The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning
Rating: 4 stars
Pub date: 9/17

Thank you so much to Tor for my advanced copies!

The Lies We Conjure is an addictive supernatural thriller that blends elements of Knives Out with a dash of magic. It’s a locked-room murder mystery featuring witches, non-magical imposters, and a deadly scavenger hunt.

The story follows sisters Ruby and Wren, who, while working a summer job at a Renaissance fair, are offered $2,000 each to impersonate the long-lost grandchildren of a mysterious woman at a dinner party. What was supposed to be an easy job quickly spirals into a nightmare as they find themselves trapped in Hegemony Manor with nine witches and a murder to solve.

This book is a lot of fun! It’s a witchy mystery full of twists and turns and a little romance. The pacing and world-building are perfect. Henning introduces the four magical lines and the key players at the party in a way that’s easy to follow. The story is told in Ruby’s POV, who is just finding out that magic is real while also pretending to be magical, and Auden’s, a witch and the grandson of the murdered host. His POV gives us some insight into the inner workings of the witch community and the people at the party.

The romance between Ruby and Auden feels underdeveloped, but the focus on the murder mystery and the magical relic hunt more than compensates. The plot twists and the intricate magic system create a thrilling, suspenseful read that feels like a magical escape room.

This is a must-read for spooky season, and is perfect for fans of witchy mysteries!

This book had an intriguing premise with a murder mystery dinner at a creepy manor and witches—what more could I ask for? I loved the setup in the first half, especially the dinner scene—it felt atmospheric and magical, and I was really enjoying the vibes.

However, the second half didn’t hold my interest as much. The pacing slowed down drastically, and what felt like several days in the plot actually only spanned a few hours. I also didn’t get the Knives Out vibes I was hoping for. While the magic and family dynamics were interesting, the info dumping made it a bit hard to follow at times.

Still, the story wrapped up nicely, and I’d be open to reading more from this author in the future.

“It’s a party, not a funeral.”…yet. 💀 (4.5 stars)

The Lies We Conjure is a fantastic paranormal high-stakes whodunnit, reminiscent of Knives Out + Inheritance Games with the classic privileged family stature meeting ruthless dysfunction (imagine handsome sweater guy’s character with magic? Big Yikes).

When financially struggling sisters, Ruby and Wren, are approached by an eccentric old lady and asked to impersonate her granddaughters at an annual family dinner for an easy $4,000, what could possibly go wrong?

Oh maybe it’s secretly a gathering of the most powerful witch families in all of North America? And someone has just decided to murder the matriarch during dinner? And now the whole estate is spellbound locked down until the murder is solved and some witchy relics are found? And if it takes longer than three days they will be trapped forever? No big deal…

Thirteen witches. Two non-magical sisters. A deadly whodunnit. Will Ruby and Wren make it out alive?

This was an absolute perfect start to Spooky Season.🖤

Thank you Tor Publishing Group, Sarah Henning, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic copy in exchange for a honest review. The Lies We Conjure comes out on September 17th.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sarah Henning for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Lies We Conjure coming out September 17, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. The summary really intrigued me. I thought the first half of the book was really good. I loved the setup of the mysterious manor and the dinner with a witch. I love witches stories. However, this book didn’t really work for me. I wasn’t as interested in the second half. Overall, I liked it, but I was hopeful for something different. I didn’t really get the Knives Out vibes. I would check out other books by this author though.

The Lies We Conjure has a serious undertaking. It delivers both Knives Out vibes with a deadly mystery, never knowing who to trust, and a locked room setting. At the same time it presents a magical society of witches with their own histories and powers. At the heart of The Lies We Conjure - and my favorite element - are two human sisters who were paid to attend and have no clue about either magic or witches. You can imagine they're in for A RIDE and also characters were can learn about the witches, and magic, through. The Lies We Conjure is multi POV and I do think that the other MC who knows WAY more can get confusing.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I enjoyed this "locked room" mystery. I was intrigued from the beginning. This action packed mystery was fun and kept me guessing. I will be purchasing it for our high school library..

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love a good Knives Out comparison book. They will all be my downfall. I’m also all in for a good magical murder mystery. Neither the cover nor the description on Goodreads gives too much away so you’re left pretty much blind going in.

While the beginning was slower, it really picked up. The 4th part was amazing. I was on the edge of my seat reading and anticipating the next move. There were times I wasn’t sure about everyone’s motives and the obvious bad guys and red herrings were done in a way where you aren’t too sure who’s at fault. You feel bad for Ruby and Wren and want them to survive this wacky situation they’ve gotten themselves into. The romance in this seemed really random and put there just to make relationships, but you can’t have everything be perfect. I mean they only knew these people for 3 days.

This was a solid book with plenty of action and suspense to keep me invested. I actually enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.

Thank you to Tor Teen & NetGalley for the chance to read this early.

