Spotlight Review: How We Learned To Lie

How We Learned To Lie by Meredith Miller (July 31)
Overview: Joan and Daisy were always best friends. Until, one day, they started drifting, their relationship troubled by new lies springing up. Joan wants to know how the world works, and she uses biology to try to tether herself. Daisy just wants a normal life with a normal family. In a creepy, ominous story, we learn how the lives of Joan and Daisy unfold. Overall: 3.5

Characters: 4 I thought that Joan and Daisy were both interesting. They have difficult lives and family situations. Daisy has to deal with his mother's drug use and his brother's sketchy activity. Joan's mother has informally abandoned the family to run a theater in New York. For the most part, the characters are well fleshed out, but the way their alternating chapters are written, even though they are first person, they feel removed from the characters.

Plot: 3 While there's a constant teaser of drama that's about to happen, 25% of the way through, there were still only tastes about any drama that's coming. Even though the interesting qualities of each scene held my attention while I was reading it, the second I put it down, I never felt desperate to grab it again.

Writing: 3 I guess I'm just not a huge fan of Miller's style. I've read both her books, and they're automatically intriguing. There's such an air of mystery that she maintains that the tone of the book takes on an interesting life. Unfortunately, though, that leads the book to become extremely passive where you feel like your watching the story out of an airplane window instead of being on the ground with them.

Links Of Interest:

The History Of Jane Doe: Review Here

Letting Go Of Gravity: Review Here

Wrong In All The Right Ways: Review Here

I Believe In A Thing Called Love: Review Here