READING : Never Have I Ever by Sara Shepard

Never Have I Ever by Sara Shepard

Publication date: August 2nd, 2011
Published by: HarperTeen
Genre: YA Contemporary, Mystery
Rating: 4/5

My perfect life was a lie.

Now I’d do anything to uncover the truth.

Not long ago, I had everything a girl could wish for: amazing friends, an adorable boyfriend, a loving family. But none of them know that I’m gone—that I’m dead. To solve my murder, my long-lost twin sister, Emma, has taken my place. She sleeps in my room, wears my clothes, and calls my parents Mom and Dad.

And my killer is watching her every move.

I remember little from my life, just flashes and flickers, so all I can do is follow along as Emma tries to solve the mystery of my disappearance. But the deeper she digs, the more suspects she uncovers. It turns out my friends and I played a lot of games—games that ruined people’s lives. Anyone could want revenge . . . anyone could want me—and now Emma—dead.

I admit it, I have a soft spot for Sara Shepard. I absolutely love Pretty Little Liars and same goes with The Lying Game series. 

I can't say I enjoyed Never Have I Ever as much as I enjoyed The Lying Game, but I liked it well enough. It had its good and bad moments.

I'm loving Emma and Ethan and all the twists and the mystery. I liked the "little" pranks that the members of The Lying Games participate in, which mostly Sutton had thought of. A little extreme, yes, but so are the lives they live, their romances, everything, so the extremeness and impossibility of the pranks don't really bother me or seem weird to me.

What annoyed me a little bit this time around, were some of Emma's alleged friends, like the Twitter Twins-they are completely silly and the twitter idea not good enough, in my opinion. Also a problem I had while reading The Lying Game as well was that I sometimes got confused about whose POV I'm reading each time. Is it Sutton or Emma? Their voices are pretty similar although they shouldn't be. It would be much more interesting if Sutton got her bitchy self back and see how she reacts to Emma's actions and decisions. 

I'm more than anxiously waiting for book #3, Two Truths And A Lie, coming out February 2012. I trust and respect Sara too much to live her series unfinished. However, she should start thinking of a way that would distinguish The Lying Game series from Pretty Little Liars because I hate to say it, but they are starting have a lot of similarities! The Lying Game series has to take a different path in order for it to stand out.

PS. What's up with The Lying Game TV series? They really just read the book and went "OK we'll keep the names, toss everything else out?",didn't they?

And Blair Redford? Seriously? As if having to endure him in 90210 wasn't enough!