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Girls Who Lie Together
Easy summers lead to hard falls in this Grease meets Mean Girls contemporary romance…
When seventeen-year-old Renata Carpenter hijacked her stepdad’s classic car, she hadn’t planned on totaling it and landing her best friend in a cast from hip to heel. She definitely hadn’t planned on being sent to a work program in New Orleans as punishment. And she certainly hadn’t planned on falling in love. But Ren’s summer of forced manual labor has a bright side: her name is Brit, and she’s everything Ren never knew she needed.
First love becomes first heartbreak when their summer romance comes to a crashing close earlier than anticipated. Adding insult to injury, Ren’s break-up with Brit is followed by a big move to a small town.
As if starting senior year completely alone isn’t bad enough, Ren soon discovers that the Hell on Heels mean girl who rules Sun Ridge Prep with an iron fist and a vicious tongue is none other than her first love. Too bad this Brit is far from lovable.
But Ren knows the girl beneath the façade, and she refuses to give up on rekindling their relationship. Secretly, the girls pick up where they left off, falling deeper in love and risking it all to be together. But when their affair is exposed by Brit’s boyfriend, Ren and Brit are faced with the ultimate choice: love or acceptance.
Because they certainly can’t have both.
CW: Homophobia, Homophobic Slurs, Marijuana Use
When seventeen-year-old Renata Carpenter hijacked her stepdad’s classic car, she hadn’t planned on totaling it and landing her best friend in a cast from hip to heel. She definitely hadn’t planned on being sent to a work program in New Orleans as punishment. And she certainly hadn’t planned on falling in love. But Ren’s summer of forced manual labor has a bright side: her name is Brit, and she’s everything Ren never knew she needed.
First love becomes first heartbreak when their summer romance comes to a crashing close earlier than anticipated. Adding insult to injury, Ren’s break-up with Brit is followed by a big move to a small town.
As if starting senior year completely alone isn’t bad enough, Ren soon discovers that the Hell on Heels mean girl who rules Sun Ridge Prep with an iron fist and a vicious tongue is none other than her first love. Too bad this Brit is far from lovable.
But Ren knows the girl beneath the façade, and she refuses to give up on rekindling their relationship. Secretly, the girls pick up where they left off, falling deeper in love and risking it all to be together. But when their affair is exposed by Brit’s boyfriend, Ren and Brit are faced with the ultimate choice: love or acceptance.
Because they certainly can’t have both.
CW: Homophobia, Homophobic Slurs, Marijuana Use
345 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 12, 2023
493 people are currently reading
4742 people want to read
About the author
Jessa Russo
10 books189 followersJessa Russo believes in fairytales, ghosts, and Jake Ryan—she’s pretty sure her heart has never fully belonged to anyone else (apologies, Mr. Russo). When not writing, she can be found watching far too much Netflix, drinking craft beer with her friends, or enjoying a nice Sunday brunch (even if it’s not Sunday).
Her young adult projects span the genre field, but will always have a lot of kissing and (probably) a little heartbreak. Isn't that what falling in love as a teen is all about?
You can find Jessa on most social platforms as @author_jessa.
Her young adult projects span the genre field, but will always have a lot of kissing and (probably) a little heartbreak. Isn't that what falling in love as a teen is all about?
You can find Jessa on most social platforms as @author_jessa.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 212 reviews
July 10, 2024
This was a roller coaster of a story. Renata (Ren) is our MC and has been sent off to New Orleans to a work program for the summer after totaling her stepdad's vintage car, injuring her best friend Gray in the process. While in New Orleans she meets fellow worker Brit, a Texan beauty queen, spending the summer with her cousins by choice. It does not start well between the two, but things do indeed happen, until Brit is called home early.
When Ren returns to Austin, she finds they are moving away to another smaller Texan town for her stepdad's political ambition and at her new school on the first day she meets Sterling, the principal's daughter and soon to be her new best friend, and sees Brit, who is homecoming queen and the new bitch from hell.
Loved this one, bits of so many high school dramas from Mean Girls to Carrie. In the end, love wins, of course it does. But what a fun journey getting there. 4 solid stars for me.
When Ren returns to Austin, she finds they are moving away to another smaller Texan town for her stepdad's political ambition and at her new school on the first day she meets Sterling, the principal's daughter and soon to be her new best friend, and sees Brit, who is homecoming queen and the new bitch from hell.
Loved this one, bits of so many high school dramas from Mean Girls to Carrie. In the end, love wins, of course it does. But what a fun journey getting there. 4 solid stars for me.
July 10, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and Victor Editing for giving me the opportunity to read this book early in return for an honest review!
Girls Who Lie Together by Jessa Russo is a YA Contemporary Romance following the story of Ren and Brit. They first meet in the “Home for Wayward Girls” in Summer, promptly fall in love and later meet again in school, just for things not to work out how Ren had imagined them.
I can’t put it differently than to say that I didn’t like this book. The only promised thing it fulfills is its “Mean Girls” idea, which works. I also enjoyed the first half of the book which plays on the farm and Brit’s and Ren’s first bonding. The first time they went from “I hate you” to “I like you” seemed natural because all they had was a purely physical summer fling.
Everything else is a burning mess.
Not only did I, personally, not see any chemistry between Ren and Brit, but their constant on-off thing makes it impossible for a reader to get attached to their relationship. Why should I be rooting for them to get together when they’re horrible and mean to each other every 50 pages, have no communication and every single time they have a positive scene together all we are shown in their sex lives.
Neither character gets the chance to grow by themselves OR in relation to anyone else.
Even Ren – who is the FIRST PERSON PROTAGONIST – seems flat throughout most of the book.
Not even ten pages after she announced how deeply in love she is, one thing throws her off course and she decides to ruin Brit’s life again? And this doesn’t happen just ONCE.
The portrayal of Ren as the classic “mean lesbian” also didn’t sit right with me, if I’m honest. Even more, there were scenes written kind of predatory… In the first part of the book, Brit clearly states that she is not gay but that doesn’t stop Ren from constantly telling the reader what she would like to do to Brit and how her body looks. Much of the romantic attraction in this book is broken down to “oh, she’s so sexy”, which is a good way to establish first attraction, but I wanted non-physical attraction to follow. It just never did.
Finally, the use of blatant homophobia, as well as slurs without any good reason, was something that made me distance myself while reading even more. Why was the horrible homophobia by everyone in school just tolerated by Ren, even repeated to her new friend as a joke? Not once did she seem uncomfortable being called the d-slur in front of everyone.
I wanted to find another great lesbian summer book to recommend, instead, I got a slightly uncomfortable book that doesn’t dive into any of the topics it opens up but remains on surface-level just to add another scene of the two girls making out.
July 25, 2022
I LOVED this book. This was something I didn’t know I needed. Grease meets Mean Girls? Amazing. As soon as I read that in the synopsis, I knew I wanted to pick this up. This is my first time reading anything by the author, and ultimately I was very satisfied. I loved the confidence that seemed to ooze so naturally out of Renata and I enjoyed her character throughout. I knew they were going to meet again before reading, but I still felt surprised when they did. I was very invested in them and I was rooting for them from the very beginning.
*I received an advanced review copy for free in exchange for my honest review.*
*I received an advanced review copy for free in exchange for my honest review.*
July 21, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and Jessa Russo for giving me advanced access for an honest review in return. This is my first ever ARC review, and I am so grateful that I was able to do one for this book.
