Synopsis:
Five Little Liars is a fast-paced thriller for fans of One Of Us Is Lying.
Nothing ruins summer vacation like a secret . . . especially when that secret is a dead teacher.
Ivy used to be on top of the social ladder, until her ex made that all go away. She has the chance to be Queen Bee again, but only if the rest of the group can keep quiet.
Tyler has always been a bad boy, but lately he’s been running low on second chances. There’s no way he’s going to lose everything because someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut.
Kinley wouldn’t describe herself as perfect, though everyone else would. But perfection comes at a price, and there is nothing she wouldn’t do to keep her perfect record – one that doesn’t include murder charges.
Mattie is only in town for the summer. He wasn’t looking to make friends, and he definitely wasn’t looking to be involved in a murder. He’s also not looking to be riddled with guilt for the rest of his life . . . but to prevent that he’ll have to turn them all in.
Cade couldn’t care less about the body, or about the pact to keep the secret. The only way to be innocent is for someone else to be found guilty. Now he just has to decide who that someone will be.
With the police hot on the case, they don’t have much time to figure out how to trust each other. But in order to take the lead, you have to be first in line . . . and that’s the quickest way to get stabbed in the back.
Review:
Five Little Liars has been sitting on my Kindle for quite some time now and as it’s a pretty short read, I was really excited to check it out. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this anywhere near as much as I thought I would.
My very first thought of Five Little Liars is that it feels like a One Of Us Is Lying rip off or that it’s at least heavily inspired by it. The bad boy drug dealer is interested in the goody two shoes girl. Did someone say Nate and Bronwyn? Oh no sorry these characters are Tyler and Kinley, my bad. The similarities continue throughout the whole book. Each character has a ‘big secret’ they don’t want to get out and Kinley’s big secret just happens to be that she cheats on tests, which is also what Bronwyn did in One Of Us Is Lying.
Speaking of the character’s secrets, they fell extremely flat. I’d say only Cade and Tyler had interesting backgrounds and secrets that were actually bad. Yeah, cheating on tests is bad and cheating on your boyfriend is also bad, but nowhere near as life-ruining as killing someone or dealing drugs. I already can’t remember what Ivy’s secret was so hers couldn’t have been that bad either.
I thought I’d really enjoy the fast pace of Five Little Liars but it actually just meant there wasn’t any time for characters or tension to develop. I assume you’re not supposed to actually like these characters because trust me when I say they’re all awful. I get that teens are stereotypically shown to be selfish and they always make bad decisions but that’s where the development comes in and you grow to like them. Well, not in this book. I still didn’t like any of them by the end.
I won’t spoil the ending but it is ridiculous, to the extent that I literally groaned and rolled my eyes when I finished it. It was such a non ending and a bit of a cop out really. No one had to face the consequences of their actions, or did they? We don’t know and probably never will. Also, the ‘twist’ was just pure stupid – which I know is pretty harsh, but no other word could do it justice.
Honestly, I’d love to have something positive to say about Five Little Liars but I’m struggling to think of something. I did finish the book, which is a positive I suppose. However, I probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t so short.
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