Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on Such Charming Liars by Karen McManus. Thanks to the TBR team for having me on tour and to Delacorte Press for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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TL;DR: I thoroughly enjoyed Such Charming Liars. It was gripping, entertaining and easy to breeze through in one sitting. The characters were easy to empathise with and the mystery had me eager to keep the pages turning. Some of these twists genuinely surprised me and it was so much fun! I would definitely recommend it if you’ve enjoyed McManus’ previous works or are looking to give her mysteries a try!

It’s been a minute since I’ve read anything by McManus but I’ve always enjoyed her YA mysteries. Can they be predictable, slightly over the top, and sometimes require a great need to suspend disbelief? Sure. Does that make them any less enjoyable? Not at all! For me, McManus’ mysteries are a great popcorn read for when you simply want to escape reality and be entertained.

Such Charming Liars was no different. The story is told from two POVs and I equally enjoyed them. It was easy to see each scene unfold like a movie as the premise is laid out and our MC’s storylines slowly intertwine. It’s not hard to feel for both Kat and Liam as they don’t grow up in ideal situations which require them to fill in adult shoes before they should. I do think Jamie, Kat’s mum, did her best in the way she knew how and I had to respect her for it even if it didn’t make her any less of a hot mess. I felt terrible for Liam as he had to put up with Luke a raging narcissistic sociopath of a “father”. I have many choice words for that man, none of which I’ll repeat here but you can use your imagination, lol. 😉

I liked Kat and Liam a lot as individuals but I loved the great sibling bond that they have, even after a decade of being strangers. You can tell they truly care for each other and don’t want the other to come to harm. There’s a great comforting quality to their relationship and I liked how their differences balanced each other out. She’s bold where he’s cautious, and he’s a bit too trusting and naive while she’s a bit jaded and more than ready to use her charms to her advantage. Kat was so easy to root for and Liam was just a total sweetheart who did a lot of “growing up” in this book. His POV was so endearing and I’m so glad that McManus didn’t give them a romantic storyline cos that would’ve been awful and awkward, lol. Kat and Liam made a great sibling team!

There was also an unexpected additional character to round their duo up to a trio and I found Augustus surprisingly likeable. He was essential to their story but also a great addition to their team. I felt for the kid and can’t even begin to fathom what it’d be like to be raised in a family of money-hungry vipers who care more about appearances than the trauma resulting from the horrible things they experience. He’s truly a good egg amid all that rot and while they formed an unlikely trio, I found their friendship heartwarming. To be fair, they go through a lot and I’m sure some may see it as a trauma bond… 😅

As for the mystery, while I can’t go into detail about it, I will say that it was entertaining. I was curious to see how it would all unfold and while I saw some things coming, other twists were completely unexpected. There’s a lot that happens in the last 20-30% of the book and it made for quite an exciting read, as the lady who sat next to me on the train back from work can attest to as I exclaimed aloud often when the twists hit! That said, my one major qualm was that the end felt incredibly abrupt and threw me for a loop. It did not read as a book end but a chapter ending, which makes me wonder if McManus set it up intentionally for another book with these characters. Either way though, I can’t say I was a fan cos it felt like the story was still flowing and there were at least two more chapters needed to round it all off.

Do you enjoy McManus’ YA mysteries and do you have Such Charming Liars on your TBR?

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