Determined to prove that some sort of incident took place before the car accident that landed Amber in a coma, neighbors report hearing there was an argument between Amber and Paul on Christmas Eve in which somehow she had taken off and gotten into a car accident- only the scars on her body seem older than that of a recent traffic accident. And in the present, she is in some kind of coma where she can hear and understand what’s happening around her, but can’t move or respond. So here we are. Do you think she always knew when she was lying? I’m in a coma. After being in a bit of a reading slump for a week or so, this is exactly the kind of book… Sometimes I Lie … Popular with readers, the book received widespread critical praise. Reader. It had so much potential , but in the end I was really disappointed. Sometimes I lie. She is an unreliable narrator; it is unclear what is the truth and what is fiction. I had an “omg, now what?” attitude towards them. However, rude, hateful, insulting or purely antagonistic comments will  not be approved by the admin (that’s me!) Members register for free and can request review copies or be invited to review by the publisher. The ending left me questioning things that happened earlier in the book that I hadn't questioned before. “Sometimes I lie.” Amber lies to so many people throughout the novel—her husband, her sister, her colleagues, even herself. I’m in a coma. Binge-Watcher. And I am not the kind of Buffy fangirl to ignore a Sarah Michelle project. Unable to engage with anyone around her, Amber can still hear what is going on in her coma, and begins to not trust Paul after she learns he has been accused of somehow being involved with her accident as the scars on her face and body seem older than that produced by the car accident. In addition to all the pieces already in play, plus the unreliable narrator and shady supporting characters, when these diary chapters started I was a little bit annoyed. Every time you think you’ve peeled away a layer that will get you closer to the truth, it turns out that layer was a goddamn LIAR and you’re still fucking confused. I say, read this book and freefell into a story that is guaranteed to mess with your head and amp up your heartbeat. Change ), Mystery, Thriller & Horror Books, and True Crime. To add to the confusion, chapters of diary entries from decades passed were included between the two timelines. I don’t know that I can write this review without spoilers, because every single aspect of the book is somehow involved in the twists & turns, but I will definitely try and give fair warning if I’m going to let something spoiler-like slip. Amber lies to so many people throughout the novel—her husband, her sister, her colleagues, even herself. She can’t open her eyes. She can’t speak. A friend from work, Jo, as well as her boss Matthew tell her that she can keep her job for now, and Jo comes up with a scheme to make her co-host Madeline feel she is the one to be fired. We’re told she’s in a coma, but that’s not really how comas work, so this was really the tip-off for me at the very beginning that something was going on besides the car accident that landed Amber in that state. Was any of the things Claire- pretending to be Amber, true about her life? That they were sisters. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. I get the reason they exist within the larger picture, but some readers might feel like this is just one more thing they have to trudge through to get to the big reveal. I’m glad you liked this one! After the fire, Taylor was having OCD and began to pick at her skin as coping skills causing scars. It starts off mostly focused on Amber’s mundane day-to-day life, building up to the story of how Amber ended up in the coma, but somehow it manages to keep you curious, and that’s all it takes sometimes. I've just finished this book and I need an answer regarding the bracelet at the end, so have come onto Mumsnet to see if there was a discussion about it and there is, but none the wiser! An aunt who Amber doesn't like named Madeline is to inherit the house, and Amber is to go to live with Taylor's family. In the end, I feel like I’ve read a banging thriller that truly was full of twists and turns. Akin to Single White Female, Claire has masterminded everything to get the perfect life from finding the perfect prey when they were children and getting herself adopted in the family, to taking over everything about Amber/Taylor's life. The central character in Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney is a woman in a coma. Amber's story is told nonlinearly, in three different time periods: Now, Then (the week leading up to the present) and Before (diary entries from about 15 years earlier). My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 2. The night Claire burned the house down and killed her family, she got to be part of Taylor's family. Mom(ish). The person appears to be asleep but cannot be awakened. Synopsis: My name is Amber Reynolds. She can’t open her eyes. I don’t have the attention span to focus on anything for that long (well, maybe video games, but I have to be in the right mood. Maybe I’m still feeling the holiday glow that’s keeping my heart three times its normal size, like the Grinch, but this book hit me in all the right psychological thriller sweet spots. The plot was a slow burner. Amber wakes up in a hospital. I need someone to talk to about the ending! yet still surprising to the reader? NetGalley is a site where book reviewers and other professional readers can read books before they are published, in e-galley or digital galley form. Amber wakes up in a hospital. An intriguing idea for … She can’t open her eyes. I can't imagine being able to hear and think and not be able to respond. We couldn't stop talking about this book at work for weeks! I would have found every last gimmick utterly ridiculous if the writing hadn’t also been so spot on with its prose and characters and pacing. Sometimes I Lie is an examination of the limits of self-perception, told from the perspective of a cross-dressing performance artist whose desire to transcend his sexuality and the restrictions of his marriage cause a painful psychological break. After Amber's family is killed in a deliberate fire, Amber is sent to live with Taylor's family, but something in the narrative seems a miss- especially in a flash forward when the diaries are found in a attic and Paul comes across a a narrative of Claire. ( Log Out /  It begs you to read it and when I did, I could barely put the book down, and when I had to for work or sleep, I did so grudgingly. This is the nightmare that Amber Reynolds is trapped inside in Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. A BOOK BLOG FOR ALL MY DARK & TWISTY READS, “Little girls are different from little boys: they’re made of sugar and spice and scar for life.”. Britany from Lake Charles on May 29, 2018: © 2021 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. There are three things you should know about me: 1. A great page-turner. Anyone trying to leave asshole comments can eat a bag of dicks. I liked the shorter span between the duelling timelines. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Amber invents that they have the same birthday, and that they are similar looking-almost twins she writes. How do you then go about weaving a plot that is realistic (it is!) “Alice Feeney’s twisty psychological thriller, Sometimes I Lie, her debut novel, slides neatly into the company of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train. Rivaling any unfortunate heroine of a Gillian Flynn novel, Amber describes her home life as anything but happy, her only solace is a relationship with her grandmother that is taken away after she passes. SOMETIMES I LIE by Alice Feeney is the twisty, addictive psychological thriller that delivers exactly the kind of jaw-dropping, edge-of-your-seat read that its plot summary promises. Claire has finished off what was Amber/Taylor and is free to assume her identity forever now if she likes and go on living the pretend life that she always wanted for herself. Sometimes I Lie is a story about the lies we routinely tell each other, but for me, it’s more about the lies we tell ourselves. Claire has taken over her family, and now her image letting the hospital believe that Amber has been in an unfortunate accident when it was Claire's driving that got her in the wreck- and left her to die in the street. Akin to Single White Female, Claire has masterminded everything to get the perfect life from finding the perfect prey when they were children and getting herself adopted in the family, to taking over everything about Amber/Taylor's life. And loved Claire instead now what? ” attitude towards them it has 3 time! Reading Sometimes I Lie, we respectfully suggest that you may want to wait before this... 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