Monday, December 16, 2019

ShayKay's Review of Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Little White Lies (Debutantes, Book One)

Synopsis from the Book

Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in the debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother's "society" might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life - her father's identity - she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn't expect to find is friendship, but as she's drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn't the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother's glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationship between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer's search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.

Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates, and rolling green hills, Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can pull off.

Thoughts Before Reading

Just reading this synopsis makes me think this book is going to be right up my ally. It sounds like it is going to be funny and follow a girl who doesn't know much about her past or where she comes from. I'm curious if she knew her grandmother or if she just found her, and if she just found her then how does she that this is her granddaughter? I wonder how this story is going to go? It sounds like it is going to be one of those short and sweet books but it is a series. I can't wait to find out how it goes.

Halfway Through Check-In

I know this book is taking me a minute to read through it but it's really because I've been busy. I feel like I start this section this way every single time, but it's really true. Reading books instead of listening to them will always take me longer, especially right now while I'm working and going to school. The book itself is pretty good, a solid three stars right now. The story itself is actually pretty good so far, and it is pretty expected from what the synopsis gives us, and it's one of those books you don't have to think about to get it, and I like it so far. But the thing that is really driving me nuts about the book so far? Well it is something that shouldn't bother me but it really aggravates me, and that is the freaking pictures! Every chapter ends with pictures and don't get me wrong I can get behind illustrations that goes with the story and make sense to what I just read, and usually want it. But before they were explained to me I kept looking at them and it was so annoying because they make no sense whatsoever. Even now that it's somewhat explained I'm still left confused and aggravated by them. Are they supposed to set up the next chapter? Their at the end of ever chapter, and it takes about the first fifteen chapters or so to even learn what they are supposed to be but even the explanation doesn't fit the pictures. So I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take away from them. Maybe by the time I finish this book it will be fully explained but for now they just really aggravate me. I try not to even look at them anymore since they are so aggravating to me.

Final Thoughts

I just realized that I never finished my final thoughts on this book and I've read it over a month ago! This just shows how much school brain effects the rest of my life. Anyways this book ended up being 3 out of 5 stars for me. I think the most aggravating part of the book was the pictures! They had nothing to do with the book whatsoever and it took the book forever to explain what the pictures even were. I think the pictures ended up being a blog but the explanation of the pictures and the pictures themselves didn't really match because the pictures were supposed to be written on a person and if I'm remembering correctly (my copy is at home) nothing about the pictures matched! They were pretty much just thrown into the book at the end of the chapter and even there they didn't go along with what just happened in the chapter! Me saying this is crazy because I love having some mixed media thrown into the story because I think it usually helps the book but in this case it just didn't go along with it. As the book goes on the pictures do fade away.

The story itself wasn't really bad it was just your typical YA book. I liked the idea of it and it had a few things that were interesting to me but overall the book was just in the middle for me. I'm at the point where if I continue on with the series, and that's a big if, it will have to be a really good sale to buy it or maybe pick up as an audiobook. I liked the premise of the story but I think it was more on the younger side of YA and I just wanted more from it. I think if middle or even high school me read this book I would've loved it but for me today it just didn't click that well. 

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