Amanda Leslie
Typically I hate books about pathological liars, because they keep, um, lying. Colette Shawn, the main character of To Be Perfectly Honest, by Sonya Sones, is no different. Except I didn’t hate her as much.
Colette is an unreliable narrator, and will lie about anything, so I read the book with a grain of salt, waiting for her to tell me if the events actually happened.
As the book begins, Colette and her brother, Will, get in a limousine which is promptly chased by six police cars. The chauffeur drives the car off a bridge, and Colette dies.
But wait- she reveals on the next page that she didn’t die. Actually, Colette says she can never die, because she’s a vampire. Or is she the daughter of a famous movie star, Marissa Shawn, the reason for all her lying? (Hint: that last one is true.)
When her mother, a famous actress, takes Colette and Will on the location of her new movie with her, Colette meets Connor. Romance (and a lot of lying) ensues.
I found Connor, and their relationship, to be a ridiculous attempt at ‘love at first sight.’ As soon as Colette met Connor, the book became all about him, and I tired of it quickly.
Most of the book’s plot is unrealistic, with strange details (an unexplained love of bacon, golden cupids) that made it seem like the author was trying too hard.
Towards the end of the book, there is a twist that slightly redeems the story, and the final pages leave me wondering: is any of the book true, or was it all a lie?
