the book went on too long, could've ended earlier. The back and forth between the characters was tough as they weren't special/unique differences between the girls. It was written well, but I felt it was repetitive.

Rich Jocelyn Elliott, and middle class Rowan Castillo and Cadence Fletcher have been close friends since high school. Over the years, however, they have moved on, busy in their own lives. Rowan is a single mother, raising her child, now eight, after the death of her boyfriend, Jake Elliott, Jocelyn's twin.

Now that Jocelyn Elliott is engaged to be married to Landon, her long-time beau, she decides to treat her two besties to an exclusive bachelorette party at the bed and breakfast run by her aunt and uncle in a small village in Wales.

There they meet Magnus from Norway and Valentina from Argentina, two backpackers who draw the three women into their circle. Soon Jocelyn, Rowan and Cadence are convinced that there is something off about their two new friends. They wish they had never come to Wales and encountered them.

The trip, meant to bind them closer, ends up fraying their friendship. By the end of the trip, will the consequences be much worse?



The book begins with the death of one of the two women, and the other two friends and the aunt and uncle of Jocelyn seemingly distraught. The novel is told from the 1st person present tense PoV of the three women, in flashback, describing the events that took place in their lives before they got to this point, before breaking into single chapters on what transpires after the death of one of them.

At first, I could not tell the three accounts apart, but as they revealed more of their secrets, I got a better understanding of who they were. But the voice wasn’t very clear. I had to keep checking back to the first page of the chapter to find out who was talking. After the first set of three 1st person accounts, the writing got marginally better.

The voices of the characters were still not apparent though. And because no one character stood out, I found it hard to like any of them. The thought of one of them dead was not something I could bring myself to care about.

I felt that the last first-person chapter of the character that is about to die should have been in the 3rd person. In the first person, it was awkward and clumsy.

What made it interesting at first was that everyone had secrets, not just the women, but all the characters, but over time even that lost its novelty.

The men, Jake Elliott and Landon, are flat as cardboard. For one, neither is present in Wales, and we see them both only in flashbacks. Jake has been dead eight years when the story begins, and the flashbacks don’t portray him well or enough. Landon, very much alive, is boring. It is hard to see why he is considered quite the catch.

There was no buildup to the mystery. The red herrings were unconvincing and the plot twist didn’t seem natural. The reasons why a particular character was suspected and then subsequently considered innocent didn’t seem credible.

DI Collins, the investigating officer, was drab, completely devoid of personality. She was in charge but didn’t appear to have the confidence to figure things out. She kept asking questions but didn’t come to any conclusion at all. The odd thing was that it seemed as if she were conducting the investigation on her own. She didn’t have an assistant, no one with whom she could think aloud.

The friendship between the girls didn’t come across as warm and comforting. At one point, Rowan said that that Jocelyn provided her a sense of safety in high school and college. But safety from what? We never get a sense of what might be threatening Rowan?

The book needed better editing. Character A tells Character B her (B’s) mother’s name, in the vein of “Your mother, X.” Editing should have weeded out such clumsy sentences.

It is unclear why Jocelyn calls her mother’s sister by her first name, instead of calling her Aunt Helen, particularly when Helen’s husband is addressed as Uncle Paul.



The book was okay for the most part. But the resolution fell flat. It seemed forced, hurried, with characters coming to realisations about the truth in a way that didn’t feel natural.

This was not my cup of tea :-( I tried many times to get into this one , but I struggled and kept rereading the same paragraphs over and over .

The writing just did not flow for me , it is too bad because the premises of this book sounded so good .

I thank you Netgalley , Thomas and Mercer and Chelsea Ichaso for this ARC.

Sorry this one was not for me , Respectfully Another Read by Angie

Thank you to NetGalley,Chelsea Ichasco, and Thomas and Mercer Publishing for this arc of So I Lied, out January 28, 2025!

📜Quick Summary:Cadence, Jocelyn, and Rowan are set off to Wales for the bachelorette trip of a lifetime. Jocelyn, the wealthiest of the three girlfriends, is footing the bill. They’re setting off to stay in a cabin off in the middle of the woods… a place her Aunt Helen owns. Each girl is harboring secrets and even though they are supposed to be alone this trip, there are other guests at her cabin. These three best friends are all in different places in life, and oh boy! Buckle up for a trip of a lifetime!

❣️Initial Feels: I don’t know if I like any of these girls yet, but I am super intrigued to see what all their secrets are!

