Kelsey Cox delivers a thrilling and addictive read with Party of Liars, a novel filled with secrets, deception, and jaw-dropping twists. From the very first page. The author masterfully builds suspense, keeping me on edge as the tangled web of lies unravels.

What makes Party of Liars stand out is its perfect blend of psychological intrigue and fast-paced storytelling. It's the kind of book that keeps you flipping pages late into the night, eager to uncover the next revelation.

This is a must-read for thriller fans who love suspense, secrets, and unexpected twists!

🪩 What’s it about?
The book takes place at Sophie’s Sweet 16 birthday party. It’s a lavish, Texas sized party at a beautiful, historic mansion with an eery past. The story is told from four POVs: Dani, Sophie’s new step-mom. Kim, Sophie’s biological mom. Orlaith, the nanny. And Mikayla, Sophie’s best friend.

🪩 What did I think?
WOW, this was a good story! I loved the multiple POVs and thought each character was well developed and realistic. The pace of this book was steady and I really enjoyed that the story all took place in one setting on practically one day (minus backstory explanations). From the summary, you know that someone is going to die. I assumed that it would happen first and then the whole book would unfold after that. So I was pleasantly surprised that it was the reverse. It was a unique take. I didn’t fully see the twists or character paths coming. I loved the descriptions of the house and the guests. I can tell the author took her time mapping out this story. My critiques would only be that at some points, some of the backstories felt unnecessary and just like added fluff. Also, I could see some readers getting bored and thinking the “meat” of the story took too long to unfold.

🪩Should you read it?
Yes, four stars for me is a GREAT rating! I really enjoyed the pacing of the book and the four POVs the story is told from. I haven’t read a story that has this plot either!

An impressive debut! I really enjoyed this murder mystery set at a lavish sweet sixteen party in an allegedly haunted house. Can't wait for Kelsey Cox's next book!

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

A sweet sixteen, an allegedly haunted house, and the tense dynamics of everyone acting like this is all normal.

I enjoyed this story immensely and found the voices of the adults and teenagers both believable and distinctive. A few parts were predictable but overall I found this to be a great cozy read set in the gorgeous Hill Country of Texas.


Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

2.5 ⭐
This book centered around a giant sweet sixteen for Sophie that was really more about her father showing off his enormous and lavish house. There were elements of the paranormal but they didn't really turn into anything, so that may have been a misdirection but it fell flat. The characters were okay, I didn't really connect with them too much. I do feel like the book did a major disservice to Mikayla by not having her story conclude besides saying "she's healing" despite almost no one knowing what happened to her and her not receiving any help. It was a quick read but I felt let down at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author Kelsey Cox, and Minotaur Books for my advance copy of this book.

If you're looking for a quick, bingeworthy summer thriller, then this is a great choice!

This story spans across the events of one evening during the extravagant birthday party of 16 year old Sophia Matthews. There are plenty of people on the guest list ranging from Sophie’s parents, her young stepmother and new baby sister, the baby’s nanny, her best friend, and others from school. However as the party goes on, a body is found.

Firstly, I did enjoy how this story was told from four different perspectives: Dani the stepmother and new wife, Kim the mother and ex-wife, Orlaith the nanny, and Mikayla the best friend. We got the young teenager to the adults to the older and wiser woman so they did each make for a different voice. This was also very fast paced as the chapters were quick so it constantly kept my interest because you were constantly learning about past and current grievances and feelings and how that may have contributed to the disastrous events of the party.

I did have some minor issues with the big, one being that at times I did feel like there were TOO many characters and names mentioned that it was difficult to keep up. It was also brought up at the very beginning and at certain points in the book about how the cliffside house was haunted, however I felt like that aspect was underutilized and I never really got much from it. Another small thing was that there seemed to be a lot of jumps in timeline within the chapters themselves which sometimes made it confusing to recall what had already happened vs what was currently happening.

This story did also play a bit on the unreliable narrator/ the unhinged woman trope which isn’t always my favorite and can lead to somewhat predictable conclusions. There were a couple of shocking revelations that I did not see coming, though other parts were pretty par for the course.

Overall I wasn’t wowed by this thriller, but did find it entertaining enough and easy to read and would recommend for when you just need to quell that thriller urge!

3.5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released July 1, 2025.

I was really excited to read this one. From the description I thought it was going to be more of a murder mystery/Clue/whodunit at the party type of book. Instead it was more like a what’s really going on here and pretty much every character is quite horrible type of book. Plus a little dash of a ghost story in it as well. I was pretty intrigued at the beginning and the writing is great, but honestly at about halfway I started to lose interest. There was not a lot happening and it became a bit repetitive. I did really enjoy the ending though. Overall I liked Party of Liars and it was enjoyable but I didn’t love it.

