January 1, 2011: The Lying Game

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard


I had a life anyone would kill for.

Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet.

Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?

From Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars books, comes a riveting new series about secrets, lies, and killer consequences.

Let the lying game begin. -- from Amazon*

I never had a chance to read the Pretty Little Liars series, but I love the show.  I was eager to read this book by Sara Shepard although I didn't realize until the last page that it was a series!  Oops.  Now I have to wait for the next book to come out!


I thought this book was a great first book in a series.  It left me wanting more immediately.  I really felt for Emma and wanted to know what happened to Sutton.  At the end of the book, I was kind of freaked out though and just wanted to yell at Emma to get the heck out of there.


I wish we could have met Sutton when she was alive.  She sounded like an awful person, but I wonder if everyone else's description of her was accurate or if they were jaded by jealousy.  I hope Emma's relationship with Ethan gets more time in the second book because I really liked him!


Emma is a great character.  She is someone you can really root for, and my heart broke for her.  All she ever wanted was a family and the one person who could give her that is gone.  I hope she gets more time to grieve that loss throughout the series.    


The only bad thing about this book is that I have to wait until July/August 2011 to read the follow-up!


*I received a copy of this e-galley from NetGalley for review.