Lies My Girlfriend Told Me

Alix is devastated when her girlfriend, Swanee, dies suddenly one day. Soon, though, Alix is discovering things about Swanee that she never knew - including another girlfriend. But what happens when Alix meets this other girl and feels sparks start to fly?

I won this book in LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I requested it because I'd heard Peters' name over the years - she's known to write books dealing with LGBTQ issues and she usually gets good reviews. So I figured I'd put my name in the hat for her newest title, and was lucky enough to win a copy.

Unfortunately, I feel pretty disappointed with what I discovered. I should have known from the beginning - the entire premise of the book was just too strange for me. I completely show more understand that people grieve in different ways and I always appreciate it when books show that in realistic ways. Though much of Alix's behavior made me uncomfortable, it wasn't difficult for me to understand where she was coming from. Stealing Swanee's phone, her overwhelming desire to meet Liana, her difficulty relating to Joss' grief - these are all pretty normal grief reactions.

Maybe my problem is just that I didn't believe the relationship between Alix and Swanee. The book starts after Swanee's death, so readers never really get a first-hand look at the relationship between the two. However, Alix does describe it frequently, and it never sounds like a good relationship. Swanee comes off manipulative and deceitful, selfish and uncaring. Really, she sounds like a terrible person. So, that makes it difficult for me to believe that either of these girls - who seem relatively normal and self-confident - would have put up with her shenanigans. I suppose it is a realistic portrayal of a teenage relationship - quite often, you find yourself changing in small ways, ways that might make you unrecognizable when looked at as a whole. With hindsight, you might realize how unhealthy and destructive those relationships were. It is so easy to get caught up in young love - any love, really - that you might forget yourself.

So perhaps I shouldn't fault this book too much. What it sets out to do I think it does pretty realistically (though I find the relationship between Alix and Liana to be terribly rushed). I just never found myself invested in the story and I very much looked forward to the time when I would be finished with it. Just not for me, I suppose, though I will try to check out one of Peters other titles in the future.

Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader's copy. show less

This book was great read, filled with grief, deceit, new love, and forgiveness. I really thought Julie Anne Peters captured the essence of sorrow right from the beginning and then weaved through the lives that surrounded Swanee as seen through the eyes of Alix, our protagonist. We journey through the lies and half truth of Swanee's existence and Alix coming to grip with them. To complicate the matter, Alix finds herself falling in love with Liana, one of Swanee's other girlfriends. As the story progresses it becomes Alix's and Liana's story as their feelings for each other grow. Unfortunately Alix, holds a secret that could destroy this new love even before it fully starts.

I felt that Peters gave Alix a very authentic voice, which added show more greatly to the story. Alix felt a like a teen who is beginning to understand what it means to be an adult. She hovers between recklessness and accepting responsibility. Through the story we see her begin to mature. The great thing about it is that, Alix never loses that teen voice that makes her seem real.

As with any great story, I found myself wanting to see the story told from some of the other characters' viewpoint, especially Liana's. Don't get me wrong, the story is complete on to itself. It would just be really awesome to hear her side of the story. I highly recommend reading it.

One last thing, for some reason I just loved the line about a certain law of physics and butt-checking the ground. show less

When her girlfriend Swanee dies suddenly, Alix thinks her life is over. They were in love! They had plans to go off to college together! They hadn't even had sex yet! Her grief is so all encompassing and so immature at the same time. Alix's parents' response, that she should give it time but also move on, teenage romance not being the be all and end all of life, is well meant and spot on. But their wish for Alix to get on with her life is part of what leads her to dwell, which is how she ends up with Swanee's phone and in contact with Liana.

Once Alix and Liana (finally) meet, things really start moving and this becomes just another cutesy romance novel. With serious complications of course, seeing as Alix and Liana were both dating show more Swanee at the same time. But the fact that they are two (three if you count Swanee) girls is never the complication that causes problems. As Alix gets to know Liana and their mutual crushes grow, each of them sees how their relationships with Swanee were flawed and not just because she was cheating on them. The contrast between how each of them was treated by Swanee and how they treat each other is stark, but Peters does not beat the reader over the head with the abusive relationship stick. We are left to make those conclusions ourselves.

Swanee's family and parents' issues are a kind of sensational side story throughout the book. I'm a little disappointed with how they are portrayed and how their lifestyle choices are shown to affect their children. At the same time, they're pretty icky people. Still, I wish Peters hadn't painted them and Swanee with the same brush and/or hadn't made Swanee's siblings so incredibly damaged.

Another note about Alix's parents. They never liked Swanee. Alix assumes that is because they aren't comfortable with her being queer. When they meet Liana and she starts spending time with both Alix and her parents, it becomes clear that her parents are FINE with Alix's sexuality. They just weren't fine with Swanee. It's really sweet.

