An entertaining and well-paced YA campus mystery.

I’m not sure I would quite label this Dark Academia, though it does have a really well-rendered sense of place and really solid academic vibes.

It’s a good story and very much a true Young Adult book rather than one that caters more to the adult YA audience, and while I enjoy both, it’s good to see that there’s still some YA out there that is both sharp and well-crafted while still being written for, y’know, actual young adults.

The world Zhao builds for her characters is multilayered and that makes it both more evocative and more interesting than most books in this subgenre. And though it’s pretty obvious who the villain is going to be pretty much immediately upon meeting the character, it’s still fun to read along as the mystery unspools.

Zhao’s characters feel a lot more realistic and relatable than many in this subgenre do, and I thought she did an excellent job of depicting both a “normal” college experience while also pointing out the ways in which institutionalized racism can negatively alter that experience for many.

The Lies We Tell is a fantastic and action packed thriller meets activism. On the one hand, it’s a story about a mysterious death. What happens when someone’s life becomes a blip in the news. And who will tell the stories and deliver the justice. On the other hand, it’s a story about activism and racism. The ways institutions, society, and individuals will uphold and perpetuate racist ideas and actions. Layered with depth, The Lies We Tell straddles both of these lines with grace and complexity.

This book was a fun read. The thriller aspect was well done and captured the experience of WOC, in this case Asian, being fetishized. Anna gets weird vibes from people who fetishize her culture and tries to balance finding her place in school with her new found freedom, and her growing interest in her former rival. The story was passively driven by her investigation into the murder of her former babysitter, but it was never really a real driving force. I sometimes forgot about the murder, focusing instead on her stalker. While not the best mystery, it was still a fun read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I liked her first book better, but this one was still pretty good. Overall I enjoyed it and will keep reading Zhao's books.

As a huge fan of the author’s previous novel How We Fall Apart, I couldn’t wait to dive into her newest release. I’m still patiently waiting for a follow up to her debut, but this was a nice palate cleanser until that book is written. This book would have been a higher rated experience for me if it hadn’t tried to be so many things: murder mystery, enemies to lovers romance, and coming of age. These are all good themes objectively, but the book is so short that we don’t get enough time to develop most of these aspects, resulting in a rushed feeling for the reader. Where this book shines the most is the author’s exposition on the hate crimes that Asian Americans face daily here in the United States and how we need to do exponentially more to help end these occurrences. If you’re looking for a quick mystery with important social justice issues, give this one a try.

Katie Zhao writes such great thrillers! I loved this book -it had so many twists and turns and I couldn't put it down. A really great thriller set in college. Katie’s writing is easy to fall into and the characters were great.

Thank you to Bloomsbury USA Children's Books and Bloomsbury YA for this ARC of The Lies We Tell in exchange for an honest review. I love thrillers, and when they are in an academic setting, that makes it even better for me. This, however, fell flat for me. Anna Xu is an introverted teenager now given the opportunity to branch out and spread her wings toward new horizons. At Brookings, Anna finds herself embroiled in the cold case of her former babysitter who was murdered seven years ago. It's a solid mystery but the way Zhao delved into anti-Asian hate crimes was what really caught my attention. It's a good thriller, and overall, has a strong message that I would highly recommend. It didn't all stick out to me all that much, but it was a good read overall.

3.5 stars.

I loved this one. Katie writes the best academic thrillers that I have read. I loved the friendships that Anna developed and the way its about the fetishization of Asian American women. This was a great book!

Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Note: The ARC was archived before I could download it, so this review is based on the finished book. The Lies We Tell by Katie Zhao is a lovely #ownvoices YA thriller that I couldn't put down. The story revolves Anna Xu, who is in her freshman year at Brookings University. She picked this school because she wants to solve the unsolved murder of a former acquaintance who was a student. While at Brookings, she meets her former middle-school rival, Chris Lu, who is now love interest-worthy. Can the pair solve the mystery of the murder while dealing with racist attacks on campus?

