This book will keep you completely hooked from start to end. Big Little Lies focuses on 3 mums whose children are starting kindergarten. The typical mother scenario happens when one mum thinks their child is oh so special and can do absolutely nothing wrong, blaming all the other children for any mistakes. Under the surface of the 3 parents we follow, is a rather dark layer for each of them. The author tackles many situations such as; bullying, spousal abuse and many others. The women deal with marriage issues, trauma from the past, and keeping their children safe. Everything going on throughout leads up to the schools trivia night where murder is involved, a mystery is to be solved and the answers will completely blow your mind!

Very readable book about an event at a school fundraising evening, so we go back in time to 6 months before the event to learn more about the main characters and their families. Great holiday reading.

I loved this! It's a real exploration of humanity based around parents in a school playground, which is just a brilliant idea.

There were lots of times reading this when I laughed, it's a genuinely funny book and the friendships are beautiful and imperfect and well thought out.

There were also lots of times when I cried- mostly for Celeste, especially when she blamed herself for what was happening, often for Jane harbouring that secret for so long and then finding out what she did, even for Bonnie at the end.

Also that plot twist! I had to put my kindle down and message my friend because I was completely shocked.

Basically, this was about a million times better than I was expecting, I'm going to buy it so I have a physical copy and whilst I'm at it I may as well buy everything else Liane Moriarty has ever published.

An amazing book. The main story is of three women and their families with the school, other parents and the school children adding to the dramas. Throughout it is easy to relate to the scenery and most importantly to the vivid descriptions of the characters. The main point of the story is the various types of bullying and the effect on people's lives. Liane Moriarty has once again written a spellbinding story that demonstrates the social problem of bullying as well as the results of keeping secrets. Highly recommend this book and this author.

An interesting social commentary. Not really my kind of book and not sure I liked the way it was written.

A brilliant read. Tackles the subject of bullying on 3 counts - child, domestic violence and mothers gossiping in the playground. All the characters are well written, starting a novel with being told there is a murder but not who has died ,why or by whom, is a brilliant touch. I spent the whole book wondering who would be killed and desperately hoping it was not one of my favourite characters, and hoping it would be others. Really cleverly written giving view points of the various characters as the story goes along. 'can't wait for Ms Moriarty's next book!

Loved this book, the back and forth between storylines was intreresting. The life stories of all the couples was very true to life.

I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. Having worked in schools I could recognise many of the issues and the mums. Although it deals with some serious issues there are parts that are just so funny.
It's a light, enjoyable read, which is a positive, but I think that the combination with themes of bullying, abuse and domestic violence doesn't quite work successfully.
Despite this, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it as a good holiday read.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is set in a close knit, suburban community full of unique characters. There is a school in town where almost all the drama takes place. On the orientation day for the kindergarten kids, Madeline meets Jane, the newest mom in town. On this day, we are also introduced to the other moms and their kids. There are cliques at the school and no, it is not the kids. It’s the moms who are in cliques. Obviously, if cliques exist so does a lot of drama.

Madeline stands out for various reasons. I really liked how loyal she was. She was very protective of her friends and especially Jane who was having trouble fitting into the new school. Madeline was also quite a funny character. I also sympathized with all her struggles with her ex-husband and his new wife. It broke my heart when her daughter seemed to be picking her ex over her. On the other hand, Jane was sympathetic. She was the only single mom at the kindergarten. In addition, her son Ziggy was being accused of things that made the other moms pick on Jane. Her background story was even more heartbreaking .I really liked Jane and her kid. Even her folks were interesting to read about. On the other hand, Celeste was a mystery. She is the one character that I didn’t expect to like so much at the start. She seemed aloof. In addition, she was portrayed as being a bit too perfect. However, her story is the one that will most likely stick with me for a very long time.

