Web of Lies
by Aly Beck
Release Date: November 10th, 2021
Synopsis:
My enemy is invisible.
Nameless. Faceless. Controlled. Puppets on strings. Sheep in the masses.
And I’ve turned into their number one plaything.
When I transferred to East Point Prep, I had one mission in mind: find the people responsible for murdering Magnolia. Someone within these entitled walls killed my only friend and threw her overboard like she was human trash.
Now, they’ll pay.
My best friend told me everything through weekly emails, leaving coded clues in her simple messages. I know every incident, and I have the names of her bullies—her murderers.
Seger, Chase, Zeppelin, Carter, and Ainsley.
Somehow everything gets twisted and turned around. Every piece of evidence turns to ash. Magnolia lied to me, and I have to unravel her words one piece at a time to understand the truth hidden within her code.
My pawns become my kings. The ones I once called my suspects turn into allies. They help me search for the invisible culprit slithering through the shadows.
The hunter becomes the hunted.
I am going to start saying the things I disliked about this series: the fact I need to wait 3 months for book 2. Now, onto the good stuff.
I am always a bit sceptical when starting murder/mystery romance books, because normally the plot is super obvious and you can see what's about to happen. Not a criticism at all, because sometimes, we just need that. Easy, murder/mystery romance novels. However, when I started this book, I was hoping it would have more "substance" to it. And oh boy, let me tell you Aly Beck did indeed understand the assignment. Let's just say I am still trying to understand why Magnolia was murdered and why hiding the identity of one of the characters.... I have a lot of whys to ask the author.
But I am getting ahead of myself. As a quick summary, the story follows Kaycee in her quest of finding her best friend's, Magnolia, killer. To do that, she gets transferred to East Point Prep where her two older siblings graduated from and the new school Magnolia was attending when she was murdered. From a series of emails that we get given throughout Book 1, we can read Magnolia's POV and her life, and also, as the story progresses, we start to see hidden clues on her emails to Kaycee. Based on those emails, Kaycee has her first batch of suspects: Twins Seger and Zeppelin West, siblings Chase and Ainsley Benoit and Carter Cunningham aka Cruel Carter. We also get introduced to "Tristan", Kaycee's best friend who met online playing videogames.
The first few days in the school seem to be okay and seems like Kaycee is making friends with the group of suspects. However, after a party, her door gets painted grey with a red cross which means she's been "marked". From there onwards, the whole school is against her including her newfound group of friends and the bullying starts.
I liked the fact that the author gives us the chance to find the clues left by Magnolia. I loved that the deeper and deeper you go into the story, the more complicated and complex it gets and once you think you have understood what's going on, another thing is being thrown at you.
I like how Kaycee is a strong girl despite her disability and it doesn't let her define her. Actually I think I love her because of it. I like her personality and her character and i love whenever she wanders into her mind and her "allies" find it cute.
I did not appreciate that last chapter where everyone's loyalties get questioned aka "big cliff-hanger moment" and then the book stops. ALY WE NEED TO CHAT ABOUT PLAYING WITH OUR BOOKISH HEARTS.
Aside from that, I 100% recommend this book. It's perfect for those people looking for a mild spicy RH book, with some mystery and murder in it. My only advise is that the book does have some dark themes, and I think the author hinted that the whole murder plot may be linked to darker themes, so please check the trigger warnings before starting the book.
I also wanted to voice some stuff that may be considered spoilers, so if you don't want to read them now you is your time to leave.
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
SERIOUSLY, STOP SCROLLING NOW.
OKAY, HERE WE GO.
For those of you okay having some spoilerish comments/feedback, I want to say how much i liked having Tristan as the unknown ally from the very start. I knew, like FELT IT IN MY BONES!, that he was going to turn out to be one of the boys, and I have my clear suspect. So if you read the book and want to share your suspect DM at whatmakespatri on IG.
Another thing I liked was that from the very first kick in the private areas (lol), I knew Carter was going to be EVERYTHING but Cruel. I am not sure why i keep getting swayed into the dark side by bad boys. I have to confess that on the last chapter I did a tiny dance and couldn't stop smiling after seeing the change in Carter. That's all I needed to be okay until book 2.
Also, I have a theory about the numbers on the victims names AND I am so confused with Piper's character. She is a bit mental, but I wonder how she fits in all of this. Moreover, I want to know Ainsley's secret and who Magnolia's lover was. I am having a girl guess and I think it's either one of the adults in the story OR Ainsley. There I said it.
If my rants don't make sense to you right now cause you are like me and love to read spoilers before you read the book, go read the book, come back and DM me on IG ;)
This is an honest review. For transparency, an ARC was provided to me by Affinity Author Services, but the rating and review of the book has not been swayed in any shape of form by this. Thank you Aly Beck & AAS for providing me with the ARC.
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