Mini-Reviews: There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake and Love, Lucy by April Lindner

Welcome to another installment of Mini-Reviews, a feature in which I give you my quick take on a couple of recent reads.

There Will Be Lies

by Nick Lake

Published by Bloomsbury

on January 6, 2015

Source: bought

Synopsis from Goodreads: In four hours, Shelby Jane Cooper will be struck by a car. Shortly after, she and her mother will leave the hospital and set out on a winding journey toward the Grand Canyon. All Shelby knows is that they’re running from dangers only her mother understands. And the further they travel, the more Shelby questions everything about her past—and her current reality. Forced to take advantage of the kindness of unsuspecting travelers, Shelby grapples with what’s real, what isn’t, and who she can trust . . . if anybody.

My (mini) take: There was a lot about There Will be Lies that I liked. Shelby was a fascinating main character. I could tell there was something unique about her from the start, and then I learned what it was, and was impressed by how her take on the world was reflected in the book's writing. The thriller elements of this were great. As I thought about Shelby's strange dynamic with her mother,  I guessed that main twist, but still enjoyed watching some other plot twists play out. Those parts of the story --the psychological and thriller aspects -- were well done.

But Shelby's narrative alternated with this dreamlike/hallucinatory Native American-inspired narrative about a coyote and to be honest, I wasn't crazy about that and didn't really understand how it related to the rest of the story. I felt it might have worked well in a more literary book but in a thriller, it kept throwing the pace off for me. That complaint aside (and those coyote parts did make up a significant part of the story) I have to give credit to this book for a) complex female characters b) great thriller elements and c) good writing.

Love, Lucy

by April Lindner

To be published by Poppy

on January 27, 2015

Source: Thanks to Poppy for providing an e-ARC for review

Synopsis from Goodreads: While backpacking through Florence, Italy, during the summer before she heads off to college, Lucy Sommersworth finds herself falling in love with the culture, the architecture, the food...and Jesse Palladino, a handsome street musician. After a whirlwind romance, Lucy returns home, determined to move on from her "vacation flirtation." But just because summer is over doesn't mean Lucy and Jesse are over, too.

My take: Can you like a book if you don't like the main character? For me, the answer is usually no. While I've enjoyed April Lindner's prior YA retellings, Lucy wasn't for me. Love, Lucy is also a retelling -- of A Room With a View, a book I've never read -- and I liked this book's Italian travelogue and appreciated the Roman Holiday movie references.  But I thought Lucy was entitled and manipulative -- toward Charlene, her supposed friend and travel companion, her two love interests (more on that in a second) and her parents. I thought Love, Lucy felt like a much less compelling version of Just One Day by Gayle Forman: Lucy ditches her friend to hang out with a new guy in Italy, has a whirlwind romance with him, returns to the US, mopes over the guy, meets guy #2 at college, then takes up with him. When guy #1 comes back into the picture, Lucy doesn't seem to want to give up either of them and seems surprised when one of them tells her that's not the way love works. Maybe two guys loved Lucy, but I did not.

I did just find A Room With a View sitting on my shelf, and I have a feeling I'll enjoy that more. But I do think that Lindner made interesting retelling choices in her first two books, so if you've read A Room With a View, you might enjoy Love, Lucy more than I did.