Lying Out Loud (The DUFF #2)
by Kody Keplinger
Publisher – Hodder Children’s Books
Release Date – July 2nd 2015
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository
Kody Keplinger returns to the world of The DUFF in this brand-new companion novel!
Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies about her dad being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend’s house every night because she has nowhere else to go.
Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with— secrets, clothes, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross.
Ryder’s the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can’t stand—a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed.
But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realizes that she might actually like him. Only there’s one small catch: he thinks he’s been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realize that she’s the girl he’s really wanted all along. Can Sonny lie her way to the truth, or will all her lies end up costing her both Ryder and Amy?
Lying Out Loud made me LOL every step of the way. Pun completely intended. I read
The DUFF only a few months ago before the film comes out, which I haven’t seen yet, and I absolutely loved it. Kody Keplinger really tackles high school life and diverse nature we all live in and she didn’t fail in her companion novel…
Sonya and Amy have been best friends since childhood, they are nothing a like but they had something each of them needed to complete themselves. Amy brother of Wesley, (yes the famous Wesley of The DUFF) is painfully shy, rich girl but she has a heart of gold on her. She even let Sonny live with her when her mum kicked her out and her father in prison. They are inseparable, so when Sonny’s car breaks down, Ryder Cross comes to the rescue. Ryder a new kid from LA has had a crush on Amy for a while. It’s when he starting emailing..that it gets interesting. Amy isn’t interested and she expressed that in a reply with a little help from Sonny of course. Though when Sonny borrows the computer, they start IMing, only to realise Sonny is actually talking as Amy. An unlikely relationship sparks between them however, will it come between Sonny’s most important things in life.
Sonny is by all means not innocent in a lot of things, she is indeed queen of lying. But whilst some of her lies are quite pathetic and damn right annoying, she has a reason, a good and heartbreaking one at that. I got her from the beginning. I’m not saying I lie but I understood why. What I loved about her was how believable her character was straight away, she didn’t beat around the bush, her bluntness really defined her for me in a good way. This really complemented her with her relationship with Ryder and her friendship with Amy. All her life she has practically been alone and her mum has swanning off, here there and everywhere with numerous guys. Sonny got used to it, she told one lie and then two and she couldn’t stop. Lying was a surviving mechanism to her a way to conceal the truth but mainly her truths and acknowledging them.
What was great is that we had Amy back, Wesley’s younger sister. In The DUFF she was very shy and that still hasn’t changed, It hasn’t changed that she adores her brother like anything. But Amy is also very different, she’s kind-hearted, beautiful (shocker) and intelligent, she doesn’t has have a bad bone in her body. She will do anything for Sonny too, she wouldn’t be without her. But when Ryder Cross comes between them, they become distant and this is quite foreign for Amy, she hasn’t known anything to really change. In a way I wish we got to see her perspective too, to really get a sense of their friendship and that connection that we did with the previous book.
Ryder started out as a bit of an arse, you could tell that with his blatant act of trashing Hamilton whenever he had a chance too. He totally undermined everyone. He spoke before he thought about it. Ryder also comes from a family of politics so I guess, instantly you could have a real disliking against him, I think I did. But I think that was intentional from Kody’s perspective of creating Ryder’s character. His bluntness and being confrontational at times was his copying mechanism like lying was to Sonny.
When Sonny first started her relationship with Ryder through IM it reminded me of the film You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks! Anyone know that film or is that just me!? Regardless that she was posing as Amy still, in each of the those conversations she was revealing a layer of her persona everytime. This was good for her. She didn’t realise how much Ryder had an influence over her in a good way. Sonny realised this was wrong to Amy though, she struggled with the truth at first, but she made the effort to do a truce with Ryder (in person) and actually get to know him for real. Together they were far more a like, and together they tried to comfort and help each other. In a way like Amy, Sonny and Ryder complimented each other in different ways.
It was great going back into Kody’s writing. What Kody did with Sonny, Ryder and Amy was build her characters based on the realistic stereotypes of teenagers and I love her for it. Kody has brought around another novel of positive messages, in The DUFF it was sex in a positive and realistic light, in LOL it’s diverse relationships, being yourself and also building or rekindling relationships with lost members of your family too. Kody Keplinger is a positive voice of teenagers and young adult.
I’d also like to share my favourite quote which I shared on my
Instagram…
“‘Have you read all of those? Or even half?’
“It’s more of a collection” she said.”
This is what I should say to anyone who complains about my bookcase. LOL!
Rating – 4
Related
I loved The Duff so I really think I will like this as well. I so need to get the movie and watch it!
I'm glad to see that you enjoyed this one. I'm hoping to read the Duff soon since the movie just came out. I'll be sure to check out this companion book after! Great review.
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian
Love that quote – totally true about all my books. haha I read The Duff quite awhile ago, but it sounds like this is a really fun companion novel. Thanks for sharing!
-Lauren
I enjoyed this one too, Emma! Keplinger's books never rock my world but they're still so enjoyable and contain elements, such as strong friendships and family ties and complex relationships, that I read and sometimes take for granted until I fail to find them in other novels. Fantastic review, dear!(:
Never got around to reading The Duff. I guess I'd better get to it, then? 🙂 Excellent review 🙂
I feel like this is going to cause me stress Emma! I always get all anxious with books like this where there's a big secret we as readers now that one of the characters doesn't. I try to read slower as though that will delay the inevitable moment where all is revealed 😉 I've loved all Kody's books though, so I have little doubt she'll make me love this one as well. Lovely review!
Sounds like you really loved this one Emma, with the emailing and everything. It sounds realistic, but I'm not sure why Sonny would constantly be lying which sounds amazing. The relationship sounds really sweet though, especially if you loved The Duff. Great review!
I didn't know that it was a series. I heard a lot about book 1 and the movie and although I haven't tried any, I confess that I'm quite curious. But now I'm curious about book 2 lol that's bad!
This sounds like a lot of fun. I still haven't read or watched The Duff, but I plan to. I kind of love the lying aspect of LOL though.