“3 stars — Southern secrets, sister drama, and just the right amount of emotional unraveling.”

Tangled in Ivy is a beautifully layered story full of family secrets, grief, and complicated sisterly bonds. It follows Trudy, a woman dealing with the aftermath of her father’s death, only to uncover long-buried truths that shake everything she thought she knew. Cue the Southern setting, family estate drama, and plenty of emotional twists.

It’s part mystery, part family saga, part soul-searching journey—with enough suspense to keep you turning the pages and enough heart to keep you invested. The writing is evocative, and the slow reveal of secrets is handled with just the right touch of drama without veering into melodrama.

Some pacing hiccups and a few predictable turns kept it from being a full 5-star for me, but overall, it was heartfelt, engaging, and emotionally satisfying. Perfect for fans of family-centered fiction with a side of buried secrets and bittersweet healing.

Tangled in Ivy
Ashley Farley, author

Unbelievable family secrets revealed and the family drama continues.....

Three generations of the Stoney-Alexander Southern family drama are brought to the forefront after the death of Graham Alexander.

Lillian Alexander begins looking into her late father's papers, computer and so forth to seek answers about what he was trying to tell her as he laying.

There is much disdain between Lillian and her twin sister Layla. Layla has always bullied Lillian since they were children.

What is revealed is mind boggling.

I highly recommend this book. I received an advanced reader copy from Netgalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for a review.

***Thanks to Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.***

TANGLED IN IVY is the first Ashley Farley book I have read and is a beautifully-written work of Southern fiction with lots of family drama, intrigue and twists. It was hard to put the book down at times. It starts with Lillian who has suppressed all memories of the day her mother died in an accident. Lillian’s beloved father Graham dying of cancer and is desperate to tell her something important, but she all she hears is him saying Hemingway. Later at his funeral, several people she meets makes her recall bits of her childhood, leaving her questioning what she believes about her past. Lillian also wonders why her relationship with her twin sister, Layla, has always been so difficult . While remembering her father’s last words Lillian searches all of her father’s Hemingway books and discovers a memoir written by him in which he tells the story of his life with their troubled mother, Ivy. The story unfolds into two timelines, the present, where the two sisters are fighting once again over the fate of their home and the past, in Graham’s memoir. You get secrets and lies that were kept hidden for so long. The reason I didn’t give it a 5 star is because in my opinion no father is going to tell in detail their sexual behavior for his daughter to read, even if it’s only a little.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

First of all a big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

I quite enjoyed this one. It was full of family drama and secrets. I did find myself skim reading at a few points however as at one point I wasn’t sure if I was going to dnf or not as my head just wasn’t in it. But I’m glad that I powered through.

I loved the idea of finding her fathers secrets in an old book. It was interesting to see what happened and why the finances had dwindled to barely anything. But finding out about her father and mother had to be the best part of this book.

I did not like any of the characters... they were seem just boring and meh.
I had hoped it would be interesting, but i was just...lost at some point and skimmed the last 30% of the book.

Absolutely wonderful read!

The story jumps between present day and a memoir so seamlessly at one point I forgot which was which. The author’s storyline and writing make this book such an enjoyable read it was hard to put down. I would recommend this book to fans of women’s fiction.

An interesting family saga with some complex characters and relationships. Plenty of twists and turns in the plot to keep you interested and good development of characters

Tangled in Ivy was a delightful and emotional look at a family:their secrets, betrayals, choices, and, well, tangles. I loved the story-within-a-story aspect of this book, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.

This was so, so good... in fact, I’m writing this review at 4am having just started the book a few hours ago! Definitely a five star read for me.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the complimentary digital review copy of this title.

Lillian is there when her beloved father passes away. She is devastated by his loss and wonders how she’ll carry on. But just before he died, he told her to “look to Hemingway for answers.” What could that mean?

When their father’s will is read, Lillian and her estranged twin sister, Layla, learn that the Stoney family fortune has dwindled nearly to nothing. This sets up a war between the two sisters, familiar territory for the both of them.

Escaping to the family cottage, Lillian finds a thumb drive and a letter marked “for Lillian” inside a hollowed-out book by Ernest Hemingway. The thumb drive contains her father’s memoir of sorts, and it recounts the story of his relationship with the twins’ mercurial mother, Ivy. As Lillian reads the document, she finally begins to understand the root of her strained relationship with Layla.

But more importantly, the document sheds light on the events that occurred the night Ivy died, when the twins were six. Lillian has always blocked out the events of that night, and always has borne some guilt for what happened, even though she doesn’t know why.

