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Book Review: Deadly Little Scandals

Deadly Little Scandals – Jennifer Lynn Barnes – Debutantes #2 – Freeform – Published 5 November 2019

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Synopsis

Reluctant debutante Sawyer Taft joined Southern high society for one reason and one reason alone: to identify and locate her biological father. But the answers Sawyer found during her debutante year only left her with more questions and one potentially life-ruining secret. When her cousin Lily ropes her into pledging a mysterious, elite, and all-female secret society called the White Gloves, Sawyer soon discovers that someone in the group’s ranks may have the answers she’s looking for. Things are looking up… until Sawyer and the White Gloves make a disturbing discover near the family’s summer home–and uncover a twisted secret, decades in the making.

No one is quite who they seem to be.

My thoughts

Deadly Little Scandals is the sequel to Little White Lies, and, if possible it is even better than its predecessor. More intrigue, more plots, bodies to uncover, secrets to tell, and twist after twist that you never see coming, because, seriously who else but Jennifer Lynn Barnes could conceive of such an idea and actually make it work. Deadly Little Scandals will thrill fans of the first book and keep readers on the edge of their seat.

When Sawyer accepted her grandmother’s terms last summer, she did so to discover who her father is. Now, after a lengthy process of uncovering long-buried secrets and a little blackmail, she knows but would rather maybe not know. Keeping her secrets from her cousin Lily is hard, harder still to know if it is worth digging further to find answers to the questions she has. When an all girl secret society recruit Sawyer, Lily, Sadie-Grace and Campbell to compete for a position, Sawyer discovers that one of the girls may be key to helping her discover the secrets surrounding what happened the year her mother fell pregnant.

Deadly Little Scandals is a sequel and you must read the books in chronological order to make any sense of the story. Even having read the first book, it is a little hard to keep all the characters straight and by the end of the book I needed a map to fully make sense of it all. That’s just testament to Barnes’ skill as a writer to make such a complex plot work.

Gripping is an understatement. I didn’t want to put the book down. Each chapter leaves you wanting more and the little flash forward sections only leave you with enough information to know something big is coming.

I loved the characters. Loved Sawyer’s down-to-earth, up-front manner, yet she craves relationships and family, even when she says she doesn’t the entanglements. Her almost relationship with Nick is very sweet, though it takes a backseat the to family drama and secrets. Sadie-Grace, Campbell and Lily make the perfect sidekicks/half-sisters/cousins/best friends/it’s complicated, as Sawyer starts to unearth some secrets that have stayed buried for over two decades.

Ballgowns, skinny dipping, baby showers, affairs, summer lakeside parties and blackmail, Deadly Little Scandals will have you intrigued from beginning to end.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

More information

Category: Young adult fiction

Genre: Mystery/thriller.

Themes: Family, secrets, pregnancy, wealthy families, adultery, secret societies, relationships, parents.

Reading age guide: Ages 12/13 and up.

Advisory: Sexual references, references to sexual relationships, mainly parents and past relationships including adultery, cheating and the intention of falling pregnant. References to alcohol.

Published: 5 November 2019 by Freeform.

Format: Hardcover, ebook, audiobook. 352 pages.

ISBN: 9781368015172

Find it on Goodreads

3 Comments

  1. confessionsofayareader

    Great review!

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