This is probably my favorite Karen McManus thriller yet.

This clever, funny heist novel takes readers deep into a privileged world of wealth as a private 80th birthday party attracts scammers of all types.

Kat and Liam met years ago, when their parents' ill-fated Vegas union ended after only a weekend when one parent's carelessness resulted in both children wandering lost for hours. Now, they're both at the same party, each for unsavory reasons. Liam's attending as his dad, Luke, is dating Annaliese, a wealthy member of the Sutherland family. She's the latest target in his series of romance scams. Kat's there because her mother, Jamie, is doing one last job for a jewel thief they've been working for, posing as wait staff.

But things start to go awry right away, when Jamie gets sick, the fake jewels Jamie brought get stolen, and a Sutherland unexpectedly ends up murdered. Kat's not sure what really happened, but the murderer seems to be targeting her next. She, Liam and young, handsome Augustus Sutherland end up on a team trying to unravel the layers of deception surrounding this party.

This well-plotted novel kept me turning the pages as the whip smart twists kept coming. There's schemes within schemes, and the final answer to how everything is connected is brilliant. What a fun romp through a glitzy world!

Thank you to TBR & Beyond Tours and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley approved me for another BIG one, y'all! Here's the ever fabulous Karen M. McManus and her latest thriller/mystery/masterpiece "Such Charming Lairs." This debuts July 30, 2024.

["When mother-daughter grifters set out on their final job, the heist gets deadly and dangerously personal.

For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie—except for the forty-eight hours when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in an epic divorce, and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since.

Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job—at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. And Kat has figured out a way to tag along. What Kat doesn’t know, though, is that there are two surprise guests at the dazzling Sutherland compound that weekend. The last two people she wants to run into. Liam and his father—a serial scammer who has his sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter.

Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might actually be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. Somehow Kat and Liam are the new targets, and they can’t trust anyone—except each other.

Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best."]

Intrigue. Romance. Danger. This book had it all. It took me a bit to get pulled-in completely, but when it did? I almost pulled an all-nighter. There were so many twists and turns and secrets and "but what about"s and necklaces (so many necklaces) and close-calls. It was so much and yet, so good!

This is how one of the characters (Augustus) described these two.. Kat: "seems like the kind of chaos I don't have the energy for." And Liam: "is entirely too wholesome for someone like me." And Augustus was not wrong.

Also, I want to protect Augustus. Yes, he's a tad over-the-top and hard-to-read, but he needed protecting as much as Kat and Liam.

Quote of the Day (Augustus//Kat): "'Aren't there laws against that?' // 'Not in Maine,' I pipe up. 'Its a one-party consent state.' Both boys stare at me, and I shrug. 'What? Don't you look up surveillance laws when you visit a new state?' // 'No,' Augustus and Liam say in bemused unison."

#suchcharmingliars #karenmmcmanus #thriller #yathriller #murdermystery #yamurdermystery #books #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

Karen M. McManus writes such fun YA novels and this was just as entertaining. I always enjoy her characters and the twists at the end always keep me guessing. This novel had quite a few characters to follow, which was difficult, at times. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book is filled with twists and turns that I honestly did not expect. The last five or so pages even shocked me! Karen McManus is once again proving why she is the queen of YA mysteries.

This is a suspenseful mystery about Kat and her mother, Jamie, who are attempting to pull off one last heist before they leave the business for good… or at least that is how it starts. Kat and Jamie are set to rob Ross Sutherland’s daughter Annalise, and steal her ruby necklace. But when Jamie suddenly falls ill Kat steps in to take over, that is the first of many signs this heist is falling apart. Kat’s quasi step brother, Liam, shows up and throws a wrench in Kat’s plans. But the heist officially goes up in flames when there is a murder at Ross Sutherland’s party, and Kat knows more than she's willing to tell
Kat, Liam, and Augustus team up to stay safe, and find out who the murderer is. This fast- paced intricately plotted novel will keep readers guessing whodunit until the very end. The large cast of characters can be hard to keep up with, and while the stakes were high the situation was a little inconceivable - which made it hard to really buy into the characters and their individual stories.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced reader copy!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my e-ARC of Such Charming Liars!

