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reader4evr's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked One of those hideous books where the mother dies so I was excited to hear that this book was a spin-off with Ruby's friend Colette meets out in California.
But to be perfectly honest (haha, I made a funny) I was digging Colette. It was kind of annoying with her lying about everything and being so relaxed about it. But on the other hand I really liked her brother Will. I thought he was super cute and a funny side kick even though he was her brother.
Overall I thought the story was interesting and totally had a ton of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. I will always love novels in verse but I wasn't a big fan of this one.
But to be perfectly honest (haha, I made a funny) I was digging Colette. It was kind of annoying with her lying about everything and being so relaxed about it. But on the other hand I really liked her brother Will. I thought he was super cute and a funny side kick even though he was her brother.
Overall I thought the story was interesting and totally had a ton of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. I will always love novels in verse but I wasn't a big fan of this one.
wrathofglasses's review against another edition
1.0
I really, really tried. One of my biggest pet peeves is when things happen conveniently and “just because.” Well, I feel like this book took off on a haphazard journey of convenience and never really stopped. Painful.
magsuexoxo's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Pedophilia
kayharkness's review against another edition
3.0
I love Sonya Sones so I picked this one up in hardcover. I still love her style and the story is interesting but overall I found because the main character was known to lie so much and make up stories, I found her an unreliable narrator ad I was never clear if I was reading the real story or a made up dream at points.
jcrawford728's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Back and forth on my feelings for this one. I'll try to review it to get my thoughts in order.
justcrystalxo's review against another edition
4.0
i thought this was a cute read. kind of adorable.. i liked how i couldnt fully figure out a lie entirely from the truth.. kept me guessing.
meowdynic's review against another edition
1.0
I love all of Sonya Sones' other books with all of my heart and have read them at least 15 times each. I had high expectations that I would fall in love with this too, so I suppose I was setting myself up for failure. I started it one day and had to put it down because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle reading a whole book where the narrator would say something, and take it back a few seconds later because it's annoying. The beginning of the story put me off, and it was hard for me to continue reading with such an unlikeable narrator. As the other characters were introduced, I didn't fall in love with any of them either, let alone like any of them. The boy was not swoon-worthy but rather an asshole, the brother was annoying as hell, and the mother was on-and-off about choosing to be responsible. I suppose the mother's boyfriend was the only likeable character in the book. It was very predictable for me where the story line was going for the most part. Not once was I shocked or blown away. The only good thing about the book is that it was over quick. I suggest that you don't waste an hour and a half of your life reading it if you're looking to read something like Sonya Sones' other books. You'll be left very disappointed.
dawnoftheread's review against another edition
4.0
While I enjoy unreliable narrators, I don't know that this book went quite far enough with it, or really used it in a way that worked for me.
But it was a fun, cute, fanciful teen romance, with just enough steam to tantalize high school students, but not so much as to keep it out of school libraries.
I'd probably booktalk it to high school.
But it was a fun, cute, fanciful teen romance, with just enough steam to tantalize high school students, but not so much as to keep it out of school libraries.
I'd probably booktalk it to high school.
emjrasmussen's review against another edition
How can you tell if Colette is lying?
Well, it is pretty obvious.
After reading this book's synopsis, I was looking forward to a psychological story with a misleading atmosphere. I wanted to be kept guessing, searching for honesty, not knowing what to believe. But this is not what To Be Perfectly Honest delivers.
Colette's story reads just like any other, aside from a few untrue tangents jutting out from the plot and concluding with a confession of the fib and a return to the main storyline. Pointing out where the truth stops and the lies begin is a task so painfully easy that readers will be slightly offended when the narrator asks them whether or not they believed her little story because no, they did not. Her lies are flimsy, her tales transparent, and her narration does not touch the unreliability I craved.
Even more annoyingly, all her biggest untruths relate exclusively to her romance with Connor, which grows tiresome and hinders the reader's ability to see any aspect of her life other than the romantic one. This lack of variety when it comes to Colette's lies gives her a single-minded quality that does not evolve for many chapters. She drops everything for the boy she loves, complaining about how nothing can be fun without him and canceling any plans that conflict with meeting him. Seemingly unable to focus her energy on more than one thing at a time, she crushes the idea that To Be Perfectly Honest will be a book full of disorienting distrust, and it instead becomes a regular romance with a plain protagonist.
For the first half of the book, I could only think about the aforementioned annoyances, and I poked at every one, ready to write a critical review about everything that bothered me. However, about halfway through the book, something shifts.
As soon as Connor's secret mentioned in the summary comes into play, everything begins to look up. He is hiding mysteries of his own, but they are not what they initially seem. They charge the subsequent events with emotion, even making the somewhat unrealistic ending seem acceptable to readers who are cheering passionately for their protagonist. They aid Colette's development, and although she never becomes a vastly detailed character, at least her simplicity is focused not on a destructive relationship, but on a positive goal sparked by the fire that burns her.
Going into more detail on this would give away more than I should share, but readers who are struggling to get through the first half of To Be Perfectly Honest should know that things do improve. The conclusion is a little too good to be true and it does not nearly negate all the annoyances, but it is sweet, funny, and empowering, leaving readers with a smiling final impression. This book begins as a pain to push through, but the creative conclusion fades the glaring negatives, leaving them partially forgotten and making To Be Perfectly Honest a solidly okay story.
This review originally appeared at www.foreverliterary.blogspot.com.
Well, it is pretty obvious.
After reading this book's synopsis, I was looking forward to a psychological story with a misleading atmosphere. I wanted to be kept guessing, searching for honesty, not knowing what to believe. But this is not what To Be Perfectly Honest delivers.
Colette's story reads just like any other, aside from a few untrue tangents jutting out from the plot and concluding with a confession of the fib and a return to the main storyline. Pointing out where the truth stops and the lies begin is a task so painfully easy that readers will be slightly offended when the narrator asks them whether or not they believed her little story because no, they did not. Her lies are flimsy, her tales transparent, and her narration does not touch the unreliability I craved.
Even more annoyingly, all her biggest untruths relate exclusively to her romance with Connor, which grows tiresome and hinders the reader's ability to see any aspect of her life other than the romantic one. This lack of variety when it comes to Colette's lies gives her a single-minded quality that does not evolve for many chapters. She drops everything for the boy she loves, complaining about how nothing can be fun without him and canceling any plans that conflict with meeting him. Seemingly unable to focus her energy on more than one thing at a time, she crushes the idea that To Be Perfectly Honest will be a book full of disorienting distrust, and it instead becomes a regular romance with a plain protagonist.
For the first half of the book, I could only think about the aforementioned annoyances, and I poked at every one, ready to write a critical review about everything that bothered me. However, about halfway through the book, something shifts.
As soon as Connor's secret mentioned in the summary comes into play, everything begins to look up. He is hiding mysteries of his own, but they are not what they initially seem. They charge the subsequent events with emotion, even making the somewhat unrealistic ending seem acceptable to readers who are cheering passionately for their protagonist. They aid Colette's development, and although she never becomes a vastly detailed character, at least her simplicity is focused not on a destructive relationship, but on a positive goal sparked by the fire that burns her.
Going into more detail on this would give away more than I should share, but readers who are struggling to get through the first half of To Be Perfectly Honest should know that things do improve. The conclusion is a little too good to be true and it does not nearly negate all the annoyances, but it is sweet, funny, and empowering, leaving readers with a smiling final impression. This book begins as a pain to push through, but the creative conclusion fades the glaring negatives, leaving them partially forgotten and making To Be Perfectly Honest a solidly okay story.
This review originally appeared at www.foreverliterary.blogspot.com.