Would I Lie to You?

by Aliya Ali-Afzal

From fresh new voice Aliya Ali-Afzal, Would I Lie to You? is a page-turning, warm and funny debut about what happens when you have your dream life – and are about to lose it.

At the school gates, Faiza fits in. It took a few years, but now the snobbish mothers who mistook her for the nanny treat her as one of their own. She's learned to crack their subtle codes, speak their language of handbags and haircuts and discreet silver watches. You'd never guess, at the glamorous kids' parties and the leisurely coffee mornings, that Faiza's childhood was spent following her parents round the Tooting Cash 'n' Carry.

When her husband Tom loses his job in finance, he stays calm. Something will come along, and in the meantime, they can live off their savings. But Faiza starts to unravel. Raising the perfect family comes at a cost – and the money Tom put aside has gone. When Tom's redundancy package ends, Faiza will have to tell him she's spent it all.

Unless she doesn't...

It only takes a second to lie to Tom. Now Faiza has six weeks to find £75,000 before her lie spirals out of control. If anyone can do it, Faiza can: she's had to fight for what she has, and she'll fight to keep it. But as the clock ticks down, and Faiza desperately tries to put things right, she has to ask herself: how much more should she sacrifice to protect her family?

A tense, funny and page-turning debut from a fresh new voice in fiction, Would I Lie to You? is perfect for readers of Adele Parks, Celeste Ng, and Kiley Reid.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Contemporary, Romance, Adult, Thriller, Cultural

448 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2021

About the author

Aliya Ali-Afzal grew up in London, where she still lives. Aliya has a degree in Russian and German from University College London and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London.

While working as an MBA Career Coach for business schools in London, helping people pursue their dream careers, one day, Aliya decided to take her own advice and pursue her secret dream of becoming a writer.

Her debut novel Would I Lie To You was selected for World Book Night 2022, was a Summer Reads Pick by Penguin Books UK, picked for Summer Must Reads by Adele Parks, a Clare Mackintosh Book Club pick and featured in The New York Post as a 'fab British export'. It has also been translated into Arabic and published in the UAE in 2023. Aliya's writing has been longlisted for the Bath Novel Award, the Mslexia Novel Competition, the Mo Siewcharran Prize, and the Primadonna Prize.

Aliya loves hearing from readers and you can connect with Aliya on Instagram @aliyaaliafzalauthor

Reviews

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars → Would I lie to you? Umm, yes, she did. Faiza's plight in this book was so nerve-racking!

After her husband Tom is laid off from his job in banking, Faiza finds herself in a terrible predicament. Their £75,000 savings account is empty, all of it secretly spent by Faiza to keep up with their affluent friends and neighbors. Instead of confessing her financial infidelity, she tries to find ways to cover up what she's done, but the hole she's in just gets deeper.

As a British Pakistani woman married to a white man, Faiza feels immense pressure to fit in with the white moms in their social circle. She wants to protect her children from the racism she faced as the child of poor immigrant parents as much as possible. Does that excuse her lying and secret spending? I was rooting for her as she attempted to make things right.

Though this book is billed as women's contemporary fiction, it had the page-turning suspense of a thriller — fast-paced and great tension throughout. I could NOT put it down! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ♥

[CYIReadBooks (Claire) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Oh what a tangled web we weave. When first we practice to deceive.” Sir Walter Scott

Faiza and Tom appeared to have the perfect marriage and family. They lived in an affluent area, had a beautiful home and could afford to send their three children to private schools. And Faiza didn’t have to work. Instead, Faiza spent her days volunteering at exclusive charities, transporting her children, dining and shopping at high end restaurants and boutiques. And Faiza could indulge in the regular spa treatments with friends in those elite social circles that most other women of modest means would envy.

Being a person of color, Faiza desperately wanted to fit in with the other ladies of social status. After all, social status is what made you noticed, right? So Faiza would secretly withdraw money from her and Tom’s emergency fund for what most people would call extravagant purchases. But Faiza told herself that she would eventually replenish the fund. After all, her husband Tom had a well paying job. Until that one day he didn’t… No problem, Faiza thought. They had enough to tide them over until Tom found another job. But when Faiza went to check their account balance, they had nothing. Faiza had spent all of their emergency fund money. Faiza was shocked and did not dare want to tell Tom what she had done for fear of him leaving. Faiza feared for her marriage, and she had six weeks to make things right before Tom’s severance ran out.

Would I Lie to You is Aliya Ali-Afzal’s debut novel. Hard to believe because her writing style is so captivating.

The characters are well developed and I enjoyed how Ali-Afzal captured the trials and tribulations of an interracial marriage along with the stigma of being a person of color in a caucasian dominant environment. It’s a sensitive topic but being a person of color myself, I could relate to the feelings of Faiza and how she tried to fit in.

The plot is intriguing and it takes the reader down a rabbit hole of desperation. What would be the cost of rectifiying all the wrongs? Family? Marriage? Social Status? All of the above?

Would I Lie to You is an outstanding novel that is sure to resonate with a wide range of readers. Five masterful stars.

I received a physical finished copy of the book from Grand Central Publishing. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

[Bookphenomena (Micky) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Headlines:
A house of cards
Spiral of lies
Social pressures

What a angsty read this was. Would I Lie To You plunged you into the privileged life of Faiza, Tom and their family. That privilege soon turned to difficulty in a spate of difficult life turns that brought the spotlight to all the things Aliya had been brushing under the carpet and hiding.

I have to say there were times I found the spiriling descent of Faiza’s desperation to cover things up pretty anxiety-provoking but I couldn’t look away. These changes in their family’s life was accompanied by a backdrop of social pressures, school tuition fees, older parents and job hunting.

Faiza was a character that in some ways was hard to like, but she had endearing characteristics that made you want to see her claw her way out of this hole she’d dug. There were events and experiences that she encountered with regards to her race and gender that were simply awful to read.

I would classify this as a women’s fiction/contemporary read that was sometimes suspenseful. The plot had depth and complexity and the characters were very well honed. If you’re looking for a read that keeps your attention with good pace, Would I Lie To You will meet your needs; it’s an impressive debut.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for the early review copy.

Find this review at A Take From Two Cities Blog.

[Ionarr · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an over-long book that touches superficially on issues of money, (straight, middle class) marriage, family, culture, racism, mental health, (terribly on) suicide, and even manages to throw in some sexual harassment. If it was closer to 100 pages than 400 it could be a tightly plotted domestic thriller about the hypocrisy of the moneyed middle classes, but unfortunately that's not what it is. If you enjoy reading about the specific yummy mummy subset of South West London's suburban middle classes and their terribly difficult lives, don't care for terribly quick pacing and don't mind sloppy writing, this may well be an enjoyable read. I found it largely insufferable.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simmering, tight, and intriguing!

Would I Lie to You? is an intense, ominous, domestic drama that takes you into the life of Faiza Saunders, a mother of three who has secretly blown through her family’s emergency fund making sure that she and her family fit in and look like they belong in their upper-class Wimbledon neighbourhood but when Faiza’s husband Tom suddenly loses his job Faiza’s life spirals more and more out of control as she decides to do whatever it takes to keep her spending and their financial ruin a secret.

The writing is brisk and tight. The characters are secretive, troubled, and deceptive. And the plot is an intricate, immersive tale full of lies, deception, drama, jealousy, betrayal, competition, revelations, racism, manipulation, mayhem, mental illness, and bad decisions.

Overall, Would I Lie to You? is a complex, suspenseful, promising debut by Ali-Afzal that I found a tad too long but was nevertheless a fast-paced page-turner that kept me engaged from start to finish.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Neema Shah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters in Would I Lie to You jump off the page, from Faiza and Tom to the various secondary characters including her parents, her children and her assortment of friends. I loved the central hook - it's a lie that will unravel throughout the story and shake the foundations of a happy marriage. This is a smart, pacy and often funny novel with a dilemma that is both tension-building and all too real.

It's also incredibly refreshing to see British Asian and in particular Muslim culture portrayed as part of the story but in a way that never becomes a plot device. Faiza is a woman who happens to be British Muslim and has a set of problems to deal with. That's it! It's great to see this representation on the page written in a believable and interesting way.

Aliya Ali-Afzal is definitely a writer to watch!

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least there were some advantages to being an identikit Wimbledon Village mother: women who occupied themselves with benign activities, like after-school ballet, cheering at rugby matches, Friday night dinner parties and mid-morning coffee dates, although of course, this was never the whole story. I knew people saw me like that too. That was my ‘subcategory’ anyway. The initial classification was, of course, always, brown, Muslim, and of Pakistani origin.

“Would I lie to you?” by Aliya Ali-Afzal is not my normal literary fare, but read for its resonance, being set among the investment bankers, and ex-Nomura and ex-UBS bankers particularly, with children at private schools, in Wimbledon Village.

That's multiple ticks for me, but fortunately not to the opening chapter: it opens with a male banker, unnamed, contemplating suicide from the terrace of a restaurant, called Cinq in the novel but obviously based on Coq d'Argent.

We then switch back several months to Faiza, whose husband Tom, has just been made redundant from his bank. At first Tom assumes he will find another role quickly - There was a long list of jobs on the screen. ‘I’ve applied for a couple already. I’m going to call up John and Tig and the old gang. I got David his role at Nomura, I’m sure he’ll help.’

But there is generally a hiring freeze and Tom realises they will have to fall back on their savings for a period. Fortunately, they have an emergency fund, but unfortunately Faiza has secretly spent it, trying to keep up appearance and fit in with the in-crowd although Tom’s role wasn’t so senior that he was receiving the large bonuses of some of Faiza’s social set’s husbands.

I stood in the middle of the room, not sure what to do. I looked around. The emergency fund was everywhere. Above the sofa hung an enormous seascape oil painting which I’d bought from one of the art galleries in the Village … and the Murano glass lights, which I’d said, were from Homebase, but had been bought on the New King’s Road–all these things taunted me.

In a way, it had also been Tom’s fault–to start with, anyway. He had a habit of checking every item on our monthly credit card bill before he paid it off. He’d go down the list, reading every single payment out loud, whether it was a TFL charge for the tube, or a particularly large grocery bill if we were entertaining. When he came across something he didn’t recognise, he’d ask me about it. I knew that he was just ‘being a banker’, and looking out for fraudulent transactions, but I hated it.

As time progresses, Faiza builds up an increasingly elaborate series of transactions to keep their finances afloat and pay the next term’s fees, and a parallel series of lies to hide what she is doing from Tom, whose unsuccessful job search is driving him into depression.

Faiza herself is an ex-UBS private banker from before she has children, and eventually finds a way back into employment herself, but she has hidden from her boss that she knows his wife (another Village mum whose snooty attitude to Faiza is, at best, unconscious bias and, at worst, racism) and she starts to become closer to him than to her own husband, leading to yet another tangled web.

All this is told against the story of her own family and their own struggles (we learn one reason her youngest son attends private school is racial bullying at his previous state primary) and those of her non school-run friends, and which leads to more storylines and indeed more candidates for the banker in chapter one.

Overall, this was a page-turner of a read, although at times a little over melodramatic (Faiza’s initial monetary schemes reach almost farcical proportions, and the endgame of her relationship with her boss crosses from flirtation into illegality), and (to slightly contradict myself) the story sags a little in the middle while Faiza is re-establishing her private wealth manager career.

Plus, as mentioned, not my usual literary fare (which tends to be experimental translated novels) so I'm not that well placed to comment on how it compares to other novels of its type.

But 3 stars overall for personal taste - although for what it is trying to do 4 would be more appropriate.

Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for the ARC

[Mady · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve almost reached half of this book but I can’t carry on…
I don’t really care to read about wealthy people’s problems. And problems of their own doing… And then lies upon lies upon lies. Life is too short to read sufferable books!

Some adjectives I’d use for Faiza: obnoxious, pretentious, annoying…

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

“At first, I thought it must be a mistake, that I was reading the statements incorrectly. I ran my nail across the line, following the string of numbers with my fingertip. However many times I checked it though, the figure remained the same.”

Would I Lie To You? is a sharply observed, entertaining and thoughtful novel from Aliya Ali-Afzal.

When Faiza’s husband, Tom, is unexpectedly retrenched from his high paying banking job, neither believe he will be unemployed for long. Thankfully Tom’s redundancy payment will provide them with a six week buffer and if needed, Tom suggests, they can always draw from their ’emergency’ fund. The mention of their nest egg makes Faiza uncomfortable, she’s dipped into the account a time or two over the years. Raising a family in London is expensive, and fitting in is important, especially when, as a brown skinned, Pakistani Muslim, Faiza stands out among the other mothers at the gate of her children’s private school. Faiza is aghast when she checks the bank balance and realises that there is nothing left of their savings, she can’t possibly admit to her fiscally responsible husband that she has unintentionally frittered away £75,000, and so she lies. Now Faiza has six weeks to put things right, but as her desperation grows so do the lies she has to tell, threatening to destroy everything she is trying to protect.

Some creative accounting and questionable decisions allows Faiza to juggle each immediate crisis, but repeatedly makes her overall predicament worse. It’s inevitable her lies will eventually be found out, and the anticipation of the consequences, not just for Faiza but also others, creates a genuine sense of tension in Would I Lie To You?. There are several themes and subplots that add to the drama too, including prejudice, an alleged theft, depression, an acute illness, and workplace sexual harassment. It’s a lot really, verging on too much at times, but I think readers will find elements to relate to, and there are lighter moments that provide needed warmth and humour.

Despite Faiza’s poor decision making, her desire to assure her family’s well being is always what’s most important to her and I empathised with her concerns about her husband, her children, and her ageing parents. As the story progresses Ali-Azful reveals how Faiza’s sensitivity to her lower class background and her parent’s disagreements about finances feeds into her uncomfortable relationship with status and money, while her insecurities about acceptance given her racial and cultural background, are often reinforced by micro-aggressions among her, mostly white, social group. Though I can’t directly relate to Faiza’s issues on these matters (given I’m white and broke, with no status to speak of), I could understand how they influenced her decisions, which made Faiza a more sympathetic character who I really grew to like.

[Alsanea · Rating 4 out of 5]

رواية اجتماعية ذات بعدٌ أسري مليئة بالدفء والحكمة، خفيفة وسلسلة ومناسبة للعمر المحير، راقت لي كثيراً بترجمتها الممتازة من قبل دار ملهمون للنشر والتوزيع👌🏻.


تقع احداثها في قرية ويمبلدون البريطانية عن فايزة الباكستانية الأصل التي تحاول الإندماج في المجتمع البريطاني الذي تحمل جنسيته منذ ولادتها بشتى الطرق حتى بعد زواجها من بريطاني الأصل لدرجة لجوءها للكذب على من يحبونها والذي لا يتسغرق منها عادةً إلا ثواني في سبيل قبولها بينهم وإماطة أي أذى محتمل عن أبناءها الثلاث.


بعد أن فقد زوجها توم وظيفته تدرك فايزة أنها ستضطر إلى الكشف عن أكبر أسرارها عندما طالبها زوجها بحساب الطوارئ الخاص بهم والذي أنفقت منه كل ما ادخرته أسرتها للمستقبل، فباتت الآن أمام خيارين مدتهم لا تتجاوز الستة أسابيع: إما أن تجني 75000 جنيه
إسترليني أو تستعد لخسارة أسرتها التي عملت جاهدة على حمايتها، فماذا فعلت؟!
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02-11-2023

[Val (pagespoursandpups) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tension in the first half of the book had me so stressed out. The lies kept growing, and multiplying and I found myself holding my breath at times.

Faiza is a stay-at-home mom happily married to Tom with two children. Faiza's cultural background, her darker skin and exotic look make her feel like she has to work twice as hard to fit in with the uppity, gossipy and extremely privileged neighborhood and school parent groups. When her husband loses his job, she is immediately hit with an extreme case of guilt - she has been secretly spending from their "emergency fund" for years to keep up with the Jones' and to not have to ever ask her husband for money. Once Tom's job search stretches on, the need to access the now invisible emergency fund becomes critical. Faiza's one lie turns into at least 4 lies that only become bigger and bigger. She confides in no one - she is ashamed and embarrassed about her actions (heck she should be!). I felt like her actions were slightly unbelievable as she came from a banking background. The fact that she never once looked at the balance of the emergency fund in the years she accessed it just didn't seem plausible. When the school fees and assorted weekly family expenses were discussed, I felt like there was no way they could have covered them without needing to touch the emergency fund.

I never felt sorry for Faiza or her situation. I mean she 100% put herself there and it was all in the vein of her appearance of "fitting in", proving her affluence and ensuring her children were able to be part of the "in" crowd. Luckily, I didn't feel like the author was trying to get sympathy for Faiza, rather, she was just portraying her as anyone who lives above their means and gets themselves into desperate situations by putting on other faces. I guarantee there are hundreds, if not thousands of women who have done something similar all in hopes of "looking the part." Faiza was part of two worlds that she wanted to keep separate. Her Indian side and then the side of her that just wanted to blend in and be accepted as just another one of the affluent, stylish and social ladder climbing school moms.

Once the story progresses, Faiza finds a way to contribute monetarily to the family. She becomes the bread winner and she seems to enjoy becoming part of the work force again, but this transition back into the workforce felt a little too easy. She didn't struggle with seeing her children so much less, when it felt like that would have been opposite of her nature. Tom certainly struggled throughout as he seemed lost without his job to define him. His disappointment in himself was palpable. Since he too was from a banking background and was very organized, I didn't fully buy that he would not have been quicker in wanting access to the emergency fund. But I do have to say, - Faiza was rather creative in her lies.

I thought the author did a good job with character development. Faiza based many of her decisions on her childhood. She tried to avoid problems that she saw her parents struggle with, and tried to prevent her children from struggling with the issues she did. Her cultural background definitely played into many of her decisions. She had a very strong relationship with her parents, so when she resorted to lying to them and accessing their savings, I cringed. She had a few close girl friends, but their relationships felt only lightly developed. I was very happy to see her development and growth surrounding her heritage throughout this story. She learned to embrace her cultural background and celebrate her differences.

Overall this book kept me turning the pages and was enjoyable. There was one part toward the very end when I held my breath to find out a piece of news. Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC to read and review. Pub date: 2.22.22

[Sahar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Karen Barber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would I Lie to You? takes what seems a highly implausible scenario, racks up the levels of improbability and keeps us at full throttle until we eventually stop. It was a read that I found myself getting through fairly quickly, but I’m afraid the whole premise was just so bizarre that I felt like reading this was akin to nothing I can put my finger on.
The story begins with what could be a fairly common experience…married couple are not entirely honest with one another about the state of their finances. However, once we get details it seems so preposterous that I couldn’t get my head around where this was going.
Our main character, Faiza, has a banker husband and their children go to private school. They mix in circles where certain behaviours are expected, and when we first see her she’s at a Botox party. Her husband calls with the shock news that he’s been laid off, so money is going to be problematic. Even more so when she lets us know she has managed to spend over £75,000 (their emergency savings) without telling her husband and they are thirty days away from being broke.
What follows was certainly a lesson in getting people to think about their finances, but with such crazy sums being focused on it was so beyond the experience of many that I wonder if it becomes less effective.
In order to try and maintain her life, Faiza begins looking for ways to remedy the situation. However, nothing offers the quick fix required. She gets a job, but this is fraught with issues when we learn one of her new senior team is closer to home than she realised.
Within a short space of time we’d had a lot thrown at us. This woman’s environment was pretty toxic. She ended up learning the value of honesty and good friends, but the whole thing was so far-fetched I couldn’t really take it seriously. Somewhat caricature villains, depressingly superficial toxic white women and a rather tacked-on exploration of racial identity. It felt like too many things were thrown into the mix.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.

[Reema · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read a book that represented me SO INCREDIBLY well.. I'm not even joking, I have actual tears in my eyes from all the emotion i feel, about being properly represented DOWN TO THE T.

Here is a book about a Pakistani Muslim woman, who is in an interracial marriage, struggling with money, culture, identity.

Her surname is Saunders. Her husband is white. She has 3 children, 2 with modern names for our culture and one VERY common Muslim name. She struggles with money.

I AM A SAUNDERS!! my husband is white.  I have 2 children, whom i both named with very "fusion" names because my husband's family didnt understand or couldn't pronounce the names I had wanted. I am also very bad with money.  This book is about me. I am Faiza. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

I honestly have never related so much to a book before. There are a few things that don't match up,  like Faiza has an occasional glass of wine, so I can't say that it's a positive Muslim representation.... but then again, there are Muslims who drink alcohol, so its actually very realistic and honest.

The writing is IMMENSELY good. Very powerful and i found myself completely drawn into it. I read it over a few hours, SUPER ANXIOUS just needing to know what happened next.

Every single character was written well. I had NO IDEA what was going to happen, i mean the odds were NOT in Faiza's favour at all. I also really loved how the story changed halfway through, showing working mums and all the struggles.

