Member Reviews
This was a weird book, but in a good way.
We Told Six Lies is told by Cobain and Molly and it goes back and forth between then and now. Cobain is a quiet teen that lifts weights to be big. He's awkward and doesn't have any friends. He does idolize his brother, Holt, but he's in college and not home often. His mom is hardly ever home and his dad is weird around him. Molly is the new girl at school. She lives with her mom and just wants to get away. She is manipulative and lies often. Molly decided to start hanging out with Cobain and he quickly falls in love with her. But Molly pushes him away, even though she really does have feelings for him.
Cobain and Molly decide to run away together. But something goes wrong and Molly is taken by someone in a white van. Cobain is a suspect and he struggles to remember facts from the night before Molly disappeared. He makes a list of suspects and starts looking into each person. Cobain is told things that he can't make sense of. In Molly's chapters, she is being held in a cabin by someone in a mask. He disguises his voice and asks her to call him Blue. Molly tries to figure out who Blue is and worries that it might be Cobain. She struggles to cope with her feelings for Cobain while trying to find a way to get out.
There is a lot of lying as the title suggests. The author does a good job making the reader wonder what is real and what is a lie. The book was a quick read and there were parts that were hard to put down. It's not without its flaws, but I did enjoy this one.
Warnings for talk of suicide, sex, language, mental illness, and kidnapping.
Thank you to Entangled Teen and Netgalley for my copy for review. I gave this book 3 1/2 stars (rounded up to 4 on Goodreads).
There was just something about the cover and the blurb that drew my right in, and combined with the fact I've been neglecting my YA mysteries I knew I had to read We Told Six Lies immediately. It might have been that I had set my expectations too high or that I simply read too much of the mystery genre, but unfortunately I can't say I was impressed by the story in the end. The first thing that stands out is that We Told Six Lies is in fact more of a romantic drama with an unreliable narrator rather than a proper mystery read. Sure, the mystery around Molly's disappearance is there, but it isn't what the story focuses on... No, We Told Six Lies is mostly about Molly and Cobain (what's with all those strange names anyway?), their relationship both between them and with others and basically how messed up both seem to be. I don't mind an unreliable narrator when it's done well, but I felt the technique here mostly just gave us cliches and predictable twists rather than that suspense and intrigue I was hoping for. The fact that I couldn't care less for the main characters didn't really help either... The story starts out slow, stays that way during most of the plot and only in the end brings out the fireworks. Predictable or not (I did see most of the ending coming), at least it was more entertaining to read than having to deal with Molly, Cobain and the huge amount of sexy scenes this story has (too much for a YA story if you ask me). All in all not the experience I was hoping for, but I guess fans of more romantic mysteries who don't mind cliches and unreliable characters will probably have a better time with We Told Six Lies.
We Told Six Lies started out strong, and then about half way through started to get a little repetitive. I found myself skimming the rest of the book just to find out what happened to Molly. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
First up, thanks for allowing me to read this book.
Sadly, I have tried this one a few times, but every time I got stuck around the same %. Sorry, Molly? Just not interesting. She tries way too hard to be this weird but oh yes hot girl. Or maybe it is thanks to our MC that she comes across like this, maybe Molly is just a normal girl.
The book switches between then and now, and well, I couldn't really care about the thens. I just wanted to know what is up with Molly, why she disappeared.
And our MC was just a bit too much into Molly. He made her seem like this goddess, like someone to worship. Which frankly is kind of cute but also way too much for me. He kept adding magical proportions to her. Oh, she can manipulate people with just a glance. Oh, that guy changed, you must have done something.
Also, freaking wanting to dismember someone who is just talking to a girl you like? What the fuck? And several other instances that made me uncomfortable about Cobain. Dude, really. No. Just no.
So I just skipped along to the ending, which was pretty good.
Thank you Netgalley, Victoria Scott and Entangled Publishing for the free e-book for in exchange for an honest review.
A relationship full of lies, enough to make your head spin. You were wild and I was mad for you in an instant. But now something has happened to you and you’re gone; but don’t worry, I have a listen of suspects and I will find you. The police think I have done something to terrible to you, and you made it easier for them to think so.
