Another great twisty YA thriller from Karen McManus.

McManus is great at suspense and intrigue, and this story with dual POV doesn't disappoint.

A murder among the rich and elite, a party with hidden agendas, a jewel thief and a con man...and then there's their kids, who are smarter than they look.

This book was an absolute whirlwind. Just when I thought the story was winding down, another twist would throw everything into chaos, making it tough to keep track of all the developments.

That said, the writing is superb. Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed at times, I was never bored. Confused? Definitely. But not once did I lose interest. Some plotlines seemed designed purely for dramatic impact and then were wrapped up rather quickly, but overall, the book was a lot of fun. I tore through it in a single sitting.

I have to say, even though I don't typically gravitate towards YA, this author is an exception. She crafts such engaging stories that I barely even notice the genre. Her work is the perfect palette cleanser between heavier reads.

Oh wow, that was a twisty twisted ride. Not like her other books which I loved, this one, in my opinion is not as good.. still very much worthy of a read. 4/5

Great to have a new Karen McManus book to share with YA readers. I know it will go down well and it's a definite page turner!

Was really messy. I really struggled to follow along with what was going on. Couldn't keep track of the characters, particularly the Sutherlands. The plot twist was predictable but didn't feel well thought out. It just wasn't entertaining overall. I wasn't invested in a single one of the characters and just spent the whole book feeling confused and like I was trying to catch up.

This book was just pure chaos. every time I thought the book was wrapping up another plot twist would happen and that happened multiple times and it was hard to keep up with as to what was happening.

this being said, the writing was fantastic and while being overwhelmed i was never bored, confused, yes but never bored.
Certain plot lines were written for dramatic affect then had a hasty ending.
but they book was enjoyable and i managed to read it in one sitting as i flew through it

This book is intended to be the story of a heist, but there is a lot more going on here. The main characters are Kat, a 16 year old and her mother Jamie. They haven't had a great life so far, but Jamie is working for Gem, who has a cleaning business which is a front for being a jewel thief. Jamie wants to go straight, so swapping a ruby necklace from a rich heiress is going to be her last case. Kat tags along, though that was not the original intention. When her mother becomes ill, she tries to replace her and in the process witnesses the murder of a family member. She also meets up with her ex stepbrother, Liam. The book is told from Kat and Liam's point of view.
There is a lot going on in this book though the action and pace is up and down, sometimes too slow moving. Also lots of characters and although the 3 teenagers are well portrayed and likeable,, most of the adults could do with more depth. I also thought that Jamie was too naive and trusting given what she has been doing (jewel theft) for the last 12 years. There are lots of twists and turns in the book and I am still not sure about the credibility of what was behind the murder. It was a fairly entertaining read though.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

As someome who has been a Karen M. McManus fan for around 4 years now, 4 books binged when I first discovered her and 4 highly anticipated and read upon release, I always get excited when I see she has a new book out and Such Charming Liars was no exception.

Such Charming Liars follows Kat and Liam, whose parents were briefly married for 48 hours and realise that may not be the only thing they have in common when things go wrong and someone dies at billionaire Ross Sutherland's birthday party.

This definitely had a different feel to Karen M. McManus's previous books which have felt a lot more contemporary with characters who you feel like you could meet on the street, and while Kat does have the same realness to her nobody is bumping into her the same way they are Bronwyn and Nate. Saying this though it still had the other key elements I have come to associate with her books - characters you can't trust nor rule out, a plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat and twists that are well foreshadowed so looking back they don't surprise you but you still can't predict them.

Something else that I really liked about this book was getting both the POV's of Kat and Liam and with that feeling like you really did get to know them, who they were and what impacted them. It was interesting to see their relationships with their parents, how similar things happened but the reactions and consequences were completely different and also how they felt their relationship as siblings was developing.

I think that compared to the speed of the rest of the book the ending does have a very different pace with maybe around twice as much happening in the same number of pages and I think that if it had slowed down a wee bit so still a faster pace but not quite as fast it might have finished the story off nicer.

Overall this was a really enjoyable Karen M. McManus book even if it doesn't hold up as well compared to some of her other books that are just so fantastically done. I am glad to have read it but I do hope with her next book we are back to more of what I would typically expect from one of her books, as I just enjoy that type of story more. However if she goes in a completely different direction again, I won't ne complaining abd instead interested fo see how she does it.

19. Such Charming Liars by Karen McManus

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I particularly liked Kat and Liam’s characters but I never felt entirely invested in the plot.

💎 jewellery heist goes wrong
💎 long lost family / friends
💎 lies, deceit and chaos

Karen McManus got me into reading in 2017 and she has been an auto buy author for me since! I LOVE her books and the twists throughout. I loved all of the characters and the short chapters. This book was so easy to read and I loved the dual POV.

Sixteen-year-old Kat and seventeen-year-old Liam have more in common than the fact that they were step-sibling for forty-eight hours when their parents married in Las Vegas and then quickly divorced twelve years earlier. Kat’s mother is a thief, while Liam’s father is a con-man and they are both headed to the birthday party of billionaire Ross Sutherland. For Kat’s mother, this is her last job before retiring as a thief and starting a new normal life as an accountant. The plan is to infiltrate the party as a waitress to steal a ruby necklace.

