This book is told via the dual point of view and dual timelines of sisters Maya and Naomi. This can get confusing at times so you'll really want to read this book when you can give it your full attention.

Maya returns to Princeton for her reunion and her younger sister Naomi's graduation. When Naomi doesn't show up to one of the scheduled events, Maya begins to worry. She's soon devastated to learn that police have discovered Naomi's body and are ruling her death an accident. After a conversation with the police, Maya is convinced that her sister was murdered. She starts to investigate on her own.

Maya discovers that she may not have known her sister as well as she thought. Despite Maya's warning, Naomi had joined Sterling Club, an exclusive social club. Even worse, she had be tapped to join the secret society that operates through Sterling Club. Maya knows all about it because she too was once a member.

Upon more digging around, Maya finds out that Naomi was digging into the secrets and past of the secret society. Maya is worried that the society was involved with Naomi's death, but how can she convince the police without revealing her own secret past?

I really wanted to like this book. The premise was intriguing. Who doesn't like to read about a secret society?

Unfortunately, the parts about the society felt lackluster. It wasn't very exciting at all. I kept hoping the drama would amp up and it just didn't. Parts of the book required a complete suspension of disbelief and the ending felt rushed. It wasn't my favorite book this year, but I'd be willing to give the author another chance in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine - Bantam for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for me honest review.

Overall this was a good story. The plot was intriguing and I did like that there were multiple POV. But, it also got a bit confusing at times. Almost too many POV in different time lines. Took awhile to get used to things, and slowed down the reading. I Was glad I read it through though.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Once I got to ~30%, this was a fun and fast read! Like others, my main issue with this book was remembering which character's POV I was reading as their voices were too similar. The first 30% felt too coming of age / slice of life in college, but I'm glad I stuck with it as the twisty dark academia thriller came through afterward. For those that hear ivy league secret societies and murder and immediately adds to their TBR, you'll have fun with this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

There is a lot going on in Laura Ling Brown's Society of Lies. I enjoyed the dual timelines and POVs, as they gave me a good sense of both of the sisters (Maya and Naomi) and their perspectives about their time at Princeton. I thought this book had an excellent premise, and I love anything with a secret society! I did think this story dragged at parts, as there seemed to be lots of information that was irrelevant to the overall story, and a twist that no one saw coming, because there were absolutely no hints dropped, which always feels a little like I was betrayed as a reader. I think this is a fun, interesting mystery that most readers will enjoy, as long as they don't get too bogged down in the details.

SOCIETY OF LIES
Lauren Ling Brown

If you gave me ten dollars to reread this book I would give you ten reasons I would pass. I didn’t have a good reading experience with SOCIETY OF LIES and my intuition tells me you won’t either.

Let’s talk about it!

SOCIETY OF LIES stars sisters Maya and Naomi. Maya is set to attend her reunion at the same time her sister, Naomi, is set to graduate. When Naomi turns up dead Maya is the first to suspect there may be more to the story than detectives are telling her. She knows her sister better than anyone and she takes it upon herself to investigate Naomi’s mysterious death.

What she finds out is more than she ever expected.

SOCIETY OF LIES is about the dark sides of private institutions and the lengths people will go to fit in even if it means being anyone other than yourself.

If I gave you a summary with spoilers you would be able to spot a big hole in the plot. A few pages in, and I already had to suspend disbelief. That is not good. From that point on, every exclamation point turned weary and appeared to be a question mark. Instead of questioning the characters’ motives, I mentally fact-checked every section of dialogue, every passage of exposition, basically EVERYTHING.

SOCIETY OF LIES is the most confusing book I’ve read in a long time. There are past and present timelines where the same characters appear and interact with each other. If you’re not paying special attention to dates and pov, you can easily lose track of your timeline and the focus. There is a mystery in both, so good luck keeping the clues straight.

I took a lot of notes and was still confused which is no fun at all. And the most unsatisfying part is the novel you’re getting behind all the confusion, hardly seems worth it. This is my first time reading Lauren Ling Brown and I was overall frustrated with my reading experience and found no gold within those hills to keep me coming back.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for the advanced copy!

SOCIETY OF LIES...⭐⭐

The book starts with Maya returning to Princeton for a reunion and her sister Naomi's graduation. This special trip turns into a nightmare when Maya finds out that her sister is dead and her death is considered an accident. Maya thinks there's more to it than that. The book delves into collegiate secret societies, power, scandal and how far people will go to guard their secrets. I enjoyed this book. It's refreshing to read a book about people of color in Ivy League colleges. It was really good story that kept me on my toes.

Pros:
Drama filled! Omg - I was there for every twist and turn. The people were horrid (mostly) and really just makes me think that’s how the Ivy Leagues are. The way we got to the twists was great. Writing was good.

Cons:
Unbelievable in some areas but it’s a fiction book. Some twists were a little predictable, but the lead up was fantastic.

A/B+ // 4.5 stars

This was a mixed rating read for me. I really like when a book can continuously hold your attention, and I felt that the author was able to give that to readers. And any secret society style book can seriously capture my instant interest. The one thing I struggled a bit with was the POV.

Dual-timeline, dual-POV book about two sisters (Maya and Naomi) who get caught up in the same secret Princeton society ten years apart. When Naomi is found dead, Maya is forced to confront her dark past, and must put herself in danger in order to unveil the truth of her younger sister's death.

I finished this book several days ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. I love a secret society, and I love a good sister story. But what I loved most about this was how well the author handled that murky gray morality zone, when people do bad things for the right reasons. I felt a lot of empathy for Maya and Naomi, and found their stories to be realistic and wholly believable.

Highly recommend for readers who like an intelligent, dark suspense.