This book was addicting, I started it and was engrossed in the story and couldn’t help but whip through this novel. I loved the way the novel was laid out in past, present and hearing from both main characters ands their portrayal of their relationship. I found that I couldn’t help but to keep reading because each chapter was so short and left you off wondering what was going to happen next and who was behind the mask! I loved Cobain and how sure he was that something happened to Molly even at his age. I don’t read a lot of young adult fiction, but I really did enjoy this and found myself wondering how this was going to end for all the characters. I would definitely recommend if you enjoy young adult thrillers.
Out February 5th!
I want to thank NetGalley and Entangled: Teen for providing me with this copy in exchange for an honest review
Well, this was a wild ride. I honestly expected something different from this story, I liked certain aspects such as the plot twist and the final chapters, which were quite solid. On the other hand the characters are very stereotyped and there’s a lot of cliche going on in the relationships and the plot in general . It was an interesting book, although I wasn’t surprised about it
The book is about this girl named Molly, she has just disappeared and now all eyes are on her recent boyfriend Cobein, as the main suspect. and the big question is what has really happened to Molly?, has she escaped from her complicated life? or someone kidnapped her?. Cobain will do anything to find out what has happened to his girlfriend, and meanwhile, many secrets will be revealed
You already know that I LOVE mystery and thrillers, this kind of genres, I usually enjoy a lot, with this book, in general, I feel that the plot is very unoriginal, it’s something that I’ve read before and it’s possibly something that we have all read at some point. It’s about this girl with crazy personality and great beauty, who disappears a day without leaving a trace and suddenly the police suspects the most obvious person, her boyfriend. This could be something that doesn’t bother me, but in this case I don’t think there’s much more than that happening. I feel like I’m unsure about this book and I feel a little “meh” about the plot, you know?
The characters were a big point of why I haven’t been able to fully enjoy this book, I didn’t like any of them . Let’s start with Molly, she’s unbearable, really. She’s the typical beautiful and manipulative girl who always gets what she wants, and is so rebellious and strange. I think that’s how the author want us to see her, to make us believe that she’s deep and mysterious, but to me, her decisions don’t make any sense, she’s always saying weird things, her dialogues are very confusing. It’s obvious that her past and her family story have impacted her a lot, but that doesn’t explain 100% her erratic behavior. I end up thinking that she’s simply a selfish person who only cares about herself.
Then we have Cobain, the typical mysterious guy, who always wears black and all that. Honestly, I hated him at first, he had such unfortunate phrases about other people bodies, and I thought “really?”, OMG, it was a challenge to follow his chapters. Then there’s his unhealthy obsession for Molly, they call it “love”, but I don’t think is that, I think their relationship is very sick. Cobain as a character grows quite towards the end, and after knowing more about his past and when the plot is revealed, then I managed to understand his personality a bit more, but even so, that relationship is a disaster. I hate this kind of romance when it’s so obsessive and uncomfortable.
Molly’s always playing with Cobain and his feelings and I think she’s so cruel. In the end, I understand that the poor guy is getting a little crazy, since she hasn’t stopped manipulating him and playing with his head for months, Uh, this makes me so upset
The book is told in a way that we jump in time between the “then” and the “now”, and I really liked that, I think it’s a very smart way to tell a mystery plot, it gives a very good touch, interesting and intriguing, because you’re discovering things little by little and you can build theories of what’s happening. I enjoyed more of the present chapters, and that’s quite obvious since the past chapters were all about the relationship between Molly and Cobain, and although obviously it’s super necessary, I don’t like this couple so I it didn’t care much. Anyway I want to emphasize that there are very good and atmospheric scenes that I enjoyed despite the characters.
In a moment,the plot touches a possible mental illness or trauma of Cobain’s character, and that was very interesting for me , and see how it connects with the ending was very well done. Even so, I would have liked to have gone deeper into the subject, since I love seeing how minds work.
Despite having some problems with the book, it was very easy to read and I know that if you like the characters a little more than me, you can read it even faster. It flows very well, no doubt.
I really LOVED the final chapters, the story unravels in a fantastic way and I think those last chapters have everything that the whole book should have had. It has action, drama, surprises and is very intense. I know I said a lot of things that I didn’t like, but I must emphasize this great part of the book, it’s VERY GOOD and I liked it a lot. The ending, along with the plot twist, save the book from being bad book to being an average book. I think it can be a big shock to many who are reading it. Personally, I’d created various theories about what had happened with Molly, but the revelation was unexpected, and it left me very pleased.
I don’t think this book is for everyone. If it’s one of your first Thriller/Mystery books, and you’re looking for something more contemporary or romantic, then, go for it, you’ll be surprised. But keep in mind that it’s romance heavy, and it’s not a very good one. I don’t believe that the characters are for everyone either, personally I LOVE the anti-hero characters, but these weren’t for me, although maybe they work for you. So, if you decide to give it a chance it will not take you very long since it’s fast paced and the chapters are very short, but consider the points we have talked about, because I think it could be a problem for you.
"You made it easier to talk. Maybe because you seemed to expect me to be exactly as I was."
I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Entangled Publishing, LLC. Trigger warnings: kidnapping, abuse (physical, emotional, mental), mental illness, guns, blood, violence, suicide.
When Cobain's girlfriend, Molly, disappears, everyone thinks she ran away. What they don't know is that Molly had planned to run away with him, and he can't figure out why she left him behind. He's the only one who suspects something more sinister has happened to her, but the more he investigates her disappearance, the guiltier he makes himself look. Before long, their friends, the police, and even his family think he might have kidnapped Molly himself--or worse. From day one, Molly meant to manipulate Cobain into helping her before she disappeared. She didn't count on having feelings for him. The night she plans to leave town, she's abducted at a gas station and wakes up in an unfamiliar basement, her bonds just short enough to keep her from reaching any doors or windows. Her only hope is that the boy she left behind--the boy she planned to leave--will figure out what's happened to her before it's too late.
Thrillers are usually more compelling in theory than in execution, but We Told Six Lies is an exception. I was immediately drawn into Cobain and Molly's drama, and the plot was gripping enough to keep me staying up late to read (and I'm an old woman in a young person's body, so that almost never happens). The writing is a little strange. The chapters alternate between past and present from Cobain's point of view, with later sections including chapters from Molly's perspective (although that timeline is less clear, for necessary reasons). The strangeness is that Cobain's past chapters are written in second person, as though he's talking directly to Molly. Ordinarily, I think I would be irritated that there's no underlying reason for this, but it just kind of works.
I loved the complexity of the characters. Cobain is hulk-sized but passive and socially awkward; Molly is manipulative but not heartless. I really enjoyed getting to know them better as the story unraveled, and I'd be hard-pressed to find others like them in fiction. They felt fresh and original, as well as deeply messed up at times. There are readers who are going to be outraged by the toxicity and codependency of their relationship, so if that's the kind of thing that sets you off, best stay clear. I'm a little disturbed, so I enjoyed the hell out of it. Is Cobain needy, overbearing, and at times physically intimidating? Yes. Does Molly's manipulative nature push him into doing things he probably shouldn't? Also yes. But it is damn compelling, and I don't think either character is unaware of just how badly they behave sometimes
The plot itself is also well-crafted. We have pieces of the puzzle but no idea how they fit together. One of my favorite aspects of it are the chapters of Molly with her kidnapper. She's appropriately frightened, but she's also made of steel; her determination to manipulate her own abductor into either letting her go or killing himself is thrilling and well-executed. As Cobain conducts his own investigation, checking suspects off an increasingly far-fetched list, the novel starts nudging us in a direction I didn't care for; the truth would be too horrible. Scott proves skilled at writing twisty plots though, and while I guessed one of the reveals, I never imagined she would take it as far as she does. The end manages to be tense and surprising and, while it's a little over the top, it's fairly satisfying. If you're a fan of the genre and flawed, morally gray characters, We Told Six Lies is definitely for you.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
This book was a pretty darn good YA thriller. It starts out a little slow. It may not hook you right off the bat. Keep reading anyway, because it totally gets better. The characters were more than a little stereotypical, and there is a lot of cliche's going in within the plot in general. But the plot wasn't totally predictable, which I appreciated while I was reading it. You think you may know exactly where it is going, but keep reading anyway hoping that you are wrong. The twist was a good one. The book is fast paced and engaging. Overall I think the author did a great job with this book.
DNF @ 22%
This is really a fault on me. I had quite a few issues with this book that caused me to dislike it and not finish reading. I didn’t know that the POV would be from a male POV and I prefer not to read books told in that way. Also, after read so far in (about 38%) I couldn’t connect to the story or care about the romance between these two. As far as romances go, this one was more on the problematic side for sure. Cobain and Molly had so many issues and I just couldn’t relate.
Bottom line, I just can’t push myself to finish this one.