There's a lot to unpack here. Racism, people making comments that they don't think hurt, but it does, mixed race children, different cultures, working mothers, BUT ITS SO GOOD and i highly recommend

[Shagufta · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book started out interesting though anxiety producing, this book unravelled the more I read. The book is 442 pages and needed to be way way shorter. It is about Faiza, married to Tom, who finds out in the book opening that her banker husband has lost his job. Which is okay, he thinks, because they have an emergency fund. Without realising it though (because she doesn’t open bank statements) Faiza has spent their entire savings when she wanted things that didn’t fit into their overly strict budget. When Faiza realizes the money is gone she lies and continues to lie so Tom doesn’t find out. But between their lifestyle and mortgage and school fees things get increasingly more desperate as Faiza tries to keep her family from bankruptcy and keep her husband from finding out.

An okay premise and at first I thought the discussions about class and money and different attitudes to it was interesting reading. But the premise of the book didn’t make sense - a successful banker wouldn’t just have one source of savings and have nothing invested and have no idea what was happening with their emergency fund. And plot wise it felt like the author was all over the place and trying to just shoehorn dramatic plot lines in just because. Many of the characters seemed cartoonish or just evil and even Faiza seemed inconsistent - in one scene she is sipping Coke Zero because she is Muslim and doesn’t drink, in another is sipping champagne and has a one drink rule. The last hundred pages or so just felt like they were written to a deadline and the writing starts okay but doesn’t stay that way. I thought this would be a funny read like the Shopaholic books but it disappointed me.

[Samantha Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharp, witty, and suspenseful, WOULD I LIE TO YOU is an entrancing debut. Aliya Ali-Afzal writes in a very compelling voice with raw honesty and insight into the complicated dynamics of love and family. This wonderful, thought-provoking novel raises important issues of race, belonging, and speaking your mind with a perfectly imperfect heroine at its center. Both funny and tense, heartwarming and heartbreaking, it's an unputdownable read that will surprise you at every turn.

[Jokey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a rollercoaster. Cost me a whole day of revision.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very stressed through the majority of it

[Karyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard the audio version of this book. Although a bit hesitant at first, am glad I picked up this book.

The book revolves around Faiza, her family, her friends and colleagues. She's of Asian origin married to a Englishman. Living a happy life until the day Tom loses his job and her world begins to crumble.
Her finances are not in order and there's chaos in her life as she begins to tell one lie after another to Tom, her friends her family.
She realises in order to fit in, she's spent all their savings and must now try to put back.

There are references to her kids and herself facing a bias because of their origins.

When she gets a job, she has to struggle to make it each day to stay put. She unknowingly falls prey to her bosses advances and gets entangled in a web of accusations.

I loved the sudden suspense at the end, which was sounded good on audio..

The book has a happy ending and I recommend it for being different.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very addictive page turner. A very enjoyable read about life's problems.

[Tanja ~ KT Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would I lie to you? I mean this reviewer would never! However, Faiza would have no problem doing just that. I guess everybody has a need to fit in especially if they’re new to an area, country, or town. Having moved a lot as a child and even as an adult I understand the need to just blend in and not stick out. But what Faiza does jeopardizes her family‘s financial stability. All for the sake of fitting in. I enjoyed Would I Lie To You by Aliya Ali-Afzal. It felt like a juicy who-done-it all the tension and drama. It has all the good things you want in a read. Originally published in July 2021, it’s returning February 22nd via Grand Central Publishing with a brand new cover. Pre-order today!

~Tanja

*Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for sharing this title with me.


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[Lisa Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aliya Ali-Afzal’s Would I Lie To You? is the kind of novel that needs a new genre definition – I don’t know if such things as domestic thrillers exist but if I had to categorise it as anything it would be this. On the surface, it is contemporary literary fiction but the topics that Ali-Afzal deals with genuinely led me to have some heart-stopping moments: mental health, sexual harassment, debt – you name it, this book has it.

Our protagonist Fazia is, at times, unlikeable. She wallows in situations of her own making and rather than dealing with the bigger picture she plots and schemes and becomes completely untrustworthy. You want to scream at her, grab her by the shoulders and give her a good shake. Yet, you also sympathise with her. No one wants to be in her situation and Ali-Afzal writes about it so succinctly that you feel the desperation and panic for her. I felt like I was being swallowed by all the pressures of her life. I felt like I was going through it with her. For me, this is a sign of quality writing.

Would I Lie To You? is a fantastic read.

Would I Lie To You? by Aliya Ali-Afzal is available now.

