I loved the multiple narrators in this. I felt like that worked really well, which is an accomplishment because it doesn't always! The setting was great - a sweet 16 party gone awry - and the cast of characters was interesting. I did figure out whodunnit before the big reveal, but I found this a very enjoyable read. Fast-paced and I read it in a couple of days.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

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My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (million gazillion stars!! )

Publication date: 7/1/25

Get ready for a lavish big ole Texas sized Sweet Sixteen Party turned deadly in this fresh take on a classic whodunit!

This book is one of my top favs of the summer!! Omg, all the drama I’m obsessed! A fast paced thriller with juicy drama and murder, need I say more? Kelsey, you are amazing! I can’t wait to read future books of yours!! A MUST READ!!!!!

#read #netgalley #stmartinspress #partyofliars #kelseycox #fivestarread #tbr #summer #drama #juicy #tea #thriller #books #bookworm #bookish #cake #party #booksbooksbooks #bookaholic #booklover

Party of Liars was so intriguing! I love the idea of spaces holding onto energy and memories. This one creeped me out just enough to want to race to the end!

This book was so good!!! I absolutely loved the pacing and how the author slowly revealed the twists. I truly loved the symmetry at the end as well!! This gave me major The Guest List vibes 😍😍😍 ALSO I read the book as a love letter to the Texas Hill Country bc I grew up where the book was set so it gave me major nostalgia 🥺

Thanks to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the
E-ARC! Really enjoyed! Fun characters & twisty plot. Will read more from this author.

Party of Liars is a fast-paced, twisty thriller that keeps readers guessing until the final pages. Cox delivers a story filled with secrets, shifting alliances, and a cast of morally gray characters (my fave!) Set against the backdrop of a glamorous yet toxic gathering, the book explores how far people will go to protect the lies they’ve built their lives around. With a quick witted dialogue, layered suspense, and a plethora of revelations, it’s a compulsive read for fans of drama packed psychological thrillers. While some plot turns stretch believability, the emotional stakes and juicy betrayals make for an addictive ride.

The multiple POVs kept me guessing to the end and I still hadn’t guessed correctly who died. I feel like the supernatural aspect could have evolved a bit or been completely left out.

Thank you, NetGalley, for opportunity to read and review Party of Liars!

This was a quick and engaging read with a solid mystery built in. It all takes place at an opulent party for Sophie's 16th birthday, attended by her divorced parents, new step-mom, group of friends, her sister (and nanny), and all the village neighbors who have been waiting for a peek inside their newly renovated mansion with a dark history. We know immediately that someone has died but have to wait until the end of the book to find out who it was. The POVs shift from various characters throughout the book, allowing the reader to get good insight into what makes them tick and how they feel about each other. The house is said to be haunted, which was a neat twist and added an additional element to the story as it came together.

The author did a great job of leading me to believe one thing was unfolding, only to reveal something completely different—and this pattern repeated throughout the story. Interestingly, I found that the events that actually occurred were often more believable than what I initially expected, which I really appreciated. While the characters weren't always likable, they were fun to read about and I appreciated the dynamics between them. We also managed to get pretty good backstories in a short period of time.. There were lots of surprises in the tail end of the book, but I thought they all worked together to tie everything up. I felt like even the biggest surprise twists made total sense when all was revealed.

Overall, I thought this was a really fun read and enjoyed the surprises throughout. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was entertaining enough. The changing POV is necessary to get the perspective from each character. That way you are never quite sure if what they think is real or delusional. The supernatural aspect of The Mother is thrown in to further confuse things and lead the reader to conclusions. My thoughts ran toward the 1944 movie starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. The person that died was a surprise and yet wasn't a surprise. There were lots of clues along the way if you read closely enough. I did feel that one character's thought were too misleading to be fair. I did find it interesting from the different POVs how the characters showed that the way we see ourselves is not the same way others see us.

This domestic thriller kept me guessing throughout. Told from multiple perspectives over a couple of different timelines, it has a pretty slow build but the final reveal was not only surprising but entirely satisfying. It will make a great summer read. Strongly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advanced reader copy.

I support women's rights and women's wrongs!!

I'll be honest, I had no idea where this story was going until nearly the end. I almost expected a paranormal aspect to this story? I enjoyed the multiple POVs which kept me on my toes and guessing the entire time I was reading.

This was a nail biting thriller! The characters were perfect and I really enjoyed the relationships between them!

3.5⭐️

I'm so conflicted on this. I'm particularly sensitive to books featuring gaslighting so I was very on edge through a majority of this book. From poor postpartum Dani who everyone, including herself, believe she shouldn't be left alone with her newborn daughter to alcoholic Kim who may not have been the only one to blame for her addiction, I just felt very anxious reading this. Which, I guess is a good thing for a thriller? The reveal of who actually died also felt like it's been done a lot before and wasn't that shocking once it was actually revealed.

