Sarina Bowen's The Five Year Lie is a chilling thriller, centred around single mum Ariel seeking the truth about what happened five years ago when the love of her life Drew disappeared, and whether she can trust anyone or anything she has been told.

When Ariel receives a text message from Drew, five years after he disappeared and is believed dead, everything she held true is suddenly in question. With help from a new friend, she delves into a complex world of secrets, frightening abuses of power and the sinister misuse of technology. As the lies begin to unravel, Ariel must look to her own safety and that of her young son.

I have loved Sarina Bowen's romance books for a while and was excited to see her move to the thriller genre - this is certainly more thriller with just a dash of romance. I read The Five Year Lie on the edge of my seat and enjoyed all the twists as they came, despite identifying one of the 'bad guys' right upfront I underestimated the situation's complexity and got everyone's involvement wrong! I was glad to see there were 'grey' characters, and not everyone was morally black and white. I would have welcomed a more subtle ending but overall I loved The Five Year Lie and can't wait to see what else Sarina Bowen produces in this genre.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dialogue Books for the review copy, this is my honest opinion.

I love including the digital world in books, it makes it more current and real. For me this book had it all, elements of romance, mistrust and twists / turns.

I love mysteries and this sounded like it would be right up my alley, so I was stoked to receive an arc for this book.

I found the premise of the story to be very intriguing. Ariel receives a mysterious text from her dead boyfriend's old number, asking her to meet him. Confused and shocked by this message, Ariel sets out to uncover what’s going on, and the story takes off from there.

Unfortunately, it didn’t really deliver though, imo. The beginning was slow and a bit messy, which made it kind of hard to get into. I was still interested to find out what happened to Drew and where the story was going, but the pacing was so slow, I kept getting bored. Also, I just never really cared about any of the characters, they felt one-dimensional, and therefore the stakes were kind of low for me.

All in all, it was an easy read once I got past the first few chapters, but I think this story would have benefitted from being way shorter, 432 pages weren’t necessary to tell this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a twisty thriller with secrets and mystery. Narrated in Dual timeline; Past and Present while many unthinkable things happened and suspense was good. The plot twists were unpredictable and truth was shocking. The characters were mysterious. It is filled with mystery, secrets, suspense, romance and revenge. The book is fast paced. The ending was unpredictable.

Drew Died five years ago and Ariel is a single mother now, she has a four year old child. But after five years, she receives a text from him, it all seems to be a deceiving web of secrets, lies and hidden truths. The more she dig into Drew’s past and gather information about him, the more secrets unfolds.Drew ended the relationship with Ariel abruptly some years ago but the next second she could figure out her future. It was devastating. So many unthinkable things happened. The least she expected from people to hide something or keep secrets, the more secrets they kept. The truth is twisted and all the unthinkable happenings kept me on the edge. The suspense was good and mystery was too deep. Truth was twisted and ending has some good plot twists.

Many Thanks to the publisher and Author.

The Five Year Lie is a different style of book from this author, a suspense thriller which is certainly full of mystery and secrets.
Drew an army veteran has joined a security firm that produces and installs doorbell cameras, the firm is owned by two brothers the main boss being the father of Ariel who also works for the company. Drew is on a mission as he suspects the company of nefarious practices. He starts a secret romance with Ariel but suddenly disappears from her life, she is left pregnant, not knowing how to contact him and then devastated when she reads Drew’s obituary. Five years on Ariel suddenly receives a text off Drew asking her to meet him, even knowing he is supposedly dead she turns up but he doesn’t.
Realising that all is not as it seems in her now deceased Fathers company with the help of a colleague she unearths all manner of unsavoury and criminal practices.
The characters are all well described and have good depth, the suspense keeps up throughout the book and this becomes a real page turner. It slips back and forth easily into Drew’s back story and Ariel’s present.
I enjoyed it immensely and have now disabled the camera on my doorbell!
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

4 stars.
I was so excited to pick this up. I love suspense novels and I love Sarina Bowen, so I knew it would be a winner for me.
It was easy to get engrossed in The Five Year Lie, and it kept me page turning. I really liked the characters and it was not obvious at all to me who the good or the bad guys were to begin with. Buzz was especially very cute. I’m a sucker for kids in fiction, and I very much liked the way that Ariel changed when she became a mother. She was a little too hard for me at the start.
If anything, I wish there’d been slightly more romance. The time line of the book meant I wanted to see more of the last 15% of the book. I’d love an extended epilogue Sarina!
Judging by the other Bowen books I’ve read, I personally have a mild preference for her lighter romances. She is very funny and has a great writing style and I did miss some of that in this darker, twisty thriller, although her stellar writing was there and the banter between characters was witty and sharp.
Many thanks to the publisher for an advanced reading copy in exchange for a free and honest review!

when ariel gets a text from her dead ex partner, drew miller… is he alive or is it all fake ….

as the story switches from drews perspective before his death…to ariel in the present day. who hopes to work out the mystery behind drew’s strange death. the reader cannot help but want to know more.

the book is filled with romance yet has a technological thriller aspect which is easily digestible. it’s filled with twists and turns which makes you trust, absolutely no-one.

this a page turning tale of lies, deciept, mystery and heartbreak.

The depth of character growth and development throughout the novel is truly outstanding. And becoming lost in this book is really easy. I loved the characters and everything in between!