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Tell Them You Lied
Two New York artists' tumultuous friendship gets turned on its head when one of them goes missing and the other may be to blame. A riveting debut novel for readers of Bunny, Luckiest Girl Alive, and "Who Is the Bad Art Friend?""I hope I never have a friendship like this, but Laura Leffler makes it gripping to read about." —Lisa Jewell"Taut, dark, and beautifully written." —Andrea BartzAnna had never met anyone like Willow. Entering art school with lofty ideas about Art and her role in it, Anna was wholly unprepared for someone as mysterious, moody—and cool—as Willow. Here was Anna's muse and collaborator all in one, ready to bring her in on Art's great secrets.Now, five years later, Anna is weary. Where art school was boundless creativity and collaboration, the New York art scene is all about survival. Willow's true nature as a muse only to herself has become nakedly apparent, as has her cruelty.So the mugging Anna has staged for Willow this morning? It's supposed to send Willow running back to her true friend. The knife is supposed to be a mirror in which this 'artist' can finally see the monster she's become. It's supposed to give Anna her power back.But this morning isn't just any Tuesday. It's September 11, 2001. And as the city reels from the seismic events of that day, Willow never returns home. Anna keeps quiet about the prank and her growing panic that she's to blame for Willow's disappearance. But as the hours and days tick by, Anna begins to question whether she's the mastermind she thought she was, or the pawn.Alternating between the friends' art school tenure and their lives in 2001 New York, Tell Them You Lied reveals how difficult the search for answers is when you'd rather have anything but the truth.
351 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 27, 2025
63 people are currently reading
23403 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 274 reviews
July 12, 2025
A thought-provoking tale exploring trust, power, control, and the plight of young women, Tell Them You Lied also kept me firmly in suspense as I flew through the pages. You see, by blending together an almost literary fiction vibe with an edge-of-your-seat thriller feel, I got the best of both worlds. Frankly, it had everything I could want and more: dual timelines, a deep dive into a truly toxic friendship, and even an intoxicating sense of time and place that I could absolutely feel. After all, the plot was superimposed over the backdrop of September 11th, creating an even deeper sense of mistrust and foreboding that rang from the pages with complete and utter precision. Bravo, Ms. Leffler, it was an out-and-out stunner, which had me so transfixed, that I finished it in one sitting!
Dark, twisted, and layered with secrets, this domestic thriller went above and beyond. From the complex group dynamics to the overt manipulation and unbridled deceit, the mind games being waged were simply sublime. Overlaid on top of this well-utilized motif was a spine-chilling plot that had me questioning every morally gray character in this realistic yet unhinged tale. You see, both intricately plotted and angsty in the extreme, there was a character I loved to hate alongside one who had me torn. I can’t explain why without providing a spoiler, but I promise that their personas will keep you rapt for sure. After all, the slow reveal was everything you could want complete with a last-minute twist that will have your jaw on the floor.
All said and done, I am beyond floored by this magnificent debut. Beautifully written and with a tonality I could feel down to my bones, even the art references added to the near perfect whole. Was it a bit wordy here and there? Well…yes. But those words built a world I could fall into with so much depth that I couldn’t put the book down, no matter the late hour. Loaded with imagery via the use of evocative prose, I felt myself being transported back to both historical timelines as the envy and ambition led to a story full of propulsive suspense and plot-charging drama. So if you love mesmerizing books that spins tales within tales, give this a go. After all, it felt both taut and electric as it wove together a history that was deliciously dark and compelling. Rating of 4.5 stars.
SYNOPSIS:
Anna had never met anyone like Willow. Entering art school with lofty ideas about Art and her role in it, Anna was wholly unprepared for someone as mysterious, moody—and cool—as Willow. Here was Anna’s muse and collaborator all in one, ready to bring her in on Art’s great secrets.
Now, five years later, Anna is weary. Where art school was boundless creativity and collaboration, the New York art scene is all about survival. Worse: Willow’s true nature as a muse only to herself has become nakedly apparent, as has her cruelty.
So the mugging Anna has staged for Willow this morning? It’s supposed to send Willow running back to her true friend. The knife is supposed to be a mirror in which this ‘artist’ can finally see the monster she’s become. It’s supposed to give Anna her power back.
But this morning isn’t just any Tuesday. It’s September 11, 2001. And as the city reels from the seismic events of that day, Willow never returns home. Anna keeps quiet about the prank and her growing panic that she’s to blame for Willow’s disappearance. But as the hours and days tick by, Anna begins to question whether she’s the mastermind she thought she was, or the pawn.
Thank you to Laura Leffler, Hyperion Avenue Books, and BookSparks for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: May 27, 2025
Content warning: 9/11, drug use, gaslighting, knife violence, assault, mention of: epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault, anorexia
Dark, twisted, and layered with secrets, this domestic thriller went above and beyond. From the complex group dynamics to the overt manipulation and unbridled deceit, the mind games being waged were simply sublime. Overlaid on top of this well-utilized motif was a spine-chilling plot that had me questioning every morally gray character in this realistic yet unhinged tale. You see, both intricately plotted and angsty in the extreme, there was a character I loved to hate alongside one who had me torn. I can’t explain why without providing a spoiler, but I promise that their personas will keep you rapt for sure. After all, the slow reveal was everything you could want complete with a last-minute twist that will have your jaw on the floor.
All said and done, I am beyond floored by this magnificent debut. Beautifully written and with a tonality I could feel down to my bones, even the art references added to the near perfect whole. Was it a bit wordy here and there? Well…yes. But those words built a world I could fall into with so much depth that I couldn’t put the book down, no matter the late hour. Loaded with imagery via the use of evocative prose, I felt myself being transported back to both historical timelines as the envy and ambition led to a story full of propulsive suspense and plot-charging drama. So if you love mesmerizing books that spins tales within tales, give this a go. After all, it felt both taut and electric as it wove together a history that was deliciously dark and compelling. Rating of 4.5 stars.
SYNOPSIS:
Anna had never met anyone like Willow. Entering art school with lofty ideas about Art and her role in it, Anna was wholly unprepared for someone as mysterious, moody—and cool—as Willow. Here was Anna’s muse and collaborator all in one, ready to bring her in on Art’s great secrets.
Now, five years later, Anna is weary. Where art school was boundless creativity and collaboration, the New York art scene is all about survival. Worse: Willow’s true nature as a muse only to herself has become nakedly apparent, as has her cruelty.
So the mugging Anna has staged for Willow this morning? It’s supposed to send Willow running back to her true friend. The knife is supposed to be a mirror in which this ‘artist’ can finally see the monster she’s become. It’s supposed to give Anna her power back.
But this morning isn’t just any Tuesday. It’s September 11, 2001. And as the city reels from the seismic events of that day, Willow never returns home. Anna keeps quiet about the prank and her growing panic that she’s to blame for Willow’s disappearance. But as the hours and days tick by, Anna begins to question whether she’s the mastermind she thought she was, or the pawn.
Thank you to Laura Leffler, Hyperion Avenue Books, and BookSparks for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: May 27, 2025
Content warning: 9/11, drug use, gaslighting, knife violence, assault, mention of: epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault, anorexia
May 24, 2025
Anna’s friendship with Willow hasn’t always been fraught. At the beginning of their time in art school, they were best friends, with Willow taking shy, sheltered Anna under her wing. But now, post-graduation, they’re roommates in New York City and their relationship is tense, to say the least. Bold, brash Willow has crossed too many lines and Anna deeply resents her. So Anna plans a slightly cruel prank, a staged mugging, just to shake Willow up a bit. That same morning, the planes hit the Twin Towers. With cell service down throughout the city, Anna is unable to get in touch with Willow, and the hours stretch into days. Is Willow in hospital somewhere after the attacks? Is she camping out at a friend’s place? Or did Anna’s prank go horribly wrong?
I ate this book up. It had everything: complex female friendships, stunning Y2K aesthetics, and a tense, twisty plot. This book combines the intense relationship dynamics and deeply developed characters of literary fiction with the edge-of-your-seat feel of a thriller. Art world aficionados and New Yorkers will surely get even more of a kick out of it. I have a feeling this one’s going to be huge!
