Sometimes when you've just read one book and dive into the next, your brain has to catch up especially with how different the writing style and plot line was from my previous read. But once I got into it there was no stopping me. One of Us is Lying is one of those books you have to know what happens, it was just such a refreshing, engaging and thrilling ride from start to the end of the book. You won't want to put this one down.

When 5 students each get detention for getting caught with a phone in Mr Avery's class, they didn't realise they were being set up from the beginning. A car accident happens, outside the window of the detention, they get distracted, they all get up but then one is lying on the floor. One is having an allergic reaction, and then he's pronounced dead at the hospital. Simon is dead and it's not over yet. Those four students, Bronwyn, Nate, Addy and Cooper each have secrets and Simon had something against them, they are all suspects in Simon's death and it's only going to get worse for them.
What I found interesting was as the book progressed it didn't solely focus on the mystery. Karen very much focused on life of an senior, student identity, how social media can inflict pain and targeting people, that was very much Simon's agenda using his blog 'About That' to relay gossip to one another.

“She's a princess and you're a jock," he says. He thrusts his chin toward Bronwyn, then at Nate. "And you're a brain. And you're a criminal. You're all walking teen-movie stereotypes.”

It will probably become no surprise that my favourite characters are Bronwyn and Nate, Bronywn has this uncanniness and strength of always looking on the bright side along with 'bad boy' Nate. I couldn't not love him, I'm a sucker for bad boys like anyone. They themselves can seen as the power couple of the book, they strike an unlikely romance between each other which given the circumstances becomes so much more than that. But the character I saw the most potential and grew most as a person was Addy. She was the princess at the beginning, the one who had the jock of the boyfriend and did exactly as he said. I loved how she became into herself, she cut her hair, she focused on herself and that everything else like boyfriends became second nature. Her family, her sister and getting her life back on track was more important. Cooper, sweet Cooper, a jock with the fastest hand and has a boyfriend, is the most likeable of the group, kind of adorable as well. Cooper has the trouble of his family and friends dealing with his identity and how batting for the other team, shouldn't stop him from batting on the pitch at all. These 5 students proved to be beyond that. As their personas grew, they supported each other, they became The Murder Club but so much more than that, they became friends.

This is Karen's debut and it's a belter! It's addictive, fast-paced and really does keep you guessing to the end. What I loved was the writing style of the book, every chapter is time-stamped, it kind of reminded me of an episode of Law and Order. Alongside the storyline of each of the suspects, they supported each other in it's own way as well as their own story outside of Bayview. Karen's writing can totally throw you off your game, ring circles around you when you think you might know who it is. I thoroughly enjoyed the unpredictability of the book, this is a cleverly crafted YA mystery thriller.

“Things'll get worse before they get better.”

What a great little book. This is so much more than your average teen story! Five teens find themselves in detention, but only 4 of them make it out alive.....
Kind of a cross between The Breakfast Club and Thirteen Reasons Why with a bit of Agatha Christie thrown in for good measure, this is an intelligent and gripping tale. I could not put it down.

Really enjoyed this crime thriller. Great cast of characters and a gripping and entertaining plot with enough twists and surprises to keep this reader guessing. I Couldn't put it down.

I didn't have much hope for the beginning of this book - a novel that starts off with a cheesy line about a high school rumour app and sex scandal doesn't really interest me, but I kept on and I was pleasantly surprised! The problems were weaved skillfully into the investigation, only revealing tidbits at a time. It was a bit tough to settle into who was speaking, but once I did I easily flew through it. Bronwyn was my favourite, clever but sassy, and I loved the character progression of Addy. I could easily imagine all the characters and how they were different from each other. I did guess the end pretty early on, but there was a twist I didn't see coming. A great book and very smooth to read. 4 stars!

[Review not yet published on blog or Goodreads]

One of Us is Lying – Karen M McManus

‘One of Us is Lying’ follows the story of what happends when five strangers walk into detention, and only four walk out alive.

Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five strangers at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect home-coming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.

But Simon is the one that didn’t make it out of the classroom alive. Before the end of detention, he’s dead. But his death wasn’t an accident, according to the investigators.
On Monday, he died.
On Tuesday he planned to post juicy reveals about the other four who were in detention, which makes them all suspects of 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.

So, I got this book thanks to Netgalley, but life caught up, and I totally forgot to download it! And I feel so bad, because it is an amazing book!

We have four very different main characters, and they only know each other by face.
Then, when they’re all together in detention, Simon dies under suspicious circumstances. All four are shocked to say the least, but also a bit relieved. Simon wrote gossip on his app. No one knew how he got all the info, but everyone knew that what Simon wrote was true. And he could ruin your life with just a few words.
But the police investigators have their suspicions and Bronwyn, Addy, Nate and Cooper are all suspects.
But instead of letting the police do all the work, they start their own secret investigation. To prove their innocence. But are they all so innocent as they appear?

I was so hyped for this book, and it lived up to all my expectations! It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole book. I loved that you as a reader get your own suspects, you kinda feel like an investigator yourself! And I sometimes felt like I want to prove the innocence of those who I thought were innocent (and the other way around). But I also loved the fact that it was never sure who was completely innocent! That way you’re in the dark until the ‘big reveal’.
This book just sucks you in to the story, and it is not really a contemporary as in, the ones you want to read during the summer. It is a perfectly fine read during those cold and snowy winters!
You want to start your own investigation after reading my review? Then what are you waiting for! Go and buy this amazing book, with character who you may or may not trust!

So yeah, I highly recommend this book if you’re in for drama, thrillers, and things that aren’t what they seem!
I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

What a read! A group of kids, different in every way, anyone of them could have committed murder, who do you trust? A riveting read, well worth it.

I enjoyed the book. The exploration of the high school stereotype characters was what I was expecting and the book delivered that. Everyone had something more to them that kept me interested and reading, and the author tackled some difficult subjects well. However I think having the suspects each narrate something took away from the mystery of whether one of them did it.

I found this quite tedious and annoying. Didn't like the writing style and all and it felt hollow and unconvincing for me. huge disappointment

This was one of my favourite reads for 2017! The characters were outstanding in their own way and loved the emotional bond between two of the main characters, Bronwyn and Nate and where their journey took them. The true reveal of what happened to the victim confirmed what I already guessed but it was good to know that I was right! I thoroughly enjoyed the build up, tension and suspicion between each of the suspects and liked the way that each of them had a reasonable motive for what had happened. I would definitely recommend this book to YA readers who like a bit of mystery, thriller and intrigue.

I really enjoyed reading One of Us Is Lying - it was suspenseful, fun, and overall a fantastic example of a YA thriller. I would definitely recommend it to those who enjoy crime and YA novels.

So I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, and it's taken me awhile to get round to reading it but here we are.

This book was a major let down for me. I had heard so many good things about it, and I was really excited to finally sit down and read it, but it just didn't float my boat. Firstly, I just didn't enjoy the writing style, so I knew the book was always going to be a tough read; first person is just not my jam, especially when it's a book with multiple perspectives.

It felt more like a teen drama with a murder mystery shoved in; the book doesn't really deal with the murder until the latter half, and it was obvious that none of the four protagonists did it. One of Us Is Lying just didn't bring that nail biting tension you'd expect from a thriller; I was never on the edge of my seat desperate to get to the next twist, and when the twists came some of them were rather predictable.

The character development was the one redeeming factor for me in this novel. The characters grow from generic high school archetypes, into fully fledged human beings with more to them than a label. Addy was one of the characters I ended up loving the most by the end of the novel, despite starting out as my least favourite. Bronwyn and Nate's relationship is another redeeming factor of the book; I loved their interactions and the way the relationship developed, it was honestly one of the biggest reasons that this book didn't end up as a DNF.

I think this book just wasn't for me. I can see why others loved it, but for me it felt a little boring when I compare it to some of the fantastic YA I've read this year. It's riddled with cliches, and I was expecting a more intense thriller and less teenage angst.

Recommend: Nah. The murder mystery is lacking, and it felt more like a novel about the characters teen angst than about clearing their names.

Stars ★★

This is the kind of book you’d binge watch. I mean seriously, it’s like everything you spend your hangover watching on a Sunday. If its not adapted then I’ll be the most surprised ever and I never say this because THE BOOK IS BETTER but this is crying out to be dramatized and that, it’s a compliment, it really is. I’ve seen it likened to The Breakfast Club and Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale and YES. Also Gossip Girl and maybe a little bit Nancy Drew and Poirot – that’s just me though. Also, considering the The Breakfast Club is well, The Breakfast Club and PLL and Riverdale are both Netflix shows that I binge watched like a pro, it was probably a given that this book was going to tick all the boxes for me.

It did.


I loved it.

I also don’t think I’m going to be the only one. This book, I think, is going to go places. It’s going to be one of the hits of the year and if it isn’t – well, then you may colour me confused because it totally should because it’s not often that a book breaks out of the mould in the way this one does and delivers something that you just want to get your teeth into and sure, I am all about a good murder mystery but this was more than that.



