The Lifeguards

by Amanda Eyre Ward

In sunny Austin, Texas, the bonds between three picture-perfect--but viciously protective--mothers and their close-knit sons are tested during one unforgettable summer in The Lifeguards from the New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters.

"With The Lifeguards, Amanda Eyre Ward brings all the thrills of Big Little Lies to the privileged, sun-dappled private patios of Austin's 'rich-mom' set. The result is a juicy and irresistible roller coaster of a read."--Allison Lynn, author of The Exiles

Austin's Zilker Park neighborhood is a wonderland of greenbelt trails, live music, and moms who drink a few too many margaritas. Whitney, Annette, and Liza have grown thick as thieves as they have raised their children together for fifteen years. While each of them has their own set of values and backgrounds, they share the belief that they can shelter their children from an increasingly dangerous world. The women's three teenaged sons are about to begin a carefree summer as lifeguards. Whitney, Annette, and Liza's friendship is unbreakable--as safe as the neighborhood where they've raised their sweet little boys.

Or so they think.

One night, the three women have been enjoying happy hour when their boys come back on bicycles from a late-night dip in their favorite swimming hole. The boys share a secret--news that will shatter the perfect world their mothers have so painstakingly created.

Combining three mothers' points of view in a powerful narrative tale with commentary from entertaining neighborhood listservs, secret text messages, and police reports, The Lifeguards is both a story about the secrets we tell to protect the ones we love and a riveting novel of suspense filled with half-truths and betrayals, fierce love and complicated friendships, and the loss of innocence on one hot summer night.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Summer, Audiobook, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Summer Reads

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 5, 2022

About the author

Amanda Eyre Ward’s new novel. LOVERS AND LIARS, will be published in May, 2024! It is the story of a librarian in love.

Here is a very long bio: Amanda was born in New York City in 1972. Her family mved to Rye, New York when she was four. Amanda attended Kent School in Kent, CT, where she wrote for the Kent News.

Amanda majored in English and American Studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. She studied fiction writing with Jim Shepard and spent her junior fall in coastal Kenya. She worked part-time at the Williamstown Public Library. After graduation, Amanda taught at Athens College in Greece for a year, and then moved to Missoula, Montana.

Amanda studied fiction writing at the University of Montana with Bill Kittredge, Dierdre McNamer, Debra Earling, and Kevin Canty, receiving her MFA. After traveling to Egypt, she took a job at the University of Montana Mansfield Library, working in Inter Library Loan.

In 1998, Amanda moved to Austin, Texas where she began working on Sleep Toward Heaven. Amanda finished Sleep Toward Heaven, which was published in 2003. Sleep Toward Heaven won the Violet Crown Book Award and was optioned for film by Sandra Bullock and Fox Searchlight. To promote Sleep Toward Heaven, Amanda, her baby, and her mother Mary-Anne Westley traveled to London and Paris.

Amanda moved to Waterville, Maine, where she wrote in an attic filled with books. Amanda’s second novel, How to Be Lost, was published in 2004. How to Be Lost was selected as a Target Bookmarked pick, and has been published in fifteen countries.

After one year in Maine and two years on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Amanda and her family returned to Austin, Texas.

To research her third novel, Forgive Me, Amanda traveled with her sister, Liza Ward Bennigson, to Cape Town, South Africa. Forgive Me was published in 2007.

Amanda's short story collection, Love Stories in This Town, was published in April, 2009.

Her fourth novel, Close Your Eyes, published in July, 2011, received a four-star reiew in People Magazine, won the Elle Lettres Readers' Prize for September, and inspired the Dallas Morning News to write, "With CLOSE YOUR EYES, Austin novelist Amanda Eyre Ward puts another jewel in her crown as the reigning doyenne of 'dark secrets' literary fiction."

Close Your Eyes was named in Kirkus' Best Books of 2011, and won the Elle Magazine Fiction Book of the Year. It was released in paperback in August, 2012.

