Little Lies

Young adult angst isn’t usually my go-to in romance but authors like Monica Murphy have dragged me across the finish line a time or two. The trouble here is the H and h don’t just suffer from acute social anxiety but arrested development. For college students they are incredibly immature. Kodiak spends most of the book spewing verbal abuse at Lavender until suddenly, about 70% through the novel, he decides he loves her and she forgives him. Then they go on a non-stop sex party for 2. For a girl who was supposed to be crippled by self-doubt, she sure got her freak on fast. Bondage, voyeurism, sex toys…you get the picture.

That being said, there is very little “Happy” in this novel and I guess with world events being what they are, I’m not in the mood for so much gloom. This is certainly not the author’s fault. I’ve enjoyed her work in the past.

I haven’t read the “Pucked” series so those references, as played out by Lavender’s parents, were lost on me. I did read Kodiak’s parents’ story, “A Lie for a Lie” and almost didn’t recognize them. Authors always say even books in a series are “stand alone” but I don’t think this one does. I’m conflicted because I liked “Lie” and generally like second gen novels. This one just wasn’t a story I wanted to read.

I have absolutely adored most of Helena Huntings other books, from her Pucked through All In series, and was beyond excited to read Little Lies. Im talking countdown to release day level of excitement. and well, I guess this is a lesson for me about building my expectations too high, because dayyyuummmm, I havent felt a hype train derail and then crash and burn this hard since the final season of Game of Thrones.

I have SO MANY QUESTIONS, but as its currently riding the diehard fan-5 stars-can do no wrong wave in every online book group, I dont know where to have an HONEST discussion about this book. Thus, the second half of my review will be in-depth spoilers, so dont read past the dotted line if you havent read the book yet.

NON-SPOILER REVIEW:

All the other reviews explore whats great about this book in depth, so heres a quick overview of what I did enjoy:

It did have a unique narrative that explored anxiety / OCD in a way that was uncharacteristic of and refreshing in this genre.
Lavender its been said repeatedly in the other reviews but she was just fascinating (at the beginning).
Violet I was thrilled to see a toned down, less neurotic version of her character, on par with how she was written in Pucked with more intelligence, empathy, and seriousness which was a welcome change from how one-dimensional and ditzy she became later in the series.
Rook and Lainey seeing what incredible parents they were and how they struggled to do what they thought was best for Kodiak.
Next Gen Friend/Fam circle such a lovable and multifaceted group of people whose stories beg to be told. Quinn in particular was fascinating to me. He seems to have struggles similar to Lances, and I hope his story gets written one day.

——————————-
SPOILERS BELOW

I cant lie I feel completely let down by how poorly developed most of this story was after it was marketed as being the most angsty, heart-wrenching, beautiful love story. For me, it was absolutely none of those things, and most of the plot felt like a scattered mess of narrative allusions that never materialized.

Let me explain:

1) FIRST RULE IN CREATIVE WRITING SHOW, DONT TELL

Unfortunately, Hunting fails to follow this rule for most of the book. I dont know if this is due to the Indie Romance author trend of keeping books at about 300 pages, but the brevity of key scenes was extremely detrimental to building the readers connection to these pivotal moments and characters themselves. Thus, instead of the reader feel immersed in what was happening on the page, all you are left feeling is a confused dissatisfied sense of thats it?!??!?

2) WHERE WAS THE PROMISED GUT WRENCHING, HEART BREAKING ANGST??

Nothing in this book felt all that angsty to me, because the aftermath of every traumatic moment where the angst, longing, or heartbreak would be, was never shown, just talked about later.

IN FACT, MOST OF THE PROMISED ANGST HAPPENS IN THE PAST OFF-PAGE, SO THERES NO EMOTIONAL CONNECTION TO IT FOR THE READER.

There are only snippets of stories from these times jammed into random conversations later (like learning about Kodiaks tattoo), that just felt like clunky, out of place clues that we were just supposed to beeellliiieeeevvveee were heartbreaking.

OKAY, that all was annoying, but the hero had to be absolutely AMAZING after all this “soulmates” buildup, right????? Right??

3) NOPE! KODIAK WAS DISAPPOINTEDLY UNDERDEVELOPED AS A CHARACTER

I don’t mind me some bully redemption/secret love tropes, and Kodiak had all the makings for being an absolutely AMAZING hero in this story. BUT, NO. What made me the most upset with how Hunting wrote him, was that she focused so much time and attention on fleshing out Lavenders character, and then merely drew Kodiak as a stark line sketch, lacking any color or texture.

In the chapters with Kodiaks POV –> very little was explored about himself that didnt relate to Lavender not hockey, not his passions, not his friendships really, not with his best friend Mav.

Other characters talked about his natural talent with hockey and school –> but neither were really shown or explained from his POV. In fact, there was only one scene of him actually playing hockey and the focus was on Lav attending the game. Cmon, its supposedly his 2nd love after Lav! What did he love about hockey or school? What made him a genius besides just getting straight As?

SIGHHH And a petty gripe, but what was with the discrepancy between Kodiaks black hair as described in the book and the cover models blonde hair??? Why hire a graphic designer to make such a gorgeous cover and then not ask them to Photoshop the correct hair color on your hero?!? Seriously, I did the edit in the attached photo on my phone in about 10 seconds…

Other reviews have mentioned that Kodiak totally flipped from being a broody alpha to a demure, spineless husk of a boy-child after he admits his love for Lav, and I fully agree. He seemed to lose his own voice and let Lavender do all the talking for him after that point, which defeated the whole purpose of their supposed character development.

Okay, all of this was maddening, but what about the ROMANCE you ask? The scenes between them once they get together must have been absolutely beautiful, right???

BIG NOPE!