Girls Who Lie Together is a twist of Mean Girls and Grease. It follows two senior girls who meet while away for the summer as they work on building houses for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. It goes through many different ups and downs as these girls try to fit their lives together as they fall in love. This novel does an amazing job of portraying someone's first same-sex love and the process behind it. As someone who fell in love with their best friend around the same age, the same thoughts ran through my head. The story leans on family relationships, friendships that never end and true love. It shows that you can do and be anything when you have family and friends by your side. The characters that make up her friend group (Ren), really add a lot to the story. Although one of them is not introduced until much later, I absolutely vibed with her.
Jessa Russo does an amazing job at adding another sweet and wholesome story to the list of LGBTQ+ books that exist. The two girls have unmatched banter from the very beginning that roped me in right away. I could tell they had chemistry from the moment they laid eyes on each other. It falls into the themes of forbidden love- as they must sneak around, keep secrets and face the opinions of others about their 'taboo love'. There are many scenes of characters exploring their sexuality, and it is written perfectly. With a little bit of spice without going past the Teen/YA rating, Russo describes the novel as being part Mean Girls and part Grease, which perfectly describes this book. The feeling of believing you have all summer together when it gets cut short way too soon. If you've seen Grease you can guess what comes next, if you haven't... you'll have to read to find out. (Either way, it is absolutely worth it to pick up this book).
Overall, this book will look amazing on my shelf after its release date in August. I had some tears and a lot of smiles and heartwarming feelings while reading this novel. I never expected to fly through it so quickly after seeing the page count. However, I picked this book up earlier today and finished it only a couple of hours later. I am looking forward to reading more by this author. I truly enjoy her writing style and was never bored while reading. This book is a must-read for those who love a wholesome YA romance, especially one with LGBTQ+ characters.
Girls Who Lie Together is a twist of Mean Girls and Grease. It follows two senior girls who meet while away for the summer as they work on building houses for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. It goes through many different ups and downs as these girls try to fit their lives together as they fall in love. This novel does an amazing job of portraying someone's first same-sex love and the process behind it. As someone who fell in love with their best friend around the same age, the same thoughts ran through my head. The story leans on family relationships, friendships that never end and true love. It shows that you can do and be anything when you have family and friends by your side. The characters that make up her friend group (Ren), really add a lot to the story. Although one of them is not introduced until much later, I absolutely vibed with her.
Jessa Russo does an amazing job at adding another sweet and wholesome story to the list of LGBTQ+ books that exist. The two girls have unmatched banter from the very beginning that roped me in right away. I could tell they had chemistry from the moment they laid eyes on each other. It falls into the themes of forbidden love- as they must sneak around, keep secrets and face the opinions of others about their 'taboo love'. There are many scenes of characters exploring their sexuality, and it is written perfectly. With a little bit of spice without going past the Teen/YA rating, Russo describes the novel as being part Mean Girls and part Grease, which perfectly describes this book. The feeling of believing you have all summer together when it gets cut short way too soon. If you've seen Grease you can guess what comes next, if you haven't... you'll have to read to find out. (Either way, it is absolutely worth it to pick up this book).
Overall, this book will look amazing on my shelf after its release date in August. I had some tears and a lot of smiles and heartwarming feelings while reading this novel. I never expected to fly through it so quickly after seeing the page count. However, I picked this book up earlier today and finished it only a couple of hours later. I am looking forward to reading more by this author. I truly enjoy her writing style and was never bored while reading. This book is a must-read for those who love a wholesome YA romance, especially one with LGBTQ+ characters.
September 14, 2023
Complaining about your terrible reviews does an incredible disservice to to the readers who did think highly of your book. I wanted to get that out of the way because in the version of this I read, the author makes it very clear that she reads her reviews in the foreword; I didn’t even start the book and I get the impression that the author is a validation-seeking pick-me girl who cares more that she doesn't get bad reviews than she does about the people who do like her work.
And that inspired… very little confidence in how this book was going to go.
That being said, I think the bad reviews were deserved.
The plot goes in circles. The first half of the plot reads like a straight girl taking advantage of a lesbian who she is aware is attracted to her, and is confirmed by the second half when it’s discovered she’s in a relationship with someone else. One character will do something to hurt the other, and there’s a few chapters of sadness, and a moment of “are you done being mad at me? do you forgive me? I love you” that passes where all is well again.
The narrator puts up with so much shit to get so little back, and it’s pathetic because she is constantly stepped on and is always forgiving no matter what, and this toxic relationship is not a good example to set for the intended YA audience. The love interest is constantly sorry for whatever she’s doing, but there’s no actual reason why she should be forgiven aside from how horny the narrator is. None of the characters suffer from any of the consequences of their actions, or if there are any, they’re ultimately inconsequential.
Relationships with minor characters come out of nowhere and are often inexplicable; the narrator hates her stepfather then suddenly tells him everything at the end of the book, and she goes from giving her mother the silent treatment to talking to her again within a handful go paves. The love interest has a friend that’s introduced in the last 20% of the book but is never mentioned previously.
The dialogue is stilted, and most of the scenes are severely lacking in depth and are just… boring. There’s also no sense of time passing either; the book’s pacing is a mess. Important moments aren’t given the time to show that they’re important and often feel confusing or “filler”, like there wasn’t anything better to write. There’s no character development; it doesn’t take the time for anyone to discover anything poignant about themselves or explain how they come to the conclusions about how they feel. Most of the exposition goes on about how much the narrator loves the love interest—but there’s nothing that convinces me that it’s the kind of love worth putting up with for a girl who treats you like shit and has no personality aside from enjoying beignets.
That being said, both characters are incredibly flat. At no point do I understand why the main character is in love with the girl she met over the summer, because there’s nothing that endears me to either of them. But as far as a personality, neither of the characters have one aside from lusting for each other, and there’s not a process that I could easily follow where I realize that the narrator has fallen for the love interest. There’s no real reason to root for them or be invested in their story. There’s no chemistry and neither character really has anything outside of their relationship that makes them interesting or engaging either.
At best, the author understands what kind of book she wants to write, but she doesn’t have the chops to pull it off. However, the plot twist at the end is fine, but there’s not enough depth in the plot or characters for it to be meaningful or particularly noteworthy.
At worst, the author has never read a queer book before writing this. The fact that one character takes her shirt off at a construction site? Or that the love interest becomes the damsel in distress because she faints? All of those are tropes out of straight romance novels, and not well adapted for a book about queer teens. It reads like an attempt to break into the YA genre, treating queer lit like a fad to do it, and delivering homophobic stereotypes with a cover that doesn’t even have anything to do with the plot of the book. I read the whole thing to see if it could improve and it just didn't.
The biggest issue overall is that there’s a lot of mention of the love interest’s breasts and body, and she’s constantly objectified throughout the book by the narrator. The amount of it is incredibly gross and just uncomfortable to read, and there’s no emotional payoff because the only thing that is ever described in depth is the love interest’s body. Other novels for YA don’t focus this much on sexual attraction, regardless of whether the couples are straight or queer. It’s disappointing to have read this book and to come out of it thinking that this author believes that lesbians are only ever horny and it’s okay that the supposedly straight girls to experiment with if there aren’t any consequences at the end of the summer.
There’s an attempt at writing lesbians, but all they ever do is make out and fuck around. Two characters of the same gender kissing with their clothes off that fade-to-black? Because that’s queer rep, right? (/heavy sarcasm)
Needless to say, it falls incredibly short.
And that inspired… very little confidence in how this book was going to go.
That being said, I think the bad reviews were deserved.
The plot goes in circles. The first half of the plot reads like a straight girl taking advantage of a lesbian who she is aware is attracted to her, and is confirmed by the second half when it’s discovered she’s in a relationship with someone else. One character will do something to hurt the other, and there’s a few chapters of sadness, and a moment of “are you done being mad at me? do you forgive me? I love you” that passes where all is well again.
The narrator puts up with so much shit to get so little back, and it’s pathetic because she is constantly stepped on and is always forgiving no matter what, and this toxic relationship is not a good example to set for the intended YA audience. The love interest is constantly sorry for whatever she’s doing, but there’s no actual reason why she should be forgiven aside from how horny the narrator is. None of the characters suffer from any of the consequences of their actions, or if there are any, they’re ultimately inconsequential.
Relationships with minor characters come out of nowhere and are often inexplicable; the narrator hates her stepfather then suddenly tells him everything at the end of the book, and she goes from giving her mother the silent treatment to talking to her again within a handful go paves. The love interest has a friend that’s introduced in the last 20% of the book but is never mentioned previously.
The dialogue is stilted, and most of the scenes are severely lacking in depth and are just… boring. There’s also no sense of time passing either; the book’s pacing is a mess. Important moments aren’t given the time to show that they’re important and often feel confusing or “filler”, like there wasn’t anything better to write. There’s no character development; it doesn’t take the time for anyone to discover anything poignant about themselves or explain how they come to the conclusions about how they feel. Most of the exposition goes on about how much the narrator loves the love interest—but there’s nothing that convinces me that it’s the kind of love worth putting up with for a girl who treats you like shit and has no personality aside from enjoying beignets.
That being said, both characters are incredibly flat. At no point do I understand why the main character is in love with the girl she met over the summer, because there’s nothing that endears me to either of them. But as far as a personality, neither of the characters have one aside from lusting for each other, and there’s not a process that I could easily follow where I realize that the narrator has fallen for the love interest. There’s no real reason to root for them or be invested in their story. There’s no chemistry and neither character really has anything outside of their relationship that makes them interesting or engaging either.
At best, the author understands what kind of book she wants to write, but she doesn’t have the chops to pull it off. However, the plot twist at the end is fine, but there’s not enough depth in the plot or characters for it to be meaningful or particularly noteworthy.
At worst, the author has never read a queer book before writing this. The fact that one character takes her shirt off at a construction site? Or that the love interest becomes the damsel in distress because she faints? All of those are tropes out of straight romance novels, and not well adapted for a book about queer teens. It reads like an attempt to break into the YA genre, treating queer lit like a fad to do it, and delivering homophobic stereotypes with a cover that doesn’t even have anything to do with the plot of the book. I read the whole thing to see if it could improve and it just didn't.
The biggest issue overall is that there’s a lot of mention of the love interest’s breasts and body, and she’s constantly objectified throughout the book by the narrator. The amount of it is incredibly gross and just uncomfortable to read, and there’s no emotional payoff because the only thing that is ever described in depth is the love interest’s body. Other novels for YA don’t focus this much on sexual attraction, regardless of whether the couples are straight or queer. It’s disappointing to have read this book and to come out of it thinking that this author believes that lesbians are only ever horny and it’s okay that the supposedly straight girls to experiment with if there aren’t any consequences at the end of the summer.
There’s an attempt at writing lesbians, but all they ever do is make out and fuck around. Two characters of the same gender kissing with their clothes off that fade-to-black? Because that’s queer rep, right? (/heavy sarcasm)
Needless to say, it falls incredibly short.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2023
if you like YA coming of age and finding yourself stories, you'll enjoy Girls Who Lie Together.
A story of two halves, really, part 2 brings the MCs' relationship into sharp focus as one girl is out and one girl is anything but. Brit's sexual awakening after meeting Ren during the summer was a lovely slow burn, but her facade and Queen Bitch role as a senior when back at school turns everything upside down for both girls.
A little too YA for my personal taste, but that's just me. Being teens, neither girl is fully emotionally equipped to deal with the situation they find themselves in, which brings its own consequences and plotlines that involve high school life and cliques.
If you like stories involving coming of age, self-discovery, self- & social-acceptance in a high-school setting with cliques and all the issues 17-year-olds live thru, then Ms. Russo's stroy of Brit and Ren is for you.
A story of two halves, really, part 2 brings the MCs' relationship into sharp focus as one girl is out and one girl is anything but. Brit's sexual awakening after meeting Ren during the summer was a lovely slow burn, but her facade and Queen Bitch role as a senior when back at school turns everything upside down for both girls.
A little too YA for my personal taste, but that's just me. Being teens, neither girl is fully emotionally equipped to deal with the situation they find themselves in, which brings its own consequences and plotlines that involve high school life and cliques.
If you like stories involving coming of age, self-discovery, self- & social-acceptance in a high-school setting with cliques and all the issues 17-year-olds live thru, then Ms. Russo's stroy of Brit and Ren is for you.
July 2, 2022
the best thing i can say about this book is that it felt like the album fearless by taylor swift.
some of the writing was a little cringey and the cover is hideous, but aside from that it was fun and cute and entertaining.
edit: they changed the cover!! everyone cheered!!!
some of the writing was a little cringey and the cover is hideous, but aside from that it was fun and cute and entertaining.
edit: they changed the cover!! everyone cheered!!!
December 2, 2023
The book literally starts with a letter from the author saying that people think this book isn’t good, and yet I was still surprised to find that this book wasn’t good.
July 29, 2022
To start with, this book I went and grabbed as I love the cover and it sounded like a fun read and it grabbed my attention with the tagline that read Grease meets Mean Girls. For me, this book was all Grease and yes it did have a mean girl queen bee vibe but was not Mean Girls movie style for me. If Regina George had been a bisexual and had feelings for Cady and then continued to cheat with Eric and Cady, then yes go ahead and compare to Mean Girls. This book starts with the summer break and Ren after wrecking her stepfather's car has been sentenced to community service in the form of building houses with her stepfather's old friend. When she arrives, she learns that her stepfather's friend's niece has also come to stay with them and help build houses and do chores just like Ren. Brit is the pageant type - blonde barbie doll whereas Ren strikes me as an Emo chick personality. As the summer goes along, we learn that Ren is a lesbian and we can see hints of possibly Brit being interested. The summer comes to an end too quickly and the girls return to their normal lives. That is until Ren starts a new school and is surprised to see Brit is the Queen B and rhymes with Witch. This isn't the Brit she fell in love with over the summer. This is where the book took a Grease feel for me as we have our Danny and Sandy moments with Ren and Brit. I am not one for cheating really, so this part annoyed me as Brit is dating not only her boyfriend but starts seeing Ren in the dark. What happens though when the two worlds collide and they can no longer keep it a secret? Find out in this angsty YA f/f / m/f novel "Girls Who Lie Together by Jessa Russo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2024
Read on Kindle
February 29, 2024
Stereotypical lesbian tries to fight stereotypes (whut?) and tries to get the girl even though she says no. multiple. times. (!!!)
