Lying Out Loud–Kody Keplinger

Lying Out Loud – Kody Keplinger

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, YA

Release Date: 28th April 2015

My Rating:

Kody Keplinger returns to the world of The DUFF in this brand-new companion novel!

Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies about her dad being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend's house every night because she has nowhere else to go.

Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with— secrets, clothes, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross.

Ryder's the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can't stand—a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed.

But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realizes that she might actually like him. Only there's one small catch: he thinks he's been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realize that she's the girl he's really wanted all along. Can Sonny lie her way to the truth, or will all her lies end up costing her both Ryder and Amy?

There are some authors that you forget you like until you read another one of their books. I think this might be how I feel about Keplinger. I read three of her books in quick succession a while ago and then knew I wanted to read this when I first heard about it, and then promptly forgot all about it. Luckily for me I saw it available on NetGalley and instantly requested and I’m glad I did.

 

I have a love hate relationship with YA contemporary, I both adore the genre and get easily bored of it. You might notice I read a lot of books in the genre, so it isn’t like I don’t enjoy it, it is more a fact that if I’m not in the mood to read these books there is a strong chance I will hate them. Luckily for me I was craving an easy contemporary read and this fed that craving. It was such a quick read I was actually a little bit surprised. I’m not complaining, I was just expecting more of a story is all, something more substantial than I got.

 

The character of Sonny might be one of my favourite, whilst Bianca in The DUFF was pretty relatable, it was Sonny who I could understand in a lot of ways. She was nothing like what I expected, with her lying and the very negative selfish personality she had. She was frequently only looking out for herself, and that should have made me dislike her, but it didn’t. I think her flaws made me like her more because they were what made her real to me, she was nothing like I expected, but I am glad she wasn’t. I think part of my liking her is the fact I used to lie when I was younger, who didn’t embellish the truth as a teenager to your friends to appear cool? I think I was always nervous I wouldn’t sound interesting to other people. Whilst I liked myself, I was insecure about others liking me, so I’d lie. I understood Sonny’s insistence that she lie to keep people speaking to her, to get her way, and to always keep them at a distance.

 

I do kind of wish Sony and Amy's friendship had come onto surer footing sooner because I spent the first 3 quarters of the book convinced she was a total pushover. I wish fierce Amy made an entrance sooner because I would have appreciated their friendship far more if it felt like they had been on more even footing in it. You could tell they loved each other, they were the family you chose to have rather than the family Sonny was born to. I loved the fact they were like a real family where even when you hate each other, you cannot avoid each other.

 

I think the romance was such a minor part of this book, though, sure I enjoyed it. I was cheering at the big reveal and the drama and the intrigue and I loved the late night chats between Ryder and Sonny, but their romance was never what I focused on. I enjoyed it as a diversion, but it was Sonny and her family and her friends that really intrigued me and kept me reading. Sonny was the reason I cared about this book, and the story is all about her and her journey in growing up and realising what family means.

 

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA and is looking for a fun easy read over Summer, this will be the book for you. It is intriguing enough that you’ll want to keep reading and is quick enough that it will fill a day spent lazing in the sun, but won’t drag on.

 

Has anyone else read this, did you enjoy it and the return to Hamilton High? What books do you recommend for fun easy reads in this sunny weather, I’d love to hear them because I do enjoy a bit of seasonal reading.