1.02k reviews for:

The Five Year Lie

Sarina Bowen

3.85 AVERAGE

aphe's review

4.0

mysterious medium-paced

bookishbillijean's review

3.5

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𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 3.5/5 ⭐️ 

 

The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen is a thriller following Ariel after the tragic loss of the father of her son and a strange conspiracy five years later. Ariel met Drew and she thought it was love but then he suddenly disappears. Five years later she gets a disturbing text from him! 

 

I had a hard time getting into this one. The prologue was intriguing the premise was good but it felt kind of slow for me. I kept waiting for something to happen I feel like. The different timelines were interesting. I liked that it gave us a glimpse into the past. 

 

The POV in the villain was a nice touch. It definitely kept you guessing on who it could have been! The last 75 pages or so were really fast-paced and I felt like everything was just happening bam bam. I did enjoy the ending! Thought it was fitting. 

 

Overall a sweet thriller. I say sweet because it didn’t really cause me any panic and was easy to read but it didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat. 

christy33's review

4.0

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

vic95's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

bookish_kaydragon's review

3.25

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

alessandrams's review against another edition

3.25

mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Eh.

kfreitas's review

3.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

readsleeprepeat_pl's review

3.0

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I want to start with stating that this was not really a thriller, more like a romance story with some mystery added in. The writing was good but the pacing was very slow. I actually had to get an audiobook to finish it.
Overall it was just ok - too slow for a thriller and not romantic enough for a romance.

Thank you Harper Paperbacks and the author for a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

karyn178's review

3.5

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

busybees's review

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stupid millennial language; describing coffee add ins and said there were "hipster options" like
oatmilk?? grow up