We Told Six Lies by Victoria Scott is a young adult mystery/thriller. The story is told from the different points of view of Molly and Cobain and along with switching the timeline from the current to events in the past.
What the story starts off with is joining Cobain in the present as he’s being questioned by police. It seems that Cobain and Molly may or may not have been in a long time relationship depending on who is asked. But what definitely is true is that Molly has come up missing and all eyes are on Cobain.
Cobain believes that he and Molly were very much in love and he is worried that something bad has happened to Molly. Other witnesses say that Molly had said she had ended things with Cobain long ago so did he actually do anything to Molly? Did she leave on her own? Cobain is just as determined to learn the truth of what happened to Molly as the police.
The one thing that comes with having an unreliable narrator such as Cobain is the chance that the audience may not come to care about them. This would be my take on reading about Cobain and Molly’s story, I just didn’t find myself overly invested in the characters or outcome. As the story went on though I was pretty certain I knew how this was going to turn out and unfortunately that is what happened. The end may come as shocking to some but reading a lot of thrillers I can think of how it’s been done before and done better so it again made this one that will undoubtedly end up in the forgettable pile.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Review can be found on *Milky Way of Books*
This story was a mystery from page one. Cobain and Molly and their not-so-honest relationship were mindblowing in ways I didn't anticipate. I honestly didn't know the truth as I read two POVs moving from past to present but weaving masterfully a web of secrets, lies, and romance. Victoria Scott knows how to keep you trapped in the insecurities of her characters, how they try to weave through the mysteries and comes out stronger despite how damaged they become.
A very good and highly anticipated book!
First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.
There's a lack of mystery YA in my life, so I was immediately attracted to the gorgeous book's cover and its title.
The story is about Cobain Kelly, a boy targeted at school even if he lifts weights everyday to look much bigger and intimidating.
He wears total black, he's quiet and people think of him as "weird". His family cares about him, but somehow they also keep a distance from him due to something that happened when he was a child.
Enter Molly Bates, the new girl at school.
She's the first person who seems to really see Cobain for who he is. And he sees Molly as well: he sees through her lies and her deceptive attitude, he sees the way Molly manipulates those around her to get what she wants but also the way she somehow hates her "gift".
They start a relationship and people can see how Cobain is happier, but they can't help but wonder what Molly sees in him.
They have plans to run away together.
But then Molly disappears and people seem to think she ran away on purpose, maybe she wanted to distance herself from Cobain.
Cobain can't believe those things: they were happy, they were in love, surely Molly didn't manipulate him as well as others.
But those around him tell another story: they argued, they broke up and maybe Cobain couldn't stand it - even his parents and his brother are doubting his innocence.
Cobain is sure of himself: he never hurt Molly and he can't imagine doing so.
But how come he's the only one suspected and questioned by the police?
It starts a little slow and sure I had a couple of days when I was so busy I couldn't even turn on my ereader, but at first I wasn't dying to know what happenend to Molly.
Then, near the second half, it picks up the pace.
I didn't get particularly attached to the characters - Molly's truths are always lies, but I found something in common with Cobain when it came down to his dislike of his schoolmates, the bullying and the way he saw himself.
It doesn't delve more deeply into secondary characters because the main focus is on Cobain and Molly, their story and the consequences on Cobain of her disappearance - secondary characters are functional to them.
It needs to be said that you can't get too much attached to any of them because they are all unrelieable characters: there are so many lies, so many versions of a story told by and to different people.
The story is told by Cobain and it switches from then and now - you can sense something is not quite alright, especially when he learns what Molly said about him and their relationship to her other friends. Is it possible he made everything up? Is it possible he misundersood her intentions?
The author changes the way she narrates the story multiple times: the present is told by Cobain in a first person perspective, the past is told by Cobain as well but he speaks to Molly directly and he uses a second person style breaking the fourth wall - it seems like we're Molly and he's speaking to us, willing us to remember an event or something that happened.
There's also a third perspective written in third person that fills the holes left by Cobain.
It borders on obsession in a creepy way and I suspected a thing, I thought I was right but then I was proved wrong.
It's a mental game, a web of lies and that final twist I didn't see it coming because of that idea I had before.
I've been left with an unanswered question, but it's nothing too big - nothing big enough to compromise the ending.
The basic point is, like our old Dr. House said, everybody lies.
Molly Bates is missing, and the police is looking at Cobain, her boyfriend, as the prime suspect. But what really happened to Molly? The book slowly unravels the truth and the relationship between Molly and Cobain, alternating between past and present.
