3.75/4*

***I’ve received a free eBook copy in exchange for an honest review***

We all know about book the DUFF, which recently became a movie. Well, guess what this book is. It is companion novel to that. I was freaking out when I got the chance to read it before its realising date.

In this one we follow girl Sonny, girl who just can’t stop lying. She just doesn’t know how. It is her way of getting control over things, way of staying safe from other people’s judging. She is best friend of Amy Rush, Wesley’s sister(you will know who Wesley is if you read the Duff). She was getting away with lying until one day she finds more about the new kid Ryder who recently came to their school. At first she thinks that he is jackass and she pretty much hated him. He had one wickness Amy and one night when he emails her, girls decide not to miss that opportunity and make a prank(or pretty much just Sonny). Things get complicated when Sonny finds herself texting with Ryder whole night. But there is one problem, he thinks he was talking to Amy. From that point Sonny is trying to make her plan, of getting him to like her not Amy, become reality.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked that some characters from previous one were in this one too. It just made sence. I liked that it was not all about romance, it mentions some deep issues about friendships and family. It was really entertaining, and kept my attention from first to last page. Also there was humor aspect which i really liked. I found myself laughing out loud at some parts.

Our main character Sonny was reliable. I understood her need for lying and protecting herself. She had some deep issues, but she performed as strong person. She had a development from beginning until end. She just grew as person and i enjoyed that. But at some parts i just wanted to scream WHYY? WHYY WOULD YOU DO THAT!? She knew she will get hurt if she don’t stop the lying, but she just couldn’t help herself. But everything was resolved at the end.

I also liked Amy as character. She was shy girl, girl who needed someone to stand for her, because she was to polite and didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. She thought more about others that herself. That made her amazing person and friend. She also grew as character. She was so forgiving it and amazing and I kind of related to her the most.

I loved their friendship. Without each other they wouldn’t be a whole. They needed each other in their life. Amy needed Sonny to protect her, to get her out in the world. But Sonny needed Amy to calm her down, made her better person. It was just beautiful to read about.

I like the romance. At first I thought that I needed more, but then I realise it was more realistic and reliable this way. They were so cute together. That’s all I am going to say.

I liked this book, but i didn’t love it. Something was just missing but i don’t know why. That’s the only reason i will give it 3.75/5 stars, but i recommend it to everyone.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and I don't think I've ever been more happy to get an email saying a book has been approved because I adore The Duff and this being a companion to it, I was dying with excitement. I was totally stoked about this book and I've got to say - this book did not disappoint.



Sonny and Amy have been best friends for pretty much forever. Sonny is the loud, outgoing and kind of obnoxious one whereas Amy is the sweet, quiet, reserved one. The two give a balance on each other, I thought this was quite a good example of where 'opposites attract'. The two are best friends; they're soulmates. Throughout the book we see them have their ups and down and I feel like it can go back to where it all started. Near the beginning of this book, Amy said all the bad things happening to Sonny was 'karma' and I thought it was a sneaky foreshadow as this book feels like a very big, fat book of karma being finally delivered to Sonny.

Sonny has bad things happening to her because she's a liar - a big, fat, compulsive one at that. We learn she uses it to protect herself from all the bad things going on, she likes to be in control when she isn't. She doesn't want anyone to get close because the two people who are supposed to always be there for you, have let her down. No one, but Amy, has been there for her.

Amy, is Wesley Rush's little sister - I'll get onto Wesley in a second, don't forget I'm skipping Bianca - and is pretty much the opposite of him. Wesley, in The Duff is flirty, outgoing, loud, the 'school slut' was his reputation pretty much and Amy is shy, peaceful and a bit of a pushover. I thought her character development was great in this book - she went from shy to fierce - and I get all happy thinking about the amazing character development Keplinger produces but I'll talk about it later.

Now, lets talk about Ryder. Ryder's the new kid to Hamilton High and he's missing his life in Washington DC and keeps complaining about what a deadbeat town Hamilton is and that his mother dragged him from his friends and family. Lets get this out in the clear, at the start of the book (once again, amazing character development) Ryder's the most pretentious douche bag you have ever met in your entire life. Everyone at school hates him for his negative views on the town and for his annoying positive views about DC and he has a pretty big crush on Amy.

And it doesn't help when Amy and Sonny write a mean email reply when he's sent a polite one asking Amy on a date. The thing is, Amy doesn't want to go on a date with him but she's too nice to say no so Sonny takes it into her hands and the two write an email that was meant for their eyes only.