It's just weird dude.
It's just weird dude.
July 8, 2022
*3.5 stars*
“Girls Who Lie Together” by Jessa Russo describes itself as ‘Grease’ meets ‘Mean Girls’ and it certainly gives off that vibe, albeit with a mix of Easy A as well. It’s an easy lesbian summer read which I thoroughly enjoyed! The story is divided into two parts: summer in New-Orleans and the school year in Texas. It tells the story of Ren and Britt; how they met, how their friendship formed, how sparks flew, how they had to say goodbye, and how they reacquainted with one another in ways and places neither of them expected.
The first part is the strongest part of the story in my opinion. It starts after Ren carjacks and crashes her step-dads car and puts her best friend Gray into a cast. She is sent to New Orleans to do some service work as punishment. There she’s staying with a family of 6 and their niece, Britta Hughes (I’ll admit, for about half the book I thought her name was Britt and her nickname was Britta). Britt starts off a hot and cold friendship with Ren, who at first can’t make out what to think of Britt. After a while sparks fly and the girls become somewhat inseparable. Summer love comes to an abrupt end when Britt has to leave sooner than expected because her mum wants to move to Florida (I still don’t understand this part because Britt was still in Texas in part 2?). A heartbroken Ren asks her mum if she can come home, only to discover that she herself is moving as well but to a different part in the State of Texas.
Enter the second part of the book. Ren starts high school in a brand new school without her best friend Gray at her side. She immediately hits it off with a girl named Sterling who ends up being the principles daughter. Sterling tells her all about the it-couple, how awful they are, and that Ren should stay clear off them. But lo and behold, ½ of Sun Ridges it couple turns out to be Britta Hughes. Both girls are equally shocked to see one another again after multiple weeks and no contact. A turmoil of feelings, events, and drama unfurls after their reacquaintance. What happens next I leave for you to find out when you read this book!
Something I disliked about this book is the cheating trope and how easily it was dismissed. The author sort of gave an insight in both girl’s thoughts regarding it, but I myself just don’t like this trope at all. I do admit that I love Britta’s character development and her personal growth and that her love for Ren / Ren’s love for her played a huge part in it. All in all, it was a cute romance.
Thank you to NetGalley, Victoria Edding NetGalley Co-op and the author for an ARC in exchange for a review.
PS. I’m glad to see they’ve changed the cover! I really like the new one better than the original one.
“Girls Who Lie Together” by Jessa Russo describes itself as ‘Grease’ meets ‘Mean Girls’ and it certainly gives off that vibe, albeit with a mix of Easy A as well. It’s an easy lesbian summer read which I thoroughly enjoyed! The story is divided into two parts: summer in New-Orleans and the school year in Texas. It tells the story of Ren and Britt; how they met, how their friendship formed, how sparks flew, how they had to say goodbye, and how they reacquainted with one another in ways and places neither of them expected.
The first part is the strongest part of the story in my opinion. It starts after Ren carjacks and crashes her step-dads car and puts her best friend Gray into a cast. She is sent to New Orleans to do some service work as punishment. There she’s staying with a family of 6 and their niece, Britta Hughes (I’ll admit, for about half the book I thought her name was Britt and her nickname was Britta). Britt starts off a hot and cold friendship with Ren, who at first can’t make out what to think of Britt. After a while sparks fly and the girls become somewhat inseparable. Summer love comes to an abrupt end when Britt has to leave sooner than expected because her mum wants to move to Florida (I still don’t understand this part because Britt was still in Texas in part 2?). A heartbroken Ren asks her mum if she can come home, only to discover that she herself is moving as well but to a different part in the State of Texas.
Enter the second part of the book. Ren starts high school in a brand new school without her best friend Gray at her side. She immediately hits it off with a girl named Sterling who ends up being the principles daughter. Sterling tells her all about the it-couple, how awful they are, and that Ren should stay clear off them. But lo and behold, ½ of Sun Ridges it couple turns out to be Britta Hughes. Both girls are equally shocked to see one another again after multiple weeks and no contact. A turmoil of feelings, events, and drama unfurls after their reacquaintance. What happens next I leave for you to find out when you read this book!
Something I disliked about this book is the cheating trope and how easily it was dismissed. The author sort of gave an insight in both girl’s thoughts regarding it, but I myself just don’t like this trope at all. I do admit that I love Britta’s character development and her personal growth and that her love for Ren / Ren’s love for her played a huge part in it. All in all, it was a cute romance.
Thank you to NetGalley, Victoria Edding NetGalley Co-op and the author for an ARC in exchange for a review.
PS. I’m glad to see they’ve changed the cover! I really like the new one better than the original one.
July 5, 2023
si tuviera que calificarlo objetivamente, probablemente le daría 2.5 estrellas porque la manera en la que está escrito no es la mejor, siento que la autora lo escribió tal cual pensando en una película, toda la narración parece lo que diría la protagonista en voice over PERO no soy objetiva, así que le doy un 3.7
la verdad es que la historia en sí está bastante entretenida y me gustó muchísimo más de lo que pensé que me iba a gustar
justo tenía ganas de una historia de amor veraniego sáfico y, aunque lo de verano corresponde a la primera mitad del libro, fue lo que necesitaba. lo leí en el momento ideal, pues
TW hay una situación de SA que aunque they addressed it siento que fue tomada muy a la ligera, eso también hizo que no me gustara del todo y también terminó siendo bastante innecesaria, me parece que había varias alternativas para que pasara lo que tenía que pasar sin que una de las dos partes no lo consintiera …
la verdad es que la historia en sí está bastante entretenida y me gustó muchísimo más de lo que pensé que me iba a gustar
justo tenía ganas de una historia de amor veraniego sáfico y, aunque lo de verano corresponde a la primera mitad del libro, fue lo que necesitaba. lo leí en el momento ideal, pues
TW hay una situación de SA que aunque they addressed it siento que fue tomada muy a la ligera, eso también hizo que no me gustara del todo y también terminó siendo bastante innecesaria, me parece que había varias alternativas para que pasara lo que tenía que pasar sin que una de las dos partes no lo consintiera …
July 2, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book! “Girls Who Lie Together” by Jessa Russo describes itself as ‘Grease’ meets ‘Mean Girls’, and it definitely has that vibe, just much more gay. But it’s very much it’s own story too. Our story is in two parts, which I personally enjoyed as it enhanced the time divide and what I would say is a more personal divide between Brit and the her she is at home. Ren and Brit’s story had me hopeful and heartbroken every other minute. I love seeing more lgbtqia+ representation in books, especially in a protagonist!
We start with Ren Carpenter, who took her stepfather’s classic car for a spin and ended up wrecking it (as well as putting her best friend in a large leg cast). She’s spending the summer in New Orleans as punishment with a friend of her stepdad’s, Dev, helping him build houses. Of course, what she doesn’t expect is to meet and fall head over heels for his blonde princess-y niece, Brit. These two start off disliking each other before jumping to friends, and then more than. But as quickly as their romance begins, Brit leaves early, and their summer together is cut short.
But when Ren heads home, she finds out she’s being moved to a tiny Texas town for her senior year. And of course, the first day, she finds out that the school’s queen bee is none other than her Brit, or better known as Britta. From there, they start a tumultuous secret rekindling of their more than friendship, all the while avoiding Brit’s homophobic jock boyfriend, Carter.
