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A review by katlinmorris
Last Girl Lied To by L.E. Flynn
3.0
Content Warnings:
I read "Last Girl Lied To" because I was intrigued by the premise of Flynn's newest book "The Girls Are All So Nice Here" and wanted to try out her writing. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I will actually pick up another book by this author. "Last Girl Lied To" was all in all a solid YA mystery - not a thriller - about difficult friendships, teenage drama and a girl trying to discover who she really was. I found the mystery compelling but not all too surprising. There are barely any twists and Fiona takes her sweet time figuring out what happened to Trixie, her best friend who supposedly walked into the ocean.
"Last Girl Lied To" is a slow book. The middle dragged a bit but I found the end and resolution quite well done. Mostly though, the writing style didn't work for me, it was too matter-of-fact and plain. Especially the dialogues often felt stilted and I felt like none of the characters were fleshed out at all. They all did what the plot needed them to do but they didn't seem to have distinct personalities. Not even Trixie, who was supposed to be this really interesting girl who pulls everyone in.
I would have still rated the book 4 stars for being pretty entertaining if it hadn't been for the glaring, constant fatshaming. Fiona has gained weight over the year she spent with Trixie and she's constantly going on about how she feels too big, not worthy of love and not like herself anymore because of it and honestly, I found it quite triggering. She even goes as far as throwing out her sewing machine because what use is making nice clothes for a body like hers, right? It was disconcerning, especially considering this book is supposed to be read by very young, impressionable people.
It's 2021 (2019 when this book was published) and I think we should be able to read about fat heroines who don't hate themselves. Some body positivity or at least neutrality, please. Instead I got this girl who simultaneously hated her own body and "bad eating habits" (having "junk food" from time to time) but still judged her skinny friends for liking salad and using dieting apps as well. I feel like I know where the author was trying to go with this and it could have worked out but it didn't. What's left is the somewhat ugly message that being fat is the worst thing that could happen to you, even worse than your best friend going missing and your crush being an alcoholic, judged by how much Fiona thought about her new body shape instead of the other stuff.
Tl;dr: As a YA mystery about difficult relationships between teens it was okay, entertaining but all in all it offered nothing new. The constant fatshaming and selfhate from the MC made this almost unbearable though and I think you should be aware of these issues before deciding to read it.
Another thing worth mentioning is the complete lack of any diversity. This has loads of characters and is set in Southern California but everyone is white, cis hetero etc., even all the side characters, which I honestly find disappointing.
Spoiler
Suicide, Self Harm, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, Fatshaming, Body IssuesI read "Last Girl Lied To" because I was intrigued by the premise of Flynn's newest book "The Girls Are All So Nice Here" and wanted to try out her writing. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I will actually pick up another book by this author. "Last Girl Lied To" was all in all a solid YA mystery - not a thriller - about difficult friendships, teenage drama and a girl trying to discover who she really was. I found the mystery compelling but not all too surprising. There are barely any twists and Fiona takes her sweet time figuring out what happened to Trixie, her best friend who supposedly walked into the ocean.
"Last Girl Lied To" is a slow book. The middle dragged a bit but I found the end and resolution quite well done. Mostly though, the writing style didn't work for me, it was too matter-of-fact and plain. Especially the dialogues often felt stilted and I felt like none of the characters were fleshed out at all. They all did what the plot needed them to do but they didn't seem to have distinct personalities. Not even Trixie, who was supposed to be this really interesting girl who pulls everyone in.
I would have still rated the book 4 stars for being pretty entertaining if it hadn't been for the glaring, constant fatshaming. Fiona has gained weight over the year she spent with Trixie and she's constantly going on about how she feels too big, not worthy of love and not like herself anymore because of it and honestly, I found it quite triggering. She even goes as far as throwing out her sewing machine because what use is making nice clothes for a body like hers, right? It was disconcerning, especially considering this book is supposed to be read by very young, impressionable people.
It's 2021 (2019 when this book was published) and I think we should be able to read about fat heroines who don't hate themselves. Some body positivity or at least neutrality, please. Instead I got this girl who simultaneously hated her own body and "bad eating habits" (having "junk food" from time to time) but still judged her skinny friends for liking salad and using dieting apps as well. I feel like I know where the author was trying to go with this and it could have worked out but it didn't. What's left is the somewhat ugly message that being fat is the worst thing that could happen to you, even worse than your best friend going missing and your crush being an alcoholic, judged by how much Fiona thought about her new body shape instead of the other stuff.
Tl;dr: As a YA mystery about difficult relationships between teens it was okay, entertaining but all in all it offered nothing new. The constant fatshaming and selfhate from the MC made this almost unbearable though and I think you should be aware of these issues before deciding to read it.
Another thing worth mentioning is the complete lack of any diversity. This has loads of characters and is set in Southern California but everyone is white, cis hetero etc., even all the side characters, which I honestly find disappointing.