Author: Mary Elizabeth Summer
Series: Trust Me #1
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Summary from Goodreads:
Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.
But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.
Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.
But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.
Review
I wanted to read Trust Me, I'm Lying for a few different reasons. Mostly, because it is about a con artist and that is plotline I'll never tire of reading, but also because I happen to love the title. And while I did have fun reading it, I have to admit that it didn't impress me all that much.
The plot centers around Julep's father's disappearance and a series of clues he left behind that Julep hopes will lead her to some evidence that she can leverage to save his life, if he is even alive to save. The clue-deciphering, endless obstacles, and increasing stakes kept the plot moving so that I never got bored. But Trust Me, I'm Lying doesn't really have anything that sets it apart. It is not delightfully humorous or manipulative or overly exciting. It is pretty middle-of-the-road on all fronts. And the fact that I did't feel a rush of emotions kept it from being something memorable.
There were also a couple YA tropes present that had me rolling my eyes. Julep looses all sense when it comes to rich, handsome, man-candy Tyler and brings him into her inner circle despite her nagging suspicion of his sudden interest in her. And then Tyler becomes one leg of a glaring love triangle. Meanwhile, Julep is having a sort of crisis of conscious and wants to be an honest grifter. Those sorts of things.
As for the ending, it had it's moments but ultimately fell victim to the same mediocrity as the rest of the book.
And yet despite all my criticisms, I think I might still read the next book. Like I said, I am a sucker for the con-artist storyline. Make of that what you will.
The plot centers around Julep's father's disappearance and a series of clues he left behind that Julep hopes will lead her to some evidence that she can leverage to save his life, if he is even alive to save. The clue-deciphering, endless obstacles, and increasing stakes kept the plot moving so that I never got bored. But Trust Me, I'm Lying doesn't really have anything that sets it apart. It is not delightfully humorous or manipulative or overly exciting. It is pretty middle-of-the-road on all fronts. And the fact that I did't feel a rush of emotions kept it from being something memorable.
There were also a couple YA tropes present that had me rolling my eyes. Julep looses all sense when it comes to rich, handsome, man-candy Tyler and brings him into her inner circle despite her nagging suspicion of his sudden interest in her. And then Tyler becomes one leg of a glaring love triangle. Meanwhile, Julep is having a sort of crisis of conscious and wants to be an honest grifter. Those sorts of things.
As for the ending, it had it's moments but ultimately fell victim to the same mediocrity as the rest of the book.
And yet despite all my criticisms, I think I might still read the next book. Like I said, I am a sucker for the con-artist storyline. Make of that what you will.
