A NATIONAL BESTSELLERFrom the author of The Islanders comes a warm, witty and suspenseful novel filled with small-town secrets, summer romance, big time lies and spiked seltzer, in the vein of Liane Moriarty.Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. They’ve been welcomed by Rebecca Coleman, unofficial former leader of … welcomed by Rebecca Coleman, unofficial former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad, and her teenage daughter Alexa, Katie’s new babysitter.
Truth: Alexa has time on her hands after a falling-out with her friends involving her popular YouTube channel. Katie can’t be left alone because of nightmares that don’t jibe with Sherri’s vague story about her past. Rebecca Coleman has been spending time with someone she doesn’t want people to know about just yet.
Lie: There’s no new man in Rebecca’s life, and it’s definitely not one connected to the Mom Squad. Alexa isn’t seeing anyone new herself and plans on shutting down her YouTube channel before leaving for college. Sherri Griffin’s real name is Sherri Griffin, and a bad divorce is all she’s running from.
A blend of propulsive thriller and gorgeous summer read, Two Truths and a Lie reminds us that happiness isn’t always a day at the beach, some secrets aren’t meant to be shared, and the most precious things are the people we love.
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An entertaining fast-past read.
An ideal summer read, TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE is exactly the escape we all want right now. I devoured this one.
A very good story about love, loss, family, girl drama with a little twist at the end. I loved this author’s writing style. This is the second book from her I have read and really enjoyed. I have one more to read in my stack and can’t wait!
A good book a few surprises along the way so keeps you reading.
Newburyport is a beautiful seaside town. A group of women, the Mom Squad, and their 11 year old daughters have been friends for years. Now, a new woman, Sherri Griffin, and her daughter, Katie, have moved to town. The mom squad isn’t as welcoming as they could be. Sherry is hiding something about her past life.
One of the moms, Rebecca, has been pulling back from the group. She lost her husband suddenly about 18 months earlier, and is still grieving. Her 17-year old daughter, Alexa, is starting to become independent. She is grieving the loss of Peter, too, but isn’t as open about it. Alexa’s sister, Morgan, becomes friendly with Katie, and soon, Alexa is involved in the Griffin’s lives, too. Additionally, Alexa is pulling away from her boyfriend, Tyler, and becoming involved with a sweet, kind college student, Cam.
Alexa finds out a secret about Sherri and Katie, and this secret changes a lot of things. She tells the secret to Cam.
This story is told primarily in the 3 months of summer, and builds to a somewhat tragic, but ultimately triumphant ending. I was emotionally involved with this book and the characters. I liked the way the book moved between the characters and the snarky comments of the mom squad.
#TwoTruthsAndALie #MegMitchellMoore
Not particularly good
Story didn’t keep my attention. Alexa reminded me of only Disney shows like Lizzy McGuire (17 going on 35).
Great book. Highly recommend.
A slow intro-but once engaged -I thoroughly enjoyed the story -It is told from varied perspectives -and through the eyes of women of different ages. How they intertwine and come together at the end of the summer in a supportive/affirming way-is uplifting-
I have really enjoyed reading Meg Mitchell Moore. I have read 4 of her books in the 10 days( corona, right). I highly recommend all of them. Easy reads, basically same type of characters but some plot twists and characters are likable!
Love, love, loved it! Often wonder how other half lives in the Hamptons! Ha ha But the book was sensitive, but catty, warm, but nasty, etc. Both ends of the spectrum! I felt so sorry for Sherrie’s daughter, having to change her like, then being mocked. Typical of tweens!
Not bad, but kind of predictable. Writing was decent.
Outstanding!
Well thought out characters and a surprise ending.
A beautiful piece of literature.
Two Truths and a Lie by Meg Mitchell Moore is such a quick, engrossing read, and it would be perfect for taking to the beach! There wasn’t actually too much mystery or suspense in this novel in my opinion, but it did have a little bit of suspense and I loved the inclusion of all the different characters, especially the group chapters titled ‘The Squad,’ which is the mom group as whole. I really like when authors use viewpoints like this, and it made the book even more fun. I loved almost all of the characters in the book, and I always appreciate when that is the case. There are some that are not so nice, but overall most are likable, and it was very refreshing.