Amanda's fifth novel, The Same Sky, was published on January 20, 2015. It was named one of the most anticipated books for 2015 by BookPeople and Book of the Week by People Magazine. Dallas Morning News writes, "Ward has written a novel that brilliantly attaches us to broader perspectives. It is a needed respite from the angry politics surrounding border issues that, instead of dividing us, connects us to our humanity."

The Same Sky was chosen as a Target Bookmarked pick.

Amanda's new novel, The Nearness of You, was published on Valentine's Day, 2017.

Amanda's new novel, THE JETSETTERS, was chosen by Reese's Book Club and Hello Sunshine and became a New York Times bestseller. Her novel THE LIFEGUARDS was published in 2022.

Ask me anything and stay tuned for news about LOVERS AND LIARS and TV and film projects based on Amanda's work!

Reviews

[Mackenzie Busalacchi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I enjoyed much of The Lifeguards and found myself not being able to put the book down. However, I am only giving it three stars for a few reasons. First, the ending is extremely rushed. The reader finally gets to the climax of the story and then a few pages later, the book is done. Second, and this relates to the rushed ending, there are a lot of plot holes - a lot of unfinished storylines. For example, what happens with the nanny from the fraudulent daycare service? What happens to Roma? What happens in the bunker? None of this is resolved. I can like an open ending, if done right. In this case, I was just left with lots of questions. Finally, I had a hard time with the husbands - they all seemed to have similar characteristics and I had to keep going back to remember who was with who and who had certain personality traits.

As I stated at the start, I actually did enjoy a lot of the book. I liked the three main POVs and the fact that we got a few shorter chapters from "the lifeguards." I also really liked the setting of the book. It had a true neighborhood-in-a-city feel. If I didn't have so many questions at the end, I would have given this four stars.

Also, just a quick note - there is at least one minor reference to animal cruelty, which can be triggering for some people. I wish I had been given the heads up before reading that part.

[Whitney Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy publishing day! The lifeguards is now available!

3.5 stars rounded to 4

How far would you go to protect your children? That is the main theme of this book. It was a quick read which kept me engaged and guessing the whole time. I didn’t expect going into this book for it to be suspenseful but there were a few times I felt a lot of suspense waiting to see what was going to happen. There were some twists and turns that I did not see coming and the ending definitely took me by surprise. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but it did leave me with a lot of questions too. The epilogue didn’t reveal as much as I would have liked. I love the cover, super gorgeous, and eye catching!

Thank you Net Galley and Random House Ballantine for an ARC in return for my honest review.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars: Wow! “The Lifeguards” by Amanda Eyre Ward is a story about motherhood and loyalty, and an event that tests the bonds of friendships.

The story is told by three mothers of fifteen-year-old lifeguards, with chapters peppered with the voices of: their teen sons, a recently widowed detective, and the chorus of the “Barton Hills Mamas”, an Austin TX group chat. Barton Hills is an affluent suburb of Austin TX. It’s the summer of 2019 when a college-aged female is found dead near the swimming hole where the boys (lifeguards) work. Through unexpected circumstances, the boys are linked to the death, and these mama-bears lawyer-up. Prior to this summer, the women have enjoyed a tight relationship, to the point that the boys feel that this friendship supersedes everything, including them. Once the boys are under scrutiny, the mothers become fearful for their own boy.

Meanwhile the widowed detective trudges through his new lot of single parenthood. He follows the clues, under pressure to find the reason the girl died.

While I really enjoyed the story, I think Ward tried to cover too many issues: immigration, infertility, alcoholism, trauma, loneliness, estrangement, single-parenting, and queer identity. What I did like was the realistic portrayal of the three mothers. These mothers are recognizable; we’ve all encountered them.

