Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Such Charming Liars

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus

10 reviews

styxx's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

mahi_nad's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

3.5 stars

“Things'll get worse before they get better.”
That's a quote from One of Us is Lying, and oh boy, is it true.

REVIEW:
Going into Such Charming Liars, I wasn’t expecting too much, especially after my experience with One of Us is Lying. But this book really surprised me. While I anticipated some of the twists, a few of them caught me so off guard that I had to put the book down just to process what happened. Even though I saw some of the reveals coming, others hit with enough force to make the story feel gripping and unexpected. And the characters' trauma? Dang, that hit hard. This book definitely upped my personal view of McManus and her books.
And the characters' trauma? That hit deep. Especially Jamie's. This book definitely elevated my opinion of McManus and her writing.

The only issue I had was the pacing—it was all over the place. It started off slow, then suddenly, BAM, it throws unexpected twists at you. I was also hoping for more from the heist aspect of the book. I wanted a real heist, you know? While it's understandable since it's primarily a murder mystery, I would've loved to see more of those classic heist elements.

BOTTOM LINE:
Fun murder mystery, good plot twists

AGE RATING:
12+

Content Warnings

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

This book feels different from McManus's other books, and I think it might actually be my favorite of hers this far. There are still lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing as you delve into the mystery, and I liked the heist aspect of the story. It was well-developed and made for an interesting plot.

Fans of McManus will definitely enjoy her latest installment.

Content Warnings

velkeyta's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Karen M. McManus NEVER misses, I was so invested.

Content Warnings

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I guess when people are “tools,” all that matters is what they can do for you.

Karen McManus, the queen of young adult mysteries, is back with a mystery that is quite different from her other books. The whole plot isn’t wrapped around a murder. *gasp* Instead, we have an Ocean’s Eleven type book, which is really becoming my favorite type of mystery to read these days.

Cast of Characters:

Kat: a teenager who isn’t supposed to be following her mom’s last heist job but figured out a way to smuggle herself there regardless.
Jamie: Kat’s mother who is a jewel thief but wants out. She agrees to do this last job and then she’s cleaning herself up.
Ross Sutherland: the billionaire who is having a birthday party. Scene of the jewel heist.
Luke: A con man who makes up sob stories about him and his “young” son to get money out of unsuspecting women. Has his romantic claws in Ross Sutherland’s daughter. Was married to Jamie for 48 hours.
Liam: Luke’s teenage son who hates everything about Luke but ends up at the birthday party of Ross Sutherland so he can meet the new woman his father is interested in.

All of these characters end up in the same location one weekend. When a member of the Sutherland family ends up dead, no one knows who to trust. Jamie is sick and Kat doesn’t know who she can trust and the only person she feels she can turn to is Liam. Can she trust him?

While this was different from McManus’ other mystery books, I did still enjoy it. As expected with McManus, there were plenty of twists and turns so I wasn’t sure how things were going to pan out. I personally also enjoyed there were only two POVs to keep track of - sometimes I can get lost when there’s more than three characters telling the story. For whatever reason in this story I couldn’t keep everyone’s names straight so I kept mixing up who was who. That definitely impacted my enjoyment of the book. I do think teenagers are going to enjoy this book!

Content Warnings

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is one of her better ones! I found it less predictable, but I'm sure some people saw the main villain coming, I didn't however. There were enough villains that it was hard to tell who was truly evil and who wasn't.

There was a diversity in sexuality, with one bi/pan character, and one gay main character. But no diversity in the race of the characters, who were all white.

Overall, I found it enjoyable, though a bit darker than the author's other books. The MCs were likable but a lot of the lesser characters weren't.

Narrator(s) Rating: 4.5 stars

The narrators did an excellent job. They could have used a bit more vocal differences to characters for a 5-star rating.

Content Warnings

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Kat and Liam are very entertaining, and I love Augustus interacting with their dynamic. For a while, pieces of the plans feel too convenient, but McManus ties it together in a believable way with the master reveal. The story leans almost too far into the trope of removing adults from the playing field. Without that removal, though, everything would happen too quickly and messes would not develop into the intricate excitement that overtakes Kat and Liam's lives. Learning at least partial fates of some players is great. I do wish the ending provided more than wonder at the fate of someone key to the whole puzzle and how Kat and Liam ultimately move on. They are teens who could be unclear on life anyway.

Content Warnings

bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Karen McManus writes, I read. Simple as that.

Content Warnings

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

If you’re looking for a YA mystery with a heist, dark lies and secrets worth killing for then this one might be for you!

The first 20% of the story is a bit slow since the author wants to introduce the key players to the readers and how they’re going to be connected to one another.

However, things will get a lot more interesting once the mystery starts with a sound of gun shot in a middle of a party…

This story is told in dual POV from the main characters – Liam and Kat.

At times, Liam appears too innocent to be involved in a heist, while Kat is the complete opposite of him - she’s reckless but also highly intelligent in a life or death situation.

But, that’s what makes them both interesting main characters for this story and despite how different they are and haven’t seen each other in years, they clicked and treat each other like family instantly.

The last few chapters are quite intense as the puzzle pieces started to come together, twist upon twist are thrown which can be quite overwhelming so I have to read it slowly to understand all of it.

But, I have to admit the last twist manage to surprise me real good!

Overall, it’s an enjoyable and entertaining mystery read with a satisfying ending.

This is not the first time I read a book by this author and won’t be the last, I’m looking forward to read more books in the future.

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tour, Netgalley, author and publisher for giving me an e-ARC of the book and for having me on this book tour. I’m leaving this review voluntarily!

Content Warnings

livinthestacks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Kat and Liam were step siblings for all of 48 hours when they were kids. Their parents’ Vegas marriage ended as abruptly and dramatically as it started but neither have forgotten their time together. Years later, Kat’s mom is a thief for a living but promises this one last job is it and then she and Kat can live a normal life. Liam’s stuck with his conman dad after his mom died and he tags along to a family gathering of his new (rich) girlfriend to keep an eye on him. Not one of them was expecting to run into each other on the sprawling Sutherland estate—and nobody was expecting the murder of a Sutherland either.

Nothing beats flopping down on the couch and finishing a Karen McManus in two sittings. SUCH CHARMING LIARS was everything you love in a McManus book: thrill, challenging mystery (I only figured out 1 twist before it happened!), infuriating yet lovable characters, and all the sassy banter. The sibling dynamic between Kat and Liam was fun and I’m glad it was the main relationship focus (though the romantic subplot was a major plus). The heist as the original driving mystery was a refreshing change of pace - but you know it’s not a McManus without a murder thrown in as well!

Content Warnings

More...