True to the title, this book is full of deceptive characters. There are so many secrets in the town; everyone seems to be harboring one. Some of the secrets were shocking. Others, simply scandalous though admittedly, all of them made this a very gripping tale. I also liked the suspense in the book. Right from the start, it is mentioned that a murder has taken place. There is a lot of gossip around town and speculation about the night when the murder took place. I wanted to know who died. I also couldn’t guess how the murder took place and especially who the killer was. This made this book an intriguing read from start to finish.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty was quite an interesting read. It sort of reminded me of Desperate Housewives with all the drama that was taking place in the town. I didn’t expect the book to be heavy but it actually was. There were themes of bullying, sexual and domestic abuse. There was also murder. However, the drama and gossip also added humuor to the story. I liked the theme of friendship especially between the moms. I am usually not a fan of long books (this had 500 pages) but I enjoyed reading this one. The pacing was great, characters memorable and the storyline addictive. Now I can’t wait to start watching the TV show.

Loved this book, the characters are very strong and it just proves that money doesn't equal happiness! The ending was a good twist too . Will definitely read more from liane moriarty

Hi Readers, how are you all today? I've just finished a great contemporary book!

NOTE: There are scenes of abuse and bullying in Big Little Lies so if you're sensitive about either of those topics this book maybe isn't for you.

Big Little Lies tells several stories at once. There's the story about the trivia night that runs throughout, the story of who one of the main character's father is, the story of an abuse victim, a story of a teenage girl putting her virginity up for sail in the internet and the main story for most of the book, little children lying about who bullied another child. All these stories were handled well.

We see the characters, both major and minor be interviewed throughout because of the murder that happened on trivia night. I'll be honest in saying that at the beginning of the book I thought that another character had been killed so it was a surprise to read what actually had happened.

Spoilers below...

The main characters are written well. Jane is very protective of her son, Ziggy so when she hears that he's hit another child she doesn't believe it. Another story that involves Ziggy is the reader finding out who his father is. This is probably where the title Big Little Lies stems from because although Ziggy himself never finds out in the novel because he's only 5 years old, we as the readers do after many lies, twists and turns.

Celeste is the character that's being abused by her husband, Perry. She's written well, too. You can tell the author did her research about abuse victims, and what makes the abuser abuse in the first place.

Madeline is the character who's daughter is selling herself online to the highest bidder. This was interesting to read. Abigail only wants to support and raise awareness of children who do have to sell themselves for money. She's willing to do it, too. It's only when she receives an email from someone she doesn't know, telling her they'll pay a lot of money to her cause that she takes the auction down. It's said that Madeline and Abigail are as stubborn as each other. Madeline has split up with Abigail's father and is instead married to Ed. We see all of these characters sometimes struggle with life. Abigail wants to go and live with her father and his new wife at one point because she's sick of living with her mum.

The book, Big Little Lies is set in Australia because the author is Australian. I don't read many books that are set here, so it's nice to vary it up a little. I believe the TV show, Big Little Lies is however set in the USA. I plan on watching the show soon, now that I've read the book.

What I liked about Big Little Lies...

I liked the amount of stories involved and how they each touched on a different demographic of people (bullies, those that are abuse sufferers, those wanting to do whatever they can to help charities etc).

I liked how the author did her research about these storylines. It really felt that I was reading true life events, however shocking they were.

I liked how we were kept guessing until the last few chapters, just what did happen on trivia night.

What I didn't like about Big Little Lies...

I thought that the first 100 or so pages were rather slow. For epic fantasy that's okay because the world needs to be built but in a contemporary I think events should move along faster.

I thought the story wrapped up a little too nicely. I would have liked to have seen more conflict.

Overall, I really enjoyed Big Little Lies so that's why I'm giving it 4 stars. The only things that let me down were the pacing of the first 100 pages and the wrap up. I look forward to watching the TV series soon so I can compare them and choose which my favourite is.

Stand by for my next review that will be coming in a few days :).

i loved the to series based on the book so was really looking forward to reading this, and it doesn't disappoint. If you have watched the series I would highly recommend reading the book to add to the story. And if you have yet to watch the show. I urge you to read the book first.

The book is much funnier than I expected, especially given some of the topics covered - domestic violence, sexual assault, bullying to name a few. The characters are brilliantly written and very relatable.

