The Lies They Tell

this was fine. the ending was cheap and i feel like wasn’t fleshed out well at all. i wanted to give it like a 2.5 but this book wasn’t bad just not for me.

Overall Rating: 3/5 Stars I had fun reading this book. I was constantly trying to pin the murderer on somebody. I didn't like the outcome of the book. I was a bit disappointed. It went too fast and I'm just really unhappy with how it ended and who the murderer ended up being. The Lies They Tell is a story about a girl named Pearl who is trying to figure out who killed the Garrison family. She wants to know who did so her father's name can be cleared. He was there when it happened and people lost their trust in him. In her investigation, she befriends Bridges, Akil, and Tristan Garrison. The last Garrison son alive. She soon finds out that these boys are a bit odd and very mean. I enjoyed the mystery in this book. Although, I'll never understand the kids getting into something the police should be handling. I can't wait to read other books by Gillian. I'm ready to be on my toes again! Character Rating: 4.5/5 Stars I liked all of the characters in this book. Gillian wrote them all so well. She went the extra mile on each and every one of them. Tristan is such a complex character. You never know what he's going to do. Which is why, I didn't trust him throughout the entire book. But, I also wanted him to be Pearl's love interest and not Bridges. Pearl was an amazing character. She cares so much for her father that she's trying to solve a murder. She puts herself in danger to help her father get back all the jobs he lost due to this incident. She's so genuine to her friends and I feel bad that she loves Reese but he doesn't love her the same way. Romance Rating: 2/5 Stars This is obviously not a romance book. But since there is sort of a romance in it, I'm going to give it a rating. I hated Bridges and Pearl. Out of the two people I wanted her to be with, it wasn't him. I mean, they didn't really even date. But still. I disliked him and thought she could do better. I was totally hoping Reese would come around and love her. Either that or Tristan would man up and stop being so withdrawn from the world. But luckily, she didn't end up with Tristan because that could have been terrible. I just wanted more for Pearl and her love life.

An entertaining summer read about the thrills and horrors of the über rich on their summer vacations. It was richly developed through the novel until the end. It had an abrupt and unsatisfying ending. CW: mental/emotional abuse, violence, murder