This was an engaging and interesting family suspense which kept me glued to the pages. I enjoyed the dynamics of the characters and the mystery surrounding them all.

3.5 stars rounded up

The Williams women don’t just keep secrets…

They bury them.

Just before her eightieth birthday, Pearl Williams dies, and now her granddaughters must make plans for a proper send off. But each of the sisters has secrets of her own. With the entire family together, they’ll have to put their grandmother in the grave, while dealing with another body they’ll need to bury as well.

There’s nothing I love more than a twisty family drama, and let me tell you, this family was twisted. Each sister was hiding something and willing to do anything to protect that secret. There was so much drama it was like watching an episode of Dynasty (yes, I’m aging myself!)! The writing was witty, and I loved how Bird writes a morally grey character.

I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a thriller. It was more of a family drama with some suspense. The mystery was left towards the end as the book mostly focused on the issues the women of the family faced.

This was my first book by Bird, and I look forward to reading what she comes out with next. Thank you HTP Books MIRA for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately i did not totally enjoy this book. I found Myself bored and it was hard to get through. Dnf about 40% in. Would try this author again

The Williams women have been taking care of each other for a long time. After the death of their parents, they were raised by their grandmother, Gran. 3 girls and 1 boy. Now they are all adults with lives of their own, though they are all still pretty close to home. When Gran dies just as they are planning her 80th birthday celebration, the family has to come together to help keep buried the secrets the family has held for a very long time.

I gave this book 3 stars. It just feel short for me on some points. I have enjoyed books by Kristen Bird in the past and I will continue to read her books, just this one didn't pack quite the punch I would have hoped it would.

This was a really good book - I can see it being used for a lot of book clubs! The cover is beautiful with the pink that pops.

This was a family drama about sisters coming together after their grandmother died, and all of the family secrets coming out as a result. The story alternated between each sisters POV and as their individual stories unraveled, it was clear that not only were they each up to no good, but that they had inherited the family drama. There was a good amount of suspense throughout and each chapter left a cliffhanger that made me want more. I definitely recommend this book if you're into bad people and family drama.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

This is a strong family drama with a thrilling ending. The characters are hard to like but that goes with the story. My one gripe is that because there are multiple POV's it was a little hard to get into.

I know I am the first to complain when a book doesn't live up to the hype of being a thriller, but this book wasn't and worked just fine! I think it did because the rest of the story was so compelling. I loved the deep dive in the relationships of 3 sisters and their sister-in-law around the time of their grandmother's funeral. While all this is going on, a man has disappeared. The reader doesn't know who the man is, what happened to him, or who did it. That is the mystery! But it was overshadowed by the great story of the sisters! I loved the claustrophobic atmosphere of the small town and how it kept all the history, good and bad, fresh. Strange for me to say, but I would have still enjoyed the book without the mystery!

This is a domestic thriller, I found it to be more family drama and suspense. I liked the fact that the missing person wasn't revealed until almost the end. I also liked how the author had you guessing who the actual missing person was, definitely did expect it to be the one it ended up being. The women of this book had a sisterly bond so strong they would do just about anything to protect each other. Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my review.

This was FUN. I listened to it while cleaning my house & it made the chore so much more enjoyable. I loved all the different viewpoints and would recommend the audio for this reason. Family secrets & drama are my fave - if they are yours too, highly recommend this one!

I Love It When You Lie is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is a well-timed slow-burner. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out I Love It When You Lie.

Book Summary:

Some people are born to keep a secret. Other people may end up dying for a secret. Either way, nobody wants those truths to get out. For the Williams women, they certainly know how to keep their secrets safe – it simply takes extreme measures.

Pearl Williams passed away mere days before her eightieth birthday. You'd think the family would be distraught – but they're mostly focused on keeping their lives together. Easier said than done, given the unraveling that is now happening.

My Review:

You know that saying, two can keep a secret if one of them is dead? That kept popping up in my head while reading I Love It When You Lie. More specifically, that song by The Pierces (Secret) kept getting stuck in my head. Wonder why (note the teasing sarcasm, please).

If you've ever wanted to read a thriller novel full to the brim of family drama, this is the book for you. It's an interesting plot – a twist on the whole dark family secret thing. I say twist because this is a secret they wouldn't want to let out! (Often, it feels like hiding is worse than the actual reveal, but not in this case).

I Love It When You Lie is a fast-paced and quick read while heavily focusing on the family drama side. While I enjoyed the writing, I'll admit that I wasn't totally head over heels for this story. I will blame the characters and some slower parts that popped up throughout the book.

Highlights:
Mystery/Thriller
Whodunit
Morally Grey Characters

It was sadly just not a fast paced novel! And by not a fast paced I mean I struggled to maintain interest so it took me a lot to convince myself to come back and finish it. BUT I did love the writing style (both the humour and the character development) so that got bonus marks, it was just the plot that fell short for me

Book Review:
Title: I Love It When You Lie
Author: Kristen Bird
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/3 stars

The Williams women are all gathered for the funeral of their grandmother, Pearl. The sheriff of their small town in Alabama seems to have it out for the Williams women. Especially now that someone else has gone missing. Tara, June, Clementine, and Stephanie must keep the truth from coming to light at all costs. This book is more suspenseful than thriller/mystery. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't bad. I love the cover!

Published: March 14th, 2023

Thank you, @netgalley and @_mira_books_, for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A family full of secrets👀

This one we follow 3 sisters as they head back to their grandma’s funeral. Something happens at this funeral and we flash forward every few chapters to one character at the police station being interview about a missing person.

I will say there are so many characters! The sisters, their husbands, their brother, his wife, the kids, some people from the community 😅 It took awhile to keep everyone straight.

Every character has “something” they are dealing with. It adds more drama to this small town for sure. The secrets are shocking and the ending still has me wanting more!

When the family matriarch passes away, it brings family back together for a funeral and more in this domestic thriller from Kristen Bird.

There's plenty of secrets that need to stay buried in Willow Gap and this story illustrates just how that happens in a tiny little town in the south. The Williams siblings were rescued from a difficult situation by their grandmother Pearl and they are now assembling for her funeral. They all have plenty of secrets of their own, and a family history of knowing just how to (ahem) bury them.

This is really a character-driven story. The story is told from the point of view of multiple, alternating characters. The timeline of the story isn't exactly linear and that bugged me at times, but I found the characters interesting enough to stick with it. There isn't a huge amount of twists and turns here and that worked for this particular story. I liked the focus on the sisters and what they'd been through. That spotlight on them made for a story that was at times humorous and fun in a strange way.

While I thought this thriller was part women's fiction, I did like the characters and the story and writing is solid. It's one of those books where what is going on is revealed gradually, so it's a bit confusing at the start, but hang in there. Overall, I liked it!

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The storyline was intriguing and the setting appealed to me! I love a good family drama and this one delivered on that front! It took me a bit to figure out all the characters as this one was multi-pov but once I did it was a pretty quick read. Overall recommend checking this one out.

I’ve been excited for this one since @kristenbirdwrites was on @thrillersbythebookclubpod so I was PUMPED when I got an ARC from NetGalley. So thank you @netgalley and @harlequinbooks for sending this my way to enjoy in exchange for an honest review //

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thought this was a really enjoyable read. I devoured it in like 2 days - I couldn’t put it down, because I needed to know who was doing what 👀 as a midwesterner, I wasn’t sure how I was gonna feel about the southern setting and vibes, but I really found myself liking it!! (esp the descriptions of gatlinburg since I’ve been there a handful of times) the nuance of religion was interesting, the intertwined backstories of all the sisters kept me intrigued, and I liked each of their own unique characterizations (it was a refreshing read after so many ‘rich white girl experiences one problem’ tropes I’ve encountered recently). Plus the acknowledgments really got me 🥹

I’d say this falls more into a mystery category rather than thriller for me but as a thriller lover- this mystery kept me intrigued. I think I wanted a little more backstory in a couple instances and could’ve used a little more…. Something…. I can’t put my finger on it but just something to make it a touch more intense but this was a fun one 💫

Less a suspense-thriller and more a character study of three women in a small town in Alabama, Kristen Bird’s I Love It When You Lie can’t quite seem to decide exactly what it wants to be. Which is a shame because there are glimmers of an intriguing story and character-study in each section of the novel.

The women of the Williams family have always been on the wrong side of the authorities in their small town. But now as they prepare for family to assemble for their grandmother’s burial, each of them holds a secret that could unravel their world. There’s Tara, the pastor’s wife, who doesn’t see why she can’t skim a little off the top of the offering plate to “pay” for her services at bookkeeper for her husband’s congregation. There’s June, who thinks that taking a newborn baby whose biological mother has passed away from the hospital where she serves as a nurse, will only jump-start the adoption process. Then, there’s Clem, who’s in a relationship with her professor/mentor who has a history of romancing his students and then moving easily from one relationship to the next.

Their stories are all wrapped by flash-forwards to another member of the family, sitting in an interrogation room and being interviewed about a potential crime.

As a character study of the Williams family and how each character makes less-than-ideal choices based on the circumstances life has presented to them, the novel works. As a suspense thriller about the sheriff of a small town holding a grudge and possibly finally finding a way to bring the hammer down on the family, the novel falls a bit short. As the story advanced, I found myself more invested in each of the Williams sisters and what led them to their grandmother’s funeral than most of the flash-forwards. The long-teased secret feels a bit too teased and drawn out, with this reader becoming tempted to skim these passages to get back to the stories of each sister.

All in all, there’s enough here for me not to look for future work by Bird, though.

I received a digital ARC of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.