Lying Out Loud Review

Title: Lying out Loud

Author: Kody Keplinger

Genre & Age Group: Contemporary, romance, young adult

Goodreads Synopsis:

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?

Source: Public library

How I Found Out About It: Blogging

Lately, I have been becoming a big fan of Kody Keplinger’s novels. Having really enjoyed Run and The DUFF, I was so excited when I found another book of hers, Lying out Loud, at my public library. The premise especially seemed so enthralling, so I snatched it off the shelf and never looked back!

I have to say, this wasn’t my favourite Keplinger book. Run still has that status, but this one falls as a close second. I absolutely loved the character development and the premise of this book!

Lying out Loud is basically about Sonny, who is a compulsive liar. Since she was kicked out of her house, she lives with her best friend Amy’s family. When a new guy at school named Ryder emails Amy to ask her out, Sonny and Amy send a prank email in response. Not realizing it was Amy’s account, Sonny strikes up a conversation with him, and she simply can’t get enough. Ryder thinks it’s Amy that he’s chatting with, but what he doesn’t know is that it’s actually Sonny.

In spite of the fact that Sonny lied compulsively, I found her to be a very strong character. Sure, the lying got quite a bit annoying at times, but she was still a very loyal friend, and I loved how she learned to become more honest by the end of the book. I often disliked the decisions she made during the story, but I feel like all these mistakes simply made her a much stronger, more tolerant person.

Next, I absolutely loved her best friend Amy. She and her family were SO nurturing and kind. Because of the circumstances at home that Sonny was facing, I loved how they opened their arms so eagerly in having her stay with them. They are the “best friend’s family” that everyone definitely needs!😉

As for Ryder, I found his background and character to be quite interesting. I want to dig so deep into his story- I need much more information about this boy!

Oh, and we can’t forget the awesome cameos made in this book! Remember Bianca and Wes from The DUFF? Yep, they show up in this book too, and Wes is actually Amy’s older brother! There were also some other couples from other Keplinger books that I haven’t read yet, but I do plan to as soon as possible.

As I said earlier in this review, the premise of this story was definitely also very riveting. I went in blind, and I was not disappointed. I literally never wanted to put this book down, I just wanted to see how all the chaos between Ryder, Amy, and Sonny got solved!

Overall, this was an honest look at the chaos that compulsive lying can lead to, and I believe that many more readers should have their eyes open for this book. It had amazingly developed characters, an interesting plot, as well as a super adorable romance. Trust me. I’m not lying.