Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by obsidian_blue
Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
Not too much to say about this one, it's honestly a 3.5 star read, but I don't round up on my reviews anymore and just let you all know, this is not a 4 star read, but definitely not a 3 star read. I think parts of this worked really well, and others not so much. For me, I think it would have worked better if you had followed only Dani (current wife) versus Kim (ex-wife). That would have made the book flow so much better throughout and when you get to the reveals and what happened, then you can added in other characters such as Orlaith. I honestly thought the character of Mikayla didn't need to be included as a separate point of view, but Cox did include her and I found it puzzling we did not get a final point of view for her though we did get one for everyone else. I thought that was a hiccup at the end that I wish had been addressed.
"Party of Liars" follows the day before and day of Sophie Matthews's 16th birthday in Texas. The book starts off though with a tale of the home where a "Mother" grieves over the loss of her child almost 100 years ago. And now the Matthews's family that consists of Dani, her husband Ethan, and their daughter Charlotte live there.
Dani is stressed about an "incident" and making sure her stepdaughter Sophie has a great birthday. Kim is angry over a lot of things that occurred in her marriage, but most importantly losing the house that was such a part of her identity.
Orlaith is Dani's nanny and Mikayla is Sophie's childhood best friend. The book follows the three women and teenager through the day of the party. We get interludes here and there to let us know that something "tragic" occurred and the police are investigating. The entire book is just a countdown to whatever this incident was and you wondering who if any of these women and teen could potentially be the victim(s).
As I said above, if the book had just followed Dani and Kim it would have worked better. I think because it jumped so much between the four women and there was a huge Gothic vibe to it (which didn't get fully explored at all) the whole book felt erratic at times. I don't know if Cox wanted this to be a straight thriller or what at times.
The setting of this soulless house of glass just didn't feel very realistic to me though. I just can't imagine a house that is fully glass at one side in Texas. It didn't even sound like something that would make sense in that part of the country. I could see doing something like this in CA though.
I said in one of the updates to this book I thought the ending was very good and I still agree with that. I didn't see the reveals that we got coming at all and I even went back to re-read some things that came before. As I said above though, I wish that we had gotten Mikayla's point of view since we got everyone else's in the end.
Not too much to say about this one, it's honestly a 3.5 star read, but I don't round up on my reviews anymore and just let you all know, this is not a 4 star read, but definitely not a 3 star read. I think parts of this worked really well, and others not so much. For me, I think it would have worked better if you had followed only Dani (current wife) versus Kim (ex-wife). That would have made the book flow so much better throughout and when you get to the reveals and what happened, then you can added in other characters such as Orlaith. I honestly thought the character of Mikayla didn't need to be included as a separate point of view, but Cox did include her and I found it puzzling we did not get a final point of view for her though we did get one for everyone else. I thought that was a hiccup at the end that I wish had been addressed.
"Party of Liars" follows the day before and day of Sophie Matthews's 16th birthday in Texas. The book starts off though with a tale of the home where a "Mother" grieves over the loss of her child almost 100 years ago. And now the Matthews's family that consists of Dani, her husband Ethan, and their daughter Charlotte live there.
Dani is stressed about an "incident" and making sure her stepdaughter Sophie has a great birthday. Kim is angry over a lot of things that occurred in her marriage, but most importantly losing the house that was such a part of her identity.
Orlaith is Dani's nanny and Mikayla is Sophie's childhood best friend. The book follows the three women and teenager through the day of the party. We get interludes here and there to let us know that something "tragic" occurred and the police are investigating. The entire book is just a countdown to whatever this incident was and you wondering who if any of these women and teen could potentially be the victim(s).
As I said above, if the book had just followed Dani and Kim it would have worked better. I think because it jumped so much between the four women and there was a huge Gothic vibe to it (which didn't get fully explored at all) the whole book felt erratic at times. I don't know if Cox wanted this to be a straight thriller or what at times.
The setting of this soulless house of glass just didn't feel very realistic to me though. I just can't imagine a house that is fully glass at one side in Texas. It didn't even sound like something that would make sense in that part of the country. I could see doing something like this in CA though.
I said in one of the updates to this book I thought the ending was very good and I still agree with that. I didn't see the reveals that we got coming at all and I even went back to re-read some things that came before. As I said above though, I wish that we had gotten Mikayla's point of view since we got everyone else's in the end.