I mean, it was that, and as a whodunit, it was very well done with twists and turns and red herrings aplenty, but it was also a really good character study and a pretty good portrayal of Life As A Teenager and it was cleverly and interestingly written and I liked it a whole bunch. I love how it takes the fact that it’s totally a stereotypical portrayal of all the things, tells you in the blurb that that is what it is so you can’t turn around later and say ‘oh look at the main characters, this book is like, sooo sterotypical’ because HELLO, it says that on the cover, and then sort of builds on those tropes. It knows what it is, and it just gets on with it; it makes being a stereotypical high school tale the foundations for a pretty clever WHO KILLED THAT BOY IN DETENTION.
Besides which give me a geek/bad boy side story any day. I’m totally here for that. Mostly because teenage me would’ve loved a hot bad boy to throw stones at my (attic, shut up, we are not discussing practicalities right now) window so that I would sneak out and snog him.




So these kids – brain, princess, jock, bad boy – are all framed for murder, they’re all in detention together, the four of them and another boy, and the other boy dies and they all say they’re being framed and it is delicious. They want to prove they’re not guilty, obvs, so they set up a murder club (they actually called it that also, amazing) to try and find out who actually did do the murdering, and it’s multiple POV which I adore if it’s done well - lots of times it is not done well and my heart gets sad -and here it is done well. V well. Also, they’re not really friends at the start, which I know, holy stating the obvious batman: jock, princess, brain, bad boy, of course they’re not besties, and that is what I loved about this – the way they’re so different and they’re thrown together by this fucked up series of events and I don’t know, just the way they grow, together and as a gang. I loved the character development.
It's also really…real, and by that I mean that nothing is perfect or happens as it should and these kids are flawed and messed up and kind of scrambling their way through life, there’s no hearts and flowers happy ending and everything isn’t tied up prettily with a little bow in the end, which well, ain’t that just true to real life.




There were flaws. This book, whilst it’s premise and execution for the most part pleased me greatly, was not without flaws: mostly I think the depiction of mental illness – it was a little bit iffy and HASHTAG UNPOPULAR OPINION I do think that sometimes we read too much into things and sometimes a story is just a story and we don’t have to analyse the hell out of it, but I also know that mental illness and the portrayal of it in the media is something that is problematic and I noticed some things here, I noticed some things and they niggled and they did impact on my enjoyment of the thing as a whole and it would be remiss of me I think to not say ‘oh hang on, that’s perhaps not the greatest’ and now I’m going to be the most annoying ever and not expand because expanding would give away VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINTS and when you are reading a whodunit it’s important to not know these plot points and so sadly, and annoyingly I can’t tell you what my issue was, but I did have an issue, enough for me to still be thinking about it now and that’s a shame. It’s a minor niggle though because overall I would recommend this book to the whole world and really badly want it to go places. It’s got a hot bad boy who you also just want to love forever and good strong female characters; it’s got good story arcs and convincing growth and a narrative voice you can totally get behind; the writing is addictive and it’s pretty diverse and it will give you feels. So many of them. & it will more than likely keep you guessing and page turning like a good crime story should and I WISH I HAD READ THIS WHEN I WAS 17.

This book, mostly, was just so much fun.

One of us is lying is a murder mystery/thriller about four high school students who have been accused of the murder of their fellow classmate Simon in detention.

It is simple the question is whodunnit?

I couldn't put this down that's how good it was. The writing and plot was suspense ridden and it sustained me all night.

Now this concept has been done before several times in movie mysteries but this was pulled off really well.

The ending which was not a huge shock to me but I found it verily nicely wrapped up and it wasn't just a happy ever after it was a good conclusion that gave closure to me as a reader. I went through a wide range of emotions with the four main characters. I because invested in the four main characters and their lives and I start to really care about even though I knew that one of them could potentially be the culprit. Especially two of the characters whom I wished all the best with my heart.

There was one problem a bit before we found out I knew how he died.

As many books these days this I found some parallels to this modern world. And I'm hoping this book will encourage the discussion of this issue we find in this present world.

Overall I'm very pleased and impressed with this and I thank netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange of an honest review.

I read so many great reviews about this book, so it was a no-brainer for me, whether to read it or not, and I was really enjoying this book all the way through.
This book follows lives of four seventeen-year-old students, who are accused of murdering their schoolmate during detention. McManus chose the characters for this book very cleverly, covering the main groups of students, which you find in most of the US schools. (using my movie experience) Because of this great selection of characters, it is easy to relate to them and it makes them all very believable. My personal favourite was Bronwyn, I liked her story in this book and the way she was fighting all odds in her school and personal life. I really enjoyed that author was bringing up really serious topics through these characters and their stories, that created more depth and meaning in this book. Another thing which was a real pleasure was multiple perspectives, through which characters could open up to the reader and let their personalities shine.
The plot of this book was very well thought through and creatively designed, drop feeding the important information and creating impatience with every character’s story. There are plenty of turns and twists, so this book was a real page-turner for me. I was reading most of this book while I was travelling, so sometimes it was hard to follow who was who, as the characters change and mix in every chapter, but later in the book, I got a hold of it.
I really enjoyed the writing style of this book with easy language and short chapters. I think that author ended this novel very nicely, giving well-deserved conclusion and hope for all the romantics out there. So, to conclude, it is a great book with very strong and diverse characters, interesting plot, and it discusses very important topics that's why I think it is a must read and I strongly recommend it to everyone.

