I am a fan of Ashley Farley! I have been since I discovered her Sweeney Sister series. Her books are not only enjoyable, but thought-provoking., as well.
I might have to say that Tangled in Ivy has been my favorite so far! It was hard to put down. The story was riveting, and the characters were well developed.
I highly recommend Tangled in Ivy! 5 stars !

INTRIGUING!

Ashley Farley continues to solidify her place as a top Women’s Contemporary Fiction author with her latest release TANGLED IN IVY. Farley’s writing is compelling and her plot is so intriguing that that you will want to read this book in one sitting (I did!). Her characters are so vivid that you feel as though you are watching their drama on display across the room. The setting of Charleston’s East Battery adds its own elements of charm, beauty, mystique, aristocracy, old money and greed. These components plus Farley’s ability to grasp the depth and intensity of family dysfunction add up to a very intriguing storyline. TANGLED IN IVY will grab your attention, keep you reading page after page and even if you solve things in your own mind, you want to know more. I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by the author and NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.

I love this cover! If I had never read a book by this author, I would buy the book just because of the cover! Just like the cover, the story inside is beautiful and heart warming. It also has family intrigue and sadness. I could not put this book down and wanted to read it slow and make it last.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher and author for the early copy

A family tale from Charleston of love and secrets with a story line spanning generations.
I am a fan of family sagas and secrets to be revealed, especially when a family home places a central part in the plot.
The story starts when Lillian's father is dying of pancreatic cancer and in the few hours before his death, full of medication he makes comments Lillian finds difficult to understand but gives her the feeling that he is trying to tell her something important. After her father's death traumatic feelings from her past surface and she struggles to cope with her long-hidden emotions and memories which do not allow her to reveal what happened to her mother on the day of her death when she was a little girl.
Lillian sets out to search her father's things for answers to not only save her ancestral home which she and her twin sister Layla learn is at risk because the family fortune is gone but to also try and find anything which will shed light on her past.
On finding a memory stick in one of her dad's most cherished books it contains her father's journal which he has left to her to reveal the story of his life with Lilian's mother Ivy. Told from the perspective of Lillian's father Graham he reveals the turbulent relationship with his wife Ivy over the years from their first meeting, through the death of Ivy's beloved father Henry to her intense relationship with her childhood friend Alice, to the birth of her twins, Lillian and Layla to eventually reveal the true circumstances surrounding Ivy's death. In the present day the story is revealed from the perspective of Lillian, her relationship with her twin sister Layla and the man who broke her heart when he called off their engagement years earlier and moved away. There are also a couple of other characters important in the book although I don't want to give too many spoilers away so I will leave it there.
I loved this book, it is not an author I have read before and I have not even been to Charleston but I thought the setting was somewhere I would like to visit in the future.
I gave this book 4 stars , its a tale of family deceit and a cast of characters you both love and dislike at times. I saw a family coping with life and its myriad of issues people deal with but ultimately it a tale of generations trying to do the best they can with what life throws at them.
I will be looking for other book by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book.

Tangled Ivy is a family drama with secrets, intrigue and the southern charm of America. It is an engrossing tale of family secrets and love. I enjoyed reading about the intriguing characters of Tangled Ivy.

first book i read by Ashley Farley,i couldn't believe i read this in one sitting,when i started this book i did not want it to end! that is how wonderful and beautiful this book was written the drama is strong and heartfelt. "tangled in ivy" took me on a roller coaster of emotions that i didn't even know i could feel within myself.it was so wonderful i'm already looking for a second book and cant wait for that,thank u so much for letting me read this.

3 1/2 stars rounded up. Lillian's father is dying of cancer. She has taken his last few months to be his care-taker. With vague clues he tells her to look for the truth of her life. With this strange mystery in mind, and her twin arriving after their father's death, life goes into an upheaval she never could have expected. Suppressed guilt for her mother's death, a contentious relationship with her twin, and a painfully broken engagement all come to light and in the end weave to make a beautiful ending. Self-discovery, love, and forgiveness are main topics in this story. There are a couple steamy scenes in this one, but they're easy to skip. Overall an enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and Leisure Time Books for an ARC for my honest review.

Graham Alexander passed away holding alot of secrets about the family away from his twin girls Lillian and Layla. They have never got on and it was their father’s wish that they could reconnect after his passing and work through the issues. He also wanted Lillian to remember the day her mother passed away so she could stop feeling all this guilt she was carrying. He wrote his memoir about his life with their mother and they learn the truth about the Stoney family.

This is the first Ashley Farely book I have read, and I loved how strong and vulnerable she made all her characters. I got on nicely with the writing and her way of describing was very nice.

