Hi guys! It has been a while but I am back to review the novel “One Of Us Is Lying” by Karen M. McManus. It is book #1 in the “One Of Us Is Lying” series. It is about 5 students who get into detention but only 4 come out alive. It also shows the events that ensue from it. 

Warning: SPOILERS UP AHEAD! (IF YOU’VE READ IT, GREAT! BUT IF NOT THEN DON’T SCROLL UP OR IF YOU JUST WANT TO SPOIL IT FOR YOURSELF THEN GO AHEAD)

⚠️TRIGGER WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF THEMES RELATING TO SUICIDE, DEPRESSION, ETC ⚠️ 

My book review:

Book itself:

• The title does give you a sense of suspense as to who could have possibly caused the death of the deceased student…
• I liked the bold red heading of the title as it draws your attention towards the book and I like the little subheadings beneath each bolded heading. It’s short and snappy.  
• I also liked the 4 illustrations of the characters shown in the book. Simple but effective. 

Characters:

• I liked reading each character’s point of view (POV) as it fleshes them out more and gives you an idea of their hidden thoughts. 
• The back of the book gives you a very simplistic idea of who each person is but the book gives you more insight into how the characters are shaped that way and how it develops further when reading the book. 
• First up is Bronwyn, a nerd 🤓 who plays by the rules but as we get closer to the climax at the beginning of the book, we see that she’s not as innocent as she seems and has secrets of her own. One of them was that she cheated on her chemistry 🧪 tests by looking for other tests that the teacher 👩‍🏫 had. 
• Next up is Adelaide ‘Addy’ Prentiss. She’s one of Bayview High’s cheerleaders 📣 and a renowned prom queen 👑. Like Bronwyn, she has a secret of her own: she slept with her boyfriend Jake’s best friend TJ and never told him for a long time, (which was during the summer, I think). 
• Cooper Clay is a baseball ⚾ player and a great one. Initially his “secret” was that he used steroids to enhance his sports performance. However, this wasn’t true. His real secret is that he is gay and in a secret relationship with a German 🇩🇪 underwear 🩲 model named Kris. The first secret was untrue because Jake, who was an accomplice to Simon, didn’t want to say that he had a gay friend. 
• We then meet Nate Macaulay. A loner and an ex-drug dealer. His secret was that he got charged or arrested for dealing drugs and was put on probation. (I might be wrong on this though).
• We meet Bronwyn’s sister Maeve who I liked. She was a cool hacker 💻 and helped Bronwyn a lot during the whole murder situation. 
• I love Cooper’s grandma 👵🏿 Nonny. She noticed that he wasn’t interested in having a relationship with Keeley and encouraged him to pursue the one that he loves ♥️. I also liked that when he came out to his family, his grandma still supported him. 
• Addy’s mom was complicated, to say the least. She insisted that Addy dress 👗 and be a certain way so that Jake would still be interested in having a relationship with her. 
• It was heartbreaking 💔 reading about Nate’s situation with his dad and mum. I’m glad he has Stan 🦎. 
• I did feel bad for Janae. She didn’t deserve the huge spotlight from the press on Simon’s murder/suicide. It was too much for her and she really did like him. 
• Simon was a really complicated person, being on disturbing chat forums and all. But honestly, if people took the time to really understand him like Janae did and help him with his mental health, he wouldn’t have to resort to suicide in the 1st place. 

Plot:

• The beginning is interesting. Bronwyn starts by giving us an insight into the atmosphere in the high school 🏫 and the presence of Simon’s gossip blog 🧑‍💻 About That. Everyone is terrified about what Simon could post about them, yet they are still glued to his blog, waiting for what he is going to post next. 
• It was amusing reading Simon’s little speech on how they are all stereotypical high school archetypes: Bronwyn the Brains 🧠, Cooper the Jock ⚾, Addy the Princess/Beauty 👑, and Nate the Rebel 😒. Aka the characters from “The Breakfast Club” 
• It was true though. They were all in labelled boxes 🏷️📦. 
• However, it was interesting that Simon regarded himself as the ‘Omnipresent Narrator’ watching 👀 all of them. 
• It’s fascinating seeing all of them breaking out of their shells 🐚 throughout the book:
  • Bronwyn slowly begins a relationship with Nate and starts their late-night calls 🌃📱 and movie 🎬 nights. 
  • Cooper becomes more comfortable with himself and his sexuality e.g. going out with Kris in public and being affectionate with him
  • Nate starts hanging out with them as they band together to try and find out who the murderer is. 
  • Addy changes her appearance and becomes true to herself, not caring what Jake or anyone else says and putting herself first. 
• The fact that no one was the murderer and Simon died by killing himself was really sad. He was depressed because he was ostracised by people at his high school and he got revenge by posting his gossip and planning an elaborate death to try and pin it on his classmates. 
• I liked at the end that Addy and Ashton live together in Ashton’s apartment 🏘️ in San Diego and Addy is free from her mother and able to live her life her way. 
• I felt bad for Nate when he was falsely charged with the murder of Simon and Bronwyn spent all her time ⏳and energy 🔋🪫 trying to get Nate acquitted. 

Moments:

• I liked that Addy, throughout the book, became fiercer, assertive and became her own person, and shredded her label 🏷️ of just being ‘Jake’s girlfriend’ who didn’t have her own opinion 💭. 
• I also liked that Addy and her sister Ashton became closer during the book. 
• It was cute and funny that Nate had a pet lizard 🦎 named Stan. 
• I didn’t like Jake at the beginning because he was controlling what Addy wore and controlled different aspects of their relationship but I hated Jake more when we discovered that he was in on Simon’s plans and he was about to kill Addy before Cooper knocked 😵 him out fortunately. 
• It was kinda cute when Ashton started flirting with Eli and they ended up dating each other 👩‍❤️‍👨. 
• It was also cute when all of them started hanging out with Kris, Maeve and Ashton being involved as well. 
• When Cooper was in the cafeteria and being taunted by people in the cafeteria, Nate stood up for him and it was really sweet when all 4 started to sit together and dubbed themselves “The Murder Club”
• It was shocking when Nate’s mom came back all of a sudden and read them rebuilding their relationship again albeit it was rocky at first. 

Overall this was an intriguing book and I’m really excited to read the rest!

Comment down below which part of the book was your favourite!

Also, comment below any parts, characters and plotlines I missed!