A captivating novel of the insecurities and mistakes of two sisters unraveling at the wedding of a third sister’s wedding. The bride is haunted by memories of her deceased husband and doubts she is worthy of love and joy. Every lie and mistake spill from the pages as it becomes too hard to keep them any longer.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I so enjoyed this family drama full of quirky characters and clever dialogue (maybe too clever in the case of teenagers sounding like adults). The character growth is wonderful and I was rooting for the cast of misfits.
The plot centers on three sisters who have varying degrees of trauma from being raised by a narcissistic, truly awful mother. The sisters were once very close but are now estranged. They come together in England to celebrate (or in Cleo’s case, to gently sabotage), Sylvie’s sudden wedding to a suspiciously rich Brit. All the sisters are dealing with their own personal drama (mostly thanks to mommy dearest).
Some of the plot was very predictable but, honestly, it was still a pleasure to read.

*I received this book from NetGalley for a honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity.*Funny heartfelt and relatable.
A story of 3 sisters told from 3 different points of view. The sisters grew up with a narcissistic parent which resulted in a traumatic childhood. Everyone experiences trauma in their own way and this books looks at how each sisters experiences their childhood trauma deeply and in their own diverse way. A story about love, loss, secrets and turmoil. A quick easy beach read! The short chapters had me finishing the book much quicker than anticipated.

Amanda Eyre Ward is fully herself when her books are full of complex characters that are struggling with the complexities of family and obligations. This book is no different but takes a look at 3 sisters, their relationships with each other, their relationships with their mom, and the way they build other relationships because of their past.

Told in chapters that alternate between the sisters, some past and some current as the youngest sister prepares to marry, the Peacock sister were funny, layered, emotionally off kilter but just a blast to spend time with.

#arc
#netgalley
#loversandliars

There was a lot to like here: multi-faceted women, fairy-tale romance, CASTLES, precocious children names after booze. Unfortunately, it felt like the author had zero confidence in her audience to understand nuance or grasp foreshadowing. There were multiple instances where it felt like phrases and passages were copy pasted throughout the book instead of finding a new way to say things.

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. The premise was cute, but I think the conflicts once addressed resolved themselves too quickly for me. Overall, it just fell flat for me.

I enjoyed the family dysfunction. A light-hearted easy read that was flowing throughout. Though the characters had a lot going on, it was enjoyable.

I love the complicated families in Amanda Eyre Ward's novels and the family in this one was definitely complicated! The Peacock sisters have been estranged since youngest sister Sylvie's husband died in a tragic accident 10 years ago. Sylvie has finally found love again with Simon Rampling, a wealthy Brit with a castle to his name. She's invited her two sisters, Cleo and Emma, and their toxic mother to her wedding at the castle. All three sisters are hiding something from themselves and from each other.

I enjoyed this fun read. It's a fairly light, easy read and would be perfect for the beach this summer. The characters are complicated, but the material isn't overly heavy. There's a lot of themes of sisterhood, family and forgiveness. I thought the sisters were very well-drawn if a little cliched in their birth order type characteristics, e.g. oldest Cleo is always trying to protect Emma and Sylvie. But they were very relatable and all their struggles were things I could see people in my life struggling with.

My main criticism is that there were some minor characters that I felt weren't necessary to the story. They were just sort of thrown in and didn't necessarily add anything.

If you like family dramas and sisterhood books, you will love this! Thanks to @netgalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC!

While this is a quick and easy read, I just didn’t enjoy it. It’s a story told from the point of view of three sisters – Sylvie, Cleo, and Emma. We’re privy to the trauma each of them experienced in life and yet, I feel there was a huge disconnect between the sisters that just made the story less interesting, for me. I respect that everyone experiences varying degrees of trauma in life, but I didn’t feel much empathy for these characters.

Thank you Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC.