This was a fast read, mostly because of its short chapters and the alternation between Then and Now, which was well done. However, I couldn’t care less for the characters. Cobain’s voice was way over the top for me, I didn’t like being in his head. He was quite creepy. And Molly, despite Cobain’s obsession for her, didn’t stand out either. Her psychology was a little more interesting, especially after we learn more about her past, but not enough to make me like her.
Another thing I really didn’t like was the fact that, despite Molly’s disappearance, this book was much more a contemporary romance than a mystery. It might be a good thing if you are just starting to read mysteries, but for me it felt very boring. The “Then” parts mostly recounted Cobain and Molly’s relationship with wild make out sessions and life changing moments, made all the more cringy by Cobain’s dramatic voice.
As for the resolution, there were two big twists at the end and, while the first one I had seen coming since literally the start of the book, the second one was a surprise. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to change my opinion. Unfortunately, not a book for me.
A good solid thriller with a lot of red herrings. Every time I thought I had figured out the truth about what happened to Molly I was wrong and I did not expect the ending to play out the way it did. Was fast paced and easy go read through and very entertaining.
When Cobain's girlfriend disappears, his world falls apart. The police keep looking at him as the suspect due to some unfortunate incidents, and Cobain is trying to figure out himself what happened to Molly.
This book is structured to go back and forth between Then and Now, which I think was probably the most effective way to tell this story. It is largely told from Cobain's perspective Now as he deals with the disappearance of Molly, and Then as we learn about how he met Molly and they came to date. This method also helps move along the mystery since we learn something in one part of the timeline and we're encouraged to keep reading to see how it relates or fits in the bigger picture.
This story, however, didn't work for me for a number of reasons. Firstly, Cobain is an extremely unreliable narrator. That itself is not a drawback (I love unreliable narrators). But he is too obviously an unreliable narrator. I think unreliable narrators are most effective when the reader does not know they're unreliable until a certain point in the book. If it's clear your narrator is lying or delusional from the start, especially when we're supposed to believe they're innocent, it often makes the rest of the story less grounded or believable. It also just created a lot of unnecessary drama that had me rolling my eyes a bit.
Secondly, Cobain ... well, he was a bit creepy. I could not really ever empathize with the guy, which is a problem since he's the main character. We're stuck in his head for the majority of the book. And don't even get me started on Molly or their relationship. It was just so difficult to connect to their story, or to care about Molly's disappearance.
My inability to connect with the story also made me really unimpressed with the final twist(s). There were two major ones, and the first one was literally contradicted within a chapter. I think there are a lot of wonderful stories of people who try figuring out where their loved ones have disappeared to, weaving a strong, compelling, and twisty story. Unfortunately, I don't think this was one of them.
I received a copy of WE TOLD SIX LIES from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!
Five stars and here’s why:
I loved it. This YA book nailed the twisted, thrilling story, and the issues teens face in today’s fast-paced world where it is hard to trust anyone let alone the people you love. Everyone has a motive, and that’s why I started reading it and couldn’t put it down. The characters border on unreliable and unlikeable in the first few chapters, but they are relatable, and honestly, that made the story quite refreshing. And thrilling. I was on the edge of my seat until the very end. Total book hangover.
If you love an intriguing plot that explores what it truly means to love someone, then this book is for you. Highly recommend!
Well I did not see this story coming!
The characters are not very likeable but with that said, I kinda loved that. It's a fast read and although predictable at times it was really good.
Well... I guess I did not see that coming...
This book was far from perfect. The characters were not likable at all and they had serious issues. The plot seemed very far-fetched at times.
But in the end, this book kept me on the edge of my seat and I enjoyed it a lot.
DNF at 24%
I don't feel it was written in the right pov. I didn't find myself interested in any of the events or characters.
Cobain's girlfriend, Molly, is missing. Before Molly, Cobain had no social life. After Molly, he has a little bit of one, but he's still just Molly's boyfriend. Now that she's gone, he finds himself searching for answers.
2.5 stars! This book was interesting, but ultimately I didn't like the two main characters-- in a bad way. Cobain was awkward and creepy, and Molly was not empathetic, despite the awful situation she's in. The ending was.. fantastical, to say the least. The writing was subpar, just a lot of wonderings and thoughts that seemed to be scattered. Overall, I wouldn't really recommend this book.