I enjoyed this more than I thought. Caroline is a twisted character with virtually no morals or empathy for anyone save a very select few which made her interesting than if she was purely sociopathic. The end did drop off for me though and Caroline, to me, is not a continuing character. I will be unlikely to read any sequels.

This was a perfect read after reading Inventing Ana and I loved very second of it. This is so thrilling and I hope to see more of this genre soon.

Caroline feels robbed of the life she was meant to have, the life she deserves. And she will do anything to get what she wants. Her girlfriend Leoni is part of the plan to basically con her way through life. Nothing is out of bounds. But what happens when the tide turns and she finds herself in danger?

I didn't care for this one that much. I tried to really push through but I found it boring unfortunately forcing myself the finish the book. I would give it 2.5 stars

So disappointed by this book, who, by its description had so much promise. I found it to be rather wordy for absolutely no reason.

This book had potential but it mostly stayed at a monotone, whether she was being abused, conning someone, killing someone or realizing she was in love, it never changed the tone or feel. It had a to be concluded in the next book ending which i didn't like.
If there’s a book 2, I want to know up front.

I was really excited about this book - just based on the title and cover, they both did an excellent job of grabbing my attention. After the first few pages of the book, I just could not find myself to be interested in the storyline. The main character is horribly unlikeable and though I usually can find a soft spot for a character with a tough upbringing, that just didn't seem to happen with this story. She was sinister, callous, and overall I had a hard time following her storyline. Unfortunately, this one one was a big flop for me.

A quick and choppy mystery.
DNF @ 60%

Caroline has a tough childhood and ends up as a prostitute and a killer. Some twists and turns but ultimately it lacked pizzaz

I'm afraid this wasn't good at all. Extremely mediocre, telling-not-showing writing, and pages of nearly unbroken dialogue. The pace was plodding, and I couldn't muster up any interest for the plot nor the characters.

This book was beautifully written. The character development was incredible and kept me coming back for more! Excited to read more from Wills.

I gave this book 3.5 stars due to the spelling and proofreading errors. Other than that, this story was actually pretty good. A bit dark, but riveting.

Judy Lawrence had the worst taste in men. After meeting an American on a business trip in England, she got pregnant, he left, and she never heard from him again. Judy never had a steady job, so supporting a baby wasn't what she wanted, so she planned on selling her child after she gave birth. She never had any prenatal care and she went into labor before the midwife showed up. She gave the baby girl to the buyer and the couple left, that's when Judy realized that she was having another baby; she had twins. She didn't want to keep the other girl, but after the ambulance showed up and she was in the hospital recovering, she bonded with her. But then the doctors realized that she gave birth to two children which she denied. She was an expert in lying.

Caroline Lawrence grew up in an abusive and neglectful home. She was taken away from her mom by child services from the time she came home due to neglect too many times to count. Because of that, she grew up with no empathy and a lot of anger. That anger was often expressed dangerously. When she was bullied at school, she resorted to violence. The first time she killed someone was when she was just a little girl and the 2 kids she hurt were just a little older than her. They made fun of her, so she pushed them in front of a moving train. She felt no remorse, just a thrill.

Judy often had different men in the house, she would leave Caroline home alone with no babysitter when she was just 2 years old. She'd stumble home drunk and high and bring home a guy. She was a terrible influence on her daughter. Caroline kept to herself at school, preferring her own company than making friends. She put up with the bullying, ignoring it. She would laugh of the fights, until one day she had enough and broke a girl's nose. When she was 16 her mom's boyfriend raped her. After that she dropped out of school and became a prostitute. That's where she met her best friend/lover, Leoni.

They decided that they wanted a bigger payoff and decided to drug their clients and steal from their wallets and take their cash and debit cards. When that got old, they decided to go online on an elite dating site and land a rich, married guy, dig up information about his family, and blackmail him with obscene pictures for a lot of money. That worked for a while, until they threatened the wrong family.

That made Caroline furious, she wanted her payoff. So she resorted to violence and she got it. But these people had big connections and retaliated. But she got her revenge.

When Judy was diagnosed with early on set Alzheimer's, she told Caroline that she had a twin sister and spilled everything about her birth. After doing some research on the internet, she found her.

Now, we shall see what she intends to do in the next book. She's money hungry, she thinks that she's entitled to the wealth that her twin grew up with.

A must read!

I enjoyed this book! I do have some issues that took it away from being a four star read for me. First, it was a little choppy. I think Judy's point of view was completely unnecessary and I wish that Caroline didn't find out about her twin until the very end when her mom is in the nursing home. I think that would've been a nice twist as opposed to dredging something back up that I hadn't thought much about since the beginning of the book. Instead of being a twist or a surprise it was just like "Oh, this again?" Besides Judy's point of view and the jerky back-and-forth in time I really liked this and the writing was good as well. I'm going to contradict myself, but it was cool to learn how Caroline and Leoni met after we were already acquainted with Leoni. It actually took me by surprise! It's important to note that although I didn't find this thrilling or very scary this book is pretty graphic. Not gory, but graphic. Overall, well done! I was living for Caroline's antics with all the rich men and I could've even used more of it! I would be interested in a sequel for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It was an okay story but nothing to call home about, I kept reading on to see what would develop, but it just didn’t seem like their was much of a story, other than girl mistreated, girl kills, no rhyme or reason for doing so.

I also found a few spelling mistakes which bothered me a lot.

Caroline hasn't had the best of childhood's, her mother has always seen her as nothing more than a nuisance and an intrusion in her life. Caroline decides to make a life for herself, and it is certainly not the life that any mother would want for their child. Caroline grows up and makes her own path as a con artist, prostitute and more shockingly, a killer. And then she meets Leoni, who changes Caroline's life in more ways than she could possibly imagine.
This book was certainly not what I had expected, and I really do mean that in a positive way! The story was well constructed, with plenty of twists and drama to keep the reader fully engaged to the very end.
The characters are well developed, with their own quirks and past stories that add to this already complex story.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would certainly recommend it to others!.

Thank you to Netgalley and Matador for the arc of The Lies and Crimes of Sweet Caroline by Darren Wills.

4 stars- This follows Caroline whom was born a twin, she was born unwanted and neglected.. was she born evil or her circumstances changed her?... Caroline and her bestfriend/lover.. tries to con the rich... in what they call claim back some of their life what owes them like.. Caroline is such a dark and gruesome phsycotic person.. with a lot of plans for things but no actual emotion or feelings.. this was an easy gruesome dark thriller highly recommend.

4 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I knew nothing about this book going into it. The beginning was a little bit of a slow burn for me, but the second half had me entranced! I was so curious what Caroline was going to end up doing! Caroline was born to a mom who neglects her. Caroline grows up wanting revenge!

If you want a suspenseful quick read, I highly recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Troubador Publishing Ltd. for allowing me access to this ARC.

I really wanted to like this book but I had a hard time finishing the book. The plot never drew me in enough to care.

A very different read for me! I like different. I read the book in one sitting, trying to figure out just where the storyline was headed. A Thelma and Louise kind of theme....plus! The reader experiences many emotions as she/he reads Sweet Caroline! If you are looking for something a little different this book may just be the one.

I was a bit concerned this would be a bit overblown and dramatic when I read the description but the actual writing style is much more measured. Which is great because you can then concentrate on the characters and how amazingly well the author has developed them. I didn’t always like them, but I do always believe them!

The Lies And Crimes st Sweet Caroline by Darren Wills A mother and daughter story. Joel Diamond. It was to violent for me. And to predictable.