Until Sonny's hand slips and it sends.

So when Sonny apologizes through IMing him, he accepts it and the two talk all night and Sonny thinks she might have a crush on the pretentious, snobby, preppy new boy - and then it all goes crashing down in flames for when Ryder thinks he's been talking to Amy for the whole night. Let me tell you, this is the beginning of the disaster. I'm not going to give anything more away because I don't think I can without writing about this book for hours.

Now onto Wesley Rush. Oh Wesley. Wesley Wesley Wesley. I have loved Wesley ever since Bianca threw a cheery coke in his face and I will continue to love him until the day I die and the days after. Wesley Rush will always be hot - even when he's old, I'll bet money on that. I adored Wesley's little cameos in this book and it made me feel all gooey inside.



And Bianca with Wesley and their little squabbles made me die with cuteness inside and Kody Keplinger I know this is one of many blog posts but PLEASE just make a sequel to Bianca and Wesley's college life or after college or anything about them, please. They make me cry, in a good way. I missed them when I finished The Duff and I miss them now. I loved their appearances and some of the little quotes.

"The way Wesley looked at her,"

"I let her do whatever she wants," he said.

Yeah, they make my heart melt over and over again.



Okay, moving on because this post is going in a very different direction - the character development. The character development in this book is the best I've read in a long time and it made me really happy. Sonny went from a lying, okay she really only went from lying to being honest but seeing her at the start of this book, that is still quite a good feat for her. I also liked that she had to be reminded by Amy or had to scold herself, I liked that she didn't do it straight from the hat - it seemed much more relatable. Amy went from being quiet and allowing people to talk over her to being someone who doesn't let them - I admired that, she stuck up to her best friend which I would find pretty hard. Ryder, in my opinion, had the smallest development now I think about it. I believe Ryder was always who he was, his character outlook just changed because Sonny saw him in a different light or he saw people in a different light aka his Mother. I'm gonna bring up Wesley one more time because I can.



Also, Kody that ending was too mean. Too, too mean. You should make up for it by writing a road trip novel about Sonny, Ryder, Wesley, Bianca and Amy going on a road trip. Just saying!

4.5 stars

I was not expecting to love this book, but I did.

Like in The Duff, the main character in Lying out Loud is far from perfect. In fact, she makes a lot of stupid decisions that irritated the crap out of me sometimes. However, it's the way Kody Keplinger helps the MC find her own and learn a lesson that really brings a sparkle to this story.

Despite being annoying at times, Sonny is a relatable character. Lying is a hard habit to break. The other characters also have flaws, that Kody duly points out. Ryder is far from perfect. Wesley, as we know from the Duff, is ever-so-persistent, but also a great friend. So many characters are reunited in this book, and I loved it.

Es un hermoso libro. Es real, honesto, facil, entretenido, divertido. Y tiene este cliché del chico mujeriego, gigoló y arrogante que termina teniendo una personalidad dulce, divertido y atento, entre otras cosas... Pero eso no significa que me guste menos, o que haya predecido todo el libro. No pense que me gustaria tanto.
Y yo tambien soy la Duff.

That was SO NICE! Awww. I'm endeared all around.

This was a "read in one sitting" book for me. I enjoyed it just as much as I did DUFF and I am honestly very excited to read the rest of Keplinger's books. I'm also impressed at an author so young.
This is listed as a companion to The DUFF because it happens at Hamilton High and cameos some of the characters we got to know in that book. Other than the cameos and location, this could easily be read as a stand alone. I enjoy a continuation of a story, but I also like getting to know other people within the world that was created in a previous book, so I did like that aspect of this book. I also liked that there were similarities to the first story, but not to the point where it felt like I was reading the same story with different people. I think YA fans and fans of contemporary romances would enjoy this book.

I've been put off reading this book for so long and now looking back I have no idea why?! Well, first impressions I immediately knew it was going to be a cheesy high school American romance that was obvious. You know what though? It's so awesome!

We meet Bianca or 'B' as she's referred to as is just like any high school girl, interested in boys, namely Toby Tucker and has a bunch of fun friends to hang out with at a teen bar called 'Nest'.

With any family comes it's problems and Bianca's issue is her Mum swanning off months at a time and her Dad plodding on as usual pretending everything is fine. This soon becomes the center of the book of how Bianca deals with her dysfunctional family- make way for Wesley Rush the hottest jock in Hamilton High. Charming, muscular, the renowned cheeky smug grin every one of those guys seems to pick up on and his reputation of sleeping with anything that moves and not forgetting being a complete ass. Eventually despite their differences, Bianca and Wesley are thrown together thanks to a school project. As expected, it doesn't go quite how either of them thought it out to be!

