My Thoughts: One Tiny Lie by KA Tucker

Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents' tragic death and Kacey's self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would...and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action.

Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton?

As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.

I always love it when  a book surprises me. I find that there is nothing better than going into a book with really low expectations and coming out the other side blown away. That is what happened to me with One Tiny Lie. I had read the first book (Ten Tiny Breaths) in K.A. Tucker's series back in the summer, and while I enjoyed it, I didn't find that it was all that unique. It sort of followed the typical NA pattern- girls experiences traumatic event, girl falls apart, girls runs away, girls meets boy, boy is also broken, boy and girl fall in love.... this may sound like I didn't enjoy Ten Tiny Breaths, but you are wrong I really liked it, more than I liked others of the NA genre. However, it was definitely Tucker's characters that made me love her books.

One Tiny Lie is told from the perspective of Livie- Kacey's younger sister. It is set three years later and Livie is now a freshmen at Princeton University. Which has been her dream school, since forever. Now, please, don't roll your eyes at this college setting. Because it's actually kind of refreshing and Tucker puts a different spin on it- I can't pin point exactly what it is, but it made the whole story a but more fun and interesting to read. Livie has always been the more reasonable sibling, the more logical, well rounded sibling. She is the complete opposite to her sister and has never really lived a life without feeling like everything was her responsibility. However, at the insistence of her sort of therapist she begins to branch out and experiments with being a normal eighteen year old college student, in other words, acting her age and living on the wild side. This is not something Livie has any experience with, and she is completely out of her comfort zone. However, always obedient and dutiful, she complies.

As I mentioned earlier, I really really liked this book. It was really a surprise for me. There were so many things in this book that should have bothered me, and for the life of me, I can't think of a single one. Livie, the younger sister, who has always had her head on straight, begins to lose it. She doesn't know how to party, she doesn't know how to date, she doesn't even really know how to have friends her own age. And these are all things that she has to face when she gets to Princeton. Specifically, when ends up drunk her first night, and makes out with handsome stranger, Ashton.

The relationship between Livie and Ashton is SO complicated. But at the same time, SO simple. Does that even make sense? Both of them are making incredibly stupid decisions when it comes to one another, but at the same time, you are kind of rooting for them. As a reader you can almost over look their infidelity (almost). I in no way condone cheating, I think it's the nastiest thing you could do to someone. But without spoiling anything...

Overall, One Tiny Lie is really Livie's story about finding herself and breaking free of this mould that she created when her parents died.  It's about pushing boundaries and testing the limits. Livie is a fantastic character who grows up so much in this book. She feels so much and wants to do the right thing. She is so conflicted and she has to deal with that. K.A. Tucker writes amazing characters and I loved my experience with this book. And I can't wait to dig into the next book in this series Four Seconds to Lose.

~Happy Reading Everyone!