I do my reviews in the form of questions

What made me pick this book up:
The cover definitely caught my eye, and we had it on audio.

What did I like about the cover:
The pictures with the faces blocked off and the giant red marker like words across the front is really cool. It really matches the book well.

What made me read this book:
I was a promised a book like the Breakfast Club, and I love the Breakfast Club. But really, the synopsis sounded really good. I'm a sucker for a good mystery.

What did I like the most:
I've discovered I really really like mysteries. So the mystery of this book of this book is great. The whole book you're trying to figure out who killed Simon.
It keeps you guessing the whole time, about who possibly could have put peanut oil in a cup, that no one knew if Simon would actually drink out of. Plus who put random cell phones in those 5 people's backpacks, without anyone noticing.

The characters are interesting and all very very different. Also all very likable. You don't want to believe that any of these people killed him.

The writing is also really well done, and the ending you will never see coming.

What didn't I like:
Some parts of the book really pissed me off because of what was happening. But that's what it's meant to do.

It also lost a start because it took me 4 days to finish the book, but it felt like a lot longer. So the pacing was just a bit slow.

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
Yes!

Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Pace: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Mystery: 5/5

“I don't know why it's so hard for people to admit that sometimes they're just assholes who screw up because they don't expect to get caught.”
― Karen M. McManus, One of Us Is Lying

This was a fast-paced, but expertly crafted read; a perfect introduction to thrillers for teens. I loved getting to know the characters and their secrets and although I guessed the ending early, I still enjoyed the journey. Karen McManus is one to watch!

Oh my goodness I never saw the twist coming! I love when a book can surprise me, and this one definitely did just that!

Delacorte Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of One of Us Is Lying. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

When one of the most hated classmates in school dies due to a peanut allergy, will some of the students that he outed with his app become the prime suspects? All of the teens who shared detention with Simon in his last moments had reason to want him dead, but has someone orchestrated the entire scenario from behind the curtain? When the court of public opinion, as well as the police, have decided on the guilt of one or all of the students, will the truth ever be revealed?

The bullying that exists in this book is both predictable and disappointing. The fact that the police did not seem to open the investigation up to a wider pool of suspects was unrealistic, especially considering the circumstantial evidence. The other thing is that usually minor's names are not released in the media, but their privacy was not protected here. I did like the mystery and, although I did figure out the twist late in the book, I did find the way the investigation unfolded to be interesting. Overall, One of Us Is Lying is a good mystery and one that I would recommend to readers who like YA mystery and romance.

I've had this book forever and I kept putting it off, don't know why. It was addicting and I really wanted to know what happened. I did guess the ending, but I guessed several other endings too so I was bound to be right with one of them. I read it in one sitting, liked the characters and the story. I see why some people wouldn't like it or be offended by some of the 'twists' but they did not bother me (like Cooper being gay, Simon committing suicide and being depressed).

This was exactly the book I needed to read to pull me out of my reading slump! I was soooo into it from the very beginning! I loved all of the characters!! I bought the audiobook about a quarter in because it also looked so good, and it so was! Highly recommended listening to the audiobook, as the cast is awesome! I wasn't 100% satisfied with the ending here, but it gave me enough to feel well fed (a weird metaphor to use here). I wanted it to get a bit more intense than it did, and I wanted a crazy plot twist on top of another. Maybe I'm just hard to please! I thought this would be a new favorite, but alas, I don't think I'd rank it with the other books I adored so far this year! This was a fun, fast read with great characters, but I wanted a little bit more punch near the end. And I do feel like the book starts leaning too much into the romance as it goes on, losing sight of the core plot. 4.5/5 stars!

2.5 stars
I was really intrigued for the first half. Then...it all went downhill once I figured out where things were going. Maybe I'm just too far removed from high school to believe that someone could be this conniving and vindictive and pull others into their web? Maybe I have a little more belief that the police are more intelligent than this book gives them credit for? I don't know the answer, but this book had potential and then didn't deliver for me.

One of Us Is Lying is a young adult mystery told through alternating viewpoints. Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the students that was in detention with Simon when he is killed. Each person feels they shouldn’t be in detention – all having been caught with phones in class – phones that aren’t theirs. It is all very mysterious and then Simon dies. I won’t spoil the surprise on how he dies – but each person in that room comes under scrutiny as a suspect in Simon’s death.

As the story unfolds we learn more about the characters that were in the room as well as their secrets and possible motivations for wanting Simon dead. You see, Simon published a blog about the secrets and scandals of his classmates and everyone – no matter how innocent they are have secrets to hide.