Tangled in Ivy is by far, so far, my favorite Ashley Farley book!! I love every one I read better than the last!! I can't wait til the next!! That being said - when people ask for my favorite book - this is a title I will mention!

This has all the makings of my favorite kind of book with suspense and romance and 'you'll have to stay up all night-ability!'

It was suspenseful right to the end, and while I won't spoil it, there is one burning question that comes up towards the middle and you literally have no idea the answer until the very end - and there are NO clues that will sway your thinking! And there are several surprises along the way.

While it does flip back and forth in time, it is very easy to follow and you always know when you're in the past or present. That was not an issue at all so if you're one who does not like that - don't fear that with this book. My only problem is when it was in the present, I'd find I was anxious to get back to the past!

Ivy is a very, very complex person!! At first, you think she's a spoiled rich girl, but again, in the middle of the book, she does something so selfless and wonderful that honestly, it shocked me!! You felt for all the things she was going through and you pulled for her to be happy and fulfilled!

Having interacted with Ashley on both Facebook and Instagram, I can tell she loves meeting - and pleasing - her readers!! Since she and I are the same age, we relate to a lot of the same issues of that age and I can tell she's a loving mother, wife, and friend. She's US! I love also that she will chat with us about other books and authors. She's confident enough to know we love her and we love talking books with her!

Get Tangled in Ivy and be ready to stay up all night because you simply must know the answers!!!!!!!!! I pray there is a sequel!!!

TANGLED IN IVY by Ashley Farley is interesting and wonderful women's fiction filled with mystery and family conflict/drama. This emotional story about a dysfunctional family has skeletons in the closet, intrigue, drama, it has it all.

Ashley Farley's characters are real. My favorite characters were Trudy and Lillian. Trudy was the housekeeper for over forty years. I found Lillian to be sweet, and thoughtful. She took care of her father when he was dying of cancer.
This story had my attention from page one. I couldn't put it down.

This was a little bit different from what I normally read. I don’t usually read Southern fiction like this. It was pretty good. I really liked Lillian and I liked following her as she unraveled her family secrets. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

this was a really good read, it was hard to get through due to similar stories. I really liked the characters and the story itself.

What a fantastic read! Ivy was a complicated character, insomuch that you could feel something about her made her who she was. I enjoyed the family legacy and history aspect of the story as my family has dealt with similar matters. The story was a quick read that flowed beautifully over the pages.

I have always been a fan of Ashley Farley for her great writing, exceptional characters you will enjoy reading about that will stick with you, the lovely pacing, and just her brilliance in writing a great Southern Fiction overall.

When I had a chance to get an early review copy of this book Tangled in Ivy, I knew this was a must read for me. I tried not too read the synopsis as I wanted to slowly uncover the story of Ashley's words through the pages. And my goodness, did I love this book!

Set in Charleston, twin sisters Lillian and Lyla reeling from their father’s death just cannot get along. Lillian a struggling artist uncovers family secrets left behind by her father hidden tucked inside a Hemingway book. The story is full of twists that lead to a satisfying ending I really enjoyed.

This is Southern Fiction at its finest! Loved it!

Ashley Farley keeps amazing me with every book she writes. I think I’ve read her best and then she comes out with another truly wonderful book. The premise of this one grabbed me and when I started reading, I was completely wrapped up in it. Weaving between the present day of Lillian Alexander trying to figure out what happened in her past with something her father wrote and left behind that blows her world away. This book is just so completely surprising and I couldn’t put it down!

It was an okay read. It was a bit predictable and it was a bit slow at times. I didn't really care for any of the characters which made it harder to get through.

I love to read stories about sisters and this book was so good!! I loved it from page 1..... highly highly recommend

👯‍♀️

*Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own*

This book doesn’t seem like it was written in 2020, even though it doesn’t pass entirely in the present, the author makes word choices so old-fashioned that in various parts of the book I felt kind of bad for reading certain things while reading I had the feeling that I was reading a book from before 2010, in terms of how to refer to various subjects, such as marriage, sexuality, sexism, family, and cheating.
Aside from that, I didn't like any of the characters, they are all hateful and extremely unpleasant to read about.
But I read the book quite quickly because I really wanted to unravel the mystery and know what happened.
So I could say despite the author's terrible choices when dealing with the themes she proposed to bring in the book and the detestable characters, the plot of the story itself was very well constructed and well done making it a quick and addictive read, that why I am giving this 3 stars instead of 2.
But be careful when reading this book because you will find very unpleasant things in this story