Loved it! I pretty much had every range of emotion . The book left me smiling in the end. From the moment I started, I couldn't put it down. Why are the Peacock sisters estranged? Why do Emma and Cleo ignore Sylvie's texts and calls? What Secret are Cleo and Emma keeping from Sylvie? I'm surprised Sylvie, Cleo and Emma turned out as well as they did with a mother like Donna. The Peacock sisters definitely have problems, but Donna is a real piece of work. Not the kind yo u want to hang on your wall, but the sort you want to chuck in the garbage. She was a horrible mother and still is one. Who takes their daughter with them when rendezvous with their lover? Poor Emma could hear everything. I can't believe how far in debt Emma got with that awful pyramid scheme. How did her husband not know about this? Emma wasn't much better than her mom with naming children. Jameson and Guinness, were they actually drunk when they named them? It could be worse (Bud and Coors). The wedding in England ended up being the best thing for Emma and her family. They pretty much had nothing to go back to in Montana, except more debt. Sylvie and Simon were perfect for each other. Their crazy love of books matched each other. Simon truly loves her, biting dog and all. I don't understand why Cleo has such a problem with Simon. Couldn't she see how much he loved Sylvie and made her happy. Cleo doesn't even know what a healthy relationship is or she wouldn't be with Danny. Cleo and Emma should have told their sister the truth about Alexander. Then Sylvie wouldn't have created such a fictionalized truth about her husband and the sisters could have had a better relationship. I really thought Donna was going to run off with Danny at the wedding. Even though the wedding didn't go as planned, reuniting in England helped the Peacock sisters tremendously. The sisters realized how much they missed each other. Unfortunately, Donna didn't get pushed/fall off a cliff.

Definitely recommend the book. Even though Cleo, Emma and Sylvie were highly dysfunctional, I loved reading about them. Loved the characters, story and writing style. Look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I really enjoyed The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of Lovers and Liars from Netgalley. It has a premise right up my alley as it follows the lives of three sisters as they navigate their adult lives. Sylvie is the youngest, a librarian, and recently engaged after being a widow for ten years, Middle sister, Emma, is caught up in a MLM nightmare that no one knows about. And Cleo, the oldest, is dating Danny, but is in love with her bff, Isaac. This is all then centered around Sylvie's wedding at a castle in England.

The biggest issue I had with this book is the amount of characters. There are the three sisters: each of them has a husband/boyfriend: Emma has two kids; Sylvie's fiance has a daughter; there's the sister's nightmare of a mother, Donna; Sylvie's two friends; Isaac, Cleo's best friend; Simon's father; and a caretaker, Louisa. And then the two dead characters - the girl's dad and Sylvie's husband. This is too many people in the short book! Most of them felt one dimensional and not important to the movement of the plot. It was distracting and annoying for someone to be mentioned then not brought up again for several chapters.

The book doesn't know if it wants to be funny or serious either. It has a lot of trauma in it for everyone involved, but it doesn't feel as though the author the characters take any of it that seriously. The whole situation with Emma and Donna and their night walks when Emma is a pre-teen! Just no.

I'm sure others will enjoy this book, but it was not for me. Take out a couple of characters and not rush the ending and it has more promise. Rounding up to 3 stars from 2.5.

This was a fun and drama filled novel about three English sisters. It was so much fun to read. I would recommend to fans of Marian Keyes.

This is the story of three sisters, who are reuniting after 10 years because the youngest, Sylvie, at 35 is getting married again. Cleo the oldest is in a long term relationship with a man she doesn't love, Emma is married with two sons and running up debt for her family. Sylvie has found love after losing her husband 10 years ago in an automobile accident. She has built her deceased husband up in her mind and isn't sure she can let him go and move on with Simon. Simon is a very rich man of questionable wealth. Interesting family dynamics largely due to growing up with a narcissistic mother. I liked how all the sisters ended up when the book was finished. 3 1/2 stars.

The story of 3 sisters gathering with their families at a destination wedding. Each sister's life is examined along with their mother.

I read this book in about 24 hours. For a majority of that time, I was kind of confused what the plot was? It kind of seemed like everyone was in crisis up until the end when all of a sudden they weren't and all was fine.
The three sisters all had challenges of their own but to me the most stressful was Emma. At the beginning of the story you find that Emma is tens of thousands of dollars in debt and with each chapter her debt grows. THAT WAS STRESS INDUCING.
The resolution of the story felt to easy? Like, everyone came clean with the secrets that they were hiding and everyone was just ok with it all?