Things get complicated, hearts are broken again, but by the end, our girls are together, out and proud.
If you’re a fan of either aforementioned teen movie, or even just teen romance, this is definitely up your alley.
We start with Ren Carpenter, who took her stepfather’s classic car for a spin and ended up wrecking it (as well as putting her best friend in a large leg cast). She’s spending the summer in New Orleans as punishment with a friend of her stepdad’s, Dev, helping him build houses. Of course, what she doesn’t expect is to meet and fall head over heels for his blonde princess-y niece, Brit. These two start off disliking each other before jumping to friends, and then more than. But as quickly as their romance begins, Brit leaves early, and their summer together is cut short.
But when Ren heads home, she finds out she’s being moved to a tiny Texas town for her senior year. And of course, the first day, she finds out that the school’s queen bee is none other than her Brit, or better known as Britta. From there, they start a tumultuous secret rekindling of their more than friendship, all the while avoiding Brit’s homophobic jock boyfriend, Carter.
Things get complicated, hearts are broken again, but by the end, our girls are together, out and proud.
If you’re a fan of either aforementioned teen movie, or even just teen romance, this is definitely up your alley.
July 17, 2022
Thank you @booksirens for an ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Grease & Mean Girls mash-up but sapphic? Yes, please.
This was such a fun, quick read. The pages flowed effortlessly and allowed the reader to stay engaged throughout. I stayed for the banter and chemistry but loved the side characters and the teen drama of it all. I could not have asked for more from a sweet, coming of age story about finding yourself, choosing yourself, and accepting all that comes with it.
Content Warning: Homophobia, Homophobic Slurs, Marijuana
Grease & Mean Girls mash-up but sapphic? Yes, please.
This was such a fun, quick read. The pages flowed effortlessly and allowed the reader to stay engaged throughout. I stayed for the banter and chemistry but loved the side characters and the teen drama of it all. I could not have asked for more from a sweet, coming of age story about finding yourself, choosing yourself, and accepting all that comes with it.
Content Warning: Homophobia, Homophobic Slurs, Marijuana
July 7, 2023
I wasn't sure how I'd feel going in to this book. It was one of the few books I downloaded on stuff your kindle day. The complexities between Brit and Ren are well written. The ability for one to be freely out and the hurt she feels from the other not doing the same is one perspective, but then Jessa Russo gives you the struggle of not being able to be out and the pain that comes along with it. While I did not relate to Britta's mean girl attitude, the struggle she had between being out and staying in because she felt she had too was real. I loves the subtle effort of Ren's step-dad and the growth shown between the two. Overall a great and enjoyable read. A good summer book.
November 21, 2024
Cute Read
Cute, def young adult, sapphic read. I would recommend this book to younger teens struggling to come out to their parents. Maybe this would help give them that confidence
Cute, def young adult, sapphic read. I would recommend this book to younger teens struggling to come out to their parents. Maybe this would help give them that confidence
July 21, 2023
2.5 ⭐️
July 30, 2023
Despite its catchy description of ‘Greese meets Mean Girls’, Girls who lie together only delivers toxic relationships, unnecessary use of homophobic slurs and sex scenes that feel out of place when you remember these two girls are only 17.
The first part of the story follows Ren being sent to a summer work program after crashing her step-father’s car. At the work program she meets the beautiful but mean Brit and instantly develops a crush on her despite numerously repeating that Brit is ‘definitely not her type’. In part 2, Ren’s family moves to a new town and Ren finds out the IT girl in her new highschool is no one but Brit herself and the IT boy is Brit’s boyfriend whom she was cheating on.
Most (probably all) of the characters in this novel lack some sort of depth, some even used just to make the plot run smoother (like Luna coming out of nowhere in the last 10-20 pages to make a crown out of flowers), making both main characters falling flat too and their relationship turn out toxic. They lack communication, Ren’s crush is depicted slightly predatory and Brit’s reason for keeping their relationship a secret is because ‘Ren just doesn’t understand’. I believe the main reason for this would be how easy the plot moved on for Ren and Brit. Brit’s mom magically accepted her despite how she refused to even acknowledge that she was a lesbian half of the book. Ren’s stepfather also magically forgave her for crashing his car and then gifted her one. We are just supposed to know that he’s not really interacting to Ren or talking to her much but then he comforts her later in the novel somehow.
Overall, Girls who lie together only delivers a lot of toxic stereotypes and if you want a coming of age, queer, YA novel just pick something else.
Trigger warnings: Homophobia and use of slurs, Cheating, Drug Use.
The first part of the story follows Ren being sent to a summer work program after crashing her step-father’s car. At the work program she meets the beautiful but mean Brit and instantly develops a crush on her despite numerously repeating that Brit is ‘definitely not her type’. In part 2, Ren’s family moves to a new town and Ren finds out the IT girl in her new highschool is no one but Brit herself and the IT boy is Brit’s boyfriend whom she was cheating on.
Most (probably all) of the characters in this novel lack some sort of depth, some even used just to make the plot run smoother (like Luna coming out of nowhere in the last 10-20 pages to make a crown out of flowers), making both main characters falling flat too and their relationship turn out toxic. They lack communication, Ren’s crush is depicted slightly predatory and Brit’s reason for keeping their relationship a secret is because ‘Ren just doesn’t understand’. I believe the main reason for this would be how easy the plot moved on for Ren and Brit. Brit’s mom magically accepted her despite how she refused to even acknowledge that she was a lesbian half of the book. Ren’s stepfather also magically forgave her for crashing his car and then gifted her one. We are just supposed to know that he’s not really interacting to Ren or talking to her much but then he comforts her later in the novel somehow.
Overall, Girls who lie together only delivers a lot of toxic stereotypes and if you want a coming of age, queer, YA novel just pick something else.
Trigger warnings: Homophobia and use of slurs, Cheating, Drug Use.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2022
Girls who lie together by Jessa Russo is a YA, LGBTQIA Romance novel. It’s about Renata ‘Ren’ who totalled her stepdads car, injuring herself and her friend who was put in a cast. She ends up getting sent to New Orleans to do a work program. She never expected to fall in love, especially not with Brit.
I feel like this book has a lot of potential especially for the right crowd, however it just wasn’t for me and I ended up DNFing it. It was very faced paced and straight forward but felt like the writing was too much like a teen wrote it or like a fan fiction. Other than the fact that there is a lot of language I would recommend it to younger teens.
I found that the book was quite repetitive in how I could always predict what would happen because the same thing would have just happened in the previous chapter.
As for the characters, Brit was….quite something. She was lowkey annoying but then again I think she was going through some heavy stuff. Ron wasn’t that bad, she was just very full of herself and she desperately needed to get over that. My favourite character was for sure Dev and Lucy though, the real MVPs.
I feel really bad because I feel like all I’m doing is bashing this book but I really do think it has potential for the right target audience
I hope everyone who decides to read this enjoys it :D
I feel like this book has a lot of potential especially for the right crowd, however it just wasn’t for me and I ended up DNFing it. It was very faced paced and straight forward but felt like the writing was too much like a teen wrote it or like a fan fiction. Other than the fact that there is a lot of language I would recommend it to younger teens.
