Thursday, August 6, 2015

Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger

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2 Stars
 
When I read The D.U.F.F. earlier this year I was so pleasantly surprised. Not only did I find it to break the mold of typical high school YA reads, I was also amazed that it was produced by a 17 year old girl. Dear Erica,

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Sadly, while I thought The D.U.F.F. was pretty much brilliant, the same can’t be said this time around. In fact, if I had to guess – I’d think this was the one written by a kid.

Lying Out Loud is the story of Sonny – a pathological liar. Seriously, Sonny’s entire life is a lie. From the reason why she doesn’t have lunch money, to why she shows up late for work, to why she’s living with her BFF Amy rather than in her own house. It was only natural for Sonny to concoct a lying e-mail to the pretentious new kid at school, Ryder, who just so happens to have a crush on Amy. After sending said e-mail and getting called out by Ryder for being a mean girl, Sonny attempts to apologize. It’s only after the two have chatted until morning that Sonny realizes she has been logged in as Amy the entire time . . .

“And that’s how this whole stupid thing began – with a lie that I, for once, hadn’t even meant to tell.”

Unfortunately for Sonny she never had the opportunity to meet a guy named Earl who could explain to her how karma works . . .

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Which leads to a series of unfortunate events like her car breaking down, getting fired from her job, etc. that also make several meet/cutes with Ryder possible causing Sonny to perpetuate the lie and become someone who could appear on an episode of Catfish . . .

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Hey Shelby, I’m just gonna go ahead and leave this one here special for you . . . .

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This book just didn’t work for me at all. I despised Sonny. And before anyone comes here and says what a horrible beast I am for not having some sympathy for her just stop. I am what I am and I’m owning that it didn’t matter how crummy Sonny’s story ended up playing out, I could only think this about her the entire time I was reading . . .



I also thought this being claimed to be a “companion novel” to The D.U.F.F. was a stretch and pretty much totally unnecessary were it not for the fact that the powers-that-be were possibly afraid it wouldn’t sell very well otherwise. (Which maybe they should be since it sucked.)

And dare I forget to mention that ending? FFS WITH THAT ENDING!!!!

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(^^^^DIES LAUGHING!!!!)

I’m still holding out hope that Keplinger doesn’t end up a one hit wonder, though . . .

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