Annike: Hey guys, I’m here today with another review of a book that I got off Netgalley which I was really grateful for. This book is called Trusting You and Other Lies and I really loved it. I thought it was super cute but also really deep underneath so let’s get onto the review!
Phoenix can’t imagine anything worse than being shipped off to family summer camp. Her parents have been fighting for the past two years–do they seriously think being crammed in a cabin with Phoenix and her little brother, Harry, will make things better?
On top of that, Phoenix is stuck training with Callum–the head counsellor who is seriously cute but a complete know-it-all. His hot-cold attitude means he’s impossible to figure out–and even harder to rely on. He’s promising Phoenix a summer she’ll never forget. Can she trust him? Or is this just another lie?
So this book was a really fluffy read, that took us into the lives of Phoenix, a girl from California who was dreading going to a family summer camp but was ultimately forced to by her parents. I started out not really liked Phoenix much at all. She seemed rather snobby, a bit annoying and ultimately was super negative. But the important thing was that as the book went on I found myself really liking her more and more and by the end I was convinced that she was a really good character.
Then there was the character of Harrison otherwise known as Harry, Phoenix’s ten year old brother. The dynamic between Harry and Phoenix was really fun to read about. Not only where they just so nice to each other but they really had to be because Phoenix’s Mum and Dad were really removed from their lives and were caught in their own problems which left Phoenix pretty much being Harry’s mother as he needed someone to support him. It was great to see Harry branch off to find friends but stay the really clever boy that he was. It seemed that over the camp, the leash that his mother had kept him on was loosened so he could really be the 10 year old boy that he was.
I also really loved the dynamic between Callum and Phoenix. From the very beginning you could tell that Callum was really standoffish, and had a lot of his own issues but through the book he opened up really well and became really important to Phoenix. It was also great fun to get to see the two of them develop as characters and together through their running, studying or camp activities. One of the things that really helped me to like Phoenix was her drive and passion something you could see especially in her running and her exercise which she was aiming for a scholarship to college with.
Another thing I loved about this book was the dialogue. It was super funny but also really well thought out and some of the lines between Callum and Phoenix were hilarious. They always seemed to be repeating each other or bringing back something from earlier in the book which is something I really like. One of the things that I think let the book down were all the assumptions made from Phoenix and Callum which ultimately led to fighting and then after that I felt like making up with each other wasn’t explained enough but more just accepted which I though could have been changed a little.
Overall, I really loved this book. It was a really quick read for me as I read it in only 1 day. It comes out on June 20th so I definitely recommend you pick it up or have a look at it because it is both super sweet and really eye opening. So yeah, that’s it. We’ll be back later in the week for another review!
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