Week 35 Review: The Lies We Conjure

From Goodreads:

Knives Out meets The Inheritance Games with magic in this standalone supernatural thriller by Sarah Henning: thirteen witches, a locked-room murder, and two non-magical sisters trapped in a deadly game of Clue

Ruby and her sister, Wren, are normal, middle-class Colorado high school students working a summer job at the local Renaissance Fest to supplement their meager college savings.

So when an eccentric old lady asks them to impersonate her long-absent grandchildren at a fancy dinner party at the jaw-dropping rate of two grand―each―for a single night… Wren insists it's a no-brainer. Make some cash, have some fun, do a good deed.

But less than an hour into the evening at the mysterious Hegemony Manor, Ruby is sure she must have lost her mind to have agreed to this.

My Review:
I loved reading this book! I've really enjoyed Sarah Henning's other books, but this is the first that's been set solidly, easily recognizable as our world, but with magic. That it's a locked room mystery just added a wonderful element to the story!

Ruby is from a normal family, she's working to build up her college fund. So when she and her sister are hired to pretend to be this lady's granddaughters, well, she's sceptical, but it seems like easy money. Until the host of the gathering is murdered, and her pretend grandmother is the main suspect.

We got Ruby's perspective as an outsider, and we also got Auden's perspective, one of the Hegemony grandchildren, heir to this magic, grown up in it, and part of the reason why there's no adults from the parents generation around. A point that was pretty important to the story! 

Watching as they searching for these relics, while Ruby and Wren were keeping their secret, and Auden kept thinking about Ursula's instructions to him, as things were revealed, and their time was ticking...yeah it was tense and I had such a blast reading it! And oh, that end was phenomenal! 

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by Sarah Henning! 

Author: Sarah Henning 
Read: August 26th, 2024
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Tor Teen
Expected Publication: September 17th 2024

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars