I kind of knew from the beginning the truth and how it would end but I still very much enjoyed this book, I loved the view into the different characters and it didn’t feel like all the other thrillers I’ve read

This book was amazing, just like every other Lucinda Berry book! This story follows friends that have a toxic relationship with another. They continue to best friends until an event happens that changes their life as teenagers. They all grow up apart but are called back together when that toxic friend needs help. This story was so full of plot twists and turns that I would’ve never expected. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to everyone looking for books with great plot twists or just thrillers in general! 5/5 stars for me!

Yet another hit by Ms. Lucina Berry! First, thank you so much for the E-Arc! I'm a huge fan of Lucinda Berry and this book was no different. Super fun read for summer.

Another great read from Lucinda Berry. As always the pages practical turned themselves and I didn’t want the book to end. This was another dark journey that grabbed my attention and held it captivated from start to finish.

If You Tell a Lie, written by Lucinda Berry, is a friendship triller that will keep you guessing until the end! Blakey, Thera, Grace, and Meg are childhood friends that went to camp together each summer. But their last summer at camp is not a positive one, and now twenty odd years later they come back together after falling out of touch. That last summer comes back up, and they need to work together, and trust each other. But is that such a good idea!

I love this author, and this book did not disappoint! I could not put it down, and I feel like I got really invested into the characters. Definitely recommend! Thank you to NetGalley, and to the author and publisher of this book for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Name of Book: If You Tell a Lie
Author: Lucinda Berry
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: July 23, 2024
My Rating: 4.3 Stars
Pages: 271

Story is told in the two timelines of now and then by the four friends as well as Regina Cosby the wife of the coach who was murdered.

Blakely, Grace, Meg and Thera became best friends when they were preteens attended a summer program as ‘Camp Pendleton – for gifted and privileged students. The girls were roommates in Cabin Naomi and returned every year until the summer before college.
Their last year at camp Mr. Cosby the handsome counselor/tennis coach is brutally murdered.
Our four friends vowed secrecy especially about the prank they played.

They were able to keep the secret it in their past, now twenty-six years later they each receive a note. ~
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID
THAT SUMMER AND I’M
GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY.
True this note was like the 1997 slasher movie “I Know What You Did Last Summer”
(Here is a link to the movie trailer in case you don’t remember
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEnCEM48QaY

As the story progresses we discover that these girls were so nasty they took “Mean Girls’ to the highest level of meanness.

The story definitely kept me curious – I could not put it down.
I love this author and wondered why the reviews were all over the place.
When I finished I said ~
Yes this was a story that I loved- hating!

About the Author – ‘
Dr. Lucinda Berry is a former clinical psychologist and leading researcher in childhood trauma. Now, she spends her days writing full-time where she uses her clinical experience to blur the line between fiction and nonfiction. She enjoys taking her readers on a journey through the dark recesses of the human psyche.

This is my fifth Lucinda Berry novel. My first was " The Best of Friends" which I loved and became a Lucinda Berry fan!
Of the four I have read all but one was GREAT.

Want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for granting me this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for July 23, 2024.

Another great book by Lucinda Berry! If you tell a lie is about a group of four girls who meet at summer camp. Their time at summer camp is like an escape from their real lives because they are considered outcasts or unpopular at their regular schools. Each of the friends has issues that they deal with but when they are together, they don’t feel the weight of their issues. On their last summer together, everything changes and not for the better.
What started off as a lie/prank unraveled into a tragedy and it is something that the friends must carry with them for the rest of their lives.
This book goes back and forth between past and present time in each of the friends POV. I really was engaged to the story from the beginning. It was very fast paced for me, and I couldn’t put it down!
The ending had a good twist too which I had somewhat predicted about halfway through, but it was really good! I really recommend this book for anyone who likes good fast paced thriller!
Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer . All opinions are my own.

Sometimes I just have a feeling about a character, something I can’t quite put my finger on. That was the case here, and I was right! Hot dang! 😆 However, Ms. Berry still got me with a few twists that I never saw coming. She’s sneakily good!

Teenage girls are enigmas. At a six week long summer camp where everyone is an outcast the rest of the year, what would you do to finally fit in? Even if you and others knew it was wrong? You might let yourself get carried away…

This isn’t an easy read. There’s some heavy stuff in here. Sexual abuse, loss, graphic depictions of eating disorders, etc. The story isn’t sexually explicit, but it isn’t entirely clean, either. I would want to know that before reading, so that’s why I mention it.

