Book Review: Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick

A teen is forced to make a fresh start after witnessing a violent crime—but love and danger find her anyway in this novel from Becca Fitzpatrick, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga.

Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.

As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…

Credits: Goodreads.com

2.5/5 ⭐s

I honestly thought I would love this book, but….hmmm, not quite. Yes, there are good parts but it doesn’t make up for the things I did not like about this book. It’s safe to say now that a mystery (which happens to be also a YA) book either make it or break it for me. I’ve been loving mystery books since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that I have been critical in actually liking them. I am almost always not easily impressed.

This is a story about a 17 year old girl named Stella Gordon (which is not her real name by the way) who witnessed a murder involving a high profile drug lord who apparently is dating her drug addict mother. She was put under Witness Protection Program when she agreed to testify against the suspect and was forced to be separated with her long time boyfriend, Reed. She is a city girl having fun (if you count taking care of a problematic mother, well – fun) and to her utmost disappointment, she was transferred to a secluded town far away from civilization.

See, what I absolutely disliked about this book is the fact that there is absolutely NOTHING likeable about the main character, Stella. I’m sorry in advance if you have read this and ended up liking her but no, her character does NOT work for me. She is one hell of a bratty 17 year old girl; she’s bitchy at almost anything; she’s disgustingly ungrateful and most of the time flirty who always tries to justify this if she ends up feeling guilty for doing so because OH WAIT, she has a boyfriend alright! Now let’s shred those rants to pieces, shall we?

She’s acting such a brat with WITSEC for putting her safety first above anything else. She was always showing the attitude to the officers as if it the latter’s fault that she is where she is right now. She’s like a 7 year old who pretends to take a nap during the day only to find out her barbies are all under her bed, ready to play with – yet she is utterly afraid of getting caught as well. Reading about her “planning” what she’ll do after she turns 18 and finally “be free” is irritating af.

Again, for her safety – she was placed in a town far cry away from the lifestyle she has been used to which she absolutely hated and had no reservations or whatever for showing her full bitch mode on about it. I hate how she has the guts to act like this with the officers who went out of their way to at least make her life a little bearable despite what happened to her in her old home. Literally a witch with a capital B, I say.

Also, she is unbelievably and disgustingly ungrateful to the woman who accepted her at her home! I cannot fathom the stinky attitude of this young lady right here. You see, I was trying to understand where she is coming from but I cannot, for the life of me, dig where does all this disgusting facade is coming from. I just don’t get it why she’s acting the way she acts. She’s just freaking annoying.

And last to my rant, this girl is a nasty flirt! So at the first few pages, she was all this telling herself how she SO LOVE her boyfriend and how she cannot wait to spend the rest of her miserable life with him when she’s finally of legal age and how she implies she cannot imagine living life without him, but you know bullsh*t happens and a new handsome, hot, yummy man appears which is conveniently her age comes and voila she’s head over heals in love with him. Yes, there were instances that she tried to restrain herself but all it takes is an unwavering stare to not keep her cool and her lips stay where they are. What I absolutely loathed part was that she knows her boyfriend’s life is clearly at stake and she goes on making out with this new hot guy. And guess what, she’s slowly making herself “realize” that her boyfriend isn’t that good to her to justify her make out sessions. Yeah, way to go conscience! I am literally praying this girl does not exists in real life – PLEASE!

The “mystery” in this book seemed half baked to me as well. I was hoping there is like a surprising moment and although there was, it was a little bit forced in my opinion so… 💁 But it could only be me. As I said, I noticed my self rate mystery books a little critical these days. It’s probably the mood set by the main character, idk.

Those points alone makes me want to throw this book on fire but I have to admit, this book did get a little interesting on the last few parts. And although I loathed the girl, I can’t deny that this is a page turner in itself. I just want to find out if there is more to what the plot is as presented – there was a bit and I didn’t set my expectations so high anymore and it quite did not disappoint on that part but it wasn’t enough to make me swoon over it. I have to mention as well that fortunately, the girl did had a noticeable character development – too late for me though to go on liking her, I have been annoyed and cussed enough already for me to turn my back on that. lol. I did like a few characters here like Inny and Carmina, and…. yeah, that’s it.

So there you go guys, I apologize for the long rant about a single character. I just finally had the time to let out my frustrations. Forgive me, okay?

Talk to you soon!

Xoxo!