I really liked this book but the ending kind of left me confused. I would have rated it 4 stars until really the last few lines of the book. Is Claire still alive? What happened to Edward? I don’t like all of the loose ends that aren’t tied up. It also took me a while to shift the back story characters between Claire and Amber, especially because 70% of the book you assume the diaries are Amber’s. So, my mind was trying to figure that out for most of the back end of the book. It was a bit far fetched to me that Amber’s family would dislike her that much that they’d leave everything to someone who isn’t really their daughter? I guess there was just too many unanswered questions for me. I was really intrigued though and did enjoy this story and the concepts. Definitely going to look into other peoples’ theories on what they perceived the ending as! 

Sometimes I Lie certainly took me on a suspenseful journey with Alice Feeney’s signature style of unreliable narrators and more twists than you can predict. This is the second Feeney novel our book club has tackled, following Rock Paper Scissors, which we absolutely loved. While Sometimes I Lie kept me guessing, I felt it didn’t quite hit the mark in the same way. 

 

The twists in this story felt a bit excessive this time around, leaving me more disoriented than delighted. 

 

I still look forward to more of her work, but this one wasn’t quite for me. Also — I should have read the content warnings, but that’s on me. 

A bit darker than I was expecting but liked the twists and turns overall 

Could’ve probably left out the hospital rape scene no? Not sure how it added to the story after knowing what happens to her prior by Edward

3.5- I’m so bummed I can’t rate this higher. This was gripping and twisty, but I’d argue maybe a bit too twisty. The unreliable narrator structure here is convoluted to keep you from knowing how it will end, but it also keeps you from knowing what the hell is happening as it’s unraveling. Kind of confusing, and there’s a couple of things that never really get explained which add to the confusion. Plus this girl just cannot catch a break like the number of terrible things that happen to her is so beyond implausible. 

This really sucked me in though, and I loved the slight horror aspect with some of the dream states - really unexpected and eerie. Definitely see why people rave about this book - it was intriguing and intense. I just felt like some of the plot points could have been more carefully wrapped up.

Title: Sometimes I Lie
Author: Alice Feeney
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: March 23, 2017

T H R E E • W O R D S

Dizzying • Disturbing • Shocking

📖 S Y N O P S I S

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:
1. I'm in a coma.
2. My husband doesn't love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.

Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can't move. She can't speak. She can't open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn't remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Sometimes I Lie was another one of my 12 recommendations from 12 friends challenge for 2024. I didn't know anything about the plot ahead of time (other than that the person who recommended it to me absolutely loved it) and it was my first foray into Alice Feeney's repertoire, so I didn't really know what the expect.

Alternating between the present, the week prior to the accident, and a series of childhood diaries from years ago, the format really allows the reader inside Amber's mind. Alternately, it also has the ability to confuse the reader, which disrupts the flow. It also contains a cast of really unlikeable and unreliable characters. I honestly didn't know who or what to trust.

The plot if packed full of twists and turns, but for me there were a few too many twists making it seem unrealistic and as though the author was trying to pack as much as possible into one story. The ending left more questions than answers and while normally I enjoy this type of ending, with this one the ambiguous ending felt unjust.

Alice Feeney's debut, Sometimes I Lie, is a psychological thriller that is dark and disturbing. One that takes a lot of patience and attention to detail to fully grasp. While I am glad I read it, I can easily say it was not my favourite recommendation for this project. Simply put, it's a mediocre thriller that is highly forgettable.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• unreliable narrators
• diary entries as part of the plot
• psychological thrillers

⚠️ CW: infertility, pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, rape, sexual assault, sexual violence, stalking, emotional abuse, murder, death, death of parent, fire/fire injury, car accident, medical trauma, medical content, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, mental illness, alcoholism, gaslighting, cursing, abandonment

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Nana always said that books made better friends than people anyway. Books will take you anywhere if you let them, she used to say, and I think she was right."

"Sometimes I think it's best to say nothing at all, silence cannot be misquoted."

"People think that good and bad are opposites but they're wrong, they're just mirror images of one another in broken glass."