Hello friends! Back in early 2019 I read Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward and absolutely loved it. You can read the review here – read more. When Quercus got in touch asking if I’d be interested in taking part of a blog tour for The Lying Club I jumped at the opportunity without any hesitation. I knew this is the story I would manage to finish despite my ongoing reading slump!
The Lying Club – Annie Ward
3 out of 5
Dates read: 17 Feb – 03 Mar 2022
Length: 407 pages
Available to order from Amazon, Waterstones, Bookdepository
Published March 2022 by Quercus
Free copy in exchange for an honest review
Trigger warnings: Infidelity, drug use, sexual exploitation
Blurb: At an elite private school nestled in the Colorado mountains, a tangled web of lies draws together three vastly different women.
Natalie, a young office assistant, dreams of having a life like the school moms she deals with every day. Women like Brooke – a gorgeous heiress, ferociously loving mother and serial cheater – and Asha, an overachieving and overprotective mom who suspects her husband of having an affair.
Their fates are bound by their relationships with the handsome, charming assistant athletic director Nicholas, who Natalie loves, Brooke wants and Asha needs. But when two bodies are carried out of the school early one morning, it seems the jealousy between mothers and daughters, rival lovers and the haves and have-nots has shattered the surface of this isolated, affluent town – a town where people will stop at nothing to get what they want.
My thoughts: Finally a book that has brought back numbered chapters and intertwined different character’s stories in every chapter.
Similarly to Beautiful Bad, where the 911 call was made in the opening chapter, The Lying Club starts with a bang when Natalie discovers a bloody scene which saw me spend the rest of the book trying to work out what had happened and to who. I liked that it wasn’t said who the victims were from the beginning and kept me guessing who I may end up finding in the mezzanine scene in the end.
I remember loving Ward’s Beautiful Bad back in 2019, but feel slightly underwhelmed about this one. Whilst I enjoyed the way the story flowed, I was not blown away by the very predictable twist(s). After the initial thrill at the beginning, it slowed down a lot. It definitely felt more character focused, quite the opposite to what I was expecting. I got a very close look into the main characters heads, lives and feelings but not so much of the action I was expecting from a thriller and the opening chapter.
Overall I did enjoy it, but comparatively not as much as the Beautiful Bad.
Have you read any books by Annie Ward?
