‘Trust Me, I’m Lying’ (Trust Me #1) by Mary Elizabeth Summer

I kept thinking that I was one step ahead of the book, but in the end I realized the story was always one step ahead of me. ‘Trust Me, I’m Lying’ shows how love can come at the most unexpected times and how you are willing to go anywhere in order to keep your family safe.

by Natacha

Julep Dupree isn’t like any other 15 year old girl. She and her father are both con artists, and good ones. One day Julep gets home to find the apartment trashed and her father gone. The only thing she finds is a clue her father left her. Julep now needs to find her father, and with her she’s got her best friend Sam and the handsome senior Tyler, who she might not know that well but definitely feels an attraction towards. The only question that remains is, can she find her father before it is too late?

Working girl

Julep is a very different character from other books I’ve read. First, she’s only 15 years old, which is 4 years younger than me. I remember being 15 and going through different faces. Therefore I thought I was going to read about a girl who didn’t know who she was and who was immature. I was luckily surprised to read about a girl who’ve easily could’ve been my age.

Second, she doesn’t have rich parents and a huge mansion, instead she has to work in order to get an education and she needs to fight for what she wants. One of the scenes in the book that definitely caught my attention, is where she orders coffee. She grifts her way to the coffee by talking nice to the barista and after the coffee is done being made, she says she’s forgotten her wallet. The barista then says to her, that she can have it, otherwise it would just be a waste. It was one of the first scenes in the book where I got to see exactly how much she had to work for just about everything in her life.

Surprising, unexpected and absolutely amazing

What I really loved about ‘Trust Me, I’m Lying’ was that the mystery style reminded me of ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and ‘The Lying Game’.
What I also loved was, that there was a love story in the book, where Julep finds interest in Tyler, who she doesn’t really know, it really showed that sometimes first love surprises you.
The book was like a high speed rollercoaster the entire way through and had many surprises with twists and turns and ups and downs. I wasn’t bored at any point and the story constantly kept me on the edge of my seat.

Excerpt from ‘Trust Me, I’m Lying’

I feel like celebrating, so I go in search of the coffeemaker. Nothing says victory like late-night java. Besides, I have three chapters of reading for AP lit, a section review on quadratic equations for pre-calc, and a five page French paper due by—I check the syllabus on my phone—the end of the week. Looks like it’s going to be another all-nighter.
I rescue the coffeepot from under my bed, untangling the curtain from the broken lamp in the process. But as I pivot away from the window, something catches my eye. Or rather, someone.
My window has a street view, and there are quite few people on the sidewalk. But there’s only one person staring up at my window. One person in a long black coat with black boots and light hair. One person leaning against a black Chevelle with white racing stripes, the same Chevelle I saw parked outside the Ballou yesterday. One person who has definitely noticed me noticing him, broken lamp or no.
I race out of my apartment and fly down the stairs and out of the building just in time to see the Chevelle’s taillights disappear around a corner. The roar of the engine drown out the rest of the street noise for half a minute as my stalker accelerates through all five gears and cruises out of sight with all my answers.

Accusing every character in the book

Since it is a book about mysteries, there need to be more characters in order to suspect someone. Luckily for me it was easy to keep track on the characters because she story only was viewed from Julep’s perspective.