[Cindy(groundedinreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

High praises to this debut author! Life is hard and people are so judgmental so how could you blame Faiza for wanting to fit in? Everyone around her has the best of everything so when Faiza starts dipping into her family’s emergency savings account in order to keep a certain image, she has no idea how much she has spent until one day her husband needs the account balance. She tells him a little fib, and then another and another until the lies are out of control. Now Faiza is up against the clock to replenish the account and will use any means necessary to fix this and save her family.
I loved the dynamics of Faiza’s character and couldn’t help but to cheer her on even though many times I wanted to question her thinking! This story made me anxious, sad, elated & furious throughout the book.

TW: sexual assault, bullying, misogyny, racism, suicide

[Arianna Mclaughlin (arianna.reads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can one lie destroy your life? Fazia certainly puts the idea to test as her lies spiral out of control. She's spent the family's savings and when her husband Tom loses his job, she will do anything to keep him from finding out.

I really struggled with the pace of this book. It took me almost two weeks to read, when similar types of books/lengths would take two days. It was a combination of the pace of the story and how secrets were revealed and a premise that was hard to buy given the real world setting of the rest of the story (GIRL just tell your husband!!!). While it wasn't a fit for me, I know many others enjoyed it!

Thank you to HBG and Negalley for the gifted copy of the book.

2.5

[anu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was SO good, review to come. Highly recommend!!

[Rums · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I was sent an ARC of this novel via NetGalley and Head of Zeus in exchange for an honest review*

Would I Lie to You was at times funny and brilliant debut which I couldn't stop reading, even if at times I had to put it down because the second hand embarrassment and nerves was too much. I would pick it right back up as I just couldn't wait to see what would happen and how Faiza got herself out of certain sticky situations. I mean the whole thing could have been so easily avoided had she just told the truth but the skilful ways in which Aliya Ali-Afzal portrays how easy it can be to spiral makes Faiza's decisions make more sense.

Afzal covers a lot of topics in the novel ranging from debt, money problems, raising biracial children, being in a mixed race marriage, mental health, microagressions and more. I feel like some threads were stronger than others, such as the pressures Faiza feels being the only woman of colour amongst the crowd of mums at her children's schools as well as dealing with pointed racial micro-aggressions.

I also liked how the representation of desi culture and relationships was portrayed, I feel like a lot of contemporary literature which approaches south asian culture can be so diminishing and paints it as regressive and old fashioned. It was actually really nice to read a contemporary book which doesn't fall into these tropes and instead, explores positive rep of culture and shows that Faiza's parents being supportive of her relationship despite some initial worries, having a loving relationship with her children without all the extra baggage and makes some key points about how attitudes within the older generations have actually changed too. I could really relate to these elements of the novel and thought this was an important discussion to have.

Overall, this is an addictive read, which I can see many readers speeding through and enjoying it for the slightly zany, but heartfelt story that it is.

[Silke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit is geen feel-good boek, maar wél een boek dat je doet feelen.

Faiza neemt je mee in haar zelfgesponnen complexe web van leugens. Regelmatig had ik een hekel aan hoe ze zich gedroeg. Ik voelde veel frustratie, soms onbegrip, maar altijd bleef ik geboeid.

Door het grootste deel van het verhaal zie je hoe ze zichzelf steeds verder de afgrond in werkt, maar de laatste 100 pagina’s zijn een emotionele achtbaan. Je voelt de onvermijdelijke gevolgen naderen... maar wat is uiteindelijk de prijs van al die leugens?

Life lesson: zeg. gewoon. de. waarheid.

Dit boek schuwt geen zware thema’s zoals racisme, depressie, seksuele intimidatie en aanranding.

[Lucille · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Would I Lie To You although I sometimes groaned with frustration with Fazia, the main character, who just kept getting further into deep water with her husband Tom, through lying constantly.

Fazia is of Pakistani origin and the scenes with her parents were warm and amusing, some of the best in the book. But since marrying Tom and moving with their children to posh Wimbledon in southwest London she has been playing keep up with the yummy mummies to the extent that she has blown their life savings. When Tom loses his job she does everything she can think of to prevent him finding out they have no money to fall back on while trying to maintain face with her friends and family.

I read this book in two sittings and if you want something lighthearted Would I Lie To You does the job while illustrating that lying gets you nowhere except deeper in trouble. Many thanks to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Siân · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant page turner of a read. Would look out for other books by Alina Ali-Afzal

[Bookoholiccafe · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to come