I ate this book up. It had everything: complex female friendships, stunning Y2K aesthetics, and a tense, twisty plot. This book combines the intense relationship dynamics and deeply developed characters of literary fiction with the edge-of-your-seat feel of a thriller. Art world aficionados and New Yorkers will surely get even more of a kick out of it. I have a feeling this one’s going to be huge!
June 7, 2025
Imagine being in art school in the art world. You’re dying for connections and friendships. Then, you find your muse. Enter Willow.
It’s the day of 9/11. The US is crumbling. Anna is panicked after trying a nasty prank on Willow. Only, now Willow is actually missing.
Man-oh-man were these some nasty characters that you love to hate. I literally wanted to k.ill this one character myself 🤣🤣🤣. Toxic toxic toxic.
I was highly glued to this one! I needed answers. Told from the past and the present. The writing is fantastic and I highly recommend it! I alternated between the audiobook and the physical. Both are great!
4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Check out my friend’s review coming up @bibliopeeks as we did this as a buddy read!
It’s the day of 9/11. The US is crumbling. Anna is panicked after trying a nasty prank on Willow. Only, now Willow is actually missing.
Man-oh-man were these some nasty characters that you love to hate. I literally wanted to k.ill this one character myself 🤣🤣🤣. Toxic toxic toxic.
I was highly glued to this one! I needed answers. Told from the past and the present. The writing is fantastic and I highly recommend it! I alternated between the audiobook and the physical. Both are great!
4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Check out my friend’s review coming up @bibliopeeks as we did this as a buddy read!
May 29, 2025
This book was written beautifully. Full of art, angst, and uncertainty- it's a piece of art on its own.
This is a story about friendship above all else. I think to be a young woman is to be a friend like Anna or Willow. It isn't always pretty and it isn't how we choose to remember it looking back but it's normal, especially for the time. This felt so raw and real.
There is an atmosphere that exists only in the late 90's and early 00's that is difficult for authors to capture. It often feels cheap due to the nostalgic stereotypes. This has the right vibe. I felt stuck in that era. Nothing made us feel more uncertain and unstable than 9/11, so to add a missing friend under these circumstances was too much mystery to bear sometimes! I didn't take any notes reading this book and now, for the review, I wish I had but I was living in that moment.
Anna and Willow meet at college and immediately click. Anna is from a small town, looking for her place in the world. Willow seems older and more cultured and Anna wants what she has. Anna likes taking up the same space as Willow. They're extensions of each other.
When Willow turns up missing on 9/11, Anna doesn't know what to do. You see, Anna had set up a nasty prank on Willow. Not to actually hurt her, but to knock her down a few pegs. Why? Well, that's what we figure out along the way. Alternating between the present(in this case 9/11) and the past(4 years ago up until the day before), we witness the violent tornado of a friendship these two girls have.
Where is Willow? Is she pranking them back or is she hurt? Could she have been near the towers that morning? It'll take a while but eventually we will find out.
Being wordy is both a good and bad thing at different times in this book. Regardless, it was a great read and I can't wait for more from this author.
This is a story about friendship above all else. I think to be a young woman is to be a friend like Anna or Willow. It isn't always pretty and it isn't how we choose to remember it looking back but it's normal, especially for the time. This felt so raw and real.
There is an atmosphere that exists only in the late 90's and early 00's that is difficult for authors to capture. It often feels cheap due to the nostalgic stereotypes. This has the right vibe. I felt stuck in that era. Nothing made us feel more uncertain and unstable than 9/11, so to add a missing friend under these circumstances was too much mystery to bear sometimes! I didn't take any notes reading this book and now, for the review, I wish I had but I was living in that moment.
Anna and Willow meet at college and immediately click. Anna is from a small town, looking for her place in the world. Willow seems older and more cultured and Anna wants what she has. Anna likes taking up the same space as Willow. They're extensions of each other.
When Willow turns up missing on 9/11, Anna doesn't know what to do. You see, Anna had set up a nasty prank on Willow. Not to actually hurt her, but to knock her down a few pegs. Why? Well, that's what we figure out along the way. Alternating between the present(in this case 9/11) and the past(4 years ago up until the day before), we witness the violent tornado of a friendship these two girls have.
Where is Willow? Is she pranking them back or is she hurt? Could she have been near the towers that morning? It'll take a while but eventually we will find out.
Being wordy is both a good and bad thing at different times in this book. Regardless, it was a great read and I can't wait for more from this author.
October 10, 2024
ARC for review. To be published May 27, 2025.
3.5 stars, rounded up for this one.
Willow was amazing and Anna had never met anyone like her. They met at art school and Willow was the epitome of cool.
But five years later Anna has grown tired of the cutthroat NYC art scene and equally tired of Willow’s selfishness and constant cruelties, so she decides to stage a mugging to knock Willow down a peg and to restore Anna’s power. I’m a little bit hazy on how this is supposed to work, exactly, but, okay.
Only Anna schedules this prank for the morning of September 11, 2001. And Willow never comes home. What has happened to Willow?
The story is told in alternating times between Willow and Anna’s time at art school and 2001 NYC.
I quite enjoyed this story of toxic friendship and an examination of a woman as muse. It probably could have been a bit shorter, but, still, entertaining.
3.5 stars, rounded up for this one.
Willow was amazing and Anna had never met anyone like her. They met at art school and Willow was the epitome of cool.
But five years later Anna has grown tired of the cutthroat NYC art scene and equally tired of Willow’s selfishness and constant cruelties, so she decides to stage a mugging to knock Willow down a peg and to restore Anna’s power. I’m a little bit hazy on how this is supposed to work, exactly, but, okay.
Only Anna schedules this prank for the morning of September 11, 2001. And Willow never comes home. What has happened to Willow?
The story is told in alternating times between Willow and Anna’s time at art school and 2001 NYC.
I quite enjoyed this story of toxic friendship and an examination of a woman as muse. It probably could have been a bit shorter, but, still, entertaining.
December 13, 2024
Oof.
As I start to review this book, I realize that almost everything I have to say is negative…yet it kept me reading and ended up with a very satisfying conclusion.
I’ll admit that I originally thought it would be a DNF.
The characters are…not my thing. Every last one of them is arrogant, precocious, self-centered, precious, and toxic. I didn’t like them and didn’t want to spend time with them. Yet, I was intrigued by our missing girl (also toxic) and what might have happened with her. And what did happen? It was definitely a surprise!
I’ve read some reviews that mention the 9/11 connection and, yeah, there really isn’t one. It’s backdrop and, unfortunately, unnecessary backdrop at that. You could have dropped our pretentious, angsty art students in any big city in the world with the same result.
I did like the ending and the various truths that were eventually revealed. I still didn’t care about any of these people, but finished the book feeling mostly okay about it.
• ARC via Publisher
As I start to review this book, I realize that almost everything I have to say is negative…yet it kept me reading and ended up with a very satisfying conclusion.
I’ll admit that I originally thought it would be a DNF.
The characters are…not my thing. Every last one of them is arrogant, precocious, self-centered, precious, and toxic. I didn’t like them and didn’t want to spend time with them. Yet, I was intrigued by our missing girl (also toxic) and what might have happened with her. And what did happen? It was definitely a surprise!
I’ve read some reviews that mention the 9/11 connection and, yeah, there really isn’t one. It’s backdrop and, unfortunately, unnecessary backdrop at that. You could have dropped our pretentious, angsty art students in any big city in the world with the same result.
I did like the ending and the various truths that were eventually revealed. I still didn’t care about any of these people, but finished the book feeling mostly okay about it.
• ARC via Publisher
June 2, 2025
This book just sounded interesting from the description. I believe it is a debut novel.
Description:
Anna had never met anyone like Willow. Entering art school with lofty ideas about Art and her role in it, Anna was wholly unprepared for someone as mysterious, moody—and cool—as Willow. Here was Anna’s muse and collaborator all in one, ready to bring her in on Art’s great secrets.
Now, five years later, Anna is weary. Where art school was boundless creativity and collaboration, the New York art scene is all about survival. Worse: Willow’s true nature as a muse only to herself has become nakedly apparent, as has her cruelty.
So the mugging Anna has staged for Willow this morning? It’s supposed to send Willow running back to her true friend. The knife is supposed to be a mirror in which this ‘artist’ can finally see the monster she’s become. It’s supposed to give Anna her power back.
