Review of The Lying Game

The Lying Game by Sara Shepard
Official Website
Received:Net Galley 
Description: 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.

Review: I've been waiting for The Lying Game ever since I saw it on Goodreads. when I learned that the Pretty Little Liars series was ending, I was so excited because I wanted another mystery suspense story by Sara Shepard. The Lying Game was no exception.

The mystery actually starts on the first page, with the prologue. It introduces you to Emma Paxton, the poor foster child you doesn't fit with her family, and Sutton Mercer, her twin sister who may-or-may-not be dead and is able to follow Emma on her travels. But not travel, like Emma and Sutton hang out on the bus and stuff. Nope, it's more like Sutton is following Emma's spirit, and if Emma gets knocked out, so does Sutton.

The story starts when Emma gets kicked out of her foster home because her foster mother found a video of a girl identical to Emma, getting strangled and then waking up. But it's obviously not Emma, because she would remember that, right? So after researching this mystery girl, she finds out she may have a twin sister named Sutton, who lives in a lavish home in Arizona, with a group of wonderful friends.

Soon after she arrives in Sutton's hometown, she gets a note saying that 'Sutton is dead, keep pretending to be her'.Obviously, that freaks Emma out, so she does keep pretending to be Sutton. Meanwhile, she's trying to figure out who killed her twin sister. Unfortunately, Sutton has a lot of enemies.

The reason I have a love-and-hate relationship with Sara Shepard is because she makes sooo many characters who could have committed the crime. Let's take Sutton's group of friends. They have this group called 'The Lying Game' and they pull pranks on one another. However, there was supposed to be a big prank-to-end-all-pranks involving Sutton. Remember the video from before? That was Sutton's friends playing the prank on her. Some friends...

Another suspect could be Sutton's best friends brother, Thayer, who disappeared. He had a relationship with Laurel, who was Sutton's sister. But the book also hinted that something happened between Thayer and Sutton. There's also Ethan Landry, who befriends Emma. Of course, Sutton did something to hurt Ethan a while back, and Ethan immediately realizes that this new 'Sutton' is literate, likes stars, and is all around nicer. But when they were in the car, her started questioning her. I just didn't trust him.

Once again, Shepard wrote an amazing first novel to, hopefully, a long series of books. Because this series, I can get used to. And don't lie. If you saw that cover in Barnes and Noble, don't tell me you wouldn't pick it up. It's gorgeous!

And here's a picture of the sequel, Never Have I Ever: