I will read/buy anything that Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and this book is no different. Her writing is strong. The story is strong.

Little White Lies is a lovely contemporary novel with a hint of mystery that slowly reveals with each page you read. The setting is vividly realistic with characters that are relatable making this a fun fast-paced read.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one of my favorite authors. She does an exceptional job with writing mysteries that are enthralling, believable, and filled with wonderful characters. This setting is in the rich, elite society life where Sawyer is thrust into becoming a debutant as part of a deal she makes with a grandmother that she never knew existed. At 18, all Sawyer has known is that her mom got pregnant at 17 and was kicked out of her own elite, debutant house. Through a deal made with her grandmother, she has nine months to become a debutant herself, discover where she fits in, figure out who her father might be, and learn that sometimes friends and family are what shape you if given a chance. Fans of the Fixer and the Naturals will love this book.

The perfect blend of sass and smart, these debutantes are on a mission. I love how the girls embrace the newbie with none of that mean girl crap; not that there isn't a mean girl but her heart is in the right place even if it takes a while for her actions to catch up. Super cute, very entertaining, and just weighty enough to avoid being teen fluff.

Mini review:

DNF

I received this E-ARC via Disney Hyperion and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one off the many authors whose works' I have been trying to get into. Partly because of the heroine in The Fixer. I have come to accept that this isn't an author for me.

What intrigued me was the synopsis. A mystery whilst taking place during a debutante? Sign me up! The beginning was interesting if a tab bit cringy. The first chapter did genuinely creep me out. The grandmother's entrance was very dramatic and odd. I didn't care much for Sawyer either.

I did skim the end, and I have to give the author credit for that twist. But after that revelation I was certain that the book wasn't for me. I don't really get along with books that have a lot of scandals. And I'm really tired off the mind games all the characters pull.

Overall this was a personal thing. I do really believe that other people will enjoy it more. Still recommend.

Let me start off by saying I'm a big JLB fan. Her books are just FUN - they are engaging and her character work is always awesome. As such, this book kept me up until 1 AM because I needed to know how this Southern family drama was going to play out! So, I'm biased, and it's why I've given this book a little bit more leeway than I would otherwise. Unlike some of Barnes' other books, it took a while to learn what the stakes were for our protagonist Sawyer and why they were so high. The desire to find out who her father is was a frustrating quest because Sawyer's mother - alive, but largely absent in her daughter's life since she turned 18 - simply refused to tell her (come ON, lady!!), therefore requiring Sawyer to agree to what ends up being a funny contract with the family matriarch. At times, family drama eclipsed the larger crimes and secrets among debutantes past and present, yet the twists and turns kept me guessing, plenty of sharp dialogue kept me laughing, and if there's a sequel, I'll be reading it. Probably more like a 3 if I'm honest, but it hit the spot so it gets a 4!

I loved the characters, each one was precious and hard to forget. If you’re a fan of Southern charm and debutant tales you’ll enjoy the suspense that makes the book almost impossible to put down.

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes- due out Nov 2018. Read the preview copy and I can see this one being a favorite this year. Sawyer Taft has been raised by her single mom her whole life. Her mother's family is high society and extremely wealthy. So when her mom became pregnant as a teen, she was promptly turned out for being such a scandal. But that's okay, all Sawyer and her mom ever needed was each other. Enter Sawyer's grandmother with a contract...come live with her for 9 months and become a debutant and her grandmother will give her $500,000. She will be set for college and have a great start on life. Plus wearing dresses, getting her nails done, and a chance to possibly figure out who her bio dad is...she can't pass it up. Turns out you should never trust a debutant. They can be ruthless. Kidnapping, theft, breaking and entering, and blackmail are just a few of their side hobbies. #LittleWhiteLies #NetGalley

Ms Barnes writes another winning, suspenseful YA novel. For fans of The Naturals series and libraries with a strong demand for teen fiction

Like others I've been sitting on this review for awhile. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. Barnes is clearly a talented writer and I loved the surface of the characters she created. However, I feel like this book falls just shy of its potential. First, Barnes could have added a little more depth to Sawyer's (and her mom's) character. Furthermore, I was extremely frustrated by the resolution (or lack thereof) at the end of the book. I didn't quite understand the scandals, characters, or the character's reactions to the "scandals". And so much was introduced at the very end that when I finished the book I felt unimpressed and incomplete. The book/story didn't feel like a finished product. Why does every book these days need a sequel?

I've loved Jennifer Lynn Barnes since I picked up The Naturals and have picked up as many of her books as I can get my hands on. Which is why I was over the moon when I my request for the rACE of Little White Lies was approved. Little White Lies is just another example of Barnes' writing brilliance. Filled with twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end, I couldn't put this down. Other reviews have done a better job of breaking everything down, so I'll just say this, if you like a strong, independent female lead, a great mystery, and lots of intrigue, this is a book for you.

I really hope the fact that the ending leaves so much open that we'll get to revisit these great characters.

