Five Little Liars Spoiler Free Book Review
Five Little Liars Spoiler Free Book Review [Updated for 2026]
It’s been a hot minute since I last shared a book review on the blog.
Probably because my reading habits have been a little all over the place.
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One minute I’m in the mood to read so I pick up a book, get two chapters in, then it’s back on my bookshelf, gathering dust for another few months.
But, I’m happy to report that I’ve caught the reading bug again!
And this means some more book reviews to add to the blog.
Five Little Liars by Amanda K. Morgan
To kick off the return of book reviews, I’ve gone with the book that roped me into the magical world of reading again, Five Little Liars by Amanda K. Morgan.
I’ll be honest, there’s been a few times over the last year and a bit where I’ve started to read this book. But then I lose that reading motivation.
I’m very much that person who cannot force themselves to read unless I’m in the mood for it. So, it’s taken me a while to properly get into that headspace again.
But then one Friday I saw this book on my bookshelf and it called to me; Now is the time to read it all, without distractions. And that’s exactly what I did, read the whole book in one sitting.
No Spoilers
Before I jump into my thoughts and feelings on Five Little Liars, I just want to say that there will be NO SPOILERS within the review.
As someone who really enjoys finding out plot points, twists and mysteries on my own, I can appreciate that not everyone enjoys spoilers when reading a book review.
No need to worry about that here. I’ll only be mentioning some characters by name and loosely talking about the plot in a way that won’t spoil the story for you.
With all that being said, let’s get into the review shall we?
No Spoiler Book Review of Five Little Liars
Five Little Liars Summary/Synopsis – From Goodreads
“I Know What You Did Last Summer meets One of Us is Lying in this fast-paced suspense thriller following five teens who must cover up the suspicious death of their teacher.
Nothing ruins summer vacation like a secret . . . especially when that secret is a dead teacher.
With the police hot on the case, they don’t have much time to figure out how to trust each other. But in order to take the lead, you have to be first in line . . . and that’s the quickest way to get stabbed in the back.
Perfect for fans of Chelsea Pitcher, Karen M. McManus and Holly Jackson!”
Characters
As the title suggests, Five Little Liars follows the story of 5 teens who are all attending a summer night class.
Each has their different reasons for this which I like because it fleshes the characters out a little and gives them substance rather than them all just sort of being there.
At the beginning we get the introduction to each of these characters in their own segments. We find out their names, get a sense of their appearance and their personalities.
We also find out where the story is being told and get a nice description of the world around the characters.
As I said, there are five main characters within the story with multiple supporting characters throughout. The story follows each of them and I really like how Amanda has achieved differentiating one from the other.
The Five Main Characters
I won’t go into too much detail about the characters so you can discover them for yourself, but I’ll give a brief description to give you an idea.
Ivy
Think of a popular girl who got knocked down a peg or two. Starting off as queen bee but having her number one spot ripped away from her all because of a boy.
Although Ivy is the former queen bee and has those stereotypes of the “it” girl attached to her, I soon became quite fond of her.
Yeah, she’s been mean and I don’t condone her past behaviour, I do think she begins to change.
I really like what Amanda has done with her character and setting her apart from the one dimensional popular girl troupe.
Mattie
The next character introduced in the story is Mattie, the “new kid” on the scene.
In town for the summer, he makes quick friends with Ivy and seems level headed. I find him to be a little shy, although he can be outspoken when the time calls.
Out of all the characters I think he shows the most humanity and wrestling with his emotions.
Before the main story kicks in, we get a glimpse into his personal life and wrestling with the thought of being away from his boyfriend back home.
Kinley
An uptight, goody two shoes is the first impression that I got with Kinley, but that soon subsided.
She’s a straight A student who strives to be the best she can whilst also revelling in the fact she’s always been “the best student”.
Her dad is a prominent figure in politics and you see her struggle with trying to keep up her “good girl” image.
Again, there are the stereotypical tropes of the “nerd” attached to Kinley, but her character soon goes much deeper than that. Especially when she becomes interested in a boy.
Tyler
The stereotypical bad boy of the book is Tyler Green. He’s described as a delinquent who lives life on his own terms.
I get the sense he’s a bit of a heartthrob and through his tough guy exterior, he’s actually a big softie.
Like most “bad boy” characters, he’s not all that he seems and given half a chance, I’m sure he would surprise everyone around him.
His home life is also different to what you would expect and through the book we see him shift.
Cade
For me, Cade is the worst. He’s a stuck up little rich kid who thinks he owns the world.
Thinking he can talk his way out of anything, and do what wants. He gets quite angry when that’s not the case though.
His personality feels very explosive and manipulative
His home life seems a bit militant in the way his father expects a lot from him and disapproves of Cades’ love interest. I think this lends to why he is the way he is.
There’s also some hints at other “issues” in Cades life that seems rather chaotic. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I’m still not sure how I feel about some of the issues and the way they were handled.
Writing style
Much like One of Us is Lying , Five Little Liars is told from the perspective of Five different characters.
I’ve grown to really like this style of writing because you get to know the characters on a deeper level as well as finding out parts of the story from each point of view.
I like that there was a pattern throughout so you always knew the sequence of who was coming up next. It’s a smart move because this keeps the reader intrigued and shifts through each character while staying on topic for each part.
You get to know little details that may otherwise be overlooked if the story was told from just one perspective.
By going this route we get a more rounded picture of each character and their feelings around the plot.
I really liked getting an insight into how smaller alliances were made and that the characters weren’t always together. They had their own stories going on that all connected to the main plot.
The Main Plot
As you can see from the summary, the main plot of the story revolves around a dead teacher and what the main characters have to do with this event.
I like how it played out and came to fruition because it’s different than the whole murder mystery of who done it. We find out exactly what happened, why and when.
From there we follow along as the characters live out the aftermath of this tragedy and come to terms with their emotions.
Throughout, the characters each react differently and I like that. There’s smaller alliances made in the group and we see plotting and suspicion arise.
What kept me interested was the sub stories going on between certain characters and their lives.
We get glimpses into other shady acts that don’t actually pertain to the murder but they don’t take away from the main story, they just add more mystery and suspense which I like.
The Cons of Five Little Liars
Although there’s a lot I enjoyed about Five Little Liars, there are some things about it which could be considered cons.
The beginning
First of all, I feel the beginning is a little long winded. I get that the story is being set up for us, but maybe the action could have started a little sooner.
This wasn’t too much of an issue though as I liked getting to know each of the characters and found them engaging. But I personally like when you’re thrown into the action early on.
The ending
Normally I’m partial to a cliffhanger, but in this story I’m not sure it worked. I mean, if there’s going to be a sequel, great! But I can’t find anything suggesting there will be.
I also found the ending a little rushed in some ways and I still have questions about other points in the book that haven’t been answered.
It feels as though parts were added in for the sake of it rather than being important. I had hoped these would be explored more but sadly, they weren’t.
There’s also doesn’t feel like a conclusion with the characters. The story just sort of stopped without sharing any details on how the main characters were coping with new revelations at the end.
I would have liked to have it all neatly tied up in a way that felt in line with the rest of the book.
Spelling and grammar
There’s also a fair few spelling and grammar mistakes throughout. Although I knew what was meant, I did find myself re-reading sentences over and over just to make my brain process the information.
I also found that using the wrong pronouns in some parts snapped my brain out of the reading flow.
Here’s an example of wrong pronouns being used with an interaction between a her and him during a massage scene
“Her fingers pressed into her skin, smoothing the deep tension from her muscles”
The first “her” in that sentence should be “him”. It’s not a major turn off for the book, but sometimes it was annoying catching on to these little discrepancies.
Overall these points didn’t ruin the book nor make it unreadable.
Final thoughts
All in all, I enjoyed Five Little Liars and I’m glad I’ve read it.
Is it a book I would re-read? Probably not. But do I recommend reading it? Yes.
It was a good YA story that kept me reading and wanting to find out absolutely everything.
My overall rating for Five Little Liars is a 3 out of 5.
Side note
When researching the book’s release and what other books Amanda k. Morgan had to offer, I came across her book titled “Secrets, Lies and Scandals“.
From what I can find, this book is basically Five Little Liars. It’s all the same characters and plot, only a different title.
I’m not sure if the book was just re-branded or if it has had an overhaul with the contents as well. But I’d be interested to get my hands on a copy and find out.
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Although I like murder in books and multiple pov, I may put this title on the back burner for now. I appreciate your thoughtful and candid review!
Thank you 🙂
This isn’t something I would usually read, however, it does sound like an interesting storyline. This is a book I will add to my to purchase list. Thank you for sharing a great review!
Lauren x
The book sounds wonderful. Thanks for the beautiful review.
xoxo
Lovely
Thanks for the review! I just finished reading a mystery novel which has put me in the mood to read more mystery books and this one sounds like a fun read. I kept misreading the title as PRETTY Little Liars instead of FIVE Little Liars! haha ♥
http://www.mooeyandfriends.com
I love thrillers but I have found that a lot of them tend to rush the ending. Hopefully there will be a sequel on the way to touch on things that were left out. I’m glad it was an enjoyable read overall. I’m also happy to hear that the multiple POVS was a great way to learn more about the characters and done in a way that was easy to follow. Thank you for sharing your review!
I’m not quite sure if I would read it but I do like a thriller novel with a cliffhanger or a good solid ending.
The story sounds pretty interesting I really like how you review the novel.
Loved diving into your review! 📚 The character profiles are absolutely fantastic, each one so rich and intriguing. Thanks for sharing Jo!