Reviews - Little White Lies

1.63k reviews for:

Little White Lies

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

3.8 AVERAGE

a_jg09's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sirensongreads's review against another edition

3.0

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
-------
More reviews like this one can be found on my blog, CoffeeCocktailsandBooks

-------
Review
Wow, I'm feeling a lot of things with this one. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.

I think I'm mostly just underwhelmed. I was looking for shocking twists and turns, but mostly I felt like this was a too familiar story of lies and betrayal with a last minute twist, that while not awful, wasn't enough to save this one for me.

"I'm not saying this is Sawyer's fault," the prim and proper one said delicately. "But."

--->characters<---

Sawyer -- Sawyer was an interesting enough character. She accepts a bribe from her Grandmother to participate in debutante season and searches for her biological father. As the outsider entering this world, we experience the secrets and lies through Sawyer.

Our sider characters were interesting for the story, but ultimately forgettable. They were definitely inspired by classic archetypes, though they each had a bit of a twist.

-->plot<--

I think my biggest issue with this one was the plot. I actually liked the flashback/flash forward format of this book, but I wasn't sure what the threat was. We knew the characters were in police custody...but that's about it. And yes, the book was flashing back to set up what happened, but I felt like it dragged on a bit too long.

That also could have been because I was expecting more scandals from the debutante side of the plot. There were some, but not what I was expecting. I was hoping for a Gossip Girl/Thousandth Floor story, packed with jaw dropping secrets and lies. This one had a bit of blackmail, a sexy gossip blog, and a coverup. Not, bad scandals, but all things I've seen before.

As for the who's your daddy subplot, I did actually enjoy that. There was enough misdirect and possible suitors that I enjoyed figuring out, with Sawyer, who her father was.

I'm also not sure why so many secrets from the blog were included. Unless I missed something, I don't think they played into the plot much, other than establishing that this website exists. Though, that could have been because of the audio format, the physical book may have done more with it.

-->writing<--

As for the writing style, I did enjoy it. I mentioned above that I didn't mind the flashback/flash forward writing style. I enjoy shows like How to Get Away with Murder that frequently use this narrative style. That being said, I don't feel like the present situation was compelling enough for me to have to know what happened.

Final Thoughts
I picked this one up after seeing several BookTubers make videos about it and the plot sounding pretty intriguing. Unfortunately, the execution didn't totally do it for me. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't hate this one. However, I wanted to love it more.

I am happy there's another book in the series coming. I think this was a great jumping off point and am excited to see how this story continues.

dakota_07dancer's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

princess_frog's review against another edition

4.5

funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

rachell710's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Little White Lies is a great summer read, a quick-paced and captivating YA mystery with a slightly ridiculous setting and premise, a fairly believable plot and overall quite loveable characters despite the fact that most of them remained just that - characters: a few amusing traits and minimal character development smashed together without creating a complex person. If someone lent me the sequel, I would read and probably enjoy it, but I am not riveted enough to desperately go and buy it.