3.5 stars

This was a fun domestic thriller, full of wealthy, over the top Texans behaving badly. Sophie Matthews is having a blow out Sweet Sixteen party, but really it's for her father Ethan to show off his much younger second wife, Dani, his infant daughter, and impressive home, even if it may be haunted. Sophie's mother, Kim, is a bitter and jealous alcoholic with an axe to grind, and the new nanny from Ireland, elderly Orlaith, is death obsessed. Even though it's Sophie's party, we only get the youth POV from her best friend Mikayla, a plain farm girl to Sophie's sparkling star. The party comes to a crashing hault when a body falls from the balcony, and we get glimpses of the before and after to figure out what truly happened. To say there was a lot of threads weaving together in this one would be an understatement, and at times I felt like one of the POVs, any of them really, could have been eliminated and not have really impacted the story. I was on the hook initially but felt the middle drag, and the slow burn didn't really pay off for me. There was all the gaslighting and manipulating of women that runs rampant in thrillers and real life, so I had my hopes for who the victim was. Where that didn't end up surprising me, I didn't figure out the final twist, and really should have, because it was so obvious in hindsight. But I'm mad when I do figure it out and mad when I don't, so there's really no pleasing me 😂

Thank you to Kelsey Cox, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was really good. It was entertaining and honestly kept me guessing. The pace wasn't too fast or too slow. The writing was fantastic.

I liked that it was told in three different parts. I felt that we were able to get a lot more information that way, instead of just having flashbacks.

The characters all had different personalities and were all battling something different. They were well written, and you could tell them apart.

It's Sophie Matthew's sweet sixteen birthday party today and it's going to be memorable! Adults behaving badly, teenagers being all teenage angsty, what could possibly go wrong? I loved it! Told in multiple POV, it was easy to follow and highly addictive. Love locked room kind of mysteries and this one did not disappoint.

I enjoyed this so much more than I expected! I was initially worried about the Sweet Sixteen party aspect and that this book would be all about teenage angst and drama. Yes, there is a bit of that, but I'd really call Party of Liars a modern Gothic, with a new wife, an angry ex-wife, some gaslighting, a possibly vengeful ghost, and a possibly haunted mansion. (There's even a Rebecca reference, yay!)

The format is Big Little Lies style, in which you don't know who dies until the end. If, like me, you love books with psych suspense and Gothic vibes, I think you'll enjoy this.

Told over the course of one night and interwoven with flashbacks, Sophie is turning sixteen and her dad and stepmom are throwing her a huge party and also wanting to show off their newly completed house. Her mom also attends the party, and tensions are strained. There's the new wife who everyone thinks is crazy with post-partum, the mysterious Irish nanny, the arrogant father, the sassy and spoiled teenager, and the drunkard mom. The party ends in disaster, but the real question is, couldn't the author kill off all of them instead (I think it would have been a better ending!)

This debut novel is set in the Texas Hill Country and I'm pretty familiar with this setting, which I enjoyed. The book did have a lot going for it- the author left many of the characters trying to keep you guessing as to what had happened and to whom. The big problem was- it was very slowly paced, I didn't care about any of the characters (many of whom were basically interchangeable), and
reading this book just felt like a whimper and not a whoop. It is getting a lot of hype which I find interesting, so the publisher must be excited about this author. I would give her another chance, but I felt like this book was a silly draft of a potentially good book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

A sweet sixteen party turned deadly, and no one is who they appear to be! I LOVED this book and devoured it in just a couple of days. I’m a sucker for multiple POVs in a thriller, and these are done so well, not at all confusing, and very distinct… Cox skillfully uses them to build up the mystery, intrigue and also the list of suspects.

4.5/5 rounded up
Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book exceeded my expectations and is an impressive author debut. I was engaged the entire time, desperate to know what came next. I thought I was predicting the twists well, but then I kept getting surprised by the twists.

Is this anything super special or unique in the genre? Well no but it’s very bingeable, easy to read, and i had so much FUN with this one! The whole book basically takes place at a sweet 16 party told Big Little Lies style- where we know something bad has happened but not the who or why, and we alternate perspectives between a few different women to give context to the story. Highly recommend for a quick summer thriller!

What a great debut mystery thriller. This is told from 4 POV at a Sweet 16 party for Sophie in a large mansion that has a dark history of it's own. We get to see Kim, Sophie's drunk, bitter mom; Dani, Sophie's Stepmom struggling with postpartum depression; Mikayla, Sophie's best friend with her own secrets, and Orlaith, the Irish nanny for Dani's baby Charlotte. Everyone thinks of the house as a dollhouse with the back of it being all glass. I couldn't put this one down. I wanted to know what was going on. There were a few twists that I guessed and a few I didn't see coming. I liked the writing style and the short chapters with each character. Thank you the NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

This book was FANTASTIC. Wow I was hooked immediately and couldn’t stop reading. I devoured it. It was twisty and shocking, while at the same time being deep with characters that I felt attached to. THIS is exactly what I’m looking for in a thriller and I had a fantastic time with it

Messy, dramatic, sexually charged, lots of twists and turns. Probably didn't need the supernatural element, but I guess it did help to anchor a particular character in the story. All in all, an engaging read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

Locked room mystery. Murder. Teenagers. Haunted house?! TBD.

I enjoyed Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox. I think this story had the right amount of twists and kept me hooked and guessing!