The Lies We Conjure is a YA mystery/thriller reminiscent of The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes but done in a locked room mystery style with the added element of an escape room twist plus witches. The story is told in the POVs of Ruby, a clueless outsider to the Four Lines families, and Auden, who belongs to the Hegemony family. I love how Ruby provides the perspective of the reader who is just learning of the magical families but also flicks over to Auden for inside peeks into the witchy world and a full understanding of the "game's" stakes. Wren balances Ruby's serious side, but the sisters fall into the stereotypical dynamic of responsible older sister and fun, carefree younger sister; I find that dynamic over-played in YA. Exposition in the beginning explaining the magic and how the families and relics work is needed but felt info-dumpy. The cousins of Auden, Winter, and Evander play off each other well without one feeling more "in charge" than the others due to responsibilities and knowledge shared. With every twist I had suspicions of what/who could be behind the murder and strange occurrences, but ultimate answers remained surprising. The concept of a "soul's truth" fit into the world but felt like a convenient plot device at times. I like how the ending leaves wonder open about how everyone left standing moves forward.

After reading Henning’s other series, Sea Witch and The Kingdoms of Sand and Sky, I greatly looked forward to trying her latest standalone, The Lies We Conjure. This story follows sisters, Ruby and Wren, who were working at a Colorado Renaissance Faire when they are approached by a mysterious woman, Marsyas, who asks them to impersonate her grandchildren, Lavinia and Kaysa Blackgate. As they will receive a substantial payout, they agree and head to Hegemony Manor for the dinner party. When the host, Ursula, dies, they are left to figure out the murderer and how to escape. Ruby provides one POV while Auden Hegmony, one of the guests, is the other narrator. Ruby does not have magic while Auden does, so they provide the parallels of the story.

As Ruby and Wren do not have magic, but they are in a house full of it, the reader, and them, get to learn about everything. In this story, there are the Hegemony family that practice Elemental magic, the Starwood family that practice Celestial magic, the Cereis family that practice Blood magic, and the Blackgate family practices Death Magic. There is a lot of information for the reader to process and Ruby and Wren need to learn all the background to move forward, so it does become a bit much at times. Since there are tons of pieces to learn, it did feel like an info dump at times, and I wish the information was introduced a little more naturally. The characters were interesting, but, again, there was a lot to understand in a short amount of time. There is the mystery to solve and as a standalone, it does wrap up fairly nicely. Some readers may prefer more from it while others may be satisfied. I prefer a little more messiness compared to tied up nicely, but it was nice. Overall, this was a decent novel and I look forward to reading another Henning novel in the future.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Tor Teen, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

everything about this book was absolutely perfect. i loved the who done it aspect, the magical components, the mystery. i was quite literally on the edge of my seat the entire time! i don’t even have the words to describe how perfect this book is, i loved every second.

This was a fun read. I really enjoyed the combination of mystery thriller but with fantasy, magic, and witches. I’m a huge fan of locked room mysteries and this one was engaging and interesting. The magic system wasn’t the most unique but I did love the way the author used each type of magic (elemental, blood, death, and celestial). The characters were fun and I always love stories with dual POV’s. Ruby and Auden were easily distinguishable and I enjoyed their interactions and personalities. The small romance brought a nice side element to the story without being the sole focus of the story. I honestly wouldn’t even really classify this as a romance because it was such a small side element. I thought the twists and turns and the lies and reveals were all entertaining. The riddles/ clues were fun and made it feel more like we were part of the game. I did find some of the reveals a bit predictable at times but still found the story entertaining. In regards to the Knives Out comparison I thought that in some aspects it was comparable but Knives Out to me was more of a satire on income, class and race inequality and The Lies We Conjure briefly touches on income inequality for a second but doesn’t really ever dive into a deeper discussion on any of those topics. I would say this gave me more of Inheritance Games vibes with magic, murder, and deadly magic and more of a power struggle between the four elite families.

Over all this was fun mash up of all the tropes I enjoy. I think fans of magic, witches, and mystery thrillers will want to read this and it’s perfect for fall.

Thank you Tor Teen for gifting me an ARC

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, it sounded so good and right up my alley. It started off intriguing enough but that intrigued eventually fizzled out which sucks because this should have been the perfect book for me.

Listen, I am a Sarah Henning fan, and all of the magic that makes me love her is on full, luscious display in this book. She called this one ‘Knives Out with Magic’ for a while, and it lives up to the comp. A shocking murder, power struggle, magical inheritance, and a ticking clock to end all ticking clocks means the stakes for this one are HIGH. Our POV characters are Ruby—a girl who is hired along with her sister to accompany an elderly woman to a dinner party posing as her granddaughters—and Auden—the middle grandson of the HWIC of a secret coven of witches. When Auden’s grandmother is murdered presumably by the woman that hires Ruby, the house goes into magical lockdown until the culprit can be found. Problem? Nona appears to have left the building, and her fake granddaughters in it to take the heat.

