Review – Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman

by Chelley Toy · May 4, 2016

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I was so excited to be asked to be part of the blog tour for lovely Sue Wallman’s debut book Lying About Last Summer.

This has been high up on my want to read so badly list ever since I met Sue at Olivia Levez’s book launch and then the week after hearing Sue talk about the book and her writing journey at the Scholastic Blogger Brunch back in March 2016 – you can find all about that day here.

For my stop on the blog tour I am going to share my thoughts on the book and post a review!

A huge thank you to Faye Rogers and Scholastic for having me on this wonderful tour and for sending me the book to read and review!

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The story centres around a girl called Skye, who is sent to a camp for troubled teenagers after her sister dies in an accident. However, once she is at the camp she starts receiving text messages from someone pretending to be her dead sister.

Publisher – Scholastic Press

Published – 5th May 2016

Pages – 265 pages

Format – Paperback

Category – YA Mystery/Thriller

Source – I was sent a copy of this book by the wonderful people at Scholastic as part of the blog tour organised by Faye Rogers. This does not affect my review or my opinions in any way and am delighted to write an honest review. Thank you Scholastic for sending this to me to read and to Faye for organising!

** Please note Tales Of Yesterday Reviews are written as spoiler free as possible**

Lying About Last Summer has been high up on my must read now list for a few months…. basically ever since I heard more about it I knew I would love it. It sounded like my kind of book, a thriller, a mystery and with a comparison to We Were Liars meets Thirteen Reasons Why I couldn’t wait to jump straight into the book as soon as it arrived on my door step!

I have to say it did not disappoint!

Lying About Last Summer tells the story of Skye who after losing her sister, Luisa, in a swimming pool accident is sent to a camp for troubled grieving teens. Skye quickly makes friends with her campmates and throws herself into all of the activities set by the camp, but then she starts receiving text messages from her dead sister and she starts to realise that maybe someone on the camp cannot be trusted and to find out the truth she has to think back and face the truth of what happened last summer.

Now any one who knows me knows I am a huge fan of the old Point Horror books from the 90’s and initially upon reading the blurb I was excited as it had that feel of a Point Horror title, but in a modern day setting. This in itself intrigued me from the offset.

The book begins in the past at Yew Tree House, last summer, where we catch a glimpse of what happened to Luisa, Skye’s sister and how Skye was involved. Straight from the offset the writing draws you into the setting and you can quite easily imagine a hot summers days lounging by a glistening blue pool. In fact water features quite a lot in this book giving it a summery feel. For me this set the tone of the book and the writing style as it absorbed me into it’s pages.

We follow Skye’s journey of grieving for her sister, the guilt she feels and the secrets that surround her from the past and in the present. I warmed to Skye straight away and really liked her and her voice. I really felt what she was feeling in every moment whether that be dealing with her feelings of guilt, grief or trying to move on with her life.

I loved how the mystery of what happened last summer is gradually revealed to the reader in flashbacks to different parts of Skye’s life pre losing her sister, Luisa, and I feel that this let me get to know Skye even more.

Even the other characters in this book are brilliantly well crafted and completely relatable and with realistic flaws and all. Some you will love (Toby & Brandon*daydreams*), some you will hate (JOE – yes I used capital letters to express my dislike – ugh – don’t worry he was written that way) and some you feel like old friends (Fay *cuddles*). You will totally understand all this is you read the book I promise.

I don’t want to go to much into the characters through fear of spoilers, but I as well as Skye suspected everyone throughout the book! It kept me guessing!

I also loved the way that you get a sense of what each of the characters back grounds are and what they get from being at the camp is really evident as the book nears the end.

I think one of my favourite scenes in the book are the scenes where Skye returns back to her old home and see’s Toby. The whole scene just captures so many emotions. Old memories left behind and old friends left behind, guilt, grief and love.

Also Wheat Angels! *insert heart emoji here*

I would loved to have seen more of Toby, who appears mainly in flashbacks, but who in just a few short scenes made me smile and maybe swoon a little, but don’t tell anyone.

This book is a brilliant debut. It’s a quick fab read that is soaked with tense suspense, realistic characters, sun drenched in mystery and shines brightly with beautiful writing.