But this morning isn’t just any Tuesday. It’s September 11, 2001. And as the city reels from the seismic events of that day, Willow never returns home. Anna keeps quiet about the prank and her growing panic that she’s to blame for Willow’s disappearance. But as the hours and days tick by, Anna begins to question whether she’s the mastermind she thought she was, or the pawn.
Alternating between the friends' art school tenure and their lives in 2001 New York, Tell Them You Lied reveals how difficult the search for answers is when you'd rather have anything but the truth.
My Thoughts:
Anna and Willow have never come across as equals to me. Anna was always the dependent, needy one and Willow the bold, outrageous type. This ends up breeding resentment, thus the plan to stage the mugging. I was surprised when 9/11 came up as the mugging was suppose to happen on that day. Both girls had flaws in their characters, although very different. I wasn't sure I liked either of them. Well=written and fast-paced which kept me turning pages. I liked the way the story ended, it felt right.
Thanks to Hyperion Avenue through Netgalley for an advance copy.
Description:
Anna had never met anyone like Willow. Entering art school with lofty ideas about Art and her role in it, Anna was wholly unprepared for someone as mysterious, moody—and cool—as Willow. Here was Anna’s muse and collaborator all in one, ready to bring her in on Art’s great secrets.
Now, five years later, Anna is weary. Where art school was boundless creativity and collaboration, the New York art scene is all about survival. Worse: Willow’s true nature as a muse only to herself has become nakedly apparent, as has her cruelty.
So the mugging Anna has staged for Willow this morning? It’s supposed to send Willow running back to her true friend. The knife is supposed to be a mirror in which this ‘artist’ can finally see the monster she’s become. It’s supposed to give Anna her power back.
But this morning isn’t just any Tuesday. It’s September 11, 2001. And as the city reels from the seismic events of that day, Willow never returns home. Anna keeps quiet about the prank and her growing panic that she’s to blame for Willow’s disappearance. But as the hours and days tick by, Anna begins to question whether she’s the mastermind she thought she was, or the pawn.
Alternating between the friends' art school tenure and their lives in 2001 New York, Tell Them You Lied reveals how difficult the search for answers is when you'd rather have anything but the truth.
My Thoughts:
Anna and Willow have never come across as equals to me. Anna was always the dependent, needy one and Willow the bold, outrageous type. This ends up breeding resentment, thus the plan to stage the mugging. I was surprised when 9/11 came up as the mugging was suppose to happen on that day. Both girls had flaws in their characters, although very different. I wasn't sure I liked either of them. Well=written and fast-paced which kept me turning pages. I liked the way the story ended, it felt right.
Thanks to Hyperion Avenue through Netgalley for an advance copy.
December 4, 2024
Taut, dark, and beautifully written, TELL THEM YOU LIED is a dazzling debut. Set in the art world's ivory towers and Chelsea galleries, this twisted tale of ambition, envy, and toxic friendship had me turning pages late into the night.
December 3, 2024
I really wanted to like this book but went in with little to no expectations and came out on the other side still not pleased with my experience.
I always hate giving a negative review but there was little here that I felt intrigued by or left in the end with any positive feelings toward having read it.
A lot of the negative reviews harped on the unlikeability of characters but that’s one of the few things I didn’t hate about this. I went in thinking this would almost be a mix of Anna Delvy smashed with the “older” movie The Roommate. I absolutely love heinous characters and they shouldn’t have to be likeable to be apart of an amazing book.
Mainly, I wish there was just more intention here. From the “unlikeable” characters to the writing and technique, to the 9/11 backdrop to overall plot devices. Everything was met with a caveat in a plot device that I just felt were strung together in a way that wasnt enjoyable for me to read.
I can see this book doing well on booktok and feel like maybe I’m just not the right target audience for it. I do enjoy a good thriller and a mindless read but I still require a depth I couldn’t find here.
I always hate giving a negative review but there was little here that I felt intrigued by or left in the end with any positive feelings toward having read it.
A lot of the negative reviews harped on the unlikeability of characters but that’s one of the few things I didn’t hate about this. I went in thinking this would almost be a mix of Anna Delvy smashed with the “older” movie The Roommate. I absolutely love heinous characters and they shouldn’t have to be likeable to be apart of an amazing book.
Mainly, I wish there was just more intention here. From the “unlikeable” characters to the writing and technique, to the 9/11 backdrop to overall plot devices. Everything was met with a caveat in a plot device that I just felt were strung together in a way that wasnt enjoyable for me to read.
I can see this book doing well on booktok and feel like maybe I’m just not the right target audience for it. I do enjoy a good thriller and a mindless read but I still require a depth I couldn’t find here.
April 7, 2025
4.7 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the advanced copy of this title.
This story has a great premise, and I enjoyed the dynamic between Anna and Willow. Anna (Willows' best friend in the loose sense) and Milo (Willows’ on-again, off-again boyfriend) have orchestrated this elaborate prank to scare Willow. Why? To put her in her place and show her that her friends aren’t objects to be used to work out your shit.
I can’t say that she didn’t have it coming. There’s no excuse for bad behavior; humans always have a breaking point so that this bubble will burst. The plan was going to be great, but it just so happened that said plan was to go down on September 11, and the events of that day would be something the world would never forget.
.
New York is upside down. People are in search of loved ones and friends. Pooling their resources and trying to make sense of the devastation. This doesn’t change the fact that Willow is a narcissist. She’s played on everyone’s emotions, including her parents. You want to love her, you want to trust her, but she buries that knife in your back each and every time and will then say, “Babe, you're bleeding”.
Anna met Willow at Baldwin College, and Lizzie, Tom, and a few others were a close group. They were all art and photography students, and being one myself, I remember the beautiful relationships I had when everyone was hungry and lived for their art and creating. Nothing else mattered.
Willow has spun this fantastic tale that she’s just like everyone else, but she’s much more than that. Coming from money, her circumstances were different.
Anna was from a small town and is one of the thirstiest characters I’ve seen in a long time. A sheep in the herd. She tries so hard to emulate everyone that she’s lost herself. She wants to be famous, she want to be loved and adored…ok boo freakin hoo. ⛆ You have to get to a point (even in your young adulthood) where you stop being the flock.🐑
These characters are not despicable but immature. The story is about unraveling Willow and Anna’s relationship (and their group of friends). Oh, the manipulation. Once into the story, Anna drove me crazy. How many times does a dog have to bite you before you leave it alone? Even children know that if they touch the hot stove, they should not touch it again, but not this one.
I felt like screaming into the book. She wanted everything Willow had because she envied her. I’m not sure she wanted Willow's life, but just the attention. However, once you get it, what will you do with it?
One of the things I really love about this story is the depiction of New York during this time. It’s resilience. The grittiness and passion for New York lives in this story. That underbelly and fire of the art scene still burns hot to this day.
It's what we used to read about in our art textbooks. The clubs and dives where …if you know, you know. 😜 And it's one of the things I enjoyed about this story. People came together during 9/11, and this captured the beauty of the human spirit one frame at a time.
I love taking a break from my horror titles for this mystery-thriller novel. Great story! I highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the advanced copy of this title.
This story has a great premise, and I enjoyed the dynamic between Anna and Willow. Anna (Willows' best friend in the loose sense) and Milo (Willows’ on-again, off-again boyfriend) have orchestrated this elaborate prank to scare Willow. Why? To put her in her place and show her that her friends aren’t objects to be used to work out your shit.
I can’t say that she didn’t have it coming. There’s no excuse for bad behavior; humans always have a breaking point so that this bubble will burst. The plan was going to be great, but it just so happened that said plan was to go down on September 11, and the events of that day would be something the world would never forget.
.
New York is upside down. People are in search of loved ones and friends. Pooling their resources and trying to make sense of the devastation. This doesn’t change the fact that Willow is a narcissist. She’s played on everyone’s emotions, including her parents. You want to love her, you want to trust her, but she buries that knife in your back each and every time and will then say, “Babe, you're bleeding”.
Anna met Willow at Baldwin College, and Lizzie, Tom, and a few others were a close group. They were all art and photography students, and being one myself, I remember the beautiful relationships I had when everyone was hungry and lived for their art and creating. Nothing else mattered.
Willow has spun this fantastic tale that she’s just like everyone else, but she’s much more than that. Coming from money, her circumstances were different.
Anna was from a small town and is one of the thirstiest characters I’ve seen in a long time. A sheep in the herd. She tries so hard to emulate everyone that she’s lost herself. She wants to be famous, she want to be loved and adored…ok boo freakin hoo. ⛆ You have to get to a point (even in your young adulthood) where you stop being the flock.🐑
These characters are not despicable but immature. The story is about unraveling Willow and Anna’s relationship (and their group of friends). Oh, the manipulation. Once into the story, Anna drove me crazy. How many times does a dog have to bite you before you leave it alone? Even children know that if they touch the hot stove, they should not touch it again, but not this one.
I felt like screaming into the book. She wanted everything Willow had because she envied her. I’m not sure she wanted Willow's life, but just the attention. However, once you get it, what will you do with it?
One of the things I really love about this story is the depiction of New York during this time. It’s resilience. The grittiness and passion for New York lives in this story. That underbelly and fire of the art scene still burns hot to this day.
It's what we used to read about in our art textbooks. The clubs and dives where …if you know, you know. 😜 And it's one of the things I enjoyed about this story. People came together during 9/11, and this captured the beauty of the human spirit one frame at a time.
I love taking a break from my horror titles for this mystery-thriller novel. Great story! I highly recommend it.
March 5, 2025
An absolutely insane premise that had me entertained immediately and kept my attention until the end of the book. Really twisty and kept me guessing the entire time, did not guess the ending.
May 16, 2025
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Twisty, haunting, and unexpectedly raw, "Tell Them You Lied" by Kate Brody is a thriller that peels back layers of truth, obsession, and regret—set against the backdrop of one of the most defining days in American history. At its core, the novel follows Anna and her intoxicating friendship with the magnetic Willow, a relationship born in the competitive halls of art school and marred by betrayal, longing, and blurred intentions. As Anna grapples with her disillusionment and a desperate bid to reclaim power, an ill-conceived plan to teach Willow a lesson collides with the morning of 9/11—sending both her world and the city spiraling into chaos.
This book dredged up every ounce of my teenage angst, my early-2000s insecurities, and that desperate need to belong, to matter, to be seen. Brody nails the truth about being young and passionate and drowning in the feeling that everything is life or death—only to look back years later and realize it was never that deep. The novel dissects perception and how we justify our worst decisions in the name of love, art, or survival. And then there's Willow—god, I hate her. But I love to hate her. You will too. She’s the kind of character that hooks into your brain, impossible to pin down, equal parts aspirational and monstrous. But the question is… where is she?
I wasn’t prepared for 9/11 to take such a central role, but it doesn’t just mark the setting—it becomes part of the story’s identity. Brody carefully captures the confusion, fear, and eerie stillness of that day with startling clarity, evoking the same emotions I felt as a teenager living through it. For those of us who remember that fatal day, a haunting kind of nostalgia jumps off the pages; for those who don’t, this book gives you visceral insight into the disorientation and aftermath. The novel feels modern and messy with a melancholic sentimentality as its muse.
"Tell Them You Lied" is a whip-smart novel living on the edge of truth and sanity. But no one is innocent here. Not Anna. Not Willow. Maybe not even you.
Thank you to Laura Leffler, Hyperion Avenue, & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my authentic review.
Twisty, haunting, and unexpectedly raw, "Tell Them You Lied" by Kate Brody is a thriller that peels back layers of truth, obsession, and regret—set against the backdrop of one of the most defining days in American history. At its core, the novel follows Anna and her intoxicating friendship with the magnetic Willow, a relationship born in the competitive halls of art school and marred by betrayal, longing, and blurred intentions. As Anna grapples with her disillusionment and a desperate bid to reclaim power, an ill-conceived plan to teach Willow a lesson collides with the morning of 9/11—sending both her world and the city spiraling into chaos.
This book dredged up every ounce of my teenage angst, my early-2000s insecurities, and that desperate need to belong, to matter, to be seen. Brody nails the truth about being young and passionate and drowning in the feeling that everything is life or death—only to look back years later and realize it was never that deep. The novel dissects perception and how we justify our worst decisions in the name of love, art, or survival. And then there's Willow—god, I hate her. But I love to hate her. You will too. She’s the kind of character that hooks into your brain, impossible to pin down, equal parts aspirational and monstrous. But the question is… where is she?
I wasn’t prepared for 9/11 to take such a central role, but it doesn’t just mark the setting—it becomes part of the story’s identity. Brody carefully captures the confusion, fear, and eerie stillness of that day with startling clarity, evoking the same emotions I felt as a teenager living through it. For those of us who remember that fatal day, a haunting kind of nostalgia jumps off the pages; for those who don’t, this book gives you visceral insight into the disorientation and aftermath. The novel feels modern and messy with a melancholic sentimentality as its muse.
"Tell Them You Lied" is a whip-smart novel living on the edge of truth and sanity. But no one is innocent here. Not Anna. Not Willow. Maybe not even you.
Thank you to Laura Leffler, Hyperion Avenue, & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my authentic review.
May 3, 2025
For anyone who has been a young student moving away to college, moving into the dorms wondering if you’ll get along with your roommate, wondering if you’ll be able to make something of yourself, wondering if you can do this…this book will bring you back to those days. At least, it did for me - especially as much of this book is set in the late 1990s, when I was also in college. This took me back to smoky bars, finding that perfect Grateful Dead shirt at a thrift shop, making a group of friends in the dorms, and even having a psycho roommate.
Anna started art school a meek, broken girl who was used to being ignored for her handicapped brother. Then she met Willow, and the click was instant. Around Willow, Anna felt more brave, more confident, more beautiful. Willow, with her devil-may-care attitude and her seeming lack of self consciousness, made Anna believe that they would both be able to conquer the New York art scene. As time goes on though, secrets come out. Betrayals are made. Anna starts to see something dark in Willow, and after a final straw, comes up with an idea to get back at her now frenemy.
It was meant to be a harmless joke, just something to freak Willow out and knock her down a peg. She and their mutual friend decided to pay someone to “mug” Willow. Not literally, just to scare her on her way to work. That day was Tuesday, September 11, 2001, and as Anna wakes up to the news that morning, she starts to get worried. Where is Willow? Did the prank go off as planned? Surely she wasn’t near the World Trade Center…but as the days go on and nobody can find her, Anna realizes she may be responsible if Willow is dead.
The book is written in the past, when they were in school together, and in the present (2001). The chapters from 2001 read like a letter from Anna to Willow, but the chapters from the past are in third person (a small thing that bothered me, as well as never hearing Willow’s voice). This isn’t just a mystery/thriller; this is also the story of a friendship gone wrong, of the terrible things people justify in their minds, of what competition can do to people, and it’s a reminder of 9/11 and how people living in the city were feeling after the attacks. I was surprised that this is a debut novel, as the writing was fantastic and loaded with imagery. I’d definitely read a book by this author again! Four stars.
(Thank you to Hyperion Avenue, Laura Leffler and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on May 27, 2025.)
Anna started art school a meek, broken girl who was used to being ignored for her handicapped brother. Then she met Willow, and the click was instant. Around Willow, Anna felt more brave, more confident, more beautiful. Willow, with her devil-may-care attitude and her seeming lack of self consciousness, made Anna believe that they would both be able to conquer the New York art scene. As time goes on though, secrets come out. Betrayals are made. Anna starts to see something dark in Willow, and after a final straw, comes up with an idea to get back at her now frenemy.
It was meant to be a harmless joke, just something to freak Willow out and knock her down a peg. She and their mutual friend decided to pay someone to “mug” Willow. Not literally, just to scare her on her way to work. That day was Tuesday, September 11, 2001, and as Anna wakes up to the news that morning, she starts to get worried. Where is Willow? Did the prank go off as planned? Surely she wasn’t near the World Trade Center…but as the days go on and nobody can find her, Anna realizes she may be responsible if Willow is dead.
