Review: If I Lie by Corrine Jackson

Title: If I Lie
Author: Corrine Jackson
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: August 28th 2012
Pages: 276
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
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Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Being branded a cheater would be bad enough, but Quinn is deemed a traitor, and shunned by all of her friends. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s serving in Afghanistan and revered by everyone in their small, military town.
Quinn could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets that she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. And when Carey goes MIA, Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Reading is awesome. Really, that's all I want to say, because that's just how I feel, after finishing If I Lie. That seems to be all I want to say after each good book I finish lately, since it sadly doesn't happen as often anymore because college is evil. Anyways, If I Lie made me feel all the things; it reminded me what's so great about reading books that make you think and feel. It was one of most anticipated 2012 debuts, and it didn't disappoint!

Carey is a great MC. She's realistic and flawed; she can be snarky and sarcastic, which is really entertaining to read about, but she also has a very vulnerable side, and I really connected with her in that way. I loved the secondary characters, too - Quinn's parents are very flawed but add a lot to the story, George is made of awesome, Blake is really sweet, and even the mean girls have a backstory that makes them realistic. The only character I didn't love was Carey - I never felt like we really got to know him enough to understand how Quinn could sacrifice so much for him.

To be honest, the whole Carey storyline was not my favorite part of the novel. His secret is predictable and kind of disappointing. It wasn't that bad, though, since we find out what it is only about 20 pages into the book - if we hadn't found out till the end, and then gotten such a predictable secret, I would've been really annoyed, but like this, I didn't mind too much. I still think, though, that Quinn made a little too big a deal out of it; I totally get why she didn't tell the whole town, but I feel like she could have told someone, at least her dad - I just can't see someone sacrificing their relationship with their dad could like that, when she could have fixed it by just telling him the truth, without really betraying Carey, since I can't imagine the dad telling the whole town about it or anything like that.

But, really, that didn't take all that much from my enjoyment of the novel. The description focuses a lot on this one storyline, but there's so much more going on. There's the family storyline, which I loved - I really liked seeing how Quinn's past tied in with what's going on now. There's Quinn's relationship with George and the rest of the people at the hospital, another set-up I loved. And there's the bullying and Quinn's relationship with Blake. Corrine Jackson really impressed me with the way she tied together all the different storylines, the different layers of Quinn's life.

Corrine Jackson's writing is amazing; I can't explain why, but it just grabbed me, pulled me along and made me finish the book in a day. But at the same time as it made me want to read on as fast as possible, there were also a few lines that made me stop and marvel at their beauty - and that, to me, is the perfect combination.

One thing I didn't love was how pro-military the message of the novel is, how much war heroes are idolized; it was just a little too patriotic to America for me. I'm not saying that's wrong or anything like that, and I don't want to get into this too much because I know this is a touchy subject for a lot of people, but some of it just didn't sit right with me.

Despite the few smaller issues I had with the novel, If I Lie is one I really enjoyed reading. Emotional, gripping, and thought-provoking, it delicately blurs the lines between right and wrong. Quinn's story is one I know I'll be thinking about for a while!

Teenage Garage Sale by Corrine Jackson (If I Lie Blog Tour)

Today we have Corrine Jackson here for a guest post! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for Corrine's debut, If I Lie.. You can find out all about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops if you'd like to know more about If I Lie!

Teenage Garage Sale Post

A Teenage Garage Sale post is basically just a post on what kind of things we’d find if Corinne were to have a garage sale of items from her teenage years.

Imagine a table on the sidewalk in San Francisco. Next to the table is a pink fluorescent poster board sign that reads“GARAGE SALE” in poorly written black Sharpie, which is odd since technically I don’t have storage space in my garage or a permit to sale things out of my garage. To be accurate, let’s call this a “CRAP-THAT-DOESN’T-FIT-IN-MY-TINY-APARTMENT SALE” and hope I don’t get a ticket for holding an illegal sidewalk sale. Back to the table… It is loaded down with junk from my teen years.

NKOTB cassette tape – If you don’t know the acronym, you don’t have the right stuff to own it. Move on.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer VHS – I’m talking about the 1992 movie and not the TV show. Luke Perry. PeeWee Herman's minute long death scene. Hell yeah.
Button-fly Levis – Mom once told me that my legs looked long in these. I am short, so I treasured these babies until I wore them out. It’s possible she fibbed.
Cheerleading uniform – Could the skirt be any freaking shorter? Geez, was my butt hanging out, and I didn’t know it? And yes, the material is wool. My coach liked how the pleats stayed pleated even though it was itchy as heck.
Box of romance novels – Wait. Give those back. Those aren’t for sale, after all. It’s my prerogative to change my mind.
Stack of Seventeen magazines – Ah! I used to flip through the pages, imagining myself a writer. I even sent in a short story, and they sent me my first rejection. I wonder what happened to that story?
Hair Chopsticks – A French twist my senior year? Really? Was I trying for the “matron of the year” award? At least it wasn’t a scrunchie. No wonder I cut my hair off.

How much am I charging? Well, at a family yard sale, my brother-in-law told us that if someone approaches you, sending you into a blind panic, you should just yell, “DOLLAR!” So…

DOLLAR!

Thanks for the great guest post, Corrine!

Make sure to check out the rest of the tour stops, and keep your eye out for If I Lie, which will be released on August 28th.

If I Lie by Corinne Jackson
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)

Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Being branded a cheater would be bad enough, but Quinn is deemed a traitor, and shunned by all of her friends. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s serving in Afghanistan and revered by everyone in their small, military town.
Quinn could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets that she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. And when Carey goes MIA, Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.