I found this book amazing. Right from the beginning I was invested in the characters. I wanted to know what happened to Lillian the day Ivy died. I wanted to know who Ivy was as a person. I needed to know why Lillian and Layla have never gotten on like twins, even sisters should have.
And we got that and more.

One of the things I loved the most was the different point of views in the story. I very much liked learning about Graham and Ivy at the same time as Lillian, because every time there was a plot twist, both Lillian and the reader can experience it together and share the same reaction. I thought this was very well done. I wasn’t expecting it to be mostly mostly the memoir, but after the first part of it, I wanted more.

My only slight issue was that the ending seemed a little rushed for me, but I enjoyed it so much that I can overlook this. I’m excited to read more from Ashley Farley!

I simply love everything I ready by Ashley Farley and this story is no exception.  There is something about her southern stories of women that are strong yet vulnerable and the families that surround them that draw in the reader and perhaps even have them relating to the various characters.

In this story we meet Lillian and Layla, twin sisters that don't seem to have that close bond most twins, even sisters, might have together.  They are as different as can be and the truth about their mother's life and her death can either tear them apart even more or bring them together.  

I enjoyed the story told from several viewpoints and different time periods.  Learning more about Graham and Ivy's life together was intriguing and explained so much of the family dysfunction.  Sadly, Lillian and Layla learn all of this after his death, and had they known some of it before he died, perhaps they could have cleared the air of so much.  The sisters might have even come to a better understanding of who they were and why there was such animosity between them that didn't need to be there.  It takes time to heal the rift, but even with that journey, there were many bumps in the road that added more drama to the story.  

I think I stayed up way too late finishing this book but it was so worth it and while this book isn't due to be published until June, grab it as soon as you can or go ahead and pre-order the book, you will be glad you did.

We give this book 5 paws up!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book because I absolutely loved the cover. Green is my favorite color so that in itself is beautiful but there is something about this woman that I wanted to get to know. I am happy to say that this time, I DID choose well. I was not in any way disappointed in that I chose this book based on it's cover. I loved the characters, well most of them, and I loved the storyline. The book is full of secrets, family drama, and Southern pride. It takes place in Charleston, which is a place I have never been but because of the descriptions in this book, I now highly WANT to go. If this house is based on a real house, I would love to see it and I definitely want to go explore the parts of the city they were talking about. I was constantly setting the tablet down so I could look something up on Instagram. There are basically two storylines in the book. We start with Lillian who loses her beloved father in the beginning...and then she begins to read his journals so we also have his story to read that takes place back in the 80s. We learn how he met Lillian's mother and we learn what happened to her mother. What caused her death and why Lillian has no memories of the day. Her twin sister is visiting for the funeral and they have never gotten along and soon we learn why. There are so many twists and turns in this book and so many heartfelt emotions that I almost want to turn around and read it again. :) I have never read anything by this author but I can tell you right now that as soon as I finish writing this review, I am going to go add some of her stuff to my Goodreads list.

This is a story about two sisters, their family and lives, that are full of secrets and unexpected twists.
I enjoyed the writing and I will definitely read other books written by Ashley Farley :)

Ashley Farley has always been one of my favorite authors, and Southern fiction one of my favorite genres. Her upcoming release, TANGLED IN IVY certainly does not disappoint. Set in the Deep South in Charleston in a historic mansion that’s been in the family for years, this story begins in 2019 as Graham, the wealthy patriarch of the family, lay on his death bed..After his death, his caretaker daughter, Lillian, discovers a memoir that her dad wrote and left for her to find, detailing his relationship with his deceased wife, and Lillian’s mother, Ivy. This memoir sheds some light on the reason that Lillian and her twin sister, Layla have always had a very contentious relationship. To me, it gives meaning to the title, TANGLED IN IVY as it brings to mind the quote by Sir Walter Scott...”What a tangled web we weave,when first we practice to deceive.” Throughout the book, the memoir gives flashbacks to 1984, which I thought gave the book depth and drew me in.

In this book, Ashley Farley focuses a great deal on family DRAMA, dysfunctional family, relationships, resentment and, yes, love.

This novel was definitely a page-turner that I couldn’t put down. It was filled with shocking secrets, deception and surprising twists around every corner. I highly recommend it! And I eagerly await Ms. Farley’s next book.

I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Author Ashley Farley provides an excellent descriptive portrayal of Charleston, South Carolina in Tangled in Ivy. For much of the book, the setting takes center stage and is especially prevalent in the Stoney ancestral home where the main character, Lillian, and her sister, Layla, grew up. When their father, Graham, passes, much of what they knew of their world and family life implodes as Lillian uncovers secrets found in a memoir he left.

You can tell that Farley has spent a significant part of her life in the Lowcountry and I really appreciated how she leveraged the environment and the Stoney home to progress the story. The plot was well-paced and the addition of a 'book-within-a-book' added interest, as it brought us to a different timeline without literally jumping to a perspective taking place in the past - a method often seen in historical fiction. There is a lot to like in Tangled in Ivy - complex family relationships and dysfunction, love, and moving on from past hurts. The main criticism I have for this book is that all the romantic relationships seemed very shallow for the amount of strife caused and towards the end, everything tied up in super neat bows very quickly.

“Secrets and lies abound in this richly crafted tale of dysfunctional sisters as they try to unravel the mystery their father left behind. Expertly told and spellbinding from start to finish.”
--Bette Lee Crosby, USA Today bestselling author of Emily, Gone

Graham is a professor at a university when he meets Edward and his daughter Ivy who he falls in love with.
Two timelines unravel into two different periods of history as the book proceeds.
Twins Lillian and Layla's relationship with each other is complicated. Raised in a dysfunctional family, the twins, lost their mother in a tragic accident and Graham, their father has recently passed away. Lillian took care of her father, Layla always seemed to have an excuse not to be around.
Pre Graham passing during hid lucid moments he mentions that he has left something important for Lillian to find.
Upon his death, the twins find out there is no financial inheritance, but when Lillian finds her father's journal, the search for answers through up some startling revelations, there are twists and turns, secrets and lies, and relationships strained to their limits.
Thank you Netgalley, Leisure Time Books and the Author Ashley Farley for allowing me to review a pre-publication copy of the novel.

I thought this was a charming but disappointing book.

I couldn't get into it and I couldn't like the main characters. The beginning, to be honest, was sort of depressing. It had insta-love (outright said it) which was kind of shocking. I thought it'd be gradual.

I enjoyed the author's writing style and how she introduced side characters though. The cover is gorgeous and really eye catching and represents the story pretty well.

Tangled in Ivy is an intriguing novel from beginning to end! Rooted in Southern family ties, set in Charleston, the unraveling of secrets is done through a diary left behind. This novel idea depicting the different personalities of the fraternal twins portrayed is brilliant! Although the past secrets are told from a father’s perspective, the extraordinary explorations of what constitutes a “mother” or a “sister” are fascinating, and oh, so true in my opinion. Love abounds throughout this story through so many lives intertwined within the ivy that binds them together. A must read!

Lillian and Layla Alexander are twins. Their mother is/was Ivy. Ivy's best friend is/was Alice, the girls' godmother. Their father is Graham. They live in Charleston, SC. Ivy passed away when the twins were six years old and Graham, a college professor, has raised them on his own, with the help of the house staff, since then, particularly Trudy who was a sort of surrogate mother to the girls. . The twins, however, do not fit your normal perception of wins - closeness, finishing each other's sentences, etc.

The story starts out with Graham's terminal illness and Lillian 's care of him. As he lay dying, he mumbled something almost incoherent to Lillian. At his funeral, more puzzling them happen, including an unknown woman on the outskirts of the mourners at the cemetery.

At the reading of the will, the girls find out that the Stoney fortune, their mother's family fortune, is gone. In the ensuing events, Lillian finds her father's memoir of his life with Lillian and of how Alice, her best friend, fit into the family story.

Any more and I will start spilling secrets. Suffice to say that this novel of Ashley Farley's has more twists and turns than the Swamp Fox roller coaster at Family Kingdom.
.

Fantastic read! I wish it had been longer. I had never read a book by the author, but I’m definitely a fan!

In my opinion, Ashley Farley’s new book, Tangled In Ivy, is her best work yet! After having read most of her stories, I consider myself a big fan of her writing style. This particular book is about the Stoney-Alexander family who live in their ancestral home on East Battery in Charleston, South Carolina. I think this family is about as dysfunctional as they come! The story centers around Lillian, one of the daughters who was raised believing she was a twin, who after her fathers death, reads his memoirs and learns about his life and love with Ivy, the mother. From reading, she learns about family lies, marital indiscretions and who she really is. This was a story that held my attention and kept me turning the pages wanting more. There were things that happened that I didn’t foresee that totally shocked and surprised me. What a crazy web this family wove! It was a fantastic story of southern women’s fiction and one I most definitely recommend. After reading this, I’m anxious to see what Ashley will come up with next. I think she’s going to have a rather hard time topping this! I’d like to thank NetGalley for giving me the arc to read and review. All opinions are my own. This is a 5 star read but in my opinion deserves so much more!