Buddy Review| Tell Me No Lies - A.V. Geiger

We both loved the book Follow Me Back and have been patiently waiting for the sequel. Tell Me No Lies was released this month and we both got our hands on it as fast as we could! The first book ended with a cliffhanger, so we definitely needed to know what was going to happen. If you want to know what we thought of Tell Me No Lies, take a look! Warning: This review can contain some spoilers about Follow Me Back.

Tell Me No Lies is the sequel to Follow Me Back. Love. Obsession. Jealousy. Murder.

No one knows what happened to pop icon Eric Thorn. His Twitter account? Frozen. His cell phone? Cracked and bloody, buried in the snow.

Agoraphobic fangirl Tessa Hart knows the truth, but she’s finally left her #EricThornObsessed days behind. She has no intention of ever touching her Twitter app again. But Snapchat… That’s safer, right?

After months of living under the radar, Tessa emerges from hiding, forced to face the deadly consequences of her past. But in the interrogation room, answers only lead to more questions in the pulse-pounding conclusion to the Follow Me Back duology.

Cover

Isabelle: This is not my favorite cover but I do think it fits the story really well. I also like that the scratched out bit is in the same ‘color’ as the title from Follow Me Back.

Candyce: I personally liked the cover to Follow Me Back better, but this was is pretty interesting. The character’s face is scratched out. The colors, font and the way it’s faded out is really interesting though!

Plot

Isabelle: In this second book we once again go back and forth between the interrogation room and the events leading up to the investigation. The story picks up pretty soon after the ending of Follow Me Back and in no time you find out what happened with that creepy tweet. I don’t want to say to much about the plot as it’s a thriller and I think you shouldn’t know too much or it might spoil the story. There are some twitter conversations and some snapchat conversations in the story, that was the element I really enjoyed in the first book. I had a feeling there were less of those conversations in this sequel and I was definitely missing them.

There is a lot of focus on mental health in these books, I really enjoyed the way the anxiety was portrayed and think it was done really well. The story was also super addicting, as was Follow Me Back. I did like this one a little bit less, the mystery wasn’t as amazing as the first one. Still it was written great and I would definitely pick up another YA thriller by this author. I love how we’re kept guessing about what happened and later on about who’s behind it. The twist wasn’t extremely shocking, but still well done.

Candyce: Once again, this story had me hooked from the start (I finished this book in one day!). Tell Me No Lies starts a few months after the end of Follow Me Back and we finally start to learn what happened at the end of the last book. Tessa and Eric are giving their relationship a shot, but Tessa still has a lot of anxiety. Their escape doesn’t last long after some news comes to light. Once again, this story is told between police interviews. It’s clear something has happened, but it takes us awhile to find out what it exactly is. I loved that, because while reading I kept on trying to guess what was going on.

Eric goes back in the spotlight and to make their relationship possible, Tess a is hired for his social media, so she’s not all over the tabloids. This makes things difficult though. Time alone isn’t really possible. Doubts start to creep into Tessa’s mind and when certain things start happening, they start wondering if Blair isn’t around trying to get to them. The ending was still surprising to me, even though I did figure out who was behind everything before it was revealed. It was predictable and not predictable at the same time, if that makes any sense, haha. Another thing I love about this duology is the focus on mental health. A lot of people still see it as something it’s not or as a taboo. Anxiety is very real and should be talked about more often. I only gave Tell Me No Lies four stars, because it wasn’t as suspenseful as Follow Me Back and there were a few cliché things that I didn’t completely care for. All in all, still an amazing book. A.V. Geiger knows how to write addicting books you don’t want to put down. I’m sad that this is only a duology (even though I don’t think it would’ve been good to stretch this anymore).

Characters

Isabelle: We already know these characters and their development this time around was mostly about mental health. As I said, I really liked the portrayal of anxiety in Tell Me No Lies and the way Tessa dealt with her anxiety was interesting to read about. The way this thriller is written you keep wondering if the characters are just paranoid or if they’re onto something. Tessa was a great character to read about and being in her head had me doubting everything in this book.

The side characters were pretty interesting, I didn’t trust any of them haha. They weren’t super well developed but that way you saw them as our main characters saw them. Their trust and distrust in those side characters was so believable and definitely had me guessing for a big part of the book.

Candyce: Eric isn’t your typical popstar and is frustrated about how his career is going. He knows certain things have to be done, but he feels like he’s losing what it’s really about. Hearing about a popstar being killed by a fan, made him worry and anxious. How can all these girls love him? They don’t even know him. Tessa changed that for him and he really wants to be free. After the whole stalker issue, things don’t get easier. Finding a balance between Tessa and his schedule isn’t easy and he just wants more freedom. Eric learns this career isn’t all it’s made up to be and he realizes things may have gotten to him more than he realizes. Who can he really trust in this world?

Tessa has already taken big steps in her road to overcoming her anxiety. After spending months in her room, going everywhere with Eric is a big thing. It’s clear she still needs baby steps, but anything to give their relationship a try. Being stalked is something in the back of her mind and it’s not easy to deal with. Every little unexpected thing can spook her. I think in this book she does realize she’s stronger than she thinks. It just takes awhile.