Two Truths and a Lie

I've read some reviews where people thought this was just a filler until the next book comes out, but I enjoyed it. The readers learn more about Thayer and his relationship with Sutton in this one. I'm ready for the next one. ( )

I have a soft spot for The Lying Game. I anxiously await the next release starting a maximum of three days after the previous one is released, and so there’s quite a lot I love about the series. An avid reader, as well as viewer of the TV show, I just cannot get enough of Emma and Sutton! True to form, Two Truths and A Lie had my attention from the first line up to the cliff-hanger ending. One thing Sara Shepard is really excellent at is playing with the reader’s head and emotion, using what the reader already knows against them, and Two Truths and A Lie does this several times throughout the book.

I am hoping that it’s just personal tastes and that the next Lying Game book will be as enthralling as ever. True, there were still take-my-breath-away tense moments in Two Truths and A Lie, but it just didn’t enthrall me as it usually does. Harry Potter had Goblet of Fire and The Lying Game now has Two Truths and A Lie. Niether are bad, per say, they just don’t meet expectations. Hopefully, this is just a one-book stall, and Shepard is able to pick up the story again in Hide and Go Seek. ( )

Emma and Sutton are back for round three, tangled up in clues and red herrings as usual. This time, their friend Madeline’s runaway brother and town bad boy, Thayer, is the prime suspect. He’s been gone longer than Sutton and rumor has it, the two were involved in some pretty risky behavior before either one went MIA. Now, Thayer has resurfaced, alive if not quite shiny and new, and Emma has to figure out if he’s a lover in mourning or an ex-lover, licking his savagely cut wounds, before he outs her secret, or ends her whole game, for good.

This latest chapter in the Lying Game series was far and away my favorite. We’re getting to the deep bottom of Sutton’s memory and Emma is wrapped up more than ever in the drama of Hollier , for better or for worse. Thayer is not my typical lit crush (I’m not one for the bad boy but he’s a total soccer playing hottie!) but his character is by far the best drawn out player we’ve seen so far. He’s a hottie to hate, though, in this installment and I can’t say much more. Just know that the series is picking up rather than falling into a slump, thank goodness.

The only gripe I have with the books as a whole collection is that sometimes Sutton and Emma get a bit tangled in terms of voice, perspective and tense. As a general concept, it works well, over all; I just have to stop and reread occasionally when Sutton starts adding in her thoughts over Emma’s third person visuals.

I can not believe I have to wait until this summer to finish out the case. Once again, this is why I can’t handle a series until every last piece has been published; if it’s worth reading, I want to read it in one big gulp, not wait around for it! I know; I’m a brat. I’ll sit back and wait but you must know that I don’t want to. ( )

Continues The Lying Game series. Emma believes Madeline's brother Thayer was responsible for Sutton's death, but later discovers some things that may clear him. ( )

I really liked the first book and determined that this was another must buy series. I didn't mind book "Never Have I Ever", the second book either. But this one was just a complete rehash of the second one with the name of the main suspect changed around a little. This time the focus is on Theyer, a boy who has a past with Sutton. I know we wont' learn all the mysteries until the final book. This is a series after all. But when the last page was read, I felt we had gone nowhere at all with the story. When the character thinks, "Back to Square One"...I was ready to throw the book.

I like the unique storyline. I like Emma as a character a lot and I even enjoy Sutton's ghostly flashbacks. The book is a very quick read, not that that is exactly a plus when it costs about $12 in hardback. Still its an enjoyable time waster. I think there is a way for this talented author to write the books as a series and still give us some unique twists with each book. I will try the next book and hope it gives us some kind of payout and satisfaction. The thing about this series is that you have to read each book and in order to follow the mystery of Sutton's murder as it is unraveled. ( )