A gripping novel about love - loss and family secrets

Here is a weird review. I am about 30% into this book. I think I will finish it. BUT, this confirms my belief...There is NOTHING so bad in life that you cannot talk about it. Too bad for the main character who you know from the beginning was not allowed to do that. I give it 3 stars because it would not be fair to give it 5 or 1. I have not finished it.

Really stupid-- I thought the lie was going to be major but something someone does at 13-Seriously What a ridicules premise for a book.
I skimmed the book but actually felt duped-and I am most annoyed that I spent any money on this. If you want something good read Her Husbamds secret or Big Little Lies.
I am very perplexed at the number of 5 star reviews-- must be friends and family.

While I enjoyed the dialog, the premise of the story was quite weak and silly. The "secret(s)" wasn't very earth-shattering and didn't warrant the level of angst and suffering experienced by the main character and her family. I couldn't stay with the story... skimmed through and got the "basics" and then moved on.

Life is too short to continue reading a book you don't like. I read about 1/4 of it before I lost interest. While the writing is adequate, as another reviewer commented, the premise is ridiculous. Don't waste your money.

"That little lie made the big difference... But in those glorious ten minutes, I didn't even realize I was making a mistake. Let alone one I could never leave behind."

After the Lie was my first novel by Kerry Fisher, but it won't be my last. The intriguing, suspenseful prologue sucked me right in. Her beautiful prose, thought-provoking yet authentic vocabulary, and relatable characters kept me hooked. Fisher did a wonderful job of demonstrating how subsequent secrets and lies can quickly and easily become more poisonous than an initial offense.

I absolutely adored Lydia, whose witty inner dialogue was spot on. Fisher's execution of her character felt so genuine that Lydia often felt like a friend rather than a fictional character. Lydia's mother was often obnoxious and overbearing, but never in an unbelievable way; I felt sympathy for her predicament even before I knew the full story. I appreciated the way in which Fisher conveyed the real, raw emotions of the characters without beating us over the head with them.

Fisher struck a perfect balance of keeping the plot steady yet compelling. I happily devoured this novel and look forward to exploring more of her work in the future.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

What an absolutely BRILLIANT read! Oh Gosh I wish I hadn’t finished it so quickly, then I’d still have more of it to look forward to.

This book bridges the gap between romantic fiction family drama, and twisty psychological roller coaster perfectly. It’s beautiful, almost lyrical prose, of profound emotion laced with gentle humour reminded me of two books I completely adore – The Husband’s secret by Liane Moriarty and One plus One by Jojo Moyes.

Which bushel has this author been hiding her light under until now? Her writing style is sheer perfection, this book gripped me like Velcro from the very start and completely enthralled and entertained me right the way through, with multitudes of wonderful thought processes and little asides which allowed me to climb right inside the head of the narrator and live this book along with her.

It is a family based romantic drama with lots of secrets and lies and getting found outs and “OMG don’t do that” moments followed by “Sighhhh - How are you going to put that one right then?”

The main protagonist is Lydia who tells the story. She has a successful event planning business and occasionally helps her husband promote his Upmarket kitchen fitting business. Lydia lives a nice steady life with her hard working and loyal husband Mark, their two teenage kids Izzy, thirteen and Jamie 16, not forgetting Mabel the family dog who wags and bounds her way through the book with a smile on her face and a dead rabbit hanging from her mouth! The kids are her life and alos the bane of it, typical teenagers Lydia is determined she will always do her very best for them but life keeps sneaking in the way and suddenly, they don’t want to be mothered any more and begin communicating in shrugs and sullen grimaces.

It’s not a jet set lifestyle but it’s a good one and Lydia’s pretty content with the life she’s spent 30 years carefully building, carefully keeping some things hidden which she can never, ever, tell without changing the way everyone thinks of her, she’s adept at deception and keeping thigs under wraps from her husband and children and only occasionally wishes she could break out of her placid mould and be someone a little wilder and more exciting.

Her parents have helped construct the lie she’s living. Her father has a certain fragility she always has to be careful of not shattering. Lydias mother is a dreadful snob, a merciless social climber. In parts of the book I hated her with a passion, at other times I was merely exasperated at her intractibilty. (Of all the things this woman does the one I find it utterly impossible to forgive her for is Tripod, read it, I’m sure you’ll understand)

Even at 43 years old, Lydias birthday brings a gift her mother thinks is socially fitting but never reflects her daughters actual tastes or needs. The only thing they have in common is a
liking for a nice slice of cake and a desire to keep everything on an even keel and never even between just the 2 of them, mention “that awful carry on” from Lydias teenage years, which lies festering beneath everything.

Lydias skills at event organising, despite having mostly been used for planning unique weddings, are seized upon by the school Rugby club fundraising committee and she suddenly finds herself railroaded into helping promote money making for a new clubhouse, when a face from the past turns up and brings memories and secrets she thought were buried right back to the surface and leaves her shaken and shattered.

It would only take one sentence to blow apart the carefully constructed Surrey life she has built and when everything seems about to split open she begins a whole new level of deceit, as if things aren’t already complicated enough, with untruths, deceit and secrets galore. She makes some really ill-advised decisions, but isn’t that exactly what makes us human?

Her whole sense of self is threatened and suddenly she begins to become a different kind of Lydia, one she likes even less than the controlled calm Lydia she has cultivated over the years. She suddenly acts out of character or is she just reverting to type?.

The characters within these pages are just fabulous and so very realistic, there have been some awful things happened in her past but Lydias voice comes through strong and loud and just as though you are really party to her inner thoughts, there are some laugh out loud moments, especially around the kids and especially Mabel the lovable and irrepressible dog who comes a close second to my favourite literary canine companion ever, Norman the flatulent hound from the previously mentioned book One plus One.

Her descriptions and thoughts are just brilliant, when the kids are behaving suspiciously innocently she thinks to herself “the last time Jamie behaved like this, was when he received a detention for imitating the geography teacher when a wasp flew up her skirt” !!

We discover the main part of her secret about 30% in to the book but there are further revelations, more secrets to hide and life continues to throw dung at Lydia until you’re not quite sure if she can take any more.

Wonderful, wonderful book – just perfect. If you like either of the books I compared this to above, or if you enjoy books by Amanda Prowse who has a similar heartfelt style of narration you'll love this one.

My thanks to Netgalley and the wonderful folk at Bookouture for my advance copy for reviewing.

This is the story of Lydia living in comfortable middle class Surrey with her husband and children and on the surface it appears a fortunate life. But very early on you learn that pressure from her obsessed-with-respectability mum has turned a teenage folly into a shaming secret that hangs around Lydia's neck like a dead albatross.
Written with Kerry Fisher's trademark wit and forensic dissection of middle class pretensions she has created a complex, flawed and sympathetic heroine in Lydia. The story is told from her point of view and her inner voice is tart, funny and sometimes anguished. Lydia's fear of disclosure holds her back from being her true self. The cover-up of the lie has been far more damaging than the lie itself.
I love Kerry's metaphors. Of her relationship with her (difficult) mother Lydia notes that: ‘...like watchful crows gathered on a garden fence, our conflicting resentments were always waiting to swoop down for a vicious peck.’
This is a darker tale than her previous two novels, both of which I loved. What they all share is the depiction of believable, troubled and strong women struggling with contemporary issues. If you like a powerful family drama that will keep you guessing until the end then this is the book for you.

I was auto approved to read this on Netgalley and it's the first I've read by this author, although I do also have Kerry's other books, The School Gate Survival Guide and The Island Escape on my tbr list and after devouring this one in less than a day I will definitely be bumping them both up my pile!

I knew, as soon as I read the first page, that I was going to love this book, I just didn't realise how much. The story was full of secrets, lies and intrigue and each turn of the page made me wonder what was going to happen next, was it all worth the lies that people had told and the secrets they were keeping, would there be a happy ever after and is there any such thing anyway?

I loved all the characters, apart from maybe Dorothy at times, but as a mum myself I know she thought she was doing what was right and we all want what's right for our children don't we?

I would like to thank Bookouture and Netgalley for the chance to read this ahead of publication, 5 easy stars from me!

In today's social media and technology-ruled world, Kerry Fisher's latest book, After the Lie, fits in seamlessly. This book is a portrayal of how quickly things can escalate from something that at the time seemed minor, and how the consequences of that action can echo throughout the years, following everyone involved as they continue through life. I absolutely loved this book. I think the subject matter is incredibly important in today's society and it captures perfectly how our actions, and the events that follow, can change our lives completely. I really must applaud Kerry Fisher for such a real, powerful and hard-hitting novel, yet still ensuring it had heart, hope and forgiveness.

In After the Lie by Kerry Fisher, we're introduced to Lydia. It quickly becomes clear to the reader that something drastic happened in her past that is still haunting her family to this day. It was all very hush-hush, almost as if what had taken place was a taboo. No one liked to talk about it. In fact, it had been brushed under the carpet and kept there for thirty years. Yet the effects still had a hold over Lydia, her mother and her father. To ensure I remained intrigued in regards to Lydia's shameful past that everyone refused to mention, the author didn't reveal the secret but rather told me of how it had affected the characters. I think the emotional descriptions were incredibly real and vividly written. It wasn't hard for me to realise how much it had changed the family, perhaps for the rest of their lives. A million and one possible scenarios ran through my mind while reading as I tried to figure out what had happened to have such devastating effects on these people, but I was so far from the truth it was almost laughable.

Kerry Fisher's characters within After the Lie were superbly crafted. Lydia will remain with me for quite some time. She had spent almost the entirety of her life hiding from the truth and trying, but failing, to move forward and leave the past behind. I can't imagine how painful and tough that would be for someone. Lydia's mother was a very prominent character within this book and, despite enjoying her character at times, even finding her quite funny, I found it to hard to warm to her. She was persistent in ignoring Lydia's past and, although I understand that for a mother it would be difficult to talk about, it didn't help Lydia at all. It was so claustrophobic, and the pressure Lydia felt to keep up the image of a self-assured, carefree woman who was happy with her life, was immense. Even Lydia's husband didn't know the truth about what had happened all those years ago. She shouldered so much secrecy and kept herself so well-hidden, I was expecting her, at numerous moments throughout the book, to just blurt it all out. Perhaps she would have felt relief at doing so? But when the plot took a breathtaking turn for the worse later on, she held onto it even tighter than before. People who she hoped were well and truly left behind in her old life crop up and it rocks her world to its very core. I was utterly gripped.

On top of keeping this massive secret to herself, Lydia's once tidy life becomes more crowded and unsafe than ever before. Not only does the one person she never hoped to see again appear and threaten her very existence, but the shock of this event seems to ricochet through all of the other aspects of Lydia's life. She does things completely out of character, snaps and bites at those she loves and, as the novel progresses and things become much more tense than ever before, she is forced to admit that perhaps the truth coming out is the best course of action to take, despite how her loved ones will take it. A cruel twist of fate marks the point of realisation for Lydia and there's no turning back after that.

After the Lie by Kerry Fisher was a dramatic, family-focused read, riddled with the aftermath of a secret that refused to let her family go. It was shocking and addictive, gripping and compelling, and the sort of story that has the power to change how you react to certain things in your life. I adored this book and believe it's a story everyone should read. Real and raw, it's about moving forward, being strong, and finally making peace with the things that haunt you the most.

Becca's Books is awarding After the Lie by Kerry Fisher with five of my bookish stars. I couldn't have loved this book more if I tried. I raced through the pages with a sheer desperation to see how it would all end, holding out fierce hope that all would become, after such a long time, calm and serene. Even I felt the relief of finally letting go of the secret, and the ending was perfect. Special thanks to Kerry Fisher and Bookouture for providing me with a copy of After the Lie in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After the Lie, written by Kerry Fisher, is a well written, and exceptionally well executed story about a woman hiding behind the image of a perfect life. This is the first book that I have read by this author, and it definitely won't be my last. This book exceeded my expectations and then some!

Lydia Rushford is living the perfect life on the outside, but she is harboring a secret that could destroy everything. She has a great husband, a wonderful family, and a successful wedding business. She has recently been chosen to head the fundraising committee at school. The only problem she has is the tension between herself and her mother. Other than that, life is going good for Lydia, that is, until she runs into Sean McAllister at a fundraising meeting. Sean McAllister is the key to the secret Lydia has been hiding since childhood...the secret that even her husband doesn't know about. The secret, that if it comes out, could change her life forever. But as we all know, the truth almost always comes out in the end.

I loved the opening to the story, set in the 80's, and one I could relate to from my teen years. I chuckled about Lydia trying to tape "Get Down On It" off of the radio, without the DJ talking over it, because I did that exact same thing myself when I was a teen. That was the one song I could never tape without the DJ talking, so it brought back memories. Anyways, back to the story. I had a hundred different scenarios in my mind as to the secret Lydia was keeping, and that made for an interesting read. The story is well executed, with great character development. The threat of Lydia's secret being revealed just goes to show that in the end, it is always better just to be honest. Once a lie is told, and you worry about the truth coming out, it just isn't worth living on pins and needles in fear. That is exactly what Lydia does...she lives in fear. Sometimes it is just better to tell the truth, because the repercussions from years of lying can be more damaging than the truth. Once her secret is finally revealed, some will be surprised, and some will wonder what the big deal was about. The point is that in her mind, this was a secret that could ruin her "perfect" life. The author builds up the suspense, which kept me engaged even after the truth came out. This was both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time...you truly feel the inner struggle Lydia is going through. There are also great supporting characters, and that just adds to the overall story. This is a story filled with humor at times, and seriousness at other times, but it is definitely a story that will make you think. I would strongly recommend this book, and look forward to reading more by this author.

I was given a digital copy of this book from Bookouture and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've just finished reading this book and I start off by saying that I absolutely loved it and that even though this is the first book I've read by this author, Kerry Fisher goes straight away to my 'most favourite authors' list.

"We all make mistakes, pet. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to pay a high price to put them right."

The story starts in 1982 when Sally is a teenager. She tells a lie to her parents and foolishly makes a very, very stupid mistake which will have serious consequences. Consequences that will change her and her family's life for ever...

"You can't go into a marriage without total honesty, can you?"

Now, thirty years later, Sally is called Lydia and lives in another town. She is married to Mark and has two kids. No one knows of her terrible secret (except her parents), not even her husband. But one day, out of the blue, the past catches up with the present - a person who knows what Sally did resurfaces. Now Lydia is terrified that the terrible secret she has worked so hard to conceal and which she never found enough courage to disclose to her husband, could be exposed with even more terrible consequences.

She has to do something, however in her frustrations, Lydia ends up making another even more terrible mistake, a mistake that puts her and her present family on a very slippery slope.

When you realise you've messed up big time, how easy it is to just turn on the page, forgive yourself and move on? How will Lydia get out of the mess she has got into? Will her marriage survive all the turmoil unleashed?

I love this author's writing style. Though it is quite a tense book, I found myself cracking loud laughs from time to time... Her style has that humorous edge that gives a break to the tension and makes reading even more enjoyable.

I loved many of the characters, however for various reasons my absolute favourite was Mark - a man who I think every woman dreams of having as husband.

I liked Lydia a lot too. Having done stupid things in my teenage years (thankfully not as extreme as Sally's) and having a dominant, ultra-negative mother dictating my very existence, I could perfectly relate to Lydia in so many ways. I couldn't judge her for what she did. She was a typical teenager who got into trouble and then later on a typical mother and wife facing the consequences of her mistakes together with all the challenges involved in growing up teenagers.

I wanted to slap hard Lydia's mother on many occasions!!!! But given the circumstances, maybe the way she behaved, was the only way she knew to cope with the enormity of the situation in which she found herself.

And I just LOVED Mable, the naughty family dog. In this book I've seen something unique. The author has given weight to this mad, happy family member almost as much as any of the other human characters. This shows the author's love for her own dog, Poppy on which she says she has based Mable.

Yes, I was touched by this book as it is one continuous roller-coaster of emotions on a very twisty track. It made me reflect on many things like for example how other people around us perceive us, how they think they know us, when in reality deep down we can be or feel so much different. I loved the many twists planted by the author throughout especially the shocking final revelation. Ehh... Lydia Lydia!!

I highly recommend this fabulous book and will certainly be looking out for others penned by Kerry Fisher.

With many thanks to Bookouture for approving my request to read this book through Netgalley.

Oh what a tangled we we weave... especially when we have secrets and lies that must remain hidden and then something happens to threaten this secrecy. How far will you go to protect your secret, even if it means making things a whole lot worse for a whole load of people!
Lydia has a secret. One she has successfully run away from and left nicely in the past. A secret that has continued to haunt her since she was a teen and one that has left her relationship with her mother very much damaged and also shaped her father's life in a way that no one would have thought possible. But now she is married with two kids who are doing well at a decent school. She has moved on from being "that girl" until one day, at a fundraising meeting, she meets the father who has offered to photograph events etc.. This is the catalyst that catapults her life out of control. She does things she wouldn't normally do, says things out of character and basically behaves like a completely different person. How far will she go to protect her secret and how many people will get hurt along the way.
I loved this book, simply devoured it from start to finish, it held my attention very well, although at times I knew what was coming, I didn't want to witness it but I just couldn't stop myself. I lost count of the number of times I shouted at various characters. I think I got a little over-involved at times! One thing I did love (?) was the relationship between Lydia and her mother. How deliciously toxic and suffocating and how instrumental this was with what happened subsequently. I wonder how things would have been different with a bit of understanding and forgiveness rather than the cause of action taken. Coming from a "sweep it under" kind of family myself, I can relate to a lot of the actions taken albeit in a far far less extreme way and over far less significant incidents. I can also sympathise with Lydia as I feel that she was being backed into a corner somewhat. I know she could have done things to help herself but being browbeaten early on sticks and it's hard to get free of it. Don't get me wrong, it's not all doom and gloom. There are some lighter moments, mostly revolving around the bad behaviour of a certain hound but there's also some tender ones. This isn't the first book I have read by this author and it definitely won't be the last.

