Alice Reeds: The Darkest Lie

Montag, 1. August 2016

Welcome to the first celebratory post for my 3 year blogversary!

Today I have the amazing Pintip Dunn here for you guys. As you know I've loved, loved, loved Forget Tomorrow by her last year and cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel, Remember Yesterday, asap. I've also really enjoyed her second book, The Darkest Lie, because let's face it, Pintip is an amazing writer and I'd totally read anything she'll write in the future. You can, if you want, totally check out the guest post she wrote for my blog a while back right here.

When planning this entire thing I knew I had to ask her if she'd want to participate and, luckily, she said yes so let's check out her As to my Qs below:

1) What does YA mean to you?
To me, the YA genre consist of stories about a teenager's journey in discovering his or her true self. I love reading and writing Ya because, often times, that true self is stronger and braver and wiser than the protagonist ever dreamed possible. I suppose these stories represent the best of humanity for me, and they makes me feel hope and joy and despair -- in short, the entire range of emotion.

2) Since this is a blogversary, is there anything you'd like to say to the blogging community and are there any blogs you like/follow?
Blogging community,
I have been blown away by your passion for books and your kindness and generosity of spirit to each other, to authors, and to the characters you read. I feel grateful to be a small part of this community, and THANK YOU for being so awesome.
Some of my favorite blogs are The Royal Polar Bear Reads, Bibliophile Soprano, and Farah & Laila: Bookworms. And, of course, yours, Alice!

3) Could you tell us something about yourself and your books?
Sure! I'm a Harvard and Yale Law grad, former lawyer turned author. I have three kids and live in Maryland, and I am completely obsessed with food, reality tv, and The 100.

I write YA, in both the science fiction and contemporary thriller/suspense genres. My first book, Forget Tomorrow, is about a future world where memories can be sent back in time. My heroine, seventeen-year-old Callie, sees the unthinkable: her future self killing her sister. Now, on the run from both her future and the government, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all -- herself.

My second book, The Darkest Lie, is about a girl whose mom committee suicide after being accused of having sex with a high school boy. Now, amidst the bullying and harassment of her classmates, all CeCe wants is to fly under the radar. But when new boy Sam moves to town and CeCe begins to volunteer at the crisis hotline, she discovers her mother's death is not as straightforward as it appears.
My next book to be published is Remember Yesterday, book 2 of the Forget Tomorrow series. It comes out October 4 of this year!

Thank you so, so much to Pintip (website) for coming and answering my questions. What do you guys think of them? Also, have you read any of her books? If not you totally should give them a chance because they are amazing!

The next post will be up July 3rd and feature the next amazing author. Anyone feel like blindly guessing who it might be?

Thank you so much for reading!

Dienstag, 3. Mai 2016

Welcome to my tour stop for The Darkest Lie by Pintip Dunn!

I was very happy when I saw that there were open spots for the blog tour, since I loved Forget Tomorrow by Pintip, so I was even more overjoyed when I was given a spot. I was truly excited to dive into The Darkest Lie, eager to see what story she'd created this time. Check out my thoughts below along with the giveaway!

The Darkest Lie by Pintip Dunn

Expected Publication: June 28th 2016 by Kensington Publishing

Number of Pages: 256 Pages (Paperback)

Series: No

“The mother I knew would never do those things.

But maybe I never knew her after all.”

Clothes, jokes, coded messages…Cecilia Brooks and her mom shared everything. At least, CeCe thought they did. Six months ago, her mom killed herself after accusations of having sex with a student, and CeCe’s been the subject of whispers and taunts ever since. Now, at the start of her high school senior year, between dealing with her grieving, distracted father, and the social nightmare that has become her life, CeCe just wants to fly under the radar. Instead, she’s volunteering at the school’s crisis hotline—the same place her mother worked.

As she counsels troubled strangers, CeCe’s lingering suspicions about her mom’s death surface. With the help of Sam, a new student and newspaper intern, she starts to piece together fragmented clues that point to a twisted secret at the heart of her community. Soon, finding the truth isn’t just a matter of restoring her mother’s reputation, it’s about saving lives—including CeCe’s own… (goodreads.com)

* Thank you to Kensington for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review *

Mystery thriller type books are my jam, have always been and will always be, so when I realized that The Darkest Lie was one of them, I was excited. The story we get to read unfolds slowly but pulling you in more and more as you go along since you want to know what really happened.

Something that stood out to me about The Darkest Lie were the descriptions that really make you feel whatever it is CeCe is feeling, which is only made better by how realistic her feelings and her struggles are, especially when thinking of her mother and dealing with the aftermath of her suicide. I also enjoyed the lack of sugarcoating whenever we experienced CeCe being bullied in horrible ways at school. Adults always say that kids are just kids, but The Darkest Lie shows that high schoolers can be downright cruel if they want to be. I really appreciate that because that's reality.

When it comes to the characters, I liked the depth they all had, above all, CeCe. The loss of her mother was always present, not something that was just mentioned from time to time, but rather something she suffered of and struggled with at all times. I loved the way her feelings for her mother slowly changed and the way CeCe hunted down all the small clues.

Sam, CeCe's love interest, was also a really interesting character. He's really into journalism, doing an internship at a newspaper and all, which I could identify with since I used to be just the same. I love the fact with just how much respect CeCe and Sam treated each other because it was refreshing. Good job, Pintip.

I also liked the way that the tension was built in the story, though in a few places I would've wished it would happen a little quicker. I also wasn't the biggest fan of Liam. Something about him just seemed off at all times. The idea behind the story, a scandal surrounding the main character's mother's suicide was something I've not seen done before, so it was fun to read something original like that.

Even though I liked Pintip's writing style in Forget Tomorrow a little more then in The Darkest Lie, I still liked it well enough to make me read on. She is a good author, no arguing with that, but something just didn't quite grab me about it as much as it did with the other novel.

All in all, The Darkest Lie is a interesting mystery read without sugarcoating the ugly stuff but with an honest narrator that struggles with the loss of her mother, something I don't even want to imagine. It's not the longest story, but it's a good one, perfect for a rainy day to just read in one go. So if you're into mystery type reads, definitely give it a shot.

I give The Darkest Lie by Pintip Dunn 4 out of 5 stars.

About the Author

Pintip Dunn graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. She also published an article in the YALE LAW JOURNAL, entitled, “How Judges Overrule: Speech Act Theory and the Doctrine of Stare Decisis,”

Pintip is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House. She is a 2012 RWA Golden Heart® finalist and a 2014 double-finalist. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers, YARWA, and The Golden Network.

She lives with her husband and children in Maryland. You can learn more about Pintip and her books at www.pintipdunn.com.

Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads