Review Detail

Tommy’s life revolves around his camera and his fan base. He will do anything to keep his fans happy and his popularity growing. He begins his journey with harmless pranks, but as he gets more and more famous, he starts to take things too far. But Tommy is playing everyone and secrets don’t always remain in the dark. When his body is discovered on his senior trip, everyone is a suspect.

On screen, Tommy is the picture perfect boyfriend to Kiara, who he’s been dating since freshman year. While Kiara sees the dark side of Tommy, she can’t see herself leaving him. She needs him just as badly as he needs her. Priscilla will do anything to grow her social media revolving around makeup, including going along with Tommy’s antics. However, he just offers her empty promises. Navaeh meets Tommy online, not knowing who he really is, but she gives him pieces of herself she can’t get back. These three girls have nothing in common but are tied together by their relationships with Tommy. The question everyone has is who is the killer among them?

HEART-SHAPED LIES is a murder mystery that reminds me of the movie John Tucker Must Die. Tommy’s life is full of glittery lies and he fools everyone both on screen and off screen of his backstabbing ways. The ones most affected by it are the three girls he leads to believe he cares for: Kiara, Priscilla, and Navaeh. With Tommy’s account hacked, secrets are exposed and everybody becomes a suspect. I love how everything unfolds and how the author explores the negative impact being an influencer can have on a person. Tommy is addicted to fame and doesn’t care what he has to do to maintain it. I also really like how the first half of the book takes place while Tommy is alive and the second half is trying to figure out who kills him. It gives the reader a well rounded view of the events. Each of the girls handled the situation differently and I found that made it more realistic.


Final Verdict: I would recommend this to ya fans of suspense, mystery, coming of age, and social media. This is a very fast paced book with a lot of twists and turns that held my attention the entire time.