Member Reviews
They told six lies but I will tell you a single truth...
Everything about this book is intriguing, thought provoking, and going to have you guessing at every turn.
If you want more truths:
1. Doubt will crush you.
2. Hope will crush you.
3. Fear will keep you on edge.
4. Molly isn't as innocent as she looks.
5. Cobain is truly a lost soul.
6. You may guess the ending, but probably not!
We Told Six Lies made me question things, made me worry, and made me angry. I was angry at these parents. I was angry at the kids. I questioned everything including alibis. I questioned my gut feelings. The true sign of an awesome story is when you've been twisted and turned around and you start to question your motives...and you weren't even there.
They told six lies. I'm suggesting that the only way to know the truth is to experience it for yourself.
I am a huge fan of Victoria Scott but WE TOLD SIX LIES had a hard time holding my attention and I found myself unable to connect to the characters.
Remember how many lies we told, Molly? It’s enough to make my head spin. You were wild when I met you, and I was mad for you. But then something happened. And now you’re gone.
But don’t worry. I’ll find you. I just need to sift through the story of us to get to where you might be. I’ve got places to look, and a list of names.
The police have a list of names, too. See now? There’s another lie. There is only one person they’re really looking at, Molly.
And that’s yours truly.
Molly is the new girl at Cobain’s school. He’s a loner and really doesn’t talk to anyone until one day when Molly looks at him and tells him he is the one. Cobain is completely and totally infatuated with her. Molly has a past that she’s hiding, covering with lies, and wants to get away from anything connected to it, including her overbearing mother. With Cobain promising to do anything he can to make it happen, Cobain and Molly make plans to run away together. But something happens, and all eyes are on Cobain.
I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. The chapters were different than any other book that I’ve read before. They were labeled Now, Then, and Molly. The story is told from Cobain’s point of view throughout most of the book so Now would be the present, Then was when he and Molly were together before she ran away, and Molly is from her present point of view. I found with it being written this way you got more of the story and the back story so nothing was left for you to wonder too much about. You can kind of see where the plot is going (or so you think) until you get closer to the end then you’re like WHAT?! (or at least that’s how I felt).
I really liked Cobain’s character and how the author portrayed him. He was a loner, yes, but he wasn’t the stereotypical YA novel loner. He chose not to talk to people because no one would give him a chance. They all thought he was a freak because of something they knew really nothing about. Which is what led them all to believe that he’s the one that did something to Molly even all he did was love her.
My feelings about Molly’s character went back and forth throughout the book, like situational feelings. One minute, I liked her, and the next I didn’t. Once I got more of a back story of her life, I understood a little more of why she was the way she was and the way she acted.
I absolutely loved this book (as you can tell by my rare 5-star rating). This was a great YA thriller. Like I said before, I really liked the writing style and the characters and would really like to read another book by this author. I would recommend this to anyone who loves YA books with a twist!
Thank you, NetGalley and Entangled Teen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
An intriguing concept lies at the heart of We Told Six Lies by Victoria Scott. The lies of the title are told by our narrators, Cobain and Molly. Cobain is a big but quiet guy, who lifts weights to relieve stress and tries to hide away from anyone who might notice him, Molly is a new arrival at school who sees him despite his efforts. She has secrets of her own to hide, but in spite of her best intentions she starts to let Cobain in. They soon become a couple and things look to be going well until Molly disappears. Cobain is distraught, he can't believe she ran away, despite the evidence that seems to suggest this is true, and soon he creates a suspect list of people who he believes may have hurt Molly- but should his name be top of the list? The police are starting to think so, and as we learn more of Cobain's story we find out that his past holds secrets that even he does not want to remember. But what about Molly? Did she run away? Did something more sinister happen? We soon learn that she is being held captive by the mysterious Blue, and as she struggles to find a way to connect with him in hopes of escaping, she has to face some fears of her own.
Neither of the narrators of the story are particularly reliable, so as a reader we have to gather clues and information from the sections of the story set in the past , and use that to figure out what is really happening , and as the story builds to a dramatic conclusion , the craft and skill of the author really comes to the fore.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.
If ‘Gone Girl’ had children with John Fowles’ ‘The Collector’, ‘We Told Six Lies’ by Victoria Scott could easily be one of them.
This YA mistery thriller tells the story of Cobain who planned to run away with his girfriend Molly but instead finds her missing. The police are looking but not hard enough. It’s then that Cobain decides to take matters into his own hands and try to figure out what happened to the girl he loves.
I enjoyed everything about the book. The plot had me intrigued the whole way through, the twists totally blindsided me and had me going like ‘wait… what?’ more than once. The atmosphere was tense and suspenseful. I caught myself thinking ‘boy, am I glad that this is not happening to me!’
The way the story jumps between now and then as well as different POVs added to the experience. Cobain’s parts told in first person and addressed directly to Molly read like his journal revealing his mental state and presenting his view of things. My heart kept breaking a little with each newly learned detail about Molly’s disappearance and their relationship. This poor gentle giant of a boy deserves so much love and warm hugs.
Molly’s parts are told in third person which made it easy to switch between narrators (I always find multiple POVs in a book difficult to switch between and they irritate me immensely). My feelings about her are mixed. She had her share of hardships but the way she manipulated people to gain her objectives sent a chill down my spine.
All in all, this is a nice book which reads very smoothly and might or might not keep you up past your usual bedtime.
Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for providing a free eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
(Review was originally posted on Goodreads)
We Told Six Lies by Victoria Scott.
I finished this last week. It was... readable? Kind of? It was only an ok read to be honest. The story sounded interesting, but it didn’t really fill its potential. Cobain and Molly are two teens who find each other, and plan to run away together. When Molly disappears before their plans can come to fruition, she has laid groundwork that means Cobain ends up as a suspect. Cobain has his own list of potential suspects, and works through them as he holds firm in the belief that Molly didn’t just leave without him.
I’m still not entirely sure what exactly the six lies were, though!
A reaching 2/5.
Thanks to @netgalley for the ARC.
#leesylireads #netgalley #wetoldsixlies #minibookreview #yabooks
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We Told Six Lies is a well plotted and intriguing read.
Growing up, I wanted to be a basketball player and my dad had me practice dribbling with these special glasses that wouldn't allow me to look down and see the ball, that's the exact sensation I had when reading We Told Six Lies. There was so much inner-dialogue that I couldn't quite a grip on what was actually happening.
The story was old from two points of view and two different timelines all related together, and while this made the story seemingly complex it just made it difficult for me to digest as a reader. I much prefer dialogue and it too me much too long to read We Told Six Lies.
While I was reading I couldn't quite figure out what was happening, except that a lot of these characters are mental cases and probably don't have the healthiest of relationships. Their heads are messed up and they are liars in the worst ways. These weren't little white lies these were BIG.
I was surprised at the twist in the end, I had a vague idea but it wasn't what I expected. Over all We Told Six Lies is an excellent YA psychological thriller that will have you dying to know how it ends.
Great author, great cover, but the reviews were lackluster. I started it to see if it pulled me in, but I wasn’t interested...
I love Victoria Scott's writing and I thought she did a great job at this fast-paced mystery. Colbain's girlfriend, Molly, is missing and Colbain seems to be the main suspect. The book goes back and forth between now (when Molly is missing) and then (when Colbain meets Molly and falls for her). Certain parts irritated me, like the fact that Colbain fell so hard for Molly so fast, even when it was clear that she was manipulating people. But the story sucked me in, especially since it was also clear that Colbain was not the most reliable of narrators. I was on the edge of my seat to find out what happened. One of the other reviewers said this book was predictable and because of this, I thought I had it figured out. NOPE. The ending was a total surprise. There was one twist that I kind of figured out, but the other twists were a bit shocking. This was a great read.
We Told Six Lies gave an impression of something akin to YA mystery/thriller. With an enticing blurb, I clicked the request on Netgalley. It was, however, a disappointment. I wanted to DNF the book several times, but since I already DNF a previous book (my new rule: I do not give a rating to a DNF title), I braced myself until I finally arrived at the end line.
As a reader, I am quite familiar with how a psychological thriller is written and I do not mind something old as long as I can enjoy the story. We Told Six Lies bordered (supposedly) somewhere similar to One of Us is Lying and 13 Minutes. Unfortunately, it had not as interesting as any of the title I mentioned.
I have nothing against an unreliable narrator because it is the bread and butter of most mystery/thriller, but on the inside, We Told Six Lies had no compelling characters. Should I care about Cobain, the main character? Should I look for Molly who was missing? Should I guess who was behind all of the conflicts? NOPE.
The plot was disengaging (although I gave it 2 stars for the premise), the writing was hard to stomach, the characters weren't interesting or made me want to support them. I raced to the bottom of the plot just for my own promise to not abandon more than one book in a row.
writing: 1.5/5
plot: 2/5
characterisation: 1/5
my mood reading this: 1/5
overall: 1/5
(I received a digital ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)
First, thank you so much to Entangled Publishing for providing me with a Digital Readers Copy of <i>We Told Six Lies</i>, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. The quotes included in this review are subject to change upon publication.
The story dives straight into Cobain Kelly being interviewed by detectives on the disappearance of his girlfriend, Molly Bates. The story is told in three different timelines and two points of view. First we see there is a timeline of ‘Then’ and ‘Now’ narrated by Cobain, and we also get to hear Molly’s point of view in a ‘Now’ perspective.
<b> “I have to find out what happened to her, even if it breaks the last piece of my blackened, shattered heart.” </b>
I couldn’t decide whether I would give this story 3 and ½ stars or 4, so I did decide to round up and choose 4. As soon as I started reading the story, I was immediately drawn in. Victoria did not waste any time and took advantage of every second during the whole story and created a fast paced mystery of what happened to Molly Bates. As I slowly learned what was happening with Molly, I began to question Cobain’s sanity. There was one point in the story that I was starting to feel that Cobain had an unhealthy obsession with Molly, but then again she did disappear and he was desperate to find answers.
<b> “But desperate times called for monstrous resurrections.” </b>
Though Victoria did an amazing job of creating this whole storyline, her writing style wasn’t my favorite. Granted I have been reading a lot of YA Fantasy lately, but I didn’t find her writing lyrical. However, she was very precise and direct, leaving little breadcrumbs as the story started to unfold and I started to put the pieces together.
<b> “The sadness you’re feeling fills this house. I’m drowning in it.” </b>
Overall, I think if you love mysteries I recommend this book to you, I did enjoy reading it and was totally shook when I started understanding who was involved in Molly’s disappearance.
Synopsis
This is a YA mystery/thriller that follows the main character Cobain after his girlfriend, Molly, goes missing. Everyone thinks she just ran off, but Cobain thinks something more malicious is has happened.
Overview
This book was all over the place to me. It's told in second person which was such an odd choice. It's also told from multiple perspectives and multiple timelines. It jumps between the present day and a couple months ago when Cobain and Molly met. But all the perspectives with the second person narrative made this hard to follow and connect with. But beyond the odd style choice the rest of the story just didn't do it for me either.
What I Liked
1. Once I got into this story I couldn't put it down. I had to know how it all wrapped up because I has SO many questions. And overall it did a pretty good job of connecting all the loose ends and questions (even though I didn't love the twist)
What I Didn't Like
1. The relationship in this was really problematic and I just couldn't get behind it. They are manipulative and codependent. And no part of their relationship seemed healthy. All the adults kept talking about what good things they did for each other but as a reader I just kept going "where?! how?!"
2. Cobain is such an odd main character. He felt so dang creepy and I didn't like being in his head most of the time. I couldn't understand his actions and motivations. And even when things were revealed I still couldn't empathize with him.
3. The twists... This twist was so over the top (and felt a lot like the Pretty Little Liars twist - show version, I never read the book(s)). I don't know maybe mystery/thriller just isn't my genre. I find mosts of the twists so outrageous that it lowers my enjoyment.
Overall I didn't love this one. It's a fast read with lots of twists. But I didn't connect with or particularly like any of the characters or writing style.
First time reading Victoria Scott. Went back and forth on giving it a 3* rating to a 4*. The only reason for giving this book a 4* was because of the ending.
The character names are interesting to be sure but I think the author did a great job fitting the names to the personality of the characters.
This was not my favorite book I read in 2018 but it caught my attention and kept my interest and for that I will read this author again.
I read to 45% and then skipped to 80% and read the rest of it.
I didn’t care for the characters and that made me struggle with caring about their journey. The flip flop of then and now chapters were clever, but the constant use of “you” as the story progressed kept me from settling into the story.