4) THEIR PRESENT DAY RELATIONSHIP FELT RUSHED & THEIR LOVE SLIGHTLY UNBELIEVABLE

This brings me to my main frustration with this book: Hunting spent absolutely no time allowing Lavender and Kodiak to get to know each other again both before and after they reconciled.

Hunting relied too much on defaulting to the bond they had when they were children as being the heart of their love for each other in the present. They are young adults now and surely they have changed in ways that they need to learn about / experience with the other. It would have been more believable if they actually had meaningful interactions with each other in the present, that went beyond Kodiak being mean and Lav saying I hate you, for the thousandth time and then hiding in her room.

LACK OF CONVERSATIONS

There were so few conversations between Kody and Lav overall. In fact, there were so few conversations in the book between ANY OF THE CHARACTERS that didnt revolve around the status of L & Ks relationship, or tired convos about puck bunnies that Hunting really needs to move past already. No casual shooting the shiznit, no talking about pop culture, no joking around like normal college kids do, no events to bond over.

KODIAKS NON-REDEMPTION

Another thing that irked me greatly was that Lavender didnt discover the clues of Kodiaks love herself, but Hunting had other people feed them to her, in yet more TELLING, not SHOWING.

So cut to Kody finally breaking and confessing his love and BAM!, LAV MAGICALLY GROWS LADY BALLS more fitting of a 30 something dominatrix than a 19 year old girl with limited sexual experience, and here she is grinding on a dildo she taped to Kodiaks lap, and then they are together at last!!! <<<BIG SIGH>>>

Kodiak DIDN’T DO ANYTHING to earn her love or trust back as Hunting kept repeatedly saying he would in all the teasers.

There were so few scenes of them together as a couple beyond the boring diner scene where their friends and familys reactions to them FINALLY getting together were completely anticlimactic. And then in more telling, not showing, their relationship is merely described as:

We go out on dates, we study together, we hang out with friends. Its a grown-up version of how we were when we were kids.

How about explore their characters through one of those dates, send them on an adventure or even just have them talk about what they have been up to while apart, or just the normal banter that Hunting is usually stellar at writing and is where the wittiness and humor reside in her other books. But nothing…NO MAGIC whatsoever.

From the time Kodiak and Lavender had sex, I just wanted to throw the whole book away. There were more words devoted to Lavenders obsession with Lucky Charms marshmallows, then there were words in all the conversations between her and Kodiak after they rekindled.

WHERE WAS THE ROMANCE??? WHERE WAS THE ANGST??? WHERE WAS KODIAKS REDEMPTION???
Just so many little lies told about what this book would offer, but didn’t and now I feel so let down.

Sometimes we have to break so we can recreate a stronger version of ourselves.

Ohhh the angsty goodness! This story grabbed a hold of my heart from the prologue, taking me for an emotional yet inspiring read. While the story is centered around Lavender and Kodiak, I fell in love with all the people that surrounded and supported them, a true family full of hope and love. There was a true sense of acceptance of who you are no matter what and knowing that even in the weakest moments, there would always be a safe place to land.

We see what we want to, not the truth, especially when it hurts.

Kodiak and Lavender have been through a lot together other the years, connecting in a way that few truly understood. Anxiety and panic rule their thoughts, but somehow they calm each other and create a safe space away from the negative thoughts. But that calm becomes an addiction and creates some truly heartbreaking moments in the story. It was inspiring to watch each of them work through their painful past, and even though hating each other seemed like the only option at one point, their connection couldnt be ignored. Kodiaks heart and compassion was so big, always trying to the do the right thing even if he went about it the wrong way. This new adult story was dang sexy too, while Lavender may seem sweet, she owns her sexuality and Kodiak was definitely not mad about it! This story left me with the best book hangover, through the tears and laughter this story left my heart with that warm, happy feeling.

Side Note: While this book is a complete standalone, there are a lot of connections to the Pucked and All In series, so be prepared to need to brush up on who is related to who. As the story progressed, I got a feel for the whole family and how they were all connected but it took little while to be immersed into the big, boisterous family.

Mmmm I don’t know how I feel about this book. I really liked how the book started, the stories when they were kids and all that, but when we get to the part that they have to separate, it was just… It feels hollow, it doesn’t explain how they really feel or something like that. I really didn’t feel the angst in this book. And another think is I feel that the parents have a huge part of what happened whit them, but all the blame was just on Kody, why?? (I don’t know if it’s that right, but I feel it that way).
And when we get to the River’s part… Well I didn’t like it either, but that’s another side of the story.
So, en fin, this books feels like there are parts of the story that are inconclused. I got more frustrated with this book than anything else.

If like me you fell in love with Helena’s writing after reading the Pucked series then you will also like me be super excited about getting to meet the next generation.

This one is filled with angst, drama, family, loyalty and friendship. With the perfect mix of past and present its a storyline that captures your attention from beginning to end and has you alternating between laughing and crying. Honestly my heart completely broke for Lavender and everything she had gone through.

Lavender is nothing like her parents, she’s shy as a youngster, suffering with anxiety. With older brothers and their extended family she has a lot of over protective people surrounding her which is not always a good thing.

Kodiak has always felt connected to Lavender. When they were kids he always felt he was her protector. After their parents step in and separate them they drift apart and when they are older become enemies. Kodiak becomes the ultimate alpha as***ole when it comes to Lavender now she is at the same college as them.

As you read more of the past story you get to understand why Kodiak is the way he is. He has sky high walls that only Lavender will be able to tear own eventually but only once he shows her that he is worth it.

This book got me out of a reading funk and once i started i devoured it within a day. It was like a family reunion seeing some of my favourite characters from previous books that i have honestly missed. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member