A lie can change things in an instant.
A lie or accusation can alters someone’s life in a flash never to remain the same forgiven or forgotten.

This is a powerful book and holds many punches.

I just didn’t know where or what was going to happen it just wasn’t at all predictable which made it all the more thrilling.

I had a wonderful reading time with this, plenty to mull over.

So this book has been around for quite some time so it’s on my “busting my backlist” shelf.

Powerful book, fadt and addictive.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Have you ever said something you wish you could retract immediately? Anything, big or small? I know I have and I bet Angela wishes she’d be able to rewind time and unsay what she said after her life comes crashing down around her. Nick even more so!

The story plays out by switching chapters between the main characters of Nick and Angela but also Nick’s wife Marina and Angela’s mum Donna. Each character had their own voice with a different perspective on proceedings. Nick’s voice is one of despair and frustration, Angela one of immaturity and to an extent naivety. Marina is trying her best to support her husband and then Donna filled with guilt.

I thought I knew how this was going to pan out but things got muddied the more I read and nothing was completely clear until the very end when Ballantyne puts that unexpected twist to it all! I devoured Little Liar in two sittings, clicking my kindle, eyes glued to the electronic screen. I’ll be hunting down Ballantyne’s other books to read!

There are two sides to every story. That is a fact. And that is the key thing to remember when making your way through the complicated and tangled case that is set before us in Little Liar. If you like a book that will keep you guessing and second guessing until the end, that will keep you wondering just which of the two people who are really central to this whole sorry tale might be telling the truth, then this will definitely be a book for you. The book does touch upon a case of child sexual abuse, but only really on the periphery, so that is one thing to be mindful, but it is more about the impact of the allegations themselves upon the two families involved, that it is about making the reader live through the abuse itself. This is about Angela and nick, the accuser and the accused, and the challenges they both face in getting those around them to hear what they have to say.

Lisa Ballantyne has done a great job of bringing a very difficult situation to the fore, in a way which engages the reader but doesn't make light of the very horrific and emotional circumstances of what lies at the heart of Angela's accusations. From the moment we meet here, we know that there is something very different, very angry, about Angela, and it doesn't take long for the potential cause of her anger and self loathing to come to light. There are some very difficult scenes involving Angela, around her hatred, her complex relationship with her separated parents and her isolation at school which the author has managed to capture in a sympathetic way, but one which also makes you have that small slither of doubt about whether everything that the victim says is true.

Part of the reason for doubting Angela's story comes from the way in which the accused is portrayed to readers. From the moment we first meet Nick we see a man who is very much in love with his wife and very much a family man. He is kind, loving, seemingly generous and exactly the kind of person you would trust to be around your children in school. Exactly the kind of man who makes for a perfect predator in fact. And as the layers of his perfect existence are slowly peeled away, we see enough of his personality to make us doubt him too.

So who is telling the truth? Angela or Nick? This is a classic case, and one which plays time and again in the media, especially in recent years. There have been so many documented cases of alleged sexual abuse being overlooked or discounted because of lack of evidence or because the accuser is troublesome - very much the case with Angela. And, naturally, sympathies would be with the child as her behaviour would suggest there is a far darker reason for her anger and hate than can be explained away by a broken home.

But things are rarely that simple and in this case I found myself torn between believing the two characters, the author making neither one entirely sympathetic, but developing their characters in such a way that, to a degree, I found I wanted to believe them both. I couldn't fully hate Nick, even if he was less wholesome than he may first have appeared. but I didn't wholly disbelieve Angela either. Lisa Ballantyne kept my guard up and my certainty about what the truth was wavering every so often by the way she fed in little snippets of information that shook up everything I thought I knew. I kind of expected and yet was still shocked by the ending, and yet it played perfectly into the way the whole story had been set up and seemed a very fitting end to a complex and emotive storyline.

The story really did reflect reality, that sense of trial by media (and social media), they way in which, with these kinds of cases, the presumption is of guilt until proven innocent and the way in which an allegation made can taint every relationship and expectation moving forward. It also handled the exploration of the impact of abuse in a careful and considered way. Sometimes bad children are just bad children, but, more often than not, there is something there, some hidden truth, that causes them to act up. That cry for help in the only way they know how.

Sometimes emotional, often thought provoking, and with characters and a storyline that stayed with me long past the last page, I know I'll be looking for more books by the author in future.

The subject matter is just too much for me at the minute. Although it's very well written and interesting, I just can't carry on. Honest star rating based on the plot and quality but can't comment on the whole book.

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat threw out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed

This was certainly a gripping thriller! The author deals with prominent issues very sensitively which I commend them for. Definitely one I would recommend.

Very interesting read as to how an accusation can turn a persons world upside down, I was gripped and definitely recommend a read.

I would recommend this story to all thriller lovers .This book took me by surprise. It kept me interested throughout the story and I needed to see what was going to happen. I truly enjoyed the pacing of the story and the well written characters.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Sensitive handling of a difficult subject matter. An exploration of how accusations can devastate all those involved. Recommended.

