Thank you NetGalley and Headline for this eCopy to review

Wow what a read! I didn't see any of the twists and turns coming. I loved the characters and the plots, they are told at different times and through all of Evie's alias' she is given for each job. By the time we reach the end I was on the edge of my seat to see how it would all turn out.

Full of suspense you never know what is going to happen and great friendships and characters. I cannot wait to read more books by Ashley Elston.

This was a good twisty book which I always enjoy, very different to what's around at the moment.
The book is centered around Evie a young lady that has a nice life, nice boyfriend , nice house but it's all a lie because she doesn't really exist , she is playing a role.
I enjoyed how the story kept flipping back to let the reader know how Evie ended up in the situations she found herself and the final.twist was a good one.

I audibly groaned after just a few pages at the setting. Evie, the lead character, at a dinner party with her new boyfriend and meeting his friends for the first time. So clichéd. The boyfriend and friends are wealthier and better educated. But all is not what it seems, Evie is on a job and Ryan, the boyfriend, is the target.
Evie has had a series of personas and jobs over the years working for a Mr. Smith but that relationship is breaking down.
Plenty of twists and turns in this to hold the reader’s attention and an easy read. However you do have to suspend believe for it and I was left somewhat confused and deflated at the end. Just can figure out what exactly was the point of it all.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A story of changing identities and not quite knowing who you can trust!
Although an intriguing read of twists and turns, it was rather drawn out in places and maybe a little unbelievable in others.
I did like it and was invested enough to want to know the outcome but found it a little far fetched and just couldn’t fully get into liking the main characters.

Love a game of cat-and-mouse?
Love a twist? A twist that is pitch perfect & oh so satisfying??

...then this is the book for you!!!

You can't trust these characters as far a you could throw them & they some are far from likeable but I really was rooting for the main character, hoping she could find away out of a of an increasingly impossible spot.

This book is like an onion, only in this case every layer that is pealed back leaves the MC in a tougher spot than before, more tense than before, more intrigue than before.

The only way to find out what's going on is to keeping turning those pages ...the completed puzzle is FANTASTIC!

...have you read it? If you what did you think?
If it's a spoilery answer DM me! 💕

Evie is in a relationship with Ryan. She is an orphan, he is a local businessman who has swept her off her feet and provided the stability and comfortable life she’s always wanted.

Except Evie is actually not who she says she is. And she’s being paid to find out Ryan’s secrets by Mr Smith. Having failed her last job, she knows she’s being tested and she needs to do a good job.

Until Lucca, new girl from small town Eden arrives. Because Lucca is actually Evie’s real identity.

Now I love a good thriller, but I’m relatively picky. A bit of a book snob some might say. But I loved First Lie Wins. Evie is a great character - smart, bold, resourceful. The story is fast paced and has enough twists and turns to be continually entertaining without becoming convoluted. And I believed the friendships and relationships.

This is Ashley Elston’s first foray adult fiction and I am looking forward to what comes next.

This was a great read. I struggled to warm to the main character at first but a couple more chapters in and she started to grow on me. The story was unpredictable with a few great twists and turns - fans of psychological thrillers will love this.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

A twisty clever read that shows you should be careful who you trust

A very twisty read
There’s a dryness about the writing style of this book that at once compels and repels. I found it hard to like Lucca, the main character even though we learn about her difficult start in life. When the story begins, she’s working for the mysterious Mr Smith, living an undercover life and getting close to the ‘targets’ chosen by him in order to extract information or other goods. The current target is a personable young man and there is a hint that she would like to know him more honestly. But it’s repeatedly made clear that she can’t do that.
I was interested to find that I really wanted her to show a more forgivable trend and it needed the relentless reminders, that whatever she did was mandated by her need to stay undercover and to give no truths away, to keep me from being more sympathetic
The plot was very complex but well worked out without ever quite giving away Lucca’s true nature. And this was a salutary reading experience for me. I never realised before how much I assume the writer will give me clues which will add up to a firm conclusion – preferably that the protagonist is really quite ok and that good will triumph somehow. I felt that this ambiguity was quite an achievement!
There is a big twist, early on when Lucca meets a woman at a party who is, apparently, her doppelganger, uses her name and seems to be infiltrating the life of her target. How she deals with this propels the story into new revelations, all very interesting and unexpected.
The relentlessly pragmatic view, through her eyes, of her early career as a con woman and thief was somewhat repellent. But I suppose this must be quite normal for people in situations and lifestyles like hers (assuming that there are such people and in the end I wasn’t totally convinced that there are and that this is how they would live but it made for plenty of thought).
Overall, I found it impossible to put down and while I never warmed to Lucca, I wanted to know what happened to her and I found the story fascinating and gripping.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC

Evie Porter’s life is picture-perfect, apart from one small detail: She isn’t real. Evie Porter is a false name with a fake life, provided by her employer for her current job. But this job feels different from the others. The mark, Ryan Sumner, has gotten under her skin and, as her past begins to catch up with her, Evie struggles to stay one step ahead in order to save her future.

First Lie Wins is a pretty good book. I enjoyed the plot and the way the mystery unfolded. It’s intricate and unpredictable in the best way, with some great twists and turns to keep things interesting. However, the story isn’t told chronologically and it sometimes felt like an idea had just occurred to the author and they just slotted it in where they were, instead of going back and fitting it in somewhere it would make more sense. It does all add up at the end, which suggests that this style is entirely intentional, but it didn’t feel completely thought out and planned as I was reading it.

