Check out our interview with Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt, the authors of "Please Don't Lie."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
"Please Don’t Lie" began as a conversation between friends, two novelists fascinated by the gap between who we are and who we pretend to be. We were drawn to the idea of a young woman trying to rebuild her life in an isolated Adirondack town, only to realize the people around her – and the person she married – aren’t who they claim to be. The more we talked, the more we saw how suspense could illuminate the emotional territory we love to explore: trauma, memory, betrayal, and resilience.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
To us, it means reading expansively, curiously, and with an open heart. It’s about celebrating stories that reflect the full range of human experience, including queer stories, voices of color, immigrant narratives, and all the messy, joyful, complicated identities people carry. Reading Rainbow is about honoring differences and finding connections.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Because stories shape how we see the world – and how we see ourselves. When literature reflects a diverse spectrum of experiences, it sends the message that everyone’s story matters. It makes space for empathy, nuance, and truth. As writers, we feel a responsibility to create layered, complicated characters who reflect the richness of real life, not a narrow version of it.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
"Please Don’t Lie" is the story of Hayley Stone, a woman who moves to a remote town in the Adirondacks after a series of personal tragedies, hoping to start over. But when she begins to uncover secrets – her own, her husband’s, and those buried in the community – she’s forced to confront how little she truly knows about the people around her. Our thriller weaves psychological suspense with emotional depth, set against a landscape as beautiful as it is menacing. We wanted to write a novel that was both propulsive and emotionally grounded, that asked big questions while keeping readers turning the pages.
What can fans expect from your book?
A fast-paced, emotionally layered thriller that will keep you guessing. Twists, betrayals, secrets, and a setting that heightens every moment of tension. But also: characters who feel deeply real, who are flawed and yearning and brave in unexpected ways. It’s a book about survival, about trust – and about what happens when the stories we tell ourselves start to unravel.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
"Please Don’t Lie" is the first in our Crystal River series, a collection of psychological thrillers all set in the same fictional Adirondack town. Each novel will follow different characters as new secrets surface and old ones refuse to stay buried. We’re deep into book two now, and loving the chance to return to this eerie, isolated world we’ve built, where no one is ever quite who they seem.