I found that the book was quite repetitive in how I could always predict what would happen because the same thing would have just happened in the previous chapter.
As for the characters, Brit was….quite something. She was lowkey annoying but then again I think she was going through some heavy stuff. Ron wasn’t that bad, she was just very full of herself and she desperately needed to get over that. My favourite character was for sure Dev and Lucy though, the real MVPs.
I feel really bad because I feel like all I’m doing is bashing this book but I really do think it has potential for the right target audience
I hope everyone who decides to read this enjoys it :D
July 28, 2022
"Girls Who Lie Together" by Jessa Russo is about self-discovery, identity, falling in love, heartbreak, betrayal, and trying to find acceptance. This YA novel tackles a lot of these themes while encapsulating teen angst and the struggle to remain true to oneself.
Renata Carpenter is the true definition of a difficult "wayward" teen who is having a rough go at accepting her mother's new marriage. After a particularly poor decision, Renata gets sent to a work program in New Orleans as punishment. What she doesn't expect is to actually like it--and fall in love with another girl at the same time.
Ultimately, Renata gets her heart broken and to rub salt in the wound, her family decides to up and move to a small town far away from her best friend and life as she knew it. Of course, the resident mean girl happens to be the very one that broke her heart. Renata is determined to pursue a relationship with this girl, even though to do that means breaking down some pretty big walls and convincing her that accepting oneself is a terrifying but brave step forward in the right direction.
There's a lot to love about this story. First of all, Renata and Brit hilariously banter back and forth in ways that will have readers bust a gut laughing, especially Renata who always finds a way to embarrass herself. There are also some perfectly gushy moments throughout the novel that will have readers melting as they journey the ups and downs of Brit and Renata's "friendship." Secondly is Renata's best friend from her hometown who tends to be her wingman and finds a way to continue to offer support despite being so far away. He's got wild humour, too, and it's easy to see where Renata gets her poor decisions from!
While the characters were amazing and there were a lot of great moments that stick out in this book, I did feel as though certain areas could've been developed a fair bit more. Even though this is a romance book, it did center a lot on Brit, especially at the work program where she and Renata first meet. It felt like neither one of them were interested in getting to know the family they stayed with at this work program or even conversing with the kids who were there. The storyline would've felt more realistic if there was an attempt on Renata's part to get to know the people she was staying with and to befriend some of the kids.
Though I do love Brit's and Renata's bantering, there were aspects of their relationship that felt unrealistic and almost toxic, in a way. Though teenage love can be all-consuming and extremely complicated (especially in Brit's case), it does feel as though Renata put up with way too much and it makes me question when a person will reach their breaking point and say enough is enough and realize that what they want is maybe not so good for them.
Overall, I did truly enjoy the story and its ending, as well as the three main characters who really put me through the wringer of emotions!
"Girls Who Lie Together" by Jessa Russo is expected to be published on August 2nd, 2022. For those who enjoy spice, angst, drama, romance, and betrayal, this is definitely the book to add to your reading lists!
Thank you to BookSirens for providing me with a free e-arc of this novel and for the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.
Renata Carpenter is the true definition of a difficult "wayward" teen who is having a rough go at accepting her mother's new marriage. After a particularly poor decision, Renata gets sent to a work program in New Orleans as punishment. What she doesn't expect is to actually like it--and fall in love with another girl at the same time.
Ultimately, Renata gets her heart broken and to rub salt in the wound, her family decides to up and move to a small town far away from her best friend and life as she knew it. Of course, the resident mean girl happens to be the very one that broke her heart. Renata is determined to pursue a relationship with this girl, even though to do that means breaking down some pretty big walls and convincing her that accepting oneself is a terrifying but brave step forward in the right direction.
There's a lot to love about this story. First of all, Renata and Brit hilariously banter back and forth in ways that will have readers bust a gut laughing, especially Renata who always finds a way to embarrass herself. There are also some perfectly gushy moments throughout the novel that will have readers melting as they journey the ups and downs of Brit and Renata's "friendship." Secondly is Renata's best friend from her hometown who tends to be her wingman and finds a way to continue to offer support despite being so far away. He's got wild humour, too, and it's easy to see where Renata gets her poor decisions from!
While the characters were amazing and there were a lot of great moments that stick out in this book, I did feel as though certain areas could've been developed a fair bit more. Even though this is a romance book, it did center a lot on Brit, especially at the work program where she and Renata first meet. It felt like neither one of them were interested in getting to know the family they stayed with at this work program or even conversing with the kids who were there. The storyline would've felt more realistic if there was an attempt on Renata's part to get to know the people she was staying with and to befriend some of the kids.
Though I do love Brit's and Renata's bantering, there were aspects of their relationship that felt unrealistic and almost toxic, in a way. Though teenage love can be all-consuming and extremely complicated (especially in Brit's case), it does feel as though Renata put up with way too much and it makes me question when a person will reach their breaking point and say enough is enough and realize that what they want is maybe not so good for them.
Overall, I did truly enjoy the story and its ending, as well as the three main characters who really put me through the wringer of emotions!
"Girls Who Lie Together" by Jessa Russo is expected to be published on August 2nd, 2022. For those who enjoy spice, angst, drama, romance, and betrayal, this is definitely the book to add to your reading lists!
Thank you to BookSirens for providing me with a free e-arc of this novel and for the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.
July 30, 2022
UPDATE: This book is no longer being published
This book had so much promise- it really did! Enemies-to-lovers, pretentious private school, Mean Girls and Grease vibes... how bad could this story be? Unfortunately, it was bad.
To start with what I liked about the book: The first half of the book takes place on a farmhouse in New Orleans where our main character Renata Carpenter is sent to spend her summer as punishment for hijacking her stepdad's car and injuring her best friend. Here, she is put in a work program helping hurricane victims rebuild alongside her host family and their beautiful, pageant-worthy, yet judgmental and severely closeted niece - Brit. The book's second half switches to the beginning of that upcoming school year when Renata's family moves towns - and schools - leaving everything familiar to Ren behind. To make matters worse, her parents have enrolled her in a preppy private school, where none other than Brit is head "mis popular" alongside her stereotypical jock boyfriend. Again, the book's premise appears to have great potential, but that's where it fell flat.
To begin, the book relies on character stereotypes. Heavily. Sometimes this isn't a problem, while other times, it can be overkill. Brit is supposed to be your classic "closeted pageant queen fem lesbian with the homophobic boyfriend", and Renata is meant to be the "edgy and rebellious open lesbian that falls for the 'straight girl' and ultimately is the reason said girl realizes she's gay". Which leads to their relationship... or lack thereof. This is a prime example of insta-love because as soon as Ren comes in contact with Brit she's already falling for her perfection... and ultimately staring at her body every chance she gets. This then takes me to the next issue I had with this book: the strange and completely unnecessary sexualization.
Ren is constantly thinking about Brit's body and looking at her no matter what she's wearing - and associating whatever Brit wears with the thought "she's wearing it for me". Secondly- Ren's (guy) best friend consistently talks about Ren finding him "hot girls" and talking about them solely in - again - a sexual manner. For being the main character’s closest friend, I was expecting him to have more of a solid character with a personality (besides wanting girls), but alas, that is the most we got out of him.
