Big, Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. This was on the list last year, but so many of you told me you loved it, I'm promoting it to a top pick this year. VERY beachy. (NB: Moriarty has another book coming out in July called Truly Madly Guilty) “Another hilarious novel from Moriarty whose familiar female characters share all of the petty conceits the rest of us do – but articulate them far more humorously. Voted top comedy on Goodreads last year, this story involves a murder at an elementary school parents’ party, but neither the killer nor the victim are revealed until the end. Among the hysterically recognizable cast of characters: the members of a “support group for the parents of gifted children.” "Murder mystery among parents at a private school in Australia. Twists and turns. Characters you will love and hate and fight for." "I had an absolute blast reading this book about parents at a little school in Australia. It is clear from the start that someone was killed at a school fundraising event, though we don't know who or what the circumstances were. Moriarty takes us back through the months leading up to the event, tying the stories of various characters together in an artful fashion. She intersperses this with little snatches of dialogue that are evidently from police interviews with parents who attended the party. These are HYSTERICAL. So, yes, it's a satire. But it's not an over-the-top, cover-to-cover campy satire (those exhaust me). It's also a murder mystery, a romantic story, a friendship story. It's very clever but also very human with endearing characters and love-to-hate characters, and some in between. I just had the best time." "Why did I resist this book for so long? This book was a blast - - overall the story has a light tone and yet Morriarty covers some pretty heavy topics including spousal abuse and bullying. The characters were well drawn, sympathetic, the humor was actually quite funny and the observations about marriage, the parenting culture, and class differences among friends were all spot on. I originally dismissed this as chick lit and I guess it is but it makes me realize that not all chick lit is created equal."
