ARC Review of "Lying Out Loud"

Lying Out Loud

By Kody Keplinger

Stars:4 

Source: Edelweiss 

Release Date: April 28th 2015 

Sonny Ardmore is the worlds best liar- or worst, depending on who you ask. She can pull a lie out of thin air, without a seconds notice, and spin it into the most believable story. 

The only person Sonny ever feels bad lying to is Amy Rush, they've been best friends for years and although they tell each other everything and practically live together Sonny still fibs every know and then to keep bigger secrets from surfacing. 

When the snotty, new kid whose too good for their school (and doesn't mind telling you that) starts falling for Amy Sonny takes it into her own hands. After all Amy is way to nice to tell Ryder to bugger off so why shouldn't she step up and do the dirty work? 

But the waters become muddy when Sonny realizes that Ryder isn't as bad as she thought. She spends all night IMing him, getting to know him and opening up herself, sharing things she never thought she would, only to realize once he signs off that she was using Amy's account all along. 

Suddenly Sonny is forced with the decision to come clean or keep lying and no matter which she chooses the outcome looks the same. 

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Can we just take a moment to talk about how Kody sets all of her books in the same world with overlapping characters and surprise appearances from old favorites (cough cough Wesley!). I love authors who do this! There aren't many and the only other one I can think of is Sarah Dessen but it makes me fangirl a little bit (a lot!) to get small glimpses of the other characters. 

Okay moving on. 

I loved The DUFF, from page one I was hooked and I didn't set it down until I finished it, Lying Out Loud was a little bit of a slower read and pace than The DUFF. 

I didn't love it as much (although I still did give it 4 stars so obviously I didn't hate it!) I felt like Sonny wasn't my favorite MC and that Ryder was just annoying. 

I almost wish that the book had been told from Amy's point of view. I really loved her as a character and I think maybe I would've related a little bit more to her voice. 

Of course I loved all the scenes with Wesley and Bianca and I can't wait to read Kody's other books because I know some of the characters she ran into throughout the book have their own stories. 

All in all it was an okay read and I enjoyed it but it didn't necessarily meet the standards I set for it after reading The DUFF. 

Until next time, 

Ginger 

In compliance with FTC guidelines I am disclosing that this book was given to me for free to review. 

My review is my honest opinion.

Review of "The DUFF"

The DUFF By Kody Keplinger 

Stars: 5 

Source: Gift and Netgalley 

Bianca Piper isn't peppy, cheery or flirty. She'd rather stay home on a Friday night binge watching old TV shows than being dragged to a crappy club and forced to dance to music that she hates. 

But that is exactly where we find her at the beginning of the book. Sitting alone at the bar, nursing a Cherry Coke and watching the minutes tick by so agonizingly slow that she is almost tempted to go out on the dance floor. Almost. 

Cue Wesley Rush. 

Bianca is less than thrilled when he starts chatting with her, so much so that she doesn't even try to hide her distaste for him, but that doesn't stop Wesley. After all if he talks to her (The DUFF (designated ugly fat friend) of the group) that will make him more appealing in the eyes of her two hot friends. 

After processing what Wesley said and what he called her all Bianca can do it throw her Cherry Coke in his face, find her friends and leave. 

But Bianca can't get that four letter word out of her head, no matter how hard she tries she keeps thinking of herself as the DUFF. 

When her home life gets to be too much and a blast from the past shows up the only thing Bianca can do to distract herself is... Well... Wesley. 

Suddenly she finds herself addicted to him, needing him to keep her mind off of all the drama unfolding in her life. 

It's nothing real, they aren't dating, it's simply a friends with benefits situation, minus the friends part. 

But after a series of rather unfortunate events Bianca realizes that Wesley isn't as bad as she thought he was and that maybe, just maybe she's falling for him. 

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I don't know why I'm so surprised that I loved this book as much as I did. 

I think this is the first time ever that I watched the movie adaptation before reading the book so maybe that has something to do with it but let me just be clear- THE BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER!

While the movie was all fun and games and centered mostly around the DUFF and what it meant, the book was so much deeper and felt much more real then it's counterpart. 

I instantly felt a connection to Bianca, her snarky comments and constant cynicism spoke to my soul- or the lack there of. 

I've never been a fan of 'insta-love' but after reading The DUFF I can say that I'm a HUGE fan of 'insta-hate'. 

From the beginning Bianca despises Wesley and everything he stands for, he's a man-whore, nothing more. 

But slowly she comes to realize that there is so much more to him than what she previously thought and that you can't judge a book by it's (seriously toned) cover. 

One of my favorite parts is when Wesley tells Bianca "No matter where you go or what you do to distract yourself, reality catches up eventually." 

I instantly had a flash back to Paul Varjack telling Holly Golightly that "No matter where you run you just end up running into yourself." 

Distractions are just that, they don't make the problems go away, they don't make them any smaller or easier to deal with. Whether our problems center around being a DUFF, divorced parents or alcoholism.

 Soon or later we have to face them head on. 

For a man-whore Wesley had some pretty good advice. ;)

Simply put I adored this book. 

I'm a little pissed at myself for having put off reading it for so long and I fully intend on making up for that with quite a few re-reads in the near future. 

Until next time, 

Ginger 

In compliance with FTC guidelines I am disclosing that this book was given to me for free to review. 

My review is my honest opinion.