A glimpse into how the other half live but with a very dark undercurrent running throughout.

An elite school where wealth and winning are the most prized attributes and the lengths some parents will go to get their kids to the very top. With the girls soccer (football!) team a main feature of this plot line yet the competitive isn’t the girls on the pitch, it’s most prevalent between the parents, in this case the mothers!

These people on the surface have it all, wealth, houses, designer clothes, cars, talented children in an elite school at the top of their game, and yet, not all is as glossy as the magazines they all read.

The well loved and coveted sports coach who is as driven by winning as both parents and students alike also appears to be living the dream with his job at this elite wonderland of a school, his famous movie star girlfriend and love of his job and good standing in the community. Yet as with most things, take a peak under the surface and things are never what they seem.

This is a really well written, fast paced suspense that has enough plot twists to make your head spin! The characters are all flawed with some more likeable than others, you can’t but help to get involved in their lives and situation and route for them, right up until the very end. And what an ending it is!!

A brilliant book, great characters, plots galore and an ending that will both shock and delight.

The Lying Club is published today – 3 March 22 so you can grab your copy straight away as this is a book you don’t want to miss! Get you copy from the link below to start reading straight away!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08ZKBRJ8T/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid...

Thank you to the publishers Quereus, the author Annie Ward and NetGalley for my arc of this book in exchange for an honest and independent review. ( )

Ooh, this was a twisty one! I love how many versions of the same story are being told at the same time and I loved the very end, possible sequel? I very much enjoyed this read and I am looking forward to reading more of Annie Ward's books in the future. ( )

This is definitely a case in which a book deserves 3.5 or more. I am leaning toward a higher rating for the author’s benefit. However, there were aspects of the novel that were a bit far-flung and off. Overall, I found this book to be highly entertaining. ( )

Annie Ward's new novel The Lying Club opens with Natalie waking up from a blacked-out state clutching a man's necktie and seeing a dead body lying in a puddle of blood on the school gym floor. What did she do now? What did she do now- how can you resist reading on to find out? (And what did she do before?)

Natalie is a young woman working as an adminstrative assistant at a tony private school in Colorado. She helps to care for her brother who is recovering from an injury, and spends her free time selling her art on Etsy and showing up at open houses for homes she can't afford to check out the expensive art in them.

Asha is the realtor at the open houses, and her teenage daughter Mia and younger son Oliver attend the private school where Natalie works. Mia is a talented lacrosse player, and is often pitted against Sloane, another excellent lacrosse player. Sloane's mother Brooke is one of those moms who believes her daughter is headed to a Division 1 lacrosse scholarship and will make sure nothing or no one gets in the way of that.

Popular and charismatic lacrosse coach Nick McIntyre has connections with college coaches and he believes he can help both girls get into the best schools, but that will require dedication and hours of private coaching that cost lots of money. Brooke is totally onboard, Asha wants that if Mia truly wants it. Mia's father does not believe Mia wants to do it.

The book moves back and forth between a police interrogation and the events leading up to the dead body on the gym floor. The reader will recognize the character types in this propulsive story- the young woman who wants what she sees the wealthy women have, the moms with too much free time on their hands, too much money and are too invested in their children's identities as a reflection of themselves, the coach who lords his power over a community who value sports too highly.

Parents of teenagers will cringe at some of the dangerous things these teenagers do, unable to realize the consequences of their actions. The rivalry between parents is also something many people may recognize, perhaps unfortunately in themselves.

Reading The Lying Club will appeal to people who enjoy putting together the pieces of a puzzle. Annie Ward turns up the tension with each turn of the page until the explosive conclusion. Fans of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies have found themselves a new author.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Winter Reads 2022 Blog Tours. ( )

Complex, suspenseful, so many lies, so much manipulation, thrilling twists - I loved it.

Set in an elite private school, the book focuses on two rich women whose daughters are trying to get accepted into the UCLA soccer program, an office assistant, and the handsome assistant athletic director who has a contact at UCLA. These mothers, Brooke and Asha, will do whatever it takes to get what they want and to advance the prospects of their children.

The book grabbed me from the very beginning when Natalie wakes up in her car. She is in the school’s parking lot. She sees her own footsteps in the snow leading to the school’s gym…and then back to her car. She is groggy and does not remember what she saw and why she returned to her car. Now she goes back to the gym and sees a body lying in a pool of blood on the floor inside.

The story is a slow build, but I never lost interest in it. There is something juicy about eavesdropping into the lives of the privileged wealthy and observing their fall. Great characters, even if they are mostly unlikeable. They seemed real, and I loved their juicy secrets and lies.

I received an advance copy of the book. The opinions here are my own. ( )