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A review by bookishrealm
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
2.0
I'm going to be the unpopular opinion with this one. It just didn't work for me!
This was my first experience reading Ashley Elston although I'm aware of the work that she's done in young adult literature. First Lie Wins has received a lot of buzz this year and is listed by GR as one of the 2024 releases so far. Being chosen as a Reese Witherspoon book club pick seemingly helps as well. It follows main character, Evie Porter (alias), who has been given a job by the mysterious Mr. Smith that specifically deals with another character by the name Ryan. Unfortunately, this time around Evie is struggling with keeping her personal feelings separate from the job and may want more with Ryan than she anticipated.
Okay, this book was lowkey confusing af. It wasn't always told in a linear fashion and included flashbacks to Evie's previous jobs. There were so many different scenarios and characters that I often found it hard to keep with who was who. Additionally, I'm not exactly sure what this novel was supposed to be. It wasn't really a thriller, it didn't feel like a mystery, Evie felt like a spy, but I'm not sure if Elston was going for a espionage theme. Honestly, it just felt all over the place. The pacing wasn't good, the character development wasn't good, and the "reveal" of the story was underwhelming and even more confusing. I agree with reviewers who have stated that if you, as an author, have to explain everything via the main character to the readers, you did not do an affective job as a storyteller. By the time I made it to the end of the book, I honestly didn't care either way.
If you loved this book, that's great but it didn't work for me. I won't cross Elston off my list completely, but I don't think this was a strong step into the adult category as an author.
This was my first experience reading Ashley Elston although I'm aware of the work that she's done in young adult literature. First Lie Wins has received a lot of buzz this year and is listed by GR as one of the 2024 releases so far. Being chosen as a Reese Witherspoon book club pick seemingly helps as well. It follows main character, Evie Porter (alias), who has been given a job by the mysterious Mr. Smith that specifically deals with another character by the name Ryan. Unfortunately, this time around Evie is struggling with keeping her personal feelings separate from the job and may want more with Ryan than she anticipated.
Okay, this book was lowkey confusing af. It wasn't always told in a linear fashion and included flashbacks to Evie's previous jobs. There were so many different scenarios and characters that I often found it hard to keep with who was who. Additionally, I'm not exactly sure what this novel was supposed to be. It wasn't really a thriller, it didn't feel like a mystery, Evie felt like a spy, but I'm not sure if Elston was going for a espionage theme. Honestly, it just felt all over the place. The pacing wasn't good, the character development wasn't good, and the "reveal" of the story was underwhelming and even more confusing. I agree with reviewers who have stated that if you, as an author, have to explain everything via the main character to the readers, you did not do an affective job as a storyteller. By the time I made it to the end of the book, I honestly didn't care either way.
If you loved this book, that's great but it didn't work for me. I won't cross Elston off my list completely, but I don't think this was a strong step into the adult category as an author.