I was so excited about this release, especially after enjoying And Now She's Gone last year. But I really struggled to get through this. I wish an editor had tightened up the plot and pacing.

The book was okay.. The characters were well developed and good. but halfway through I felt a bit bored of the story. The whole aspect that civilian knew more than the actual police about how to do their job was a bit unrealistic.

I had the ending pegged, but continued tp read to see if I was correct. I thought it was predictable.

Yara Gibson returns to her hometown to complete the preparation for the big party she’s hosting for her parents’ 20th wedding anniversary. From the beginning, it’s clear that she’s not comfortable here—the frequent dust storms aren’t a great mix with her asthma, the town has some sketchy residents, and everyone in her family seems to be oddly manipulative. Her controlling mother, who seems to be just one mood swing after another, has a fit because Yara has booked a room in a nearby hotel. To prevent more drama, Yara is forced to stay in her childhood room. Yara receives mysterious messages from Felicia, a supposed relative, asking for help and behaving strangely. When a body is found, Yara can’t help trying to look for clues to understand what happened. She continues to organize the party while dealing with her dysfunctional family and continuing to lose things. Is someone gaslighting her, or is she just one of those (inevitably female) characters who can’t seem to get it together? In a couple of places, Yara jumps to conclusions and overlooks really obvious possibilities that any normal person would have at least considered. The author keeps the dramatic tension high and the pace brisk. I look forward to her next novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for a digital advance review copy.

Give me all the family drama!! It took me a bit to get into this one but once I did, I was hooked. This is my first book from the author and I’m looking forward to reading more from her.

A good read. This book was fairly enjoyable. However, it failed to keep me riveted given the genre. I lost interest somewhere and could not get invested.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a little backlogged with my ARCs but steadily making my way through them! I really enjoyed this story! Being a California native, all the details of the places and culture were extremely accurate which I greatly appreciated! I loved how even while Yara was visiting her family and planning a big anniversary party she was still creating mysteries for the show she writes for, all the while being faced with a real life mystery of her own with her family. The characters were well established and I love how I couldn’t predict the majority of the twists! I would recommend to anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers and mysteries!

I read this book pretty quickly, it kept taking turns that I didn’t see coming. It’s taken me a while to gather my thoughts on this one though.

I loved the premise of this book, Yara Gibson is going home for her parent’s anniversary party she’s throwing. She feels pressured to do everything her parents way which includes staying at their house - even though her asthma gets really bad when she’s there and she’d prefer to stay in a hotel.

She decides to do what’s right for her and checks into the hotel. When she’s there this person approaches her and claims to be a relative she doesn’t know. She also gets a text saying this person has information that will change her life. When she tries to ask her mom about it, she gets shut down and an odd story.

Yara is a tv crime writer and starts to wonder if she’s reading into situations and creating things that aren’t there but she can’t help herself in following up on what could potentially be going on.

I felt the story jumped around a bit and you have to stick with it to see where it’s going. Overall, I enjoyed this read but felt it couldn’t been a straighter storyline.

For me this was a 3.5 rounded up to 4 on GR.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher Thomas & Mercer for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very well written story of secrets and domination by a mother and a daughter's struggle to find the truth and find a way to deal with it. Yara is a very compelling character and the mind games she has to deal with from her mother Barbara are mind blowing. I loved every minute of this story.

4 stars. We Lie Here was a gripping page-turner. Definitely recommend!
Thank you to Rachel Howzell Hall, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel Howzell Hall's latest standalone novel is "We Lie Here," This one was a wild ride, and I didn’t know what was going to happen. So many twists and turns with unreliable narrators galore. It's Yara Gibson's parents' 20th anniversary and she returns home to celebrate them. She ignores a text from a childhood friend of her mom's. When a body is found in the local lake, Yara is shocked to see who it is and that she was left a key to a remote cabin. Mystery abounds and the book is a quick read. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the read. 3 stars.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I tried this both as an audio and on my kindle and I just struggled. It's a slow plot, filled with people that were really hard to like. Our MC, Yara, is constantly poking those around her and making them mad, having drama with her asthma and/or losing things. It got tiresome and bogged down the plot. Add to it the family drama with her mom, her dad and sibling and the actual mystery was buried under drama for at least the first 100 or more pages.

By the time we finally got going on the mystery, I wasn't invested and not enjoying it. I wish I'd liked it more.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I liked this book and it kept me on my toes. It was a quick read but kept me wanting to read the entire time! I thought the characters were interesting and the development of them made the book way more interesting!

This was definitely a darker book than I normally read but I did really enjoy it! I think Rachel Howzell Hall did a great job with her characters and was able to hold my attention until the end.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I absolutely love Rachel Howzell Hall's writing, her perfectly atmospheric tension and her vivid, no apologizes characters. This is a great book for spooky season!

Overall, I found this story to have the right balance between character development, setting, and enough thrilling twists and turns (not to mention family drama) to keep the story moving. I've always been a fan of Rachel Howzell Hall's immersive writing style, and We Lie Here was no exception. I cannot wait to read her next book!

An intriguing family drama with some great characters. I enjoyed this novel and I look forward to read more from Rachel Howzell Hall!

Thanks to the author, publisher and netGalley for this advanced copy.

This is a new to me author, and It will not be my last read from her. I had to force myself to stop reading and get some sleep (I was returning to work after being off due to a procedure) and Could not wait until i was able to finish the book. This was such a thrilling ride that would be a great lifetime movie. Secrets are brought to life, and by the end I was speechless (trust me, in a good way). I'm not normally into thrillers, but this author has turned me into a lover of the genre. And I have to make sure I check out her backlist.

This one was a wild ass ride and I didn’t know what was going to happen. So many twists, unreliable characters, gaslighting. We lie here is a fantastically twisted journey into the world of those that won’t rest until they get what they want.

I picked this story blindly and unfortunately this wasn’t a memorable read for me.

This story follows Yara Gibson who has returned to her hometown to host her parents’ twentieth wedding anniversary party with her sister. While rummaging through her family mementos to include in the celebration, she discovered a secret her parents had been hiding. What’s even more disturbing was the text Yara received from her cousin Felicia about exposing what she knew shortly before she was murdered. What message was Felicia trying to relay? How can Yara face her parents now?

The plot was definitely interesting and kept me hooked in the beginning but I cannot say the same for the execution. I find myself feeling bored halfway through and lost interest in the plot. The story was draggy and the dialogue was repetitive despite the plot twists.

I usually don’t mind a dysfunctional family story but this one just didn’t work for me. The characters weren’t particularly likeable and I wished Yara had a little more backbone to stand up to her mother and the way she was treated.

I did enjoy the plot twist and the way the secrets were all revealed in the end. That thankfully saved the story for me. Thank you Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for the arc.