Ruby is a quietly compelling character, bookish and careful, with tons of heart and kindness that makes her easy to root for. Auden is perhaps a bit less immediately compelling, but his brand of quiet care matches Ruby’s in a way that makes you want to ship them like fedex from jump. The cast of young supporting characters are varied, rich, and interesting in unique ways that makes you legitimately want all of to thrive even in the hellish circumstances they find themselves in.

As usual, Henning is a master of creating environments that feel lush and ideal and aspirational. Extra props to her here for also creating a world that is credible. I was literally at the renaissance faire mentioned two weeks ago, and could visualise the hills and mountains of the rockies in her words.

My literal only beef with this one is in the copyedits. This book is a prime example of why human eyes are VITAL to the editing process. There were countless examples of missed homophones in the text (suggesting Sarah may use some speech-to-text software in her drafting— totally normal and a vital tool for accessibility that should not count against her EVER.) off the top of my head I noticed a welp that should have been whelp, a ring that should have been wring, a shutters that was supposed to be shudders, and strangely, a Columbine (proper noun) when it should have been columbine (plant). There were more examples of this, as well as sentences that felt like they meant nothing that clearly needed editing. I hope the team can catch and rectify this before the book hits shelves, because it’s legitimately a spectacular YA magical mystery offering that deserves all the success and sales it can get. This is the only reason I’m withholding a five star review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was similar to the inheritance games but with magic. I know it looked like it was advertised as a YA read, but it did have the f word a few more times than I expected. However, the book was fun and it wasn’t too easy to figure out the clues ahead of time. I do wish I understood more about the driver being the door for Nona to enter, but it’s fine.

I plan to share this book on my Instagram on Sept 15.

https://www.instagram.com/robinashleyreads?igsh=MXczYmd6bmszdXN2Nw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Thank you to Sarah Henning, Giselle Gonzalez, Tor Teen for providing with both a print and digital arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to like this book the premises and synopsis really stood out to me when I first read it. However at about the 30% when there was still very litt progress made on the story I was worried. I had a hard time connecting with the main characters I think I found that Auden stood out a little more than Wren and Ruby. And while I can understand the big reveal of the killer and their motives I was kind of hopeful for something more for the girls.

Knives Out/Inheritance Games with a family of witches and two unsuspecting sisters who get unknowingly embroiled in a plan for one line of the witches to grab all the power? Sign me up. Fantastic book that made me stay up too late reading.

Thank you to Tor Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy. Opinions/review are my own.

Thank you Sarah Henning, Giselle Gonzales, and Tor Teen for an ARC of The Lies We Conjure. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As soon as I heard that The Lies We Conjure is like Knives Out with magic, I knew I had to read it 😍! Add mysteries, a gothic mansion, witches, hidden objects, riddles, and secrets and you’ve got a book that’s a perfect YA read for spooky season!

I was hooked from chapter 1 when sisters Ruby and Wren receive a “too good to be true” offer to attend a fancy party at the alluring, but moody, Hegemony Manor. Almost as soon as they walk through the ornate arched gates of the mansion, they find themselves trapped until they solve a gruesome mystery with the help of the other party goers…who just happen to be powerful witches!

I don’t want to give too much away because discovering the plot is half the fun! Let’s just say that I had a great time reading about the characters solving the riddles and following the clues throughout Hegemony Manor. I was on the edge of my seat each time they made a new discovery about the overall mystery, and each other. I simply could not wait to see how all the pieces of the puzzle would fall into place at the end!

If you’re looking for an intriguing magical mystery with a dash of clean romance, you’ll want to add The Lies We Conjure to your tbr!

In the pages, you will find:

👗A mysterious party
🧙‍♀️Witches
🔎A puzzling mystery
🪄Magic
🫣Hidden identities
❓A hunt for missing objects
❤️A bit of clean romance
🤯A shocking conclusion
🕸️A perfect YA read for spooky season!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5

The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning is a spellbinding tale that masterfully blends elements of magic and deception. Henning's evocative world-building and complex characters create an engrossing narrative filled with twists and emotional depth. While the pacing occasionally dips, the novel’s imaginative storytelling and intriguing plot make it a compelling read.

The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning is a gripping and unexpected read that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The blend of witches, murder, and a deadly twist on a classic game of Clue creates a thrilling narrative that's both captivating and intense. The plot is straightforward yet compelling, quickly drawing you into its suspenseful world. The characters are intriguing and well-developed, making their reactions to the unfolding events both engaging and relatable. Henning's storytelling ensures that you'll be hooked from start to finish, eagerly turning pages to unravel the mystery.

Magia✔️
Traición ✔️
Asesinato✔️
Ambición ✔️
Viejas enemistades✔️
Romance ✔️
Alianzas ✔️




Las hermanas Ruby y Wren son contratadas por una señora llamada Marsyas Blackgate para hacerse pasar por sus nietas en una fiesta. Pero las chicas no saben que se van a meter a la cueva del lobo.

La que parece una fiesta resulta una reunión de brujas que termina con un asesinato y las principales sospechosas son las hermanas.



Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.