The book is written in the past, when they were in school together, and in the present (2001). The chapters from 2001 read like a letter from Anna to Willow, but the chapters from the past are in third person (a small thing that bothered me, as well as never hearing Willow’s voice). This isn’t just a mystery/thriller; this is also the story of a friendship gone wrong, of the terrible things people justify in their minds, of what competition can do to people, and it’s a reminder of 9/11 and how people living in the city were feeling after the attacks. I was surprised that this is a debut novel, as the writing was fantastic and loaded with imagery. I’d definitely read a book by this author again! Four stars.
(Thank you to Hyperion Avenue, Laura Leffler and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on May 27, 2025.)
May 28, 2025
LAURA LEFFLER’s debut is so square in my wheelhouse of complicated female friendships + all the darkness and toxicity that can accompany the envy, ambition, competition and lure of being in the orbit of the most dazzling girl in the room.
Told from Anna’s POV, the book opens brilliantly as she waits for the phone call from her roommate Willow who already left for work.
Anna pictures her crossing Tenth Avenue, oblivious to the danger of yet another man looking at her, cat-calling, eyeing her. Unaware of the danger. A man who wasn’t just watching, but waiting. Knife in hand. But Anna knew because she paid him to be there.
Alternating between their art school days at Balwin University and the unsettling days in NYC following 9/11, the book is compulsive, uncomfortable, unsettling, mysterious and beautifully written. Surrounded by a tight-knit group of friends the story delves into the complexity of their relationships, the wealth gap and the overarching desire to belong.
I am forever intrigued by stories about the outsider looking for her way in and the lengths the characters will go to get what they want. There is a relatability to Anna and I felt a real nostalgia for the pure intensity of those friendships that happen in the first days of college and carry you through.
This book is in great company alongside Jessica Knoll, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn + Jessie Q. Sutanto. Thank you so much to Hyperion Avenue for the gifted ARC.
You’ll definitely want to add this to your summer reading list.
Told from Anna’s POV, the book opens brilliantly as she waits for the phone call from her roommate Willow who already left for work.
Anna pictures her crossing Tenth Avenue, oblivious to the danger of yet another man looking at her, cat-calling, eyeing her. Unaware of the danger. A man who wasn’t just watching, but waiting. Knife in hand. But Anna knew because she paid him to be there.
Alternating between their art school days at Balwin University and the unsettling days in NYC following 9/11, the book is compulsive, uncomfortable, unsettling, mysterious and beautifully written. Surrounded by a tight-knit group of friends the story delves into the complexity of their relationships, the wealth gap and the overarching desire to belong.
I am forever intrigued by stories about the outsider looking for her way in and the lengths the characters will go to get what they want. There is a relatability to Anna and I felt a real nostalgia for the pure intensity of those friendships that happen in the first days of college and carry you through.
This book is in great company alongside Jessica Knoll, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn + Jessie Q. Sutanto. Thank you so much to Hyperion Avenue for the gifted ARC.
You’ll definitely want to add this to your summer reading list.
May 31, 2025
Ooooo what a debut!
I’ll always have such a connection to books that take place on or around 9/11 since I was growing up in New York when it happened. It was such a unique time in history and Laura Leffler captured the feel of it to a T.
This felt like such a unique twist on the thriller genre. Flashing back to the way Anna and Willows friendship started to the state of it currently was fascinating to watch the way it unraveled.
I truly loved this book - the twists, the Y2K vibes, the writing, the New York setting. Truly so good.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!
I’ll always have such a connection to books that take place on or around 9/11 since I was growing up in New York when it happened. It was such a unique time in history and Laura Leffler captured the feel of it to a T.
This felt like such a unique twist on the thriller genre. Flashing back to the way Anna and Willows friendship started to the state of it currently was fascinating to watch the way it unraveled.
I truly loved this book - the twists, the Y2K vibes, the writing, the New York setting. Truly so good.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!
May 16, 2025
Reading Tell Them You Lied is kind of like watching a late 90s/early 2000s sitcom–featuring a dynamic group, cramped apartments in big cities, struggling for work, and somewhat tone deaf references to socio-political events–except every single character is some shade of awful.
If unlikeable characters are not your thing, this debut is definitely going to be a skip. Personally, you give me a main character who stages a mugging to lure her best friend back into the toxicity of their college glory days and I am ALL for it. Anna and Willow’s dynamic is compelling. Their entanglement changes them both and effectively blurs the lines between love and hate, between wanting to be someone and wanting them dead.
While it’s quite clear from the beginning that Willow is a vicious and self-motivated woman, there are so many uncovered events throughout the book that further reveal her abject cruelty. Even so, it’s understandable why Anna, a character who is far from blameless herself, immediately fell into her orbit. She's cool and smart and pretty, and she defends Anna’s artwork in front of the entire class. Perhaps one of my favorite lines of the book comes when Anna is examining one of Willow’s self portraits:
Speaking of Anna, she is like the ultimate unreliable narrator. I was constantly going back and forth on my opinion of what must have happened to Willow alongside Anna’s own struggle. Yes, it seems in character for Willow to stage her own disappearance for fun, but am I really believing the theories of a character who stages a violent mugging for her best friend? And this dissonance really increases as we learn more about the actions of each of these girls, the push and pull of things they have done for each other and the things they’ve done to each other.
One thing that detracted from my enjoyment of this debut was the inclusion of the events of 9/11 and the way they were handled. It really felt like this had little significance on how the plot played out. Yes, it provided a reason why Anna and other characters were concerned by Willow’s disappearance, but it ultimately felt more like a convenient backdrop for the story. I will say that the impacts of this event felt somewhat more present in the latter sections of the novel with slight explorations into the paranoia of New York communities in the aftermath of the event, but it hardly felt like enough to justify the strangely blasé way that a significant real-life tragedy was used as plot fluff.
I also would have liked to see just a bit more exploration of Anna and Willow’s dynamic, particularly the development between the more wholesome starting events of their friendship to the more insidious and revenge-soaked actions. What we did have was really interesting to read about, and I personally would have liked to see a few more examples of this.
Thank you to Hyperion Avenue and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
If unlikeable characters are not your thing, this debut is definitely going to be a skip. Personally, you give me a main character who stages a mugging to lure her best friend back into the toxicity of their college glory days and I am ALL for it. Anna and Willow’s dynamic is compelling. Their entanglement changes them both and effectively blurs the lines between love and hate, between wanting to be someone and wanting them dead.
While it’s quite clear from the beginning that Willow is a vicious and self-motivated woman, there are so many uncovered events throughout the book that further reveal her abject cruelty. Even so, it’s understandable why Anna, a character who is far from blameless herself, immediately fell into her orbit. She's cool and smart and pretty, and she defends Anna’s artwork in front of the entire class. Perhaps one of my favorite lines of the book comes when Anna is examining one of Willow’s self portraits:
"You were beautiful, of course, but there was something wrong with you, too, something tight and angry and mean right below the surface."
Speaking of Anna, she is like the ultimate unreliable narrator. I was constantly going back and forth on my opinion of what must have happened to Willow alongside Anna’s own struggle. Yes, it seems in character for Willow to stage her own disappearance for fun, but am I really believing the theories of a character who stages a violent mugging for her best friend? And this dissonance really increases as we learn more about the actions of each of these girls, the push and pull of things they have done for each other and the things they’ve done to each other.
One thing that detracted from my enjoyment of this debut was the inclusion of the events of 9/11 and the way they were handled. It really felt like this had little significance on how the plot played out. Yes, it provided a reason why Anna and other characters were concerned by Willow’s disappearance, but it ultimately felt more like a convenient backdrop for the story. I will say that the impacts of this event felt somewhat more present in the latter sections of the novel with slight explorations into the paranoia of New York communities in the aftermath of the event, but it hardly felt like enough to justify the strangely blasé way that a significant real-life tragedy was used as plot fluff.
I also would have liked to see just a bit more exploration of Anna and Willow’s dynamic, particularly the development between the more wholesome starting events of their friendship to the more insidious and revenge-soaked actions. What we did have was really interesting to read about, and I personally would have liked to see a few more examples of this.
Thank you to Hyperion Avenue and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.
Read
May 4, 2025A really interesting concept: Anna is discussing the fact that planned a bizarre prank on Willow, her friend/frenemy but it's also the morning of September 11, 2001. So why is Willow missing???
This narrative is interspersed with flashbacks to Anna and Willow in college in the late 1990s, as their friendship evolved into a fierce rivalry.
