Wickedly Sweet Books: Review: Two Truths and a Lie

Two Truths and a Lie by Sara Shepard

Publisher: Harper Teen

Release Date: February 7, 2012

Pages: 292

Summary taken from: Goodreads

Sutton Mercer watches from the afterlife as her long-lost twin, Emma Paxton, takes over her identity to solve her murder. But after ruling out her early leads, Emma still hasn’t found Sutton’s killer. A lot of people wanted her dead—but one name keeps popping up: Thayer Vega. When the gorgeous and mysterious Thayer returns to town, Emma has to move fast to figure out whether he’s back for revenge…or if he already got it.

Set in a town where friends can turn into dangerous enemies and everyone harbors dark secrets, The Lying Game is a juicy new series that fans of the #1 New York Times bestselling Pretty Little Liars series—and the hit ABC Family show—will love

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Let me begin by saying that I really do love this series (and the TV show, even though it's completely different!) This series focuses on Emma as she lives the life of her twin sister, Sutton, who has been murdered. The whole series is focused on Emma trying to piece together the night that her sister was murdered in order to bring the killer to justice. However, things keep happening, and Emma doesn't know who to trust.

The series is very interesting. I love the mystery, as Emma is always suspecting someone new as the murderer. I love seeing the thoughts that go through her head, and the way she is piecing the mystery together.

I also love Ethan, the only one who really knows the truth about Emma's identity and Sutton's murder. I think it's absolutely adorable watching them interact. I love that Ethan is such a sweetheart.

I also love the way this book is narrated. It follows Emma's daily life, but it is told through Sutton's POV. Yes, she is dead, but her spirit is still following Emma throughout the entire series. It's interesting to watch Sutton "re-learn" everything she forgot about her life. I especially love when she has flashbacks about her life, learning things that may help Emma, but she is unable to communicate them to her sister. It's definitely a great dynamic and a creative take on this story.

That being said, I was disappointed in this particular book compared to the first two. I just really felt that this book didn't add much DEPTH to any of the characters. There were a few things that bugged me about this story. I really felt that both Emma and Ethan were slightly out of character in this book.

During this novel, the reader does learn some of the events that surrounded the night Sutton went missing. It also really pieces together the question of Thayer and his whereabouts, as well as his relationship with Sutton. As for that, I feel that it was vital to the overall plot. However, it just didn't have much action.

The book felt slow paced, when compared with the first two. The first two novels were full of mystery and excitement. In this novel, I felt that not much really happened. It wasn't as exciting. Honestly, I feel that this book could have been left out, and some of the important points put into one of the other novels.

One final problem that I have with this book is that I feel the mystery just made a circle. Emma finally ruled out some of the suspects for her murder. Now, at the end of this novel, she is coming back around and suspecting someone she had already ruled out. I just felt that it was repetitive. I hope the final book picks up the pace and has a lot of suspense like the first two.

Overall, though, I still enjoyed it. I still loved seeing the world from Sutton's POV. I loved getting to know Thayer, and I loved watching Emma and Ethan grow even closer.

I still love this series, and I am anxiously awaiting the final novel, Hide and Seek (awesome title!), which comes out July 31, 2012!