If you’re itching for a new dark academia read, THIS IS IT. I am absolutely blown away that this is Lauren’s debut novel. The story flows effortlessly of two sisters that became entangled in the same dark, underground society at Princeton ten years apart. Enter the dark, moody, secret world of Sterling Club - where no one is safe and everyone has a motive.

When Maya returns to Princeton, a decade after her own graduation, for her sister’s graduation weekend she gets a call that she never expected. Naiomi’s body has been found. Maya cannot shake the hunch that this was not an accident, and someone needs to be held responsible.

But as she uncovers more of the story she finds herself second guessing everything that she knew to be true and a memory from her time on campus threatens to reach the surface - because maybe Naiomi isn’t the only “accident” the college has tried to brush under the rug…

Secrets. Betrayal. Privilege. Revenge.
A Society of Lies - and a graveyard of buried truths.

What happened to Naiomi, and is Maya willing to risk her good standing as Sterling alumni to find out?

This is sure to be the beach read of the summer.
Highly recommend.

Multiple POVs and dual timelines were confusing. It's like there was to much going on and to many distractions going on that the book was longer than it needed to be. Chapter length wasn't to bad, but book still felt like it drug on.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group - Bantam, and Lauren Ling Brown for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Publication date for Society of Lies is August 12, 2024

If you're a fan of dark academia (I mean, aren't you?), secret societies (OMG), and murder... this is the book for you. This is Brown's debut, and it is SO Fabulous as well as gorgeously written, I have no doubt it will leave a mark on the mystery/thriller part of publishing. When Maya returns to her Ivy League college for a class reunion, and to see her younger sister, who attends there, she's met with that sister's (Naomi) death--or is it murder? Told in dual POV/dual timeline, this book keeps you locked in and paying keen attention to not miss anything. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to see what Brown comes up with next!

I usually love having duel timelines and multiple POV, especially in a thriller. However, these timelines just bled together way too much for me. It was difficult to differentiate THEN and another THEN, and the NOW scenes. Everything was just too similar, as well as the inner character voices, that I couldn’t get invested. With things being so repetitive, it made the book feel longer than it actually was. This was actually the longest it’s taken me to finish a book in years, it took me a whole eight days to get through less than 400 pages. I was too bored and uninterested to read for very long stretches of time.

I think this could be a better read for others, but for me, this wasn’t it.

This book was so much fun to read and try to figure out the plot and the characters. The twists and turns made it difficult to put this book down. I read it over a weekend. I have enjoyed past. Oops by this author. This is one you will want to read. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the early read.

Secret societies at Princeton University lead to the deaths of young coeds. Sisters, Maya and Naomi are inducted ten years apart,into a secret society with a a charismatic professor at the helm who promises members a lifetime of success, wealth and connections. What will this promise cost its members immediately and in the future. Racial discrimination and old money snobbery add an element of truth at the Ivy League world. This book had the added elements of intrigue and terror to keep the pages turning.

Society of LIes
by Lauren Ling Brown
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
How far would you go to belong?

Maya has returned to Princeton for her college reunion—it’s been a decade since she graduated, and she is looking forward to seeing old faces and reminiscing about her time there. This visit is special because Maya will also be attending the graduation of her little sister, Naomi.
But what should have been a dream weekend becomes Maya’s worst nightmare when she receives the news that Naomi is dead. The police are calling it an accident, but Maya suspects that there is more to the story than they are letting on.
Not bad for a debut author, but honestly not a book I can recommend. It was very slow. I think the reason I felt this way is because given the dual POV (which I love in books) it was very confusing, because of the repetition of characters and settings. I had to stop reading to go back to the beginning of the chapter just to confirm who perspective it was. The POV were just way too similar to each other. There was a lot of miscommunication in this story between the sisters. 😭 Which I did not like.
For me this b0ok was a big miss.

By far one of the best and well written books I have ever read. Lauren Ling Brown created the most believable characters and the most true to life scenario on every page.

I rate my books based on what I do when I am not reading them. If I think about the book and start researching places, characters, places in time then I know without a doubt that what I am reading is truly something special.

From page 1, I was immediately drawn to this unique relationship between the sisters and their mother. Lauren had me talking about this book with others, she had me researching what Princeton looked like, what the “eating clubs” looked like to the average person.

She had me HOOKED and I’m pleased to say my intuition about this book was spot on.

20/5 stars. An immediate auto buy for any dark academia fans, readers who enjoy suspense, a tumultuous family relationship, dual point of views and timelines.

Basically if you have a pulse, you will love this book. Without a doubt this book deserves to become a movie or series. Every aspect is there and would be a huge box office hit.

Absolutely fantastic plot! I could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone.

This book was a little slow for me because of this reading slump I have been in but I loved the story!!
It jumps timelines a lot so you can fully understand what happened before and I love a good dual perspective! and the ending... did not see that coming. It was right in front of my face the whole time and I still didn't catch on.
3.5 stars

Thank you to Random House and Lauren Ling Brown for this debut. It was about Maya, a girl head back to her alma mater to see her sister graduate. But when Naomi turns up dead, the weekend becomes something Maya could have never imagined. Maya knows there is more to the story, especially after she finds out Naomi was in a secret society that Maya warned her against joining. The more she uncovers, the more Maya realizes that Naomi was digging up the past and secrets that went along with it. After all, Naomi wasn’t the first girl found dead at Princeton.

Thoughts: This book had the perfect setting. I love an academic thriller, and the setting of Princeton and the eating clubs and secret societies was a great backdrop for this story. I liked the contrasting characters of Maya and Naomi with the rich and privileged students who attended Princeton with them. I thought there were some good points about race and culture and belonging.

I think that some of the chapters ended at really weird points that didn’t make much sense. The story was a bit far fetched and I found there to be some loose ends that were never tied up. This was wonderful for a debut, and I think the author will be one to watch. 4 stars for this interesting story!