sooo many a good girls guide to murder vibes!! i finished this audiobook in literally 2 sittings. it sucked me in from start to finish. so easily digestible and the PERFECT pacing. i love!!

This book was SO good ! I loved the slow burn romance and the misleading characters. This was also pretty dark for a YA book and I loved it ! I did guess the ending but it played out even better and more intense than I thought it would. 🤩 the narration was great too I def recommend picking this one up!

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc and an alc!

all (dead) girls lie was a fantastic sapphic thriller set during spooky season in the early 2000s.

our fmc quinn is entangled in a web of lies, evidence, and confusion regarding the deaths of some of the most popular girls in school, all while navigating her budding relationship with the remaining member of the group, gilly. i absolutely loved the twist in this thriller!

as for the audio, the narrator did a great job!

Total Veronica Mars vibes, but in a thriller way!

Description
Sixteen-year-old Quinn is a liar, but she isn’t a murderer. When the sleepy town of Boiling Springs, North Carolina is roused by the murder of a local teen, Quinn is thrust into a life of danger, disrupting her normally unnoticeable existence. As Quinn becomes romantically involved with Gilly, the best friend of the dead girl and daughter of the town sheriff, the situation becomes even more complicated.
Despite the lurk of danger, Quinn tries to keep her mind on her new and exciting relationship. When another one of Gilly’s friends turns up dead, and more clues start to pile up, Quinn can’t help but start her own investigation. With everyone in town lying to each other, the suspect list grows. To make matters even more complicated, Quinn feels the killer could be closer to home than anyone suspects.

Thanks yo NetGalley & Row House by Spotify Audiobooks for the ALC of this book!

All (Dead) Girls Lie
by Piper L. White
Narrated by Hope Newhouse
Pub Date May 20 2025
Row House by Spotify Audiobooks

3.5⭐️ (rounded up)

This was a fun YA murder mystery. The narrator, Hope Newhouse, was fantastic.

While I was pretty sure who was responsible, the eventual reveal left me a little surprised with some of the details I had not speculated.

My only qualm was that the main character 'fell deeply in love' in less than 2 months and it was just a little much for the depth of the character; I think if that had been calmed down a bit it would have been not taken me out of the story so much.

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
Sixteen-year-old Quinn has a habit of bending the truth but she’s no killer. Still, when a local teen is murdered in the quiet town of Boiling Springs, North Carolina, Quinn suddenly finds herself in the middle of a dangerous mystery, far from the low-profile life she’s used to.
Things get even more complicated when she starts falling for Gilly, the sheriff’s daughter and best friend of the girl who was killed. As their relationship grows, so does the tension around them.
Even with the threat of danger looming, Quinn tries to focus on her budding romance. But when another one of Gilly’s friends is found dead and clues begin stacking up, Quinn can't stay on the sidelines. She starts digging into the truth herself. With lies swirling through the town and trust in short supply, suspects are everywhere and Quinn is starting to worry the killer might be someone far too close for comfort.

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
I really enjoyed this book. From the very beginning, the atmosphere and tension caught my attention and didn’t let go. Even though I figured out who the killer was early on, it didn’t take away from the fun there were still plenty of twists that kept me second-guessing everyone.
This feels like a great fit for young adult readers who like their mysteries with a little edge and emotional depth. Just a heads-up: it does include LGBTQ+ themes and some sensitive topics, so I’d recommend checking out trigger warnings beforehand.
The narrator had a nice voice, but the pacing was too slow for me. I ended up listening at 2x speed, and that made it a much smoother experience.
Overall, a solid, atmospheric read that kept me engaged. One I’d recommend if you’re into dark YA thrillers with a psychological twist.
Thank you @Netgalley and @Row House by Spotify Audiobooks for allowing me to review this ALC.

2.5 ⭐️
I didn’t like this book but I didn’t hate it. First of all I requested this book and then I discovered it was a romance between two girls and I don’t like books that contain gay romance as the main romance plot of the book so this was a big reason why I didn’t like this book. The ending of this book unfortunately didn’t make sense for me at all and I felt it was a little bit rushed and it could have been better.
Thank you NetGalley for the ALC 💗

Thank you to NetGalley, 100 Block Futures, Row House by Spotify Audiobooks, and Piper L. White for providing me with an audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Spoiler Free Review: This book didn't work for me for many reasons but to sum up, this is the kind of book that works well when you care about the characters but I simply did not connect with any of them. There were also many inaccuracies based on it being set in 2004 that I couldn't get past. A lot of scenes that felt like they were supposed to be impactful simply weren't because instead of leaving hints throughout the book that would all make sense during the reveal, the story told us what everything meant as it was happening. I want to avoid spoilers so I will say it just felt very rushed near the ending and I felt cheated as a reader. I enjoyed the sapphic elements (even though I didn't like how they never explicitly said they were lesbian, bisexual or anything else which is a pet peeve of mine) but that is about all I enjoyed. I hope this author keeps writing because it was very easy to read and didn't become boring at any point, I just think an extra editor could have helped in this case.

