
Member Reviews

Lucinda Berry has a way with thrillers that make you quite literally devour them in one sitting. She also always manages to bring a WTF factor to the book that will have you staring off into space wondering “how the heck did she come up with this?”
Full of turns, this book delves into the past and present and weaves a tale that will have you clutching your pearls.

I love everything this woman writes and this book is no exception! Lucinda will keep you on the edge of your seat with the multiple POVs and dual timeline. If you are a thriller reader, specifically psychological thrillers, or if you have loved some of her other books, definitely check this one out!
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I didn’t realize it didn’t post. Posted today. Lona Claire.

It’s been a minute since I’ve read a Lucinda Berry book and this one was the perfect summertime thriller to jump back in with. Ms Berry is an artist and she paints a perfect picture of adolescence and how easy it is to succumb to peer pressure. Not to mention how quickly things can spiral out of control and you can still be dealing with the repercussions decades later.
The way I went from feeling sorry for one of the characters to feeling PURE HATRED was insane. She knows how to write characters that evoke emotion from her readers. Definitely a 100/10. Add this to your must read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Compared to Lucinda's other books, I found myself less invested in the characters this time. However, she still managed to evoke strong reactions, showcasing her talent for character development. Creating characters that readers care about or intensely dislike is not always easy, but Lucinda makes it seem effortless.
There were some loose ends that left me with more questions than answers. Without giving away any spoilers, I'll say that these issues are quite subjective and may differ from reader to reader.
Overall, it was an entertaining book.

Thank you NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for If You Tell a Lie by Lucinda Berry. I enjoyed it, but not as much as her others. I feel like it was a slow-burn read. Blakely, Grace, Meg, & Thera had been friends since they met at Camp Pendleton, a haven for gifted children. During their senior summer, Mr. Crosby, the handsome tennis coach, wound up murdered after a reckless lie. They girls swore themselves to secrecy, and never spoke to each other again. Until twenty years later when a sinister note claiming to know what they did brings them back together. I would recommend if you like dual timelines, friendships, suspenseful thrillers, & psychological thrillers.

Lucinda Berry has done it again! If You Tell a Lie is a twisty, addicting thriller about four friends sworn to secrecy after one fateful summer at camp. Told in two timelines from five points of view, this book had a LOT of drama and intrigued.
I wish the characters would have been more memorable and the ending was too abrupt, but it was a great pallet cleanser! I enjoyed! Four stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to @netgalley for an ARC of If You Tell a Lie in return for my honest review. It’s available now!

If you tell a lie was a super fast paced read for me. Four girls who go to summer camp every year have a secret about that last summer. After twenty years they each receive a note. Will all the secrets of that summer come out? Told in past and present everyone has secrets who’s is the deadliest?

This is a story told through the point of view of 4 different girls who attend a summer camp which ends in murder and alternates between past and present. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into this book as much as I thought I would. I tend to enjoy this author very much but I believe all the alternating left me confused on who was who. It felt like just when I was starting to get to know a character, it was the end of the chapter and a new character started.

Lucinda Berry never misses- I love her books and the twisted endings they tend to have. This book followed a group of four friends that did something bad at summer camp in the 90’s and in present day, the secret may come out so they meet again to talk about their next move. Things do not go as planned and the twists get wild! I highly recommend if you love murder mysteries and thrillers in general :)

Is your best friend a psychopath? How would you really ever know? These 4 friends had no idea one of them were and they had been living with them every summer at camp since they were just little girls. Their last year at camp, a scandal rips apart a young family’s life and it’s all their fault. In Lucinda fashion, it’s a twisty ride!

I’m a huge Lucinda Berry fan, but this one didn’t pack the usual punch like her other books.
The story follows 4 young girls at summer camp, who become the best of friends. A staff member at the camp is accused of a horrible crime, and these girls lives are forever changed.
Twenty six years later the girls are reunited after receiving anonymous letters. Who and why is someone sending them?
I had a few gripes with this book, the writing is very YA. Not the usual Berry greatness. The going back and forth between past and present with 4 characters was a lot! I had to keep going back to the beginning of the chapter to remember who I was reading about. Often it made me lose interest.
The ending felt rushed. I wanted a bit more. No real twists and turns like us Berry fans are used to.
I will still be counting down the days, until her next book, but this one is pretty forgettable.
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read an early copy.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!
I have come to realize that Lucinda Berry is probably not the author for me. I just find her writing boring and the thrills just don't do it for me.
This book was the same issues for me as her other books. I think she is just not for me. I felt bored and none of the characters were interesting to me so it was hard to connect to anyone.
People who love this author will probably enjoy this one but it just wasn't for me.

This book had the right ingredient for a summer thriller. It had suspense, unreliable narrators, dual narration, and dual timelines. I really enjoyed this one, but then again I usually enjoy Lucinda Berry’s books.

Lucinda has done it again! A definite must read! Her talent for giving us perspective of all characters without giving away the ending is pure genius! I found this story line to be a bit different than most of the other books of her I have read but it does not disappoint at all. The way she writes leaves you loving and hating the characters at the same time. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

This one kept me guessing ! A fast-paced story following a group of girls reunites 20 years after a note surfaced, reconnecting them after being sworn to secrecy following a murder .

This has all the twists and turns you would expect from Lucinda Berry. So many secrets and lies that will reveal themselves in time. I love the dual timeline, giving the reader a picture of the past as well as current day. Each of the female characters had trauma and/or secrets influencing their actions and there will be repercussions even years after their shared teen camp experiences. I would definitely recommend for fans of the psychological suspense genre.

Camp Pendleton was an exciting summer camp for years for this group of girls….until the last summer. After that final summer, the girls swore each other to secrecy. But now it appears someone knows their secret. This was a good read with some good twists!

This book is giving me trust issues. Whoa Nelly, the twists at the end, hold my hat! There was SO much going on in this book, I really think there could have been 2. So you’ve essentially 2 timelines with multiple POV’s that in the beginning I had no idea how they were going to fit together, but they do. There were a lot of characters, and I almost had to take notes to keep it all straight. There’s a lot of “plot”, lots of talking (both outward and internal), you’ve got the angsty teenager talking, and the adult talking … it’s a bit to take in, but when you get rolling you don’t want to stop.
Think summer camp, but for smart misfits, a place where the weirdos are cool (and the “cool” people from school are not). Mix in hormones, senior year, BAD choices … your pod of 4 campers leave camp that year, with a bad something looming over you, you agree to never speak of the incident, or really to each other again, BFFs with a secret so big you can never be friends again …. Until … present day. Blakey needs her “friends” she’s in a spot, and she desperately needs help, the only kind of help the pod of 4 can handle. They get together and things get heated … I can tell you no more, just know everything you think is wrong.

Naturally I didn’t see that ending coming. I had a couple thoughts but I was wrong. I love the quick chapters and the multiple points of view. Lucinda’s books keep me coming back every time.
Thank you Lucinda, NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for an ARC

3.5 stars. In all candor, this is my first Lucinda Berry book. I liked the narrative voices. The story was told from multiple perspectives which I enjoyed, though I wish it was clearer sooner who was talking. I liked that not all the narrators were reliable. I also enjoyed the basic storyline about a secret four girls had at summer camp that threatens to disrupt their lives 20 years later. I also enjoyed the dual timeline and it was clearly marked which storyline we were in at any given time. I also enjoyed the plot twist at the end.
I think that this would have been a solid four stars for me if I had been a bit more invested in the characters emotionally and a little less confused about who was talking when.
I will definitely check out other books of hers in the future.
Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.