Reviews

The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen

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bookaddictpnw's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

a_stylish_bookworm's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I am fan of Bowen's romances and loved her first domestic thriller. I could not put this one down, the premise of the story about receiving a text from someone you loved and is dead is chilling and Ariel's story of figuring out what happened with Drew. I love all the twists and turns and the multiple POV. The reference to Toy Story was fun too. Buzz was such a cute kid and added some light heartiness to the story. I felt the ending was a bit rush and there were some pieces that I wanted more wrapped up. All the 3 narrators did a phenomenal job and kept me engrossed.

hammock_and_read's review

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5.0

I couldn’t put it down and hope we get more of Bowne’s thrillers in the future. This one is super relevant right now and after so many grad school readings of Foucault and others, I was already anti-camera but this put the nail on that coffin. I loved that the story was Ariel's present POV and Drew's POV from five years ago, so you get both POVs but understand how it all happened. It has romance woven in but light and doesn’t overtake the thriller part. It’s super fast paced with romance, mystery, crime, murder, and more mystery.

Thank you, bibliolifestyle harperperennial