In IF YOU TELL A LIE this book creeped me out in true LUCINDA BERRY fashion. It was phenomenal! It lived up to the hype that the blurb made me feel. This group of friends reminded me of pretty little liars. Reading this you will be afraid of a group of girls you see together.

What harm is one lie? Well apparently a lot. These girls were ruthless and reckless and my eyes were about to pop out of my head while I read this book.

Lucinda Berry does a flawless job writing compelling stories with very well-developed characters whose psyche you feel like you’re able to see into.

🤯🤯

LB does it again!
The plot is so engaging! The characters keep you at the edge of your seat! Lucinda Berry should be on everyones auto buy list.

A horrible incident involving friends at summer camp spirals out of control. They promise to keep the secret. Years later they are brought together because of this secret. Secrets never stay hidden and things come to light. How well do they know each other? How much can they trust each other? This author has a knack for getting you invested in the characters. I would recommend this book.

the influence of manipulative teenage girls is real
truly mostly warped characters
some hidden gems
did not enjoy the ending at all, because whyyyy!!!!
i guess a happy wrapped up ending would have been boring but i would have liked it more!!!!
blakely is all bad, it’s scary how easy it is so be manipulated by one individual.

Four best friends reunited after 26 years because of a mysterious note. Blakley, Thera, Meg, and Grace have been best friends since day one at Camp Pendleton. On the last day at the camp, they swore to keep a secret.

Told in five POVs—four girls plus Regina—and alternating timelines, I liked that. The different POVs showed characters with different personalities and how they felt in that particular situation.

The plot was gripping and intriguing, leaving me guessing what would happen next. All the characters were messed up and unlikeable but not annoying, and none of them were reliable narrators. The pacing was medium. Some of the parts in the book were difficult to read. I liked the plot twist, but the ending was rushed.

I loved this book so much! Lucinda Berry never disappoints! If you love thrillers you need to read this one! The spooky camp vibes were perfect. I didn't guess the twist at all!

This was my first Lucinda Berry book. I'm thankful for the opportunity to review this book from the ARC that was provided to me by netgalley.

Four awkward girls come together in a friendship during camp and the memories follow them through adulthood.

I definitely did not see the ending coming and could not stop reading at the end. My only disappointment was the ending I'm like nooooo wayyyyy!!!!! I won't give any spoilers so you will need to read it and see if you feel the same way. :)

My first ever Lucinda Berry read! I found this a bit disappointing but it does not dissuade me from reading her backlist. The ending was very abrupt. I just finished reading Shari LePena’s Everyone Here Is Lying and this book’s ending was just as sharp and unsatisfying as that was. You also have to suspend disbelief for a lot of this story. If you don’t like doing that when reading thrillers, I would not recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to like this book, especially because I flew through it in one sitting. I wanted to find out what was going to happen so bad! I enjoy mysteries, so the premise intrigued me from the beginning. Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a letdown.

I enjoyed the past timeline much more than the present timeline. Learning about each friend and the secrets they had even as young people was interesting and helped make each main character feel unique. Seeing how things played out in that timeline was also interesting and it set up the present chapters well.

While the present timeline started out interestingly, it fell apart for me in the second half. It became a little too unrealistic for my liking; and while I understand that it’s a work of fiction, it all felt too unbelievable to accept. This was especially true in the last chapter. Not only that but there were way too many questions left unanswered when I finished the book. The ending was abrupt and not satisfying, which bothers me a lot. It also doesn’t help that I was able to figure out one of the twists before it came out, which is a pet peeve of mine. I prefer to be surprised, so figuring out a twist bothers me a bit.

This book was an easy read that’s paced well for a thriller, but it was still a miss for me. That said, I definitely want to read more from Lucinda Berry in the future, as I love her writing style. Here’s hoping I enjoy her other books more!

This was a well-paced thriller with some surprising twists along the way. Told from multiple POVs, this book tells the story of a group of childhood camp friends who left a dark secret in their past. Many years later, their secrets come back to haunt them.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read with some good plot development! I wasn’t 100% invested in the characters, but I was still very intrigued to keep reading and find out how the story would end. 3.5⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced copy of this ebook!

Absolutely amazing. Lucinda Berry has done it again! This book reminded me of watching an 80s scary movie. The flashback scenes made you feel like you were one of the girls experiencing what was going on. And the twist at the end had my jaw on the floor! Definitely pick up this book and read it! You won’t regret it.

In the beginning, I found it a little difficult to follow the storyline with so many characters telling their POV and simultaneously having the dual timeline. However, once I got the characters down the story started going. It was twisted and at times a bit disturbing (if you have triggers, definitely check the warnings first), but all in all an entertaining and quick read!