
The Art of Pretend
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Karissa Vacker
-
By:
-
Lauren Kuhl
About this listen
Gossip Girl meets Saltburn: A tantalizing novel about a woman drawn into the orbit of her friend's wealthy family in New York City and the complications and consequences that arise when she embarks on a secret relationship with the golden-boy older brother
“A delicious take on class, friendship, and desire.” —Christina McDowell, author of The Cave Dwellers
Pretending is an art, and all art comes at a price…
Ren loves and hates Etta, her best friend since they met at NYU nearly a decade ago. Etta defines Ren's New York. She lavishes her with designer hand-me-downs and takes her along to parties at trust fund lofts and Hamptons estates. But when Etta moves to Barcelona with no warning, Ren is left to face who she is without her, her unremarkable life of shoebox apartment, thankless job, and estranged family.
Enter Archer, Etta’s older brother, whom Ren’s always been infatuated with. In his sister’s absence, suddenly he’s inviting Ren to visit his art gallery, to prestigious galas, on weekend trips with his friends to Amagansett. Archer’s interest makes Ren feel alive in whole new ways, but she knows Etta can't find out. As their relationship intensifies, so does her unease. If it all blows up, who will she be on the other side?
Set over a heady New York summer, The Art of Pretend is an alluring novel about love and friendship, wealth and power, art and ambition—and the stories we tell ourselves and others to get what we want.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
You Deserve to Know
- By: Aggie Blum Thompson
- Narrated by: Alex Picard
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neighbors Gwen, Aimee, and Lisa share more than playdates and coffee mornings on their tranquil street in East Bethesda. They confide their deepest secrets, navigate the challenges of motherhood together, and provide a support system that seems unbreakable. But when Gwen's husband is found murdered after one of their weekly Friday night dinners, the peaceful quiet of their cul-de-sac shatters. The seemingly idyllic world of the three close-knit mom friends becomes a web of deception, betrayal, and revenge.
-
-
Really Good, Awesome Twists
- By Lulu Dx on 04-11-25
-
The Beautiful People
- By: Michelle Gable
- Narrated by: Eleanor Caudill
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1961, and for Margo Hightower, everything is about to change. True, her engagement is off, her family has fallen in scandal, and she's completely broke. But she’s just been hired as assistant to photographer Slim Aarons—famous for his vibrant pictures of high society, royalty, and Hollywood stars—and she knows this opportunity is her ticket to something better.
-
-
Engaging characters and story
- By Ginger on 12-21-24
By: Michelle Gable
-
One Little Spark
- By: Ellie Banks
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenna Abbott’s life went up in flames even before the fire started in Tenmile, Oregon. She was still coping with her husband's affair—and the revelation that he got a much younger woman pregnant—when the fire finally died down, and Ryan was among the missing. Chelsea Goddard still can’t explain how her estranged husband got back to Tenmile from out of the country the day of the fire, and she also can’t shake the nagging feeling that the secrets they’ve kept between them for the last twenty years might just be the tinder that made it all burn.
-
-
Courtney Patterson nails it.
- By Anonymous User on 10-18-23
By: Ellie Banks
-
All the Summers in Between
- By: Brooke Lea Foster
- Narrated by: Emily Ellet
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When wealthy, impulsive summer girl Margot meets hardworking and steady local girl Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for ten years…until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend—but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either.
-
-
It takes perseverance to finish.
- By KS Parker on 03-10-25
-
The Mother Next Door
- By: Tara Laskowski
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Teri Schnaubelt, Emily Lawrence
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The annual Halloween block party is the pinnacle of the year on idyllic suburban cul-de-sac Ivy Woods Drive. An influential group of neighborhood moms—known as the Ivy Five—plans the event for months. Except the Ivy Five has been four for a long time. When a new mother moves to town, eager to fit in, the moms see it as an opportunity to make the group whole again. This year's block party should be the best yet... until the women start receiving anonymous messages threatening to expose the quiet neighborhood's dark past—and the lengths they've gone to hide it.
-
-
I Didn't Want It to End!
