Book Review: Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger

Author: Kody Keplinger
Series: The DUFF Companion
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Release Date: April 28th 2015
My Rating: 4 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Kody Keplinger returns to the world of The DUFF in this brand-new companion novel!

Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies about her dad being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend's house every night because she has nowhere else to go.

Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with— secrets, clothes, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross.

Ryder's the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can't stand—a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed.

But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realizes that she might actually like him. Only there's one small catch: he thinks he's been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realize that she's the girl he's really wanted all along. Can Sonny lie her way to the truth, or will all her lies end up costing her both Ryder and Amy?

*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Hodder's Children Books in exchange for an honest review.

I was ecstatic when I found out that Kody Keplinger was going to write another book set in the world of The DUFF. I absolutely loved that book and I wanted nothing more than spend more time with those characters.

What I like about Keplinger's books is that they always deal with important issues, no matter the age of the characters. Lying Out Loud, in my opinion, was about real friendships and lies. As Sonny found out, lies are so easy to tell. Sometimes they get discovered soon, sometimes they don't. But they are awfully easy to tell. And they ruin relationships. And it was also about true friendship, the one you can have with very few people in your life, the kind that will make the other person feel like a sibling. And how easy it is to lose it.

It was easy for me to relate with Sonny, mainly because I could see through her lies and figure out that they were about her trying to protect herself. Against what, I didn't know. However, at some point, I started wishing she'd get better at telling the truth. The lies eventually started to bother me a little.

I loved Amy. I really want a book from her POV, because she's a great character. I liked that she found it in herself to have a real talk with Sonny and tell her everything that was bothering her. Basically, she stood up for herself. I kept wondering, however, if she didn't have a crush on Ryder. I don't know why that seemed like what she was going through. Of course, she later explains in a conversation with Sonny why she was acting the way she did and I realized she was just scared of losing her best friend.

Ryder was such a hard character to like. He had no in-between, he was either hating something or someone, or loving them. That bothered me a little. Also, he could be a bit of a jerk. He hated everything small town for no good reason and he kept having that "I'm better than you" air about him. Maybe that too was a defense mechanism. Because I only got to meet him through Sonny's eyes, I can't be certain about that. But who knows, maybe there were other things that made him act the way he did.

What I loved was that every character from previous books make an appearance in this one. And I love it when seemingly unrelated books share some common link.

I keep hoping that Amy will get her own book, because she needs to be braver than she is right now. I thought she did a good job of defending herself and demanding the respect she deserved, but she still needs more. She needs to have that same courage with strangers in my opinion.

Anyway, I very much enjoyed this new book from Keplinger and I can't wait to read more books from this author.