Review: Perfect Lies by Kiersten White

Perfect Lies

Author: Kiersten White
Series: Mind Games #2
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: ebook
Release Date: February 18, 2014
Source: eARC received from publisher via Edelweiss
Rating: 2.5 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.***  

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Annie and Fia are ready to fight back.

The sisters have been manipulated and controlled by the Keane Foundation for years, trapped in a never ending battle for survival. Now they have found allies who can help them truly escape. After faking her own death, Annie has joined a group that is plotting to destroy the Foundation. And Fia is working with James Keane to bring his father down from the inside.

But Annie's visions of the future can't show her who to trust in the present. And though James is Fia's first love, Fia knows he's hiding something. The sisters can rely only on each other - but that may not be enough to save them.

My Review:

I really liked Mind Games. I thought it was an interesting concept with interesting characters. And I was super excited that it was a duology. I love duologies. I only have to wait one year then to find out how it’s all going to end, but there’s more time for the author to flesh out their characters and their world. It’s like the best compromise between series and standalones. So I was pretty excited to see how Kiersten White was going to wrap up Fia and Annie’s story.

Let’s talk about what I liked first. Annie grew a lot in this book and I loved that. In my review of Mind Games I mentioned that Annie was whiny and annoying. Well no more in this book. She becomes a lot more self-reliant and really starts to fight herself. I loved seeing this transition and it really caused Annie to become my favorite character.

I also loved the addition of Cole’s character. I think that he might have been in Mind Games briefly (don’t quote me on that, I honestly don’t remember) but we get to know him a lot better in this book. He’s pretty swoony. Dark, mysterious, all things sexy. I loved that he didn’t treat Annie like a child just because she’s blind. He expects more out of her and I really think that he helped her break out of her shell.

Here’s what I didn’t like. Fia didn’t develop at all. I said in my review of Mind Games that her character had a long way to go, but she honestly didn’t go anywhere at all. She was still making stupid decisions. Still slightly mental. I mean, I get it. The girl has been through a lot and I don’t expect her to be 100% healed by the end. But I do expect to have some sense that she’s moving on and that she’s going to be okay and I just didn’t get that. I feel like she was in the same broken state of mind that she was in at the beginning of Mind Games and that made me both sad and frustrated.

I also hated Raphael’s character. He’s a total creep and every time Annie would flirt with him just for the fun of flirting with him I would shudder. Seriously why wasn’t Annie getting the crazy person vibe?? Everything about him made me feel dirty. I also hated James and never once trusted him. I think that the book could have been better if I had trusted him a bit more. I think it would have raised the stakes a bit and caused me to be more invested in the story. Oh and Adam pretty much becomes a filler character that contributes nothing. I really thought that his character would be a bigger player in this book, but he was barely there.

But my biggest problem with this book is that I remembered nothing from the first one. And there was no recap or anything. Nothing to help jog my memory. I know that an author shouldn’t have to give a full summary of the previous book in the series, but some subtle clues and reminders would have been nice. Because of this, I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I might have otherwise. Because for the most part, I had no idea what was going on.

I did like that this series was a quick read. The books are really short and action-packed so they fly by. And the whole main goal of saving these girls with special abilities from being taken advantage of is definitely a positive in my mind. But unfortunately the execution could have been better. Better character development and some more reminders could have made this book a lot better than it was. Unfortunately I was left feeling disappointed. Happy reading all! 

Have you read this book? What did you think of the way it ended? Were you disappointed with Fia's development too? What did you think of Annie? And Cole?