Liam’s father has his eyes on Annalise Sutherland, Ross’s daughter, and has been invited to the party as his boyfriend. Following his mother’s death six months earlier, Liam has been living with his father, doing his best to protect the women he tries to con, so he tags along to the party to make sure that Annalise doesn’t become another one of his victims. Things take a turn for the worse when one of the Sutherlands turns up murdered and someone seems to be after Kat’s mother. As things take an unexpected turn, it seems that Kat and Liam can only trust each other.

Karen M. McManus is back with another smart and gripping YA novel. The story is told from the perspective of the two protagonists, and, even though I didn’t agree with many of the decisions Kat made, I adored the character of Liam. Kind, sweet, not-able-to-lie Liam was my favourite character and, as the story progresses, I started to like more the character of Kat who would do anything to protect her mother, including foolish and dangerous decisions.

Such Charming Liars is fast-paced, addictive, and well-developed and it’s the perfect read for all YA readers!

Another excellent book from McManus, with all of her typical drama, wit and intrigue. Having read several of her books, I guessed one of the main twists, but still a very enjoyable read. 3.5 rounded up

**advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***
Another enjoyable novel from Karen McManus. I still think that her One of Us Is Lying plot twist can’t be beaten, and is worthy of inclusion alongside Agatha Christie, but this is a decent book too.
A slight deviation from her more usual settings in the form of a heist, there’s no filler here and the plot explodes from one page to the next - it’s pretty unputdownable.

Teenager Kat and her mom, Jamie, had a tough start to family life. With Kat's father behind bars for a vicious attack on Jamie, and a short-lived marriage to charming but useless Luke behind them, they have spent 12 years living with, and Jamie working for, a criminal mastermind and jewel thief. But now Jamie is determined to go clean, with just one last job to complete.

But when they arrive at the palatial country estate in Maine, they're shocked to find Luke - and his teenage son Liam - already there.

I loved Such Charming Liars, which is a fun YA take on the classic grifter trope with twists galore. Kat and Liam made for strong protagonists who the reader roots for throughout, even (or perhaps especially) when they're making some dubious choices. A highly recommended YA thriller for summer.

This book was many things. It was a chaotic heist where pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, it was a murder mystery and its a story about family and abuse and running from your past.

I love McManus’s characters. There’s always a plucky heroine trying to not get herself, or in this case her mother, arrested. I loved her relationship with Liam and how they were essentially siblings, despite having not spent a lot of time in each other’s lives, that bond was still there, formed over one night lost in Las Vegas.

I just completely loved the chaos of this book. I didn’t know what was going to happen next because it was so hard to predict. While I got a bit annoyed at Kat for treating Jamie like a child sometimes, I could see that it was a character progression and something that they had to get through as a family.

Strongly recommend this book.

I was so thrilled to receive an e-arc of the newest book from one of my all time favourite authors, and of course it did not disappoint!!

This book felt very different to some of Karen’s other books, but still had the same amount of mystery and twists and thrill that I love from her books! I never knew what was going to happen next or how the ending was going to turn out, and I was definitely constantly shocked with every thing that was revealed along the way.

There were so many complicated characters, who were all a bit messed up, and they all connected in some way or another, which really helped in the slow unveiling of what really happened.

I loved both Kat and Liam’s POV, and getting to read both of their thoughts about the mystery and trying to figure out the truth. I really liked reading about Kat’s relationship with her mum Jamie, and seeing how it progressed throughout the book, and how they got closer. It was also interesting to read about Liam’s relationship with his dad Luke, but the main thing I enjoyed about Liam’s POV was his interactions with Augustus, and seeing the relationship develop, because I always love a hint of romance in every book I read!

I did feel like the ending was a little bit abrupt, but maybe that is just me being selfish and not wanting the book to end! Overall, this book was 100% one of my favourites from Karen and I definitely recommend it, and all of her books to any mystery book lover!

Had me totally addicted , and I just sat for hours turning the pages, as there was no way I could put it down until the very end… thrilling read, this book is an absolute must-read , it’s just too good to miss.

Something a little different to Karen M McManus' usual mysteries, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a fun family dynamic with Kat and her mum, an emotional storyline for Liam and his, and a really nice relationship to watch develop between Kat and Jamie.
Plenty of twists and turns, and an excellent outcome.

4.5 ⭐️

enjoyed a McManus’s thriller after so long. this was so much better than i expected it to be. seeing teenagers acting like teenagers, instead of grown-up adults who act like they can solve world problems, was refreshing!!

i liked the plot. it had so many actions that i couldn’t stop reading. all the red herrings kept me engaged. even the twist was good.

as for the characters, all the three main characters were likeable. loved loved the siblings' relationship ❤︎

thanks to the publishers and netgalley for the copy!

There is a reason I love all Karen McManus books - you cannot put them down. I was not sure T the beginning of this one but as ever the story draws you in and hits you with the twists and turns
Already ordered for the library a must read!!!