𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★ ★ ★ ★
𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪:

This was a party in a book. I enjoyed this one. It was dark and tense and twisty and had very well written characters. I was sitting on the edge of my seat reading this one as I quickly turned page after page. I loved the gothic vibes of this book as well, I am a sucker for a thriller with some darkness and tense moments mixed in and a book that makes you question if everything is as it seems. If you love a book that gives that creepy and eerie vibes as you read and involves a GORGEOUS Victorian house that has a very haunting history to it then this would be for you. I loved the backdrop and I LOVED that this involved a house with a good spooky history to it because you know something is about to happen there. There are A LOT of POV’s in different times and areas but they were not hard to decider and you don’t get lost in the reading. This is one for the TBR, you’ll be guessing and on your toes all the way to the very end.

𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗦: Fast Paced, Edge Of Seat Sitting, Complex Women, Secrets, Gothic Vibe, Complex Relationships, Character Driven, Deception, Mystery, 16th Birthday Party, Multiple POV

Large thank you to our Author, NetGalley as well as St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books

Wow, this was a great story with many strong female characters. It kept me guessing and when I thought I knew what was going on, the author threw in some twists at the end that I didn't see coming. Thanks so much for an advanced copy of this book to read. I will definitely be on the lookout for more stories by this author.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the e-arc!

So I liked this book a lot but it took me forever to read. I don't know if that was because there are a lot of POVs and they're really short so it felt like a long book (it's your average thriller length). But I really liked the slow burn build up by giving us insight on the night of the 16th birthday party and the morning after.

Thank you for a copy of this ARC!

This one had me hooked from the beginning and was one I ended up really enjoying. The storyline was dark but just thriller enough to keep me flipping through the pages. It was right in the genre that I love reading and hope to check out more from this author.

Today is Sophie's sweet sixteen birthday party... and everyone here has secrets. WHAT a ride. Told from multiple POVs, this murder mystery, locked room, whodunit left me guessing until the bitter end. It took me a little while to get into this story because you have so many story lines to follow and NONE of them seem to correlate hardly and then suddenly, pieces start falling into place and you can't put it down. None of the characters are reliable or even LIKABLE but their stories and their personalities grip you. I can honestly say I didn't see anything coming.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Kelsey Cox for the ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions in my review are honest, voluntary and my own

This was an entertaining one! I felt there were a few different angles the story could have taken and I was fairly pleased with how it tied together in the end. There were a few major plot points that felt unresolved, such as Mikayla’s story line but overall I was engaged from the beginning!

Sadly this one was a bit of a miss for me! The prose was GORGEOUS, the characters wonderfully distinct, and the multi-POVs expertly woven together--my issue was more with the content, than the delivery, so I definitely wouldn't warn people away from it. I think the 'sweet sixteen' element in the blurb mislead me... I expected this to be much more focused on the teens than it was (there are quite a few POVs and only one is a teen). I was also caught off-guard by the (multiple) random pedophile men... wasn't a fan of that ending up central to everything, and would have loved more resolve with that plot line.

Still very grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the book, and I will absolutely be picking up Kelsey's next book.

A Sweet-Sixteen in a Texas mansion turns deadly when secrets, lies, and rivalries collide in Kelsey Cox’s addictive debut. Told through multiple perspectives and timelines, Party of Liars blends a locked-room mystery with domestic suspense, delivering sharp character work, a richly atmospheric setting, and twists that land with perfect precision. A binge-worthy read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC.

Party of Liars is centered around a sweet 16 that ends with someone dead. The story is told in multiple points of view and throughout we know that there is a party and "something" happens, which we know to be a death from the synopsis. It is not revealed who dies our what even happens until about 90% into the book. The build up centers on new mother Dani and her husband Ethan and the infamous house that they live in which will be the site of Ethan's daughter Sophie's sweet 16. Her mom, Kim and her best friend Mikayla are also narrators as well as Orlaith, who is the nanny for baby Charlotte. The house is famous for a death about one hundred years ago and is rumored to be haunted. Kim, Ethan's ex-wife, felt something was off when she lived there and Dani is feeling it too.

Dani is much younger than Ethan, a successful and wealthy psychiatrist. She is insecure and defers to Ethan, who assures her that everything is fine, nothing is wrong, and she just needs to rely on the nanny and relax. The story has gaslighting vibes and because of the narration of Sophie and Mikayla, also has young adult vibes. There are a lot of flashbacks to the best to lay the groundwork for what eventually happens and I did want to find out who dies, what happened, and whodunit, but I would definitely not describe this as pulse pounding or locked room style as the description does.

Decent read but more women's fiction than mystery/thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the eARC! This was a wonderful debut- I was shocked when I learned this is a debut from this Kelsey Cox!. A Sweet 16 party turns into an epic disaster. The family and friends all have thier dark secrets and no one can be trusted. I enjoyed the twists and the guessing of who was guilty throughout the book.

a review will be posted to my bookstagram account @bookofthemeg on Aug 8th!

This book was so captivatingly good. A simple sweet sixteen party turned into a plot of uncovering secrets. A body dropping into a dance floor is one way to turn a party on its side! There are so many women full of secrets that makes you both sympathize with them and suspect them. I absolutely devoured this book and truly could not get enough!

Party of Liars kept the intrigue and suspense from start to finish. The tension was fabulous. The multi pov creates a fast paced read with unreliable narrator. The twists managed to shock and the ending was a fabulous double entendre, managing to pull it all together artfully.

I have posted this review on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Storygraph

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a19734cb-9607-4b72-995d-0f1db4dbebda

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7687890578

And Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMYbIbqvZVL/?igsh=MXd0YmtqcXFkYjVlcw==

One thing about me is I love a debut novel and Kelsey delivered. Party of Liars was an unsettling read that kept me up way past my bedtime. Loved every minute of this read.

I think I was hooked right from the start. Someone dies at a big party and with a cast of characters, I wanted to know who died.

We are taken through the events of the day, with some flashbacks to give us some more background information on the characters. Generally I'm not a big fan of flashbacks within a chapter, but this one was done well.

As I was reading, I was trying to figure out who would get killed and who would ultimately be the murderer.

Is Dani really crazy?
Why did Kim leave her husband?
Who is Mikayla's secret boyfriend?
Why is the nanny really there?

I really did enjoy this book but there was just something about it that kept it from being a five star read. I can't quite figure out what it was, but I really did enjoy this.

So. Much. Fun. This reminded me of the MTV show, My sweet 16 but with murder. Dani is a very layered character, one who I could relate to. Orlaith freaked me out, in a good way! I never knew what she was going to say or do. I enjoyed the suspense of this.

This book totally surprised me! It’s set at a lavish Sweet Sixteen party in a glass mansion in Texas, but don’t let the glamorous setting fool you…things quickly get messy.
The story is told from several different viewpoints all revealing secrets, lies, and hidden motives.
If you enjoy psychological thrillers with complex characters and plenty of twists, this one’s a great pick.

If you want a book full of twists, turns, lies, deceit, and all kinds of red herrings...this is your book! It is told from several different POV's, which I always enjoy. Just when I thought I had figured out who was doing what, I was wrong. I couldn't put it down and read 80% of this in one day!

Party Of Liars by Kelsey Cox is the thriller I did not expect!I could not put this one down!The book is a great locked room mystery that moves along quickly.You will have to follow quite a few points of view but this also makes the book very interesting.The book is the authors debut and she does a great job.You will enjoy all the twists and turns.Someone does not make it through the birthday party and you will want to know who and why.Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read this ARC.I hope to see more books soon from this author.

When an absolutely incredible debut from this author.. I absolutely love a locked in who done it Agatha Christie style mystery, but they’re not always well done. This one was perfectly well crafted.. The characters were unlikable we were still rooting for them. The twist were perfect. I can’t recommend this book enough.

This book surprised me in a really good way. I initially wasn't going to read this book because I saw "Sweet Sixteen turns deadly" in the synopsis and teenagers aren't my favorite characters. However, I kept seeing so many positive reviews and took my chance and I am so glad I did. I was pleasantly surprised by how not YA this book was. It really kept me intrigued and I felt like it packed a lot of depth for also being such a fun mystery whodunnit.

I give this book four stars, but I'm giving this audiobook five. The narration was so well done!

Thank you NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.