Thank you for the opportunity to be an early reader of Party of Liars. I greatly enjoyed reading this and thought the ending was unexpected! Lots of fun twists and turns and great characters to get to know. I would definitely recommend this/read other novels by this author.

Party of Liars is a captivating thriller that involves a group of people with secrets, a haunted house, and a sweet sixteen party. This is a fun and suspenseful story. There were teen and adult dramas. So many secrets. Hidden identities-no one was who they seemed to be. This book was compelling and full of twists and turns that leaves the reader uncertain as to who is the narrator and that question gets even harder to answer as the story unfolds.

I am an absolute sucker for thrillers about affluent people behaving abominably. This book fits the bill and then some. It was full of unexpected turns, which is difficult to manage when we are all so familiar with the typical thriller tropes. It kept me completely engaged. The atmospheric setting, reminiscent of classic haunted house mysteries, is a key element and adds a compelling layer to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Wow. I believe this is Kelseys debut novel? Amazing thriller. It is a bit cheeky, I enjoyed the characters and learning about them, and slowly putting the pieces together. Great novel about how women can be manipulated.

My Thoughts

Encompassing past, present and in between the story builds on itself using a different narrators point of view for each chapter.

What seems to be unrelated events in the books beginning take on a different meaning when their plot lines start connecting.

Partly told through the eyes of adults and partly through the point of view from the teen characters readers get to experience both perspectives simultaneously.

What makes this story interesting to me is the fact that it takes place over the course of a day but also has bits and pieces of information about past experiences that tie in to what happens during Sophie Matthews birthday bash.

Building on itself one clue at a time even if you think you have figured out what will happen next don’t be surprised when it turns out to be something unexpected.

A page turner that has many facets to it which I thought were well established and added much needed depth all the way through the book from beginning to end.

Whether one likes it or not lying takes place daily in our relationships, this story just took it to the next level.

[EArc from Netgalley]
On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

Kept me guessing the whole time. This was a well written story! I has suspicions of the villain half way through the book.

Wow! This is a great read! Told from multiple points of view, you don’t find out until near the end who actually dies. The build up leads you to believe it could be anyone and many people seemed to have motive to kill someone. Fast paced with lots of twists and turns and the ending was such a surprise!

WOW!!! This was absolutely amazing. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. All the characters, Dani, Kim, Mikayla, Sophie, Orlaith, were all incredible and could stand on their own to tell the story. That doesn't happen often in a book told from different view points. Highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys domestic thrillers.

Party of Liars is a twisty mystery from the perspective of a mother, daughter, the daughter’s friend, the new wife, and the nanny. Set in Texas the plot revolves around a haunted house and the lives of the family who once lived there and the family who currently live in the house. The book is a bit slow at times but the twists and turns and the surprise ending make this a sold read.

Look for my full review in Library Journal
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If you liked Verity by Colleen Hoover, The Wives by Tarryn Fisher or anything by Frieda McFadden. I enjoyed the alternating POV, the haunted house vibe and the other twisty bits.

A wonderfully twisty thriller that kept me guessing throughout. The setting of this book is a character in and of itself, creating an atmosphere perfect for fans of closed room mysteries and seemingly-haunted-houses.

This book was very easy to read, and the plot moves incredibly quick. I was expecting a “locked room” mystery, but it didn’t really feel that way when it was all said and done. It felt more like domestic suspense than anything else.

There was one aspect of the plot twist that just grossed me out completely. It definitely shocked me, so for that I can give it a flower. However, I would not have knowingly read a book with that premise.

I did really enjoy the psychological element of postpartum psychosis, and the way it was used as a plot device. The tension that created was outstanding.

All told, she had me in the first 90% and then I genuinely could not stomach the last ten percent.

You would take away the mystery with trigger warnings, I get that, but if I ever needed one…

We’re in Texas, where everything is bigger. Sophie’s sweet sixteen is going to be the biggest. With divorced parents, her father is throwing the lavish bash at his newly remodeled home. Which may or may not still be haunted.

Her father’s new wife, Dana, seems troubled and is always second guessing herself. Especially around her new baby.

Enter a nanny. Older, straight from Ireland, and very superstitious. She senses something very evil in this house and isn’t afraid to say so.

On the night of the bash, all is going well and we are about to cut the cake, when a body hits the floor. Not in a good way. More in a fell from the balcony way.

I don’t want to give away anything here because it is all brilliant! I adored the nanny!

Women are a force to be reckoned with.


NetGalley/ July 01, 2025 St. Martin’s Press