Winners & Liars - by Aleema Omotoni (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Knives Out meets Death at Morning House in this thrilling standalone mystery layered with family secrets, the whitewashing of history, and a high-stakes literary competition for the keys to a Victorian-era English estate--from Aleema Omotoni, the NAACP Image Award-winning author of Everyone's Thinking It.

Derin's acceptance into Cambridge University is the end of an era--just not the one she expected.

When she and her ultra-competitive Uni prep group, the Kenfield Set, were first invited to Professor Darnley's summer ball, they planned on celebrating the group's success, surrounded by the riches of his historical Kenfield estate--not kicking off the festivities with the professor's will reading.

But when the Darnleys' aristocratic children are disinherited, the students are offered the opportunity of a lifetime: compete in a Victorian, literary-inspired inheritance competition to be named the new heir--winner takes all!

For Derin, it's a chance to help her working-class family. But the remaining Darnleys won't take losing their stately home and its multimillion-pound inheritance lying down. And added to the mix, a mysterious note is slipped under Derin's door alluding to a dark family secret lying in wait.

Now Derin must balance the cutthroat games; scheming relatives; and a cute Kenfield intern amid her dawning realization that the history of this inheritance might be soaked in lies . . . and blood.

Review Quotes

"Brimming with high-stakes drama and a witty cast of both noble and nefarious characters, Everyone's Thinking It is a big-hearted, clever page-turner." - Ibi Zoboi, New York Times Bestselling Author
"With its compelling mystery, insightful social commentary, and charming romance, Everyone's Thinking It is a richly layered and remarkable debut." - Elise Bryant, author of Happily Ever Afters
"A Gossip Girl for the new age that's impossible to put down. Omotoni spins an intricate web of relationships among imensional characters, all tangled in relevant questions of identity, oppression, and community. This is an absolute knockout debut, and once reading, everyone will be thinking it." - Racquel Marie, author of Ophelia After All
"A thought-provoking novel about the high cost of fitting in." - Kirkus Reviews
"Recalling Mean Girls, Omotoni's compulsively entertaining debut adeptly addresses topics surrounding bullying, classism, homophobia, identity, and racism via Iyanu and Kitan's alternating chapters, which piece together their fraught relationship history amid the school's current fallout in biting prose." - Publishers Weekly
"Omotoni's debut is equal parts intriguing and exciting. She does more than create a space for the necessary commentary on racism, sexism, and homophobia. She also takes us on an emotional roller coaster that has us rooting for both Iyanu and Kitan. Readers will relish the ending and both character transformations." - ALA Booklist