I really enjoyed reading this story and learning about the characters. It was interesting to see how they became unified by this single event. It was interesting to see how their stories unfolded and how someone continued with the blog posts after Simon was gone, throwing suspicion on different characters. It was interesting learning their secrets and just how far each could be pushed.

The ending was not something that I could ever have guessed, which I found very refreshing. I hate it when you already know who committed the crime and why before you’re even half way through the book.
I rated this book 5 Stars because it entertained and it kept me guessing. I highly recommend it to anyone that loves a good mystery.

After reading this, I knew it was a must purchase. I have quite a number of students at my school who love a good mystery. This was a good mystery and then some. It also delved really well into exploring the secrets that we can keep hidden and in some cases the lengths we will go to keep those secrets. The author did a great job of keeping you guessing on who did it as well as slowly revealing the secrets all the characters were keeping. Great addition to our collection.

This was okay. I guessed the twist. I didn't really connect with any of the characters and sometimes had trouble keeping who was who organized. It was a quick read and gave me something to do one boring afternoon, but it wasn't the OMG AMAZING thriller that I had hoped for.

WOW! This kept me on the edge of my seat! I do love an unreliable narrator, and this book did not disappoint on that front. It's such a fantastic mystery - who's telling the truth? Who's lying? Who can you trust? It's such a wild run and so fun.

This has been out for a while and I keep putting it on my to be read pile; I finally did, and am so disappointed that I waited this long to read it!! Great story, with twists and turns throughout to keep you guessing. I look forward to sharing this book with other readers and once again think it shares a valuable message about people not realizing the consequences of their actions and how they affect others

This is billed as a modern Breakfast Club,, but I'd say more like the day after Breakfast Club.

High school can be a killer.  Literally in this story by Karen M. McManus.  I mean, my time in high school was no walk in the park but I never had to deal with the mysterious death of a classmate...

Five kids walk into detention.  Only four walk out.  Each of the survivors had their own reasons for wanting Simon dead.  Let's be honest, he wasn't really a nice person.  As the creator of a popular gossip app, his specialty was finding out the deepest darkest secrets and putting them out there for the world to see.  But killing him seems to be taking things a bit too far.  When everyone's a suspect, who can you really trust?

A good story, entirely plausible in today's world of instant gratification and immediate access to all kinds of info good and bad.

Such an interesting concept. Totally something I'd recommend to my students.

LOVED this book and pre-ordered a copy for my classroom library! Excellent mystery with lots of red herrings and plot twists. I'm excited to read more in the future from this author.

This book was solid, solid, solid!

Four reasons why it was solid…

First, The multiple POVs was surprisingly good, at least for me. I’ve always said First Person is not my favorite, especially YA [like really who wants to go over all that angst again??], so I was… MULTIPLE FIRST POV?? WHT??? BUT THAT WAS GOOD! SOLID!

Second, this book is quite diverse! WOOOOOHOOOO!

Third, apparently I enjoy reading about high school drama and cliques. Again, WHO AM I?? [lately I have no idea]. So, I like them. At least when they are not the core of the story but the background. At first the characters are purposely stereotyped [the jock, the geek, the nerd, the queen bee, the outcast, etc. etc.] and then one of them dies, and all their real personalities are exposed. It was like a personality striptease, pretty entertaining! 😉

Fourth, The end and how a Mental Health topic was handled… SOLID, SOLID, SOLID. I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH IT! 🙂

BUT, as I said, even diamonds have flaws.

There was this ONE thing: At the beginning all the characters’ voices sounded EXACTLY the same. For a good 50% of the book these multiple POVs sounded like a univoice. So, I wished it would have been written in third person but then, when the striptease show stars and I got quite connected with each character. And the book shined like a diamond. A slightly flawed diamond, but a diamond nonetheless.

See my review of this book on The Hub:
http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2017/09/11/qp2018-nominees-social-media-ya-fiction/

I read this book right after Antisocial, and because they were both mysteries, I thought this book would suffer. Maybe it was because the former left me disappointed and my expectations for this one were lowered, but this was a pleasant surprise.

This book was a more straightforward mystery, with a dead kid and four POV characters who all seem like they could be involved because they all had things to gain from the head of a gossip blog dying before their secrets could get out. I’m not sure that the characters’ different POVs were very distinctive, but that’s never been something that’s really bothered me, so I wasn’t really paying attention to that aspect. It’s been a month or two since I read it, so I can’t remember if the culprit was as obvious as I remember him or her being, but I actually didn’t mind. I cared enough about the characters and their journey to find the culprit and clear their names that that took precedence and was enough.

I’m definitely interested in seeing what McManus writes next, and I hope it’s another juicy mystery.