Ariel Cafferty looks at her phone one morning and sees a text from the one person she never expected to hear from again--her ex-boyfriend, the father of her son, and the man who she thought died five years earlier. Through a freak accident of technology (that I find a little bit of a stretch...), customers in Portland, ME are receiving texts that were originally sent five years prior. So, when Ariel goes to meet Drew to find out what the "something" is that happened, he is no where to be found. His mysterious text leads her to question the company they both worked for and the relationship that she thought they had forged together.

I have been a fan of Sarina Bowen's romances for years, so when I saw this domestic thriller I was intrigued. While the crux of this story is based conspiracy, fraud, and murder, there is still a romance that adds a level of urgency to the characters actions. After all, if Drew isn't really Drew, does that mean it wasn't actually his obituary that Ariel read?

This was a fast paced read that will please a lot of people! I'm looking forward to future thrillers from Bowen.

This book was a great way to start off 2024! New to this author, I didn’t know what to expect but I loved it. The cat-and-mouse game was a lot of fun. I really liked the characters and was very happy with how things ended for them. I will definitely read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks/Harper Paperbacks for providing me with an advance copy of this book. I was under no obligation to review, all opinions though are my own.

I always classified Bowen as a romance author, even though I have not read her works before. As romance is not my go to genre, I was pleasantly surprised by this book.

"Something’s happened. I need to see you. Meet me under the candelabra tree ASAP." Ariel thought that the only man she ever loved has disappeared, was long dead. Even though it cannot be, she still hopes to see Drew. But nobody shows up. Ariel starts asking questions and she more she asks, the more sinister the answers get. All she has ever thought she has know is suddenly not true anymore.

What has become of Drew? Will Ariel and her son get out off all of this alive?

I found the storyline intriguing. True love, he disappeared, all she has left is her son. Then suddenly there is hope again? This sounded perfect to me.

I do love thrillers, even though domestic thrillers are not my go to. But this one convinced me. It was really cleverly written and the story sucks you in right from the beginning. I did like the storyline but I wished that the characters would have been a bit better edited. At times they were quite flat, especially in scenes with the child.

Maybe I did not find the story line to be realistic, but I admit, it had me. I can forgive some flaws in errors in books, if they work for the story. So here, even though the tower mast explanation was not very believable, I could still live with it. If there wasn't a bit of freedom and imagination, we would not have stories after all.

So while this was not perfect, it kept me entertained and I enjoyed it.

This book was good, it wasn’t fantastic but it was good! I’m not a fan of 3rd person narrative so that could be the issue. The plot was good and characters were perfect!

Thank you to #NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks/Harper Paperbacks for providing me an advance copy of Sarina Bowen’s #domesticthriller, The Five Year Lie, in exchange for an honest review.

#TheFiveYearLie is a domestic thriller with a plotline reminiscent of Laura Dave’s #TheLastThingHeTold Me. Ariel Cafferty, who is the office manager at her family’s tech company, falls hard for the new hire and army vet, Drew Miller. After several months of blissful and supposedly secret rendezvous, Drew disappears without so much as a text message. That is until five years later when a text message from Drew finally arrives and sends Ariel spiraling into a wormhole full of lies.

Caveat: This review is based on an advance copy, which will likely be edited before the final version is officially published.

Although the premise is intriguing and the message regarding consumer privacy is certainly important, the execution falls flat. The story is there, but is in dire need of a sharp editor. Chime Co., the family tech company, is a combination of Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera, PimEyes, and ClearviewAI. There are fascinating stories behind each of these real life tech companies yet somehow they are glossed over and suffocated by fluff about Ariel’s four-year-old son, Buzz.

Attention: all authors, editors, and publishers, readers everywhere beg of you to stop using a child as a crutch to fill pages. The bus scenes are excruciatingly boring and unbelievable given Ariel’s background. There are only so many times you can read ‘I’m hungry’ before your eyes glaze over. We get it. Move on.

Another issue are the characters. Many are one dimensional and can do with some fleshing out. At bare minimum, the reader should be able to pinpoint concrete traits about the protagonist, but Ariel morphs from a witty tech heiress to bohemian artist to midwestern or southern naivete? While I realize the novel pivots between present and past, there are sections in the present that I can barely grasp what ethnicity or even age this woman is supposed to be despite being told she is upper class and the story is primarily set in Maine.

Drew was initially a strong and likeable character who somehow transformed into a caricature of a southern army veteran. Again, it is as if this was written by separate authors or at separate times with no plans or knowledge about the original characters.

Speaking of potentially separate writers or researchers, most of the locations in Maine are real places, such as the Candelabra Tree and Holy Donut. How does the writing go from extremely detailed and well-researched to hmm I think my coworker-cum-friend is in grave danger and I should brush it off to eat brunch at a diner and attend my kid’s preschool picnic? In the same vein, opioids would not keep someone on task at work.

Other scenes to omit or change include the grocery store passage involving a throwaway comment about melons (again, we’re in Maine), the incriminating, five-year-old text message, an explanation regarding the defunct cell tower, the diner conversation, and the notion that a tech heiress wouldn’t be recognizable on public transportation.
Additionally, the chapters written from the mystery character’s perspective need a title or some other indicator to signify a shift that comes out of seemingly nowhere.

Finally, it is a difficult to feat incorporate twists that are surprising to readers who frequently devour mystery thrillers, but many were super obvious and require some polishing. Spice them up a bit!

Overall, the meat of the story is there and will be extremely compelling if it is edited before the novel is officially released.

I read this one within a single day and I was such a fan! I thought the pacing was great and I really enjoyed how the characters intersected in a unique way. Definitely recommending!

Wow!!! I couldn’t pry myself away from my kindle and read in one sitting. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I COULD NOT put this book down. I love Sarina Bowen and boy did she deliver! I only wish The Five Year Lie was as steamy as her other books, but I guess the plot made up for that. There were so many twists and turns that I was second guessing who the bad guy was every other chapter. And of course, it wouldn't be complete without a happily ever after. I would read more romance thriller if Sarina Bowen wrote it.

Spicy-hot romantic thriller about a gal dealing with the return of a “dead” ex and all the lies that unravel around them. I am usually more of a psychological, thriller, kind of lady, and this was my first time with this author, but I loved it. Five stars and I will be hitting up her back catalog!

Sarina did a great job at writing this thriller. I enjoyed this side of her. This book sucked me in. There was so much going on and little breadcrumbs dropped throughout the book I was completely invested like Ariel. I did not know who to trust because everyone seemed slimy. The further in, it's obvious who's behind it. Boy Sarina sure put the twists in this book and now has me rethinking having all my Ring cameras!

When Ariel Cafferty receives a message from her child's father she is speechless. Drew disappeared from their lives more than four years ago and an obituary was published soon after. Ariel does not know what to think.When a few more clues turn up, Ariel confides in a work colleague and the two go full on Veronica Mars to get to the bottom of the story. The problem is there are some truths that people close to her would do anything to keep
secret, even at the cost of human life.

Together they work against the clock to find out what really happened to Drew. Fun story, more romance then I expected. Great plot!
#HarperPerennial #netgalley #thefiveyearlie #sainabowen

A new direction for a favorite rom-com and MM writer. She hits it out the ballpark in this new thriller. What happens when you receive a text from your missing lover and the father of the child he didn’t know about? Ariel goes down the rabbit hole in seeking answers. Will definitely buy for my library and recommend to my library patrons.