Tantalizing thriller that keeps you guessing. The constant red herrings kept me off the trail of who was orchestrating everything. It brought to mind the old saying "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't really after you."

What an excitingly fresh take on the classic locked-room whodunnit! Party of Liars is set at a lavish (but possibly haunted) mansion during Sophie Matthews’s equally lavish Sweet 16 party. The party hosts are Sophie’s father, Ethan, and his young wife, Dani, who also happens to be a new mom to Sophie’s half sibling. Other main players present are Sophie’s struggling alcoholic mother, her troubled best friend, and the mysterious new nanny who senses something off about the house. It is unclear who dies at the party until close to the very end, by which point so much tension was built up that I think my head might have exploded had the reveal come any later. Add in a few twists I didn’t see coming, and this book was thoroughly enjoyable & unputdownable from beginning to end!

I was fortunate enough to receive both an ARC and ALC of this, so I tandem read and listened. While I loved the many narrators (one for each main character), it was still initially hard for me to keep track of who was who without also having the written book in front of me. I can’t say I was a big fan of any of the characters, but when they are all potential murder suspects that didn’t bother me too much! Plus, I love a good unreliable narrator and this book gives us an entire cast of them, all done exceptionally well. There is a strong theme of motherhood and it’s darker, more taboo side woven throughout the story which I absolutely couldn’t get enough of.

Looking for a twisty and super original locked-room mystery/thriller? This is the ticket!

Big thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the gifted eARC & ALC!

'Party of Liars' has a different structure than most who-done-it mystery thrillers. You know from the beginning that someone has died. However, you don't know who until around 90% in. There are so many secrets and twists within the book, it could be any of the 5 characters narrating the book, or someone else entirely. Shorter chapters rachet up the tension. A dual timeline before and after the party both foreshadows and gives background. This is a great thriller. The audiobook version has an excellent ensemble cast. 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an early copy of this book! 😊 was this a literary masterpiece? No… was I entertained to the point where I read this in like 2 days?… Yes 😂 I thought this was a great quick read! This had everything I love in mystery/thrillers- multiple POVs, shady characters, shifts between past, present, and future, and a storyline that kept me needing to read more. I really liked this one and would definitely recommend to mystery/thriller readers 😊

Kelsey Cox’s Party of Liars starts with a thud! And what a thud it is…a body dropping from the balcony. It was supposed to be a magical night, Sophie’s sweet sixteen birthday bash, and her father is doing it up, big time! But what was supposed to be a dream night turns into a nightmare. This was a highly enjoyable, dark, and twisting mystery/thriller filled with a cast of complex (and mostly unlikeable) characters. Now don’t take my comment about unlikable characters to be a negative, as I’m pretty sure most of them weren’t meant to be likable. One thing is for sure, this is a party to remember. I’d like to thank St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Party of Liars.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3Q12YUWCVP5A8/ref=pe_123899240_1043597390_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/party-of-liars-kelsey-cox/1146167632?ean=9781250378811&bvnotificationId=7c248a14-5807-11f0-b9de-0affd5b95d37&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/351069447

A good time with plenty of drama to keep you invested. This books follows several POVs after someone dies at a sweet sixteen and you as the reader to back and forth from present and past to figure out the events that led to the death and put all the pieces together. This story ended with a twist I wasn't expecting and I enjoy when I'm caught off guard. I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for an easy read that will keep you guessing who died and who did it? A fun thriller by a new to me author that I will have to check out other releases from.

"Today is Sophie Matthews’s sixteenth birthday party, an exclusive black-tie bash in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, where secrets are as deep-rooted as the sprawling live oaks."

Sophie's sweet sixteen party starts out okay, but ends with a dead body, and everybody at the party is a suspect. The thing is, we don't know whose body it is or how it ended up falling from the balcony to the patio where the party was going on. In this debut novel from Kelsey Cox, you actually don't find out until the very end who fell (or was pushed?) to their death, and how it happened. This book has a lot of POVs, but I really didn't have a problem following them because each character had a pretty distinctive voice from the others. You also jump back and forth from the past to the present constantly, but again, once I got used to that, it wasn't a problem. The characters were fleshed out and well written, and the pacing was quick enough that this was a relatively quick read. The ending was a bit predictable, but getting there definitely wasn't.

All in all, I enjoyed reading Party of Liars and look forward to reading more of Kelsey Cox's work in the future.

4/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kelsey Cox for the opportunity to read and review Party of Liars.

I absolutely loved this book! This book wasn’t what I expected it to be based off the title and synopsis, but I loved what it turned out to be even more. The book starts by setting up the history of this grand home in Texas, and the local lore about how it came to be haunted. Then it sets up the night of the incident, an opulent sweet sixteen party for Sofie, and the night the house witnesses another tragedy. However, unlike your typical murder mystery, you don’t find out until quite far in the book who it is that dies. I was captivated by the 4 perspectives and women in this book. Dani, the new wife with a young baby, Kim, the bitter ex wife who re-did the home only to not live in it, Orlaith the odd Irish nanny, and Mikayla the oldest friend of Sofie. As I read I found myself liking and feeling for each of these women, while also equally questioning if they were the one who was killed or killed someone else. I enjoyed how the book went between these women, the past and the present, and wove all of their stories together. A fast paced story that kept me guessing until the end. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.