Ward exposes what being a “good” mother means. Given our world with increasingly younger violent offenders, especially regarding gun violence, how do we “protect” our child if they are arrested? Is protecting a child not making that child have meaningful consequences for violent actions? When a mother has a nagging feeling that their child is troubled, is cloaking them being a good mother?

How far would you go if you thought your child could be involved in a crime??

I listened to the audio narrated by Hillary Huber, the amazing Marin Ireland, Kirby Heyborne, and Karissa Vacker. Any project that Ireland works, I know I’ll enjoy!

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Lifeguards by Amanda Eyre Ward is a women’s fiction novel that dives into a mystery in a tight knit community. The story in The Lifeguards is one that is told by changing the point of view between the different characters to give all sides of the story.

Whitney, Annette, and Liza all live in the neighborhood of Zilker Park in Austin, Texas and have grown close to one another after all their years living in the community. The women have all bonded over motherhood and have raised their sons together so it’s not surprising that when the boys find themselves in a predicament when the body of a young woman is found the mothers all will do anything to keep their boys protected and safe from the investigation.

On paper The Lifeguards by Amanda Eyre Ward is a book that I really should have loved and raved about. In real life however I found myself not really even becoming engaged in this story. The book started off well enough however once the mystery is introduced I thought that the story just kept wandering away and I wanted to dive right in and find out what happened. There were several times I was wanting to just yell at the characters and made them do what I wanted which wasn’t a good sign. when finished I just chalked this one to not my cup of tea.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/

[clairegruen · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. the only reason i didn’t give this one star is because it was a compelling page-turner that i read in one day. but it was so. fucking. weird. the only type of woman that is capable of writing a book like this is one that has a son (or multiple) and is obsessed with him to an odd extent. the book focuses on a group of three women who live in a wealthy suburb of austin and are allegedly best friends, and their three sons who are also best friends with each other. all of the mothers described their sons like they were their lovers, and honestly since they all hated their husbands and/or had a severe lack of romantic love in their life, they probably did think of them like that.

some of my favorite weird quotes that are MOTHERS talking about their 15-YEAR-OLD SONS:
“In the morning, Charlie’s big feet stuck out from underneath the covers, long and bony. I marveled at the sight of him: that beautiful profile, which I’d adored from the moment he was placed in my arms.”
“Oh, how I loved this boy in the red shorts I’d bought for him when he’s forgotten to buy his own pair at the end of the six-week Lifeguard Training sessions! His knees. His hair. The hair on his knees. Charlie’s brilliant blue eyes…”
“She ran her fingers along his cheekbone. ‘My little cinnamon bun,’ she said, smiling.” (immediately before and after this, the woman is essentially ranting about how much she hates her daughter)
and there’s countless more moments like this. trust me. they often like to talk about how good their teenage boys smell. there’s a moment when one of the moms is hugging the two boys that aren’t her own, and makes a point to inhale their scent. wtf.

i didn’t like a single character in this book nor did i see any character development in literally any character (besides liza a TINY bit, and it was rushed at the end), even though we were set up to see the boys grow a lot. i felt like i got left hanging.

i also did not think there was a single normal relationship in this book, whether that be husband/wife, mother/son, mother/daughter, father/son, father/daughter, brother/sister, friends, etc. they were all really weird and unhealthy portrayals.

the misogyny not only jumps out because the whole book is based on being weirdly obsessed with 15-year-old boys and believing they can do literally no wrong, but also because the one girl is literally hated by her own mother. the mother (whitney) can barely call her daughter “sweetheart” because she doesn’t like her, but worships the daughter’s twin brother. she even goes so far as to frame her daughter for drug dealing so she goes to JAIL. what the fuck? there also wasn’t a single likable or strong female character. they were all absolute flops.

more than all that, this book wasn’t a good mystery. the ending was anticlimactic, and there were countless loose ends that weren’t tied up as well as plot lines that went absolutely nowhere. i’m still largely confused about the whole thing. what happened to roma? what happened to whitney? why should salvatore have checked the 4th reference for his nanny? why did whitney want roma in jail (her reasons were half-assed and stupid)? none of it made sense.

