I bought this book on amazon after watching 3 episodes of the television programs . The book kept me are far more gripped than the tv serious. All the characters were believable as in real life some likeable and others not , some the story line was predictable but I didn't see the ending coming .

Loved this book! A gripping girlie book that made me really relate to the characters.
The tv series is good but the book is better!

This one had me up too late last night. Far too late. At first when reading I was stumped as to where it was set, for the mothers were ‘mums’ but their kids were in ‘kindergarten.’ Ah – Australia!
A book ultimately about friendship, with themes of the lies we tell and the relationships we navigate. The picture of the school gate friendships (and the frenemies) was painted all too realistically.
The denouement left me breathless. A gripping novel with much to discuss.

This is typical Liane Moriarty. Witty, well-crafted and wonderfully enjoyable. Some of her observations could challenge Anne Tyler. A fantastic read.

Big Little Lies
Liane Moriarty
Book Review: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Wow! I loved the ending of Big little lies. This book is beautifully crafted and executed to perfection. I'm going, to be honest, I wanted to read this book because it has been picked up by HBO and they make some of the best TV shows. I would recommend this for fans of things such as Desperate Housewives.

The book is told from many people's points of views and slowly builds up to the finale. Everyone has a part. Everyone has their secrets and troubles. Just some find it easier to hide them than others. This book is based around a school and the relationships of the children. The clicks of the playground and how it affects the parents. The adults are all from different backgrounds and have had various upbringings. They all want the best for their children.

The mums in this story are the main characters. There is Jane the single parent, Madeline the divorced older mum and Celeste the rich, beautiful one. Big little lies has the complexity and diversity to keep you hooked right to the end.

This is a book about murder, but it's not that simple. The events leading up to that night is the story being told.

5 stars out of 5. A must read!

***I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.***

Paperback £12.83 or £4.99 Kindle, TV Tie-In, 460 pages
Published February 9th, 2017

I watched the tv adaptation of this book before I read it and I thoroughly enjoyed the tv series. It was brilliantly acted, beautifully filmed, and an excellent adaptation overall. It was interesting to read the book afterwards, as it was sufficiently different to make it interesting still. Ultimately, I did prefer the message of women supporting women and the importance of female friendships that the tv series chose to go with, rather than the book ending. I know that Nicole Kidman and Reece Witherspoon are interested in adapting another of Liane Moriarty's books, so I hope that project does come to fruition.

It was an easy read that never made me get bored or want to put the book down. The very short chapters kept me going and made the book somewhat compulsive reading, but also easy to fit in a little bit here and there as you could read a chapter in a minute sometimes, which feels rewarding. It's not, however, a book that will stick in my memory in the long run. A good book, but not a great one.

Set in London and the Maldives. This is a great book that I could not put
down. It's full of twists and turns and really keeps you guessing and an
ending that I wasn't expecting.

After reading my husbands secret, I was very excited to read Big little lies. Liane Moriarty Has done it again. Very believable characters, the book is very cleverly written, leaving you with mad anticipated to find out who dies. You learn all about the lives of all the people involved and try and piece things together. I found this to be a very enjoyable read. Thanks NetGalley for this Copy

What an amazing book! Finished it in one night and it was so worth it. Most of us must have seen the television series but the book adds so much more depth to the characters. A beautiful book about friendship, love and betrayal .

I absolutely loved this book- it was read in great gulps as I raced to find out what happened.

We find out from the start that a Fun Trivia Night in an Australian school has ended in a death but we have to wait a very long time before we find out who is the victim and we are tantalised with the odd snippet of information as the story progresses.

Set in the small beach town of Perriwee, the story revolves around three very different women. Who all have children just starting Kindergarten. Madelaine is an extravert, in your face kind of character, fiercely loyal to her friends. Celeste is her the beautiful but somewhat withdrawn friend. They both befriend Jane, who is a single mum just moved to the area and when Jane's son is accused of bullying they close ranks to protect her.

This is a real page turner & I highly recommend it. Thanks to Netgalley & the publishers for letting me read and review this five star book.

Having read Moriarty's The Husband's Secret and Three Wishes, I knew going into Big Little Lies that she is capable of great things. When I saw the HBO series on Sky, I had to give it a watch. It was by far the best thing I have seen in ages. Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman and Shailene Woodley are hugely talented actresses that gave a more than convincing performance and even the tone of the show was addictive. The beach views and gorgeous soundtrack dripped with appeal. I couldn't recommend it more. In fact, the TV show and the novel are the perfect combination. Going into the book straight after watching the TV show highlighted some changes, but overall the adaptation is incredibly loyal, particularly to the characters.