Evie is a great heroine. She’s in a morally grey area and has made some very questionable lifestyle choices, but she’s likeable enough that you still root for her, and she’s up against some very bad people which makes her the lesser evil, even if you’re not sure you can trust her. I personally could have done with a faster pace in the first half, but it picked up a lot in the second half and kept me engaged enough throughout.

This was great, I found it difficult to warm to the main character but by mid way I loved her. The story is one of a kind and as an avid reader one I’ve not encountered before it was a great book and I would recommend

A really well written and engaging cat-and-mouse thriller. Well paced, with a good couple of twists thrown in. Nothing incredibly new here, but fans of Alias, You, The Perfect Husband etc.... will enjoy.

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston and Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld was a brilliant and intense psychological thriller from start to finish and I found it hard to put down once I started to listen to it. especially as it was dark, with lots of twists and turns throughout.

I loved the character Evie Porter but she has everything you could ever dream of! a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends.
WoW Evie is just Perfect in every way! But, the only catch is: That Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

So who is she?

The identity comes to Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then, the target who is: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle becomes a the job.

Evie, isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different and maybe fun to do. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself.
However, Evie can’t make any mistakes, especially after what happened last time, everything has to be perfect to get this right!

Wow This book is so good and Evie has always liked a challenge........What could ever go wrong?

I wonder?

The Narrator by Saskia Maarleveld was excellent and perfect for this book.

I highly recommend this book and the cover was eye catching!

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for my advanced listening copy and book.

I absolutely love the concept of this story — a woman who spends her life assuming false identities having her own taken away in front of her very eyes and being unable to say anything. It’s a strange kind of suspense where anything is possible, everyone is lying and you’re never really sure if you’re getting whole story even from the narrator.

Our main character sets the scene well, deftly creating a curious sense of mystery and introducing us to her boyfriend-slash-target. She was aloof and cold at times, but there were moments when her personality slipped through and we got a little closer to finding who she really is.

Unfortunately for me I found the narration very slow, with little real progress in the story until the end when it all happened too quickly in a very straightforward this happened/that happened style that kind of flattened the brilliant tension it had built up throughout the story.

I loved this book and all of the twists and turns. Part of the time it felt as if she loved what she was doing, and at other times she was petrified. I did not expect the ending.

The author breaks into adult fiction with a pretty slick thriller that ticks many boxes - tension builds through the novel; there are plenty of red herrings scattered through the plot; the way the plot unfolds leaves the reader keen to find out how the story ends for the lead characters; and the ending wraps things up tidily.

The author’s previous focus on young adult fiction may, perhaps, be detected here and there, especially in the occasional passages where a more sophisticated consideration of real world crimes, criminal masterminds and crime detection techniques would have helped. But these issues are not the monopoly of young adult fiction so this is not a substantial criticism.

An enjoyable thriller that is likely to please most readers. Recommended.

It’s only January and I already know this is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2024. This is a brilliant cat and mouse thriller, with plenty of twists and great characters. I read it in one sitting and loved it.

I always love a good thriller, and that's exactly what this is. Twisty, intense and clever, this was an absolutely fantastic read that had me hooked from start to finish. Featuring plenty of suspense, high stakes, well-crafted characters and a brilliantly thought out plot, it's hard to believe that this is Elston's first adult novel. An incredibly talented author, I can't wait to see what else she has in store!

What a fabulous debut thriller. Welcome to the world of grifting where no one is who they seem & the truth is a very rare commodity. Told across multiple timelines but from Evie’s POV, we follow our protagonist as she sets her sights on the given target.

Evie Porter’s new assignment is Ryan Sumner. All is going to plan until she attends a party with him & they meet James with his girlfriend Lucca Marino. Except Evie is really called that, so who is James’ girlfriend?

A brilliant plot concept & I can’t really say anymore without giving the game away. Twist after twist kept me reading until the early hours. More please!

I knew as soon as I heard about First Lie Wins that this was going to be my kind of book - it has been getting lots of positive reviews and trust me when I say that it is worth the hype and you’re going to be hearing lots more about it. It is a clever, twisty and utterly addictive cat and mouse thriller that I raced through in a couple of sittings - what a great way to start 2024!

It is the story of a female con artist who works for a Mr Smith - he provides her with an alias and new identity at the start of each job; this time she is Evie Porter. Evie is enjoying her latest job as girlfriend to Ryan Sumner a little too much and a real future with him is an appealing prospect - but she is on thin ice with Mr Smith, her last job not having gone to plan, so she needs to keep her head in the game ….

There is so much to love about this book - the way in which the plot unfolds, with twists that keep coming and keep the reader on their toes and, if you’re like me, frequently blindsided, and a cast of characters none of whom you can really figure out so have no idea who to believe or who to trust. And in Evie, Elston has created a great main character - moving between her past and present we get to know her and understand what a complex character she is, undoubtedly morally grey but with so much to like about her that you find yourself unexpectedly rooting for her despite her profession.

I do think this is a book worth going into relatively blind so I don’t want to say too much about the plot. But if you are looking for a fun read that will take you on a wild ride and keep you guessing right to the end, then the sooner you read it the better!