NetGalley

Goodreads Blurb:

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their tiny cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. The games ended when Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin in the dead of night. The last she–or anyone–saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings–massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. The paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the socialite and wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale. When Francesca implores her to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor, Emma sees an opportunity to try to find out what really happened to her friends.

Yet it’s immediately clear that all is not right at Camp Nightingale. Already haunted by memories from fifteen years ago, Emma discovers a security camera pointed directly at her cabin, mounting mistrust from Francesca and, most disturbing of all, cryptic clues Vivian left behind about the camp’s twisted origins. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing threats from both man and nature in the present.

And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale, the more she realizes it may come at a deadly price.

My Review:

I was excited to read this book since I recently read Sager’s previous book Final Girls which I thoroughly enjoyed.

This story takes place in the past and the present which I find enjoyable in thrillers where you know something has happened but you don’t know exactly what it is. It helps build the tension. Emma is the main character in the novel and you get a feeling that she has more to do with what happened to her friends fifteen years ago, you just don’t know how much. The story is filled with so many lies, that it is hard to keep up with who may or may not be innocent. One thing for sure is that everything is not what it seems and just when you think you have the story figured out, it takes a turn on you.

This story had me so intrigued that I stayed up all night to finish it especially after I realized that I did not have the story figured out. I liked the overall story and plot development. This is a thriller that shows the vindictiveness that people, most importantly woman, have underneath their veneer. They are just sometimes too able to camouflage. This factor definitely played a good part in this novel.

I enjoyed how the novel ended although it wasn’t just a closed door type of ending. It has the type of ending that literally leaves you wanting more but are still satisfied with the outcome.

I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:

4 Stars

Availability:

This book is available in hardcover, ebook, and audio

Blurb:

Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville’s elite. More recently, her husband made a fortune selling his tech business, and their adored son has been accepted to Princeton. Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she’s strayed from the person she once was.

Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long, and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville’s most prestigious private school.

Amid so much wealth and privilege, Lyla doesn’t always fit in—and her overprotective father doesn’t help—but in most ways, she’s a typical teenage girl, happy and thriving.

Then, one photograph, snapped in a drunken moment at a party, changes everything. As the image spreads like wildfire, the Windsor community is instantly polarized, buzzing with controversy and assigning blame.

At the heart of the lies and scandal, Tom, Nina, and Lyla are forced together—all questioning their closest relationships, asking themselves who they really are, and searching for the courage to live a life of true meaning.

Review:

What can I say other than that I am so excited that Emily Giffin has a new book coming out and that I was able to get my hands on an advanced copy? Ok, okay I know that is not a good enough review so here it goes.

The story is told from the voices of Nina, Lyla and Tom. Nina appears to be your typical trophy wife who married money but we quickly find out that there is more to her than what is on the surface. Tom is a single dad who is out here trying his best to make it work for himself and his daughter, Lyla. Lyla is your typical teenager who winds up in a scandal that will rock her world.

Nina is the wife of a very wealthy man and this scandal hits her close to home and puts her in a very compromising position since her son Finch is involved. She wants to believe that he is her innocent child still but she starts to notice things that make her realize that he is not the person she thought he was. She also finds out much more about her husband than she bargained for and will have to make decisions that are most definitely going to affect all of them.

Tom is a single dad who is doing his best to make sure that his daughter has the best education possible but he also wants to protect her from the world. You can only imagine his devastation when he has to defend his daughter in the light of this scandal. Without Nina’s mother really in the picture, things get more difficult for him before they get easy. He has to deal with being just a regular working class man up against a family of money and power.

Lyla has to learn a very valuable lesson about life. One simple mistake can make a detrimental impact on your life. Even though it was not her mistake and she is the victim, she gets the worse treatment just because of where she lives and because of what people assume about her. Even through all of this she still tries to protect who she can. You definitely see how naïve teens can be.

Nina, Tom, and Lyla must fight thru this and figure out how to come out in one piece. They are forced to find allies where they wouldn’t have necessarily looked before.

I feel that this story is relevant to today’s society with all the dependence on social media and technology. It also focuses on race, class, and how society perceives it all. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what isn’t elaborated is how those words will follow you and how it will be perceived differently by each person who comes in contact with it.

This novel makes you ask the questions of how far are you willing to go to protect your child? Your place in society? How much of an impact does entitlement have on decisions that you make?

Although this book is an adult fiction, I recommend that teens read it as well if approved by their parents. Teens need to understand that there are consequences to their actions, not matter how much they think what they have done isn’t a “big deal.” Things do not just blow over.

My only complaint about this book is that the ending seemed a bit rushed but hey, books can’t go on forever and must end somewhere right?

I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:

4 stars

Availability:

Available June 26th, 2018 in hardcover, ebook and audiobook.

Tag: NetGalley

The Last Time I Lied By Riley Sager {ARC Review}