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emilyctrigg
I did it you guys. I finally read One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus.
This book was on the NYT bestsellers list for quite a while, so I had been highly anticipating this book. It starts off very reminiscent of The breakfast club-- five teens enter detention and seem to have almost nothing in common. However, things turn dicey really quickly when one student has an allergic reaction and no EpiPen can be found. Since his EpiPen couldn't be found and all the ones from the nurse's station were gone, his death was quickly ruled a homicide. Of course, all of the other teens in the room are key suspects. And what makes it even worse, is that Simon runs a gossip blog that was about to dish out major secrets on each of those students. Would one of them kill Simon in order to keep their secret from becoming public knowledge?
What I liked:
-Each character was really different and most grew a lot over the course of the story
-The writing style was very nice. We moved quickly through the story and I was riveted. I read this book so quickly because I was just absolutely hooked.
-How the mystery turned out was quite good. I actually knew what the end was going to be because I accidentally spoiled myself by watching a Youtube video, but the foreshadowing of the killer was phenomenal and I enjoyed seeing it all play out
What I didn't like:
- There were a lot of things that I found inappropriate/distasteful about this book. Here's a list:
One of the characters decided to sleep with her boyfriend (prior to the events of the book) because her mom told her that if she kept saying no, eventually someone else would say yes.
[MINOR SPOILERS] One of the secrets that could have gotten out was that one of the characters is gay. I find it inappropriate for sexuality to be a plot twist
One of the female side characters is very sexual. A comment is made about her that, if she were a guy, she would be in jail for all the groping she does. Okay. Any type of unsolicited touching is NOT OKAY regardless of the gender of the person doing the touching. This line is extremely sexist and inappropriate.
There's a lot of tossing around of the terms "whore" and "slut." I am not okay with how hyper-sexual some of these characters were being, but I don't think it's every okay to call someone a slut.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would definitely read McManus's next book, but I sincerely hope that she grows more from this book to the next and avoids the generalizations of all girls as sluts and that inappropriate touching from girls is okay because apparently all guys would like that.
Love the storyline and enjoyed the mystery, but overall left a sour taste in my mouth
3/5 stars
This book was on the NYT bestsellers list for quite a while, so I had been highly anticipating this book. It starts off very reminiscent of The breakfast club-- five teens enter detention and seem to have almost nothing in common. However, things turn dicey really quickly when one student has an allergic reaction and no EpiPen can be found. Since his EpiPen couldn't be found and all the ones from the nurse's station were gone, his death was quickly ruled a homicide. Of course, all of the other teens in the room are key suspects. And what makes it even worse, is that Simon runs a gossip blog that was about to dish out major secrets on each of those students. Would one of them kill Simon in order to keep their secret from becoming public knowledge?
What I liked:
-Each character was really different and most grew a lot over the course of the story
-The writing style was very nice. We moved quickly through the story and I was riveted. I read this book so quickly because I was just absolutely hooked.
-How the mystery turned out was quite good. I actually knew what the end was going to be because I accidentally spoiled myself by watching a Youtube video, but the foreshadowing of the killer was phenomenal and I enjoyed seeing it all play out
What I didn't like:
- There were a lot of things that I found inappropriate/distasteful about this book. Here's a list:
One of the characters decided to sleep with her boyfriend (prior to the events of the book) because her mom told her that if she kept saying no, eventually someone else would say yes.
[MINOR SPOILERS] One of the secrets that could have gotten out was that one of the characters is gay. I find it inappropriate for sexuality to be a plot twist
One of the female side characters is very sexual. A comment is made about her that, if she were a guy, she would be in jail for all the groping she does. Okay. Any type of unsolicited touching is NOT OKAY regardless of the gender of the person doing the touching. This line is extremely sexist and inappropriate.
There's a lot of tossing around of the terms "whore" and "slut." I am not okay with how hyper-sexual some of these characters were being, but I don't think it's every okay to call someone a slut.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would definitely read McManus's next book, but I sincerely hope that she grows more from this book to the next and avoids the generalizations of all girls as sluts and that inappropriate touching from girls is okay because apparently all guys would like that.
Love the storyline and enjoyed the mystery, but overall left a sour taste in my mouth
3/5 stars