Thoroughly enjoyed this - the package, the story, everything about this was great! Highly recommend.

Five students end up in detention- then one of them dies. Tragic accident or deliberate? Whatever happened, the other four become murder suspects and their lives change dramatically.

To make it worse, the boy who died, Simon, was going to post incriminating gossip about all four of them on his app, gossip that could effect their personal lives. It gives them motive, so- did one of them actually do it or is it all a misunderstanding of an accident?

The author is really good at building suspense from the moment Bronwyn, Addy, Nate and Cooper become persons of interest in Simon’s death. Obviously, they all had secrets they wanted to hide, and Simon knew about them. It would make a lot of sense that one of them could have done it.

However, the more I read, the more I found it difficult to pin it onto one of them, even if Nate did have a criminal record. It would point towards one of them, and then the plot would change direction and I’d be unsure again!

There are lots of twists in the story, especially the reveal that one of the characters is gay- but it’s used negatively, seen as something scandalous and used against him. I like that the author decided to include LGBTQ+ representation, but she could have done it a little better I feel. There is also representation of depression that could be seen as negative representation so take this book with a pinch of salt if you decide to read it.

The representation of depression is very important to the story however.

When it came to the outcome of the story, even though the author did use it as Simon’s way to entertain people after he’d gone, the idea of his depression didn’t make a whole lot of sense. However, I admit that I didn’t see the ending coming.

At first it didn’t make any sense, but when I thought about it, it was actually really obvious.

It was a good book, and I did enjoy it, despite the slightly controversial and problematic scenes.

3/5 stars.

'One of Us Is Lying' is a fairly standard whodunnit of its genre; five classmates gather in detention at Bayview High School; one of them, Simon, doesn't leave alive. Police have reason to believe he was murdered, and the four remaining students become prime suspects in the investigation. Addy, Bronwyn, Nate and Cooper all have reputations to uphold - and BIG secrets to hide; secrets that should they become known would ruin them. The thing is, their secrets were known; their secrets were already uploaded and ready to publish on Simon's online gossip site, About That, giving each of them a reasonable motive to kill!
If you like all-American high school drama, then you will love this book; baseball, homecoming, Yale, jocks, sports scholarships - it's all there, told first person, in turn, by each of the four main characters. It took me a little while to get my head around the character perspectives, but 'One of Us Is Lying' is a well-told and readable story. I give it 3 stars.

One of Us is Lying is a fast paced thriller that is perfect for your holiday reading! It completely hooked me, and I read it in two sittings (I was forced to take a break, meh) because I just couldn't wait to find out what had happened to Simon. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending as well, which always makes for a good thriller.
The book is told from the points of view of the characters who were in detention when Simon, the creator of the school's gossip site, died. They're all suspects, as it seems as though someone laced Simon's cup with something to kill him. Normally I struggle with books that have so many different points of view, but in this case it really worked. We got to read about all of the different characters from each point of view, and it was really interesting to see what others thought of them, as well as getting a glimpse into their heads and finding out the truth.
There were a lot of secrets to be uncovered here, and I really enjoyed the whole web of lies thing that McManus had going on. Every time I thought I had solved something, something else cropped up and I was forced to re-evaluate. Basically, never take anything at face value. You don't know what people are actually like.

Like I said, I was shocked by the reveal at the end. I think I clocked on about two pages before the characters did, so that wasn't my proudest moment. Normally I'm quite good at figuring out plot reveals and mysteries, probably because I spend so much time reading them and watching television, but in this case I couldn't figure it out until almost the last minute.
Pick up this debut if you're looking for a fast paced thriller that will keep you guessing!

I's easy to see why this is the YA thriller of the summer. The tension increases as each student is pulled into the frame, the need to know growing ever more frustrating however where it succeeds in story it fails in its characters, most of the accused being bland or flat despite what is happening to them.

Over the last few years, I've tended to avoid YA books as much as possible, mostly because I don't enjoy the writing style like I used to and it seems silly to rate a book down just because I no longer feel like I fit the target audience. However, I kept seeing so many great reviews about One of Us is Lying, so I decided to give it a chance - and I'm so glad I did. The plot was interesting and kept me hooked throughout, and at no point did I know what the ending would be, which I think is really impressive. It's a great story and an easy read.