- By Sally on 10-16-21
By: Tara Laskowski
-
My Lies, Your Lies
- A Novel
- By: Susan Lewis
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck, Sophie Bentinck
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joely tells other people’s secrets for a living. As a ghost writer, she’s used to scandal—but this just might be her strangest assignment yet. Freda has never told her story to anyone before. But now she’s ready to set the record straight and right a wrong that’s haunted her for forty years. Freda’s memoir begins with a fifteen-year-old girl falling madly in love with her male teacher. As Joely sets out to write this troubling love story, she is spun into a world of secrets and lies, causing her to question everything she thought she knew about her own family.
-
-
Slow and predictable
- By HoneyBaby on 07-27-23
By: Susan Lewis
-
You Deserve to Know
- By: Aggie Blum Thompson
- Narrated by: Alex Picard
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neighbors Gwen, Aimee, and Lisa share more than playdates and coffee mornings on their tranquil street in East Bethesda. They confide their deepest secrets, navigate the challenges of motherhood together, and provide a support system that seems unbreakable. But when Gwen's husband is found murdered after one of their weekly Friday night dinners, the peaceful quiet of their cul-de-sac shatters. The seemingly idyllic world of the three close-knit mom friends becomes a web of deception, betrayal, and revenge.
-
-
Really Good, Awesome Twists
- By Lulu Dx on 04-11-25
-
The Beautiful People
- By: Michelle Gable
- Narrated by: Eleanor Caudill
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1961, and for Margo Hightower, everything is about to change. True, her engagement is off, her family has fallen in scandal, and she's completely broke. But she’s just been hired as assistant to photographer Slim Aarons—famous for his vibrant pictures of high society, royalty, and Hollywood stars—and she knows this opportunity is her ticket to something better.
-
-
Engaging characters and story
- By Ginger on 12-21-24
By: Michelle Gable
-
One Little Spark
- By: Ellie Banks
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenna Abbott’s life went up in flames even before the fire started in Tenmile, Oregon. She was still coping with her husband's affair—and the revelation that he got a much younger woman pregnant—when the fire finally died down, and Ryan was among the missing. Chelsea Goddard still can’t explain how her estranged husband got back to Tenmile from out of the country the day of the fire, and she also can’t shake the nagging feeling that the secrets they’ve kept between them for the last twenty years might just be the tinder that made it all burn.
-
-
Courtney Patterson nails it.
- By Anonymous User on 10-18-23
By: Ellie Banks
-
All the Summers in Between
- By: Brooke Lea Foster
- Narrated by: Emily Ellet
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When wealthy, impulsive summer girl Margot meets hardworking and steady local girl Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for ten years…until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend—but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either.
-
-
It takes perseverance to finish.
- By KS Parker on 03-10-25
-
The Mother Next Door
- By: Tara Laskowski
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Teri Schnaubelt, Emily Lawrence
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The annual Halloween block party is the pinnacle of the year on idyllic suburban cul-de-sac Ivy Woods Drive. An influential group of neighborhood moms—known as the Ivy Five—plans the event for months. Except the Ivy Five has been four for a long time. When a new mother moves to town, eager to fit in, the moms see it as an opportunity to make the group whole again. This year's block party should be the best yet... until the women start receiving anonymous messages threatening to expose the quiet neighborhood's dark past—and the lengths they've gone to hide it.
-
-
I Didn't Want It to End!
- By Sally on 10-16-21
By: Tara Laskowski
-
My Lies, Your Lies
- A Novel
- By: Susan Lewis
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck, Sophie Bentinck
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joely tells other people’s secrets for a living. As a ghost writer, she’s used to scandal—but this just might be her strangest assignment yet. Freda has never told her story to anyone before. But now she’s ready to set the record straight and right a wrong that’s haunted her for forty years. Freda’s memoir begins with a fifteen-year-old girl falling madly in love with her male teacher. As Joely sets out to write this troubling love story, she is spun into a world of secrets and lies, causing her to question everything she thought she knew about her own family.
-
-
Slow and predictable
- By HoneyBaby on 07-27-23
By: Susan Lewis
-
This Girl's a Killer
- By: Emma C. Wells
- Narrated by: Stefanie Kay
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cordelia Black loves exactly three things: her chosen family, her hairdresser (worth every penny plus tip), and killing bad men. By day she's an ambitious pharma rep with a flawless reputation and designer wardrobe. By night, she culls South Louisiana of unscrupulous men—monsters who think they've evaded justice, until they meet her. Sure, the evening news may have started throwing around phrases like serial killer, but Cordelia knows that's absurd. But when Cordelia discovers a flaw in her perfectly designed system for eliminating monsters, pressure heightens.
