The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

I had a life anyone would kill for.

Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet.

Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?

Let the lying game begin.

Stars: 4/5

Cover: A

Publication Date: December 7th, 2010

Emma Paxton has been in the foster care system practically all of her life. When Emma gets in touch with her long-lost twin, Sutton Mercer, over Facebook, they decide to meet up. Emma travels to Sutton's town, and as she's waiting at the bus stop for Sutton to show up, Sutton's friends see Emma and mistake her for Sutton.

Emma plays along, thinking that they will bring her to Sutton.

But when Emma goes to Sutton's house, she sees a note there, addressed to her. It basically said that Sutton was dead, and that if Emma didn't play along and continue being Sutton, then she would be next.

As Emma learns more about Sutton, she realizes that Sutton's not the nice girl Emma originally thought she was. Sutton and her friends starting a "game" called The Lying Game, where they pulled cruel pranks on their classmates (and each other). Emma starts to wonder if Sutton pulled a prank on someone that was bad enough for them to want revenge, and kill her.

Through out the novel, Emma tries to piece together the mystery surrounding Sutton's murder, while still pretending to be Sutton.

I thought The Lying Game was a fantastic book, though not as good as the Pretty Little Liars series. But then again, how can someone possibly top the Pretty Little Liars series?

The book was really interesting, and had a lot of great cliff hangers, making you just want to keep reading on. I didn't feel too connected to the characters, but the plot made up for that 100%.

To be honest, The Lying Game reminded me a lot of Pretty Little Liars. There was the stranger sending notes, the characters not knowing who to trust, and also a couple of other really obvious similarities that I don't want to say (I don't want to spoil Pretty Little Liars for you guys if you haven't read all eight books).

I think Sara left the book at a great stopping point, and I cannot wait for Never Have I Ever, the sequel, to come out in June of 2011.

I would recommend this book to really anyone who wants a fast, enthralling read.

Don't forget to pick this book when it comes out December 7th, or to put it on your Christmas list!

*I heard that The Lying Game is going to be turned into a TV show! 

FTC: I received this book from one of my blogger friends who got it as an ARC.

       Her website: http://www.zoesbookreviews.com/