Big Little Lies is about three women: Madeline, Celeste and Jane. Madeline is viciously passionate and majorly pissed off that her ex-husband has re-married a yoga-loving, spiritual-obsessed woman named Bonnie, and that their kid will be the same kindergarten as Madeline's. Celeste is beautiful and rich and seems to have the perfect life, but she's beginning to question if the consequences are too much. Jane is the new, young single mum in town, quickly taken under Madeline and Celeste's wing. But Jane's arrival will change everything.

Moriarty balanced a number of characters astonishingly well, flickering between close third person perspectives of the three women while keeping track of the "recurring" characters, like fellow school mum Renata. Through the countdown to trivia night, the tension continued to build and my addiction to the story spiralled. On top of this, Moriarty inserts snippets of a police interview of the other school parents and faculty who provide cryptic clues to keep you thinking. In this way, the interweaving storylines are masterfully executed, with a whole heap of well-developed characters with individual quirks and mindsets. Madeline's self-depricating humour, anxieties over her relationship with her daughter Abigail, and her wit, made her my favourite character. There were some classic lines about the things we all do and the fears we all have. I'm not a mother, but I recognised these characters from my life.

While this book follows a crime and has strong elements of mystery, it's not your typical thriller at all. It's about women, friendship, mothering, marriage, love, and so much more. It's about understanding the past and moving forward. In short, there are so many layers that I'll be thinking about Big Little Lies for a long, long time.

WARNING: SPOILER SECTION BELOW.

I never normally include spoiler sections but in this case I have to. I have never read a book that handles the topic of abuse so well. Celeste's conflicting mindset about Perry as a good father and bad husband was so real. I couldn't stop thinking about the way she convinced herself to leave, but then changed her mind over and over, and her feelings of shame, as if she was being judged. It's terrifying that it felt so realistic. It's easy to say abuse is being hit, having a black eye, and leaving your husband. It's a lot more mature and thought-provoking to draw attention to the confusion of it all; the cocktail of love and hate and self-blame.

It's safe to say that I am now a Moriarty fangirl. I need to get my hands on a copy of her latest novel, Truly Madly Guilty!

Brilliant! I absolutely adored this book. I honestly couldn't tell how it was going to turn out at the end. That for ne, is a huge marker of a,successful book.

I enjoyed the friendship aspect and the fact thatyou never know what goes on behind closed doors. I struggled for a while with the format, it's set out in interview style and there are a lot of characters.

The friendship between the girls is believable as are thier own lives.

I can see why this transferred to tv and I'm looking forward to watching

This is one of those novels that ruins a perfectly good TV show! I had heard lots about the TV show and wanted to read the book, I was lucky enough to receive the ARC copy and as soon as I started reading I had to put watching the series finale on hold until I had finished the book.
The plots are slightly different and to be honest I really wish the TV version had stuck more to the book. Madeline's love story with Ed, the Saxon Banks twist and just a lot of scenes and lines handed to other characters. Also some really good aspects of the novel were left out maybe for series 2?
Read the book. It is great
As a parent I do recognize lots of those little parenting nuances written about here, behaviour that no one would consider rational suddenly acceptable to some parents because they have a child.
Madeline is probably my favourite character in the whole story.
This is a five star read.

This book was addictive and tense. I was on edge for the whole second half of the book and completely emotionally committed to the characters and their lives. This is not the kind of book I'd normally read and I wouldn't usually be interested in this kind of plot, but I am so happy I gave this book a chance. I will definitely reading more of this authors work.

The best thing about this book was the characters; they felt like real, full-formed human beings. I loved all three of the main characters and emphasised with them and their stories. This is definitely the reason why the book has the emotional impact that it did.

The only reason why I am not giving this book a five star rating is because the writing was fairly simplistic. I usually prefer books that have more of a distinct style - I want to be surprised and impressed with the way that the book is written. This book didn't have that, but then again I think that this might be the reason why it was such a quick and engrossing read.