Spoilers:

Near the end of a mystery/thriller, the reader should feel gratified and satisfied that every loose thread is tied up in a way that makes sense with the story we were being told the entire time. This did not happen when I read this book. I was extremely disappointed when Gilly was revealed as the killer because it felt so out of nowhere. I thought I figured out early on that Adam was the killer because the police stated the weapon was likely a pocket knife and two chapters later Adam happened to have one. I admit I may have been biased reading from that point on with Adam as the killer but I still feel like the Gilly reveal was strange. The only hint was her house being near the scene, no strange behaviour, no hint of her having a pocket knife in her possession (which would have been easy to add in, and if Quinn found it she could have said 'my Dad gave it to me for protection'), nothing satisfying about her reveal.

I also found the way the reveal happened to be lazy. For example, Quinn finds Beck's earring in Gilly's Dad's car. It could have been an impactful moment if Quinn and Beck had joked earlier about Beck always wearing that earring when she goes to parties, or if Beck had been found with only one earring by Adam. Instead Quinn picks up the earring and then explains 'Oh I gave this to her when we were kids'. I may be nitpicking here but to me, small details make or break a thriller.

The setting also felt forced to me. The only relevance it had to the story was the phone calls, which I did find cute I admit, and the hiding of Quinn and Gilly's relationship, which was unnecessary to me. While I enjoyed their relationship, I did find it irritating how Quinn frequently outed Gilly to her friends and family without ever asking if it was okay. It felt like a straight person wrote it for a while (which is unfair of me to speculate I know, I just couldn't think of another reason why this was even missed). There were also small inaccuracies around the time. For example, when Quinn and her Mom were making the Poison Ivy costume, Quinn says they listened to a Halloween playlist but doesn't say if it was on the radio, a mix-tape, a CD, or any other time accurate music player. People in 2004 wouldn't use the word Playlist like we do now because streaming didn't exist.

I understand a lot of these aren't deal-breakers for most people but they really took me out of the story unfortunately!

I honestly thought I'd love this one but it didn't really click for me. A lot of it was predictable and, yet, still barely made sense to me. It just felt off. It was set in the early 2000s I think but it actually took me some time to remember this was said at the very beginning of the book. It made sense on some aspects but also didn't on others.
Also, I didn't really fall for the relationship between the mc and her love interest. It felt off to me the entire time. A lot of things did honestly.
Overall, this just didn't work for me like I thought it would.

This is so hard to rate because on one hand I listened to it in one sitting. While predictable and almost campy I wanted to keep listening. I enjoyed the sapphic romance and “watching” it unfold. It was a decent YA mystery if you don’t take it too seriously.

That being said the narration was hard to listen to. At regular speed which is what I base most of my opinions on, the narrator Hope Newhouse spoke so incredibly slow. It was completely unnatural. And while she settled out a bit further into the prose, the voices and inflections she used were insufferable. I have listened to this narrator before and didn’t have the same experience.
Thankfully speeding it up made it able to be listened to because had that not been an option I wouldn’t have been able to finish it.

As for the prose, it was well written and solid. I look forward to reading future books from this author.

I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC from Spotify for through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Thanks to NetGalley and Row House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

A classmate from Quinn's high school is murdered and Quinn gets involved in figuring out the killer. She gets close with Gilly who was best friends with the victim. Solid story.

I enjoyed Hope Newhouse's narration.

