A Lovely Lie

Jamie Lynn Hendricks

Mystery Thriller

Is it better to believe a lovely lie or know the horrible truth?

1999: The night of their senior picnic, Scarlett Russo and her best friend Pepper were involved in a car accident that left two of their classmates dead. Afterward, they lied to the police, protecting each other from the consequences. Then Pepper left town and Scarlett never heard from her again…

Now: Twenty-two years later, Scarlett has buried that deadly incident deep in her mind and built a comfortable life for herself, working in a hotel on the west coast of Florida and raising her teenage son with her husband Vince. Her peace is disrupted, however, when Pepper’s daughter shows up with news of Pepper’s death. Zoey is twenty-one and studying to be an investigative journalist. She has a cryptic letter from Pepper addressed to Scarlett that alludes to the events of that fateful night and Pepper’s initial intentions to get an abortion. Now Zoey wants answers about her mother’s past. Who is Zoey’s father? And what really happened after the senior picnic? As Zoey continues to dig into the past, all of Scarlett’s buried secrets threaten to rise to the surface.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(4 / 5) What started as a young women trying to find her dad, turned into betrayal and lies. Zoey has recently found a box of her dead mother’s things. In it clues Zoey into believing her father is nearby but that there was a mysterious accident her mother was involved in. Being a journalism major, Zoey heads to her mom’s hometown to investigate.

Scarlet is living a quiet life with her not-so-impressive husband. She has a job she likes, a son she adores and a husband she is hoping to divorce soon. Along comes Zoey asking questions which upends Scarlet’s life.

If something is always true for thrillers, it’s that the past never stays in the past. This always brings in the mystery and answers and this story holds to that well. Many questions made me curious and kept me going, but I also loved the characters. We had good backstories for each and also some POV so I felt I understood their motives well. Seeing the mystery and story unfold from multiple sides added so much!

This was a fun one, it had a twist or two that shocked me and had me laughing out loud. It’s full of secrets, love, lies and murder. I definitely recommend this one!

General content summary: F words= 101

Language

Cigarettes 

Adoption (previous)

Physical violence (fist fights)

Intimacy (m/f few details, multiple)

Family death (hit and run)

Teen pregnancy (previous)

Infidelity (previous, miscarriage)

Teen pregnancy (previous, talk of abortion, more than one, miscarriage)

Alcohol (some underage, multiple)

Drugs (some underage, pills, weed, coke)

Car accident (previous, deaths, blood, details)

Person hit and killed by car (previous, few details)

Assault (possible rape)

Killing (suffocation, some details) 

Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers Promotions for the copy!

The book releases May 28, 2024.

**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.