Angela Walter asked Sarina Bowen:

Greetings! I have won a copy of The Five Year Lie from Goodreads and I am very excited! Can you tell me if there is any content that might be inappropriate for high school students? Thank you in advance for your help!

Sarina Bowen In 2024, this is a loaded question. This book contains: a hunky army vet with secrets, a single mom trying to do her best, dark secrets and a murderer or two. It contains snarky characters, queer characters and a 4yo boy who loves the Toy Story movies. It is neither darker nor edgier nor steamier than most mainstream thrillers and romances. If it were a movie, it would probably be PG, or maybe PG13.
But in the midst of a book banning epidemic, where Christina Lauren and Colleen Hoover and being yanked from shelves for writing about real life, it's impossible to say what any one person considers appropriate. If you've got the book in hand, and you find the material doesn't work for you, feel free to close it and donate it to the nearest library.
The likeliest harm from this particular book, however, is loss of sleep. You probably won't be able to close it until you find out what really happened to Drew...

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