(2.5 stars). Liar's Beach is one of those books where I really had to think about how I felt about it. It's a modern retelling of an Agatha Christie mystery, which think is a really fun approach to YA mystery. The writing is engaging, and I never felt like the plot lagged. However, there were two main things that keep me from rating the book higher. The first is that the protagonist is so unlikeable. We get the story through the eyes of Linden, a 17 year old kid from the poorer side of Boston, as he visits his wealthy roommate on Martha's Vineyard for the summer. I think Katie Cotugno writes the character well as Linden does really seem like a self-obsessed teenager who is so focused on what he wants (to fit in, to get the girl, to be accepted among the rich kids) that he cannot see how poorly he treats the people around him. The character is well-developed, but it definitely makes it hard to like him or root for him by the end of the novel.

The second thing is one that was more disappointing. The ending of the story and who committed the crime seems to come out of nowhere. We don't really get any breadcrumbs of clues re: who did it, so the ending ultimately feels pretty unsatisfying. We follow Linden and Holiday around the island trying to find clues, yet at the end there really wasn't anything for them to find. I wish that part had been better developed.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of the book.