Rating- 3/10
I’d like to give a shout out to Forge Books for providing me with an advance review copy of this suspense read. I always love to read a suspense read each month as I am a huge mystery lover and I was totally in the mood for it after my previous read. The First to Lie came out on the 4th August, 2020.
The Plot:
After a devastating betrayal, a young woman sets off an obsessive path to justice, even if it costs a family it’s deepest darkest secrets. What the woman doesn’t know is that she’s not the only one plotting her revenge.
We follow an affluent daughter of privilege. A glamorous wannabe. A determined reporter in too deep. A grieving widow who must choose her own reality, and among these women, who will be the first to lie? When the stakes are life and death, do a few lies really matter?
We all have our reasons for being who we are but what if being someone else could get you what you want?
My Review:
Well well. Where do I begin.. As you can already tell from my rating, I honestly did not gel very well with this book. It wasn’t one of my favorite reads at all. I have to be honest. Let me begin with what I tolerated about this ‘suspense’ read.
I do have to give credit to the writer for the choice of location in this book. I liked that the book was based in Boston, MA as well as Maryland. Being an east coast gal, I did think that Ryan definitely captured the brutally cold and buzzing atmosphere of a winter in Boston. Let’s say that I found the descriptions quite visual which was nice. I also actually respected the fact that this book dealt a lot with infertility, and how women can struggle with conceiving which a lot of books don’t cover too often. I appreciated that from the author. That being said, that’s about all that I liked about this read you guys.
From the very beginning of this book right up until the end, I completely and utterly struggled majorly hard to get into or even through this book! It’s probably why it took me so long to read it. I frankly wasn’t interested in it at all. I found the writing to be quite boring and I felt detached from the writing style, as well as from all of the characters in the book. Maybe the fact that they were all so privileged irked me a little. Strange though, because I have read a lot of books that have high society characters, such as Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriarty, and Lipstick Jungle by Candice Bushnell, and many more. Something about this book just rubbed me the wrong way. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters in any way. I felt quite removed from them therefore, causing me to not be invested in any of their struggles or lives. Maybe it’s to do with the writing style and the actual plot of the book. I just found it all to be not believable in any way.
I have to say that I have read a lot of psychological thrillers, mystery, suspense, crime, you name it. I have definitely delved into this genre y’all. I love me some suspense!! But when I got to the end of the book, and saw what the big suspense scene was?? Oh god. I just couldn’t deal. It was the most unbelievable ending I’ve read in a long while. It simply wasn’t a believable story to me. I get what Ryan was trying to do, but it was so far fetched that I couldn’t be shocked in any way, also I figured out the plot before it had even happened. That rarely every happens to be because I’m the most gullible reader ever! Shame. The book dragged on and on and I found the length to be unnecessarily long for no reason, it could have definitely been a shorter read.
I really wanted to like this book!! So much! But in the end it was a bit of a let down for me. I’ve already forgotten about it. Not a good sign when a book doesn’t stick to your memory. It lacked substance, gripping characters, the writing style did nothing for me and it felt inadequate. That being said, this book has received some pretty good reviews from Goodreads, so this is honestly just what I personally thought of the book. You could definitely give it a shot and let me know what you think! There is always something good to take away from each read. For me it was the setting as well as bringing awareness to infertility to women.
Song Pick:
I wanted to pick a song about secrets and deceit. My song pick for this read is - 'Secrets by The Pierces. This song also happens to be the theme song for the TV show 'Pretty Little Liars', a teen mystery-thriller show. Totally fits in with the whole elitist vibe of the story!
Genre: Suspense | Mystery | Thriller
Publication Date: August 4, 2020