The Five Year Lie is Sarina Bowen’s first thriller, but it doesn’t seem like it. Or at least it makes me wish it wasn’t so I could go and read every single one. Like yesterday! But hopefully she will not stop at two. There’s at least another one coming next year and I cannot wait!

But first things first. I loved The Five Year Lie, and I think it’s almost perfect. The setup is genius: getting an alarming text from your dead ex boyfriend. And make it a secret ex boyfriend to make it even better. Everything that happens starts there. And the way the story unfolds is perfectly paced and beautifully crafted. It’s told in two timelines: the present and five years ago. I think that style can sometimes be annoying, but the story flows perfectly intertwining both timelines, so it worked for me.

I don’t know if people actually skip prologues, but don’t skip this one. It’s the perfect cliffhanger that will make the book impossible to put down until you reach the end. I just didn’t want to stop reading. The mystery slowly starts to evolve, getting progressively more complicated and enthralling until you find all the answers in a very satisfying ending. And the way the characters are written will make you emotionally invested in them. You cannot help but wanting them to stay safe. It’s nerve wracking.

I think the tech and cybersecurity aspects in this story make it even more fascinating, relevant, and thought provoking. It makes you think about the importance of privacy; how willing people are to give it up without a second thought, and how easily cutting-edge technology can be manipulated in a potentially dangerous way. It’s scary.

The Five Year Lie blends—in an outstanding way—a very succesful domestic thriller with a great love story. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and completely invested in the fate of these characters. I had a great time reading it, and it will definitely be one of my favorite books this year. I highly recommend it.

*5 Stars*

ARC kindly received for an honest review.

What can I say? This book was amazing! I always love Sarina Bowen books, but this new foray into thriller/suspense novels was a huge win for her. I was absolutely hooked by this story. I think I smashed it out in like two days (around work etc). The start of the book grabs you, there's little bits and pieces that you go, huh, that's weird, what's happening here?

And then, as the story goes on, more and more pieces come together and before you know it, you're fully invested! I don't want to spoil anything, but there are a couple of mysteries that are happening in this - and when it all comes together, wow! There were many surprises, lots of bits to love and I really hope we get more of these kinds of books from Sarina.

I can't recommend this enough! 5 huge stars from me!

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I'm a huge fan of Bowen, and this book is definitely a departure from her usual romance books.

The Five Year Lie has to do with Ariel Cafferty, a young woman in Portland, Maine. Ariel meets Drew Miller at her family business as he's a new programmer there. They have a secret romance. Drew is there for reasons of his own at Chime Co, a doorbell security company similar to Ring. The question of privacy and ethics with these doorbell cameras is a huge plot point. As it was used for something really nefarious, even though its purpose is to protect the people behind the door.

5 years later, Ariel has a 4 year old son Buzz and remains the office manager at Chime, with help from her mom. Her dad has died, and now her mom is engaged to her uncle, her dad's brother (kind of ick). Ariel's true passion is blowing glass, but her dad didn't support her art. Now that he's dead and she has a son to raise alone, because Drew left her and she later found his obituary. Until Ariel gets a text from him, sent 5 years too late thanks to a glitch in the phone company. She starts investigating, and with help from programmer Zain, she starts to get some answers that were supposed to be hidden. There are 2 suspicious people going by Brainz and the Boss, and my guesses to their identity were not quite correct. We go back and forth between the 5 years, until some truths are uncovered and Ariel's life is threatened. She takes her son on the run, and something tragic happens, but she lucks out and finds who she is looking for.

Some of the plot was a little hard to buy especially the tech stuff and what happened towards the end of the book. Here's a character who is sympathetic but doesn't safeguard her stuff well or have to work hard for a living. Especially given the ending. I'm also been sick so it's hard to focus long in my thoughts so sorry for the rambling. 4/5☆ out 5/7/24

Ariel has spent four years thinking Drew is dead, until a strange text comes through...the text opens a huge can of worms, full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found it easy to get into. I found the characters to be interesting. I found Ariel likeable but was somewhat annoyed that her mom would still choose to have a relationship with Ray after everything. I thought there could have been more character development with the Zarkey's because I feel like I barely knew who they were.

Ariel Cafferty gets a text from her ex who died 5 years ago and left her pregnant and devastated.
She sets out to find what happened all them years ago and has help from computer expert Zain.
This book is full of twists and turns and I couldn’t hardly put it down. Thanks NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for this eARC that will be released May 7, 2024!

The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen was a wild and suspenseful ride that had me guessing every chapter. This book blended mystery and romance seamlessly. With each new twist and turn, I was curious about how Ariel's story would conclude! This book will keep you captivated to the very end. The flashback chapters helped develop the story and will have you turning page after page.

This is my first Sarina Bowen book and I enjoyed it. Five years after his death, Ariel Cafferty receives a text message from her ex-boyfriend Drew: "Something's happened. I need to see you. Meet me under the candelabra tree ASAP." When she shows up at the tree, he's not there. The text starts her thinking about the day Drew left her and she decides to finally try to find out why. In her search for answers, she uncovers unimaginable dangers for her and her son. Even though I didn't feel like there were any big unexpected twists, it's a good story that kept my interest. Thanks to #netgalley #harpercollinspublishers and #sarinabowen for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was enjoyable and the pacing was good but the ending was way too fantastical to get behind. I’d check out this author again, but I think there was a way for this story to not go straight over the deep end and still be intriguing and fresh. Hopefully the next novel achieves that.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Single mom Ariel receives a text from the father of her child, who disappeared from her life five years ago and died shortly after. The text tells her to meet under a tree in the park, setting off a chain of events and blowing apart the life she fought hard to build for her and her son.

This was a bingeworthy, emotional read quickly pulling the reader in within the first couple of pages. While there is a lot of technical prowess, it is told in layman's terms for the reader to easily comprehend what is going on at all times. Well written and thought-provoking, the plot is eerily realistic in terms of how invasive technology has become. For anyone who likes a good story with mystery, heartfelt emotion, and a little bit of action, this one is for you. Four stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for this ARC.

Twisty turning goodness!

I’m a big Sarina Bowen reader, I’ve read everything, and generally don’t even read the blurb of her books before I devour them. I trust her to write a story I’m going to love. This one was no different. This book is definitely a thriller, but does have a satisfying romantic element to it.

With a very unique premise, the author takes us on a dive into how just how scary invasions of privacy are, and they are ones we are easily inviting into our homes.

I could not put this book down, it was fast paced and the way the story was built the reader can begin putting together all the pieces.

I truly enjoyed this one, and as always I look forward to Sarina’s next book!

This is a departure from Sarina Bowen’s usual books. This one is higher in the suspense and intrigue, and lower on the romance, tho we get flashbacks of Ariel and Drew falling in love five years ago, and still feel her longing and grief now.

After getting a mysterious text from Drew, who suddenly left 5 years ago, she has to decide who to trust as she dig for the truth. This book made me want to stay up too late (my eyelids did ultimately win), and i spent a day doing nothing but reading to finish and get to the end.

There is an HEA, and the baddies get their due. But have a tissue handy, just in case.

I never thought I’d read a romance with names from Toy Story characters, but here we are. (You’ll just have to read to find out context for that one 😅)

When a cell tower randomly decides to send out texts from five years ago, Ariel is bound and determined to figure out why her son’s father, Drew, disappeared without a trace before finding out she was pregnant.

Told in dual timelines of Ariel in the present and Drew in the past, the store is a little slow going in the beginning but has a good pace throughout the majority of the book. There is a LOT happening in this book. It doesn’t make it confusing, but there are just a lot of moving parts to the story and they all get wrapped up pretty nicely in the end. I do feel like the ending was rushed a little more than I would have liked, but I truly enjoyed this story and didn’t want it to end.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Sarina Bowen, and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for allowing me to read and review. This was a fun read and I can’t wait for everyone to check it out in May!

I’ve read almost every book that Sarina Bowen has written. She is an auto-read author for me and has written some of my absolute favorite books. That being said, everything she’s written has been in the romance genre so I was very curious to see what this thriller would be like! It has everything I love about Sarina Bowen books - great dialogue + well-rounded and developed characters but with the addition of mystery and suspense. I will admit the beginning felt a little slow but it quickly picked up as the book progressed and I couldn’t stop reading until I got to the end!

Good thriller that will keep the reader on their toes the whole way through the book. I liked the way the story unfolded for the reader.

I have read books by this author before and have always found them to be well written and good reads, so I had pretty high expectations for this book. I’m happy to say that The Five Year Lie actually surpassed those expectations. It was so good, twisty and engaging. I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it and was wholly satisfied with the way the story finished itself out.

Sabrina Bowen knows hockey and Vermont, but boy does she know domestic thrillers too. This book! It took time to wrap my head around all the plot twisty greatness that is The Five Year Lie. I could not put it down. I was always thinking, “Ooh, I know what’s happening next.” or “I know who did that.” Nope. All my guesses were wrong. Everything in this book is fantastic. The suspense, the surprises, the love.

I thought the pace and the way the story unfolded were spot on. I enjoyed all the characters. I felt their actions and emotions were absolutely what someone would do if placed in the confusing and bizarre situation of this book.

4.5 Stars 🌟

The minute that I saw that Sarina Bowen was stepping out of her usual genre and into the thriller genre...I was in. She has built up such an enormous amount of credit with me that I was actually excited to see what she had in store with this new book in a new genre. And guess what? She DID NOT disappoint.

The premise of this book is interesting. Apparently, there was a glitch in the cellular provider and FIVE years later, there is an enormous one type dump of texts that were sent during the exact same time....only they were sent 5 years earlier. Believe it or not, this caused quite a few awkward situations. There were MANY, many circumstances in which this caused some pretty bad situations.

In our story, we are introduced to the female MC - Ariel. Ariel is the daughter of the CEO of a company similar to Ring - Chime Co. They are in the doorbell camera business (and he is a really awful father.) To make things even more interesting, in addition to being CEO, her father was a co-founder of the company with his brother, her Uncle Ray. The only problem is that Ariel CAN NOT stand her father and she does her very level best to act out (I know, she is supposedly an adult, but her initial behavior is representative of a teenager who is rebelling) but she still behaves badly. If it can annoy her father, she does it.

This story is told in two POV's - well, actually, there are a couple more POV's but for the most part, we are getting Ariel's POV and Drew's POV. Drew is a new programmer hired by Chime Co and it becomes apparent immediately that he is there for reasons other than what he stated on his resume.

We are also given two different timelines - the here and now (present), and then also 5 years in the past. The time period 5 years ago was when the things from the text that have just popped up were actually occurring. Why is that important? Well, because with this unexpected drop of a citywide batch of 5 year old texts - Ariel receives a belated text from Drew. The problem with that is that Drew is now dead. He died just under 5 years ago. But in the text, he asks her to meet him in an hour at a specific location because there is trouble. Unfortunately, she never received the text at the time it was sent so she is obviously confused when she receives a text from the grave. All this time she thought that Drew bailed on her. That he just up and left her without a reason, without a phone call.....with nothing. And then to top everything off, a few months later, she saw his obituary. He was dead. So imagine what she thinks when she sees this text from the love of her life out of the blue. She is an emotional wreck before she understands that the text was not sent in the "now" and realizes that this text was sent 5 years ago. Oh, and to make things even more complicated, she has a son from Drew - a son that she never had a chance to tell him about before he disappeared. Yep, definitely a lot to deal with.

Honestly though, what happens is that it opens a can of worms. When Drew disappeared all those years ago, she did make an effort to find him, but with her feelings being so hurt, and feeling like she was abandoned, she didn't try too hard. Then she realized that she was pregnant and that changed everything. She made the decision to raise her son on her own.

But now, with the help of another one of the employees in the company - Zain - he jumps in and wants to help. Zain has the talent and programmer skills to start looking into what Drew was actually doing those last few months before his disappearance. And boy oh boy do things spiral from there. I can honestly say that once things got started, it was like being a part of a snowball as it rolled down a mountain -having utterly no control, then finding out things that just became crazier and crazier and then realizing that maybe...just possibly, that Drew did not leave on his own......THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING.

So - no more information on the storyline from me. This story enters into 5th gear during the last 30% of the book and things are happening at lightning speed. It kept me interested, holding my breath and just crossing my fingers that things were going to turn out okay.

So - Ms. Bowen....GREAT JOB! Not that I had a doubt, but you did a fantastic job with this new thriller. I enjoyed every minute.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

Unofficial Synopsis:
Ariel gets a text, but it’s five years late, and from Drew, who’s dead.

The text throws Ariel for a loop and ends up bringing back memories of that fated day. As she starts asking questions, things start to get sinister and it becomes clear everything she thought happened, didn’t.

But in order for Ariel to safely reveal the truth, the only way she can safeguard herself is by finding it before it finds her.

Review:
This book was amazing! I love a good romance thriller crossover and this book hit the mark for me. I also loved that this book dealt with technology and cybersecurity. Those are always fun for me because it’s a topic I care about and work with. It’s always creepy to me how much privacy people give up, and this book did a good job highlighting some important issues. I enjoyed that this book was written in dual POV with Ariel’s POV being the present and Drew’s POV being the past. I think that the writing style was great. I felt that the character development was nicely done and unfolded nicely as the story unfolded. The ultimate twists were a lot of fun and I think were well done. Everything in this book is wrapped up nicely with a nice bow, and it was nice to get that type of ending every once in a while. I do think that you need to suspend your beliefs a little for the ending, but it worked for me.

4.5 rounded to 5 stars

In The Five Year Lie, Arial Cafferty has been trying to move on with her life since Drew, the man she fell in love with disappeared, and then wound up dead. She hasn't moved on with her life in any substantial way, and spends her days working at Chime Co. (the extremely successful doorbell camera company her family owns), blowing glass in a local studio, and taking care of her four-year-old son. She is shocked to receive a text out of the blue from Drew, asking her to meeting him under a tree in their favorite park.

What follows is a mystery that unravels at just the right pace, with plenty of plot twists and strong supporting characters. As Ariel tries to figure out whom she can really trust, more information is uncovered that leaves it unclear just how far outside the bounds of the law her family business has been operating, and who exactly has been letting it happen.

I lived in Portland, Maine for quite a few years, so I may be biased in saying that I enjoyed the setting of The Five Year Lie. Any time you have familiarity with the area a book is set in, it helps connect you with storyline and visualize what is happening. Regardless, I thought Bowen's writing was descriptive and very enjoyable. Ariel is an easy character to root for, and I enjoyed her personality, strength, and poise. The suspense is real, and will leave you wondering right up until the end who is really involved in the murder and general mayhem that's being going on around Chime Co.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.