If I Lie

Dear Becca,

First of all, I am extremely proud/excited to share that I recommended THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS to my mom over the holidays and she absolutely loved it. I think she read it in two days tops. Generally, my mom and I don’t read a lot of the same material, so it was extremely satisfying to share this book with her!

This time around, I chose IF I LIE, a YA novel that is a bit of a stretch for me. Let’s just say, it’s not my typical summer romance story. I first read about IF I LIE on Veronica Roth’s blog, where she shared how absorbing and wonderful this book is. As you know, I’m in awe of Miss Roth and all that she has accomplished at 24 so I was immediately intrigued to find out what she thought was so amazing.

Absorbing is right. This is another book that alternates a bit between present and past but not so much as other books we’ve read. One thing I love about it is the fact that Jackson doesn’t keep you waiting to find out what Quinn’s big secret is. You find out right away that her boyfriend, Carey, is gay. He breaks up with Quinn right before he leaves for Afghanistan but then he gets beaten up and asks her to keep his secret and continue acting like his girlfriend. She does so, but when a photo leaks of her kissing another guy, the whole town turns against her. Everyone labels her a slut/whore for cheating on Carey (even her closest friends and family). She can’t tell the truth because that would be betraying her promise to Carey.

What a dark plot line. I didn’t have nightmares while I was reading this book, but I would read it right before bed and then wake up angry. A part of me really wanted Quinn to tell her close friends/family what was going on. Carey didn’t seem worth it to me. Not to mention, Quinn’s one shot at a new relationship is seriously messed up because she can’t tell the truth about Carey. The whole thing just had me pulling my hair out with frustration.

It makes me so sad that there are men in the military fighting for us who can’t be themselves, who have to hide their true feelings like Carey does. Although I was very angry with him for putting Quinn in such a terrible situation, I do understand where he’s coming from. I just think he asked too much. Couldn’t they have broken up without revealing that Carey was gay? I feel like there are other options they should have explored.

Author Corinne Jackson did a lovely job with this novel and I’m glad that I picked it up. I was also excited to learn that she lives in San Francisco. I’ve enjoyed reading bits of her blog – particularly this entry about how she got her agent.

Til we read again,

Megan