I definitely dug it, I certainly hope this isn't the last of it because it ends with a lot of interesting loose threads. What I liked the most though, other than the refreshing lack of romance, was that although the character is thrown into circumstances far different from the ones she's used to, she rolls with it. She's not just some poor girl thrown into a world of wealth and determined to stand out and show all these rich folks up, she adapts--she doesn't change who she is fundamentally, but she also doesn't set out to stick out and deliberately antagonize people based on how much money they may or may not have. She's got a chip on her shoulder, and it's earned, but it's not from class differences, which is nice, or at least, different from other stuff I've read. In any case, I dug it a lot, like the characters for the most part--mostly I want more. Those tidbits left dangling are pretty juicy.

Buckle up y'all because this book is nothing but southern goodness.

A quick summary:
"I'm not saying this is Sawyer's fault," the prim and proper one said delicately. "But."
Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother's "society" might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life-her father's identity-she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn't expect to find is friendship, but as she's drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn't the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother's glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer's search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.
Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates and rolling green hills, Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can pull off.
From GoodReads.

The Set Up:
I tend to focus on how an author opens a story because really, that's what make you want to keep reading. Barnes starts us off in jail and from the POV of the police officer, who is totally clueless as to why three debutantes in white gowns are in his jail cell in the first place.
We meet our MC, Sawyer, through "And the fourth girl? She was picking the lock," before we are pushed back to nine months earlier when Sawyer meets her grandmother and is offered the contract. I was laughing from the beginning and immediately wanted to know how this cop got himself into his predicament.
She'll continue to occasionally switch back to the jail scene and officer POV until we are caught up in the timeline of the story.
We're introduced to Sawyer through the many hobbies she has had over the years and this is how Barnes lets us know more about Sawyer's childhood.
With lines such as, "I'd developed sequential interests in lock picking, the Westminster Dog Show, and fixing the perfect martini," and “For the record,” I told my cousin, “any lock-picking ability I may or may not have acquired growing up has less to do with where I lived and more to do with the fact that I was a very weird, very obsessive little kid," we learn why Sawyer is good at certain things, but they are also relatable reasons.
We've all had that late night obsession with conspiracy theories on the internet or wanted to learn how to be a spy.

What stood out:

Barnes has either been to my hometown, or has some sort of magical powers because she writes this world so well. Not only does she create the world but she describes the details of her characters in such a way that readers can immediately see them with lines such as, "She had a Southern accent—less twang and more drawl than my own. Com-pluh-mehnt or an in-suhlt?" and “Money isn’t something we talk about, Sawyer. It’s something we have," as she's describing Lillian Taft.

One of the scenes that stood out to me most was when Sawyer has agreed to her grandmother's contract and is going to the Taft home for the first time. She's greeted at the door by her Aunt Olivia and the following conversation happens:

“John David Easterling,” she called, raising her voice so it carried. “Who’s the best shot in this family?”
There was no reply. William Faulkner butted his head against my thigh and huffed. I bent slightly—very slightly—to pet him and noticed the red dot that had appeared on my tank top.
“I will skin you alive if you pull that trigger,” my aunt called, her voice disturbingly cheerful.
What trigger? I thought. The red dot on my torso wavered slightly.
“Now, young man, I believe I asked you a question. Who’s the best shot in this family?”

We later here John David glumly reply that the best shot in the family is his momma, who tells her child target practice on our family is not appropriate nor polite. These genuine conversations are what is so grabbing about this story. You care what's happening because they are relatable, or were for me as a girl who grew up with a sporting clay world champion for a grandfather and a very bragging mother. I even wrote the note, "this entire scene is phenomenal." TRUTH.

Discussion Topics:

Drama
This story is nothing but dramatic. From debutantes under contract to a blog with secrets written on a girl's body then published, I can easily see this on Freeform taking the spot Pretty Little Liars left open.
Throughout the story the one goal is for Sawyer to find out who her father is. There are three options and Barnes leaves us breadcrumbs throughout so when we learn the truth, it all makes sense.
While we're on the hunt for Sawyer's dad, we also learn our villain Campbell Ames has gotten herself into a pickle and wants to out someone for a drunk driving incident that ended in a hit and run and a boy in long term care. With these two stories woven together, the book was hard to put down.
As a teacher, this would be a great book for those that aren't interested in reading but like to Netflix binge.

Vocabulary
Barnes uses vocabulary that is absolutely refreshing. She challenges the mind of her audience but also makes these words and this story completely accessible. Some words I highlighted were:
Rapscallion
Adroit
Coquette
Salacious
Dishabille

Teen Pregnancy
There is so much to unpack here and discussion topics would be great. However, we don't see much of a discussion of teen pregnancy and the ramifications until the very end. I would have loved to see a bit more once Sawyer arrives on the scene and starts asking questions, however, there's another side of me that says it makes sense it's avoided because of the nature of these characters and their lifestyle. Teen pregnancy and scandal is not to be discussed. This is a perfect way to discuss the importance of these topics and having open and honest conversations.

