Gillian French

Left partially deaf by an early childhood tragedy that ended in her father’s incarceration, seventeen-year-old Owl is now a tracker, an explorer, a wildlife enthusiast, and always her freest self while hiking the steep forested acres surrounding her aunt and uncle’s maple sugar farm, now her home. Owl and her aunt and uncle never speak of the brutal attack that brought her to them. On the day she confronts a stranger trespassing among the maples, Owl’s sheltered existence is blown wide show more open by Cody—the magnetic, dangerous young man hired to help with the sugaring off. Cody seems to see her, the real her, in a way no one else does. Together, they challenge each other, learn to question their preconceptions, and risk a romance their families are desperate to stop.

But when Owl learns that some part of Cody is compelled toward self-destruction, she must make a difficult decision about their relationship at the same time she’s grappling with her father’s recent release from prison. And when a seemingly motiveless local murder draws attention to Cody, Owl realizes that Cody is in far more serious trouble than anyone knows—and it’s followed him to her mountain. show less

It takes a special writer to 'get' the essence of Maine when writing fiction. Nowhere is this apparent than when creating a story that features natives VS PFAs (People From Away). In this dark and gritty story, Gillian French nails both groups perfectly. Having grown up near the coast and later serving as library director in a wealthy Maine community, I know of what I speak. The characters, setting and slow reveal are all done just right, leaving those still standing at the end, scarred, but show more with enough hope to keep going. The ending is perfect. show less

The backstory: Joel Dotrice was arrested ten years ago for fracturing his daughter's skull when she was seven years old. Imagine this - he threw her down the stairs. On purpose. Partially deaf ever since, Rochelle "Owl" Dotrice has lived with her uncle and his wife. They own a maple sugaring farm in the mountains of northern New Hampshire and life seems pretty routine...until the Dotrice family gets notice that dad has made parole and Seth hires a teen named Cody to help with the show more sugaring.
Whether French was intentional or not, in the beginning of Sugaring Off I felt the story of Owl moved slowly, like cold sap moving through the trunk of a maple tree. As the story heated up, like sap to syrup, it began to flow faster with more flavor and intensity. Having said that, I am not a fan of overly dramatic descriptions of characters or plots. I feel they are ploys to get the reader crack open the book. The inside cover of Sugaring Off describes Cody as "magnetic and dangerous." Spoiler alert! For the first two thirds of the book Cody is a sullen and silent cigarette-smoking teen who wants nothing more than to stay away from adults and maybe take Owl's virginity. Oh yeah, she's attracted to him, too. The real threat seemed to be daddy making parole. Would he come back for revenge? It was Owl's testimony that put him away.
As an aside, I understand why the parole of Owl's father was pivotal to the plot, but I felt it was unnecessary trickery in the face of Cody's mystique. More could have been done to build up Cody's "dangerous" character because Seth's outrage about Owl's relationship with the teen was misplaced. If Seth thought Cody was such a threat, why did he let Owl work so closely with him? What happened to big bad dad? He drifted out of the story as more of Cody's dark past was revealed. This was written for teens and so I thought like a teen and questioned everything. show less

I actually really wanted to like this more than I did. I was looking for small town mystery and family secrets creating this dark and atmospheric story and I don’t feel like all of that was fulfilled. The story was mostly obvious and underdeveloped. The Lies They Tell follows Pearl Haskins as she tries to find answers about the Garrison tragedy, where a mysterious fire left only one family member alive. As Pearl grows closer to Tristan Garrison she looks to uncover the lies and betrayal show more surround that night.

Things I Liked
The writing was beautifully atmospheric. It fit perfectly with the setting and the mystery. There was this ethereal air that kept you slightly removed from the story, but in a good way. It was like keeping a secret, there was always more to know.

Things I Didn’t Like
I found the mystery to be relatively weak. This really isn’t a story about Pearl befriending the lone survivor of a tragedy to uncover a mystery, it’s more about her dating outside of her social class and navigating a judgemental best friend. They mystery didn't feel like the focus of the story, it was mroe of a b plot.

The characters mostly just felt there. I didn’t connect with any of them, or any of their relationships. I think the one that hooked me the most was Pearl and her father - because I’m always here for familial relationships, but there wasn’t a lot of it. The characters felt very distinct, not like they were a part of the same story.

I thought the ending was a bit of a letdown. It felt unfinished and unsatisfying and not in a mysterious “anything can happen” way, but in a “nothing at all happened and there’s no resolution way.”

Like I said, I feel like this was just weak overall for me. I was looking for a thrilling mystery that combined family, secrets, and small-town drama, but The Lies They Tell felt very surface level to me. I wanted a deeper, more complex story, but this was incredibly easy to read - even if it did frustrate me at times.

I received a copy of the book from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. show less