Review: Trust Me, I'm Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer

Trust Me, I’m Lying

Author: Mary Elizabeth Summer
Series: Trust Me #1
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: YA Contemporary Thriller
Format: ARC
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Source: ARC received from publisher (Thanks, Random House!)
Rating: 4 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:

Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.

But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.

My Review:

I need to read more thrillers. Because every time I do, I fall in love and am completely riveted throughout the whole book and this one was no exception. I loved Julep, the main character, and I loved how this book was written. It’s really Julep recounting her tale of discovering her father is missing and setting out search for him. Julep is a grifter (con artist) and has learned all her tricks from her father. She uses these skills to make a little extra money on the side to pay for her tuition at St. Agatha’s, an elite private school in Chicago. But when her dad goes missing, she uses those skills to follow the clues he left her.

I just loved Julep’s personality. She was sneaky and conniving and not entirely “good”, but I think that made her so complex and so much more interesting. She had goals and ambitions, was driven, but certainly not perfect. She made plenty of mistakes along the way, dangerous mistakes, but that’s what made the book so exciting.

There is a love triangle. I know. I didn’t like it. I didn’t understand the attraction between her and the one guy when the other one was clearly perfect for her. Both Tyler and Sam seem like really good guys, but there was just one I liked over the other. But I suppose the triangle was necessary to the plot so I’ll allow it.

The plot was fast-paced and a twisting turning journey. I tried to figure some stuff out. Which epically failed and then when the big finale came, I was left gaping. There were a couple things towards the end that completely shocked me. And I love being shocked, so that was great on the author’s part. I have some suspicions about things that weren’t answered, but this is just the first book. I will say that the ending did feel a tad rushed and not everything was completely clear, but again, this is just the first book. You will be happy to know that even though this is the start of a new series, the author wraps it up enough that you’re not on a huge cliffhanger. But there’s still plenty of story to explore and I can’t wait to read more! A fast-paced, twisty-turny thriller with a smart and conniving main character. If you like thrillers, I highly recommend this one!  

Have you read this one yet? What did you think of the love triangle? The plot? Did the ending seem a bit rushed to you as well? Did you figure out the twist?