At an elite private school nestled in the Colorado mountains, Natalie, an office assistant, dreams of having a life like the school moms she deals with every day. Women like Brooke—a gorgeous heiress, ferociously loving mother and serial cheater—and Asha, an overprotective mom who suspects her husband of having an affair. Their fates are bound by the handsome assistant athletic director Nicholas, whom Natalie loves, Brooke wants and Asha needs.
But when two bodies are carried out of the school one morning, it seems the tension between mothers and daughters, rival lovers, and the haves and have-nots has shattered the surface of this isolated, affluent town—where people stop at nothing to get what they want.
Release Date: Mar 22, 2022
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: Park Row
Price: $9.99
Natalie Bellman is an administrative assistant at an exclusive private school in an affluent Colorado neighborhood. She spends much of her time off attending real estate open houses, wishing that she could afford one of these beautiful homes and also using the opportunity to steal whatever pills she can find in each house. As part of her job at the school, she has to cater to the rich and sometimes demanding parents of the students. One of the worst to deal with is Brooke Elliman, whose freshman daughter, Sloane, is an excellent soccer player. Another star player is Mia Wilson, whose mother Asha is the real estate agent at many of the open houses Natalie attends. They are all affected when one morning, two bodies are carried out of the school and police detectives try to get to the bottom of what occurred.
This is a book with characters that are hard to connect with, but most still have some rooting value. I was hoping for the best for most of them, even when they made poor decisions. The book is very engaging and although the book is fairly long, it was a quick-moving, entertaining story. It switches back and forth between two timelines and different points of view. It starts out interesting and has a light, gossipy feel as you learn about the main characters and some of the affairs and scandals going on in the wealthy neighborhood of Big Elk Estates. However, as more things are revealed, the story gets darker. There are several suspicious characters and it takes a while to figure out everything that is going on. Some of the subject matter is disturbing because there are characters being manipulated and abused.
There really isn’t a “lying club” in the book, but there are a lot of lies! Detectives Beth Larson and Ken Bradley try to separate the truth from some of those lies to find out what happened at The Falcon Academy. I have mixed feelings about the ending. Parts of it are satisfying because most of the characters get what they deserve, either good or bad. Other parts of the ending require the reader to suspend disbelief, but I can get past that. What I didn’t like was the ambiguity of how things are left at the very end. Some readers will like the chance to make their own assumptions, but I prefer to have a more buttoned down ending. This is a suspenseful book and I recommend it as long as you know going into it that it isn’t a cozy mystery and some of the events that occur could be hard for some to read.
~ Christine
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