Reviews
As a fan of the first eight Pretty Little Liars books, I wanted to read this series as I knew it dealt with a “twin switch” storyline (a trope that I love) as the central focus. I had also watched the television adaptation of this series and loved it despite that it was cancelled after two seasons and was reportedly very different from the books. The author, Sara Shepard, does a great job at combining a mystery thriller story with chick lit elements. Shortly before her seventeenth birthday, Emma discovers she has a long-lost twin named Sutton Mercer. She contacts Sutton, who agrees to a rendezvous but never shows up. Curious at first, Emma slips into Sutton's ultra-glamorous life, assuming her identity. When it becomes clear that Sutton is not coming back, that someone made sure she never could, Emma begins to investigate who could have wanted her sister gone. I admire Sara Shepard for her ability to write for a teen girl audience in a way that seems genuine and appeals to that audience. I love that the author’s books are helping young girls get into the mystery thriller genre. The writing style and storytelling format is very similar to the Pretty Little Liars books but with a quasi-supernatural twist. I was interested in the premise from the beginning, but it was also hard for me to let go of the storylines and depictions that I loved from the television show adaptation. Seeing things from Sutton’s perspective was an interesting storytelling choice, but I think the amnesia and flashes of memories was a good way to add to the mystery. This book did a good job at introducing the central characters, the main storyline and setting up the foundation for the rest of the series. This book felt like the pilot episode to a teen mystery series. I recommend this book for fans of the Pretty Little Liars books and television show. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.
The Lying Game is about two long-lost twins leading very different lives. When Emma, our protagonist, finds Sutton and reaches out to her, she is unaware that Sutton had been murdered. Now, it's up to her to piece together who her twin's murderer is, while pretending to be Sutton. However, Sutton clearly was very different from her, and she struggles to keep up Sutton's b*tchy facade. I read this book after randomly coming across it in a school library, and I knew it was on my to-read list. I had a lot of hope for the plot. It sounded like it would be really intense and intriguing, with suspense at every corner. Well.. it was alright, but nothing special. I will most likely only read the sequels if I have nothing else to read, which is probably not going to happen. I felt like the premise was rather shallow and one-sided, and there were some overly dramatized moments? It just didn't do the trick for me. However, I'm sure this is a book that teenage girls and fans of Pretty Little Liars will enjoy. It just wasn't exactly for me!
I thought this book would be kind of lame in the stereotypical, "modern teen drama" kind of way. But I found myself getting rather absorbed in the mystery, and craving to find out "who-done-it" ;)
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t good either.
I read this after i watched the first episode. They are not similar at all. But the book is still really good, but the show has more betrayal.
“Sutton's dead. Tell no one. Keep playing along... or you're next.”
I really liked PLL, and honestly, I really liked the Lying Game, too. Books like these are generally my guilty pleasures. I only watched one episode of TLG halfway through reading the book, and the show was completely different (in the show, Sutton was alive and Emma actually got to meet her. The premise of the book is really interesting. The story is told through the first person POV of Sutton's ghost/subconscious? whatever you want to call it, since she is dead. The only thing that annoys me about this is the author occasionally wrote something along the lines "I watched as Emma went through Sutton's closet" instead of writing "I watched as Emma went through my closet." She would usually do everything in first person possessive, but other times Sutton referred to herself in the third person, which was really weird. Overall though, I liked it a lot
Definitely another addicting series from Sara Shepard! I wasn't sure how I would feel about these books. But the first in the series was a great read and threw me many different twists and turns! I can't wait to see wait the sequels hold!
This book was a complete guilty pleasure. It was super creepy, but I enjoyed the intensity of it all. The way the book was narrated was new and interesting, and it added something to the book. I can't wait to see how the series continues in the next book.
Irgendwie ist kaum was passiert, aber gleichzeitig gefällt mir die Idee auch. Muss mir noch überlegen, ob ich mir die ziemlich große! Reihe wirklich antun will...
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | "I understood we used to be close. But they were like books I'd read two summer ago; I knew I'd liked them, but I couldn't tell you now what they'd been about." In true Sara Shepard fashion The Lying Game is filled with style, wit and mystery to the highest degree. All made simple in its fast pace and entertaining tone. Armed with her easy-to-read and suspenseful style, Shepard glides through the first installment of her under appreciated series smartly and leaves readers with a heavy, dark and vivid image of what is yet to come. Much like Pretty Little Liars, the series starts with a spooky and mysterious tone: death and possible betrayal is at a high. Sara Shepard will fuck with your mind and pull the rug out from under you every time you think you've got it solved. For The Lying Games, our narration is split into twos: Emma’s thoughts in life and Sutton’s in the afterlife. It’s a refreshing twist to her writing and Sara covers ground pretty well with both girls thoughts. Emma Paxton is a kind, intelligent, sarcastic and down-on-her-luck teenager who is fast approaching her eighteenth birthday. Ever since her mother, Becky, left her to fend for herself at the age of five she has bounced back and forth between foster homes. Full review @ BOOKEDJ.