-
-
An avenging woman
- By Ms Corey L on 12-29-24
By: Emma C. Wells
-
Follow Me
- By: Kathleen Barber
- Narrated by: Corey Brill, Erin Moon, Emily Tremaine, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audrey Miller has an enviable new job at the Smithsonian, a body by reformer Pilates, an apartment door with a broken lock, and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers to bear witness to it all. Having just moved to Washington, DC, Audrey busies herself impressing her new boss, interacting with her online fan base, and staving off a creepy upstairs neighbor with the help of the only two people she knows in town: an ex-boyfriend she can't stay away from and a sorority sister with a high-powered job and a mysterious past.
-
-
This book almost qualifies for the YA section
- By CindyL on 03-01-20
By: Kathleen Barber
-
How to Make Your Neighbors Disappear
- By: Samara Cove
- Narrated by: Ben Hauck, Garan Patrick, Carly Lepard, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The annual fall party on Silent Ridge Road is supposed to be a celebration of community—an entire day of drinking cider, sharing laughs, and forgetting any tension that's been simmering beneath the surface all year. But beneath the festive décor, polite smiles, and pumpkin-spiced charm of this small-town block lies a tangled web of deceit, obsession, and death. The neighbors are hiding dangerous secrets.
-
-
Baffled by the good reviews
- By Benjamin on 04-14-25
By: Samara Cove
-
The Sublet
- A Short Story
- By: Greer Hendricks
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
- Length: 1 hr and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anne is barely keeping it together. A frazzled ghostwriter and aspiring novelist, she juggles nine-year-old twins and a listless marriage from an overcrowded Manhattan apartment, spreading herself thinner each day. Just as Anne is about to give up on her dreams, she lands her biggest client yet: Melody Wells. Melody paints a picture of serenity and empowerment in the lavender haze of her visualization workshops—however, the one thing she can’t manifest are the pages her publisher is demanding for her new motivational book. Enter Anne.
-
-
A crammed mess
- By ALR on 04-02-25
By: Greer Hendricks
-
Keep Your Friends Close
- By: Leah Konen
- Narrated by: Reba Buhr, Karissa Vacker
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isolated and embroiled in a custody battle, Mary is desperate for a friend. So when she meets the charming and enigmatic Willa at a Brooklyn playground, their connection feels fated. But during a margarita-fueled moms’ night out, Mary shares her darkest secret about her ex, George, and the next morning Willa simply disappears. No calls, no texts, nothing.
-
-
Story kept me guessing but…
- By Eric HD on 06-25-24
By: Leah Konen
-
Claire, Darling
- A Novel
- By: Callie Kazumi
- Narrated by: Bronwen Price
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Claire is excited to drop off a surprise workday lunch for her fiancé, Noah. It’s their anniversary, after all. But when the receptionist tells her that no one with Noah’s name works there, Claire thinks there must be a mistake. Noah isn’t picking up her calls. Her texts go unanswered. It turns out Noah has a different life . . . one with a beautiful girlfriend, a beautiful house. Claire was never really in the picture.
-
-
A must listen!
- By Cynthia Jackson on 03-15-25
By: Callie Kazumi
-
Everybody Is a Liar
- By: Liv Constantine
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik, Saskia Maarleveld, Shayr Guthrie, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Julie Buckley, a successful mystery writer, suspects her husband of cheating, she turns to her best friend, Darby, for advice. When Darby suggests couples therapy, Julie and Oliver find themselves discussing Oliver’s betrayal with their new therapist, Liza. Liza is competent and reassuring, and her advice and Oliver’s openness to change seem to be helping the couple rebuild their relationship.
-
-
The only thing annoying is that I was duped into buying this.
- By mossilini on 02-17-25
By: Liv Constantine
-
Pink Glass Houses
- A Novel
- By: Asha Elias
- Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez, Saskia Maarleveld, Andi Arndt, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Sunset Academy, the most coveted elementary school in Miami Beach, where there are three categories of families: rich, wealthy, and ultra-wealthy. Perfectly tanned and smiling Charlotte Giordani is Sunset Academy’s alpha mom. With a sleek blowout and relentless charm, Charlotte’s brashness serves her well. She’s up for election as the PTA president and is riding high, having just secured a massive donation from billionaire Don Walker and his socialite wife Patricia.
