First of all, I love the clever title....it definitely intrigued me to look further.

This book has POV, which I don't normally like, but in this story the different take on situations was fascinating. How we can all be in the same room, listen to the same person or witness the same event, yet, we all see these through our own personal lenses.

Summer is the "it" girl, also defined as "the" mean girl in the story. Still, I found myself fascinated with her life and everyone she draws into her orbit (for better or worse).

Writing style is pretty good, although I admit it felt, at times, as though the author was going off in tangents, but fortunately, this was to a minimum.

The author really does "social climbing" characters well. She makes you dislike them.

This story characters and plot seem to be in vogue right now, but it doesn't remove form the enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars.

Spoilers ahead. I will not reveal anything big - most of the review vaguely alludes to plot, structure, and characters.

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I really wanted to like this book more than I actually did. I really did not like the blog posts - they were poorly written and didn't add anything substantive to the story for me. The characters were pretty insufferable and I wasn't able to connect with any of them. I think the twist was sort of half-predictable for me, but it wasn't enough to salvage the story for me. Someone else described this as "Gossip Girl meets Agatha Christie" and I can definitely see what the author was going for in that regard, but I think this would have hit better with better-crafted blog posts and more subtle character development. But I'm also 30, so YMMV.

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Again, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Live Your Best Lie is everything I want in a YA novel- a mystery, a killer twist, and influencer culture. I highly recommend if you love all of these things and want something that keeps you turning the page for more.

A social media influencer who just secured a book deal... on a book about her life... and all the dirty secrets of her friends will be spilled ends up murdered at her Halloween party... and the suspects are the very people she threatened to do a tell all on. Summer Cartwright has it all: she’s a famous social media influencer, she’s rich, she’s got amazing friends, a cute boyfriend, and a newly minted book deal. But everything isn’t as perfect as it seems because Grace, Summer’s best friend; Adam, Summer’s Gamer (ex) boyfriend; Laney, Summer’s moody camp roommate; and Cora, an influencer obsessed with Summer all have motives to murder her... but which one of them did it? Summer and Grace have been fighting, and Summer holds a secret that could destroy Grace’s life that she has put into her book, Adam and Summer recently broke up because he has had enough of being fake and has realized he’s in love with Grace, Summer and Laney had a deal, but Summer has been holding out and threatening Laney, and Cora and Summer also have an agreement, but Cora’s obsession with Summer is overboard. Each of these people were close to Summer and each of them had a reason to want her gone. Summer wasn’t the perfect sweet person she made out to be and made each of their lives miserable in her own way... but which one of them finally snapped? Now they’ll have to figure out who truly did it before the wrong one ends up in prison. This was such a fun murder mystery! You get to read from each of these characters POV and you understand why they each had a motive. I thought the final twist and reveal was so much fun and I definitely would recommend this for fans of mystery ( it is perfect for anyone who is a fan of One of Us is Lying).

*Thanks Netgalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide, Melissa de la Cruz Studio for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC.

Fans of murder mysteries, look no further. This book hits all the right notes for me. Interesting Characters, compelling motives, multiple POV, clues revealed through different mediums (Instagram posts, Police Interviews, Newspaper articles). This book was just pure fun. I can’t wait to see what comes next from this debut author!

Summer Cartwright has what everyone wants: beautiful flat in L.A., designer clothes, and a massive following online. Anything she wears, eats, and likes becomes the next new trend. With everything going for her, what could possibly go wrong?

The book kicks off with a Halloween party at Summer's flat, introducing us to all the characters. We have her best friend Grace, gamer boyfriend Adam, sarcastic former roommate Lanie, and superfan Cora. We get a glimpse of Summer's life through the eyes of those closest to her and learn what compels each of them to stay. Then Summer is found dead.

Whose motive is strong enough for murder? Can they trust anyone at that party? With the intrigue of "One of Us Is Lying" and the fun of "Knives Out", I believe Live Your Best Lie will be a YA book to remember.

Live Your Best Lie focuses on teenage influencer Summer Cartwright. Summer has millions of followers and posts about her life and friends, hoping to turn those posts into a best-selling memoir. She goes missing during her big Halloween party and a mysterious post shows up, making everyone believe that she is actually hosting a murder mystery party. But then Summer is found dead and the story then focuses on Summer's friends, who all had reasons to want her dead. A good mystery, told from the points of view of Summer's friends. You'll probably be surprised by the ending (although folks who pick up on context clues won't be).

Although I did not care for the book, I would prefer to not give it a rating because I started the title a few days before I had a major medical issue and I can't say for sure how much my distraction with the plot was from the book and how much was from my state of mind. However, NetGalley won't let me leave a review without a star rating so I will go with three. Please take that rating with a grain of salt, however.

Great twist at the end but the rest of the book dragged for me. I found myself easily distracted by lots of other tasks every time I picked this up. None of the characters resonated with me except, perhaps, the gamer boy. He definitely seemed to be the most pure of all the suspects and the least deserving of the hate coming his way.

I can not even imagine being a teenager today with social media and all the pressures that come along with it. Being an influencer sounds like both the best and worst job in the world. For Summer Cartwright it for her fame and power but it also made her have enemies and made her lose her perspective on friendship and real life…..but how did she end up dead? There are several suspects but who is the killer? A fun murder mystery certai Lu steeped in the reality of life on social media.

Although it doesn't come out until January, I wanted to include Live Your Best Lie, which much like Influence focuses on the murder of social media influencer. Summer Cartwright goes missing during her Halloween party and her closest friends fear for her life. Grace, her best friend, Adam, her gamer ex-boyfriend, Laney, her roommate from a recent influencer camp and Cora, her worshipful assistant, all decide to investigate. Summer is planning a tell-all memoir which will reveal their secrets. Told from multiple points of view, the story reveals all are suspects, when Summer's body is found. She had been killed by an overdose of nicotine, which they had been talking about before her murder. Summer had already scheduled social media posts with excerpts from the book as teasers before the book's publication, which give hints as to why each would want to kill her. Once again the pressures that bring out the worst in teen influencers are explored in the form of a murder mystery.

Thanks NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I love a good mystery and this one fit! Summer is a popular influencer and she just got a book deal for the story of her life. At her Halloween Party her body is discovered by her best friend Grace, her ex Adam, her summer camp roommate Laney, her brother Harrison, and her wannabe Cora. Shortly after they find out that Summer had secrets on all of them that she was going to put in her book. Would one of them have killed to keep that secret? The book had me fooled and I didn’t see the end! I read this quickly, it’s intriguing with all the right twists and turns! There were some parts that were slowly and I really struggled with Cora’s POV. Books surrounding influencing are really interesting to me since that’s so big right now and the plot line of this was really well done! There’s one question I still have after reading though the answer is probably obvious! If your like me and find mysteries with influencers interesting you’ll enjoy this book!

Jessie Weaver slays in her debut novel, Live Your Best Lie. This modern whodunnit spins a tale of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal in a twist of friendships through social media. Fans of true crime and Gossip Girl, grab a copy of this fantastic new read!

I just finished reading my advanced copy of this book and WOW!! I was instantly drawn into the lives and lies of Summer and her friends and could not stop turning the page. My mouth literally dropped open in shock at the ending! It’s safe to say I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery!