Interesting, sometimes a bit complicated story of two sisters, with lots of timely topics for discussion, such as class protections and the access that money buys, racism and university scandals going beyond the university. I think my students will enjoy this and relate to the sister's stories over three timelines

Behind the ivy covered walls of elite universities whispers of secret societies pass among the students. In Society of Lies those secret societies are a reality at the esteemed Princeton University and their members don’t know what it means to be told no. The story follows dual timelines of sisters Maya and Naomi, both students at Princeton, both part of the extra elusive Grayscale Society. While the society brings access to opportunities and social connections they could never procure on their own, it also brings the expectation that its members turn a blind eye to the more nefarious ongoings of the group. Both sisters find themselves in a dark web of lies while trying to uncover the depth of the secrets and not everyone will make it out alive.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. It took a while for this book to pick up steam but the last third captured my attention and I was pleased with the ending that definitely surprised me. At times the dual perspective and changing timeframe was confusing and I had to stop and pay attention to whose narrative it was and the year. I’m not sure how the author could have cleaned it up but I think that would help with some of the pacing challenges. Overall an enjoyably disturbing thriller.

This started out really strong, but the constant shifting in points-of-view became a bit tedious and it felt a bit long as a result.

This book was good/fine, it entertained. I liked the premise and the set up a lot and it really had such a strong start. Unfortunately, I do think it was ultimately too long (lost a lot of momentum in the middle there), and a little to much POV jumping around to be totally enjoyable/effective. I do think with some tweaks this book could be really quite good. However, I did reasonably enjoy it as it is - no regrets reading it!

I love that the timelines jumped back and forth for both sisters. This was a fun thriller to read over the weekend, even though the book could’ve been shorten by 80-100 pages. The ending was ok because of how neat everything ended up. How Lauren Ling Brown wrote her characters, made me care about them and wanting to know what’s going to happen to them or not. Thank you Lauren Ling Brown, NetGalley and Bantam for this digital copy.

This story started out really strong. I was all in and completely invested in binging the book in one sitting. However, very early, around 20% with all of the back and forth between Maya in the present timeline, Naomi in the past and Maya in the past- it all just started to bleed together for me.

I constantly had to work to hard to remember who's POV I was reading - I don't want to work hard- I just want to enjoy a book. Not a fan of the writing and it was hard for me to connect with the characters.

Could not get through this one fast enough!! I was so intrigued and on the edge of my seat the entire time. Looking forward to more!
(Unfortunately this title is not eligible for an Amazon review).

Starts out great; intriguing characters, fascinating setting, mysterious doings at a famous university.
It all slows down to a crawl pretty quickly.
We are told right away that one of the main characters, Naomi, is dead. Her chapters are all set in the past, obviously. The other main character, her sister Maya, tells all her tales in the present. Usually this is not a problem, because the action or characters segue right into either the past or present, tying them together. This does not do that. You are at a party in the present with one set of characters, then next chapter you are at the library in the past, with a whole new set of characters and a storyline that doesn't seem to have anything at all to do with the chapter you just read. Also, there is a lot reminiscing and second guessing of decisions and actions taken; the story begins to bog down fairly quickly. I found myself in the middle of a sentence and suddenly making my grocery list in my head.
I would say with no exaggeration that all the characters are either unlikeable or uninteresting. Making for a very dull read.
There are red herrings aplenty. Maybe too many. We are lead one direction, then Eureka! It's... no wait. It's not them. Oh, look, we have new information, and it's... EUREKA! Oh, no, no it's not them either. There are characters who you think are involved, only to find out they are not, in any way, shape or form. And you wonder why they were even written into the story. Then there is a character who might have possibilities but literally flies off into the sunset with no closure to their story. It all just felt like it dragged on, and on, way too long. And by the end, at the final reveal, I couldn't have cared less whodunit. I just wanted it all to be over.

I had really high hopes for this book because I was totally hooked for the at the beginning however at the 15-20% mark, my excitement fizzled out. The premise of this book and the other reviews really drew me in but I could not get past the alternating timelines and dual POVs. It was a bit too much for me to keep up with and I kept confusing the characters and actions in each timeline. The beginning was really great though! I may circle back to it eventually but right now, I have no compulsion to continue the story since it bogged me down. Sadly, this book was a dnf for me but I think it is definitely for someone, just not me.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this arc.

Society Of Lies is everything you want in a college campus thriller. The dark creepy vibes surrounding this campus and the death of a student. The dual perspectives makes you even more invested in the story. The writing style is why I loved this book so much! I could vivdely imagine what this looked like and what each character looked like. It made it so much more interesting because I felt like I was there myself!

The only thing that knocked off a star for me is that I think this is about 100 pages too long. This has the potential for being one of those thrillers you start and finish in one sitting, but it's just a bit too long.

I picked this one because who doesn’t love a dark academic murder mystery, especially when there’s a secret society involved? And, better yet, the story is set in the town where I live, at the university I work at! I love Princeton and was thrilled to see it featured in the story, although a lot of the plot took place outside the university.

The story was good, but it didn’t captivate me the way I had hoped it would. It took me a little longer than usual to get through it, and I found myself getting lost pretty frequently. It was hard to differentiate Maya’s voice and experience from her sister Naomi’s. Normally I like shorter chapters, but with all the jumping around in time, I would have preferred longer sections with the same characters.

Everyone in the book is generally selfish, privileged, entitled, and oblivious. I didn’t feel particularly connected to any of the characters, and I was suspicious of everyone connected to Sterling or Graystone, even though it seemed pretty clear who was to blame for Lila’s death. If you like this sort of thing in your thrillers, it’ll be worth a read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam @randomhouse and Netgalley @Netgalley for the e-arc. All thoughts are my own.


How far would you go to belong?

Maya has returned to Princeton for her college reunion. She graduated ten years ago, and now she’s attending the graduation of her younger sister Naomi.

Unfortunately, the weekend becomes Maya’s worst nightmare when she learns Naomi is dead. The police say it’s an accident, but Maya knows there is more to the story.

Maya starts to piece together what happened leading up to her sister death, but the more she learns, the more she realizes how much Naomi hid from her. Looks like Naomi joined the Sterling Club, of which Maya was also a member.

Naomi isn’t the only young woman who’s turned up dead. With everything pointing to Maya, and secrets, she wonders how she can piece everything together.


Okay. I liked this book, but I didn’t love this book. I think that had the pacing been faster, I would have loved it. Because of the pacing, I found my mind wandering at time, and was struggling to stay engaged. Now, I really enjoyed the different points of view a lot of fun. It was a challenge trying to keep the past and present timeline within the same character straight. I think that had the pacing been faster it would have been easier, which seems counter intuitive, but for me, if the pacing is quick then I’m immersed and fully paying attention. I loved the setting of the college and secret societies. This is always a fun setting for me. I did stick this one out and felt that the ending kind of came a little out of left field in an unbelievable way. But I will say that it was unpredictable, and I did have fun with it.

Overall, this was a worthwhile read and I would recommend it to certain folks, especially for those who like books about secret societies.

3/5 ⭐️
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC which is coming out on August 13, 2024.
Dark academia thriller, I enjoyed the secret society part of the book, it was a bit slow for me and had a lot of repetition, but overall is a good read.

I enjoyed the book. It kept me engaged. It didn't keep me on the edge of my seat and ready to explode but it was so close to that. PAUSE - I say this because I felt there were some parts that had a little too much summary than action.
It's the first novel written by the author and I'm really impressed because this is amazing and I do want to read more from her in the future. I can't wait to see what magic she does with that ink and paper 😍

My review of the book:
The first thing that drew me in when I saw the book was the cover. There was something about those half-light glow from the window at night. It was almost as if the cover was whispering silently. Next, the title caught me and I knew I had to find out what the mystery was all about, what lies had been hidden. I knew it was going to be about death obviously but I didn't know it was going to be this complicated. Surely, I was NOT expecting all the random plot twists and turns. It was as if when I finally got a hang of it and could make a decision, another piece of evidence came in to throw me of course.

This one has everything I love in a thriller.
✔️Twisty plot
✔️Family drama
✔️Dark academia (bonus!)
✔️Dual POV & multiple time lines expertly woven together
✔️Secret societies
Easy five stars for Society of Lies! The story pulled me in from the first page and refused to let me go. I look forward to reading everything from Lauren Ling Brown.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this story!

You follow sisters Maya and Naomi. Maya is in town and supposed to be celebrating Naomi’s graduation from Princeton, which Maya attended 10 years prior. The morning of graduation Maya gets the devastating call that they found her sister dead. As Maya continues to search for the truth, she finds out her sister may have been involved in the same dark, twisted, secret society that she had also been involved in 10 years before, which just might actually be the missing key to figuring out what really happened to Naomi.

This book is written in a dual POV. Maya in the present time and Noami’s prior to her death. Due to this writing style I found it difficult to keep track of whose chapter I was currently reading because of the reputation of characters and settings. Many times I found myself going back to figure out whose chapter I was in. Also, the author made both sisters narrations very similar which proved difficult as well.

I did love the dark, thrilling, campus vibe the author gave to the story. I’m a sucker for secret societies so I loved the preface of the book! The suspense kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more. I thought many times I had it all figured out and was proven wrong time and time again.

All in all, such a solid book. Especially for the authors debut novel! I highly recommend to those who are intrigued by suspenseful and thrilling books and are wanting to go on a rollercoaster ride of emotions along with the characters!

As always, thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC copy of this book!

I received Society of Lies as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. This was a slow start for me. The book is set at Princeton and follows two sisters, one an alumni and one a current student. Both girls were in the same secret society at Princeton which plays a large role in the story. The current student is found dead a day before her graduation and the story pieces together what happened. There were alternating perspectives and timelines which got a bit confusing. You have to really pay attention to the date and name of the character at the start of each chapter. About a third of the way through the story picked up and I wanted to keep reading.

Overall, this is your typical thriller. Lots of twists and wrong turns to keep you guessing. I liked the setting and the added bonus of the eating houses and secret societies at elite universities. However, i felt like there were too many characters and alternating both characters and timelines got a little muddy within the story. The ending was also a bit unbelievable and I think could have been made more realistic. Overall, a fun easy read.

Maya returns to Princeton to celebrate her little sister Naomi’s graduation. Instead of a celebration it becomes an investigation into Naomi’s death. Fantastic premise! I am a sucker for dark academia and secret societies. Unfortunately the pacing and the choice to alternate POV and timelines really didn’t work for me. Started with a bang and was engaging for the first ~10-15% as the characters were introduced but slowed way down. The back and forth between Naomi and Maya past and present was too much for me. Wanted to be more in the moment of one of the timelines. Expected the secret society to be more tense and thrilling than it was. If you enjoy campus novels and rich people behaving badly, this might be for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This story was a great start for this author!

I love a story with a WOW ending, and this one did not disappoint. It flowed great between the two sisters prospective. The timeline changes lost me a little bit here and there, but to NOT so much as to mess of the storyline.

I love that it reads like a Lifetime Movie. I have already be curious the of "secret" clubs on college campuses. This book takes you deep into that world, though it is fiction, I can imagine it look some of the plot from real life stories.

Finally, I suggest this book to the reader that likes a surprise ending, and doesn't mind stories with a twist. GREAT READ!

The premise of this book really drew me in. I love reading about “secret societies “ and watching movies like The Skulls. This book did not let me down. I was really surprised by the ending and think this was a great debut novel.