Review Detail

When I first started reading Lying Out Loud I had decided not to read any previous reviews or to check the ratings on Goodreads. I wanted to read this book with an open mind and to decide for myself if I liked it and not allow my opinions to swayed by anyone else's. I am glad that I did because otherwise I would have been much more disappointed in Lying Out Loud than I already am. There are so many things about Lying Out Loud that I really disliked, such as the characters that weren't well developed and were one dimensional with no depth and a plot that felt unoriginal.

Sonny Ardmore is a compulsive liar who takes advantage of her best friend Amy Rush and her family's kindness and generosity. She is obnoxious, is constantly feeling sorry for herself, has absolutely no initiative, is manipulative and completely disregards anyone else's feelings but her own. Yes, I know that this all a defense mechanism so that she never gets hurt by anyone because she has been hurt so many times but, she doesn't have any good qualities to counteract the bad ones. We learn from Sonny in order to make a friendship work we should lie to our best friend and walk all over them. If you lie to everyone you eventually lose touch with reality and never accept responsibility or handle any situation like a mature person. You can say or do what ever you want or feel like at the moment and not care if your actions have repercussions. You should chase after the boy and pretend to be something that you aren't in order to be liked.
Amy Rush never stands up for herself, or has an opinion and let's people walk all over her. Her friendship with Sonny is a little bit unbelievable and extremely one sided. Also Sonny's living arrangement at the Rush's house is unrealistic. I know for a fact that if my best friend was living in my house without my parents knowledge my parents would certainly not be " Oh sure your friend can live here free of any responsibilities and treat you like trash and we'll be nothing but supportive of this". I am not saying that my parents or anyone's parents wouldn't help out a friend in need but, considering that the Rush's family was all together nonexistent a few years ago I don't feel that it's realistic that they would so readily add another member to their family. I mean, all that they do in Lying Out Loud is give them money, buy the food and be extremely supportive of everything.
Sonny and Ryder's relationship felt like something that I have read a thousand times before and was completely forgettable. Their whole relationship went like this I hate you / we talk for a while it turns out that you are much more than the pretentious jerk that I thought you were / and now I love you / I will formulate a grand scheme to make you love me /and *poof* we are in love. That's not how life or relationships work.
The plot is .... Cheesy, corny, unoriginal, cliché any one of those words perfectly describes Lying Out Loud. Sonny is up late one night in able to sleep because she is stressed about college she does what anyone else would do she decides to play computer games on Amy's computer. Ryder starts instant messaging her at 2 a.m. So they talk and what do you know? Ryder thought he was "talking" to Amy. So Sonny now knows that he is the love of her life and must win him over no matter what the cost is. The whole time that I was reading I was kept on waiting for it to become interesting.

It was BORING!

The ending was, in my opinion, wrapped up too quickly and the character development felt rushed. I don't want to dislike books and leave negative reviews. I always try to look at the books qualities instead of finding the negative but this book has so many negatives that I can't give Lying Out Loud more than 2 stars. I think what bothered me the most is that this book almost encourages girls to chase after the boy and feel like the boy simply won't like her if she doesn't change something about herself. I don't think that anyone should feel that they need to change who they are in order to be liked.