ARC Review: The Lying Game

Author: Sara Shepard
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Mystery/Suspense
Release: December, 2010
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 3/5

Description: I had a life anyone would kill for. Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet.

Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?

Review: The Lying Game is a game where Sutton and her friends get together and plan elaborate pranks on other people as well as each other. One particular video, with Sutton as the star, is posted on Youtube and Emma, Sutton's long-lost twin,sees it. She contacts Sutton through Facebook and decides to leave her current foster home to meet the twin (they were separated from each other as litle girls). But when Emma arrives, she quickly finds out that there's more to the video than meets the eye. Sutton is a victim of The Lying Game. Emma has two choices: become Sutton or die.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

• The story is narrated in both Emma and Sutton's voice. This caused the story to get confusing at times...sometimes, you didn't know if it was Sutton or Emma, tho Sutton was actually a ghost.

• Some things were revealed to Sutton and the reader, but not to Emma. So we kind of knew what happened before Emma did.

• Sutton's character is quite unlikeable, tho I understand the "mean girl" image. There were a few (very few) times I actually felt sorry for her.

WHAT I LIKED

• The story, though unbelievable at times, pulled you in. I couldn't put stop reading cos I wanted to know what was going to happen.

• The mystery, "whodunit", element was cool. I won't spoil the ending for you. Just know that it's a series.

• I like Emma's character. She's definitely the more likeable twin!

Fans of Pretty Little Liars (also by Sara Shepard) will definitely dig into this mystery. If you like "whodunit" mysteries, this is the book for you.