doesn’t mean it’s not for anyone else
DNF AT 30%

What a fun quick read!!! It took me a minute to connect to the characters but this was a good thriller

All I can say is wow! I was not expecting anything that this book
brought to the table and it was definitely thrilling!
The plot was unique and while I thought I wouldn't like the main
character, I feel her actions were justified.

Holy cow this was a highly anticipated read and it did not disappoint i loved the now and then dual. Timeline it was s interesting to listening to the backstory while the present day story was unraveling and then when they connected did this lnovel ever explode it was intense, emotional wild ride

Normally I love Tarryn Fisher, but her last two books we just not doing it for me. I did enjoy this novel until the last 3/4 of it. The ending felt rushed and unbelievable. I feel like Braithe and Tara did not get enough p9unishment for how crappy they acted. I also felt that Rainy's plan was just so far fetched. If she had slipped that 50 to the clerk, why wouldn't the clerk have done something sooner? I wanted more justice. I wanted an explanation from Grant. I wanted an apology from Tara and Braithe. Again, it was a great plot line until the end where it was a let down for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc and give my honest review. I will still be purchasing this novel for my library's collect.

Thriller and a book with cult-ish vibes? Yes please. I feel like so many new release thrillers have the same general plot these days so the most refreshing thing about this book was the originality. I do feel like I’m some parts it felt a little disjointed but not enough that I didn’t still enjoy reading it. Dual-timeline books are some of my favorite and so I was really happy that was incorporated but I do feel like that contributed to the disjointed feeling because the “then” timeline was more interesting. That being said, it was still really good and unlike anything else I’ve read!

Loved this book - another winner by Tarryn Fisher! Past and present mix in a dual-timeline story where main character Rainey's past in a cult catches up with her, and old wrongs must be set right. Non-stop action, especially at the end, left me reading this book way too late into the night. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an honest (!) review.

Tarryn Fisher is an author who isn’t afraid to color outside the lines. She usually writes really some really twisted stories. When I heard she was coming out with a new book it was a no brainer that I was going to read it. Thanks fo @netgalley this is my 4th book that I have read by her and I got to read it early!

An Honest Lie follows two perspectives/timelines. The first one follows Rainy as she is adjusting to moving and living in Washington with her boyfriend. His friend group invites her on a girls trip to Vegas, which she is reluctant to go on. The other perspective is following Summer as her mom escapes their life and brings them to live on a compound. When the book first starts we know that Rainy gets a message “I’m going to kill her. You’d better come if you want to save her.”

❤️Review❤️

The premise of this book sounded really good. Unfortunately it didn’t deliver what I expected from a Tarryn Fisher novel. The beginning had me so confused. The writing felt clunky and wasn’t written in a friendly way. It’s in third person even though you know who you are mainly following, but there were times someone was being referred to as “she” and at times it was hard to discern which “she” that was being referred to. I usually love a duel timeline story because I always find it interesting to see how they connect. When this one connected it just felt far fetched. It wasn’t even something I’d say could be predictable. Sometimes it’s fun to say wow I didn’t predict that, but there also weren’t many clues to even support what happened. I did contemplate DNFing it, but I decided to push through. Towards the end of the book it did become more engaging to read, but it was a little too late for me.

2.5 stars! ⭐️⭐️💫

#Bookstagram #NetGalley #BookReview #ARC #BooksBooksBooks #2022Books #NewBookRelease #Reading #SuspenseBooks #ThrillerBooks #Novel

A very well written thriller - with a cult twist!

Murder, mystery and back stabbing friends - what more could you need!

If you love thrillers and have always been afraid of cult life - this one will make you even more afraid!

I really wanted to love this one and figured I would but unfortunately I didn’t. It felt a little messy and I was never all that interested in the end. As a fan of the author I’ll still be looking forward to her next book.

Tarryn Fisher has a wicked and brilliant mind. Her writing is completely captivating—Fisher wields words, they are definitely her weapon.

There were parts of the story that were excellent and well-written and other parts that felt like an afterthought to connect the dots and right a few plot holes.

Just okay for me. . . I wish that Tarryn would return to the more angsty relationships that are tinged with her signature darkness and move away from thrillers.

🤫 Review - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🤫

An Honest Lie is a dark and twisty novel about Rainy, a very successful artist with a very complicated past. She’s recently moved to Washington from New York to move in with her boyfriend Grant, who knows nothing about her past. With Grant being the only person she knows, she begins to hang out with his friends in hopes of making them her friends as well. It seems like Rainy has been accepted into the group and is invited to the girls trip to Las Vegas, but she has no desire to go and won’t tell anyone why. After Grant convinces her and she agrees to go, she’s thrown back into her past and it comes back to haunt her.

This story goes back and forth between Rainy’s present day and her past point of view. Rainy’s past is a complicated one, to say the least. Starting at 13, she grew up in a cult in the outskirts of Las Vegas and the memories still follow her. While on her girls trip to Vegas, her friend Braithe does not return to their hotel room after a night out. Rainy texts her, only to find out that someone has Braithe and Rainy is the only one that can save her. But in order to save her friend, she has to relive parts of her past.

This book threw me for a wild ride. I got pulled in right away and could not put it down. I did find Rainy’s past story line more captivating and I really wanted more about her time in the cult. I was so invested in this story and Rainy’s character, but I did feel the ending was a little rushed and found myself wanting more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of thrillers and is ready for a roller coaster of twists and turns.

An Honest Lie is set to be released on April 26, 2022.

TW: cult lifestyle, drugs, death of a parent, overdose, death/murder

Thank you NetGalley and Graydon House publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel was intriguing from the very beginning with the dual timelines and cult-vibes, but was not at all what I expected. It felt like there was some disconnect between the two timelines and at times it was hard to keep track of all the characters. The book didn't wrap up in a way that I expected at all, and the ending fell a bit flat, in my opinion.

Thanks to Netgalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

This dual-timeline thriller alternates between young Summer growing up in a cult and adult Rainy navigating a girls' trip to Las Vegas. The narrator is a complex woman who repeatedly shows her strength despite her choice to keep her past a secret. Although the different timelines at first felt disjointed, they came together wonderfully as the story unfolded and the past is revealed.