But possibly my biggest problem with this book was the uncalled-for "bitch" calling. Every time Brit did something Ren didn't like, she'd call her a bitch. Multiple times. I understand that Ren was upset that Brit's actions towards her appeared bipolar, but keep in mind Brit was dealing with internalized homophobia and cared about her self-imagine tremendously, which explained her doings. For a book that was supposed to be about love and acceptance, this strange misogynistic behavior - especially from a queer woman, felt off.
This aside, the writing style alone made the story feel choppy and incomplete. To begin, there was an overuse of the same verbs and adjectives. There can only be so many times that one character can “wink” and “giggle” before you start rolling your eyes. Come to the ending of the book, it felt abrupt and unfinished in a way. There was a large buildup that ultimately fell through and ended on an abrupt and unsatisfying note from both Ren and Brit’s situations.
This book had the beginnings to become something worth reading, but the writing itself had too many errors that prevented me from fully enjoying it. I have hoped that this author could move towards a better direction in their writing as time goes on, but as for this book alone, it was a disappointment.
This book had so much promise- it really did! Enemies-to-lovers, pretentious private school, Mean Girls and Grease vibes... how bad could this story be? Unfortunately, it was bad.
To start with what I liked about the book: The first half of the book takes place on a farmhouse in New Orleans where our main character Renata Carpenter is sent to spend her summer as punishment for hijacking her stepdad's car and injuring her best friend. Here, she is put in a work program helping hurricane victims rebuild alongside her host family and their beautiful, pageant-worthy, yet judgmental and severely closeted niece - Brit. The book's second half switches to the beginning of that upcoming school year when Renata's family moves towns - and schools - leaving everything familiar to Ren behind. To make matters worse, her parents have enrolled her in a preppy private school, where none other than Brit is head "mis popular" alongside her stereotypical jock boyfriend. Again, the book's premise appears to have great potential, but that's where it fell flat.
To begin, the book relies on character stereotypes. Heavily. Sometimes this isn't a problem, while other times, it can be overkill. Brit is supposed to be your classic "closeted pageant queen fem lesbian with the homophobic boyfriend", and Renata is meant to be the "edgy and rebellious open lesbian that falls for the 'straight girl' and ultimately is the reason said girl realizes she's gay". Which leads to their relationship... or lack thereof. This is a prime example of insta-love because as soon as Ren comes in contact with Brit she's already falling for her perfection... and ultimately staring at her body every chance she gets. This then takes me to the next issue I had with this book: the strange and completely unnecessary sexualization.
Ren is constantly thinking about Brit's body and looking at her no matter what she's wearing - and associating whatever Brit wears with the thought "she's wearing it for me". Secondly- Ren's (guy) best friend consistently talks about Ren finding him "hot girls" and talking about them solely in - again - a sexual manner. For being the main character’s closest friend, I was expecting him to have more of a solid character with a personality (besides wanting girls), but alas, that is the most we got out of him.
But possibly my biggest problem with this book was the uncalled-for "bitch" calling. Every time Brit did something Ren didn't like, she'd call her a bitch. Multiple times. I understand that Ren was upset that Brit's actions towards her appeared bipolar, but keep in mind Brit was dealing with internalized homophobia and cared about her self-imagine tremendously, which explained her doings. For a book that was supposed to be about love and acceptance, this strange misogynistic behavior - especially from a queer woman, felt off.
This aside, the writing style alone made the story feel choppy and incomplete. To begin, there was an overuse of the same verbs and adjectives. There can only be so many times that one character can “wink” and “giggle” before you start rolling your eyes. Come to the ending of the book, it felt abrupt and unfinished in a way. There was a large buildup that ultimately fell through and ended on an abrupt and unsatisfying note from both Ren and Brit’s situations.
This book had the beginnings to become something worth reading, but the writing itself had too many errors that prevented me from fully enjoying it. I have hoped that this author could move towards a better direction in their writing as time goes on, but as for this book alone, it was a disappointment.
July 27, 2022
I received an advanced review copy for free through BookSirens. My review is honest.
Entertaining, pleasant read. Sapphic YA romance. A little bit Grease, maybe Grease 2, and Mean Girls.
While the prose reads young YA, the material has some spice. While the scenes are not adult explicit, that these girls are feeling Lusty as much as Lovey.
A part of the story was set in New Orleans where the 2 main characters were supposed to be spending the summer building houses. Except there was always a reason why they weren't. The weather. The person supervising them having an appointment or wanting them to have fun. If I had to guess, that portion of the plot was irrelevant to the author, and I get it, but there's a way to hide that, to have a few more of the scenes happen while working, or to mention the day they put in.
Brit, Ren's love interest, is related to the guy they're "working" for, and while I think he was meant to be a good guy, he seemed creepy. He quotes that thing about pinching the tail and sucking the head about eating crawfish, which seems a weird thing to say to an underage girl.
Brit is supposed to feel trapped by living up to her pageant queen mother's expectations, but I don't think this was ever showed to be a thing, and obstacles to Ren and Brit being together fell away almost magically when it was time.
Brit is supposed to be the bully of the high school, and we're told that, but other than some light snark, this is never on the page. Brit cries that she regrets her behavior, but since there's no evidence it falls flat.
Ren's best friend is a creepy misogynistic jerk. The girl she befriends is terrific.
If the things we're told -- Brit as bully and Brit as pressured by her mother -- would gave appeared on the page, I would have felt more engaged.
Overall, I enjoyed the read, particularly the scenes in New Orleans, and Ren was a really appealing main character, but it never rose to love for me.
Entertaining, pleasant read. Sapphic YA romance. A little bit Grease, maybe Grease 2, and Mean Girls.
While the prose reads young YA, the material has some spice. While the scenes are not adult explicit, that these girls are feeling Lusty as much as Lovey.
A part of the story was set in New Orleans where the 2 main characters were supposed to be spending the summer building houses. Except there was always a reason why they weren't. The weather. The person supervising them having an appointment or wanting them to have fun. If I had to guess, that portion of the plot was irrelevant to the author, and I get it, but there's a way to hide that, to have a few more of the scenes happen while working, or to mention the day they put in.
Brit, Ren's love interest, is related to the guy they're "working" for, and while I think he was meant to be a good guy, he seemed creepy. He quotes that thing about pinching the tail and sucking the head about eating crawfish, which seems a weird thing to say to an underage girl.
Brit is supposed to feel trapped by living up to her pageant queen mother's expectations, but I don't think this was ever showed to be a thing, and obstacles to Ren and Brit being together fell away almost magically when it was time.
Brit is supposed to be the bully of the high school, and we're told that, but other than some light snark, this is never on the page. Brit cries that she regrets her behavior, but since there's no evidence it falls flat.
Ren's best friend is a creepy misogynistic jerk. The girl she befriends is terrific.
If the things we're told -- Brit as bully and Brit as pressured by her mother -- would gave appeared on the page, I would have felt more engaged.
Overall, I enjoyed the read, particularly the scenes in New Orleans, and Ren was a really appealing main character, but it never rose to love for me.
June 20, 2022
Thank you NetGalley, Jessa Russo and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this eARC.
This story definitely drew me in, and I had trouble putting the book down, so that's definitely saying something. I confess, I was caught off guard when I got to the table of contents and saw over 50 chapters, which seemed like an awful lot for a high school romance, and while I'm not sure it was actually that long (ebooks always throw me off in that manner) there were times were things were it did feel long, ideas that were repeated to (seemingly) pad the word count.
