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podrar 's review for:
One of Us Is Lying
by Karen M. McManus
This book was quite an enjoyable ride for me.
**obligatory spoiler warning**
What I liked the most about this story was most definitely the 4 main characters and their journeys throughout the story. Although I was a bit dubious on liking some characters at the beginning, by the end of the story, I had come to like each and every one of their character arcs. I thought that each character had enough individuality to shine through all the trials and tribulations they faced while addressing each of their problems. Even as I'm writing this, I still have trouble picking a favourite out of the four, (but you go Bronwyn and Nate xx - although I love Cooper's gradual build-up of confidence and Addy's transformation into who she really was as well) as I think the author did a great job in making each of them likeable but not perfect. The book kept be hooked, and always made me think twice about every event, where I was always coming up with my own theories as to who I thought was the killer or killers.
However, I also thought that the book suffered from the thing it did best as well. Each character, to a certain degree, had their own problems to face and solve (and a cumulative one together), but I felt like there wasn't enough time to highlight everything in detail, due to the fact that there are 4 main characters. For example, I feel like Cooper's aftermath after being forcefully outed to his family wasn't explored enough, and I was left unsatisfied with the short few sentences they had, in the end, describing what had transpired over that three months in the epilogue. And another thing I'd like to add was that the way that it was revealed that Simon had killed itself was a bit lacklustre - it wasn't bad per se, but it wasn't all that surprising and didn't have as much shock value as I thought the reveal would've had.
Even though it seems like I would rather talk about the bad things of the book, (I really did enjoy this book a lot I swear) I do recommend this book as it's very teen-friendly, talks about lots of issues that are highly prevalent within teens, while also showcasing character growth really well.
A good 3.75/5 in my opinion.
**obligatory spoiler warning**
What I liked the most about this story was most definitely the 4 main characters and their journeys throughout the story. Although I was a bit dubious on liking some characters at the beginning, by the end of the story, I had come to like each and every one of their character arcs. I thought that each character had enough individuality to shine through all the trials and tribulations they faced while addressing each of their problems. Even as I'm writing this, I still have trouble picking a favourite out of the four, (but you go Bronwyn and Nate xx - although I love Cooper's gradual build-up of confidence and Addy's transformation into who she really was as well) as I think the author did a great job in making each of them likeable but not perfect. The book kept be hooked, and always made me think twice about every event, where I was always coming up with my own theories as to who I thought was the killer or killers.
However, I also thought that the book suffered from the thing it did best as well. Each character, to a certain degree, had their own problems to face and solve (and a cumulative one together), but I felt like there wasn't enough time to highlight everything in detail, due to the fact that there are 4 main characters. For example, I feel like Cooper's aftermath after being forcefully outed to his family wasn't explored enough, and I was left unsatisfied with the short few sentences they had, in the end, describing what had transpired over that three months in the epilogue. And another thing I'd like to add was that the way that it was revealed that Simon had killed itself was a bit lacklustre - it wasn't bad per se, but it wasn't all that surprising and didn't have as much shock value as I thought the reveal would've had.
Even though it seems like I would rather talk about the bad things of the book, (I really did enjoy this book a lot I swear) I do recommend this book as it's very teen-friendly, talks about lots of issues that are highly prevalent within teens, while also showcasing character growth really well.
A good 3.75/5 in my opinion.