Here is a lovely excerpt from Chapter 1:

"I sat inside the noisy and busy Beijing airport, listening to the announcer state flight changes over the intercom. I held the last of my grandmother's dou sha bao in my hand. The egg yolk-glazed red bean bun had long since cooled from Nai Nai's oven but would still be delicious and full of flavor. Through the window I could see that my airplane had already arrived. Just half an hour left until boarding, and then departure.
Outside, the city turned grayer as evening fell until Beijing was a glittering mass of lights beyond the airport. A city that sprawled and stretched on for miles in every direction, Beijing was the place Ma and Ba had grown up, where generations of my family had been born and raised. It might have been my home, but now was my second home across the ocean. A breathtaking city in a beautiful country that I hadn't visited since I was a tiny girl.
Because home home was the red-bricked house surrounded by a white picket fence back in Michigan, where my parents and I lived."

Overall, The Lies We Tell is a great YA thriller that talks about racism and attacks on Asian/Asian-American women. One highlight of this book is that it is an #ownvoices book. I love supporting authors of Asian descent, especially in the YA thriller space, which really lacks that representation. Another highlight of this book is how it is a YA book set in a college setting. I rarely see books like that.

I did take off 1 star because I felt like the main character was really immature, in terms of romantic attraction - or lack of it - with the male lead. Also, the fangirling and "text speak" felt very young to me. It didn't feel like she was a freshman in college. I took off another star because the climax was over too soon with a deus ex machina. The reveal of the killers and their motivations was disappointing and felt contrived.

In the end, I will definitely read the author's next book, but this one just didn't hit the spot for me. Although it's a different genre, and adult instead of YA, I highly recommend Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou for a deeper look into problems Asian women face in college. However, if you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA thrillers, you can check out this book, which is available now!

On the plus side, The Lies We Tell highlighted a lot of important issues, like anti-Asian violence and, more specifically, the fetishization of Asian women. It also offered up a realistic view of a girl's struggles to adjust to college, both socially and academically.

I don't think this will appeal as much to adult thriller readers, as there are aspects of the writing and plot that felt more geared to a younger audience.

But that is fine - not every YA book has to offer crossover appeal to adult readers. I do think that tween and teen readers will really enjoy this.

Anna Xu is an introverted young woman who’s thrilled to be able to move out of her parents’ home and into the freshman dorms of Brookings University, the elite Michigan college that gives the Ivy League a run for its money. Granted, Brookings happens to be the mainstay of the college town the Xu family lives in. Their bakery Sweetea is even a short walk away from campus, so it’s not like she’s moving completely out of her parents’ orbit.

But sheltered Anna is glad to finally get out from under their constant worrying, to go experience college and the first few trappings of solo adulthood. And if she’s being honest, she’s also glad for the opportunity that enrolling at Brookings gives her to look into the cold case of her former babysitter, Melissa Hong.

Seven years ago, Melissa, then a Brookings student as well, was found murdered on campus. There weren’t a lot of leads, and after the case went cold, her grieving parents moved back to China. Anna has been fascinated with the case ever since, and harbors the conviction that she could perhaps solve the mystery once she becomes a part of the fabric of campus life herself.

College, however, is a far different experience from anything Anna expected. She has trouble making friends, and her roommate is distant at best. Her classes are also tougher than she’d anticipated, leaving her little time to do anything besides ask a few blundering questions about the murder, following leads from articles written at the time

That’s enough, though, to alert a killer as to Anna’s interest in what happened to Melissa. A devious mind begins to insinuate itself into Anna’s life, culminating in a creepy warning set up tableau-style in her dorm bathroom. Anna is understandably shaken:

QUOTE
West Tower wasn’t safe. My room wasn’t safe. Nowhere was safe.

<i>You’ll go the same way Melissa Hong did.</a>

A warning. A warning of what was to come. Maybe the reason I’d been obsessed with Melissa’s case was because deep down, I had an inkling that I might one day meet the same fate.
END QUOTE

Feeling isolated and targeted, not just because of her investigations but because of her ethnicity too, Anna doesn’t know where to turn. Fellow student Chris Lu offers to help, but their relationship is fraught with baggage. Bad enough that they’d been rivals when much younger, a rivalry that Anna hasn’t yet been able to grow out of as she continues to view him as her main academic competition at college. His parents have also recently opened a bakery right across the street from Sweetea, to the chagrin of the entire Xu family.

When push comes to shove, however, even Anna will admit that some things are more important than grades and pride, especially when her own safety is at stake. Still, she’s reluctant to listen to Chris’ advice and get the police involved, given her dim view of their ability to take her seriously:

QUOTE
I could tell that as much as we both wished it weren’t true, he knew I was right. Until I had some solid proof that someone was targeting me, going to the authorities would be a waste of time.