👀Trigger Warnings: a murder thriller, betrayal

🙋🏼‍♀️Moving Character:It was hard to really “like” any of the characters, and I think that was maybe the point of this novel. Even though each woman (and the supporting characters) had a vital role, they all…were so awful!

📖Read if you want: multiple point of views, a whodunit mystery, beautiful setting

💡Final Sentiments: WHAT WAS THIS ROLLERCOASTER of a thriller!? I could not put this down!! I kept changing my thoughts and suspicions many, many times! I loved the setting, Wales and the countryside sounded beautiful, even amongst the murder. Each character was harboring secrets, guilt, and betrayal, and I literally couldn’t believe these three! They were supposedly best friends, but it sure seemed the opposite at times. It was very hard to like any of them, but I also was rooting for each one at a different point. I would have given it 5 stars, but it was difficult to distinguish the difference in each character. It felt like they all had the same voice, and I had to look back many times to check which character was the narrator for that chapter.

🌟Overall Rating: 4.75 stars

This novel was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Ooo this was a fast-paced, dark and twisty delight of a read! I read the first 80% in one sitting and couldn’t wait to finish it. Female friendships are tough, especially navigating the teens and twenties. I appreciated that this book was honest in the portrayal of friends who take different paths and can seem to have outgrown each other. Setting was on point for this type of mystery. Really loved the varying narrators, some more reliable than others! And a great mix of past and present. I hope this author will write more adult fiction because I am here for it!

This was the first book I read by Chelsea Ichaso, and it had me scrambling for her backlist. Great characters, fast plotting, and lots of twists and turns had me glued to this one. I am always a fan of travel suspense so this story of a bachlorette trip turned into a suspense thriller had me hooked. The best thing about this one is all three of the main characters had something they were hiding from their past that worked its way into their current situation. I highly recommend this one for suspense fans.

Rowan, Cadence and Jocelyn all go to a beach getaway, and quickly find out that they all have secrets they are hiding from each other.

This story is told from multiple POV's and each chapter flips back and forth between the three main characters. At times this became confusing for me and I found myself flipping back and forth just to be able to jog my memory as to who was who and who had what going on.

Overall, this book was just not for me. I enjoyed the book for the first 30% of it or so, but I got really tired of having to flip back and forth just to keep the characters and their story lines straight.

I would like to read another book by this author, but maybe one without so many story lines.

Thank you to NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for this ARC! *So I Lied* by Chelsea Ichaso is a gripping adult thriller that dives into the complexities of friendship and secrets. It follows Jocelyn, Rowan, and Cadence on a bachelorette trip to North Wales, where unresolved tensions among the three friends quickly rise to the surface. As secrets unravel and lies build up, the group faces the strain of hidden truths that could destroy their bond. With strong character dynamics and suspenseful plot twists, Ichaso's novel is an intense exploration of trust and betrayal. Perfect for fans of dark, emotional thrillers.

"So I Lied" is an engrossing psychological thriller with twist upon twist. I've enjoyed Ichaso's other suspense novels, and this one was different but just as engaging. The setting (North Wales) is atmospheric, and the characters are bitchy (old girlfriends with a history of betrayals and woundings). Highly recommended for fans of psychological suspense. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

Pub Date: Jan 28, 2025
#SoILied#

I love this author and was so excited for her next title. This book did not disappoint! I was immediately captivated by the web of secrets woven into this story. I also like how the story centered on friendship and the relationships between the three women. "So I Lied" kept me on the edge of my seat and was a fun read!

This was wild. Enter three friends (who like hate each other low key) and put them in proximity close enough for all their dirty little secrets to come out to play. By the end you won’t know who did what, and who played who. A great thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This will be out at the end of January 2025!

4.5 stars!

This one gave me The 6th Friend movie vibes. It had so many twists and turns! And drama galore. It had the satisfying, unreliable narrator trope, but I won't tell you who. 😘 It was an edge of your seat thrill ride. Non stop. Compulsive. Shocking! It was maybe a little more tell than show then I would have liked, but all the surprises were worth it. I didn't see most of them coming! 😱 And, that ending, oh my! It was a banger of a puzzle, with all the pieces coming together to create an exciting read in the adult thriller genre!

Thanks for the e-arc Netgalley!

