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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Homophobia, Outing, Alcohol
Moderate: Biphobia, Grief
Aunque no estoy de acuerdo con ciertos asuntos por lo demás puedo decir que el libro ha tratado muy bien todos los temas que ha tocado, y que los personajes se han sentido muy reales, todos con su personalidad y su forma de ser.
Spoiler
como la reacción de los padres de Juni o que Lucas sea "pansexual" (ugh)
Seven Ways We Lie was definitely not the kind of book I was expecting it to be. For starters, it was one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a very long time.
Seven Ways We Lie follows seven characters who have recently learned that there was been a student-teacher affair taking place at their school. Seven Ways We Lie explores the their lives and their troubles in a way that, admittedly, stunned me. I was not expecting this degree of character depth. Every character just had something special about the way they were written - you would never mistake once character for the other whilst reading this, which I think is quite a rare thing. And the diversity! We meet a pansexual character, an autistic character, an ace character, and there is so much more diversity in this book, that never feels like it’s forced or like the author tried to squeeze as much as they could into this so as to show off how modern and how accepting they are. Personally, my favourite character was a tie between Kat and Valentine. Valentine was someone I felt I could really relate to - in more ways than one - and Kat was written extremely well and I felt like I could really see into her head and could connect to her very well. Admittedly, I did find the character of Claire insufferable at points, though she did get slightly better.
This book stole my heart in so many ways. It felt so true to life, and dealt with so many different topics extremely well. Importantly, it never glorified these topics either. It painted high school in a refreshingly accurate light, whilst dealing with topics like sexuality, feminism, sexual harassment, divorce, drug usage, and so on.
However, I would not recommend this book if you love books that are very plot-heavy. Seven Ways We Lie focuses mostly on character development, and there isn’t a great deal of plot to follow. Usually, I tend to prefer books with an obvious plot, though I actually loved this book, and felt like the lack of a plot made it really work and come to life. I found it incredibly engaging, and special, and even beautiful at points.
I hope you will have the pleasure of reading this book this year.
Seven Ways We Lie follows seven characters who have recently learned that there was been a student-teacher affair taking place at their school. Seven Ways We Lie explores the their lives and their troubles in a way that, admittedly, stunned me. I was not expecting this degree of character depth. Every character just had something special about the way they were written - you would never mistake once character for the other whilst reading this, which I think is quite a rare thing. And the diversity! We meet a pansexual character, an autistic character, an ace character, and there is so much more diversity in this book, that never feels like it’s forced or like the author tried to squeeze as much as they could into this so as to show off how modern and how accepting they are. Personally, my favourite character was a tie between Kat and Valentine. Valentine was someone I felt I could really relate to - in more ways than one - and Kat was written extremely well and I felt like I could really see into her head and could connect to her very well. Admittedly, I did find the character of Claire insufferable at points, though she did get slightly better.
This book stole my heart in so many ways. It felt so true to life, and dealt with so many different topics extremely well. Importantly, it never glorified these topics either. It painted high school in a refreshingly accurate light, whilst dealing with topics like sexuality, feminism, sexual harassment, divorce, drug usage, and so on.
However, I would not recommend this book if you love books that are very plot-heavy. Seven Ways We Lie focuses mostly on character development, and there isn’t a great deal of plot to follow. Usually, I tend to prefer books with an obvious plot, though I actually loved this book, and felt like the lack of a plot made it really work and come to life. I found it incredibly engaging, and special, and even beautiful at points.
I hope you will have the pleasure of reading this book this year.
I'm normally not a YA fan but this was actually pretty good! You could barely tell it was YA sometimes. The parallels and allegories were really well done, and I was genuinely surprised and pleased with the book.
June 26, 2021
2.75/5 stars
What I liked:
-Ace & pan representation. I found the ace representation in particular very relatable.
-Kat's perspective. Kat felt very real to me, and her behaviour was reminscent of my own dealings with depression. Depression doesn't always look like sadness; sometimes it can be anger and closing yourself off, and overall it felt like a very real depiction.
-The characters all had very distinctive traits that made them easy to remember.
-The concept. Each protagonist embodies one of the seven deadly sins, and the links here are well done without feeling too on-the-nose.
What I didn't like:
-Purely personal preference, but Redgate's writing style wasn't my favourite. Her characters describe things using very interesting metaphors, which is fine, but it didn't quite fit some of the characters' personalities and took me out of the story a bit. I was ultimately left with the feeling that they should all be English majors.
-Juniper's character wasn't well fleshed out, it made sympathizing with her very difficult and I ended up being the least invested in her sections.
-Claire's character had no redeeming qualities that I could see. I don't have a problem with unlikeable characters when I feel they're meant to be unlikeable, but I don't think that was the intention here. I would have liked more closure from her last conflict as well.
-To add onto that last point, I wanted more closure from almost every conflict in the novel. I thought the ending was a bit too abrupt and that the story would have benefited from being several chapters longer.
I much prefered this novel the first time I read it because I connected with the main romance a lot more that first read. This second time, I thought it very sweet, but not overly memorable. I also had a much harder time stomaching the actions of one of the characters this time around, and that greatly affected my enjoyment.
April 1, 2018
4.5/5 stars
2.75/5 stars
What I liked:
-Ace & pan representation. I found the ace representation in particular very relatable.
-Kat's perspective. Kat felt very real to me, and her behaviour was reminscent of my own dealings with depression. Depression doesn't always look like sadness; sometimes it can be anger and closing yourself off, and overall it felt like a very real depiction.
-The characters all had very distinctive traits that made them easy to remember.
-The concept. Each protagonist embodies one of the seven deadly sins, and the links here are well done without feeling too on-the-nose.
What I didn't like:
-Purely personal preference, but Redgate's writing style wasn't my favourite. Her characters describe things using very interesting metaphors, which is fine, but it didn't quite fit some of the characters' personalities and took me out of the story a bit. I was ultimately left with the feeling that they should all be English majors.
-Juniper's character wasn't well fleshed out, it made sympathizing with her very difficult and I ended up being the least invested in her sections.
-Claire's character had no redeeming qualities that I could see. I don't have a problem with unlikeable characters when I feel they're meant to be unlikeable, but I don't think that was the intention here. I would have liked more closure from her last conflict as well.
-To add onto that last point, I wanted more closure from almost every conflict in the novel. I thought the ending was a bit too abrupt and that the story would have benefited from being several chapters longer.
I much prefered this novel the first time I read it because I connected with the main romance a lot more that first read. This second time, I thought it very sweet, but not overly memorable. I also had a much harder time stomaching the actions of one of the characters this time around, and that greatly affected my enjoyment.
April 1, 2018
4.5/5 stars
4.5 Stars
This book was great and kept me wanting more. Once I got into it I couldn’t stop reading.
I liked the arcs and pace of the story. I loved getting to know the characters. It was over all a fun yet intense read.
I was left wanting a little more form a few of the characters so I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 Stars.
This book was great and kept me wanting more. Once I got into it I couldn’t stop reading.
I liked the arcs and pace of the story. I loved getting to know the characters. It was over all a fun yet intense read.
I was left wanting a little more form a few of the characters so I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 Stars.
Find the full review at Fangirls Read It First
This might be the best book that I have read in 2015. The narration switched between the seven students and each one had a distinct, natural style. Each character had pieces to the puzzle, and most didn’t even realize. They all had their own, separate dramas happening, with connections to others, that it was easy to set the bigger mystery aside for a bit. Every one of the seven main characters was a fully developed individual, and the writing reflected that when the narrator changed. I enjoyed the candor with which the story was written. The difficult issues were not sugar-coated or glossed over. I believe that any teenager, or adult for that matter, could relate to some aspect of this story and I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes contemporary fiction.
This might be the best book that I have read in 2015. The narration switched between the seven students and each one had a distinct, natural style. Each character had pieces to the puzzle, and most didn’t even realize. They all had their own, separate dramas happening, with connections to others, that it was easy to set the bigger mystery aside for a bit. Every one of the seven main characters was a fully developed individual, and the writing reflected that when the narrator changed. I enjoyed the candor with which the story was written. The difficult issues were not sugar-coated or glossed over. I believe that any teenager, or adult for that matter, could relate to some aspect of this story and I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes contemporary fiction.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Vomit, Outing, Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny
Pure basic. The story never picked up or took any dramatic turn. There was nothing about lies and being caught. And there were definitely not seven lies.
Read it if you have nothing else to read left in the world.
Read it if you have nothing else to read left in the world.