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A review by tanaz_masaba
Girls Who Lie Together by Jessa Russo
2.0
I have mixed feelings about this one, so here we go.
When I first read the book's blurb, I expected a sizzling enemy to lovers' slow-burn romance. And while I did get what I was promised, it was pretty underwhelming.
The story starts out strong with two extremely flawed, mean girls who are clearly attracted to each other but would not admit it. I liked how real both Renata and Brit felt; they were exactly what you would expect from a couple of rebellious teenage girls: stubborn, allergic to reason and logical thinking, hypocritical, judgemental, and very much hormonal.
Unfortunately, that was their entire personality.
Now, I don't have anything against unlikeable main characters. Ren and Brit are difficult protagonists, in the sense that they are both so toxic and judgemental that you will find very little reason to root for them. Several times, I almost gave up on the book but kept reading because, despite their awful personalities, I quite enjoyed Russo's writing.
However, by the time I was done with the book, I was left scratching my head and wondering why the hell did I waste a whole week reading this story when I could have been doing literally anything else.
I know it sounds harsh, but the book had a lot of potential to become a truly heartwarming, cutesy story about a life-changing summer romance. Both Renata and Britta are at the work program due to family issues; both girls are clearly disturbed by their parents choices in life, and this was a great opportunity to see how their characters develop as they bond over their shared of their parent's divorces as well as their parent's disapproval of their choices.
Instead, we get pages and pages of Ren obsessing over Britt's boobs and instantly stereotyping her as a typical "dumb blonde Barbie".
And although she does get called out for it, she doesn't quite change as a person throughout the book, because at the end of the day, she only chooses to see Britt differently while judging everyone else the way she always had.
This goes for Ren's relationships with every other character in the book, though admittedly we don't really get to see much of her relationship with others around her since the entire book is just her obsessing over Britt's boobs. Near the end of the book, her relationship with her parents get better in only one sentence; it's all tell and no show. We don't really get to see what made her so upset with them, there's no conversation about how her feelings were valid but her actions were inexcusable.
In other words, for a book that's being pitched as Grease meets Mean Girls, there's literally no character development, and we all know that character development and growth is at the very core of both of those movies.
As for the romance, even that was a disappointment. In the entire 300+ pages of this book, we never really quite figure out why exactly Renata is so head over heels in love with Brit, who honestly treats her in the worst possible ways imaginable. If the story ended with Ren admitting that her feelings for Brit had more to do with lust than love, and she ends up choosing her dignity over some girl who treated her like a dirty little secret, then that would have been a much better ending.
Instead, during the very last few pages, Brit, completely out of character, just decides that she would come out and be with Ren and forget about all those times she had bullied Ren in public while making out with her in private.
I understand the point of this story that the author was trying to make. I understand that she wanted to highlight how difficult and traumatizing coming out can be, and how LGBTQ+ people deserve to be loved openly with respect.
But because we don't see any redemption arc for Brit, because we don't see how high the stakes are for her (we are told but we never actually see the consequences), the author kind of failed to deliver the message with this one.
And lastly, the best romance stories are the ones that encompass not just the couple in love, but others around them. The best romance stories have side characters who hold up the story on their own merits. There was so much potential in this book to give Ren and Brit a better growth through their relationships with the side characters, but sadly the author completely missed out on those opportunities.
10/10 I would not recommend this book.
When I first read the book's blurb, I expected a sizzling enemy to lovers' slow-burn romance. And while I did get what I was promised, it was pretty underwhelming.
The story starts out strong with two extremely flawed, mean girls who are clearly attracted to each other but would not admit it. I liked how real both Renata and Brit felt; they were exactly what you would expect from a couple of rebellious teenage girls: stubborn, allergic to reason and logical thinking, hypocritical, judgemental, and very much hormonal.
Unfortunately, that was their entire personality.
Now, I don't have anything against unlikeable main characters. Ren and Brit are difficult protagonists, in the sense that they are both so toxic and judgemental that you will find very little reason to root for them. Several times, I almost gave up on the book but kept reading because, despite their awful personalities, I quite enjoyed Russo's writing.
However, by the time I was done with the book, I was left scratching my head and wondering why the hell did I waste a whole week reading this story when I could have been doing literally anything else.
I know it sounds harsh, but the book had a lot of potential to become a truly heartwarming, cutesy story about a life-changing summer romance. Both Renata and Britta are at the work program due to family issues; both girls are clearly disturbed by their parents choices in life, and this was a great opportunity to see how their characters develop as they bond over their shared of their parent's divorces as well as their parent's disapproval of their choices.
Instead, we get pages and pages of Ren obsessing over Britt's boobs and instantly stereotyping her as a typical "dumb blonde Barbie".
And although she does get called out for it, she doesn't quite change as a person throughout the book, because at the end of the day, she only chooses to see Britt differently while judging everyone else the way she always had.
This goes for Ren's relationships with every other character in the book, though admittedly we don't really get to see much of her relationship with others around her since the entire book is just her obsessing over Britt's boobs. Near the end of the book, her relationship with her parents get better in only one sentence; it's all tell and no show. We don't really get to see what made her so upset with them, there's no conversation about how her feelings were valid but her actions were inexcusable.
In other words, for a book that's being pitched as Grease meets Mean Girls, there's literally no character development, and we all know that character development and growth is at the very core of both of those movies.
As for the romance, even that was a disappointment. In the entire 300+ pages of this book, we never really quite figure out why exactly Renata is so head over heels in love with Brit, who honestly treats her in the worst possible ways imaginable. If the story ended with Ren admitting that her feelings for Brit had more to do with lust than love, and she ends up choosing her dignity over some girl who treated her like a dirty little secret, then that would have been a much better ending.
Instead, during the very last few pages, Brit, completely out of character, just decides that she would come out and be with Ren and forget about all those times she had bullied Ren in public while making out with her in private.
I understand the point of this story that the author was trying to make. I understand that she wanted to highlight how difficult and traumatizing coming out can be, and how LGBTQ+ people deserve to be loved openly with respect.
But because we don't see any redemption arc for Brit, because we don't see how high the stakes are for her (we are told but we never actually see the consequences), the author kind of failed to deliver the message with this one.
And lastly, the best romance stories are the ones that encompass not just the couple in love, but others around them. The best romance stories have side characters who hold up the story on their own merits. There was so much potential in this book to give Ren and Brit a better growth through their relationships with the side characters, but sadly the author completely missed out on those opportunities.
10/10 I would not recommend this book.