-
-
Amazing narration!
- By Jazmine Celeste on 08-04-24
By: Asha Elias
-
Such a Bad Influence
- By: Olivia Muenter
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky, Kelli Tager, Joe Hempel, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hazel Davis is drifting: newly unemployed, living in a city she hates, and significantly less successful than her infamous younger sister, Evie. Evie grew up online, having gone viral at age five in a daddy-daughter dance video. Now she’s a megapopular lifestyle influencer. But to Hazel, @evelyn is just Evie, her beloved little sister—and a kid who has been exploited for her entire childhood. So when Evie disappears—in the middle of a live stream, during a brand-sponsored trip to Los Angeles—Hazel knows something is terribly wrong.
-
-
Meh…just okay
- By MC on 07-05-24
By: Olivia Muenter
-
The Second Mrs Strom
- By: Kaira Rouda
- Narrated by: Nick Landrum, Laurence Bouvard
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I don’t want the perfect marriage. I want revenge… If you had met me a year ago, you wouldn’t have noticed me. A beautiful woman, but a struggling nobody in a tiny apartment, invisible… Meeting Paul changed that. And now here I am in Paris, after a whirlwind courtship and a stunning beach proposal I smile at my handsome husband, my eyes shining in the candlelight, my huge diamond ring sparkling on the starched white tablecloth. Other women look at me in envy. They see a couple completely in love.
-
-
Great book
- By Angela M. Dokos on 12-23-24
By: Kaira Rouda
-
More Than You'll Ever Know
- A Novel
- By: Katie Gutierrez
- Narrated by: Inés del Castillo, Yareli Arizmendi
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1985, Lore Rivera marries Andres Russo in Mexico City, even though she is already married to Fabian Rivera in Laredo, Texas, and they share twin sons. Through her career as an international banker, Lore splits her time between two countries and two families—until the truth is revealed and one husband is arrested for murdering the other. In 2017, while trawling the internet for the latest, most sensational news reports, struggling true-crime writer Cassie Bowman encounters an article detailing that tragic final act. Cassie is immediately enticed by what is not explored:
-
-
Don’t Bother if You Don’t Understand Spanish
- By Gliknis on 08-28-22
By: Katie Gutierrez
-
The Note
- A Novel
- By: Alafair Burke
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn’t call her the Little Sheriff for nothing. But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she's had her fair share of both.
-
-
Irritating Narration
- By Bailey Rose on 01-18-25
By: Alafair Burke
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Just Get Home
- a thriller
- By: Bridget Foley
- Narrated by: Abby Marks, LaQuita James
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beegie is riding the bus when the quake hits. The teenager was heading back to her unhappy foster home, but then she’s thrown into a broken world. Roads crumble, storefronts shatter and people run wild. Dessa, a single mom, is enjoying a rare night out when it strikes. Cell towers are down, so without even knowing if her three-year-old daughter is dead or alive, she races to get back across town.
-
-
An engaging and refreshing adventure
- By AM on 01-03-24
By: Bridget Foley
-
The Man in Room Seven
- By: Karin Nordin
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six years ago, Tweety came home from work to find her husband Dodge had left, taking their child with him. Utterly broken, Tweety vows that she will do anything to get her baby back. After years following a trail of breadcrumbs, finally: a lead. Someone looking just like Dodge stays at the same run-down motel for the motorcycle rally every year without fail. This time things will be different. This time his ex-wife is a few steps ahead of him.
By: Karin Nordin
-
The Mother Next Door
- By: Tara Laskowski
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Teri Schnaubelt, Emily Lawrence
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The annual Halloween block party is the pinnacle of the year on idyllic suburban cul-de-sac Ivy Woods Drive. An influential group of neighborhood moms—known as the Ivy Five—plans the event for months. Except the Ivy Five has been four for a long time. When a new mother moves to town, eager to fit in, the moms see it as an opportunity to make the group whole again. This year's block party should be the best yet... until the women start receiving anonymous messages threatening to expose the quiet neighborhood's dark past—and the lengths they've gone to hide it.
-
-
I Didn't Want It to End!
