The Lying Game #2: Never Have I Ever Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)In this installment of Sara Shepard's "The Lying Game" series, Emma Paxton finds herself delving deeper into the mysterious life of her- now dead- twin sister, Sutton Mercer. The unknown murderer seems to be watching her every step and she must carefully maneuver maintaining a low-key investigation into her sister's death whilst not alerting the killer to her intentions.
In all honesty, this book is a bit slow. There's a lack of events happening and a lot of the plot happens inside Emma's or Sutton's head. Obviously, we're at a point in the story where many of her conclusions come from very little physical events and moreso the subtle words passed among the characters that are exacerbated to fit Emma/Sutton's own paranoia. The mix of inner dialogue and flashbacks paints the picture of Emma's mental state; she is a confused mess. In a genius way, it's as frustrating to the reader as it should be for our main character. This is honestly, Shepard's genius, creating a character in an extraneous situation that involves the reader in such a way that the reader ends up feeling similar emotions as to what the character is thinking. We're just as confused as Emma is. As shocking as some situations appear to be, readers may not be able to identify, but they can understand. Thankfully, the book does speed up throughout the second half.
The book is enumerated with witty one-liners (though not as many as the last book, or anything in the PLL series), deranged plot twists, and unfortunately a severe lack of character development. Shepard seems to be relying on Emma's "every-girl" quality; she fits any role that is demanded of her (as is stated many times in TLG1). Unfortunately, Shepard uses this as a cop-out on any real character development for the live twin, Emma. Although her inner dialogue has many anecdotal sidenotes, her character is not as deeply developed as it was when first introduced in the series. On the other hand, the only character development seems to be that of Sutton as she is the one we are learning more and more about. Lastly, the characterization is subpar at best. Many of the characters are one-dimensional and exhibit the emotional range of a rock. I know, that's because they're all suspects, blah-blah, the minimal amount of development may also be Shepard's strategy throughout this book. As stated before, Emma's mind is in a state of overload and confusion of her "new " life that she has inherited, maybe the one dimensional characters are just that to Emma herself, and we as readers experience that.
In conclusion, I would recommend this book for a quick read (took me

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My perfect life was a lie.

Now I'd do anything to uncover the truth.

Not long ago, I had everything a girl could wish for: amazing friends, an adorable boyfriend, a loving family. But none of them know that I'm gone-that I'm dead. To solve my murder, my long-lost twin sister, Emma, has taken my place. She sleeps in my room, wears my clothes, and calls my parents Mom and Dad.

And my killer is watching her every move.

I remember little from my life, just flashes and flickers, so all I can do is follow along as Emma tries to solve the mystery of my disappearance. But the deeper she digs, the more suspects she uncovers. It turns out my friends and I played a lot of games-games that ruined people's lives. Anyone could want revenge . . . anyone could want me-and now Emma-dead.

From Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars books, comes a riveting series about secrets, lies, and killer consequences.

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