𝙵𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚂𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙻𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚜

1. If you loved Oceans Eleven and other heist movies, then you will love this one!
2. Do you get bored reading the same POV? Don’t worry. You get more than one in this YA thriller!
3. I love a good mystery, don’t you? So pick this one up now!
4. If you love twists and turns that you never see coming, then this one is just for you!
5. And last but not least, this is for everyone who enjoys a little drama in their books!

Karen McManus continues to suck me into her works with a beautiful layout and whodoneit. I can never guess what's coming next and she continues to leave me wanting for more!!!! I wish this book didn't have to end

Kat accompanies her jewel-thieving mother on a final job before living a straight, honest life. Unfortunately, nothing seems to go according to plan, and before long, Kat is wrapped up into a messy entanglement of deceit, backstabbing, murder, and chaos. Kat must rely on people from her past to help her survive for her future.

This story is fast-paced and filled with more twists and turns than a roller coaster. The story was suspenseful and thrilling. It’s definitely a good read for fans of whodunnit Nancy Drew type mysteries. I would like to see this story expanded on and fleshed out into a series.

This book feels like a fresh take on some of Karen M McManus's signature storyltelling. I was rooting for the MC the whole time and I really loved the youthful crime /jewelry thief angle. And, can never be mad at :rich people behaving badly. Great summer / early fall read!

One last burglary before a traditional nine to five job…that’s what Jamie tells herself and her daughter Kat. One final jewelry theft at a mansion in Maine before she leaves the criminal life for a brighter future for Kat. But it’s harder to leave the shiny allure of the heist behind than imagined. Karen M. McManus delivers a delectably twisty book that leaves the reader guessing until the very end. Such Charming Liars juxtaposes the worlds of those with wealth and those desperately wanting it while challenging the boundaries of family relationships.

Full review and mood board will be posted on instagram on schedule book tour date with tbr and beyond 8/3

good heist gone bad, Such Charming Liars has it all! Family, convicts, riches, jewelry, rivalries.... There were a lot of characters and if you don't have time to sit down and read this in a couple of sittings, it might get confusing. Every time I thought I knew who the orchestrator was, something new would get thrown into the mix. Never saw the final twist as even an option, but Karen McManus pulled it off.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for this arc in return for my honest review.

Pub date: 30 July 2024

Karen McManus, the queen of YA thrillers, is back with another adventure! This time it is a "one last heist" situation with a mother/daughter duo Jamie and Kat.

When Jamie goes to the Sutherland estate for "one last heist" and Kat tricks her into bringing her along, I knew the plan would go astray, and astray it went!

This dual POV novel, narrated by Kat and her once-step brother Liam, was so fun as McManus is an expert at dual/multiple pov and how to write convincing teenagers on the page!

When Jamie is sidelined with an illness, Kat steps up in her place to pull off the heist, aiming to steal a very expensive necklace from heiress Annalise Sutherland, new girlfriend to Liam's father, who just happens to be Jamie's ex-husband from Vegas, say a decade earlier.

Rounding the cast of teens is Augustus Sutherland, nephew to Annalise who becomes fast friends with Liam and inserts himself in Kat's business when the heist goes horribly wrong and a member of the Sutherland family ends up dead.

The last third of this book was extremely fast and thrilling. The twists and turns are exhilarating and the action is on pace with how it would play out as a movie. I did not see many of the twists coming because of McManus' expertise for mystery and gripping plot.

This was high on my to-read list this summer and it did not disappoint. Another stellar mystery from McManus!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press for sharing the e-galley of one of the most anticipated YA thrillers of the year in exchange for my honest opinions!

Karen McManus is an auto-read author for me, and most of the time, she is an auto-buy one too. This stand-alone mystery was really enjoyable from beginning to end, and it may be a new favorite for me. I loved the idea of mother-daughter thieves, but they were far from perfect. A planned last gem swap goes horribly off the rails when everything that could go wrong does go wrong. I did like to see the relationship between Kat and Liam-- yes they were still technically step-siblings on paper, but they hadn't seen each other in years. However, they had each other's backs, and it seemed to me they would be friends for quite some time. Lots to enjoy here as a Karen McManus fan.

