Format: Paperback
Published 1st June 2017 by Penguin
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my copy of this book.
Blurb:
One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.
Pay close attention and you might solve this.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.
My Review:
So I was immediately intrigued when I read the blurb of this book and was really excited to read it when I received my copy and I was not disappointed. This is a fantastic read which I couldn't put down!
There were really interesting dynamics between the characters as they are all very different and they all grew on me in different ways, especially as their relationships with each other changed as events occurred. They also all have very different motives to potentially have been the person who murdered Simon. Karen McManus kept the tension high and I was suspicious of all the characters at different times and I didn't guess correctly until the very end.
The book is told from the perspectives of all the main four characters who were in the room with Simon when he died which helps you to identify with them but then question them and the other characters even more.
The book is fast-paced and gripping and I can't recommend it enough, it gets 5 out of 5 from me. I can't wait to read whatever Karen writes next!
The Author:
Karen M. McManus earned her BA in English from the College of the Holy Cross and her MA in journalism from Northeastern University. Her debut young adult novel, ONE OF US IS LYING, will be released from Delacorte Press/Random House on May 30, 2017. It will also be published internationally in 18 territories including the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia.
To learn more visit www.karenmcmanus.com, or follow @writerkmc on Twitter.
Paperback, 384 pages
Publication: May 4th 2017 by HQ, an imprint of Harper Collins
With thanks to Midas Public Relations for sending me a copy of this book for honest review.
Blurb:
If you could turn back time, would you choose a different life?
Forty-something Maggie is facing some hard truths. Her only child has flown the nest for university and, without her daughter in the house, she’s realising her life, and her marriage to Dan, is more than a little stale.
When she spots an announcement on Facebook about a uni reunion, she can’t help wondering what happened to Jude Hanson. The same night Dan proposed, Jude asked Maggie to run away with him, and she starts to wonder how different her life might have been if she’d broken Dan’s heart and taken Jude up on his offer.
Wondering turns into fantasising, and then one morning fantasising turns into reality. Maggie wakes up and discovers she’s back in 1992 and twenty-one again. Is she brave enough to choose the future she really wants, and if she is, will the grass be any greener on the other side of the fence?
Two men. Two very different possible futures. But is there only once chance at happiness?
My Review:
The Other Us is an entertaining read which pulled me in to Maggie's world completely and I couldn't put it down.
When Maggie wakes up one morning back in 1992 as her twenty-one year old self she seizes the opportunity to consider her options and to enjoy being young again. With the option to change her life she makes some different decisions and finds that she keeps flipping between two different realities. One with her husband Dan and the second with Jude. These two lifestyles are very different and she is a very different person in each of them. As the novel progresses and she gets older in each life she has to consider what she really wants and her actions. I liked the way the story split and flicked back and forth between these realities.
Maggie was generally a likeable character who does make her fair share of mistakes, even living life over a second, or even a third time and she grew a lot as the novel progressed. I was frustrated with her choices at times and honestly wasn't too sure on her relationship with Jude, I felt like it did not develop to the same extent as her relationship with Dan, despite her feelings towards him, but Dan has his flaws too.
The story is funny and emotional at different times and Maggie understandably struggles with being pulled from one life to the next without warning. I guess my only unanswered question is how did this happen to her, but I guess in some ways it doesn't matter too much. Maggie's choices and development as a character are the main focus of the book.
I would give this 4 out of 5, it is a really fun, enjoyable read.
The Author:
Fiona's first book was published in 2006 and she now has twenty-four published books under her belt. She started her career writing heartfelt but humorous romances for Mills & Boon, but now writes romantic comedies and feel-good women’s fiction for Harper Collins, as part of their HQ imprint.
She is a previous winner of the Joan Hessayon New Writers’ Scheme Award, has had five books shortlisted for an RNA Award and won the ‘Best Short Romance’ at the Festival of Romance three years’ running.
Fiona lives in London with her husband and two teenage daughters.
http://www.fionaharper.com/home
@FiHarper_Author
