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.

The locals considered the huge Victorian home on the hill to be haunted by' The Mother". Built for a beautiful young bride in the 1800's, the house inspired the imagination. The home had stood empty since the first mistress ended her fairy tale falling to her death over a century ago. . A young couple bought it in 2010 and dove into the restoration, intent on making it a sparkling home again. Today would be the grand reveal of the home. It seemed everyone in town had been invited to Sophie's, way over the top, sixteenth birthday party. The problem is "The Mother" seems to still be in residence.
Love that the story is told by all the females . This is a well crafted mystery.


Thanks to NetGalley, the author & St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review>

EARC review


There is something really interesting about this book!

1. It’s a rich people sweet sixteen! Take me back to MTV.

2. There’s a ton of drunk adults at this all day long party? MESSY. I LOVE MESSY.

I loved the messy relationships between all of the characters. From the new young wife, to the angry ex-wife, to the slightly obsessed nanny. Everyone had a really strong dynamic and possibility to have been the person killed and the killer.

There was a large cast of characters, with point of view, switching every chapter and normally I eat that up.

This book was really weak for me, though, it wasn’t because I couldn’t guess the ending, it was that the ending seemed a little unbelievable? And when I looked back, there was a very few clues, pointing to how it ends.

I do feel like this story was really well loved just not by me.

A great debut by this author! Twisty and lots of things that I did not see coming. It started off a bit slow, didn’t quite hook me right off the bat but it picked up and hooked me towards the end. I would definitely read another book by Kelsey Cox.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for the gifted eARC.

We know someone dies early on, but we don't know who. With multiple POVs and alternating from the past to the present during a Sweet 16 party where the death takes place, we have no idea who it is or under what circumstances it's going to take place.

As the story progresses, the tension builds, with so many twists and turns that I had no idea where the story was going to take me next. Dani was my favorite POV She is a new mom, seemingly having experienced some incident previously before our story started that has Ethan and others worried about her state of mind, but things are happening now, and while she's worried, "it's happening again" referring to the previous incident, I knew there was more to the story.
And Orlanth, she was a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, and I was just so interested in seeing where her story was going to go.

I had a great time with this, flying through it in one sitting. It had plenty of twists and turns that had me questioning everything, with an ending that I did not expect.
I will definitely keep an eye out for the next book this author comes out with.

Party of Liars is a twisted murder mystery that takes place in a haunted house during a sweet 16. The house is said to be haunted after a grieving mother jumps out of the window and fast-forward to the sweet 16, where someone falls out of the assumingly same window. The author does a great job building suspense throughout the novel and created a page-turner that leaves you determined to find the killer and, of course, their motive. The author jumps timelines throughout the book, which at first left me feeling a little confused, but once I caught on, I was hooked. The plot is great, the twists are even better, and the steadily-building tension just adds to it all. I'd definitely recommend!
Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kelsey Cox for this ARC!

3.5 stars for debut author Kelsey Cox's book "Party of Liars". Overall, it was a decent domestic suspense story, if a bit formulaic and predictable. There are a LOT of POV's here & a whole lot of chapters (almost 100!!) as we find out just what happened on the night of a sweet 16 party that lead to a death, and who's and more importantly, the "WHY". Overall, it was quite serviceable and I liked it, but was not blown away - but I think the author does show promise & that's a very good thing, will watch for what she does next. My thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the widget for my advance reader's copy - very glad I tried it, overall.

This was a great page-turner! A quick read, engaging and intriguing! It does have multiple POVs that it’s told from which took a bit of getting used to but overall, this was an intense and enjoyable domestic thriller!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC of Party of Liars!

This thriller kicks off with a lavish Sweet Sixteen party in the Texas Hill Country, where pretty much the whole town packs into a stunning cliffside mansion. Everyone’s drinking, teenagers are secretly spiking their mocktails, and the vibe is pure glitz—until someone falls from the balcony, and all the secrets start spilling out. Everyone’s hiding something, and almost everyone seems like a suspect at some point.

I’ll be honest: I struggled a bit at first because there are so many POVs and timeline jumps, and it took me a while to get my bearings. But once I did, I was completely hooked. I tore through the entire second half in one sitting—and that’s saying something because this isn’t a short book!

Kelsey Cox does a fantastic job bringing the Texas Hill Country to life. The mansion perched high above the landscape, with its wall of windows like a giant dollhouse looking out over the hills, was the perfect backdrop—equal parts glamorous and eerie. I also loved the creepy touch of the local legend of “The Mother,” the ghost said to haunt the house. It added this extra layer of tension that made me question what was real and what was just paranoia.

One thing that stood out to me was how fiercely—and sometimes destructively—a mother’s love can drive people. So many of the women in this book are pushed to extremes trying to protect their children, their secrets, or themselves. It gave the story a real emotional punch beyond just the twists.

The characters were definitely a highlight. Dani’s story was especially poignant. She’s so young herself and clearly out of her depth sometimes, caught between wanting to belong and feeling like an outsider. Her dynamic with Kim, the ex-wife, was complicated but also felt like it could have become a genuine friendship under different circumstances.

Mikayla’s story was quietly heartbreaking. She’s the shy, odd-one-out girl who ends up tangled in things no teenager should ever have to deal with. I couldn’t help wishing someone had protected her from it all.

Órlaith, the nanny, was another fascinating character. She’s wise and perceptive, carrying her own grief, and knows just how far a mother’s love—or grief—can drive someone.

While I did guess a few twists, there were still plenty of surprises that left me stunned. The ending was killer—dramatic and satisfying. Overall, Party of Liars is a solid locked-room-style thriller full of secrets, messy relationships, and wild turns right up until the last page.

4 stars!