“So what’s your plan, then, if you’re not going to [even] clue in our RAs on what’s going on? You’re not stupid enough to go after this person all on your own.” When I said nothing, Chris groaned. “You are that stupid. Jesus, Anna.”

“It’s not stupid. It’s the only option.”

“No, the other, sensible option is to report this to–”

“I won’t do it, Chris. They wouldn’t even believe me. Like I said, there’s no proof.”
END QUOTE

While I’m very much Team Chris in choosing to do the sensible thing, no matter how seemingly futile – paper trails are important, after all! – Anna’s determination to find the person threatening her and to uncover their connection to Melissa makes for absorbing, fast-paced reading. I did have to keep reminding myself that Anna is an overconfident 18 year-old without a lot of real world experience whenever she does rash things. I also thought that her paranoia regarding racism hampered her more than any actual bias on the part of the authorities did. That said, it was refreshing to see Anna take on the insidious ways racism is used to alienate and control minorities, particularly Asian women, and gratifying to follow along as she got to the truth of what happened to Melissa in this socially-aware YA thriller.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Katie Zhao does it again! I absolutely love the prose that Katie writes in. It's so easy to get lost in. The Lies We Tell was absolutely phenomenal. I picked it up and wasn't able to put it down. It was that good. I loved the idea of a cold case trying to be solved, especially by someone who knew the original victim that was the main focused. Katie seamlessly blended suspense, complex discussions about racism, romance, and sprinkled clues in very well. I loved the dynamic between Anna and Chris and was truly surprised by the ending!

The Lies We Tell does a phenomenal job of examining mortality, family relationships, pressure to perform, and the complexities of making friends and not feeling like an outside. Anna was very developed and getting to know her was a joy. I thought that the reasonings behind all of this were believable and it was easy to follow.

If you're looking for a thriller to get lost in, that is much more than just a thriller, I'd absolutely pick this one up!

The Lies We Tell is another stimulating and socially conscious YA thriller from Katie Zhao that balances dark academia, a thrilling plot, and considerate character work.

It is no secret that How We Fall Apart was one of my favourite reads last year and Zhao continues that winning streak here once more with a completely immersive and gripping mystery. She has this innate quality to her writing that draws you into her web of deception, secrets, and lies. This is an immaculately plotted story with plenty of twists, turns, and red herrings thrown in. Every time I thought I had it all pieced together, another twist threw everything off-balance once more. The tension and pacing was spot-on, continuing to rise higher and higher as the stakes became ever more deadly.

This book really delves into anti-Asian hate crimes and structural racism, deconstructing the outdated traditional expectations of dark academia. The increased Sinophobia in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is a sickening reality and Zhao mirrors it in this story in some incredibly painful moments of sheer hatred. There’s explorations of white supremacy, the model minority myth, and the increased expectations that can be placed on the children of immigrants. The weight of the sacrifices made to get them there and how that impacts their mental health is explored in a really nuanced and intriguing way. Zhao also delves deep into the fetishisation of Asian women, culture, and the appropriation of cultural symbols. There are these horrific racist stereotypes that directly lead to harm and abuse, which is explored in the book. That being said, this story is heart-breakingly honest in its depiction of these issues, but they do not define our characters. They are struggles they must face and the impact of a culture trenched in white supremacist ideology, which are necessary to acknowledge. However, Zhao ensures that these characters are more than their associated issues, creating three-dimensional and incredibly lovable protagonists.

Anna is a brilliant protagonist. She is fiercely determined to discover the truth, but also deeply passionate and considerate. Her life is torn between home and school and added into that is this desire to uncover the truth behind the murder of her babysitter. She is mirrored really well with Chris, who shares that drive to succeed and a caring heart. I loved their dynamic and any scene they shared together stole my heart. That flirty banter is wonderful, though Anna spends much of the story oblivious to the fantastic academic enemies to lovers dynamic they have brewing. I loved the whole competing family businesses dynamic as well and particularly how many food descriptions we got as a whole. Food is such a nostalgic and emotive presence, bringing us together and allowing us to share our heritage through culinary delights. In this story, food is inexplicably linked to that diasporic culture and a way of Chris and Anna reconnecting with their families. Also, it hugely helps that their supporting cast of characters were all incredibly interesting as well. Of course, you never truly open your heart to some of them, as there is always an element of suspicion. Those you do decide to trust though are so damn lovable and have a real sensitivity to them. As always with Zhao though, I can never fully allow myself to relax until the final page, as I know there will be a final sting at the end of the tale.