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

After The Lie is a compelling, cleverly written and engrossing story. Kerry Fisher crafts her emotionally charged, and thought-provoking novel with imperfect characters, witty dialogue, and oodles of British humor.

Forty-three-year-old Lydia Rushford’s life was out of control. She had become a madwoman, a person she hardly recognized. One of her secrets, a shameful one, which took place when she was thirteen-years-old and known as Sally Southport, was on the verge of being exposed.

For thirty years, Lydia had guarded her words. The only life she ever spoke of, was a fabricated one; not even her trustworthy, kindhearted husband, Mark, a man who would have won, husband of the year award, knew who she was. But, Lydia’s semi-comfortable life was about to crumble. Sean McAllister, the only man who knew of her secret, had shown up in her life. To Lydia’s horror, Sean and her husband Mark had become close friends. In desperation, Lydia confessed her secret to a male stranger who ended up complicating her life, more than she could have ever imagined.

Unfortunately, history has a way of repeating itself; and lies, whether half-truths or omissions have a way of coming to the surface and spreading their poison.

I enjoyed reading this thoughtful and highly entertaining novel.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For almost all of Lydia's life she has had this secret. A secret that isnt only hers to tell, and one that she has been forced to keep from everyone she has ever met, including her husband. But worse than that she has had to live with the guilt of how that secret has affected the live of her family. So when someone who knows her secret shows up in her life, her life begins to unravel.

Its easy to see how Lydia's secret has affected her life. The fact that she has spent so long trying to keep this secret from being discovered, but it has meant she has never really allowed anyone to get close to her. And unfortunately that means her husband too. I think if it had just been her secret to tell, she would have told Mark many years ago. But because she has lived with the guilt of what it has done to her parents too she is forced into this constant state of guilt and shame and she cant quite break free. In trying to distance herself and her family from Sean, without telling them why she certainly comes across as a tad crazy and whilst I may not agree with her choices, its easy to see how events could spiral they way they do.
I spent half of the book feeling incredibly sorry for Lydia and the other half wanting to gently shake her. And almost all of the book I wanted to shake her mother, whilst i could understand wanting to protect a young Lydia and pushing to keep the secret, the manner in which it was hushed up and forever locked away just made the situation worse.

This is the first time I have read anything by Fisher so I had no idea what to expect of her writing, but I found it utterly gripping, I quite simply could not put this down. I will definitely be reading more of her work in the future.

Lydia Rushford’s normal, some would say idyllic, life is overshadowed by an event from her past. She has moved from Norfolk to Surrey and is now married with two teenage children. She is a loving and somewhat overprotective mother to her own children and can barely tolerate her own mother at times.

She regrets never telling her husband about it, and now it has festered and grown in her mind. “The lie“. A youthful indiscretion coupled with her mother’s resulting shame have exacerbated the event until it has seeped into every portion of Lydia’s life. The secret, the lie, is revealed to the reader rather early on in the book. It was a distressing event, but in my opinion was not so life-shattering as Lydia perceives it to be. Her mother’s reaction to the event has a profound effect on Lydia’s psyche. She has changed her home county, her name, and created a life where no one will suspect her shameful past.

Now Sean McAllister, her boyfriend from back then, has moved into her Surrey neighbourhood and Lydia feels as though her world could implode at any minute. The tension she feels ruins her burgeoning relationship with Sean’s wife Katya, and threatens her relationship with her beloved son Jamie – because Jamie is attracted to Sean’s daughter, Eleanor. What a quagmire!

Lydia’s long suffering husband Mark is a ‘reliable guy’. He seems steady, dependable, and a great Dad. He designs and installs custom kitchens. His new and biggest client is… of course…. Sean. Sean’s business is essential to the family’s finances and will have an effect upon whether the children remain at private school.

Lydia is an event planner. Weddings mostly. She is becoming more and more successful in her career and wins a prestigious award for her efforts. At the award gala she meets an intriguing Italian named Tomaso. When she is hired to plan a wedding in Florence, Italy she yearns for the escape from her stress-filled life this will afford her.

Lydia’s mother, Dorothy, is ‘old-school’. Her longing to be perceived well by society has skewed her vision and actions for so long that she is now somewhat dour, shallow, and snobbish. Unfortunately, Lydia is still deeply under her influence, much to her chagrin. In her early forties, and still Lydia is trying to appease her mother.

“My mother was so negative, it was astonishing she didn’t show up as a silhouette in photos”.

The family dog, Mabel, is incorrigible and badly behaved. She does offer some added levity to the plot, as she doesn’t understand about living life in moderation.

“My mother gave Mabel a sharp belt on her bottom. I saw Mabel’s lip curl. For a dog who would happily share a pack of custard creams with a burglar before leading him to my jewelry box, it was proof positive that my mother pushed everyone to their limits.”

This is a domestic drama, some would say thriller. Although packed with tension, I would not really term it a thriller. The tension was entirely of Lydia’s making in my opinion. I was increasingly impatient with her throughout the novel. If only she would ‘come clean’ with her family. It was as though she was her own worst enemy. This is compounded by the fact that her current indiscretions far outweigh her past ones.

There are many things I liked about this novel. The humor for one. The author relays Lydia’s thoughts with a sarcastic wit that I really enjoyed. The story moved along at a steady pace and kept my interest throughout. I was invested in finding out what would happen to the family when the ‘lie’ was eventually exposed, as I was sure it would. While reading, I wished Lydia would realize just how lucky she was, instead of wanting the unobtainable. I got my wish.

“After the lie” is a domestic novel of an imperfect family in the modern age. A time when parents and grandparents often have VERY different approaches to parenting. Of social media and how it has impacted parenting, and, of regret at not cherishing ‘the little things’ when you had the chance…

Most of all, it is about how, ironically, we can damage those we love the most by thinking we are shielding our loved ones from damage.

This domestic drama will be enjoyed by readers who enjoy believable, relate-able, and well fleshed-out characters as they cope with life’s sometimes unexpected challenges. It explores how futile it is to try to protect your children from everything. How unwise choices can have far-reaching repercussions. How honesty really IS the best policy.

An appealing and easy read. Recommended.

After The Lie by Kerry Fisher

A brilliant 5* read.

This is not my usual genre but was intrigued by the blurb.

Once a secret is shared its no longer a secret and this story explores that dynamic. Lydia and her parents have had to reinvent themselves in order to escape the stigma of small town gossip after a teenage mistake. 30 years on, with her past well and truly behind her, the other party in the event, Sean, walks back into her life.

I spent much of this book holding my breath. Could everything turn out well? Would someone slip up and let the cat out of the bag? I loved all the characters in this well written, suspense filled story however Lydia was my favourite character. Kerry Fisher writes the characters with great humour but manages to balance that with the fear that the secret is going to come out. As the reader I felt Lydia's terror whilst giggling to myself at some of the comedy in her character.

This is a fantastic all round story that would appeal to any age or gender reader. Well done Kerry.

My thanks to the publishers through Netgalley for approving me to read a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lydia has spent her whole life living a lie. She’s married to the right kind of man, her kids go to the right know of school, her business is winning awards making her life seem perfect from the outside but now her past is catching up to her. She’s never shared what happened to her at thirteen, her husband doesn’t know, her children don’t know and now her secret is coming back to haunt her.

For thirty years Lydia’s family has held the secret and covered up the truth. Now the one person that could let the secret out has moved into town and shown up at her children’s school. In fear that her world is going to shatter around her Lydia begs that the truth stay buried before her world falls apart.

After the Lie is a bit of a mix of a psychological thriller with a whole lot of family drama. I was completely hooked as soon as I started to read this story. Wonderful writing and such an intriguing plot of how one lie can snowball into so much more.

The characters in this story seemed very real. Lydia’s parents did what they could to protect their little girl years before but the outcome of the events has turned into so much more. Lydia herself has her own issues from what had happened and struggles the entire read trying to cope. I have to say though I loved the humor thrown into the mix with the family dog Mabel, she may have ended up my most liked character in the story completely stealing the show with her antics.

There’s also a very real and very good message mixed into this story once the reader learns all about what happened thirty years before. Lydia spends a good deal of the book trying to teach her kids what she learned herself the hard way years before and you can’t help but feel for her as she can’t tell her family why she is so upset about certain things.

Overall, wonderful writing and an engaging page turner, definitely one I’d recommend!

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lies

No matter who says it, who its said to, white lie or little lie, its still a a lie
One lie leads to another cover up which becomes another like until you know it you have created a huge mountain of lies that can come down on you like an avalanche and you are covered in the debris.

This has some humorous moments but with an impact that you just don't realize at the time.

Its well written, it keeps you wanting more and its very [what I would call] conversational, where there is lots of chatting, lots of conversations and you don't get bored by a lot of narration.

Lydia is married to the right man, has perfect 'seemingly' children who attend the right school, she owns a wedding business and all seems so perfect in paradise.

Lydia has been living a lie and Mark her husband doesn't know.

I absolutely was enthralled by this story.

The wicked things we weave. And deceive.

Great book.

*My thanks to Bookouture via Net Galley for my copy*

Something happened in Lydia’s past that has shaped her whole life. Especially as her mother doesn’t given her a second to forget what the incident meant for the whole family. Still Lydia manages to put it behind her, or at least to shut it up tightly in a metaphorical box, until her past suddenly collides with her present in a way she could never have envisaged.

For the record, I have to disclose that I loved both of Kerry Fisher’s earlier novels, ‘The School Gate Survival Guide’ and ‘The Island Escape’, but for me ‘After the Lie’ has hit a new high. As a forty something year old, I’m past the stage where I want to read about the search for ‘the one’. I want to read something I can relate to and from the prologue where Lydia was taping ‘Kool and the Gang’ on the radio back in the 80s and trying desperately to capture it without the DJ’s voice spoiling the effect, I knew this book was for me. After all, I did that too!

This novel is beautifully written and even the most minor characters have an important role to play. After the Lie has you rooting for Lydia, even when you want to shout at her not to do what she’s about to do. It’s believable, relatable and oh so real. This novel’s for readers who know that there’s so much more to life than a happy ever after and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Lydia appears to have the perfect life: a loving husband, two children, and a thriving business of her own. She’s the one who always knows what to do, and what to say. But the image of that ‘perfect life’ couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything she has, everything she’s done is based on a lie. A lie that covers a truth so shameful, it hasn’t been spoken of for thirty years. A lie her husband and children must never find out about. A lie that she and her parents have gone to extraordinary lengths to protect from discovery.

But lies don’t stay hidden forever. And when they finally see the light of day, the lives of those affected will never be the same.

When the one person who might shine the light of truth on Lydia’s carefully constructed lie reappears in her life, she’s in a panic. Stressed and uncertain what the future holds, she becomes impatient and angry with her family, who can’t understand why she’s behaving so strangely. She turns to her mother for help, but only finds more stress and is ultimately pushed into confronting the one person she wants to avoid the most.

The pressure of having lived with a terrible secret for most of her life becomes too much for Lydia, leading her down a path of dangerous choices that puts her marriage in even greater jeopardy. As her secrets begin to come out, one by one, Lydia is forced to face her deepest fears and make choices that will not only affect her own life, but the lives of everyone involved in the tangled threads of her deception.

After the Lie was an emotional ride. There were moments that were genuinely laugh out loud funny, some that made me feel terrible dread, and others that were heartbreaking to read. There is one character I was so certain had no redeeming qualities to offer at all, and it surprised me to find myself feeling sorry for that same character near the end of the story. For just a moment, I was able to see things from their point of view, and it completely changed my opinion of that character. (I’m being deliberately vague about the identity of that character, because I don’t want to risk spoiling a moment of the story for anyone.)

This is the first book I’ve read by Kerry Fisher, but I’ll definitely be reading more of her work in the future.

I received this ebook from Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Net Galley, the wonderful Bookouture, and author Kerry Fisher for an advanced copy of After the Lie in exchange for an unbiased review.

I went into this one cold, not knowing at all what to expect and just trusting Bookouture to serve up another winner. I was unfamiliar with Kerry Fisher, a relatively new British author. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this engaging read. I would call it glorified women’s fiction with a big message.

The theme of the story is what happens when a little molehill-sized secret is allowed to fester and metastasize into a huge mountain with major repercussions when attempts to bury it are unsuccessful. Oh my, talk about being one’s own worst enemy. And a major caveat to this disaster is look out who you share your secret with as what comes around will go around.

This book is an easy read; I found Ms. Fisher to be a fine writer. I especially loved the way she infuses her tale with a large dose of subtle (to occasionally laugh-out-loud) humor, mainly in the form of protagonist Lydia’s inner musings. The scenes with Mabel the dog are priceless. I applaud Ms. Fisher on her character development, especially that of Lydia, and also her handle on family dynamics. Lydia’s interactions with her teenagers are terrific I thought.

In terms of what I didn’t like, I found myself yelling at my innocent iPad during the multiple times Lydia makes a really bad decision. I just thought she should have been a tad smarter, but again, I haven’t had any smoldering decades-long secrets percolating in my belly and clouding my judgment. I wearied over this at times wishing for her to hurry up and spill her secret and move on before things got out of hand. Fortunately, there are several twists and turns adding momentum to the narrative, and the final 30% provides a real page-turning experience.

Despite what I just said about Lydia in the last paragraph, I really enjoyed this story. I was most impressed with the way Ms. Fisher weaved the story together around “The Secret” with Lydia’s many personal interactions and the various repercussions her actions (and non actions) reeked on all of these people.

I recommend After the Lie to everyone interested in an appealing read with excellent characterization, a nice dose of humor, and a strong theme. Now I am off to see what else Ms. Fisher has written…

I finished this book a few days ago but couldn’t put fingers to keyboard straightaway because it was one of those reads that I had to cogitate over and decide whether or not I had actually enjoyed it (answer: yes) and most importantly, how to review it without giving any of the story away but at the same putting across the message that it is a book that is worth picking up. It is the story of Lydia who, in 1982 at the age of 13, made a mistake, one that had consequences not only for her but her family. Ever since, at the insistence of her mother, she has been forced to wipe that episode out of her past and for all intents and purposes, as far as the outside world is concerned it never happened. Now, however, it looks as if her past is coming back to haunt her and her carefully reconstructed life could come crashing down around her.

I did enjoy the storyline, the idea of something that happened when you were 13 having the power to destroy your life 30 years later. Lydia herself is a complex character to read about. On the one hand she is incredibly entertaining, being very witty with a sharp line in sarcasm that runs throughout the book. On the other hand I found her extremely irritating. I shook my head at the choices she made and I cringed at the way she helicopter parented her teenage children. There were times when she was just incredibly self centred and to put it bluntly, I don’t think I would want to be friends with her.

Whilst we are talking about characters, I have to mention her mother – there were times when I actually hated her during the read but then I began to realise that at the heart of it, she was only ever trying to protect her family but, as with Lydia, it was the choices she made that had a far reaching impact over the years, especially for her relationship with her daughter. For the most part though, she just comes across as overbearing, mean, a bully with a vicious tongue.

On the whole though, I have to say that I really did enjoy this read and it is well worth a try, especially if you like a good meaty family drama that you can get your teeth into. Why four stars instead of five? Simply put, if Lydia hadn’t been “quite” so irritating and her mother just a little less nasty then, for me this would have definitely been a five star read but there were times when I felt that each of them came across as being just a little bit over the top.
I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley.

First of all, what a tense read! I read it in two sittings because I needed to know it all, at once. As soon as I picked it, I was curious to know about Lydia's life, what had happened to make her and her family change their lives completely and start anew in a completely different place? It was obvious that even if they all acted as life was good, it was eating at them in the inside.

I was really surprised to read about Lydia and her mother's relationship. That woman! Seriously, how can a mother be so cruel to her daughter? Maybe cruel is not the word for it, as she claims to do it all for Lydia's own good, but seriously, give her a break, woman! This character really got on my nerves and even if Kerry Fisher tried to soften her a bit once the story got messy, I just couldn't stomach her. I have to admit though, that I loved hating her.

Lydia herself was a really complex character. It was difficult to really understand her without knowing her whole story. But as bits and pieces started to be unveiled, I also started to get her. I think she went through something really unfair but that something kind of spiraled out of control and when she found herself facing her past she just made some really poor choices. But I couldn't help root for her.

But what I loved about this novel is how with every new bit of information the story got even more complicated. The Lie continued to affect not only Lydia's and her parents' current life but also her husband's and kids'. I really had no idea how the story was going to end and its turns and twists had me glued to its pages for hours.