overall, the worst part of this book was the way it oozes with subtle misogyny and worship of male characters. it places young boys on a sky-high pedestal while simultaneously undermining girls and tearing them down. this was a bizarre, unsatisfying, and honestly kind of gross read that left a bad taste in my mouth. WHY ARE SO MANY MOMS OF BOYS SO WEIRDLY OBSESSED WITH THEIR SONS!?!?!

ps. weird things i couldn’t fit into the review:
- so much drinking. the moms are literally alcoholics.
- there was just this whole thing about how everyone in the book is a doomsday prepper? and whitney the realtor sells houses with underground bunkers? but that was just supposed to be normal, like it was never addressed…?

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just ok for me. There was nothing memorable about it. I didn’t connect with the characters. It was told in three POV’s. I’m normally not a huge fan of multiple POV’s but I didn’t mind it very much. The ending saved it from being a two star read.

Whitney, Annette, and Liz give the mama bear instinct a new meaning. Best friends for fifteen years, they even raised their kids together. They have this idea that they can shelter their children from a chaotic and dangerous world. These mothers believe their boys are still sweet little angels that could do no wrong. They are about to be surprised.

One evening in the summer, the moms are hanging out trading stories and drinking while their sons. Each of their sons have secured a job lifeguarding for the summer. On this particular evening the boys are pedaling home on their bikes from a local swimming hole. They share a secret that will shatter their lives and their mother’s perfect images of them forever.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

[Jayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Think twice before diving into "The Lifeguards".

I selected this audiobook because this "riveting novel of suspense" was read by three of my favorite female narrators: Hillary Huber, Karissa Vacker, and Marin Ireland.

Usually, the best books have the best full-cast narration, but not so here.

"The Lifeguards" was not riveting and it lacked suspense. Told from alternating POVs of three mothers living in Austin, Texas, the book explores issues of "privilege", friendships, and the challenges of motherhood.

All the mothers have teen boys who are summer lifeguards. When a dead body is discovered on the greenbelt, the book transforms itself into a contrived and predictable "whodunnit?".

The narration was excellent but even this fabulous cast of narrators could not save this book.

Two stars rounded up.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a luxurious Austin, TX neighborhood, a group of three women have formed a friendship around their sons, now teenagers. Their neighborhood is filled with greenbelts, open space, and pools, including the one where their sons are lifeguards. Whitney, Annette, and Liza come from different backgrounds, but feel like their friendship is as strong as ever. They are enjoying a happy hour one evening when the boys come home, saying they found a body on the greenbelt. The discovery will change everything.

"But our friendship was unbreakable, as safe as the neighborhood where we'd raised our sweet little kids. Or so we thought. By the end of the summer, one of us would be gone."

LIFEGUARDS is told from the perspective of the three women, along with, Joe, the local detective charged with investigating the body. It's certainly the kind of story that keeps you reading. It's part mystery, part family drama. Still, I confess that it's hard to truly engage in a story revolving around rich women (and their husbands) trying to protect their spoiled, rich children. I liked Charlie (Liza's son) and Joe, though.

This is an interesting story, if not a particularly original one. It will keep your attention, but probably won't stick with you long. 3+ stars.

I received a copy of this from Random House / Ballantine and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here’s another selection with a paltry Goodreads’ rating that I thought was pretty dang decent. The story here is about three lifelong pals on the cusp of growing up. At 15 Xavier, Robert (“Bobcat”) and Charlie are stoked that it’s summer break, that they have their first jobs as lifeguards together and that maybe they are old enough to spread their wings a bit and get out from under their parents’ thumbs. But then the body of a dead young woman is discovered in their upper-class neighborhood and the boys definitely seem to be hiding something. The question left to answer is . . . .

What happened on the greenbelt?

