Little White Lies

Every series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes stars the exact same protagonist, regardless of the name - a clever, sarcastic, brilliant teenage girl with cutting wit. She's always lost one or both parents. She's poor but is suddenly whisked away in a life where she is surrounded by luxury. She is self contained and slow to trust since she's either never had family or has lost it, but over the course of the book comes to find her real family, true and/or metaphorical. She's always surrounded by the same sidekicks, all who are also teenagers who speak in a way no real teenager does. At least one likes explosions and at least one is very socially inept. And of course there's a handsome boy who is too noble for his own good.
And maybe that would be a problem, if they weren't all so damn fun and enjoyable, and with pretty interesting and unique stories and narrative. It's ok for me that the protagonist of every series is basically the same, because I want MORE of that protagonist. I really enjoy reading every single series by her.

YA and I are in a weird relationship lately, and it's definitely making it harder for me to review books like Little White Lies. This is a book that made me giggle, endeared me to its characters, but then ran way longer than it probably should have. It's rough to sit in that middle ground where you genuinely loved the majority of a story, but there are just small things that make it rougher to finish than you expected. That's this book in a nutshell.

I mean, this book could have probably done with a bit of culling in the plot department. The mystery built around Sawyer and her newly acquired family members started out with a bang. However, as the story progressed, it felt more and more stagnant. The tension that Barnes built up so well at the beginning, that sense of growth that was tied to Sawyer, just slowly simmered off. I was frustrated towards the middle of this story, and really ready to skim. I kept on though and, I can say, the end of this book rewarded me. So, if you feel the same, just keep going. It's worth it.

Also I should note that I appreciated how well Barnes rounds out these characters. Debutantes of any sort have the ability to be vapid girls who have no personality to speak of. In this case, the girls have a wonderful amount of depth. Especially since Sawyer, an outsider to this whole world of pearls and balls, comes into the picture early on. I loved the friendship and the family relationships that came to life on the page. Each girl had their own little quirk that spoke to what we'd expect from the debutante scene: the mean girl, the pretty but spacey one, and the prim one. However as time went on, each one of them broke out of the mold slowly but surely. It was so refreshing.

The actual ending of the book did cause a bit of huffing and puffing from me. I knew that this was an ongoing series, and so I was thoroughly prepared for a cliffhanger ending. What happened instead was the exact opposite. Everything wraps up with a neat bow, and this book just ends. No fanfare, no excitement, but then isn't that just like real life? I suppose I've been groomed to expect book ending frustration. I'm not sure if that's funny or sad.

Anyway, this is well worth a read. It's a charming book and, while it has its flaws, it pushes the envelope on what has been done with characters of this type before. I honestly can't wait for the next book.