After the Lie is a tense and clever story that will keep you on your toes. You might think you know what's going to happen but I'm quite sure you'll be wrong. Kerry Fisher certainly keeps some aces up her sleeve with this one.

After The Lie by Kerry Fisher

A brilliant 5* read.

This is not my usual genre but was intrigued by the blurb.

Once a secret is shared its no longer a secret and this story explores that dynamic. Lydia and her parents have had to reinvent themselves in order to escape the stigma of small town gossip after a teenage mistake. 30 years on, with her past well and truly behind her, the other party in the event, Sean, walks back into her life.

I spent much of this book holding my breath. Could everything turn out well? Would someone slip up and let the cat out of the bag? I loved all the characters in this well written, suspense filled story however Lydia was my favourite character. Kerry Fisher writes the characters with great humour but manages to balance that with the fear that the secret is going to come out. As the reader I felt Lydia's terror whilst giggling to myself at some of the comedy in her character.

This is a fantastic all round story that would appeal to any age or gender reader. Well done Kerry.

My thanks to the publishers through Netgalley for approving me to read a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lydia has spent her whole life living a lie. She’s married to the right kind of man, her kids go to the right know of school, her business is winning awards making her life seem perfect from the outside but now her past is catching up to her. She’s never shared what happened to her at thirteen, her husband doesn’t know, her children don’t know and now her secret is coming back to haunt her.

For thirty years Lydia’s family has held the secret and covered up the truth. Now the one person that could let the secret out has moved into town and shown up at her children’s school. In fear that her world is going to shatter around her Lydia begs that the truth stay buried before her world falls apart.

After the Lie is a bit of a mix of a psychological thriller with a whole lot of family drama. I was completely hooked as soon as I started to read this story. Wonderful writing and such an intriguing plot of how one lie can snowball into so much more.

The characters in this story seemed very real. Lydia’s parents did what they could to protect their little girl years before but the outcome of the events has turned into so much more. Lydia herself has her own issues from what had happened and struggles the entire read trying to cope. I have to say though I loved the humor thrown into the mix with the family dog Mabel, she may have ended up my most liked character in the story completely stealing the show with her antics.

There’s also a very real and very good message mixed into this story once the reader learns all about what happened thirty years before. Lydia spends a good deal of the book trying to teach her kids what she learned herself the hard way years before and you can’t help but feel for her as she can’t tell her family why she is so upset about certain things.

Overall, wonderful writing and an engaging page turner, definitely one I’d recommend!

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lies

No matter who says it, who its said to, white lie or little lie, its still a a lie
One lie leads to another cover up which becomes another like until you know it you have created a huge mountain of lies that can come down on you like an avalanche and you are covered in the debris.

This has some humorous moments but with an impact that you just don't realize at the time.

Its well written, it keeps you wanting more and its very [what I would call] conversational, where there is lots of chatting, lots of conversations and you don't get bored by a lot of narration.

Lydia is married to the right man, has perfect 'seemingly' children who attend the right school, she owns a wedding business and all seems so perfect in paradise.

Lydia has been living a lie and Mark her husband doesn't know.

I absolutely was enthralled by this story.

The wicked things we weave. And deceive.

Great book.

*My thanks to Bookouture via Net Galley for my copy*

Something happened in Lydia’s past that has shaped her whole life. Especially as her mother doesn’t given her a second to forget what the incident meant for the whole family. Still Lydia manages to put it behind her, or at least to shut it up tightly in a metaphorical box, until her past suddenly collides with her present in a way she could never have envisaged.

For the record, I have to disclose that I loved both of Kerry Fisher’s earlier novels, ‘The School Gate Survival Guide’ and ‘The Island Escape’, but for me ‘After the Lie’ has hit a new high. As a forty something year old, I’m past the stage where I want to read about the search for ‘the one’. I want to read something I can relate to and from the prologue where Lydia was taping ‘Kool and the Gang’ on the radio back in the 80s and trying desperately to capture it without the DJ’s voice spoiling the effect, I knew this book was for me. After all, I did that too!

This novel is beautifully written and even the most minor characters have an important role to play. After the Lie has you rooting for Lydia, even when you want to shout at her not to do what she’s about to do. It’s believable, relatable and oh so real. This novel’s for readers who know that there’s so much more to life than a happy ever after and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Lydia appears to have the perfect life: a loving husband, two children, and a thriving business of her own. She’s the one who always knows what to do, and what to say. But the image of that ‘perfect life’ couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything she has, everything she’s done is based on a lie. A lie that covers a truth so shameful, it hasn’t been spoken of for thirty years. A lie her husband and children must never find out about. A lie that she and her parents have gone to extraordinary lengths to protect from discovery.

But lies don’t stay hidden forever. And when they finally see the light of day, the lives of those affected will never be the same.

When the one person who might shine the light of truth on Lydia’s carefully constructed lie reappears in her life, she’s in a panic. Stressed and uncertain what the future holds, she becomes impatient and angry with her family, who can’t understand why she’s behaving so strangely. She turns to her mother for help, but only finds more stress and is ultimately pushed into confronting the one person she wants to avoid the most.

The pressure of having lived with a terrible secret for most of her life becomes too much for Lydia, leading her down a path of dangerous choices that puts her marriage in even greater jeopardy. As her secrets begin to come out, one by one, Lydia is forced to face her deepest fears and make choices that will not only affect her own life, but the lives of everyone involved in the tangled threads of her deception.

After the Lie was an emotional ride. There were moments that were genuinely laugh out loud funny, some that made me feel terrible dread, and others that were heartbreaking to read. There is one character I was so certain had no redeeming qualities to offer at all, and it surprised me to find myself feeling sorry for that same character near the end of the story. For just a moment, I was able to see things from their point of view, and it completely changed my opinion of that character. (I’m being deliberately vague about the identity of that character, because I don’t want to risk spoiling a moment of the story for anyone.)

This is the first book I’ve read by Kerry Fisher, but I’ll definitely be reading more of her work in the future.

I received this ebook from Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Net Galley, the wonderful Bookouture, and author Kerry Fisher for an advanced copy of After the Lie in exchange for an unbiased review.

I went into this one cold, not knowing at all what to expect and just trusting Bookouture to serve up another winner. I was unfamiliar with Kerry Fisher, a relatively new British author. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this engaging read. I would call it glorified women’s fiction with a big message.

The theme of the story is what happens when a little molehill-sized secret is allowed to fester and metastasize into a huge mountain with major repercussions when attempts to bury it are unsuccessful. Oh my, talk about being one’s own worst enemy. And a major caveat to this disaster is look out who you share your secret with as what comes around will go around.

This book is an easy read; I found Ms. Fisher to be a fine writer. I especially loved the way she infuses her tale with a large dose of subtle (to occasionally laugh-out-loud) humor, mainly in the form of protagonist Lydia’s inner musings. The scenes with Mabel the dog are priceless. I applaud Ms. Fisher on her character development, especially that of Lydia, and also her handle on family dynamics. Lydia’s interactions with her teenagers are terrific I thought.

In terms of what I didn’t like, I found myself yelling at my innocent iPad during the multiple times Lydia makes a really bad decision. I just thought she should have been a tad smarter, but again, I haven’t had any smoldering decades-long secrets percolating in my belly and clouding my judgment. I wearied over this at times wishing for her to hurry up and spill her secret and move on before things got out of hand. Fortunately, there are several twists and turns adding momentum to the narrative, and the final 30% provides a real page-turning experience.

Despite what I just said about Lydia in the last paragraph, I really enjoyed this story. I was most impressed with the way Ms. Fisher weaved the story together around “The Secret” with Lydia’s many personal interactions and the various repercussions her actions (and non actions) reeked on all of these people.

I recommend After the Lie to everyone interested in an appealing read with excellent characterization, a nice dose of humor, and a strong theme. Now I am off to see what else Ms. Fisher has written…

I finished this book a few days ago but couldn’t put fingers to keyboard straightaway because it was one of those reads that I had to cogitate over and decide whether or not I had actually enjoyed it (answer: yes) and most importantly, how to review it without giving any of the story away but at the same putting across the message that it is a book that is worth picking up. It is the story of Lydia who, in 1982 at the age of 13, made a mistake, one that had consequences not only for her but her family. Ever since, at the insistence of her mother, she has been forced to wipe that episode out of her past and for all intents and purposes, as far as the outside world is concerned it never happened. Now, however, it looks as if her past is coming back to haunt her and her carefully reconstructed life could come crashing down around her.

I did enjoy the storyline, the idea of something that happened when you were 13 having the power to destroy your life 30 years later. Lydia herself is a complex character to read about. On the one hand she is incredibly entertaining, being very witty with a sharp line in sarcasm that runs throughout the book. On the other hand I found her extremely irritating. I shook my head at the choices she made and I cringed at the way she helicopter parented her teenage children. There were times when she was just incredibly self centred and to put it bluntly, I don’t think I would want to be friends with her.

Whilst we are talking about characters, I have to mention her mother – there were times when I actually hated her during the read but then I began to realise that at the heart of it, she was only ever trying to protect her family but, as with Lydia, it was the choices she made that had a far reaching impact over the years, especially for her relationship with her daughter. For the most part though, she just comes across as overbearing, mean, a bully with a vicious tongue.

On the whole though, I have to say that I really did enjoy this read and it is well worth a try, especially if you like a good meaty family drama that you can get your teeth into. Why four stars instead of five? Simply put, if Lydia hadn’t been “quite” so irritating and her mother just a little less nasty then, for me this would have definitely been a five star read but there were times when I felt that each of them came across as being just a little bit over the top.
I received a review copy from the publishers via Netgalley.

Big thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

Have you ever told a lie? No, I don’t mean a ‘no I didn’t eat the last biscuit’ type of lie or a ‘no I didn’t just trip my little sister up’ lie. I mean a lie that could have the power to change everything. Have you? Interesting. Before I read this book, I asked myself exactly the same question as I have just asked you, to get into the zone of the book purely based on the title. After the lie is a story about betrayal. A story about family and the strength that is within. Lydia has made mistakes in her life, after all, she is only human. However, does she have to ‘pay’ for the mistakes she made as a teenager, for the rest of her life? Will the betrayal be brushed off as ‘teenage years’?
Lydia has tried to get on with her life with her husband and two children but when opportunities arise for several members of the family, it could threaten the black cloud that has loomed over Lydia’s head for many years. Is there about to be a storm? Or will they be dancing in the rain?
As soon as you begin reading the book, you’re swept into Lydia’s life and her emotions, her world becomes yours for the duration of the story. If you’re anything like me you will start wondering for the word go. Well, if you’re a total book nut then you’ll be pretty nosy and curious when it comes to any book. Correct? Thought so. Every page had me thinking to myself ‘what happened?!’. Then, once that question got answered within the story, my thoughts switched to ‘are you for real?!’ in response to many of the characters! Obviously I’m not going to say which ones, but I did sit with my hand over my mouth in shock. To be fair though, I sat like that throughout the book! The only character I will mention is Mabel. Ahhhh, Mabel, such a minx and as you will find out, could not give a flying furball about anything.
Kerry Fisher has written a book full of emotion which captures the true essence of the topics involved, without glossing over the true message. She has written an incredibly powerful book with an extremely powerful message, and when you finish reading the book, the power will still be in your mind. The message will still be there, reminding you of the family and what they have had to deal with. Some readers might say that it is a relatable book. Only you will know that for yourselves once you have read it. I cannot recommend this book enough. It was a book that grabbed my attention from beginning to end. High praise for Kerry Fisher and her wonderful writing!!

Review can also be found on my blog at[...]

First of all, what a tense read! I read it in two sittings because I needed to know it all, at once. As soon as I picked it, I was curious to know about Lydia's life, what had happened to make her and her family change their lives completely and start anew in a completely different place? It was obvious that even if they all acted as life was good, it was eating at them in the inside.

I was really surprised to read about Lydia and her mother's relationship. That woman! Seriously, how can a mother be so cruel to her daughter? Maybe cruel is not the word for it, as she claims to do it all for Lydia's own good, but seriously, give her a break, woman! This character really got on my nerves and even if Kerry Fisher tried to soften her a bit once the story got messy, I just couldn't stomach her. I have to admit though, that I loved hating her.

Lydia herself was a really complex character. It was difficult to really understand her without knowing her whole story. But as bits and pieces started to be unveiled, I also started to get her. I think she went through something really unfair but that something kind of spiraled out of control and when she found herself facing her past she just made some really poor choices. But I couldn't help root for her.

But what I loved about this novel is how with every new bit of information the story got even more complicated. The Lie continued to affect not only Lydia's and her parents' current life but also her husband's and kids'. I really had no idea how the story was going to end and its turns and twists had me glued to its pages for hours.

After the Lie is a tense and clever story that will keep you on your toes. You might think you know what's going to happen but I'm quite sure you'll be wrong. Kerry Fisher certainly keeps some aces up her sleeve with this one.

Just finished this WONDERFUL book and all I can say is wow! What an amazing, roller coaster of a read! Heart wrenching and heart warming, this lovely tale is one to treasure. The author's descriptions are beautiful, every character so real and relatable. I loved Lydia so much and was with her, experiencing everything she felt. The story is fast paced and full of twists, it brims with humour while at the same time making a point. One I will re-read to pick up all the nuances and gems of stunning prose ( like this one: 'An ancient iceberg blundering through the family sea') that I missed the first time. I am so glad to have discovered this author and will definitely be reading more by her.

After The Lie tells the story of Lydia and a secret that she has been forced to keep by her mother for many, many years. A secret that has consumed her and affected every part of her life. A secret about a mistake that she made as a teenager that changed her life forever. Now married with teenagers of her own Lydia is obsessed with keeping them safe so that they don't repeat her mistake.

The book is told from Lydia's point of view, we get to hear a lot of her thoughts and fears. Some of them quite funny, some of them annoying. Lydia is obsessed with people's weight for example. I don't think that there is a woman mentioned in the book that I don't know whether they're overweight or underweight. She is also extremely self obsessed!

Once the big secret was revealed I have to admit that I thought 'is that it?' Although things were more complicated than they first seemed I did spend the majority of the book thinking that it was a lot of fuss about nothing.

After The Lie was easy to read and the characters were well formed, I liked Kerry Fisher's writing style. I just had a few niggles with the book and plot that stopped me from giving it 4*s.

I was given a copy of After The Lie by the publishers in return for an honest review.

You know, sometimes you read only a page or two, and you know you're going to love the book? That's what happened when I glanced at the prologue of After The Lie. I simply fell in love with the writing style. I'm really OC about reading NetGalley books in order of publication date but once I saw the prologue that system of mine went out the window. I put away my other book and devoured this one in a day.
Lydia and her parents have been keeping a secret for thirty years. Lydia never told her husband, Mark, or her children or any friend. Actually, it's hard to have friends if you're keeping a secret. And then one day, the fact that you have kept secrets and have lied to your loved ones becomes more destructive than the original secret ever would have been.
This happens to Lydia when she is suddenly confronted with her buried past at her children's posh private school.
I thought I knew where this story was going to go at that stage, but the author took a totally different route. It was utterly brilliant. I never expected the whole Tomaso debacle.
After The Lie was unpredictable, it was extremely witty, and it was heartbreaking as well as heartwarming. I went through a lot of emotions reading this.
The characters were wonderfully realistic and relatable. I loved Jamie's teenage talk. Lydia was a fantastic character, so likeable, and I enjoyed all her sharp observations. It was incredibly easy to become fully immersed in her life. Don't even get me started on Mabel, the dog. And as for Mark, if there was an award for book-husband of the year, he'd have my vote. I'm afraid I didn't feel any sympathy for Lydia's mother, though.
After The Lie is a very poignant story about family relationships, parenting, life pre-Internet versus social-media-ruled life, delivered with flawless prose which contained some delightfully creative metaphors. To say Kerry Fisher has a way with words is an understatement. The ending was perfect even for someone as cynical as me.
This was an easy 5-star read. Needless to say, I'm hoping to read more by Kerry Fisher soon.
Many thanks to Bookouture for my copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

How long can you keep a secret? What happens when your life is built upon a lie? When is it ever acceptable to hide your past from your other half? These are the questions posed by Kerry Fisher in her third novel, After the Lie. It tells the tale of Lydia Rushford who, on the surface, enjoys an enviable lifestyle but who is also nursing a dark secret. Then, one day, her past catches up with her and the lie that was told many years ago is on the verge of detonating and shattering her status quo. This is a gripping story, peopled with true-to-life characters and written with wit and style. It is no wonder that I devoured it within a day. Thought-provoking, cleverly-plotted and hugely entertaining After the Lie is a terrific read.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!" This quote by Walter Scott came to mind after reading this novel.

I love the style in which Kerry writes this book, its so easy to visualise the characters and there is a sense that the author has a terrific sense of humour and would probably be great to have lunch with! This was my first ever Kerry Fisher book and I am really looking forward to reading other books by this author after reading this one.

Its a cautionary tale about how secrets dont stay buried forever and sooner or later you have to deal with the consequences of decisions taken. So many times, I wondered how Lydia was going to get herself out of the situations she found herself in, I could feel my heart beating faster with a bit of nervous tension as well. There were also many occasions that I wanted to shout at her mother - what an unlikeable person she was!

Anyway, this was a great read and I highly recommend it.

This is an unbiased review of an ARC via Netgalley, with thanks to Bookouture :)

After doing my first ever cover reveal for After The lie I couldn't wait to get my hands on this beauty. And I sure as hell wasn't disappointed this book is has good has the cover if not better. I was totally sucked in by the prologue transporting us back to 1982, being a massive fan of the eighties decade I was like OMG I love it already. The more i read the more I loved it.

In this story we meet Lydia who has the ‘right’ kind of friends, her children are at the ‘right’ kind of school and she’s married to the ‘right’ sort of man – kind, steady, reliable Mark. But Lyndia has a secret that she has been hiding for 30 years! Having to change her name and move home, what is the big secret she is hiding?! To Lydia's horror someone who knows her dark secret turns up at the school gates. His presence threatens to blow Lydia’s life apart.

After The Lie is one hell of a read, keeping me guessing what the secret is. This is my first novel that I have read by Kerry Fisher and I have to say It definitely won't be my last I love Kerry's creative writing skills building up tension and emotion has the story unfolds with some humour along the way.......what a rollercoaster of a ride. The characters are likeable and easy to relate to with some wonderful descriptions making me feel like I was in the story.

This is one breathtaking read which I highly recommend giving it 5 easy stars.

Sometimes you read a book and for no particular reason you just love it. This is one of those books, except there are so many reasons to love it: the story is original, relevant and interesting, the writing is superb, the humour and wit are wonderful and the emotion is all too real. I smiled, I shed a tear, I sympathised, I empathised and I loved it.

Kerry Fisher has produced a wonderful book in which anyone with teenage children will recognise themselves!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to have read this awesome book. It's totally out of my normal genre of blood and gore, but wow I am so not disappointed !!
All of us has a moment in our lives whereby we are defined. A moment that changed our lives, for the better or for worse.
Lydia has such a moment. Which happened when she was younger, but now its coming back to bite her in the backside.
It was enthralling to read how she tries to hide her past from her present. The book is wrapped up nicely and I will recommend this to one and all.

This book absolutely blew me away - if it's not one of my Books of the Year, no-one will be more amazed than me.

Narrated by Lydia - wife, mother, successful event planner, reluctant rugby club fundraiser - this book takes you straight into the heart of her family. Her husband is Mark - a kitchen fitter who takes pride in his work but maybe isn't as pushy as he could be in the selling, laid back peacemaker at home, steady, gentle and loving. The teens are the most "real" individuals of that age I've come across in a long time - thirteen year old Izzy is full of the contradictions common at that age, sassy and smart-mouthed, but likes to be tucked into bed at night, sixteen year old Jamie typically uncommunicative, experimenting with how far he can bend the boundaries of parental control.

The other significant family member of the immediate family is Mabel, the family dog, who sidesteps (at speed) every futile attempt at control - and is the source of many of the laugh-out-loud moments in the book. (Is there an award for dogs in books I wonder? If so, Mabel should run away with it...) Then there's Lydia's lovely and slightly fragile father and - deep breath - her mother. Lydia's mother Dorothy is a magnificent creation - in the right at all times (over the most minor things as well as the major), outspoken, loud, non-PC, difficult, infuriating and totally blinkered about the effect she has on others.

Lydia's voice is quite wonderful - she switches from funny to furious, through sad, happy, frightened and confused, in such a recognisable way that you feel you know her. Actually, you really do know her - she has that great "everywoman" quality that at some point will most definitely have you nodding and saying "that could be me".

The style of the writing only adds to that - conversational with shared thoughts and observations, simply wonderful. You do want to take Lydia to one side at times though, say "was that really a good idea?" - and you do at times want to look away because of the car crash you can see coming way before she can. The author makes you love her and care for her, to want everything to work out - and gaining that investment in a character with so many flaws (but so many you can identify with) is very clever writing.

And just another quick tribute to the quality of the writing, because another aspect I really loved was all the little detail - from the stolen sausage rolls to the model of the Pope-mobile, the minutiae of the excruciating clothes shopping trips to the wiggled eyebrows in married communication, the few lines about someone's appearance that enable you to picture them absolutely clearly.

The story itself is excellent - the massive secret, concealed for so many years - the question mark over whether earlier decisions were right or wrong, whether things should have been handled differently to avoid a later catastrophe. And then there are all the other ripples that make things so much more difficult than they need to be, complication piling on complication - and the really clever mirroring of early events in the present day. This is such a difficult book to review, because it needs to be experienced and discovered - the story is absolutely edge-of-the-seat gripping stuff, deceptively powerful, and I read it in one fantastic sitting because I just couldn't put it down.

It's so much more than a great story though - it's a book you really feel. It's not very often when reading a book that you find yourself laughing, crying snotty tears, feeling sick with tension, aching inside but keep turning the pages for more. Yes, honestly, it really is that good.

I must confess, I read this book awhile ago and I'm struggling to remember much about the story, which reminds me why I gave this book only 3 stars. In the beginning, I thought the story had a lot of potential, but as time went on, I really disliked Lydia. I just found her character to be annoying. She just made terrible decisions, over and over. Then the "lie" was exposed and the book just never recovered for me after that. Without saying too much, while I understand her hurt and frustration, I didn't think the secret justified the victim part that Lydia chose to play for the rest of her life. I appreciated the message of the story, but I just thought it could have been so much better if Lydia felt like how I believe an actual person would respond.

* I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

I am a huge, huge, Kerry Fisher fan...

The style of writing and warmth of characters as well as humour is just so well done.

One of my top five reads is Kerry's debut novel, although they are all different they are so well done.

This book was just a treat. From beginning to end, untangling the lie and weaving it's way throughout the lives of Lydia and her family.

Although I received an arc from netgalley by bookouture I have purchased a paperback copy.

Kerry really has a knack of bringing her characters to life. Inc the dog.

A great twisty tale, that is an easy read.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Kim at Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this in return for an honest and open review.
I read and loved "The School Gate Survival Guide" so I immediately requested this when it became available on NetGalley.
I've got to admit I loved this even more.
Kerry has the ability to make her characters come alive. I felt as if I knew Lydia personally and went through all the emotions she did. At one point I wanted to shout at her and say "Don't do it!".
Another reviewer has quoted exactly what I thought whilst reading this, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive".
I was able to recognise traits that some of my friends display and her descriptions of Jamie and Izzie were spot on.
I was so involved with Lydia's life that I read this in under 24 hours. I was holding my breath and keeping everything crossed as I read the last few pages.
This is one of those books that I'll recommend to all my friends as a MUST READ.

This book is a genre I wouldn't normally read, and it is the first book I have read from this author, but it was a book I really enjoyed.

Lydia is married with a son, and on the surface appears to have the perfect life. But she is hiding a secret which occurred 30 years ago, and as the lie begins to surface, her perfect life begins to unravel.

I enjoyed Kerry Fisher's style of writing, it was an easy read, with lots of unexpected revelations, some serious issues raised and also some humour in it.

4 stars from me.

I was given an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the publisher in return for my honest review.

When one omission of the truth leads to great consequences. This is a great suspenseful family saga well written by a witty writer. The best way to read this book is to dive into it without reading so much reviews.
It will grab your interest till the end.
This was my first read for this author but i will certainly read more books by her.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for supplying my copy of the book in exchange of an unbiased and honest review

After the Lie is a great family saga full of secrets and suspense. This story involves lies, jealousy, regret, and perhaps a little forgiveness along the way.

I really enjoyed this book. It had a steady pace and the plot was well written. I loved how the story progressed throughout. It was hard to put down and sometimes had me feeling on edge.

There was a great mix of characters. I loved getting to know them all, and found it interesting how my views of the characters would keep changing throughout the story, leaving me with a feeling of not being completely sure who I sided with or how I wanted things to turn out for everyone.

I loved how the secret remained a mystery for a while, giving me time to conjure up all sorts of ideas in my mind of what it may be. I felt quite emotional about the huge impact a thirty year old secret managed to have on the main characters. I found myself imagining how different the present might have been if the secret had been revealed all those years ago.

On a lighter note, I loved Lydia’s thoughts. They made me giggle on numerous occasions. I think we have the same sense of humour.

This is the first book I have read by this author, but having enjoyed this story and the author’s writing style, I’m definitely interested in reading more by Kerry Fisher in the future.

I would like to thank the publisher, Bookouture for allowing me a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not only was I dying to see what was going to happen, but I was laughing out loud along the way! Very well-written, great characters, and my kind of humor! Looking forward to reading more books by this author! Great job Kerry Fisher!

Not gripping, more like eye-rolling describes the plot and characters in this cheesy chick-lit farce. The main character is not only unlikable but a dim bulb hypocrite who has no problem with her conscience committing adultery with some gigolo she picks up at an awards ceremony, but suffers pangs of shame and remorse over a nude photo of her when she was a teenager that no one has seen for 20 years. This book is for people who find Real Housewives and Marriage Bootcamp "gripping."

After the Lie is a story about family secrets, lies and loyalty, asking the question ‘How far can, and should, these things go?’
I once took my youth group out to the church carpark and asked them to squeeze tubes of toothpaste out onto the tarmac in as long and continuous a line as possible. They thoroughly enjoyed the exercise, and the outcome mattered: it was a competition, and there was a prize. Afterwards I instructed them to put the toothpaste back into the tube. They looked at me in bewilderment.
‘That’s what a lie is like,’ I told them, as the shadows lengthened and the evening grew chill. ‘Once it’s out, it grows and grows, and it’s impossible to get it back in.’
My teaching point made, we ambled back into the church hall and made hot chocolate.
This is the lesson Lydia and her family learn in this book; lie compounds lie, selective memories teeter one on top of another, an obfuscated past comes back to haunt them and at last they have to ask; was this secret really worth all these lies?
I really like Kerry Fisher’s style; it is conversational, witty and dry. She builds her story very well, and explodes it with aplomb, getting these gritty and sometimes uncomfortable issues out into the forum for discussion - this would make an excellent book for Reading Groups.
Lydia is an engaging protagonist, although she is one of those annoying female characters who are successful and attractive without (apparently) having any inkling of it; frankly it comes across as being somewhat disingenuous. Why can’t we have characters who aren’t all that successful, or very attractive, but are still interesting and sympathetic? The gap between Lydia’s actual and her perceived self stretched the credibility over the consequences of the lie; I’d have believed Lydia’s acquiesce more if she had been a weaker character.
That being said, this was an enjoyable read about a subject to which everyone can relate: family. In the same vein may I humbly recommend Relative Strangers, which asks the opposite question, ‘How much truth can a family really stand?’
Relative Strangers

Oh how I loved this book. I started and read at every opportunity then was disappointed to finish!. It is a gripping, excellent story which you find yourself hoping along with Lydia the lie does not get revealed. Another incident brings to life the scary part of the online world we live in. Serious subjects but also laugh out loud moments. For me the characters were outstanding. I would like to go and have coffee or wine with Lydia. I identified so much with her and think Kerry Fisher has been eavesdropping on my life with teenagers! A definite 5 stars from me and hugely recommend. I received an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.

Bookouture and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of After the Lie, in exchange for an honest review.

13 year old Sally makes a poor choice to take provocative pictures with her boyfriend Sean. When her father discovers a Polaroid, a fit of rage results in his incarceration. Needing a fresh start after the scandal, Sally's mother encourages her to use her middle name, Lydia, and to reinvent herself. Years later, after Lydia is forced to work with Sean, will her husband become privy to the secret past that Lydia is so desperate to keep hidden?

As Lydia's anxiety over possible exposure rises, she ends up making exceedingly poor life decisions. This has a ring of truth for me, as most people do not have the courage to speak honestly until their backs are against the wall. With everything that she went through in the past, it was a bit unbelievable that Lydia would be so naïve as to think that the secrets would remain hidden, both past and present. Lydia's moment of weakness and her indecision did not endear me to her character, but make her seem human. I would recommend After the Lie to readers who enjoy women's fiction and I look forward to reading more by author Kerry Fisher in the future.

Kerry Fisher has become one of my favourtie writers! Everyday - universal problems with twists and humour. The characters were so well developed I actually stayed in the story well after reading the last page.

I was intrigued to learn what 'the lie' might be in Kerry Fisher's latest novel and was not disappointed. She shows how brushing a traumatic experience under the carpet produces repercussions that last for decades, poisoning marriages and affecting subsequent generations. She is a genius at describing the nuances of family life with humour and pinpoint accuracy: I chuckled over her descriptions of the idiosyncrasies of teenagers and loved the deep warmth of maternal love underlying the book. It's a cleverly structured story that's both compelling and thought-provoking: a must for all parents of teenagers and, frankly, for anyone interested in the dynamics of relationships and the foibles of human nature.

This is the first book by Kerry Fisher that I've read. Set in England this is the story of a woman who has made a mistake as a teen that is now about to catch up with her. This mistake cost her father his job and part of his life spent in jail. Lydia now has to save her marriage and her family's future because someone from her past has moved into town. I can see how Lydia's husband was upset when she revealed her past but it seems she always puts her family first. I liked this story but it took me a while to finish. I could put it down and not rush right back.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it even more so I'm reflecting after I read the after word from the author. It's a great read about something that really wouldn't be a very big deal if the characters hadn't spent 30 years covering it up. There is added drama to it so that when the lie comes out, it reflects what all the suppression has caused to the main character's behavior. All in all I'll definitely read other books by this author i just wish she would've spent more time ironing out the relationship between the 2 main characters so we could connect with the outcome better.

I quickly became engaged in this novel as Lydia/Sally's life as mother, wife, daughter, and friend became entangled in the lie she was forced to live as a consequence of a teenage mistake. The author was adept at creating believable and well-rounded characters with which I either felt great sympathy for or complete disliking. This was my first novel by Kerry Fisher but I will definitely read another.

I am clearly in the minority on this book, but After the Lie just didn't do it for me. I didn't think that the lie was strong enough to carry this story. Many times I found myself thinking that secret really wasn't that big of a deal and I can't believe that these people based their entire life off of this.

The writing is done very well and there is definitely an underlying message and lesson here, but at the end of the day, I just didn't believe that the lie was solid enough for this family to change their life and for the ridiculous mistakes and lies that Lydia continued to make throughout the book.

In the end, I just couldn't connect with this book and the entire premise was just so far fetched that I had a hard time believing any of it.

I found After The Lie unputdownable and one night was reading past 2.00 am to find out what happened next.

The story is a family drama and how a lie from Lydia's past threatens her marriage and the life she has built up. A photograph taken when she was 13 years old is the starting point but there are many twists and turns before everything is resolved. I loved her characters - even interfering Mum, and she draws the teenagers most skilfully. Mabel, the dog is a star.

Kerry Fisher has illustrated so well with this book the dangers of social media and how easy it is for things to get out of hand, especially for younger people.

Loved the book and highly recommend it.

It took me a while to be gripped by this book. I felt perplexed as to why Lydia felt quite so threatened and consumed by ‘the secret’ that she had never told her husband, and it felt a bit too convenient and not wholly believable that Sean might have moved from a little Norfolk village to a small, remote area in Surrey. That aside, I really enjoyed the style of writing and the strength of the characters. As the pace of the story picked up, I did find myself fully absorbed by it and found it hard to put down as past and present spectacularly collided together.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Excellent reading-really felt like I was living back at that stage in my life. Some people didn't like the mother--I didn't either but since I had one like that I can understand her and the need to not let anyone know our secret-which start the whole cover up that involves so many. .but what would you do to protect your child and how far would you go with that "lie" ...

... Kerry Fisher writes about real people; they are flawed and funny, generous and needy. After the Lie is about how it’s not the lies we tell but the truths we don’t share that matter. This book will make you laugh, frown and cry in equal measure. Yes, it’s about how our everyday lives can unravel and the attempts we make to put them back together but also, on a deeper level, it’s a book about identity and how, often, the most important person we need to seek forgiveness from is ourselves.

I have read another book by Kerry Fisher that I really enjoyed. She has a wonderful, witty writing style, and many lines in this book did make me laugh out loud. However, I just could not get into the overall story. It just seemed too far-fetched to have a story as the one that occurred to Lydia turn into such a dramatic, pressure-filled scenario. At times I felt like shaking her and telling her to have a backbone. Although being raised by a mother like Dorothy....sheesh! This was a good enough book but not one that I couldn't put down.

The characters were initially likeable and believable. However, descriptions of urgings and behavior with Italian paramour were excessive. That and similar techniques kept the plot from moving effectively.

I've read Kerry Fisher's previous two books and this one didn't disappoint. Her characters are very believable and I love the way she uses humour alongside more serious subject matter to lift the tone.
I read this in just two days and I couldn't wait to find out what happened!

This story is ok, I wouldn't say it was gripping. Its not exactly a thriller of any sorts. Lydia is married to Max, they have two teenage children and seem quite happily married. Lydia has a secret she has never told her husband. Why? I don't know. As secrets have a way of coming out, her husband is naturally upset when he finds out. The question is, will he forgive her?

A great novel that grips but also makes you think. Because Kerry Fisher's characters are so real and so sympathetic you actually care about what happens, and this adds to the tension. Great portrayal of a modern-day dilemma for parents.