As much as I hate gaslighting, I do love a chaotic, delusional character who believes that their relationship is the real thing and just causally threatens their partner's wife throughout. The mystery behind if the house was truly haunted by 'The Mother' or if the happenings surrounding everything was a fun twist.

The locked room mystery aspect of this was well done and did keep me engaged. I did find the constant back and forth of timelines a bit hard to follow and it made things more confusing.

Thanks Netgalley and Minotaur Books for providing this ARC to me!

this was fine. that's really all I can say. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. I don't think I'll remember it for long but it was entertaining enough.

A big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the ARC. I was super excited for this book. The synopsis provided made me super excited for what I would find in the text, and I was not disappointed. My favorite part might be the thought and attention put into the storyline and the characters movement within that. Great work!

This well thought out mystery kept me guessing until the end. We know that a murder will happen at a sixteenth birthday party, but we don't know the victim or the motive until close to the end of the book. Like peeling an onion, we get to see the characters and who they really are. There were times I wasn't sure about this story because the characters aren't always likeable especially when they are partying. It all comes together in the end with some surprising twists and makes perfect sense. I am so glad that I continued because this book and its characters will stick with me for a long time. I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher through Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. Kudos to the author for a great debut. I look forward to reading more by her.

This is the perfect summer thriller! A cool setting- the “haunted” glassed in dollhouse mansion on the hill, with a pool and 100 of your closest friends and colleagues all getting hammered in celebration of a Sweet Sixteen. You know SOMETHING is going to happen and it’s not going to be good. There’s lots of drama and hard feelings between friends and exes, so it makes it difficult to even guess who the victim will be (you find out early that there is an accident during the party).

This book was a super quick read, mostly because I was sucked in and don’t want to put it down at bedtime! I will admit, I was disappointed at WHO turned out to be the villain of the story and the situation that started the wheels rolling. (Mostly the situation honestly- he was bound to be the gaslighting villain from the beginning!)
I was very surprised by the final twist- I had forgotten that we didn’t know the full back story with this particular character. Great ending!

Thanks to Kelsey Cox, Minotaur/St Martins Press and NetGalley for providing the free advance readers copy!

A closed-room thriller with an air of supernatural mixed in; Party of Liars will take you on quite the rollercoaster

The book takes place during Sophie's extravagant 16th birthday party, hosted by her wealthy father and her newly postpartum stepmother. Like the title infers, every character at the party has something to hide and the reader will have a hard time deciding which characters to root for and which to fear.

I did find some parts of the book to be a bit cheesy but overall it was well-paced and kept me engaged. I could see a twist or two coming, but there was enough going on to keep me entertained.

Title: Party of Liars
Author: Kelsey Cox     
Genre: Thriller   
Rating: 4 out of 5 

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 dad has spared no expense, and his renovated cliffside mansion—once thought haunted—is now hosting the event of the season. Then, just before the candles on the three-tiered red velvet cake are blown out, a body falls from the balcony onto the starlit dance floor below.

It’s a killer guest list . . .

DANI: Sophie’s new stepmother who’s been plagued by self-doubt ever since the birth of her own baby girl

ÓRLAITH: the superstitious Irish nanny who senses a looming danger in this cavernous house

MIKAYLA: the birthday girl’s best friend who is not nearly as meek as the popular kids assume

KIM: the cunning ex-wife who has a grudge she can’t let go of . . .

Everyone is invited in. Not everyone will get out alive.

I really never figured out exactly what was going on or who was guilty—of what until the end! Kim was pretty horrible for most of the novel, so much hatred and vitriol and alcohol. I couldn’t figure out if Dani was crazy, or as almost-perfect as she seemed. Sophie and Mikayla seemed like typical teenage girls on the surface, but were they really? Ethan and his friend Curtis were just a little too high-handed, weren’t they? There was a lot going on here, and I was engrossed from the beginning. And what about the dollhouse/mansion? Creepy!

Kelsey Cox lives in the Texas Hill Country. Party of Liars is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 7/7).

Plot
This novel is a locked-room mystery where everyone has a motive and not everyone will make it out alive. It is Sophie Matthews’s sixteenth birthday party in a huge, renovated, once-haunted mansion. The black-tie affair should be a night to remember and it will be but for a different reason – because someone has been murdered…. and one of the party guests did it!

Why Kirsten loves it
With multiple narrators ALL lying, this story will keep you guessing until the end – both with who was killed and who is the killer! I couldn’t read this fantastic book fast enough. The drama was intense, secrets were unraveled throughout the entire story and I did NOT see the ending coming!