Bianca being the funny and straight up girl who doesn't take nonsense from anyone, she reminded me a lot of myself at her age (but perhaps not as confident). A wonderful narrator that had me cracking up endlessly, I enjoyed reading how she matured throughout this novel and of her end conclusion of being a DUFF. Wesley was definitely the kind of guy I liked in high school, so for me it brought out many funny and cringe worthy memories of my own. He is the perfect example to not judge a book by it's cover so to speak, jock's have feelings too y'know!

This book furthered my opinion on how we can all be feel ugly at times but we're in fact all beautiful, regardless as to whether everyone finds us attractive or not. The beauty comes from within and sometimes in the most unlikely of people, corny I know but this book was the right amount of cheese! For a long time I've put off reading cheesy books but my gosh I can't wait to return for more Hamilton High soon!

Having read The DUFF earlier this year, I was so excited to know there was a companion novel linking to this new story.



We meet Sonny who is continually lying to her friend Amy about her family life, her plans to go to college and now she's gone to the extreme of pretending to be Amy to get the boy she's taken a fancy to- Ryder. A pre-school guy from DC, not Sonny's first choice but like any great teen love story it's always the guys you don't expect!



I found it hard to relate to Sonny with regards to lying, I mean it was continuous. Despite this with regards to her family life I can understand why she would to save her embarrassment and perhaps shame she would have felt towards her Dad's imprisonment. However, when it came to her lying to her best friend over a guy- that's an all time low! We obviously have differing personalities but I felt that this was perhaps a little predictable for it to be built up and then suddenly everything came crashing down.



I respected Amy so much for being Sonny's best friend, surely she's one in a million to stand by her throughout everything- her loyalty and patience was certainly tested throughout this book. I liked the fact this story wasn't just centred on the romantic aspect of a classic teen book, I enjoyed that the friendships were equally as important and engaging.



I love and at the same time hated the end of the book, it felt like a cliffhanger for me and I was waiting for the inevitable ending but it didn't arrive so to speak.


Saying this, I enjoy the novel a lot. Like with The DUFF it's a fun, easy read that makes you smile and cringe all a the same time.


I adore Keplinger's style of writing and our humour matches up perfectly, I would recommend this book to anyone who is stuck in a book hangover. This will definitely get you in the mood to read again, it's funny, romantic, cheesy (in the best way), cringe and just everything you need to reminisce your teen years in a light-hearted brilliant way. I'm definitely interested if there were to be another novel related to this book, it's I love reading when I need something to put a smile on my face.

This was, entertaining but not as good as the previous Kody Keplinger book I read.

I absolutely adored this book. I think it’s going to be one of those books that I want to read over and over again.

Characters

The main character, Bianca is offended at being called “the Duff” by a classmate. She hates this guy, Wesley, he’s a womanising, smug, arrogant asshole and Bianca despises him. But she’s going through some things, and she ends up sleeping with Wesley on a regular basis with the idea that she feels nothing for this boy so she can’t get hurt but gets the “distraction” provided by the sex. This is one of the reasons I loved this book, there wasn’t any of that insta-love nonsense. Bianca hates Wesley and says herself that she’s just using him to distract her from the trouble with her family.

Bianca’s best friends, Jessica and Casey are great. They’re supporting characters but aren’t annoying, they constantly support Bianca and are in it until the end.

Wesley, ah, Wesley. I have a tendency to fall in love with male characters in books. I didn’t fall in love with Wesley but I love him as a character. He wasn’t completely one dimensional, he had personality. He was funny, sarcastic and going through his own stuff that made him seem a lot more realistic than love interests can sometimes be.

Plot

I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary YA lately, I’m loving the cute, cliché drama and The Duff was no different. Bianca is a normal 17 year old with insecurities and issues with her family. Her insecurities are heightened by Wesley referring to her as the Duff until she realises that everyone feels that way in high school. Everyone feels like they’re not good enough.

Conclusion

I love love loved this book. I loved that Wesley and Bianca spent time together and started to fall in love. I love that both of their lives weren’t perfect. I love that these kids were depicted as having safe, consensual sex (it happens, pretending it doesn’t is silly and unrealistic). I just loved everything and recommend it for fans of contemporary YA.