The Lies We Tell is another firecracker of a book from a voice that I have utterly fallen in love with in the genre. Katie Zhao is an author that should be an auto buy for you.

I really enjoyed this book. My favorite combo in a book is a story that is compelling combined with an aspect that makes it socially important and stimulates some thought. This book fits that description. Reading the descriptions of Anna's first year at college took me back in time, which was fun. Watching her investigate the death of her former babysitter, and then become involved in a mystery of her own, was compelling. And as the story shifted to draw attention to racism and hate crimes against Asian-Americans, I found myself increasingly moved and motivated to stand up against such hateful acts. As a bonus, I love that there was a little romance, and that the story was set in Michigan, where I also live. Will definitely buy and recommend to students at my high school!

This book follows Anna, a freshman in college both looking for a new start and hoping to solve a cold case. She has decided to attend Brookings University where her old babysitter was murdered 15 years earlier. While she is there, a lot of strange things begin to happen to her as she begins to investigate the murder. On top of solving the case, Anna is also trying to figure out who she is where she fits in in school..

This was both a great coming of age story and compelling thriller. I really did like the character of Anna, although sometimes she did make poor decisions. I thought the beginning of the book was more focused on her acclimating to college, which while I liked, I wanted more of thriller aspects. The mystery was also very layered and poignant. I loved how the author tied in Asian fetishism and racism into the narrative. I think this will be a great pick for those who like both social justice books and also thrillers.

Reminiscent of Ace of Shades, this is a fast-paced thriller circling around secret societies at a prestigious university. It's a really fun plot, though a bit predictable at times. I enjoyed Anna and Chris as characters, though Anna's lonerness meant that we didn't see many other side characters. Some of the plot elements were a bit far-fetched in terms of execution and believability, leaving me a bit disappointed. But there's still great discussion about racism and fetishization throughout.

*Thank you to Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

THE LIES WE TELL by Katie Zhao is a forthcoming young adult novel about a young Asian American women who as a college freshmen investigates a past death at her school. Kirkus gave this title a starred review ("In addition to the fast-paced, well-crafted main plot, subthemes abound and are all given full play: anime geek culture, White male domination of the Asian studies field, anti-Asian hate, and the sexual fetishization of Asian women."). I know students are interested in these topics and I was looking forward to reading THE LIES WE TELL, but, unfortunately, the title was archived early before I could download the preview. Therefore, I am giving it a neutral 3 star rating here.

Anna is a college freshman, finally free from the loving yet strict confines of her Chinese American home, she wants to assert her new independence by, getting good grades, making new friends, and investing the unsolved murder of her former babysitter Melissa Wong. But, life in college is so much harder that it seems, getting good grades take much more work , making new friends seems almost impossible, and her investigation into Melissa's death keeps hitting a brick wall. Will Anna be able to be successful in her new college life or will her investigation into Melissa's death lead her down a dangerous path? Pick up The Lies We Tell and find out.

The Lies We Tell is a very good YA/ New Adult thriller. Zhao gives the reader some really gripping moments but what was most impressive about the book is that sandwiched between the suspense were accurate depictions of college life as a freshman. Going to class was not just talked about, it was a vital aspect of Anna's life on campus. In addition, Anna being Asian on campus shaped not just the mystery element of Melissa's death but Anna's involvement in social justice causes which were crucial to helping her find her voice to speak out on campus against anti-Asian hate. It's not all seriousness, Zhao also gives the reader an adorable romance between two Chinese characters, nothing wrong with interracial relationships but I loved reading about Anna and Chris bonding over Chinese literature or bickering about their parents' rival bakeries. This book is great to introduce readers new to the thriller genre. 4.5 stars

It's more like 3.75 stars. I really enjoyed this one. Anna moves into her college dorm with a plan to investigate the murder of a family friend that had taken place on campus 7 years ago. College life turns out to be harder than expected, and her sleuthing takes a back seat to trying to stay afloat academically. However, strange things have begun happening. Her friend from the FriendMe App is acting weird and strange things are starting to happen in West Tower. Has Anna poked her nose into something she shouldn't have?

This is a great book that a starts out with a mystery, then becomes a platform for to speak against the racism minorities, specifically in this book Asians, are receiving. Very timely, considering the hostility toward Asians we have seen following the coronavirus pandemic.