Reviews with content warning for Violence - Sometimes I Lie

I wanted to love this book, but I really, really didn’t. I’m trying to explore outside of my normal genre preferences, but this just wasn’t my favorite.

The main action is really the last 20 pages or so, and while the twist with Claire/Taylor/Amber was gripping, it was very hard to keep track of who was who and who did what. Maybe this was intentional to mirror Amber’s confusion, but it was jarring and difficult to read. It felt like the author was trying hard to make the ending surprising. I had a hard time finishing this. I didn’t find the character of Amber likable, so I didn’t feel invested in her story. Part of that was intentional with the diary entries, but really overall was not my favorite.

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oliviaskye's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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v171's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Yuck.

The good: Paced how you'd expect a thriller book to be paced. The twists at the end were interesting.

The bad: I don't like the concept of an unreliable narrator being used as a plot device. It was burdensome to have to mentally track what was true and false throughout the entire story. I found all of the characters to be unlikable, but I think some were written in a way that I was supposed to sympathize with them. Shifting POV is fine when done well, but I found it to be disruptive in this book. However, the automatic 1 star for me was the multiple instances of rape and sexual assault. There are better, more creative ways to make me to hate a character than making them a rape a woman in a coma. I found it to be a lazy way to add shock factor to a story that didn't need i

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michelie101's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

WOW this book is dark and twisted. The book is centered around Amber who starts off in a coma. She doesn't know how she got there and starts recounting the last couple of days she remembers. You also hear excerpts from a journal and what people around her say in the hospital. The more you hear these 3 things the more the puzzle starts to clear up but it isn't until the end what actually occurs. It is very twisted and kind of a sad story for everyone involved. This is one of the first thriller books that I've read and really enjoyed.

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ellalafontant's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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