About the Book
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Author:
- Sara Shepard
Cover Story: Whhhhhhy?
BFF Charm: Yes and No
Talky Talk: Two For One
Bonus Factors: Extreme Pranks, Christopher Pike
Relationship Status: Flaky Friend
Cover Story: Whhhhhhy?
I can’t even. I just hate this. Plastic looking girl on the front. Doubled. Never MIND that these two twins never get the chance to interact with each other. But, at least they’re human? And not dolls? (Pretty Little Liars, I’m looking at you…)
The Deal:
Sutton Mercer wakes up in an unknown bathroom and soon realizes these three things:
- She’s dead.
- She can’t remember much about her life, including who killed her.
- Her ghost/spirit/whatever she is has become connected to her identical twin sister Emma, who she never even knew existed.
So, not exactly you typical day. And when Emma ends up seeing an internet video of Sutton, she contacts her and sets out to meet her long lost twin. But since Sutton is already dead, her killer threatens Emma, telling her to take Sutton’s place, lest she end up with the same fate. Can Emma fit into Sutton’s life and trick her friends and family? And can she find out who killed Sutton before it’s too late?
BFF Charm: Yes and No
Emma is a pretty solid human. While Sutton got adopted into a doting, wealthy family, Emma was shuffled from foster home to terrible foster home, with very little to call her own. I would definitely be friends with Emma because she’s down to earth and even plays Twilight drinking games.
Sutton, however, was completely heinous. I would never have wanted to even talk to her, be within earshot of her, much less be her friend. She was completely awful to her friends, her family and random others, seemingly for no good reason. Ghost Sutton is a lot more tolerable, at least feeling sorry for her past behavior (or, what little of it she can remember.)
Swoonworthy Scale: 2
There is hardly any swoony times in this book, but there are some interesting prospects that I’m sure will be followed up on in later installments (and yes, it’s a series.) Emma basically inherits Sutton’s boyfriend, which is all kinds of awkward (the “birthday scene” as I’ll refer to it being pretty hilarious.) There is also Ethan, the brooding loner that Emma finds herself attracted to… however, it’s hard to get too invested in ANY guy when everyone is a suspect for your twins murder.
Talky Talk: Two For One
The writing here isn’t exactly Shakespeare and it’s about what you’d expect from an author who pumps out one book every six months or so. That said, it’s the kind of writing that reads really quickly and you find yourself speed reading through the thing at an alarming rate. The narration could be a bit confusing at times – it switched back and forth, without warning, between first person narrative from ghost Sutton and third person narrative about Emma. But it is something the reader can get used to pretty quickly.
Bonus Factor: Extreme Pranks
Holy hell, Sutton and her friends are all sorts of cray. Their idea of “fun” is to pull cruel pranks that often involve fake kidnappings, fake death, and all sorts of horrible. Not my style of pranks but then again, I’m not mildly insane like these girls are. However, it is fun to see what kind of craziness they can come up with to top each other.
Bonus Factor: Christopher Pike
This book reminds of many old Christopher Pike books, what with there being twins and mistaken identities and murder and a ghost trying to solve said murder. Sure, the plots might be ridiculous at times, but they are also ridiculously enjoyable.
Casting Call:
Did you know that ABC Family is making this book/future series into a TV show? Even if you didn’t know that, chances are your SOUL knew it, deep down, because ABC Family is kinda predictable. Pretty soon all their shows will have the word “Liar” or “Lying” in them. It’s like their executive producers all sat down in a room together one day and had the following conversation:
Exec 1: So, we need some new teen shows. Does anyone have any ideas?
Exec 2: Well, vampires are pretty popular these days! The kids love em!
Exec 1: That’s good, but we don’t want to do what’s big now…we want to do the NEXT BIG THING before it happens. Any other ideas? What is going to be big soon?
Exec 2: What about vampire-werewolf hybrids? Or vampire mermaids?
Exec 1: Uhhh, good, anything else? Something unrelated to vampires?
Exec 2: Vampire’s with superpowers?
Exec 1: That’s enough now.
Exec 3: Ummm… (tentatively) what about liars?
Exec 2: Is that some type of vampire? Like, a super fast vampire? Or a reverse vampire?
Exec 3: What’s a…? Never mind. No, just people. Who lie. People lying about stuff. Just sayin’ stuff. Not true stuff.
Exec 2: Are the liars supernatural?
Exec 3: No, they’re just human. Normal humans.
Exec 2: I don’t get it.
Exec 1: Hmmm, liars. We might be on to something here. I think I like it. IN fact, I THINK I LOVE IT!
That said, I kiiiinda wanna watch this show because I am all about guilty pleasure television.
Get ready for August 2011, because more lying is coming your way.
Relationship Status: Flaky Friend
This book is like that all important flaky friend. Sure, they aren’t exactly reliable, they’re hardly ever there when you need them and on occasion you get an unexpected call to come pick them up from the bar. But they’re also your go to friend when you want someone to go out with, go somewhere new, or basically the friend who you always end up having a crazy/memorable time that you tell stories about. Is this the kind of book I’m going to press into my friends hands, telling them This Will Change Your Life? No, sir. But did I have fun? Sure thing.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). The Lying Game is available now.
