Seven Ways We Lie

By: Riley Redgate

Narrated by: Erin Moon, Bailey Carr, Luke Daniels, Gary Dikeos, Lauren Fortgang, Therese Plummer, Vikas Adam

In Seven Ways We Lie, a chance encounter tangles the lives of seven high school students, each resisting the allure of one of the seven deadly sins and all telling their stories from their seven distinct points of view.

The juniors at Paloma High School all have their secrets, whether it's the thespian who hides her trust issues onstage, the closeted pansexual who cares only about his drug-dealing profits, or the neurotic genius who's planted the seed of a school scandal. But it's Juniper Kipling who has the furthest to fall. No one would argue that Juniper - obedient daughter, salutatorian, natural beauty, and loyal friend - is anything but perfect. Everyone knows she's a saint, not a sinner; but when love is involved, who is Juniper to resist temptation? When she begins to crave more and more of the one person she can't have, her charmed life starts to unravel.

Then rumors of a student-teacher affair hit the fan. After Juniper accidentally exposes her secret at a party, her fate falls into the hands of the other six sinners, bringing them into one another's orbits. All seven are guilty of something. Together they could save one another from their temptations - or be ruined by them.

Riley Redgate's twisty YA debut effortlessly weaves humor, heartbreak, and redemption into a drama that fans of Jenny Han and Stephanie Perkins will adore.

©2016 Riley Redgate (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

not as good as I hoped

narrators are great and easy transition between characters, but I expected more from the story. it felt like it had a bunch of uneeded bits that drug the story on. thr story just lacked something.

Stereotypical voices killed it

I wanted to like this book. I really love YA, and was intrigued by the concept of showing the seven deadly sins through young narrators. However I couldn't keep listening after the second overly-stereotypical narrator started reading. I barely made it through the "yeeahhhh maaaan" stoner voice which over-emphasized every syllable, but once the "nerd voice" (complete with the sound of a stuffed nose and shrillness that almsot hurt my ears) began, I had to turn off the book--something I never do.

99% of the time, I will hold out until the end of a book or movie because despite any flaws, I love the craft and want to see what the writer does next. However these narrators made good writing sound impossibly false.

I would be interested in the print version of this story, because I think the writer certainly has talent (even though I was slightly underwhelmed by the approaches to suspense, though I can't really speak to that because I didnt get far enough in). However, I think the wrong narrators were chosen, making even the main concept of the sins manifested in people more in-your-face than masterfully crafted in.

Lucas deserved better

Cw: Slut Shaming, Bullying, Outing of a pansexual character as Gay, Teacher student relationship, alcohol, Alcohol Poisoning, Parents that are barely around (child neglect)

It took me getting through more than half of the book to even almost remember most of the main characters. Aside from Juniper, and sometimes Kat I really disliked all of the female characters and as for the male characters everyone besides the teacher was great in my book. The female friendship was extremely toxic throughout the book and even at the end the way they speak to each other still feels so cold and hesitant like they don't trust each other. Sure they make a promise to do better but it feels like they'd still be toxic even with minor changes.

The ending with the play felt a little too on the nose but it also helped both me and Kat understand the difference between wanting revenge and just only slightly allowing yourself to be angry. Her story felt sometimes relaxing simply because I related to her emotionally and psychologically.

I hated how angry Mr. Garcia got with Kat and it was made out to be her fault. As a grown man who was her drama club teacher he shouldn't have done that it's very obvious that something was going on with her but instead of telling her to go home he completely looses it and rips into her to leave her issues at home. What teacher tells that to a clearly fragile minded student. I honestly don't care about the tough situation he dug himself into he should be able to separate his anger as well. Instead it serves as some sort of realization scene for Kat's character later. It's completely glossed over that her teacher just yelled at her simply because she had a very controlling mindset. I think she was way too controlling and hard on her peers but he could've addressed that privately or the other kids could've done the same.

Would've loved a better ending for Valentine (aroace) and Lucas (pan) but it didn't leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

One main thing that always enjoyed was Valentine's chapters. I always got excited because I knew I was sure to laugh. Sadly they were a few of the shortest chapters in the book. I found not only Valentine's sheer honesty and serious nature funny but the voice actor who played him to make the lines hit even better just by the way he delivered his lines. Just very deadpan. Valentine has autism.

Something different

I really enjoyed this. The readers voice for one of the guys was almost unbearable but the story was worth it.

POVs Could Be Stronger/Better

This has 7 POVs, and they aren't all distinct. The female voices, in particular, really blend together. I listened to this on audiobook, which made it even harder to settle in to the story.

Overall, it's still a good story. Typically, I love multiple POVs, but this felt like a gimmick, instead of an effective storytelling solution. In fact, I think the story would have been significantly better, had it been reduced to only a few POVs.

It's 3.5 stars for me, but I rounded up, since it attempted to maintain my attention. The writing is decent. The story is okay. It's just hard to fully settle down or get invested in anyone, and the lack of voice can be really disconcerting at times, especially when you're trying to keep 7 different perspectives straight.

So now I've made it sound really terrible, but there were still things I enjoyed about it, including the writing style, in general. I kept reading, which means it kept my attention, despite the fact that I was unclear about 70% of the time which character was currently telling the story.

I don't recommend the audiobook. The performance is good, but it makes it even harder to differentiate between the 7 POVs. This is one where you need to pause at the start of every section and think about who is talking before you start reading, otherwise you'll spend half the book uncertain who is currently telling the story.

good read

captivating & fun, a real book with the teens of today's plight done tastefully bravo!

Wow

Holy shit this was the best book I've listened to in awhile. Every narrator is perfect (although Lucas sounds more like an adult man than any teenage boy) and the story unfolds beautifully.