REVIEW: Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Freeform in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Sawyer is still reeling from the things she discovered about her family when she, Lily, Campbell, and Sadie-Grace worked together to make sure Campbell’s father was held accountable for his crimes (Little White Lies). She finally knows who her biological father is, and it changes everything – her relationship with her mother, her grandmother, and with the rest of the family she lived with for her debutante year.

But now that it’s summer, and the family is spending time at their lake property, there’s a new distraction. The White Gloves is a secret society that takes in a select number of young women from the best families each year. And Sawyer, Lily, Campbell and Sadie-Grace have all received invitations. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Sawyer’s recent discoveries make things awkward at her grandmother’s house. Campbell’s mother is in a downward spiral after the fallout from her husband’s arrest.  Sadie-Grace knows her step-mother is faking her pregnancy, but she doesn’t know if she should confront her or let the charade play out. And Lily has her up-in-the-air relationship with Walker to figure out. The White Gloves are a perfectly timed distraction.

But the Gloves’ competition also gives Sawyer a chance to dig into one more mystery from her debutante year. Whatever happened to her mom’s best friend Ana who also got pregnant when Sawyer’s mom did – and who disappeared almost twenty years ago?

Review

This was absolutely stunning – dizzying! The twist and turns in this left me in knots – and I loved every minute of it. I couldn’t stop thinking about this for 24 hours after I finished the final page – I even had dreams about the book! When I think about where the book starts vs where it ends, it’s almost like two whole books. What a wild ride! Masterful plotting in this one!

I missed some of Sawyer’s sass and spunk from the first book. In Little While Lies, she’s an outsider; she uses her words as armor to protect herself. In this book, that edge isn’t as sharp. She’s found family to a degree, and she has her crew of friends. It’s a necessary evolution to the character, but I missed the snark. I also missed the fellas. Walker and Boone are absent for a lot of this since the White Gloves is only for the ladies. Again, necessary, but I missed them.

I love the core group of girls in this. They have distinct, fascinating personalities and family situations. And I loved seeing them as more of a team than they could be in book one.

The structure of this is similar to Little White Lies. In that book, the story starts with the girls in jail and then goes back in time around a year to fill in the story. Periodically there’s a paragraph, or a few sentences, from the jail timeline so you don’t forget where everything is headed. This time there are three timelines. This book starts again with Sawyer and a friend in some danger. Then it goes back a few months to the start of the story. The third piece is from 25 years ago, and that is also threaded into the larger story. The author does a great job of cuing where the timing changes so just watch the headings and you’ll be fine. I loved trying to figure out how the three pieces would come together in the end.

As I said, the plot of this is dizzying. I can think of six major twists/revelations without even trying hard, and I’m sure there are more. I had to write them all out when I finished the book just to help my mind take it all in. WOW! I loved it. So many great surprises. I’m not sure there are unanswered questions to prompt a third book, but if Jennifer Lynn Barnes writes one, I am here for it! She is still one of my favorite YA authors.

These books definitely need to be read in order. If you love suspense and mysteries, or if you love books with some unexpected twists, be sure to check out the Debutantes series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½