Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Sometimes I Lie

Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

128 reviews

samanthaosleger's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Read if you like...
⏰ Alternating timelines

📖 Binge-worthy thrillers

🧠 Psychological thrillers

❌ Unreliable narrators

🤔 Ambiguous endings

✏️ Diary Entries

📝 Short chapters

✨ “My name is Amber Reynolds, & there are three things you should know about me.

I’m in a coma.
My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
Sometimes I lie.”

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney is told from alternating timelines, including current time (while she is in the coma), recent past (just before the coma), and distant past (childhood diary entries).

☁️ This was a page-turner, and I didn’t see the twists coming. While there were several twists, I felt a few to be implausible. The end had me going… “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” 🤯 I was baffled after the final chapter and had to look up what had happened. I found various threads of other readers discussing interpretations of different parts of the ending. I was glad to know I wasn’t alone in being confused. With that said, make sure to read very carefully, or even better, buddy read this one, so you have someone to discuss it with! The plot and characters get a bit twisty. Overall, it’s an interesting thriller and an easy read, but it left me with more questions than answers. It’s my third Feeney book, and I wouldn’t say I liked it as much as Rock, Paper, Scissors, but I think I liked it more than Daisy Darker.

Ending so confusing…. here are my thoughts ① Confused about Edward… like the fact that he ends up working at the hospital that Amber is a patient at seems too convenient… but maybe he knew that was the closest hospital to her? ② “Amber made me do it”. It totally made me believe that amber was the psycho one and Claire was doing what amber wanted. Then after reading everyone else’s reviews thought differently that it may have been planted there by Claire. Not sure? ③ What is the anniversary at the end? Who leaves the bracelet? ④ Does Paul not love her anymore? Still curious about his role in everything? ⑤ I Definitely thought that Edward was dead and that Claire and amber killed him since something about them “not having an alibi” was mentioned even though they were never asked.

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theimposter's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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vjlp22_reader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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librariangeorgia's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was an absolute mind-twist of a novel - and being a debut novel as well, it's rather impressive.

There's 3 perspectives that we follow: Amber in present day post-accident, the run up to said accident and diary entries from 25 years earlier. There's just so much that happens across those 3 perspectives that it doesn't seem like they link up to the accident. However, it's around 3/4 of the way through that it starts to unravel and become clearer just what has happened. And nothing is what it seems...

I quite enjoyed this book, just like Feeney's other novels. However, I feel like I was left with more questions than answers by the end.

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aselin's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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joisaddler'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? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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magellen's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

While the plot is twisty and really takes flight at about 75%, you spend most of the book bludgeoned by the phrase 'let herself go' or some adjacent negative assessment regarding every single woman in the book. Seriously it is exhausting, it rises in most chapters, whether it's a pov talking about herself, or her mother, or a coworker, just an endless loop of hate that doesn't add anything and makes the book feel particularly dated.

The book is a great example of unreliable narration but is likewise tedious in stretches where the mc walks forward and backwards through her thoughts with zero self trust and yes, toxic relationships do instill distrust in one's self, but it just feels like bloat in the narrative when it doesn't stop. Likewise it breaks your trust in all the narratives, breaks the momentum the book has built and becomes a muddle halfway thru. Intentionally done and layered as it is it mostly works but I feel like I only began enjoying the book in the last quarter and prior to that it was simply 'welcome to untreated paranoia'.

Matters did hit a hat on a hat level as the book progressed. An antagonist born of the antagonist born of the protagonist. Yes Edward is a successful red herring but god what a loose thread that could have not been in the book at all except for sexual violence. While I'm pleased for the mc cleaning up her psycho sister in the end (gotta think with your head and not your fists, well done taylor) the bracelet reemerging had me rolling my eyes. Just close it out, jesus christ.

Every character is unlikable, no one ever has an honest conversation and yes sure Sometimes I lie, but the inconsistency and internalized body judgement gets in the way of it being a truly satisfying read.

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