Another fun novel from Karen M McManus!
This one felt a little different from her other books for some reason, not in a bad way though.
This book revolves around our 2 main characters Kat and Liam. Kat lives with her mom Jamie who works as a kind of jewel thief under the owner Gem. Jamie is all Kat has and all she has ever had. Jamie wants to leave the business and get a legit job to provide for her and Kat. Gem will not let her go without doing one more job. She is to switch a fake necklace of a very wealthy person with the real one at a party. Liam has recently gone to live with is dad after his mom dies. He finds that his dad basically catfishes women online with pictures of him as a child saying he has cancer to get money from them and stuff like that. But Liam's dad has found someone he might not have lied to. He seems to be in love. He and Liam are invited up to her family's compound to celebrate her father's birthday. Kat and Liam's worlds collide when they find themselves in the same place and someone gets murdered.
So many of these characters are very flawed. Obviously Kat and Jamie have gone to the compound to steal a very expensive necklace. But they are both trying to be the best they can. They are trying to be better than they were yesterday. Liam is the least flawed I think. He is still depressed about his mother's death and having to live with his father, but he is trying to make his father's mistakes right. We also have the nephew of Liam's father's girlfriend Augustus in the picture. He is still getting over the accidental death of his grandmother and has an alcoholic father. All these chaotic characters made for an interesting story with lots of twists and turns.
The story itself was a fun read. I felt like it maybe wasn't as fast paced as her other books, but at the same time something was always happening. There was a lot of little things that added up to the big thing and my interest was always piqued. The ending really had me on the edge of my seat and there were some things I guessed, but some I didn't see coming. Everything came together one piece at a time and made sense by the end.
I (selfishly) wish there was a little more to the very end. It kind of is open ended but with a clear direction of where something specific is going to go, I just wish we had gotten it in writing for myself.
Overall, this was a great YA mystery, just like all Karen's other books. I can't wait to see more people reading this one!

Karen McManus's newest novel continues her trend of being the absolute queen of YA mystery and thrillers. Her newest novel begins as a heist - one last job before our characters go straight and leave the criminal life behind. Things go wrong (of course) and our characters become embroiled in a murder mystery where the only way to escape danger may be to solve the murder themselves.

Our setting is the Sutherland family compound, where the Sutherland family celebrates Ross Sutherland's birthday. Kat (one of our protagonists) accompanies her mom Jamie (our thief) to this job, despite her mother's concern and outright refusal to let her come. On their way, they run into Jamie's ex Luke and Kat's one-time step-brother Liam (our other protagonist). Everything almost immediately goes wrong and it falls to Kat, Liam, and Augustus Sutherland to solve the crime and protect their loved ones.

This novel stressed me out (in a good way). The addition of a heist to the murder added a level of complexity that not all murder mysteries have, which was a fun twist. And the twist itself was well constructed and well written, allowing for character growth and surprises. Highly recommend!

Such a fun, quick, well written thriller! This would be a fun one for my book club, and I will be sure to pass this along to teens.

McManus fails to disappoint.
It has that guilty pleasure feel while dragging you into the story, immersed in teenage life and ALL the drama with a nice mystery.
I loved these characters so much - great twists. But the characters are always my favorite. McManus gives such personality. I want them all as friends.
Excellent read!

Kat and her mom have lived a rather untraditional life–escaping from an abusive man, bouncing from place to place, and living a life of crime. When her mom thinks she has the ticket to leaving and getting a real honest job, nothing goes according to plan. Liam, the other main character in this story, has also had some ups and downs in his life, most recently with the death of his beloved mom which has him living with his father who he has been estranged from. With plot twist after plot twist, all of these characters play integral roles in the heist and murder investigation that ensues after a birthday party gone wrong. McManus does it again with another page turner that will have you guessing till the very end.

This is my first Karen McManus book and it won’t be my last! So many twists, but also the characters were developed enough so I didn’t get confused about who was who. Typically I don’t read thrillers/mysteries, glad I read this one! Props to my teen daughter who is a big Karen McManus fan, now I am too! Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.

I have loved all of the books I’ve read from this author. It is surprising then that I didn’t fall in love with this as much as I had expected. I think it was because I didn’t really root for or relate to the main characters introduced. I felt that both Liam and Kat were pretty complicit to their loved ones’ misdeeds, so it was hard for me to empathize with them. I didn’t start to really understand their perspective until about halfway through the book. It was also at this time that the twists and turns of the book started to accelerate. The twists weren’t expected, which I appreciated. I also loved the last chapter, which was another complete surprise. The last half of this book heavily outweighed the first half, which is why I’m giving this book “3 stars.”