New Release & Review – The Five Year Lie, Sarina Bowen

May 8, 2024 | Posted in Release Day Blitz | By

DEAD MEN DON’T SEND TEXTS…
“I devoured this book in one day, and I guarantee you will too.”—Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell
“An expertly woven story of love, revenge, and murder. In a world where so many books feel so similar—this was a refreshingly unique read and an addictive blend of love and mystery that I couldn’t put down. This is storytelling at its finest and I can’t recommend this book enough.”—AR Torre, New York Times bestselling author of Every Last Secret
Bestselling romance author Sarina Bowen’s debut thriller, about one woman’s search for the truth after receiving a text from her deceased ex.
Dead men don’t send texts . . .
On an ordinary Monday morning, Ariel Cafferty’s phone buzzes with a disturbing text message. Something’s happened. I need to see you. Meet me under the candelabra tree ASAP. The words would be jarring from anyone, but the sender is the only man she ever loved. And it’s been several years since she learned he died.
Seeing Drew’s name pop up is heart-stopping. Ariel’s gut says it can’t be real. But she goes to the tree anyway. She has to.
Nobody shows. But the text upends everything she thought she knew about the day he left her. The more questions she asks, the more sinister the answers get. Only two things are clear: everything she was told five years ago is wrong, and someone is still lying to her.
The truth has to be out there somewhere. To safeguard herself—and her son—she’ll have to find it before it finds her. And with it, the answer to what became of Drew.
For fans of Laura Dave and Julie Clark, but with a heart-stopping romance that only Sarina Bowen can execute, The Five Year Lie is a page-turning, spine-tingling thriller that will have you guessing until the very end.
5 out of 5 stars

I don’t read a lot of romantic suspense, but when I do it’s from my favorite authors whom I already trust. :). Sarina has been a go-to author for me for a very long time so I didn’t even blink to get this new genre from her. It still has her voice and so much of her style, but it’s different enough to applaud her branching out. What happens when Ariel gets a text message from someone she thought was dead? It completely shakes her world. Was it real? What did it mean? Now she’s curious and needs to know what it meant. She enlists the help of a friend to try to figure out why Drew left so unexpectedly and has her wondering if he’s even really dead. It seems that every string they pull unravels something new and they can’t stop looking. But as the picture becomes more clear it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad ones. Now Ariel needs to keep her son safe while she’s looking for a dead man and the answers. She has to remember every little detail of what he said to her all those years ago when they were together. She has no other choice, it could save their lives. I really enjoyed the story. I was invested in the search for the answers and in Ariel and Drew’s journey. I saw some of the twists coming, but a few snuck up on me. Overall, it had enough suspense to keep me interested, but not stress me out and the humor, snark and romance were perfect!

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