I also wish there had been more character development. I knew that I was supposed to root for and love these characters for the struggles that they faced in their childhood but I didn't really feel that with this book.

All this to say, I still enjoyed the ending of this book. I was rooting for most of these characters to at least be ok.
I would give this 3.5 stars.

This is a book that I would still recommend. The story was enjoyable and the setting was obviously very dreamy. Who wouldn't want to escape to a castle in Northern England!

I really don't know if I can give this book a star rating, but a 5-star rating seems appropriate.

As you can tell, this book is about lies; it is also about a family of 3 sisters, a mother, and the men in almost all their lives. This book had me feeling several emotions as I was reading it. I had a twisty, anxious feeling in my stomach for some parts, deep anger for other parts, and a nearly ho-hum feeling for a lot of it. But this book blended these parts well and kept me fascinated, so that I just had to finish it!

One sister - Sylvie - annoyed me with her dreaminess and longing for her long-dead husband (I know that sounds cold, but if you read this book, I think you'll see what I mean). Another sister -Emma- is keeping a HUGE secret (lie) from her husband that may destroy her family, and the last sister- Chloe- just can't seem to get her act together romantically even though she is an intelligent, sharp-witted woman.

Sylvie is getting married, and the whole family, including their estranged *itch of a mother, is going to England to a castle to see it happen. Of course, this castle happens to be Sylvie's fiance's castle!

Things go from excellent to bad to worse and then to nearly excellent again.

Everything is tied up neatly in a nice epilogue.

A perfect beach read, in my opinion. This was a fast read, told from three different views, and kept me riveted.

*ARC was supplied by the publisher Ballantine Books/Random House, the author, and NetGalley. My thanks.

I love a good sister story. The Peacock sisters each have a secret and are all still processing the trauma from their childhoods. This includes MLM nightmares, loss of a spouse, a castle and a little bit of wanderlust. I was here for the secret reveals and a happily ever after.

It was just okay, and I felt like dragged in parts.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books.

I absolutely adored the first half of this book! The second half was okay, the pacing felt a bit off compared to the first half and the days leading up to the wedding dragged a bit. Overall, I found this read to be a fun, lighthearted and fairly quick read. I loved the lowkey pop culture references (and they usually fall flat to me but these were well done). Lovers and Liars was a solid read!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

In the book, the protagonists are three sisters who are brought back together for the occasion of one of their sisters' wedding, which takes place in an English castle. As a librarian and a widow, Sylvie, whose name is derived from Sylvia Plath, is about to tie the knot with Simon Rampling, a man who is extremely wealthy.

Even though her sister Cleo, who is named after Cleopatra, is a criminal defense attorney and has relationship issues, she will take on the responsibility of investigating Simon's history in order to ensure that her sister is making the right choice by marrying that man.

On the other hand, Emma's life is falling apart because she has made a number of decisions that are problematic from a financial standpoint, and she has been attempting to conceal the entire situation from her husband.

Add to the above mix a toxic mother who used to care about nothing but herself! Will she change this time, though? You need to read to find out.

The book is narrated from the POVs of the three sisters, and thankfully, all are in third-person narration style. I think the author has done a great job with the family dynamics. I enjoyed reading about the three sisters, their stories, and how they bonded. Themes of unity and forgiveness were really impactful here.

There were times when the story seemed predictable, but that did not detract from its endearing qualities or positive atmosphere. Some of the themes in this story include love, forgiveness, healing, and unity. It was an entertaining read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

3.5/5

I am always drawn to a story about sisters, something about that family dynamic never gets old to me and throw in some drama and I’m set. This follows the Peacock sisters and there was lots of secrets and drama in this family that kept me pretty entertained. Based on the title I knew there would also be lies obviously but I didn’t realize how big and dramatic some of them would be. None of the characters were super likable to me, but they were interesting enough and this one went by quickly. I really enjoyed the setting of the castle for Sylvie’s wedding and enjoyed the details and history highlighted throughout. I struggled a bit with some of the situations but overall this was mostly enjoyable for me. If you like family dramas with toxic relationships and complicated upbringings give this a try.