NetGalley ARC | Tell Them You Lied

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐

Anna and Willow met at art school in 1996. They became friends quickly; Willow was her muse and Anna was sure that this would be a life-long friendship. Everyone was obsessed with Willow, so effortlessly cool and mysterious - and moody.

Fast forward to 2001 and Anna is tired. The realities of the art world weigh heavily on her and in the five years since they first met, Willow has shown time and again who she has always been. She is her own muse and cares little for others - even her supposed best friend.

So, one perfect day in September - with a sky so beautiful and blue that people will argue over it's color even decades later - Anna and her boyfriend plan to stage a little drama to send Willow back to her best friend. A fake mugging is the obvious way to do this, no?

If you hadn't guessed by the sky description, the day of their planned mugging turns out to be one of the worst days in the history of the United States. It is against the backdrop of 9/11 that the plan unfolds - or does it? Willow never returns home and Anna begins to panic. Hours, then days, crawl by and still no word from Willow. Is Anna the mastermind she thought she was by taking control back, or has Willow retained that power all along?

I liked the alternating timelines. We see the friendship develop during their art school days, and their 'current' lives in 2001 NYC.

I love a good toxic friendship story. The enigmatic girl who controls everyone around her, while being arrogant and manipulative and self-serving, can't exactly be blamed for the fact that people trip over themselves to be her friend. It's clear from the start that Willow is exactly this type of person, so it's hard to feel sorry for people who refuse to see her for who she is.

But everyone else is toxic in their own ways; they're self-centered and arrogant as well, though they all show it in different ways. They can't see that they cause as much damage as Willow.

Some reviews I saw said that 9/11 didn't need to be involved because it had nothing to do with the story, but...it's a pretty big part in terms of how it triggers Anna's panic. She has this elaborate plan to fake this mugging of Willow, basically to shake some sense into her I guess, and then once everything starts happening in Manhatten Anna is worried that something worse has happened to Willow as a result. I get how our minds can play tricks on us and always think of the worst possible scenario, and we shouldn't do that. But in this case, a really terrible unexpected scenario came true that day and Anna's fears seem justified. 9/11 occurring is the catalyst to make Anna freak out.

This one definitely kept me guessing because I had no idea what Willow was going to do. We know Anna's motivations because we are in her head. Willow is the big unknown here - though given her past behavior, we can ake educated guesses.

That being said, Anna drove me absolutely bonkers at times. It's like sometimes she had no concept of reality when she was so focused on Willow, when the world was falling apart around her. She continued to stay in Willow's orbit even after it was clear Willow was not nice to her, or even really a friend. Hence why I wasn't so worried about her disappearing. It was just another mean wake to wreck Anna and keep her around. But that didn't stop me from wanting to know what was really going on.

I didn't guess the ending entirely, though I got some things right. There were some decent twists that tripped me up, so that's always a bonus. I think the two timelines worked well and I would read this author again.

Recommended.