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bombshellbibliophile 's review for:
First Lie Wins
by Ashley Elston
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow! I loved this novel. Give me romance and undercover spying any day. When I read the insert I honestly didn’t expect the book to be this good but I was more intrigued when I saw it was a Reese’s Book Club pick (not that that is always a determining factor for me though). Okay, where to start? First the cover did its thing by drawing me in, so shout out to designers Lynn Buckley and Nason Ramirez!
I loved the characters- specifically, Evie, Devon, and Ryan. All the others also never felt annoying or extremely dislikable to me, which is nice.
Sometimes the back and forth narrative between different points in time came be tricky but I was never confused. I enjoyed unwrapping Evie’s history because it was helping place the puzzle pieces together for the current debacle of the plot, it wasn’t just filler. There was purpose to it, and it was written very well. I was never confused or annoyed about it once.
Once the plot opens up it’s a complete page turner and once you halfway in the book- forget about it, you’re finishing it same day! There were many twists I didn’t see coming at all and I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped at least twice. As a reader, I felt very satisfied with end and there were ZERO plot holes. It just gave me all the feels, which I love. Sometimes mystery/thriller authors focus so much on the shock value they don’t really care about how the characters end up (or they do but fail to deliver that well), and I didn’t feel that way at all with this book 🫶🏼. It was the best of both worlds, great shocks and great ending.
For an adult debut, Ashley Easton really did her thing with this novel. I can’t wait to continue reading what she has in store next!
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness