Listen for the Lie

I had heard good things about this book and decided to pick it up and it was not exactly what I thought it would be.

Much of the book was funnier than I was expecting. The small-town drama was fun to hear about, especially in the interviews. The was a good amount of wit and snark to keep me entertained. On the other hand, the main character could at times be too snarky that she became annoying.

The book for me was mostly positive as it was an interesting and enjoyable read but the mystery was not that great. The amnesia plot point was not done well enough in this story and was quite the drag at the end of the book. It pulled you out of the intrigue when the main character doesn’t try anything to get her memories back but then they just come back so conveniently. As well something I didn’t like and that truly felt out of place was the romance in the book. This wasn’t needed and was annoying to read.

I wasn’t happy with the end. Conveniently regaining her memories, everyone trying to cover things up to help but making it worse, and that everyone believed a person with an obviously washy story over their own daughter/spouse.

This was an enjoyable read but not a good mystery. I would be interested to see what else the author has written.

The audiobook for this is amazing. I will say the short chapters that are only one scene at a time, did get kind of annoying in the beginning as I wanted the story to move faster, but once I got into it, I was IN. I disliked pretty much all the characters, but the mystery is what kept me reading.

the final chapter december 2024 bookclub pick: https://www.patreon.com/daijahsbookworld

this is a highly enjoyable, quick-paced mystery with a charismatic, snarky narrator that makes it a breeze to read. the short chapters and accessible writing style keep things moving, and lucy’s humor adds a lightness to the darker elements of the story. it’s definitely easy to get into, and i understand why it’s so popular.

however, while i enjoyed it, the mystery itself didn’t feel particularly fresh or groundbreaking. the stakes felt a bit low throughout—there wasn’t much urgency, and i never really felt the tension or danger that usually makes a thriller exciting. the "big reveal" comes quite late, at 91%, which means the book meanders a bit with romantic drama and lucy’s memory struggles before things pick up. though i was entertained, it never truly surprised me.

on a positive note, the book does an excellent job portraying the emotional complexity of domestic violence. it delves into the trauma victims experience, the conflicting emotions they face, and how abuse can be passed down through families. this aspect felt real and added a meaningful layer to the story.

I really enjoyed this one. The inner monologue of Lucy was hilarious at times. Lucy's no nonsense character drew me in to binge read this. The audiobook is highly recommended for “Listen for the Lie”.

As a woman, I'm not surprised. As a reader, I was so surprised. I kept guessing all the way to the end. I'm obsessed with Grandma Beverly and I so want to be friends with her.

The audio narrations were so good. There were times I forgot I was listening to a fictional story. I would definitely recommend listening to the audiobook for this read!

Final rating: 4 stars ✨

I found this one very tedious and disappointing for three reasons: 1) the “intrusive thoughts” are annoying, 2) the main character has revelations at an unrealistic pace, and 3) the sexual choices of all the women in the book are ridiculous (sexual violence is almost normalized).

Thankfully, Audible allowed me to return this one.

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately I didn’t. I kept hearing that the best way to read this book is through an audiobook, which I completely agree with. The podcast portions of the book sounded like an actual podcast. However, as I was listening I would be thinking this would be a real drag to read as a regular book. The story didn’t really move well as you went through the book.

The biggest issue I had was that too many of the characters exhibited the same behaviors. There were multiple characters with abusive behaviors and multiple characters with promiscuous behaviors.

The inner voice of the main character was a bit annoying for a little more than half the book, with the repetitive “kill, kill, kill” thoughts. Also for me the casual talk about killing someone came off as so unrealistic.

My favorite character in the book was the grandma. I love a gives no fu*ks drunk grandma.

I am sad to say I can not recommend this book.

I thought this would be a generic sort of mystery, but I was seeing it everywhere so I thought I'd pick it up. I loved it. I laughed out loud and cried! It was wild and unexpected, but not fully unbelievable. There were times when I felt the honesty was too much. Lucy was who we all are.

A fun light read. Humorous, fast paced, mix of a crime novel and love story.

3.5 stars.

Quick and easy to get through but kind of cringey at points. Enjoyed the podcast elements.

I was so surprised by the ending! I liked the way the author made so many people suspicious. I liked the inclusion of the podcast. It provided several little details that exposed so many secrets because almost everyone is awful! The set up makes it seem like there is no way there could be a realistic explanation as to how this happened and was covered up. But Tintera does a great job filling this town with secretive, selfish people, so by the end it seems completely possible for this all to have happened.

I'm not usually one for writing reviews, but this book made want to do so! GoodReads nudged me, and I'm glad it did. From the start, I was hooked. Lucy skipped town under a cloud of suspicion for offing her best friend Savannah. But her granny's cunning bait got her back. Her homecoming? A tornado of old pals, past romances, and a dashing podcaster stirring the crime pot. The real killer was hidden until the eleventh hour, despite my gut feeling (which drives my wife nuts, by the way). The podcast twist? Chef's kiss. If this is a genre you enjoy, you're in for a treat. Almost slipped my mind – post-murder, Lucy's new hobby was hearing voices with a penchant for the macabre, making her doubt her innocence amidst a foggy memory. What a ride!

I read this book, but I think listening to the audiobook may have given me a richer experience of the story. A podcast is at the heart of the novel and the perspective alternates between the first person narration of the protagonist and the podcast episodes which are being publicly released as the story progresses. It's an engaging mystery which hinges on lost memories and the protagonist not knowing whether she murdered her friend. While some elements of the story feel realistic, some characters and the town itself feel over the top and fantastical. Keeping this in mind, it's a quick read and compelling illustration of how trauma causes lost memories through disassociation - and how others may "gaslight" the traumatized for malevolent ends. Sounds heavy, yet the novel has a sense of humor and self-deprecating awareness which keeps it entertaining too.

Definitely an easy/fast read and I appreciated the twist but it felt a little rushed and not actually solved and I didn't like that

This book was so much more fun than I thought. I assumed it was going to be your normal, dark and mysterious thriller. This was lighthearted almost and fun. 

Don't get me wrong it's a dark premise and it still had me on the edge of my seat. I mean I devoured it in two days? But the main character was hilarious sarcastic and it was almost feeling like a soapy rom-com with murder. Maybe a bit Desperate Housewives-esque. 

It was a lighthearted change I wouldn't have immediately picked for myself but I'm so glad I got.

The ending was a little predictable but it's a small town, only so many suspects. It was satisfying though. 

I adored the podcast aspect as I listen to similar podcasts all the time. It was a really fun touch. It really reminded me of a movie Vengeance from a few years ago that I just adored. Knocked the rating a little because I feel like it was almost a direct copy? Unless someone can tell me this was already in the works first?

Regardless it was a fun read! If you want a break from the dark thrillers and love podcasts - read this!

Like true crime, but fake. I devoured this book. I read the first chapter and knew I needed to wait till I could sit down and dive in and once I did I read it so quickly! The format is so fun and I don't think there was any part of this book I didn't enjoy

⭐ 4.25 ⭐

Only almost at the end did I remember I had read something else by Amy Tintera and liked it. This was not different: interesting and lively.

The story is about Lucy Chase, the main suspect in a murder case, who is alleged to have murdered her best friend, Savannah. Lucy was found half unconscious on the road in the morning, covered in mud and blood, initially mistaken for a victim by the cops. However, it later turned out she was the prime suspect in Savannah's murder. During the investigation, Lucy claimed to have no memory of the previous night.

A few years later, Lucy, having lost her job, is persuaded by her mother to return to her parents' house in Plumpton. However, she is met with suspicion by everyone in town who knows her as a murderer. Despite her reluctance, Lucy agrees to be interviewed by a podcaster named Ben, hoping to uncover the truth about her friend's death, even if it means discovering she herself is the killer.

Throughout the story, Lucy encounters various people from her past and undergoes interviews with Ben and others connected to her and Savannah. Despite her efforts, Lucy remains a suspect for Ben. As she starts to remember fragments of the night of the murder, she begins to question her own innocence, despite lacking any clear motive or memory of committing the crime.
At some point, when she was done with the questions and tired of working with Ben, she was almost ready to leave her hometown. Then, at that very moment, she started recalling a few more memories.

As the story progresses, the main question remains: Is Lucy Chase is the murderer, or will she uncover the true murderer? To find out, you'll have to read the book.

I highly recommend it to fans of the mysterious thriller genre, but be aware that the book contains trigger warnings(sexual assault). I thoroughly enjoyed Amy's writing style; each chapter provides new information, keeping the reader eagerly anticipating what will happen next.

It is a

I just finished Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera and here is my review.

Lucy, 5 years on, still doesn't remember that night. The night her best friend Savvy was murdered. The night she was found with a head injury, covered in blood, walking not far from Savvys lifeless body. Savvy had her skin under her nails and everyone thought Lucy did it but there wasn't enough evidence to do anything.

When her grandmother makes her come home for her birthday, she finds Ben, the man who hosts a podcast called Listen for the lie and he wants to interview Lucy. He wants to figure out who killed Savvy.

Trouble is Lucy doesn't want to remember. She can't trust that she didn't really kill Savvy that night and the longer she is in town... the more she may start to remember what really happened that night.

I started off really not liking Lucy. By the end of the book I still didn't like her.. She was a great unreliable narrator and it worked really well for me. You never really knew who to trust and it was fun trying to figure out from the tiny clues littered throughout the book. The book runs on two timelines, 5 years ago when the murder happened and current day. I quite enjoyed the format with the interviews. It added some brilliant context for the book and really rounded it out.

I think I accused everyone of murder in this book and I still wasn't certain at the end. It was well written and decently paced and I enjoyed the heck out of it.

I got to the point where thrillers all seemed the same and this one was a nice change of pace.

4 stars. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery thrillers.

Thank you to @celadonbooks for my gifted copy and it's out now

#listenforthelie #amytintera #thrillerread #thrillerreader #booklover #bookreview #bookishblog #igreader #igbooks #celadonreader #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram

This is a good one!!!!
Great Mystery, Good Story, Good Characters and some humor thru out the book! I usually read books that have been winners/nominees of book reading awards however this book just came out so no awards yet. I expect some awards in early 2025

4.5 i really loved this a lot and it definitely kept me turning the pages and i LOVED the MC and she is such a complex character and those are the ones I love to read from and the audio was so do good too I finish this book so fast and stayed up til 3am, I do wish the ending was a tiny bit more fleshed out and thats why I cant get it a full 5 stars other than that I absolutely loved it and didnt see the twists coming

Listen for the Lie is about Lucy who everyone in her hometown is convinced was involved in the murder of her friend. 5 years later she's now distanced herself from what happened in many ways, until a podcast starts covering the murder, pulling her back in.

What can I say other than the hype is definitely real and well earned. It was not just a great book but a fantastic listening experience as well. I had so much fun reading this book that I was listening to it until 6am the day before a work conference when I'd have to wake up a mere 2 hours later. I just couldn't put it down. It built up and up and I just had to know where it was going.

From the first few chapters I knew this was gonna be a very fun read and I immediately messaged my mystery loving friends to pick it up when it gets released.

First off, I highly recommend reading this as an audiobook. The narration is done really well, easy to distinguish the characters by the various voices January LaVoy and Will Damron gave them but most importantly, the podcast bits feel like a true podcast in the audiobook making it an even more immersive experience.

The main character's wry humor and delivery were fantastic. Beyond being a fun character to read it also really added to all the suspicions and the feeling that she doesn't really fit in. Her grandmother was such a sweetheart and possibly the only character who wasn't highly flawed.

I loved the way Amy Tintera slowly undid the layers of the mystery, having the main character give us tidbits here and there, as well as the many great reveals by the podcast. It's not easy to make an amnesia plotline feel not cliche but this really worked in my opinion.

The twists were twisting and made me exclaim “I knew it!” or “No way!” spontaneously, making my husband jump.

The book also covers many different types of shitty relationships, with parents or significant others, from abuse, to gaslighting and cheating.

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

5 stars! I'm obsessed with this. A favourite of the year!

“A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I'm buying a chicken.”

Fun and funny with a wonderfully snarky protagonist, but also dealing with the nature of true crime and female victimhood in an incredible way. It's such a good time, but also has a lot of depth! And we all need a grandmother like Lucy's Grandma!

Given the nature of the story, there are some darker topics addressed in this book, but I loved the way those were handled. Taken seriously, but never feeling heavy. Perfectly pitched for a character-driven thriller with a comedic edge to it! All of the thematic content is direct, but never heavy-handed or soapboxy. It also doesn't just vilify all men without any nuance to tell the story of a woman's murder. It's just very well done and wouldn't you know it, people are complex and complicated beings!

The humour in the narration is a new all-time favourite; I just adored how this was written. The podcast element was also great and interspersed at just the right moments.

And yes, the whodunnit reveal didn't surprise me, but while it was possible to predict it, it never felt obvious, which is the important factor for me with this genre. I could always think of other possible solutions and questioned my idea of the main suspect until almost to the end. As someone who has read and watched mysteries all their life, being able to figure out the ending doesn't impact my enjoyment at all. It's about how we get there and for it to never feel blindingly obvious! And hey, who doesn't like being right sometimes?

I will be honest, I did not expect this book to have as much of an impact as it did. I was hoping it might be a fun popcorn thriller, but it's genuinely brilliant. Everything in this worked for me. I found a new favourite thriller!

This was a fun ride and I couldn't stop listening. It hit a lot of my favorite things about the mystery/thriller genre. A snarky MC, small town setting, lots of hidden family and friend secrets, A PODCAST tie in, lost memories, and an excellently woven mystery.

I would highly recommend the audiobook. It was dual narration and definitely brings the podcast element to life.

***Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with the Audiobook for free via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.