Kody Keplinger returns to the world of The DUFF in this brand-new companion novel!
Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies about her dad being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend's house every night because she has nowhere else to go.



Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with— secrets, clothes, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross.



Ryder's the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can't stand—a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed.



But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realizes that she might actually like him. Only there's one small catch: he thinks he's been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realize that she's the girl he's really wanted all along. Can Sonny lie her way to the truth, or will all her lies end up costing her both Ryder and Amy?






One of my favourite books is The DUFF by Kody Keplinger, so when I heard that there was a companion novel to this one... well,  I was darn well excited. Although, doubt that can be had for authors writing more from a well-loved story, as in the past, it has backfired. 

Not this time, however. 

I really really enjoyed this book. It's common knowledge to people who know my reading habits that I'm quite a slow reader, I tend to take a long time to finish even the shortest books. This one, I started yesterday. That just goes to show how invested into this story and these characters I was.

Before reading, I expected this book to actually be about Amy's love life but it wasn't. Her best friend, Sonny, a new character introduced into this book and a long-time friend of the Rush family, actually got the love story. Having a not-so simple and silver spoon-fed life, she takes refuge at Amy's house without the parents' knowledge, and things start to dramatically happen between the two girls and a certain young man named Ryder Cross.

Ryder is the new boy in school and pretty much everyone hates him. Mostly because as soon as he showed up, he's been pretty vocal about his distaste for Hamilton. Not how you make friends, Ryder. But with modern technology and the fact that Sonny is actually huge liar, things start to get a bit complicated.

Although I did really enjoy this story, the thing that bothered me was the main character, Sonny (real name Sonya). I know she has to make bad decisions for this to be decent sized book, and yes the decisions were annoying and not even necessary, it was also just her. So much of the things that happened in the book, like hurt and heartache, could have been easily avoided had she been, well, honest. I know this book is called 'Lying Out Loud' but there's lying and then there's being a bit of a bitch. I found her to be quite dismissive of her best friend's feelings, and the fact that they'd been friends for so long that they were practically family, she couldn't even tell how she was treating her. Amy has done a lot for her and let Sonny get away with so much. Disappointing behavior at times, Sonny. It was painfully obvious, too, that she was upsetting Amy and I found it annoying that she was so oblivious to it. Not only that, but every lie she told were all for herself. It all benefited her, which was quite selfish. 

Kody is good at character development though, so I was pleased that I didn't dislike Sonny as much as I had at the start, as she became more grown-up and knowledgeable of other people's feelings. It was worth all of that to see her finally appreciate the things she had and the people around her.

But although things did look up, the ending was a bit too abrupt for my liking, but that might be just me being greedy and wanting a laundry-list-type ending. Who doesn't? I am a sucker for epilogues. Cheesy ones. No shame!

Anyway, getting the negatives out the way, everything else about this book was wonderful! Ryder was a great new character; kind hearted, fiery and intelligent. The word 'hipster' was mentioned a few times, which is always fun, and his banter with Sonny is really cute to read. They had good chemistry.

It's also interesting to see Amy Rush in more detail, as in the first book, we only got a short glimpse of her. She's still the shy, smart and pretty girl as she was before, but we get more insight to her life and her relationships with her family and friends. Nice to see her coming out of her shell a bit more, too. 
And speaking of family...

Yes.

Yes.

You guessed it, and you saw this one coming - Wesley Rush is in this book. Wesley. Rush. 


Hot damn! I missed you, my darling Wesley.

I got very excited seeing his name on the page. It was bloody fantastic to see my bb again, and he's still his charming and handsome self, but with a little difference. Bianca was with him! Yay! It was goo to see her again, too. They're still together and going strong, still cute and very much in love. My heart exploded with joy! He gives the characters in the book some great insight, some advice and heartwarming support during some tough times, and his character is very much needed and well inserted into the story. I feel like the first book as well as his time away in college really changed him for the better. He has an even bigger heart this time around, and he seems to have developed into a lovely young man. And I now sound old saying this, so I'll just... continue.

Thank you for giving us more Wesley, Kody! 

A good continuation of The DUFF, fans of the first book won't be disappointed with this, and it's a book you could gobble down in one go. Funny, heartwarming, emotional and, quite honestly, a bloody good read. I'd highly recommend this if you enjoy these kind of books.

4.5 stars out of 5 from us at The Honest Bookclub!




Goodreads:

The DUFF: the designated, ugly fat friend
Lying Out Loud 


How many of you have read The DUFF? If you have, would you consider reading the companion novel? Do let us know what you think, and if you haven't read either, I really do suggest that you look into them because they're such great coming of age books!
Don't forget to leave us a comment in the bit below or find us on our social media - we'd love to hear from you!