This was a more than satisfactory whodunit for me. The alternating of narrators between the three mothers and the police detective investigating the potential murder and the various backstories and skeletons of all the characters kept me wanting to turn pages. If you like a book that asks “how far would you go to protect your child” or “how well do you know your child?” this will most likely keep your interest as well.

3.5 and rounding up

[Provin Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What happened on the Greenbelt?’ That’s the question the author asks the reader throughout the book. But the only people that know what happened or the victim, the neighborhood boys, and their parents.

This book is set in a suburban area just outside Austin, Texas. Of course it’s an elite community full of extremely influential parents who pretend to have happy families on Instagram. But what happens when a girl ends up dead right in their own neighborhood? Will all the parents secrets come to light? And did one of their kids murder this woman?

This was a fun murder mystery book. I really enjoyed the way the author set up the chapters and how we get an inside look at the communities message board as other parents express their concern over the activities taking place. Fun characters really make this one a page turner!!

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Lifeguards was full of extremely unlikeable characters. For it it be titled around a group of boys, it sure was focused on the moms more than anyone. The plot really started to fall apart for me and by the end of the book, I was pretty annoyed with myself for sticking it out to finish it. This book wanted to be similar to Such a Quiet Place but just did not deliver with the same level of intensity.
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc ebook in exchange for an honest review.

[kendall ʚĭɞ · Rating 2 out of 5]

there was no resolution, it’s like the author forgot to wrap the story up. i was really excited for this book, but i feel let down. it wasn’t as mysterious as i was expecting.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is told in the voices of three mothers, with chapters also told by their three teenage sons. In spite of the humor and musings you know that these are some seriously frightened women. I have read some other books by this author, and I have found the same topic thread runs through most every one of her "people on paper". What I have found both amazing, and refreshing is how well she handles allowing them to face issues such as immigration, illness, alcoholism, suicide, guilt, family trauma, loneliness, and estrangement. She allows them to be petty, make the wrong choices again and again, fail badly, but then she picks them up, dusts them off, and has them try again. On this first night of a Texas summer the three boys find the body of a woman near their swimming hole. Something seems off about the boys’ story about finding the body, and as the police investigate and the mother's contact lawyers, each must decide between her friendship with the other mothers and her family. The more they discover...the more they wish they hadn't. Amanda Ward did a creditable job of keeping her readers guessing while providing some twists and coincidences.

[Rachel the Page-Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m finding myself feeling a little meh after this book. It started slow, and the beginning was very chick-lit. I was worried that vibe would continue through the whole book, but thankfully, about a third of the way through it turned into the mystery/thriller that I was waiting for.

I’m kind of tired of neighborhood thriller stories. Some are inventive, but most kind of follow the same formula: rich parents, spoiled kids, a family with a secret, blah blah blah. This one pretty much followed the formula with a group of mothers/lushes who raised their boys together.

When the boys are 15, the moms are having a great time at a little get together (with a lot of alcohol) until the kids race up on their bicycles yelling to call 911. They were hanging out in the greenbelt behind their neighborhood, when they found the dead body of a young woman.

Immediately, the parents are on the phone with lawyers, swearing to each other that if one of their sons had something to do with this young lady’s death, they’d all stick together to protect them. Odd response, right? Well, there are odd reasons for that, and a few other things that happen while the police are trying to find the killer.

Overall, this was enjoyable past the slow beginning. It kept a good pace, had cliche but decent characters, and the ending was alright. It just wasn’t a book that drew me in, even though I did like reading it. I’m giving it 3.5 stars, rounded down because it was a bit fluffy and generic for my taste.

(Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Amanda Eyre Ward, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

[tia ❀]

DNF @33% 😩 I cannot bring myself to care about any of these people

[Lisa Leone-campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lifeguards is an intense and shocking story about the different struggles within families, for the children and their parents. It’s a story about the loss of innocence and rites of passages intertwined with an incredibly fast-paced murder mystery with a jaw-dropping ending!

Liza, Annette and Whitney are three mothers who have been best friends for years. They would do anything for their own children and each other’s families. They live in an upscale Texas neighborhood. Although the women consider each other best friends, Liza and Annette would do anything for Whitney’s approval and attention.

Liza is a single mother of a fifteen-year-old son named Charlie. When she fled her home life after finding herself pregnant, she ended up here. Whitney was her first friend and has since helped Liza in so many ways. But Liza has secrets and tries to fit in with the other women. Although she pretends to have it all, she struggles to make ends meet. Charlie is her life. She is overprotective of him and although she knows this, she can’t stop it from happening. Charlie only wants an answer to a simple question. Who is my father?

Annette is married to Louis and has a son nicknamed Bobcat. Louis feels superior to his wife and sometimes expects the same from his son. He is the man of the house and makes no bones about that fact. Annette worries how Bobcat will turn out with Louis as his father. She misses her family but enjoys the lifestyle Louis is able to give her, something she did not have growing up. In the meantime, Bobcat is trying to find his way in life navigating his parents, friends and puberty.

Whitney is a famous and established real estate agent whose family hurts for nothing. She and her husband Jules have different styles of parenting. She parents…Jules doesn’t. They have twins. Xavier is very conscientious and considerate, and he tries to please everybody. Roma is a bad seed. She tortures her brother and has since they were young. She is spoiled and her behavior is overlooked by her parents. Although recently, her actions seem to be getting worse. Xavier is scared of Roma and fears she will kill him.

The three boys have been best friends since childhood and this summer they have become Lifeguards. One night the boys come home late, and they tell their mothers that they found a woman’s body on the greenbelt she is dead. They swear they don’t know what happened to her, but their actions say otherwise. No matter how hard the mothers try, the boys refuse to give the full truth, so they think. What are they hiding?

As the investigation begins it at first seems to be ruled a drug overdose, but one of the boys’ shin guards is found at the site of the body as well as a picture of the three friends. The women begin to panic, but the boys still insist they know nothing.

Then one of them is arrested.

The chapters switch back and forth from the day of the incident to the present day. We begin to see what happened before the body was found and after the body was discovered and what the police learn during the investigation.

As the boys lies begin to unravel, their parents, especially their mothers go into protection mode. The mother’s will not believe their child could do such a thing. All they want to do is safeguard their families. But the children are not the only ones who are keeping secrets and by the end of the investigation everyone will be stunned at its conclusion.

A mother’s love has no limits…

Thank you #NetGalley #BallentineBooks #AmandaEyreWard #TheLifeguards for the advanced copy.

[Karen Axnick · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

This novel did not quite live up to its promotional blurb. It was suspenseful and did have a surprising twist, but there were loose ends that left me wanting more closure with these families.

Three women who bonded at a shared prenatal class have maintained their friendship over 15 years.

Whitney, mother of twins Xavier and Roma, is a wealthy, high-powered agent in a real estate firm partnered with her husband.

Annette is a Mexican immigrant married to a man living on the inherited wealth of his family’s oil holdings. Her son is Robert (aka Bobcat).

Liza is a single mother desperately striving to provide the safe and secure childhood for her son, Charlie, - the one she herself never had.

All three boys are lifeguards at the greenbelt pool adjacent to their upscale Austin, Texas neighborhood. While the book title seems to be derived from the boys’ summertime jobs, it also metaphorically describes the mothers’ fierce protective instincts for their children.

Amidst this seemingly perfect, suburban backdrop, a young woman is found by the boys one summer evening that sets in motion the unraveling of the carefully crafted and maintained facades of these families. Was her death an accident or a homicide? Did the boys know her and have any involvement in her demise? Each mother is faced with the choice to protect her child at the expense of her friends, and even her marriage.