This book has been on my To Be Read pile for such a long time. I finally found the time to read it and I am so glad I did. The quality of the authors writing and her style is good and I found myself racing through - it was so easy to read, despite it's disturbing subject matter.
The story is hard hitting. It is about a 12 year old girl who makes allegations of sexual assault against a teacher. The book is narrated by the girl and her family and the accused and his family. This makes the reader wonder and question what the truth is and whose side they are on.
I work in child protection and sometimes struggle with story-lines such as this, as I find myself saying 'it wouldn't happen like that'. That wasn't the case here. It was factually good and the way the case was handled was believable.
thank you to Lisa Ballantyne, the publishers and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review #LittleLiar I can only apologise for the delay in submitting this review.

Lisa Ballantyne brilliantly handles a very difficult matter of child abuse and sexual accusations in the book Little Liar. The book was difficult to read at times and I was left wondering to the very end who was telling the truth.

Absolutely enjoyed from start to finish, u didn't want the book to end. Highly recommended, if you like books that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat.

thank you for the opportunity to read this book and I really enjoyed it, well written, gripping from the get go. tense in places and a damn good read

Trigger Warnings: Child sexual abuse.

My thoughts: This novel is a bit like looking at a slightly sick picture and being unable to look away. It starts off pretty dark and just gets darker.

When we first meet Angela at age 12, both she and her mother are struggling – it’s a year since her father left (‘he had taken all the warmth with him.’) and the mother-daughter relationship is strained at best, physically abusive at worst. Angela is clearly troubled and battling many unidentified demons; she is excluded from school for fighting another girl and is being used, physically, by a boy four years her senior. Things get even more serious in ways I won’t spoil, but in a glimpse into her psyche early on, we learn that she has recently put on weight and that she ‘wanted to be massive. She wanted people to turn away when they saw her.’ Ballantyne cleverly scatters little details like this, building the story up little by little until the ultimate conclusion.

Before this story starts, Marina and Nick are happily married with two young children – the ever-questioning Luca and adorable Ava. Nick is an out of work actor who is working as a drama teacher at Angela’s school and Marina is (rather ironically),Director of Child International. Unsurprisingly, their world starts to crumble when Angela accuses Nick of sexually assaulting her at school and Nick learns that he could be facing a 14 year prison term and a lifetime on the Sex Offenders Register. There are plenty of people out there who now want revenge and who will put both Nick and his family at risk to get it. Marina is steadfastly loyal – she stands by her man but the situation calls into question things she would rather not have to face and she has to learn to accept that she may not know Nick quite as well as she’d thought.

Of course things are never quite what they seem. There are so many twists and turns in the narrative, it’s impossible not to keep reading. It’s a coming of age story but more than that, it’s a story of mothers and daughters and how no relationship is unsalvageable.

Be prepared for an absolute rollercoaster of a read and for only £2.99 on kindle at the moment!

I would like to thank both Net Galley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was quite a scary read, in the way of, it just shows you the power of false accusations and lies can have on a person's life. Angela has a lot of anger issues, and problems at home, and then decides to blame one of her teachers for sexual assault. What happens next is a roller coaster of events and emotions. Recommended.

This novel feels rushed in parts which is a shame because it has to much potential with such an original plot.

The sensitive subject was handled brilliantly it was eluded to rather than described in full detail which is testament to the good writer she is, I loved The Guilty One, this just missed the mark for me and I was left feeling unsatisfied hence the 3⭐

Thanks to Little Brown Book UK & Netgalley for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

⭐⭐⭐

Due to the subject matter of child abuse I did find this quite a difficult read. Having said that I couldn't put it down until I got to the bottom of the lies. Little Liar does a good job of highlighting how far reaching an accusation can go and how everyone ends up being a victim. I felt really sad for Angela (the accuser) in the story and frustrated with those around her that dismissed her so easily.

This was the only book out of the three that I genuinely felt uncomfortable reading. As I should have: this is a gritty and hard-hitting story that tackles child abuse, false accusations and blame culture. The crux of the story is that when troubled child Angela tells her mother that her teacher, Nick Dean, sexually assaulted her, both their worlds begin to fall apart. Who’s telling the truth? Who’s lying? And who will eventually be brought to justice?

The striking thing about Little Liar is the uncertainty that permeates every page of the book. Whoever your sympathies lie with, they’ll be uprooted, shaken and then strengthened by the twisty-turny nature plot. Nobody is safe, which makes for a great thriller, but doesn’t do much in the way of endearing you to the characters. Nick comes off as arrogant and lazy, while Angela is damaged and furious at the world. Both inspire sympathy and disgust, and Ballantyne’s dissection of the modern media is painful to read at times.

However, the plot delivers. You’re kept on tenterhooks for the entire thing, and the ending- when it comes- is shocking. If you’re looking for thrills and spills, you won’t be disappointed.