I listened to the audio while following along in the book, and I highly recommend doing the audio for this one. The narrator was Courtney Patterson and I think she did such an amazing job voicing all the different characters. There are a lot of viewpoints but even with the same narrator I wasn’t ever confused. Two Truths and a Lie is also filled with drama and I would put it in the women’s fiction/neighborhood drama/family drama categories as opposed to mystery or thriller. There is one part at the end that was really obvious to me and I have a feeling most people will be able to figure it out, but that didn’t ruin anything in the book for me and it did build suspense throughout the rest of the novel.
If you are looking for a juicy drama to round out your beach/summer reading list I would definitely recommend checking out Two Truths and a Lie. This was my first time reading a book by this author and now I am really looking forward to reading her backlist. This book is full of cattiness and sass, but also lots of sweetness and a little bit of sadness. The setting was absolutely perfect and now I wish I was on a beach!
This was my first book by author Meg Mitchell Moore, and will certainly not be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It kept me very intrigued throughout, not knowing that would happen next! I read somewhere that this was a mix between an Elin Hilderbrand and Liane Moriarty novel, and I couldn’t agree more. I definitely recommend adding Two Truths and a Lie to your reading list.
4 stars for this fresh and welcome break from my usual read! Fun, quick and perfect for a beach read.
When I saw this one available to rent, I snatched it up immediately. This Audiobook was hard to stop listening too! My first read by this author, but I’ll be back for more.
Published: June 16th 2020 by HarperCollins
@mmitchmoore #Audiobook #SummerRead
Favorite Quotes:
The woman was Sherri “with an i” (that was how she introduced herself, as though the i were of particular value, a bonus).
It was summer, obviously. But in a funny way it felt like it was Christmas morning and Cameron Hartwell was a present Alexa hadn’t yet unwrapped.
Outside the door stood a shriveled specimen of a woman. She was holding a small dog with giant ears. The woman made Alexa think of what would happen if somebody took a walnut and glued it on top of an old rag doll. She was looking at Alexa sternly.
The zinc she had applied to her face was uneven, making her look like a clown who’d partied too hard after last night’s circus.
My Review:
I am enamored with Meg Mitchell Moore’s smooth writing style and well-crafted story. I fell right into this seamlessly plotted, shrewdly paced, and absorbing tale of women’s fiction. Her storylines were well textured and expertly nuanced with generous servings of family drama, personal grief, coming of age issues, wry humor, romance, small-town living, and suspense. While selfishly resenting any interruption to my perusal I may have accidentally on purpose let all calls go to voicemail.
The complex characters were multi-layered, cunningly drawn, cleverly depicted, and realistically flawed. Each had a distinct voice and arresting aspects to their inner musings, painful insights, and observations. The most amusing threads involved the devilish petty members of the Mom Squad, which was a tight-knit clique of the ostensibly in-group of uber moms found in every small-town, who guarded and groomed their daughters’ social standing with as much self-aggrandizing importance as they did their own, and did so with judgmental eyes and sharply wagging tongues.
This was my first exposure to the agility of Ms. Moore’s pen and brain-tickling storytelling. I consider her found treasure and covet her entire listing while planning to follow her future endeavors like a bloodhound on the trail of an escaped convict.
Two Truths and a Lie is Meg Mitchell Moore’s sixth novel. Set in her own hometown of Newburyport, Massachusetts, this tells the story of one summer and two women who are contemporaries, and the 17 year old daughter of one of them. Sherri Griffin and her 11 year old daughter Katie have recently moved to town, telling everyone that she is on the backside of a very bad divorce and has resettled to the area for a fresh start. Rebecca Coleman, widowed two years earlier, has been a leader in the “mom squad”, a group of local women with girls the same age, all of which are beginning middle school in the fall. But she is not feeling the pettiness and exclusivity of the group and has some issues with the unkindness of a few of them. Rebecca is distancing herself from the group while bringing newcomer Sherri under her wing. Rebecca’s daughter Alexa has just graduated from high school and is a bit at odds herself. She has been accepted to her mother’s Alma mater in the fall, but has a few secrets of her own.
As Alexa works for Sherri staying with Katie when she needs to work at night, she discovers secrets even darker than her own. These secrets lead a young Alexa to bring in another because it is too heavy for her to handle, thus setting up a series of twisted and unexpected events.
This is a very well plotted story with several important themes, including friendship, grief, new beginnings, and, of course, secrets and lies. This book became a real page turner. I did very much enjoy this book and I do recommend it!