Title: Lying Out Loud
Author: Kody Keplinger
Series: The DUFF companion
Format: Paperback
Pages: 357
Rating: 3.5/5
Blurb: Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies about her dad being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend's house every night because she has nowhere else to go.
Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with - secrets, clothes, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross.
Ryder's the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can't stand - a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed.
But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realizes that she might actually 'like' him. Only there's one small catch: he thinks he's been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realize that she's the girl he's really wanted all along. Can Sonny lie her way to the truth, or will all her lies end up costing her both Ryder and Amy?
"Sometimes people surprise you, if you let them."
I read The DUFF a while back and found I loved it. I then grabbed a hold of Kody Keplingers other books and discovered that they too, were pretty great. So I have no idea why it took me so long to get around to reading Lying Out Loud.
Sonny was a great character. She might not be the most instantly appealing character when she opens the book admitting that she lies about... pretty much everything to be fair. But I got it. Like Sonny I am an excellent liar, something I try not to apply in real life. Because, as this book proves, a life of lies gets incredibly complicated, incredibly fast. But I still understood how her first impulse in any difficult situation was just to lie her way out. And it made me admire her more by the end of the book.
Although there is of course a romance in this book, it never felt like the main focus of the book which I loved. I really liked that Amy and Sonny's friendship was the more important thing. And I really loved reading about their friendship. In a genre full of backstabbing friends and girl-hate it's always great to read about friends who may not always agree, but ultimately just want what's best for each other. I don't know what Kody Keplinger plans to write next but I loved Amy and it would be amazing to read a story from her point of view.
Ryder himself was, not necessarily my type, but I did love him with Sonny. I liked the way that although Sonny first realised she liked him through the text conversations, the second half of the book shows more of their real world interactions. It really made sense and worked especially well for making Ryder realise he liked Sonny.
The plot did make me uncomfortable at times in that I wanted to shake Sonny and make her act sensibly. As much as I admired her at the end of the book, she only made things difficult for herself and everyone around her the entire way through the book. Which, although it made things interesting from a plot sense was also frustrating because I wanted her and all the other characters to just be happy.
This isnt my favourite of Kody Keplinger's books but I did really enjoy it and I look forward to whatever she may write next. I also really love how all her books tie in together despite not being, strictly speaking, a series. It's always nice to see characters from old books pop up here (Wesley and Bianca especially)!
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