Another great novel by Liane Moriarty. I was determined to read this before watching the TV adaptation and I am very glad I did.
Great characters, clever story line and an interesting way of moving backwards and forwards between past and present adding to the suspense and anticipation of what is to come next.

I will continue to look out for new novels by this author and to recommend them to others.

Big Little Lies centres around three women in the Australian town of Pirriwee, each with a child starting kindergarten, each with their own troubles to contend with. Madeline has to come to terms with her ex husband moving back into the area to be in their teenage daughter's life, while his new daughter is starting the same class as Madeline's youngest. Celeste is half of the most glamorous couple in town, but she seems to struggle with her rambunctious twin boys despite a seemingly perfect, charmed life. And newcomer Jane is a single mother also hiding dark secrets, facing a new struggle when her son is accused of bullying on day one.

Interspersed throughout the book are interview snippets, comments from fellow parents as the town is caught up in a murder investigation, while the bulk of the book takes us back six months and explores the build up to that fateful night. So never mind who did it - we're left on the edge of our seats wondering who died, and why.

I ended up watching the TV series first, unusually for me, and I loved seeing how the adaptation took an already tense story line and made it darker and more tense! That perhaps works against the book a little, but I'd still fully recommend the viewing AND the read - in either order! There is a longer 'epilogue' in the book, which explores the motivations for the murder in a little more depth and feels a bit more satisfying. The TV show is a bit darker, too, which may or may not suit some people.

Definitely going to look out some more of Liane Moriarty's work now!

Firstly, thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a review copy of this novel.

I started watching the tv series based on this book and really couldn't get into, giving up after half of the first episode. Then I read the book.......

We start off knowing that someone has died at a school trivia night. We don't know who, or how they died. The book then goes back in time a few months and builds up to the night of the death. Madeline and Celeste are friends whose children are starting Pirriwee Public school Kindergarten, along with new girl Jane's son, Ziggy. During the orientation day, Ziggy is accused by Madeline's nemises, Renata, of hurting her daughter. The bitchiness and back stabbing between the parents begins and builds, whilst all the while intermingling with their lives away from the school. As we build up to the trivia night, there are so many possibilities of who dies and how that it's just impossible to work out. This book is literally filled with twists and turns and you just can't be sure how it's going to end.

After reading the book, I'm now frantically trying to find the tv series so I can give it another go - although, typically - and predictably, the tv execs have moved the setting from Australia to Southern California which is a shame really.

This is a stonking book and I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't like to figure out the ending until the end.

Loved this! I always enjoy books by this author but I think this is the best one yet. A real page turner. Took on holiday and couldn't put it down. Great twist at the end. Recommended to all my friends.

I saw this series on the TV and was interested to see how the book fared. It was better than I expected. The ending changed for TV but this was (i feel) to the detriment of the story. An enjoyable read with an interesting style of writing.

Top praise for this book, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story of murder, lies and real life issues.

Set in Australia by the beach Big Little Lies follows three women who are friends and connected by their children who attend the same Kindergarten school. Drama unfolds during a trivia night held for the parents at the school when a murder takes place.

The story follows each of the women telling their story and the real life issues that they are dealing with and how it leads to the murder.

Each of the women are very different, Jane a single mother with a trouble past recently moved to the town in search of happiness for her and her son. She has a dark secret that threatens to unravel both her and her friendship with the other school mums.

Madeline is someone you do not want to get on the wrong side of, she has strong morals and is a force to be reckoned with although a heart of gold.

Celeste is the amazingly beautiful and is noticed by women and men alike, however she is also very troubled and dealing with some personal demons of her own.

I loved the strength of each of the characters and I could truly imagine each and every one of them as being someone you might just come across in the school playground.
You know from the beginning that some awful tragedy has happened at the school trivia night however it is not clear until the very end which character has died and this really gets you guessing. I didn’t predict the killer or the person that was killed until the unveiling which was great.
I really enjoyed reading this story and am looking forward to reading further stories by Liane Moriarty.