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reader_fictions 's review for:
Lying Out Loud
by Kody Keplinger
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
For more reviews, gifs, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.
Gillian (Writer of Wrongs) was so kind as to carry Lying Out Loud to Cancun so that I could borrow her ARC. A new Kody Keplinger book is always something to celebrate in my opinion, though I still haven’t read her middle grade, because middle grade doesn’t tend to be as shippy. Someday I will though. Lying Out Loud has a lot to live up to, but Kody once again brings the ship and the flaws and the humor and the pain.
Perhaps my favorite thing about Kody Keplinger books, ships aside, is that the main characters are all deliciously flawed. Her heroines and love interests are always deeply flawed, generally due to major parent issues. What teen doesn’t have some sort of issues because of how their parents brought them up? Even the most loving of parents instill some issues in their kids; I’ve seen them in everyone I know. Everyone has problems that they have to work through as they grow up.
Sonny has parent issues like whoa. Her dad’s been in prison almost all of her life, and she can’t even remember the last time that she saw him. Her mom kicked her out of the house, leaving her homeless and secretly living with her best friend Amy Rush. Ryder’s got major parent issues too, as his parents have recently separated, forcing him to leave everything and everyone he knows in D.C. to live with his mom in podunk Indiana. The Rush family forms a nice contrast. In The DUFF, the Rushes weren’t great parents, but they took the events of that book to heart and are now very present, caring parents.
More than relationship issues, Lying Out Loud is about family and friendship. Sonny may never have had a great relationship with her own parents, but she becomes a real part of the Rush family. Her first real Christmas was so touching and sweet. I’m very moved by families that are chosen rather than decided by the coincidences of birth, so this gave me a lot of feels.
The most important relationship of Lying Out Loud is the one between Sonny and her best friend Amy. Despite their many years of friendship, one that goes back so far they can’t recall how it began, Sonny lies to Amy just as much to everyone else. From the start, the reader knows that Sonny’s house of lies is going to collapse on her head. It’s nice that, though Sonny does some shitty things to Amy throughout the book, there are scenes that show how well they do get along and how much they do care about one another. They emerge from Lying Out Loud much stronger; even Amy is changed by the events, even if she was more peripheral.
All of this sounds very heavy, and I’ll admit a couple of times I was trying not to tear up in the hotel lobby, but Keplinger brings her trademark witty banter to play to keep the novel from being too dark. Though she delves into a lot of serious and painful issues, the book still feels delightfully fluffy, because Sonny’s hilarious and the characters are so vibrant and not mopey.
Then there’s the ship, which is this brilliant mixture of Cyrano de Bergerac and Pride and Prejudice. Ryder truly is a pretentious hipster snob. Sonny ends up getting to know him better by accidentally (initially) chatting with him on Amy’s email account. Their conversations are sassy and bantery and honest. There really is something incredibly freeing about conversing with people on the internet rather than face to face. Despite all the lies and the bullshit, Ryder and Sonny form a real, strong connection. They have essentially a Darcy and Elizabeth romance arc, only Darcy doesn’t have a Bingley and mistakenly thinks he’s into Jane for a while. Obviously I shipped it like whoa.
My only issues are exceedingly minor and nitpicky. I would have liked a bit more at the end of the book, of course. It’s a slim volume, only 294 pages in the ARC, and I will always want more time with Kody’s characters. Then there’s a tie-in to The DUFF movie. It’s completely meaningless to the plot otherwise, but Amy sees Madison at the mall and tells Sonny that Wesley used to date her before Bianca. Though it’s small, this bothers me, because Wesley didn’t actually date before Bianca, and he was very clear about that. Movie Wesley does, but the movie’s not the same thing. I don’t care for this retconning at all.
Lying Out Loud is every bit as good as Kody Keplinger’s previous novels. Kody continues to be one of my favorite authors. She never fails with the banter and the realistic characters that jump off the page.
For more reviews, gifs, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.
Gillian (Writer of Wrongs) was so kind as to carry Lying Out Loud to Cancun so that I could borrow her ARC. A new Kody Keplinger book is always something to celebrate in my opinion, though I still haven’t read her middle grade, because middle grade doesn’t tend to be as shippy. Someday I will though. Lying Out Loud has a lot to live up to, but Kody once again brings the ship and the flaws and the humor and the pain.
Perhaps my favorite thing about Kody Keplinger books, ships aside, is that the main characters are all deliciously flawed. Her heroines and love interests are always deeply flawed, generally due to major parent issues. What teen doesn’t have some sort of issues because of how their parents brought them up? Even the most loving of parents instill some issues in their kids; I’ve seen them in everyone I know. Everyone has problems that they have to work through as they grow up.
Sonny has parent issues like whoa. Her dad’s been in prison almost all of her life, and she can’t even remember the last time that she saw him. Her mom kicked her out of the house, leaving her homeless and secretly living with her best friend Amy Rush. Ryder’s got major parent issues too, as his parents have recently separated, forcing him to leave everything and everyone he knows in D.C. to live with his mom in podunk Indiana. The Rush family forms a nice contrast. In The DUFF, the Rushes weren’t great parents, but they took the events of that book to heart and are now very present, caring parents.
More than relationship issues, Lying Out Loud is about family and friendship. Sonny may never have had a great relationship with her own parents, but she becomes a real part of the Rush family. Her first real Christmas was so touching and sweet. I’m very moved by families that are chosen rather than decided by the coincidences of birth, so this gave me a lot of feels.
The most important relationship of Lying Out Loud is the one between Sonny and her best friend Amy. Despite their many years of friendship, one that goes back so far they can’t recall how it began, Sonny lies to Amy just as much to everyone else. From the start, the reader knows that Sonny’s house of lies is going to collapse on her head. It’s nice that, though Sonny does some shitty things to Amy throughout the book, there are scenes that show how well they do get along and how much they do care about one another. They emerge from Lying Out Loud much stronger; even Amy is changed by the events, even if she was more peripheral.
All of this sounds very heavy, and I’ll admit a couple of times I was trying not to tear up in the hotel lobby, but Keplinger brings her trademark witty banter to play to keep the novel from being too dark. Though she delves into a lot of serious and painful issues, the book still feels delightfully fluffy, because Sonny’s hilarious and the characters are so vibrant and not mopey.
Then there’s the ship, which is this brilliant mixture of Cyrano de Bergerac and Pride and Prejudice. Ryder truly is a pretentious hipster snob. Sonny ends up getting to know him better by accidentally (initially) chatting with him on Amy’s email account. Their conversations are sassy and bantery and honest. There really is something incredibly freeing about conversing with people on the internet rather than face to face. Despite all the lies and the bullshit, Ryder and Sonny form a real, strong connection. They have essentially a Darcy and Elizabeth romance arc, only Darcy doesn’t have a Bingley and mistakenly thinks he’s into Jane for a while. Obviously I shipped it like whoa.
My only issues are exceedingly minor and nitpicky. I would have liked a bit more at the end of the book, of course. It’s a slim volume, only 294 pages in the ARC, and I will always want more time with Kody’s characters. Then there’s a tie-in to The DUFF movie. It’s completely meaningless to the plot otherwise, but Amy sees Madison at the mall and tells Sonny that Wesley used to date her before Bianca. Though it’s small, this bothers me, because Wesley didn’t actually date before Bianca, and he was very clear about that. Movie Wesley does, but the movie’s not the same thing. I don’t care for this retconning at all.
Lying Out Loud is every bit as good as Kody Keplinger’s previous novels. Kody continues to be one of my favorite authors. She never fails with the banter and the realistic characters that jump off the page.