Series ✦ Penny’s Take 🎧 Audiobook
First Lie Wins: Reese's Book Club Pick (A Novel)
Ashley Elston · 2024
🎙 Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld (Penguin Audio)
78/100
👍 Worth It
A con artist falling for her mark while her whole fabricated life threatens to collapse is a genuinely smart premise, and it earned its bestseller status and book club pick honestly. Saskia Maarleveld's narration is a real standout, handling the full cast - Southern, non-Southern, male, female - with impressive range, so this one's genuinely worth the listen.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
▶ Listen to a sample
🎙 Narration: excellent AudioFile Magazine and reader reviews praised Saskia Maarleveld's versatile, skillfully differentiated cast voicing.
🎧 Listen free with an Audible trial ↗ Find it on Audible ↗📚 In print ↗📱 On Kindle ↗ affiliate links · support the site, never the verdict
As an Amazon Associate and Audible affiliate, Penny earns from qualifying purchases. This never affects the verdict — see our affiliate disclosure.
Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety68
Substance / usefulness78
Craft & writing80
Originality70
Evidence & accuracy72
Hype vs delivers78
Age-fit75
Human-eye read78
Penny’s verdict78
Cross-pollinate