A cracking story, exciting mysterious and fast paced. Having watched the TV series and working out who did what and which character had died I wanted to read this book to obtain more depth to this gripping story, and boy does it deliver. The depth and insight into all the characters enrich this story well beyond what I watched on the TV.
This book will disappoint no one, a great read. Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to review this book

I actually downloaded a sample of this book last year and found myself put off purchasing the full book due to the number of characters who appeared to be talking in those first few pages and my poor brain got a little overwhelmed. I wish now I had persevered but in a way I’m glad I didn’t! It meant that I was able to watch the recent HBO series first and not do that whole “the book is better than the film” thing! Obviously it dropped a few characters and plot twists that were in the book but on the whole the producers did a pretty good job of adapting it to the small screen and transferring the action to the USA from Australia.

My favourite Liane Moriarty book up until now has the What Alice Forgot but it has just been overtaken by Big Little Lies which has some jaw dropping twists and some of the most realistic domestic drama I have read in a long time. The author has captured perfectly the claustrophobic and intense relationships that develop between playground mothers, the bitchiness, the gossiping and the backstabbing. These women are scary and having been forced back into the playground myself recently, I could see so many traits that have been put to use perfectly here up to describe today’s “helicopter parenting” and the competitiveness between woman who should be there to support their fellow tiger mums! I did loved the main women here and felt their characteristics came across strongly right from the start. On top of that, the plot felt well written and it developed slowly so we got to feel a build up of tension throughout until you’re desperate to discover what actually occurred on Trivia Night! And please don’t be put off like I was by the multiple voices at the start, it does settle down quite quickly becoming clear why the author has chosen to use this style of narrative.

Very few books surprise me nowadays but this one has plot developments that shocked the Hell out of me! And I was happy I had read it after the tv series as there is more detail on the fallout after the “big event” that I felt was needed to bring about more closure for the characters involved. But whichever way round you do read and/or watch I think you will be happy with the outcome.

I can highly recommend Big Little Lies. I read it in one afternoon and loved every minute of it, feeling quite bereft once I’d finished it, missing the characters but hoping to meet them all again one day in the near future.

This is the first book I have read by this author, but I really enjoyed it.

It contains a mystery which involves who was killed on the night of a school trivia event at Pirriwee public school, and throughout the book we gradually learn more about the characters involved, their children, and facts about their current and past lives.

It tackles the issues of domestic violence and the effect this can have on children, and the abused partner trying to hide what is happening, also bullying at school, being a working mother as opposed to a stay at home mother, infidelity, date rape, difficulties faced by being a single parent, and moving to a new community.

It depicts well the interplay between different friends, extended families, when an ex partner is living close by, and the difference between how individuals, couples, and marriages are viewed from and presented within a community, and what can actually be happening behind closed doors.

I am interested to read more from this author, thanks to Netgalley, Penguin UK/Michael Joseph for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to read Big Little Lies as soon as I saw the film trailer on TV. I'd heard of the book and of the popular Liane Moriarty but had never read any of her books before.
When this came up as a request title on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to request it, and was even happier when I was approved for a copy.

The book is a wonderful take on life through the eyes of three Australian women, Madeleine, Celeste and Jane. We see the womens' relationships with their children and husbands while they juggle work, school and parenting duties and social lives. There's an insight into the husbands' struggles too, whether it be with their first (or second) wife. Big Little Lies is one of the few books I've read where the synopsis speaks for itself and gives a clear and well-rounded description of some parts of the plot and, more importantly, of the main characters so effectively that no more detail is needed in this review, so I won't go into detail about that. Just to say that each character is very well represented in the book and that the pace really kept me interested in the book.

I definitely felt that the family dynamic and setting is akin to some aspects of relationships and bringing up children as those seen in Sex and The City or Desperate Housewives, and I think you'll enjoy this book whether you are a fan of these TV series or not. It could be seen as the Australian equivalent of those series. I got through the book in a day and every page was enjoyable. I was hooked from the start.

I'd like to send out huge thanks to the author Liane Moriarty and to the publisher for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I get the feeling I'll be reading more of Liane Moriarty's books- I'm hooked! The book is well deserving of the literary awards it has won. I cannot wait to see the film adaptation to put some faces to the characters' descriptions, and to further experience the settings and happenings that are already so vivid in the in the book! Amazing novel.

5* read. Absolutely loved this. I had been watching the series on SKY and was overjoyed to be given the opportunity to review this book. Different in places but a good watch nonetheless, with great casting. The book as always is superior. I savoured every single word. Great fan of Liane Moriarty. She's done it again! Highly recommend.
My thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for the advance reader copy.