The ending slash reveal was okay, but definitely not enough to get me to read the part that I skipped. I can see how people might like this, it just wasn’t for me.
**Huge thanks to Entangled Teen for providing the arc free of charge**
Loved this book. I have read the Collector series also by Victoria and I loved it. So when I saw she was coming out with a new book I thought I would give it a try. LOVED IT.
I still really want to solve the mystery of the title! I have read the book, and I still have no idea what the six lies were. I feel like I should know, but I don't. And I really want to!!
But putting that aside, this book was pretty alright. It didn't blow my socks off, but I found it interesting enough.
Characters were complex, and I really liked that. But their names were also equally as complex as their personalities... Cobain? Nixon? Rhana? Davea?
But I personally am not a fan of the unreliable narrator trope, I find it just makes things confusing, so I wasn't a huge fan of it in this book.
Although I didn't guess the mystery until towards the end, the reveal also didn't blow my mind. I was expecting something along those lines, even if I didn't quite know what it was.
But I still enjoyed the read, and am glad I got the chance to read it!
I had very mixed feelings about this one. It took a lot to get me into it, and I almost DNF’d it. The story did pick up and I ended up enjoying it, but it was definitely a struggle to begin with. There were so many twists and turns, and I was left with so many questions, but I would still recommend this book to people who like thrillers.
Filled with major twists and turns that had my head spinning, We Told Six Lies is bound to be a major hit upon release! There were so many times when I was reading this book that I thought I had it all figured out only to be completely surprised when I found out I was wrong. I give the author kudos for making things seem one way and then shocking readers with the truth. This is a hard feat for die hard YA thriller fans who have basically read them all- so great job! I commend your for your brilliant twists and turns. That being said, this is the first book I have read from the author and if she continues writing books like this one I know I will be happy to read it.
Some may wonder why I am giving three stars to a book that I am praising highly. Well the answer is this: a 3 star rating means that I <b> liked the book. </b> And I did. There were a few things I found problematic about it (the author built up the story and title using words like "six lies" but didn't really wrap it up within the novel. I get the underlying message of the lies especially as they pertain to Molly, but I feel like I had too many questions ABOUT these lies that were never fully answered (possible spoiler: like WHY she lies to everyone about Cobain and their relationship before she goes missing). Had the author done a bit more with this then I probably would have given it a solid 4 stars.
Anyway, I won't get into the plot other than saying this is a young adult mystery and thriller about a missing girl and the suspicion that falls on her boyfriend. If I say any more I'm afraid it will spoil it for everyone so I just won't. But it is a good book, one I enjoyed reading (and actually devoured in one sitting), and would definitely recommend it to other readers.
I have mixed feelings about this one. The basic mystery was fairly interesting and I wanted to keep reading to find out what had happened to Molly and who was responsible. I love an unreliable narrator and in this case there were two, Molly and Cobain, both equally prone to lying and in Cobain’s case, misremembering. Unfortunately these characters were very unlikable. It seemed like they were both quite mentally ill and, especially in the case of Cobain, should have been in treatment of some kind.
This romance felt wrong from the beginning with two sociopaths manipulating each other. This sounds much more interesting than it actually was. The relationship involved a lot of overly angsty, pseudo-poetic melodrama. Maybe as a teen I would have found this romantic but as an adult the whole thing just felt creepy, unhealthy and tedious. I'm not sure if the author intended the romance to be to be weird and disturbing or if she intended it to be passionate and swoony. It's is definitely the former. I realize this book is YA so maybe it will sit better with its target audience than it did with me.
Thank you to Entangled: Teen Publishing for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.
The thing I liked about this was that it was really fast paced and didn’t feel like an almost 400 page book. It was intriguing enough that I wanted to keep reading and see what happened, but as I got closer to the end I really didn’t care what happens to the characters. I never really cared them or felt like anyone had any good characteristics. I think the reveals were well done but I wasn’t overly shocked.
At the end I still had a lot of questions. I feel like some things weren't completely explained that needed to be. I felt like there were a lot of holes regarding Cobain and his actions. It was all set up to be Cobain in the end, but then we find out his brother Holt is the actual kidnapper. Then at the end Molly and Cobain still end up together despite Cobain doing some questionable things the entire book. It was a little confusing to me.
I will say that if you are new to thrillers, this would probably be a really good book.