I’m not a big fan of this book. The dysfunctional nature of all the relationships makes for an interesting, but unpleasant reading. Each woman is consciously or unconsciously in denial about her child’s true feelings and activities. The character development is a bit uneven. The backstories for Annette and Liza provide a solid foundation for their behaviors. However, Whitney, the least sympathetic and likeable, remained more of a mystery to me. Each women sacrificed their integrity and sense of self to achieve some idealistic picture of their lives.

The story is told from the perspectives of the three women, the police detective, text messages, and a gossip-riddled neighborhood online group entitled, “Barton Hills Mamas.” At times it felt disjointed, moving back and forth in both time and perspective. Overall, this was a passable book, but not an author I am likely to pursue in the future.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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[Caroline Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking for spoilers? There's a quick summary here: https://www.howdidthatbookend.com/ama...

This book certainly was not the lighthearted summer rom-com I expected based on the cover! That’s on me for not reading the summary. Instead of a romance, The Lifeguards is a chick-lit, neighborhood drama mystery surrounding a dead body and what these boys may or may not have to do with it. It felt a lot like May Cobb’s books, both the affluent Texas setting and the light summery murder mystery.

I really enjoy these books where everyone has a secret, and where it turns out that the main mystery is not the most interesting thing to find out about the characters. I’m also a big fan of the mommy drama/affluent neighboorhood setting, complete with catty moms on a message board.

It’s always fun to read about somewhere I’ve been–I’ve swam in Barton Springs and walked along what I believe was the Greenbelt!

While the premise overall was great, the ending felt a little rushed and left me with some unanswered questions. I wasn’t sure why we needed Salvatore’s perspective, and felt like I didn’t know all there was to know about the dead girl.

I enjoyed the author’s writing overall, and am certainly interested in checking out her other books.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three best friends live in an affluent Austin neighborhood. Because they became friends when pregnant, all three of their sons grew up to naturally be best friends. But when the boys come home one night scared claiming they found a dead body on the greenbelt, each family suffers irreparable changes in a matter of a week. After enveloping their families in the privilege of wealth, they soon find that wealth and status doesn't protect you from everything.

To say this is a five star read is an understatement. I could not put this book down. The suspense. The all encompassing story. As the story progresses you find you're not sure who to trust anymore and everyone has a secret, though some are much more explosive than others. I cant speak highly enough about this book, so Ill just say its one of my favorites of the year! This is the PERFECT summer read. I'm just sad that it won't be released until April 5, 2022.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Amanda Eyre Ward, and Ballantine Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Dallas Strawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minority opinion here it seems, but I kind of really liked this book…to me, it kind of read like “What would happen if Elin Hilderbrand tried to throw in a bit more suspense in one of her books”….because this book for the most part reads very much like an EH novel; there’s the exploration of motherhood, the lengths a mother would go to protect their child, struggles of female friendships, a lot of the same themes, but the novels centers on 3 15 year old boys who at the start of the novel confess to their parents that they’ve found a body at their local swimming hole; and they didn’t call 911……

It was a relatively short novel, but it was engrossing and kept me entertained. Solid 3.75 ⭐️ imo

[Ali Bunke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lifeguards left me with so many questions. I would love to have read this with a bookclub because it would be great to discuss everyone's interpretations of the ending. This story has multiple POV's which include each of the three mother, each of the three sons and the detective. The Multiple POV's and flashbacks at times made the story feel like it was jumping around. The story read very quickly and I was engaged the entire time. There was a nice twist that didn't see coming, which was nice. Ultimately, the book makes you think how far would you go to protect your child.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Ballentine for the arc

[Laura • lauralovestoread · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 stars!

I flew through this in one sitting, but the characters, a trio of women who have been best friends for years, and now have teenage sons that are best friends, had the weirdest relationship with their sons, bordering on an obsession.

I liked the mystery throughout the story, as to what happened the first day of Summer. I’ll keep this review short and sweet, since it’s best not to know too many details, but it definitely left me with questions in the end.

*many thanks to Randomhouse for the gifted copy for review

[The Sub Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

What happened on the Greenbelt?

How did a local girl end up dead? Bobcat, Charlie and Xavier seem to be the three top suspects. Three young lifeguards who just happen to be the best of friends.

Their mothers, as all mothers, are out to save their boys. But at what cost?

I had such high hopes for this book. But unfortunately it fell flat for me. It was hard to follow, jumping back and forth in time. I never got the answers I waited for and the ending just left me mad.

[Rebecca Durrant · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to go back and reread the ending because it felt like I missed something major. It wraps up very abruptly with a lot of loose ends and no detail of the climax of the story. I for one would have rather known what exactly happened in the bunker over reading the CONSTANT descriptions of teenage boy smell throughout the book, lol.

[Hannah Niccum]

This book was at least 200 pages too short. There were too many storylines left completely forgotten. What happened to the sketchy nanny service and that fourth reference that was brought up two separate times? Why is Liza considering fleeing to Mexico because she’s so scared of being found by Patrick then living with Salvatore, problems all solved, a few pages later, even though Patrick knows where she is now? Why all the build-up about Roma being a psychopath when she had nothing to do with the death. I also think the plot surrounding Lucy’s OD/drowning got forgotten. The police thought she had been murdered and then we never heard from them again. There was all the lawyer business that just dropped out of the story immediately after it started. Is Whitney dead? What did Liza do about the fact that she had killed her closest friend? What was with the bunker in the rocks? Bobcat was on his way back to meet them while all of this was going down, and then we never heard what happened with that, even though he and Annette had been given a spotlight as if they were going to play an important role.

Basically, this book had a lot of great ideas that could have been really really good, but it just missed the mark every single time. Pretty much every aspect of the plot was left unfinished, except for finding out how Lucy died, which was pretty anticlimactic anyway. I couldn’t put the book down and flew through the majority, so the abrupt, half-ass ending was so disappointing. Maybe this could have been something, but it just wasn’t.

[Nik's Nook · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's murder mystery, and "mom margs", and what the hell did I just read?

Three moms in a tight-knit community bond over drinking and their children. When their kids find a dead body, will their bond be tight enough to keep them from turning on each other?

Plot holes everywhere in this novel. There's this plotline we're following, and then... nothing happens. And then, there's another plotline we're following... and nothing happens. I don't know if these were meant to be red herrings, but, really, they just frustrated me. I also felt like there was zero resolution in the end.

Most of the novel I found myself struggling to follow the author’s train of thought. There were backstories, descriptions, and label dropping that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot.

I usually don't write negative reviews. I usually just put the book down and move on. But I read this for book club, so I figured I'd get my thoughts out. And, honestly, if I wasn't reading this for book club, I would have DNF'd it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm curious to see if I'm the outlier in book club or not. 🤔

Saving grace: short chapters, multi-character POVs, and multi-modal entries.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wouldn't ordinarily stick out to me but I saw that it had an all-star audio cast so I checked it out and I'm glad I did. I couldn't give 5 stars because I had too many questions at the end, two of which bug me quite a bit. Otherwise, the story was interesting and more of a drama and women's fiction than a thriller or anything but that's right up my alley. There were some twists but you mostly kind of knew what was going on and went along for the journey. It was laid-back in that way and it seemed very character driven to me, without being too long and drawn out. Definitely enjoyed it and would recommend!

[Trish Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this was not great. The writing was not smooth and I was aware I was reading a book the whole time. The characters were insufferable and the plot was so odd. The timing was off and the flashback scenes were awkward. It also felt like the author was very out of touch with current events and what kids are into. The teenagers acted way younger than someone their age would. A flop, in my opinion.

[ammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book aggravated me.

[Teri]

I just can't. I wanted to push through to the end because this is a book club book but it just isn't going to happen. All of these characters are stupid I can't tolerate another minute lol