I won't spoil anymore but I will say I rate this book 4.5. I loved it! It was fun, dramatic, relatable, and I want more. SO good news! I tweeted the author and learned a sequel is in the works!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

"If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, than a whole legion of scorned women had no more impressive rage than a Southern lady robbed of her pearls."

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a favorite young adult author of mine. I enjoy her strong female characters and interesting plot twists. While this wasn't my favorite of her novels, I enjoyed Sawyer's personality and the way she developed as a character. The story takes off right away with Sawyer's grandmother coming to see her, and only picks up from there. Numerous plot twists and nuggets of information make you want to keep reading, and I feel like the ending leaves room for a sequel. You won't be disappointed by the witty remarks of Sawyer and the way she changes throughout the book.

As a teacher who doesn't often have time to read everything I want to offer my students, I would say this book is definitely for high school age students. Some of the content wouldn't be fit for my middle schoolers.

super enjoyable southern belle YA mystery thriller with great characters and fun situations. very much enjoyed it. it does kind of end on the note of prepping for a sequel but i'm currently unsure if there will be a sequel.

I really enjoyed the Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and Little White Lies continues in a very similar vein. Like Rachel Hawkins' Rebel Belles, the setting of this book is predominately the debutante-laden South, but where Belles was flavored with a hint of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lies is spiked with Gossip Girl and Veronica Mars.

I am totally the type of reader that can usually guess the end of mystery books, but I didn't see the final two or three twists of this one! Also, this book steered clear of one of my least favorite con/mystery story tropes. Too often (yes, including Ocean's Eleven and Holly Black's White Cat) the only reason the ending is surprising is because the hero/narrator deliberately didn't tell us the key to the whole thing, which they secretly did offscreen. Barnes avoids this by using two timelines-- one story unfolding the night of the Debutante Ball and another starting nine months before that and slowly working forwards to that night. Excellent!

A huge thank you to Disney for approving me for this review copy on NetGalley.

This book was flat out entertaining.

Personally, it felt like a Lifetime movie to me. It was so dramatic and at times, ridiculous but so much fun. I was hooked from the first pages and I could not stop reading at any chance I could.

However, I did feel that the story felt like it dragged out some plot points for longer than it should have and just dropped some plot points that I would have liked to see more of. I felt that Campbell’s character was a bit confusing in the middle of the book as her actions and attitude kept completely changing. I also wish we could have gotten to see more of a positive relationship between the girls that wasn’t based on alibis.

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this story. I thought the main core cast was very strong and I hear that there is a sequel to this that I am extremely excited to pick up. This book was a lot of fun and I cannot wait to see what happens next!

https://thebroadwaylibrarian.wordpress.com/2018/06/14/little-white-lies-by-jennifer-lynn-barnes/

If you get to the end of the arc and it ends in the middle of a sentence, redownload the file and it should be corrected! It's not meant to end that abruptly.

Like all Jennifer Lynn Barnes books, I was instantly hooked on Little White Lies. I always get super invested in her characters and the plots are super fun as well, so it's the best of both worlds. Sawyer was a really interesting character and I liked the way she interacted with the world. I especially loved the friendships (or almost friendships) that develop throughout the book. For a minute there I thought we were getting a really one dimensional look at someone, but luckily that wasn't the case. Also! For those who don't like romance, Sawyer doesn't have a love interest. The constant "three weeks later" etc. time jumps were a little annoying to me - that's just a personal pet peeve of mine in books. It didn't really take away from the plot, it just happened every other chapter. The flash forwards were interesting though and only a little confusing at times because of the formatting of the arc. Speaking of the formatting though, sometimes sentences would be missing pretty significant chunks. I could piece together the info from context clues, but it was slightly annoying. This is obviously an issue with the arc itself, not the finished book.

Sawyer has been taking care of her mom for her entire life. Living above the bar where her mother works, Sawyer has been managing their finances since she was nine, supplementing their income with her wages from a nearby mechanic shop. When the grandmother Sawyer's never met shows up unexpectedly and offers her five hundred thousand dollars if Sawyer spends the next nine months as a debutante, Sawyer can't pass up the opportunity.

As Sawyer dives deep into the high society life that her mom left--scandalized by her pregnancy, she discovers that she's not the only potential scandal in their community.

I loved the small reveals that happened throughout the entire book while waiting for the big mystery to be solved at the end. Definitely more accessible to girls, unlike Barnes other books that have wider appeal. Full of girl drama that many students will love, even if they can't relate to the idea of a debutante.

Thank you net galley for an advanced reader copy of this book. Jennifer Barnes latest is a fantastic read with twists and turns up until the last page. I loved the setting of the modern debutante south, adored the main character Sawyer Ann, and all the supporting characters. The plot developed moving backward with events leading up to the debutante ball trying to reveal layers of family secrets. This was a great read and I will continue to recommend and read novels by this author. Five stars!!!!