- By Sally on 10-16-21
By: Tara Laskowski
-
Only One Survives
- By: Hannah Mary McKinnon
- Narrated by: Amy Hall
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted was to make music. If that came with fame, she’d take it—as long as her best friend, guitarist Madison Pierce, was sharing the spotlight and singing lead. And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs… Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet’s van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard—leaving one member dead and another severely injured. In order to survive the frigid night, the rest took shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin.
-
-
Overall Good
- By Bruce Watford on 01-29-25
-
Tell Us No Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Siena Sterling
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Female friendship is intense and that intensity can erupt into dangerous passions when teenage girls are cooped up in an exclusive East Coast boarding school. Beautiful, streetwise Cassidy Thomas; debutante jock Abby Madison; academic, sensitive Karen Mullens; and sophisticated troublemaking Zoey Spalding are four seventeen-year-olds who should be cruising happily through their Senior Year. But jealousies are simmering. And when Zoey plays a game with the class list—if you lose your virginity you get a star beside your name—it sets in motion a chain of shocking events.
-
-
Intricate character development with page turning plot!
- By E.K. Lanier on 06-10-22
By: Siena Sterling
-
My Lies, Your Lies
- A Novel
- By: Susan Lewis
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck, Sophie Bentinck
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joely tells other people’s secrets for a living. As a ghost writer, she’s used to scandal—but this just might be her strangest assignment yet. Freda has never told her story to anyone before. But now she’s ready to set the record straight and right a wrong that’s haunted her for forty years. Freda’s memoir begins with a fifteen-year-old girl falling madly in love with her male teacher. As Joely sets out to write this troubling love story, she is spun into a world of secrets and lies, causing her to question everything she thought she knew about her own family.
-
-
Slow and predictable
- By HoneyBaby on 07-27-23
By: Susan Lewis
-
Just Get Home
- a thriller
- By: Bridget Foley
- Narrated by: Abby Marks, LaQuita James
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beegie is riding the bus when the quake hits. The teenager was heading back to her unhappy foster home, but then she’s thrown into a broken world. Roads crumble, storefronts shatter and people run wild. Dessa, a single mom, is enjoying a rare night out when it strikes. Cell towers are down, so without even knowing if her three-year-old daughter is dead or alive, she races to get back across town.
-
-
An engaging and refreshing adventure
- By AM on 01-03-24
By: Bridget Foley
-
The Man in Room Seven
- By: Karin Nordin
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six years ago, Tweety came home from work to find her husband Dodge had left, taking their child with him. Utterly broken, Tweety vows that she will do anything to get her baby back. After years following a trail of breadcrumbs, finally: a lead. Someone looking just like Dodge stays at the same run-down motel for the motorcycle rally every year without fail. This time things will be different. This time his ex-wife is a few steps ahead of him.
By: Karin Nordin
-
The Mother Next Door
- By: Tara Laskowski
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Teri Schnaubelt, Emily Lawrence
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The annual Halloween block party is the pinnacle of the year on idyllic suburban cul-de-sac Ivy Woods Drive. An influential group of neighborhood moms—known as the Ivy Five—plans the event for months. Except the Ivy Five has been four for a long time. When a new mother moves to town, eager to fit in, the moms see it as an opportunity to make the group whole again. This year's block party should be the best yet... until the women start receiving anonymous messages threatening to expose the quiet neighborhood's dark past—and the lengths they've gone to hide it.
-
-
I Didn't Want It to End!
- By Sally on 10-16-21
By: Tara Laskowski
-
Only One Survives
- By: Hannah Mary McKinnon
- Narrated by: Amy Hall
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted was to make music. If that came with fame, she’d take it—as long as her best friend, guitarist Madison Pierce, was sharing the spotlight and singing lead. And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs… Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet’s van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard—leaving one member dead and another severely injured. In order to survive the frigid night, the rest took shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin.
-
-
Overall Good
- By Bruce Watford on 01-29-25
-
Tell Us No Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Siena Sterling
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Female friendship is intense and that intensity can erupt into dangerous passions when teenage girls are cooped up in an exclusive East Coast boarding school. Beautiful, streetwise Cassidy Thomas; debutante jock Abby Madison; academic, sensitive Karen Mullens; and sophisticated troublemaking Zoey Spalding are four seventeen-year-olds who should be cruising happily through their Senior Year. But jealousies are simmering. And when Zoey plays a game with the class list—if you lose your virginity you get a star beside your name—it sets in motion a chain of shocking events.