All (Dead) Girls Lie is about a girl named Quinn who feels compelled to find out the truth about the murders happening in town to her crush Gilly's friends. As things develop between Gilly and Quinn, Quinn can't help but feel like Gilly is in danger and then, when she starts getting threatening notes, Quinn herself. I enjoyed the relationship between Gilly and Quinn and the sapphic representation. Unfortunately, though I feel like the author focused more on the plot than the characters (this works for some people but just not as well for me personally) and that made me feel less engaged in the story. I enjoyed it while I was listening to the audiobook but I didn't think about it or remember to listen to it when I wasn't. If you are a thriller/suspense/mystery fan and especially if you like plot-driven (versus character-driven) stories, you might love this one. I would definitely recommend it to those who like spooky season (a lot of the story is told in the fall), those who like twists and turns, and mystery readers. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

All (dead) girls lie was a very captivating story! I really enjoyed it and did not want it to end!
Quinn is a 16 year old girls whose life starts to change when the pretty popular girl starts talking to her. But then a death of a classmate, best friend of Gilly, rocks the community.
Quinn wants to uncover to truth to help her new friend but what follows is a dangerous and thrilling story about secrets and lies and just have devastating the truth can be.
This audiobook really had me hooked I really enjoyed the narrator and how interesting the story became. The ending left me reeling and I cannot wait to read more by this author.
Thanks to Netgalley and Row House by Spotify Audiobooks for the arc !

Thank you Row House and NetGalley for the free audiobook.

This book had me at sapphic YA thriller!

A local teen girl is found murdered in the woods. Following the discovery, Quinn becomes close with Gilly, the best friend of the murdered girl. Gilly is the popular girl at school and the daughter of the town’s sheriff. As tragedies continue to occur, Quinn races to solve the mystery of who is killing these girls before the police can and time runs out.

All (Dead) Girls Lie was addicting, dark, and twisted. I was hooked from the first chapter and flew through this in one sitting. It gave A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder vibes and I was here for it.

I loved that the main character’s name was Quinn and her bestie’s name was Beck. Felt like an homage to You.

🎧: The narrator did a great job, very captivating voice.

All (Dead) Girls Lie is a fantastic YA mystery that will leave readers puzzled until the end. The final plot twist was unexpected and made all the pieces fall into place. Recommended for all YA collections.

Thank you for the opportunity to review. I devoured this so fast! While I admit, I had a strong hunch about who the killer was, it did not keep me from not being able to put it down! I will definitely be recommending this!!!

This was a cozy YA mystery read I really enjoyed listening along and the plot twist at the end actually surprised me for a bit

Title: All (Dead) Girls Lie
Author: Piper L. White (Debut)
Genre: Mystery, Young Adult
Format: 🎧
Narrator: Hope Newhouse
Publisher: Row House/Spotify Audiobook
Pub Date: May 20, 2025
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pages: 304

Sixteen-year-old Quinn Levy isn’t dead or a murderer. She is quiet, keeps to herself- wears horror movie tees. She has a small group of friends and not a member of the ‘popular group’.

The sleepy town of Boiling Springs, North Carolina is turned upside down by the murder of a local popular high school teen, The murdered girl Markie is Gilly’s best friend. Gilly Willis is also popular and is the daughter of the Sheriff Willis.
Quinn feels she needs to get involved and find out what happened. She and Gilly work together and find they have a lot in common- in fact become romantically involved. However, there are more deaths of other young popular girls.

Although I am not the target audience for this but as a High School Guidance Counselor I love to read YA stories. It pleases me that I can recommend a book as well as know what they are reading.

Story kept me curious and whodunit was a surprise. I am sure my students will like it!

Want to thank NetGalley and Row House/Spotify Audiobook: for this audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 20, 2025.

Ａｕｄｉｏｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ
🌟🌟🌟🌟.2
"All (DEAD) Girls Lie" is a debut YA sapphic thriller by Piper L. White, and I must say it gave me "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" vibes. I actually enjoyed this storyline and book; while it was somewhat predictable, I didn't mind it. I would say eighth-graders through high schoolers would be the target reading audience. The pacing was good, and the twists and turns toward the end were good as well. I would recommend this book.

The audiobook was narrated by Hope Newhouse. This is my first time listening to this narrator, so it took me a little while to get used to her voice, but she did a good job telling the story. She was easy to understand and listen to. I listened at 2x speed.

Thank you, NetGalley, and Spotify audiobooks for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I'm sorry but this was not it.

I read this via audiobook and that did not help this book at all.

I found the narrator's voice to be kind of annoying, but I could ignore that (it really wasn't that annoying). But it got really bad when she would do other voices for different characters. Now those were some bad voices.

As for the story itself, nothing happened in this book. I was expecting an action-packed thriller. I wanted something reminiscent of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, but no. This is not that. This was so boring, it was just lame teen drama that is extremely uninteresting and immature and has nothing to do with anything. One character just happens to know someone who died, that's it.

Sorry if this is a harsh review, but this was not an entertaining listening experience and all I really ask for in a book is for it to entertain me. And for it to actually match the category it was put in.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Z0e_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.