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A review by actuallyjusthanne
Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Anything Jennifer Lynn Barnes writes, I will read (except for that one spy series that apparently dropped off halfway through the series with a cliff hanger?). Unfortunately, this one didn't hit for me. I just wasn't interested in any of the plot. The premise Sawyer looking for her father already wasn't very interesting to me, but then the story didn't particularly catch my attention either. This was further complicated by the fact that nearly the entire book was people talking to other people and finding out they were related to other people, and I AM BAD AT NAMES. I was soooo deeply confused until at least 70% of the way through the book, and honestly, what's left after that?
One thing I did find interesting about this book was the timestamped flash-forward chapters. I liked how the story was leading forward up until that part, and figuring out pieces of the story that led up to the flash-forward part. However, due to aforementioned never-really-interested-in-the-story, once I got up to the future part, it wasn't really a jaw dropping plot twist, it was more of an "oh. makes sense."
If I had to summarize this book, it would be "we were liars" except everything is more boring and the stakes are lower. There was so much of this book that was focused on "what would XYZ say!" and overall being shamed in society, and what people would think, what people would say, and so on.
I also didn't really appreciate the inconsistency in Sawyer's character. It makes sense that she would get bought out by a half-million dollar trust, but then to go from "I'm independent and no one can touch me" to fitting in perfectly with the debutantes and wearing dresses, with only a few mentions of "i am so quirky and unique i don't know how to behave at the SPA whAteVer sHaLl I dO" didn't really make sense to me. I would have liked to see her work more behind the scenes to 'take it down' or something.
I did like the mystery/suspensy part of the book,where Campbell tries to take down her wormy senator father but I felt like that part was glossed over and not utilized to its full potential. I KNOW JLB can write good suspense! She'd already written the Naturals when she wrote this! and she would go on to write The Inheritance Games! but this book didn't have ANY of that. The plot was super weak, and while I could see aspects of her writing in this book, I was just never invested.
There were definitely aspects of this book that made me go "oh, JLB wrote this book" but overall, this book just felt . . . flat. Usually, her books are super easy to get invested in because they are so sensory filled, with a lot of descriptions of every sense, but this one was a lot of "tell don't show" in my opinion. I never really understood the setting, or what was going on, and to be honest I was confused for a lot of the book, both about what was going on, and who was who.
All in all, this isn't a JLB book I would recommend. I am still going to read Deadly Little Secrets, but The Naturals/The Inheritance Games series by her is so much more fun.
One thing I did find interesting about this book was the timestamped flash-forward chapters. I liked how the story was leading forward up until that part, and figuring out pieces of the story that led up to the flash-forward part. However, due to aforementioned never-really-interested-in-the-story, once I got up to the future part, it wasn't really a jaw dropping plot twist, it was more of an "oh. makes sense."
If I had to summarize this book, it would be "we were liars" except everything is more boring and the stakes are lower. There was so much of this book that was focused on "what would XYZ say!" and overall being shamed in society, and what people would think, what people would say, and so on.
I also didn't really appreciate the inconsistency in Sawyer's character. It makes sense that she would get bought out by a half-million dollar trust, but then to go from "I'm independent and no one can touch me" to fitting in perfectly with the debutantes and wearing dresses, with only a few mentions of "i am so quirky and unique i don't know how to behave at the SPA whAteVer sHaLl I dO" didn't really make sense to me. I would have liked to see her work more behind the scenes to 'take it down' or something.
I did like the mystery/suspensy part of the book,
There were definitely aspects of this book that made me go "oh, JLB wrote this book" but overall, this book just felt . . . flat. Usually, her books are super easy to get invested in because they are so sensory filled, with a lot of descriptions of every sense, but this one was a lot of "tell don't show" in my opinion. I never really understood the setting, or what was going on, and to be honest I was confused for a lot of the book, both about what was going on, and who was who.
All in all, this isn't a JLB book I would recommend. I am still going to read Deadly Little Secrets, but The Naturals/The Inheritance Games series by her is so much more fun.