Overall I loved this book. Alix is a very likeable and relatable character. Liana is swoon-worthy and adds much needed humor to some dark parts of the plot. Alix's family is like icing on the cake. And it's not a coming out story! Progress!

Book Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewers show less

(I got this book for free from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program in exchange for a review.)

This is a moving novel of grief, growing up, romance and self-discovery. The book's protagonist, Alix, is devastated when her girlfriend, Swanee, dies suddenly of a previously unknown heart condition. She had been Alix's first love and Alix was awed by her and thought they'd be together throughout high school and college, perhaps however. After Swanee's death, though, Alix learns that she had been seeing another girl, Liana, throughout the time she was also seeing Alix. The two girls get to know each other and wind up falling in love with each other, but Alix is keeping secrets from Liana that could ruin their budding relationship.

I liked show more this book because I thought it showed grief very realistically, as Alix has to both deal with her loss and cope with the dawning realization that Swanee wasn't the person she thought she was, that she was controlling and jealous, that she lied about many things, and that her "cool" family is actually very dysfunctional. The subplot involving Alix's attempts to help Swanee's troubled younger sister kind of petered out, but I actually liked that because it seemed more realistic that way -- a lot of times in real life, your attempt to help someone comes to nothing and you wind up giving up.

There are a couple of other young adult novels I can think of that have a similar plot to this (that is, losing your first love, then finding out you never really knew them); Samantha Schutz's You Are Not Here comes to mind. I think Lies My Girlfriend Told Me is the best of the bunch, though. show less

The blub for this made me think this would be something akin to a teen thriller, as main character Alix uncovered the lies of her recently deceased girlfriend Swanee. If that's what you are hoping for, you'll be disappointed. The lies are, in the end, not really revelations to the reader (although of course they're pretty shocking to poor Alix and Liana). This is actually a YA romance that's more about moving on and learning to recognize that being in love isn't the only thing necessary for a great relationship. Not exactly shocking new material for the genre, although it's such a genre archetype for a reason, and it's nice to see it with a same-sex relationship without layering other drama into that part of things.

It's a sweet love show more story with a lot of fun moments, but I felt like it had been pitched as something else. show less

I just received this book in Friday afternoon's mail and was finished by Saturday morning. I just couldn't put it down!

Alix is a 17yo girl who goes to bed one night and wakes up the next morning to find that her world has changed irrevocably. Her girlfriend Swanee unexpectedly died while running. What follows is a twisted tale of sadness and grief, frustration and confusion, lies and betrayal, loss and change, healing and love. At first, Alix is lost in denial, unable to believe that her girlfriend is dead. Then the secrets begin to be revealed and she is torn between grief and anger.

One of the things I loved most about this book was that it was, at it's heart, about all of those emotions that surround loss and betrayal, love and show more forgiveness. Yes, the main characters were lesbians, but (other than a few rather minor moments) that wasn't the focus of the book. It was just who they were. It was refreshing to read a story that featured lesbian characters without making that the most important thing about the characters. I often feel that sometimes so much attention is paid to that aspect of the characters that it creates a divide. This is a story with themes that are entirely universal.

One of the other things I loved was the growth of Alix's character. At the beginning, she made some questionable choices, both before and after Swanee died. By the end, she has grown considerably. One of her most important lessons was that the grass isn't always greener in other places. She looked at Swanee's life and family through rose-colored glasses, not ever really seeing the truth that lay beneath the surface. This realization led to some self-discovery for Alix, which I really loved.

There was a sweet smaller plot line that made my heart sing, too, the story of Alix and her baby brother. There was so much I couldn't understand about that relationship, seeing Alix as a bit of a brat when it came to him. As the book progresses, we learn so much more about that and suddenly it all becomes clear. I loved the story!

Things to love...

--The fact that sexuality was a part, but not the whole, of the story.
--The emotional journey that comes with grief, especially when combined with anger and betrayal.
--The subplot of Alix and her brother.

My Recommendation: I really loved this book! I thought that the story was beautiful and touching, with universal themes that touch us all! I gave it 4.5 mugs! show less

When Alix's charismatic girlfriend, Swanee, dies from sudden cardiac arrest, Alix is overcome with despair. As she searches Swanee's room for mementos of their relationship, she finds Swanee's cell phone, pinging with dozens of texts sent from a mysterious contact, L.T. The most recent text reads: "Please tell me what I did. Please, Swan. Te amo. I love you." Shocked and betrayed, Alix learns that Swanee has been leading a double life--secretly dating a girl named Liana the entire time she's been with Alix. Alix texts Liana from Swanee's phone, pretending to be Swanee in order to gather information before finally meeting face-to-face to break the news. Brought together by Swanee's lies, Alix and Liana become closer than they'd thought show more possible. But Alix is still hiding the truth from Liana. Alix knows what it feels like to be lied to--but will coming clean to Liana mean losing her, too? show less