This is a very interesting exploration of female friendship that reminded me of Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering. Readers who like a linear plot may not enjoy it but I found it creative and engaging!
Subscribe to my amazing newsletter HERE at JenRyland.com Let's be friends on Bookstagram!
Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!
This narrative is interspersed with flashbacks to Anna and Willow in college in the late 1990s, as their friendship evolved into a fierce rivalry.
This is a very interesting exploration of female friendship that reminded me of Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering. Readers who like a linear plot may not enjoy it but I found it creative and engaging!
Subscribe to my amazing newsletter HERE at JenRyland.com Let's be friends on Bookstagram!
Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!
April 21, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of
Tell Them You Lied.
The premise sounded similar to other novels I've read before; a naive young woman is swept up by a charismatic, popular student who everyone is drawn to.
I liked the art school aspect to the narrative but the plot overall wasn't interesting or compelling.
I guess I'm too old to read about young people boozing, sleeping around, and drugging.
But in my defense, I wasn't even into that stuff when I was young.
Anna and Willow and the cast of supporting characters are unlikable, which isn't a bad thing.
But some unlikable people can have qualities you admire or respect.
But no one does here.
Anna is incredibly immature and naive, typical of the character playing second banana to the showboating personality she's drawn to.
I was surprised at how easily Anna fell for Willow's lies, and some stuff she kept doing made no sense, especially the end when she asks Milo to plan a prank with her.
The same guy who betrayed her to Willow just a few weeks ago. WTF?
By the end, I started to lie Willow more for her deviousness and duplicity than Anna for her foolishness and desperation to be liked.
The narrative lacks suspense and urgency despite the backdrop of 9/11 and that Willow is missing.
Some readers might find the 9/11 setting triggering so be aware.
The dual timelines offers context and exposition leading up to the present day and how things came to be with Willow and Anna's present circumstances.
This was sooo boring and I didn't care about anyone.
The premise sounded similar to other novels I've read before; a naive young woman is swept up by a charismatic, popular student who everyone is drawn to.
I liked the art school aspect to the narrative but the plot overall wasn't interesting or compelling.
I guess I'm too old to read about young people boozing, sleeping around, and drugging.
But in my defense, I wasn't even into that stuff when I was young.
Anna and Willow and the cast of supporting characters are unlikable, which isn't a bad thing.
But some unlikable people can have qualities you admire or respect.
But no one does here.
Anna is incredibly immature and naive, typical of the character playing second banana to the showboating personality she's drawn to.
I was surprised at how easily Anna fell for Willow's lies, and some stuff she kept doing made no sense, especially the end when she asks Milo to plan a prank with her.
The same guy who betrayed her to Willow just a few weeks ago. WTF?
By the end, I started to lie Willow more for her deviousness and duplicity than Anna for her foolishness and desperation to be liked.
The narrative lacks suspense and urgency despite the backdrop of 9/11 and that Willow is missing.
Some readers might find the 9/11 setting triggering so be aware.
The dual timelines offers context and exposition leading up to the present day and how things came to be with Willow and Anna's present circumstances.
This was sooo boring and I didn't care about anyone.
November 19, 2024
I gave this the old college try. The beginning was a mixture of character chapters alternating past/present or 4 years before. The 9/11 part of the story was a little weird to me. Using the event IMO wasn't necessary, but for the plot to have been consumed by it was off putting.
The fascination was oddly put in between these two girls. It seems more envy than anything.
I gave it until 50% and DNF I just couldn't read Miles one more time. I am not sure about all of the 5 star reviews here, as an avid reader this has me confused.
The fascination was oddly put in between these two girls. It seems more envy than anything.
I gave it until 50% and DNF I just couldn't read Miles one more time. I am not sure about all of the 5 star reviews here, as an avid reader this has me confused.
October 16, 2024
3.5 stars, but I'll round up to 4.
This book was... odd. It follows a dual timeline. In the present, Anna's friend Willow vanishes on 9/11/2001. The flashback scenes are Anna's life when she meets Willow at college and how their friendship develops over their college years. They're art students and there are definitely a lot of art references and terms I didn't get!
Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC.
This book was... odd. It follows a dual timeline. In the present, Anna's friend Willow vanishes on 9/11/2001. The flashback scenes are Anna's life when she meets Willow at college and how their friendship develops over their college years. They're art students and there are definitely a lot of art references and terms I didn't get!
Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC.
May 29, 2025
What an intense and psychologically gripping debut from Leffler.
At its core lies a toxic friendship and a chilling story of obsession, wrapped in an angsty tone that heightens the suspense throughout. I found it thought-provoking in the best way — probing into themes of envy, deceit, ambition, power, trust, the objectification of women as muses, and the shadowy underbelly of the art world.
Told in dual timelines that alternate between past and present, the narrative unfolds against the haunting backdrop of 9/11, adding a layer of emotional weight and atmospheric tension. It’s a novel that pulls you in deeply — with a cast of deeply flawed, often unlikeable characters whose complexity only adds to the intrigue.
3.5 stars rounded to 4 for goodreads
At its core lies a toxic friendship and a chilling story of obsession, wrapped in an angsty tone that heightens the suspense throughout. I found it thought-provoking in the best way — probing into themes of envy, deceit, ambition, power, trust, the objectification of women as muses, and the shadowy underbelly of the art world.
Told in dual timelines that alternate between past and present, the narrative unfolds against the haunting backdrop of 9/11, adding a layer of emotional weight and atmospheric tension. It’s a novel that pulls you in deeply — with a cast of deeply flawed, often unlikeable characters whose complexity only adds to the intrigue.
3.5 stars rounded to 4 for goodreads
June 7, 2025
You know that expression, with friends like these, who needs enemies? These women are horrid! Talk about toxic. Guess what? I couldn’t get enough!
Anna and Willow become friends in art school but what begins as bringing out the best in each other soon dissolves into a fierce competition. Willow has a penchant for pranks while Anna is more subdued. When Anna decides she’s had enough and pulls her own prank, it coincides with 9/11 and Willow disappears, leaving Anna to wonder exactly what happened.
Laura Leffler excels at vivid imagery and atmosphere, while at the same time ever so slightly increasing pace, tension and foreboding. Switching between the past in art school, to the present of 9/11, each timeline felt immersive. I love, love, LOVED all the details about art, while the women were in school, and later in the New York art scene. I appreciated the specifics of different mediums, styles, and what each artist was trying to convey with their creations. 9/11 is handled with care and authenticity. It’s clear to me Leffler loves New York City, which is a character in itself.
The antics these two women got involved in...frankly, I didn’t like either of them, but felt a bit more empathy towards Anna. The worst part, or maybe the BEST part, is that their incredibly TOXIC behavior and relationship is utterly realistic and believable.
TELL THEM YOU LIED is both a juicy game of cat and mouse one-upmanship and crackling commentary on the treatment of women in the art world. If you enjoy escalating suspense, unhinged hijinks, and artistic expression, snatch this up NOW! If this is Leffler’s debut, I can’t WAIT to see what she comes up with next!
____
Thank you BookSparks & Hyperion Books for my free copy. All opinions are mine.
Anna and Willow become friends in art school but what begins as bringing out the best in each other soon dissolves into a fierce competition. Willow has a penchant for pranks while Anna is more subdued. When Anna decides she’s had enough and pulls her own prank, it coincides with 9/11 and Willow disappears, leaving Anna to wonder exactly what happened.
Laura Leffler excels at vivid imagery and atmosphere, while at the same time ever so slightly increasing pace, tension and foreboding. Switching between the past in art school, to the present of 9/11, each timeline felt immersive. I love, love, LOVED all the details about art, while the women were in school, and later in the New York art scene. I appreciated the specifics of different mediums, styles, and what each artist was trying to convey with their creations. 9/11 is handled with care and authenticity. It’s clear to me Leffler loves New York City, which is a character in itself.
The antics these two women got involved in...frankly, I didn’t like either of them, but felt a bit more empathy towards Anna. The worst part, or maybe the BEST part, is that their incredibly TOXIC behavior and relationship is utterly realistic and believable.