Book:
SO I LIED by Chelsea Ichaso
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc (Jan 28)

Review:
3⭐
I've read most of Chelsea Ichaso's YA thrillers, so reading her newest book---even though it's not YA---felt like a no brainer.
SO I LIED follows best friends: Joslyn, Cadence, and Rowan. The three of them head overseas to celebrate Joslyn's engagement. When newcomers overtake their trip, and lies from the past, what was supposed to be a celebratory occasion turns into a nightmare of paranoia and death.
Like I previously mentioned, I had extremely high hopes. Those weren't met in the beginning. I felt like this book that took place over a few days was slow paced. Until...the first Now chapter. That was the one that really hooked me. After that, I sped through this. It was like soke sort of hold was on me. I had to know the lies the friends kept referring to, I had to know what was going on with [Redacted and Redacted]. I learned that and so much more that I didn't see coming. Like, major plot twist times like 3.

Chelsea Ichaso has done it again! So I Lied was an absolute mind twisting and chilling read.
Three friends have gone away for a week before Jocelyn gets married, what’s supposed to be a celebration and a chance for three friends to reunite turns into a thrilling game of cat and mouse. Another border at the Inn seems to be following them wherever they go, each women has a secret that cannot be let out. What follows is a twisted story about betrayal, friendship and secrets.
Although it did take me awhile to get into this book, once things started unravelling I did not want to put this book down! I had my suspicions about what was going on but boy was I wrong!
Big thanks to Netgalley and Thomas&Mercer for the ARC.

I LOVED this multi-POV thriller! I feel like multiple POVs is so hard to pull off in a thriller especially -- how do you hide who is truly guilty when you're in so many characters' heads? But Ichaso pulls it off really well. The characters have a complicated, layered past that was fascinating to delve into, the mystery is very suspenseful, the dual timelines so well done, and I did not guess the killer. 5 stars!

This book was definitely one that I couldn't put down. I loved the alternating POVs and the secret POV. I loved the surprising twists and turns that would sneak up on you regularly. I couldn't believe how fast I tore through this. Definitely a book that can and should be devoured in one sitting.

So I Lied centres on 3 friends named Jocelyn, Cadence, and Rowan, who take a weekend getaway together for Jocelyn’s bachelorette party. What the 3 girls believed was going to be a weekend of fun and catching up together, turns deadly when past secrets come back to haunt them.

The chapters alternated between the three main characters, however, there were times when I forgot who’s point of view I was reading from due to their similar voices, and it would take me a moment to figure it out again.

The drama was entertaining and left me wanting to know more, enough to make me finish this book in one sitting. The amount of twists and secrets that came to light throughout the story left my mind reeling.

I thought the ending was a little messy. The "whodunit" aspect felt like it was all over the place with finger pointing and direction changes from one page to the next. I found it a little unbelievable at how quickly everyone was ready to jump onto a new potential suspect for whatever secret was being discussed at the time.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. It was shallow but addicting, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. If your looking for a psychological thriller with a classic whodunit trope, then I highly suggest you check this one out!

This was a fast paced thriller where you get invested in all of the characters. All 3 friends had secrets but so did the other characters which you don’t expect. I was shocked to find out what they did but it kept me turning the pages to find out. There were a lot of twists that I didn’t see coming but that’s what made it such a great suspense novel. It was exciting to read from the beginning to end.

These three women...ughhh. They all deserve each other for sure. They are all pretty awful people, behaving badly, and it's hard to have sympathy for any of them. It's not just lies and secrets. It's the extent of those lies and secrets and the intent behind them. That's not to say this wasn't deviously delicious watching them all kind of self-destruct and blow apart their friendships and their lives. If you don't mind admitting to yourself that you enjoy these kids of stories, you will definitely want to pick this one up and hold on for the crazy train ride.

This was a fun read! I liked the creepy forrest/ secluded setting. I also liked how we got to gradually find out more and more dark secrets each of the three main characters had. It seemed like a new twist or secret was revealed every chapter, which kept it exciting!
As much as I like alternating POVs, in this book I found it hard to remember whose POV I was reading due to little differentiation between the character’s voices, so it got confusing at times.
In the end, I also felt like there were TOO many twists, and some did not really relate to the others - so they felt just kind of random.

What I liked:
- Setting and atmosphere
- Characters with secrets
- Fast paced

What I didn’t like:
- Didn’t love most of the characters
- Had a hard time distinguishing between the POVs. Each chapter said the name of the person whose POV it was, yet I found it hard to remember as I read
- A little overboard on the twists