I was surprised by the book essentially being divided right in half between the summer fling and the time in the school. When it was described as being essentially Grease meets Mean Girls, I thought (like Grease) the summer lovin' would be a relatively minor part of the story, maybe the 1st quarter at most. And while I think the first half of the book is the strongest half of the story, the downside to it is that I think the back half suffered for Jessa putting so much detail into the first half, which wasn't quite there for the high school half.
The two leads were interesting, and when they were good, they were really, really good. There were some adorably cute moments. And even when they bickered, particularly in the first half, they were great. That said, Ren was a super indecisive main character, and it might have helped round things out if we'd gotten POV from both Ren and Brit.
Also, as much as I wanted a HEA for the girls, I'm not entirely sure it was earned. Brit was so awful to Ren once she showed up at school, and kept trying to keep up the pretenses of being the Mean Girl Queen B, then literally begging Ren to take her back, but not publicly. She got offended at both their relationship being characterized as a dirty secret, but also at the idea that her future would involve anything beyond a white picket fence, cishet southern marriage and future. I honestly got whiplash with Brit's back and forth. With the second half of the book only lasting a couple months (I didn't go to high school in the states, but isn't Homecoming very early in the school year, like October?), I found it a stretch that the story ended the way it did.
And of course, Brit had a lot to work through, with her upbringing and the expectations placed upon her. Comp-het is a hell of a drug, and it's complicated, and hard, and all that, but I wish we would have seen more of her working on herself. I think the school portion would have benefited from lasting to the end of the year, so we could see her growth.
A lot of that focuses on Brit because, with her indecisiveness, there isn't a ton that Ren actually does. A lot of the time, it's more about the world and events happening to and around her, and then her thinking about them, and overthinking about them, which was a little frustrating when the two were just so good in the good moments.
I loved most of the supporting cast, though I agree with another reviewer that everyone essentially bullying Ren into going to the birthday party seemed sort of mean. I wanted to see more of Ren's friendly, likely gay classmate Trevor. The douchecanoe boyfriend was appropriately douchey. I loved the adults, particularly Dev and Lucy, they were just a wonderful presence.
Long story shorter, what I loved about this book I really, really loved, and could not put it down, but there were some serious issues that I really wished would have been addressed, and I think the way the book was structured was one of the main things preventing that from happening, which unfortunately kept this from being a favourite read.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
This story definitely drew me in, and I had trouble putting the book down, so that's definitely saying something. I confess, I was caught off guard when I got to the table of contents and saw over 50 chapters, which seemed like an awful lot for a high school romance, and while I'm not sure it was actually that long (ebooks always throw me off in that manner) there were times were things were it did feel long, ideas that were repeated to (seemingly) pad the word count.
I was surprised by the book essentially being divided right in half between the summer fling and the time in the school. When it was described as being essentially Grease meets Mean Girls, I thought (like Grease) the summer lovin' would be a relatively minor part of the story, maybe the 1st quarter at most. And while I think the first half of the book is the strongest half of the story, the downside to it is that I think the back half suffered for Jessa putting so much detail into the first half, which wasn't quite there for the high school half.
The two leads were interesting, and when they were good, they were really, really good. There were some adorably cute moments. And even when they bickered, particularly in the first half, they were great. That said, Ren was a super indecisive main character, and it might have helped round things out if we'd gotten POV from both Ren and Brit.
Also, as much as I wanted a HEA for the girls, I'm not entirely sure it was earned. Brit was so awful to Ren once she showed up at school, and kept trying to keep up the pretenses of being the Mean Girl Queen B, then literally begging Ren to take her back, but not publicly. She got offended at both their relationship being characterized as a dirty secret, but also at the idea that her future would involve anything beyond a white picket fence, cishet southern marriage and future. I honestly got whiplash with Brit's back and forth. With the second half of the book only lasting a couple months (I didn't go to high school in the states, but isn't Homecoming very early in the school year, like October?), I found it a stretch that the story ended the way it did.
And of course, Brit had a lot to work through, with her upbringing and the expectations placed upon her. Comp-het is a hell of a drug, and it's complicated, and hard, and all that, but I wish we would have seen more of her working on herself. I think the school portion would have benefited from lasting to the end of the year, so we could see her growth.
A lot of that focuses on Brit because, with her indecisiveness, there isn't a ton that Ren actually does. A lot of the time, it's more about the world and events happening to and around her, and then her thinking about them, and overthinking about them, which was a little frustrating when the two were just so good in the good moments.
I loved most of the supporting cast, though I agree with another reviewer that everyone essentially bullying Ren into going to the birthday party seemed sort of mean. I wanted to see more of Ren's friendly, likely gay classmate Trevor. The douchecanoe boyfriend was appropriately douchey. I loved the adults, particularly Dev and Lucy, they were just a wonderful presence.
Long story shorter, what I loved about this book I really, really loved, and could not put it down, but there were some serious issues that I really wished would have been addressed, and I think the way the book was structured was one of the main things preventing that from happening, which unfortunately kept this from being a favourite read.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
July 25, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an arc of "Girls Who Lie Together" by Jessa Russo, scheduled to release on August 2nd, 2022.
Overall, I rated this book 4/5 stars.
This book focused on our main character Ren, who gets into some trouble with her stepfather for taking his car on a joyride with her best friend Grayson, totaling it and landing him in the hospital with a broken leg. Her mother ends up sending her to go help rebuild a home in New Orleans for the summer. There, she meets Brit and falls head over heels for her, despite her not being her typical type.
I really enjoyed the outline of the novel, however, I did not like that Ren was written as such a pushover who gave in so easily. The character of Brit was written as a typical high school teenager, though.
Overall, I rated this book 4/5 stars.
This book focused on our main character Ren, who gets into some trouble with her stepfather for taking his car on a joyride with her best friend Grayson, totaling it and landing him in the hospital with a broken leg. Her mother ends up sending her to go help rebuild a home in New Orleans for the summer. There, she meets Brit and falls head over heels for her, despite her not being her typical type.
I really enjoyed the outline of the novel, however, I did not like that Ren was written as such a pushover who gave in so easily. The character of Brit was written as a typical high school teenager, though.
September 20, 2023
Not really sure what to think of this book. I did enjoy it, but not from start to finish. Did like the first part, but not really the school part. In my opinion not a lot happened and Ren forgave to easily. It was cute, fun and enjoyable, but only the summer part.
August 3, 2022
Well this book has settled it for me, I’m a big sucker for romance. I always steered away from typical romance novels but following the story of Ren and Brit warmed my heart and there were many moments where I just found myself smiling at my phone during sweet interactions. I think this story really accurately portrays the feelings of teenagers trying to navigate new relationships and new feelings they might be experiencing and I was fully invested in these characters from start to finish. I loved it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
August 4, 2022
Oh I loved this story! Brit and Ren were just precious. I loved the forced proximity and their chemistry. My heart loved when they loved, ached when they ached, and cheered when they cheered. I think it is a great young adult story for the LGBTQ community about becoming yourself. I’m so happy I got the chance to read this! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
April 22, 2023
This book was so cute!! The way Ren goes on about Brit is so poetic, I've honestly never read love so powerful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2023
Pretty simple review.. I loved this book.. I could even use some more.
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