Find The Culprit In Heart-Shaped Lies By Elizabeth Agyemang

‘Tis the season for thrills and chills here at THP’s book team! We’re back with another YA mystery thriller: Heart-Shaped Lies by Elizabeth Agyemang.

Heart-Shaped Lies follows the story of a senior field trip leading to the murder of Tommy Harding, the school’s famous teen prank star. It’s told in the perspective of the three girls he’s been stringing along and dating at the same time: Kiara, Priscilla, and Nevaeh.

These girls have their own reasons for potentially killing Tommy and become prime suspects in his murder. But who could’ve done it? Let’s get into our review for Elizabeth Agyemang’s YA debut, Heart-Shaped Lies.

Book Overview: Heart-Shaped Lies

Content Warnings: death, murder, assault, violence, abusive relationships, drug use, non-consensual recording, cheating, extortion and blackmail, cyberbullying and death threats (Read at your discretion!)

Summary: Kiara, Priscilla, and Nevaeh have nothing in common—except they just found out that they’re all dating Tommy Harding, the internet’s most famous teen prank star. 

KIARA is the girlfriend who the cameras know and love, the academic star who Tommy parades around in public to keep his image in check. 

PRISCILLA is Tommy’s co-star. As a beauty influencer and an accomplice to Tommy’s notorious antics, she’s always known that the two of them could be the Internet’s power couple—if only he would confess to his girlfriend what really goes on during their ‘rehearsals.’

And NEVAEH is the good girl, the pastor’s daughter who’d never dream of dating a boy who’s already taken.

When a viral post from Tommy’s social media account exposes his cheating ways during their high school class trip to Florida’s biggest theme park, the girls are crushed—and furious. Tommy claims his account was hacked. Now, Kiara, Priscilla, and Nevaeh want him out of their lives. Forever. After all, Tommy doesn’t just hold their hearts—he holds their secrets, too.

But when Tommy’s body is found the next morning, their so-called wish becomes a twisted reality. Because Tommy may be gone, but the internet is forever. And the girls are about to go from strangers to suspects…

The Events Before

The first half of Heart-Shaped Lies takes us through the seniors’ arrival at Sunny World Resorts and Parks. From the beginning, we clearly see how strained Kiara and Tommy’s relationship is behind the screen. But Kiara still needs Tommy’s connections to get into her dream school. Then add in Tommy’s secret relationship with his co-star Priscilla, an up-and-coming influencer. As if cheating once wasn’t enough, the book introduces Nevaeh, a junior who’s also at the resort for a church conference and eager to meet her long-distance boyfriend Thomas (“Tommy”) for the first time.

These girls are tied to Tommy one way or another. He holds so many of their secrets that could ruin them if anyone else found out. So when his prank goes too far and everything blows up at their after-hours party, each of them has a reason for getting rid of Tommy for good.

The Hints

We can appreciate the details behind the social media posts and comment sections in Heart-Shaped Lies. All the clues we needed to figure out the culprit gradually became clearer. It was easy to remember key players in the pre-game party as well as other meetings. But we did forget about some details that became incriminating evidence. A certain Tommy Harding superfan becomes crucial to finding the hacker of Tommy’s accounts and his murderer. And we’re so proud of ourselves for correctly guessing who it was.

The Big Reveal

Once we were sure we solved the mystery of Heart-Shaped Lies, everything started to make sense. Details from Tommy’s burner phone and messages gave us plenty of new information to dissect. We suspected all of the characters at some point. But that’s what makes a mystery so interesting to read and why we keep coming back! Because our hunch turned out to be right, and yours might, too. As for the killer, we don’t want to give away too much information, but let’s just say everything came full circle by the ending.

Heart-Shaped Lies by Elizabeth Agyemang comes out November 26th, and you can preorder a copy of it here!

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