-
-
Intricate character development with page turning plot!
- By E.K. Lanier on 06-10-22
By: Siena Sterling
-
My Lies, Your Lies
- A Novel
- By: Susan Lewis
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck, Sophie Bentinck
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joely tells other people’s secrets for a living. As a ghost writer, she’s used to scandal—but this just might be her strangest assignment yet. Freda has never told her story to anyone before. But now she’s ready to set the record straight and right a wrong that’s haunted her for forty years. Freda’s memoir begins with a fifteen-year-old girl falling madly in love with her male teacher. As Joely sets out to write this troubling love story, she is spun into a world of secrets and lies, causing her to question everything she thought she knew about her own family.
-
-
Slow and predictable
- By HoneyBaby on 07-27-23
By: Susan Lewis
-
The Night Olivia Fell
- By: Christina McDonald
- Narrated by: Kelly Burke, Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the vein of Big Little Lies and Reconstructing Amelia comes an emotionally charged domestic suspense novel about a mother unraveling the truth behind how her daughter became brain-dead. And pregnant.
-
-
A long, less dramatic episode of SVU...
- By Michael Dodson on 03-27-19
-
Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win
- By: Jo Piazza
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlotte Walsh is running for Senate in the most important race in the country during a midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Congress. Still reeling from a presidential election that shocked and divided the country, and inspired by the chance to make a difference, she’s left behind her high-powered job in Silicon Valley and returned, with her husband, Max, and their three young daughters, to her downtrodden Pennsylvania hometown to run in the Rust Belt state.
-
-
A nice book...
- By Hamutal Schieber on 08-01-18
By: Jo Piazza
-
Two Dead Wives
- By: Adele Parks
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's a case that has gripped a nation: A woman with a shocking secret is missing, presumed dead. And her two husbands are suspects in her murder. DCI Clements knows the dark side of human nature and that love can make people do treacherous things. You can’t presume anything when it comes to crimes of the heart. Until a body is found, this scandalous and sad case remains wide open.
-
-
terrible
- By Lauren A. Spear on 01-24-24
By: Adele Parks
-
Little Cruelties
- By: Liz Nugent
- Narrated by: Sam O'Mahony, Stephen Hogan, Paul Hickey, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the internationally best-selling author of Lying in Wait, a biting and masterful new “dark jewel of a novel” (A.J. Finn, number-one New York Times best-selling author) that explores the many ways families can wreak emotional havoc across generations, appealing to fans of HBO’s acclaimed series Succession.
-
-
Creative, but a Mixed Bag
- By Tawny on 11-28-20
By: Liz Nugent
-
The Devil and Mrs. Davenport
- A Novel
- By: Paulette Kennedy
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Missouri, 1955. Loretta Davenport has led an isolated life as a young mother and a wife to Pete, an ambitious assistant professor at a Bible college. They’re the picture of domestic tranquility—until a local girl is murdered and Loretta begins receiving messages from beyond. Pete dismisses them as delusions of a fevered female imagination. Loretta knows they’re real—and frightening.
-
-
I didn’t think I would Like this book
- By Bonnie on 01-14-25
By: Paulette Kennedy
-
The Couple at the Lake House
- By: James Caine
- Narrated by: Hope Shangle
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When newly engaged Sidney is out on a date with her fiance, she runs into an old flame, Cole, and his girlfriend. Initially, Sidney resists when Cole invites them to join his table, but when the couples hit it off, she sets aside her reservations.
By: James Caine
-
Woman of the Year
- A Novel
- By: Darcey Bell
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty years ago, gregarious Lorelei and mousy Holly became fast friends as students in the same college psychology seminar. Taught by an expert in control and human behavior, the two students also grew close to their charismatic professor. But in one twisted moment of gaslighting, their friendship flamed out and Lorelei’s once-promising future fell apart. Flash-forward, Holly has everything Lorelei ever wanted, while Lorelei is a lonely cat lady.