TELL THEM YOU LIED is both a juicy game of cat and mouse one-upmanship and crackling commentary on the treatment of women in the art world. If you enjoy escalating suspense, unhinged hijinks, and artistic expression, snatch this up NOW! If this is Leffler’s debut, I can’t WAIT to see what she comes up with next!
____
Thank you BookSparks & Hyperion Books for my free copy. All opinions are mine.
November 27, 2024
This book was such a whirlwind to read. The book follows the tumultuous friendship of two artists who meet at art school and slowly descend into a constant battle of the upper hand.
There were many parts of the book I enjoyed but my favorite was the way the author told the story through nuances and word forms. The subtle differences between how the past and future is written (the easiest to explain being first person vs third person perspective) made the storylines feel like completely separate points in time despite them being mere months apart. It also allowed the reader see how Anna went from letting things happen to her (third person) to taking control of her life and circumstances (first person).
Getting to read Anna’s perspective as her mind descends into the madness of what ifs and anxiety was so thrilling and kept me absolutely riveted through the book.
This book hooked me from the jump and kept me all the way to the end.
My one and only qualm with this book is that the end made absolutely no sense for the most plausible ending. The end of the book is exactly how I feel like a real life situation like this would end, but came out of no where in the context of the book. It also felt very rushed and nonorganic to the story.
There were many parts of the book I enjoyed but my favorite was the way the author told the story through nuances and word forms. The subtle differences between how the past and future is written (the easiest to explain being first person vs third person perspective) made the storylines feel like completely separate points in time despite them being mere months apart. It also allowed the reader see how Anna went from letting things happen to her (third person) to taking control of her life and circumstances (first person).
Getting to read Anna’s perspective as her mind descends into the madness of what ifs and anxiety was so thrilling and kept me absolutely riveted through the book.
This book hooked me from the jump and kept me all the way to the end.
My one and only qualm with this book is that the end made absolutely no sense for the most plausible ending. The end of the book is exactly how I feel like a real life situation like this would end, but came out of no where in the context of the book. It also felt very rushed and nonorganic to the story.
April 10, 2025
I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Hyperion Avenue for choosing me.
I wanted to like this book, I wanted to love it, but I just couldn't get into it. I couldn't find a single character to like or connect with, which I think might've been the point but sadly this book just wasn't for me.
I hope it finds its audience.
I wanted to like this book, I wanted to love it, but I just couldn't get into it. I couldn't find a single character to like or connect with, which I think might've been the point but sadly this book just wasn't for me.
I hope it finds its audience.
May 28, 2025
I love a good psychological spiral. Toss in some art school trauma and a missing girl whose vanishing act coincides with one of the most chaotic days in modern history, and I’m already way too invested before the end of chapter one. But Tell Them You Lied by Laura Leffler is not just trauma-flavored fiction — it is a full-blown what the hell did I just read friendship meltdown wrapped in envy, obsession, and emotional crimes nobody’s going to jail for (but absolutely should).
We start with Anna, our narrator, who is every “quiet girl” in your freshman dorm that seems sweet until you realize she’s been silently cataloging your every flaw. She gets pulled into the gravitational force of Willow — charismatic, effortlessly cool, terrifying in that way only talented people with absolutely no emotional accountability can be. They meet at a prestigious art school, where their dynamic shifts between muse and monster, best friend and psychological hostage, faster than a hungover gallery intern can say “toxic codependency.”
Now, Willow isn’t just Anna’s artistic rival — she’s the mirror Anna stares into every day and asks, “Why am I not you?” Their friendship is drenched in competition and validation-seeking, with Anna orbiting Willow like the moon around a sun that’s already dead. And then — plot twist! — Anna decides to stage a fake mugging to scare Willow straight. Because when your bestie’s getting too successful, obviously the next step is light psychological warfare.
Except this all happens the morning of September 11, 2001. You heard me. Willow disappears in the literal smoke and ash of one of the most catastrophic events in American history, and Anna… does not exactly report her plan to police. She just, you know, hopes it all works itself out. Girl. What.
The novel bounces between their college years and the chaotic days after 9/11, and while the timeline flip-flopping can get a little "wait, are we in 1999 or having an emotional breakdown in 2001," the slow unraveling of Anna’s version of events is what kept me hooked. She's not unreliable so much as deeply self-justifying — like that friend who tells a story where they’re clearly the villain but they swear it’s just “complicated.”
Leffler nails the tension of female friendship that isn’t built on love but on need. Anna needs Willow to look at her and say she matters. Willow needs Anna to be her audience. Neither of them actually sees the other. It’s like watching two mirrors try to reflect each other — a little dazzling, kind of nauseating, and always one bad day away from shattering. Co-dependency feels like the polite clinical term you’d scribble on a chart when the more accurate diagnosis is “mutually assured emotional destruction.” These are two very broken people, duct-taping themselves together with ego and unresolved trauma, then wandering around breaking everyone else like it’s performance art.
Now, the elephant in the burning room: the 9/11 plot device. Yeah, it’s bold. Did it feel a little shoehorned? At times. But does it also underline how we all try to hide personal catastrophe inside public chaos? Kinda. I’ll give it credit — it made me uncomfortable in the exact way psychological thrillers should.
This is a 3.5-star read for me — messy in places, a little too enamored with its own atmosphere, but ultimately fascinating in the way watching two people emotionally detonate each other always is. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely the kind of book you finish and immediately text someone, “I have THOUGHTS.”
Huge thanks to Hyperion Avenue and NetGalley for the ARC — this one fully rewired my trust issues and left me side-eyeing every college friendship like it’s a crime scene.
We start with Anna, our narrator, who is every “quiet girl” in your freshman dorm that seems sweet until you realize she’s been silently cataloging your every flaw. She gets pulled into the gravitational force of Willow — charismatic, effortlessly cool, terrifying in that way only talented people with absolutely no emotional accountability can be. They meet at a prestigious art school, where their dynamic shifts between muse and monster, best friend and psychological hostage, faster than a hungover gallery intern can say “toxic codependency.”
Now, Willow isn’t just Anna’s artistic rival — she’s the mirror Anna stares into every day and asks, “Why am I not you?” Their friendship is drenched in competition and validation-seeking, with Anna orbiting Willow like the moon around a sun that’s already dead. And then — plot twist! — Anna decides to stage a fake mugging to scare Willow straight. Because when your bestie’s getting too successful, obviously the next step is light psychological warfare.
Except this all happens the morning of September 11, 2001. You heard me. Willow disappears in the literal smoke and ash of one of the most catastrophic events in American history, and Anna… does not exactly report her plan to police. She just, you know, hopes it all works itself out. Girl. What.
The novel bounces between their college years and the chaotic days after 9/11, and while the timeline flip-flopping can get a little "wait, are we in 1999 or having an emotional breakdown in 2001," the slow unraveling of Anna’s version of events is what kept me hooked. She's not unreliable so much as deeply self-justifying — like that friend who tells a story where they’re clearly the villain but they swear it’s just “complicated.”
Leffler nails the tension of female friendship that isn’t built on love but on need. Anna needs Willow to look at her and say she matters. Willow needs Anna to be her audience. Neither of them actually sees the other. It’s like watching two mirrors try to reflect each other — a little dazzling, kind of nauseating, and always one bad day away from shattering. Co-dependency feels like the polite clinical term you’d scribble on a chart when the more accurate diagnosis is “mutually assured emotional destruction.” These are two very broken people, duct-taping themselves together with ego and unresolved trauma, then wandering around breaking everyone else like it’s performance art.
Now, the elephant in the burning room: the 9/11 plot device. Yeah, it’s bold. Did it feel a little shoehorned? At times. But does it also underline how we all try to hide personal catastrophe inside public chaos? Kinda. I’ll give it credit — it made me uncomfortable in the exact way psychological thrillers should.
This is a 3.5-star read for me — messy in places, a little too enamored with its own atmosphere, but ultimately fascinating in the way watching two people emotionally detonate each other always is. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely the kind of book you finish and immediately text someone, “I have THOUGHTS.”
Huge thanks to Hyperion Avenue and NetGalley for the ARC — this one fully rewired my trust issues and left me side-eyeing every college friendship like it’s a crime scene.
May 28, 2025
I can’t even lie when I say the gorgeous cover drew me in on this one. Super dope. I’ve kind of hopped off the thriller train lately due to the overwhelming hype on “unBELIEVEable twists!!!” so I was a bit apprehensive going into this one. It’s definitely a slow burn, maybe even more of a dark character study, than a thriller. There are some twists thrown in there but they’re well executed.
Tell Them You Lied follows the friendship of Anna and Willow. Anna’s a wallflower ready to come out swinging in the art world, whereas Willow has always been a force of nature. Their friendship runs deep but the blade cuts both ways. We follow their story for four years, starting their freshman year of art school until 09.11.2001 when a mean prank is interrupted by the horrific events of September 11th. The story alternates timelines with Anna narrating current events while the past is in third person.
I’ve definitely known a Willow or two. Someone’s who’s been hurt badly and feels the need to dish out little bits of pain here and there, even to those their closest with. TTYL (even the initials are 2k 😬) nails this portrayal. The millennial nostalgia is there and it’s a solid read. I was hooked right up until the last page. I liked the ending but there were bits of it that I could’ve done without as they seemed a bit forced. All in all a solid read. If you appreciate dark academia reads with heavy character building, I’d recommend TTYL.
Tell Them You Lied follows the friendship of Anna and Willow. Anna’s a wallflower ready to come out swinging in the art world, whereas Willow has always been a force of nature. Their friendship runs deep but the blade cuts both ways. We follow their story for four years, starting their freshman year of art school until 09.11.2001 when a mean prank is interrupted by the horrific events of September 11th. The story alternates timelines with Anna narrating current events while the past is in third person.
I’ve definitely known a Willow or two. Someone’s who’s been hurt badly and feels the need to dish out little bits of pain here and there, even to those their closest with. TTYL (even the initials are 2k 😬) nails this portrayal. The millennial nostalgia is there and it’s a solid read. I was hooked right up until the last page. I liked the ending but there were bits of it that I could’ve done without as they seemed a bit forced. All in all a solid read. If you appreciate dark academia reads with heavy character building, I’d recommend TTYL.
May 23, 2025
#ad much love for my advance copy @booksparks #partner
& @brillianceaudio #partner for the ALC
🆃🅴🅻🅻 🆃🅷🅴🅼 🆈🅾🆄 🅻🅸🅴🅳
< @laura.leffler >
ʀᴇʟᴇᴀꜱᴇꜱ: ᴍᴀʏ 𝟤𝟩, 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟧
ꜱʀᴄ 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟧 || ᴛʀᴀᴄᴋ 𝟨
Willow and Anna met at school and became fast friends. Now it’s 4 years later and Anna has set something up to teach Willow a lesson. But it’s also September 11, 2001 and when they hear about the planes hitting the Pentagon and towers, and can’t reach Willow, Anna is starting to worry that something might have gone terribly wrong. Now Anna is missing and no one has heard from her.
Tell Them You Lied by Laura Leffler is a slow burn thriller with a compelling plot. The chapters alternate between the current date and four years ago (up to the present) when Willow and Anna first met.
The beginning of this one starts off with a bang and then slowly begins to build the two timelines. An examination of female friendship is at the forefront. While I mostly enjoyed this one, it didn’t really feel like a typical thriller to me.
I did however love the writing and will def be reading more from this author! I enjoyed the art class discussions and characters. The setting def took me back to 2001 - when I was a freshman in high school. Nostalgic for sure.
Memorable
AOL email
Maine
Triggers
MS
9/11
Drugs
& @brillianceaudio #partner for the ALC
🆃🅴🅻🅻 🆃🅷🅴🅼 🆈🅾🆄 🅻🅸🅴🅳
< @laura.leffler >
ʀᴇʟᴇᴀꜱᴇꜱ: ᴍᴀʏ 𝟤𝟩, 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟧
ꜱʀᴄ 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟧 || ᴛʀᴀᴄᴋ 𝟨
Willow and Anna met at school and became fast friends. Now it’s 4 years later and Anna has set something up to teach Willow a lesson. But it’s also September 11, 2001 and when they hear about the planes hitting the Pentagon and towers, and can’t reach Willow, Anna is starting to worry that something might have gone terribly wrong. Now Anna is missing and no one has heard from her.
Tell Them You Lied by Laura Leffler is a slow burn thriller with a compelling plot. The chapters alternate between the current date and four years ago (up to the present) when Willow and Anna first met.
The beginning of this one starts off with a bang and then slowly begins to build the two timelines. An examination of female friendship is at the forefront. While I mostly enjoyed this one, it didn’t really feel like a typical thriller to me.
I did however love the writing and will def be reading more from this author! I enjoyed the art class discussions and characters. The setting def took me back to 2001 - when I was a freshman in high school. Nostalgic for sure.
Memorable
AOL email
Maine
Triggers
MS
9/11
Drugs
October 8, 2025
I really liked the premise of this book - Anna is an artist who befriends the charismatic (and toxic) Willow. Over time she feels resentful of Willow (for good reason!) and plans a horrible prank to shake her up…only thing is this prank takes place on the morning of 9/11 in NYC. When Willow doesn’t come home, she doesn’t know if the prank went wrong or if Willow happened to be near the twin towers and that’s why she’s missing.
While this book was a page turner for me, I really struggled to care for any of the characters - they were all insufferable! That’s not normally a problem for me, some of my 5 star books have horrible characters I can’t stand, but this one just had me rolling my eyes over and over again. How many times can we read about Willow doing something unforgivable to Anna, and Anna sticking around for more? I think we were supposed to have sympathy for Anna but she was just so unlikeable too! Overall, this was a quick and easy read, and the mystery kept me going. I also liked the backdrop of the late 90’s/early 00’s timeline
While this book was a page turner for me, I really struggled to care for any of the characters - they were all insufferable! That’s not normally a problem for me, some of my 5 star books have horrible characters I can’t stand, but this one just had me rolling my eyes over and over again. How many times can we read about Willow doing something unforgivable to Anna, and Anna sticking around for more? I think we were supposed to have sympathy for Anna but she was just so unlikeable too! Overall, this was a quick and easy read, and the mystery kept me going. I also liked the backdrop of the late 90’s/early 00’s timeline
November 7, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel as it has all the elements I love in a book: intrigue, jealousies, and relationship issues. It opens Anna worried that friend, Willow hasn't come home--even though she and boyfriend, Milo hired a friend to "scare" her. But because this takes place right after 9-11 and the WTC collapsing, the city is in chaos and many people are missing so they're sure she'll eventually show up. Anna and Willow initially met in a college art class and both were vying for an award from professor Kape--a known "ladies man" so of course they were rivals as well as friends. Vacillating in time between "now" and "then," the novel shows their friendship, their envy, but above all the lies that they tell to get what they believe they each deserve. Unfortunately, Milo is caught in the middle as both women "like" him and will do whatever ruthless deed it takes to win his affections. It's crazy good in its mind-blowing look at what one will do to "win" and leave others behind in its wake!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
May 20, 2025
3.5 stars overall
I found this to be a well put together and engaging read. The pacing was solid, and the twists kept me turning the pages. I especially appreciated that I didn’t see the ending coming—it genuinely surprised me, which I always enjoy in a thriller.
That said, I found myself wanting to yell at Anna more than once. She was a little too trusting at times, and I kept wishing she’d stop and actually take in what was happening around her. Willow, on the other hand—I was completely over her. She came across as mean and manipulative, and it was hard to feel any sympathy for her. She felt like a classic bully all the way through. One thing that threw me off was the 9/11 timeline reference. It seemed out of place and didn’t feel like it had any real impact on the story. Honestly, any date could have been used there.
Overall, though, I enjoyed the ride!
I found this to be a well put together and engaging read. The pacing was solid, and the twists kept me turning the pages. I especially appreciated that I didn’t see the ending coming—it genuinely surprised me, which I always enjoy in a thriller.
That said, I found myself wanting to yell at Anna more than once. She was a little too trusting at times, and I kept wishing she’d stop and actually take in what was happening around her. Willow, on the other hand—I was completely over her. She came across as mean and manipulative, and it was hard to feel any sympathy for her. She felt like a classic bully all the way through. One thing that threw me off was the 9/11 timeline reference. It seemed out of place and didn’t feel like it had any real impact on the story. Honestly, any date could have been used there.
Overall, though, I enjoyed the ride!
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