One Of Us Is Lying | Book Review

Title: One Of Us Is Lying

Author: Karen M. McManus

Genre: YA, Mystery 

Summary: A group of nonfriends straight out of The Breakfast Club is in a detention room as the outcast of the group mysteriously dies. Cue "whodunit" plot.

Rating: 3 trope-y eye-rolls out of 10

Review: I'll admit that what drew me to this book was the fact that it is strangely similar to a book of mine and I was excited to read another author's take on an idea that we've both had. Now, I wish I could take back the decision. Starting off, One Of Us doesn't seem too bad. Sure, the characters are cliches but considering that this is sort-of based on The Breakfast Club, that's not a bad thing. My problems mainly come from the last act of the book.

First, we have a character whose sexuality is used as a plot twist which doesn't particularly bother me in comparison to what happens after. This character is then outed by the police and there are no consequences for that. Another thing that truly upset me is the "depressed people are violent" trope. Say it with me folks: depressed people are more of a threat to themselves than they are to other people. A character with depression decides to help frame other people for murder and another depressed character considers shooting up his high school. Yes, this author thought telling teen readers (many of whom suffer from depression) that they're like the terrorists who kill innocent kids.

The one major person of color in the story is a smart, capable Latina (awesome!) who then falls in love with a drug dealer (racist cliches are the new plain cliches). This wouldn't be too much of an issue if all the guy dealt was marijuana, but he also deals painkillers which can harm people and that truly upsets me. We've got this cool girl with a basic white boy who puts people in harm's way for money and we're supposed to cheer for them? Really? In front of my salad? The gay jock is as one dimensional as this sentence I'm typing. In fact, the only character who seems to have a decent character arc is the straight white girl (hmm... I wonder why she's the only tolerable character in the book... qwhite interesting) who then gets her arc of becoming a badass feminist ruined by needing her ass saved by a boy during the climax of the book.

And finally, the thing that annoyed me the most about the book (spoiler and trigger warning):
There is no killer. The depressed, would-be mass murderer mentioned earlier decides to kill himself and frame a group of kids because he's upset with them. Not only is suicide brushed over in this book, but this is a MYSTERY. Not just any mystery, but a DEATH MYSTERY. You do not write a mystery book and set up all these clues just to have zero payoff with a "gotcha, there is no killer." That's just lazy writing. I feel that the author had a great premise and cool setup (I'm down for anything related to The Breakfast Club) but along the way she got distracted with shoving in as many cliches as possible and telling a story about teens and growing up that she completely neglected the mystery aspect of the plot. We already have a Breakfast Club. If your book claims to take a different spin on a classic story, follow through on whatever that interesting spin is otherwise you're just rehashing what has already been done before.

And for the love of Taylor Swift, don't make light of life-threatening situations that your readers may have found themselves in before. It's 2017. I thought that was publicly known by now.

All in all, One Of Us Is Lying isn't Throne of Trash, Fifty Shades of Shit level horrible, but it completely fails to live up to expectations. If you don't read this, you're not missing the next big thing in YA. Save time and effort. Just rewatch The Breakfast Club.

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A Few of L's Favorite Books

Hey everyone!


Today is #WorldBookDay! I've loved books since I was a child, and that love for stories is what led to me becoming a professional author (that's why you never see me here, I'm always hanging out on my author blog.)
But even though I spend much of my free time writing, the book lover in me will never disappear. So I thought, what better way to celebrate the day of books than to share some of my favorite stories with you all?

I'm not going to ramble, so in no particular order, here they are:

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park

Technically, I could put all the Junie B. Jones books here but this one holds a special place in my heart. It was one of the first books I remember reading as a kid and the humor mixed with the lessons the books taught were entertaining and moral at the same time. Too often in children's books, I felt like I was being preached to but the Stupid Smelly Bus was the first that didn't seem to talk down to the kids who read it. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Yes the SORCERER'S Stone, because I'm American and I can call the book whatever I want. I'll admit I never actually finished reading the Harry Potter series (will I ever get past Goblet of Fire?) because they got a bit too intense for me when I was younger but I don't think anything I say about Harry Potter will be anything new from what others have said in the past. The creativity and intricate world building from the series is something that is still mimicked in children's/YA fantasy books. The lasting impression it left on me as a writer is something that I'm proud of. 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My favorite classic! Reading this in high school lowered my enjoyment of the book initially. But over the next couple of years, I started thinking about it a lot and there were many things that it pointed out about society in the 20's that are still relevant in today's world and will be relevant for quite some time. It's true that everyone has that one classic novel that they don't hate as much as the others, but I think it's rare that a young person can find one that they actually like. I lucked out in being forced to read this by my annoying eleventh grade English teacher. 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

I'm in the minority here but I actually like the PJO/Heroes of Olympus novels more than Harry Potter because even when things get dark, they're still fun and the books never take themselves too seriously. In a YA fiction world surrounded by doom and gloom, finding this series was like a breath of fresh air and reminded me that I could write and read the best of both worlds, and that there is still freshness to be found on bookshelves.

Epic by L. Taylor

I'm not saying this just because I'm the author (how self-centered would that be?)

I'm listing Epic because of all the things I've written, this (and the sequel, War) is the book that I can read over and over again and not get sick of seeing the same words constantly. The books that I've spent less time with (I've "known" 93% Chance I Don't Hate You for a year, I've "known TDKC for about two years) are technically newer to my ~reader self~ but Epic, which I've "known" for almost five years, is constantly gripping me and taking me on its rollercoaster ride even when I know what happens in the end. That's why I include it as one of my favorite books. 

Legend by Marie Lu

If you know me, you know I worship the ground Marie Lu walks on, because not to be extra, but she is the best YA author in the game right now. Legend was the first book of hers that I read and the entire trilogy was perfect from start to finish. The Legend books have a very cinematic quality to them, which is something I love. If it's easy for me to visualize a story like it's happening right in front of me, it's easier for the book to completely suck me in. Every page of the series makes it even more impossible to put down and I can't express how much I love it. 

Of course there are hundreds of books that I like but these are the ones that are at the top of the top for me. I want to read more than I have been in the past couple of years (guess who's way behind on her Goodreads goal) but balancing reading and writing is a struggle.

My own personal problems aside, if you haven't, I hope you give each of these books a chance and come to love them as much as I do.

Thanks for reading,

- L.