-
-
Warning if you are an animal lover
- By cindy on 04-08-23
By: Darcey Bell
-
Do No Harm
- By: Christina McDonald
- Narrated by: Joy Osmanski, Kyle Tait
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emma loves her life. She’s the mother of a precocious kindergartener, married to her soul mate - a loyal and loving police detective - and has a rewarding career as a doctor at the local hospital. But everything comes crashing down when her son, Josh, is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Determined to save him, Emma makes the risky decision to sell opioids to fund the life-saving treatment he needs. But when somebody ends up dead, a lethal game of cat and mouse ensues, her own husband leading the chase.
-
-
Interesting but cringe-worthy
- By Brittany on 03-17-21
-
One Little Spark
- By: Ellie Banks
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jenna Abbott’s life went up in flames even before the fire started in Tenmile, Oregon. She was still coping with her husband's affair—and the revelation that he got a much younger woman pregnant—when the fire finally died down, and Ryan was among the missing. Chelsea Goddard still can’t explain how her estranged husband got back to Tenmile from out of the country the day of the fire, and she also can’t shake the nagging feeling that the secrets they’ve kept between them for the last twenty years might just be the tinder that made it all burn.
-
-
Courtney Patterson nails it.
- By Anonymous User on 10-18-23
By: Ellie Banks
-
Poster Girl
- By: Veronica Roth
- Narrated by: Anna Caputo
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What's right is right. Sonya Kantor knows this slogan—she lived by it for most of her life. For decades, everyone in the Seattle-Portland megalopolis lived under it, as well as constant surveillance in the form of the Insight, an ocular implant that tracked every word and every action, rewarding or punishing by a rigid moral code set forth by the Delegation. Then there was a revolution. The Delegation fell. Its most valuable members were locked in the Aperture, a prison on the outskirts of the city. And everyone else, now free from monitoring, went on with their lives.
-
-
Little bit preachy, but still very good.
- By Kindle Customer on 10-23-22
By: Veronica Roth
-
Follow Me
- By: Kathleen Barber
- Narrated by: Corey Brill, Erin Moon, Emily Tremaine, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audrey Miller has an enviable new job at the Smithsonian, a body by reformer Pilates, an apartment door with a broken lock, and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers to bear witness to it all. Having just moved to Washington, DC, Audrey busies herself impressing her new boss, interacting with her online fan base, and staving off a creepy upstairs neighbor with the help of the only two people she knows in town: an ex-boyfriend she can't stay away from and a sorority sister with a high-powered job and a mysterious past.
-
-
This book almost qualifies for the YA section
- By CindyL on 03-01-20
By: Kathleen Barber
-
Moral Injuries
- A Novel
- By: Christie Watson
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ruthlessly ambitious Olivia, anxious perfectionist Laura, and free-spirited risk-taker Anjali couldn’t be more different. Yet their friendship—which began the first day of medical school—has kept them inseparable these past twenty-five years. As wild all-nighters and exam pressure gave way to the struggles and joys of new motherhood and new jobs, their unbreakable bond helped them support each other through it all.
-
-
Loads of character building
- By KC Chiefs Fan on 11-18-24
By: Christie Watson
What listeners say about The Art of Pretend
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Emily Smith
- 09-16-24
Masterpiece on class and the feeling of being in NY in your 20s
Loved how I almost felt what it felt like to be the different characters through the amazing descriptions, and the commentary on how class differences impact life. Also couldn’t stop reading it - listened to it all in one day it was so captivating
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Suzanna
- 02-15-25
Loathsome Creatures
This felt like a modern take on House of Mirth but not a good version. Unless--of course--this was meant to be a parody. To me, all of the characters were annoying and stereotypical. Yes, there was an obligatory gay friend who served no purpose but to be a gay friend. I give the author points for making the three primary characters flawed and unlikeable, which I usually enjoy. However, the social climbing heroine being the rich girl's bx*%$# was disempowering for anyone who has a modicum of self-respect and will make the most patient reader lose patience. Enter the rich girl's brother--an self-proclaimed artist (not a good one)--who ended up breaking the law and getting off Scott-free due to mommy and daddy (while perfect for our current justice system). Maybe the only good thing is that the social climber and the amateur artist/criminal end up together, so they'll both get what they deserve. I just wish the book was more about that disaster than how we got there!
The book isn't poorly written. The author, who has talent, wasted it on this tale.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!