Brief synopsis: Cat was eight when 17-year old Maryanne Doyle went missing. That was 18 years ago, but it's haunted her ever since, because her dad lied to the police about knowing Maryanne. Now a DC, Cat is shocked when Maryanne's body turns up local to her police precinct and just around the corner from her father's apartment. Cat wants to solve Maryanne's murder, without connecting herself and the dots to her father, but how can she without revealing her past?



Sweet Little Lies was a Book of the Month pick for August (get a free book by signing up with my link!) and I snatched it up immediately, because it sounded amazing! Unfortunately, I felt the story was fairly slow-paced and really lacked the potential I expected from the book's description. Then I felt the ending was over-the-top. It honestly felt like an episode of CSI, and it took me way longer than I felt was necessary to get through the book.

I was really into it in the beginning, with the references to the Spice Girls and Fox Mulder - I wanted to connect with Cat because she showed a lot of empathy and was also born in 1990, so I liked that immediately. But she did that thing that they often do in teen dramas where they start keeping secrets when if they were just honest from the get-go, things would turn out so much better. It's frustrating, but what can you do, you know?

I was very much reminded of Susie Steiner's Missing, Presumed, but I didn't love it like I did Steiner's novel. There were similar themes - dysfunctional DC, a partner/mentor that's a family figure. But I don't know, I just wasn't into Sweet Little Lies like I was with Missing, Presumed.

I wouldn't really say this novel was a hit or a miss, and will likely have several good reviews, as well - I just wasn't really into it. It kind of missed the mark for me.