I read the audio and I’m sort of a noob to audio, so this probably affected my opinion. I didn’t love all the voices, but it was cool that it was a cast of people instead of one voice. This book just didn’t particularly feel like it was ABOUT that much. I liked the characters (especially the sisters Kat & Olivia), I just wish it was about something more than regular problems in a small space in time. ( )

Wrote this review in 2015 and never posted it! Also worth noting 2015-me sent Redgate a message about the potentially asexual character and she wrote back a lovely and thoughtful response.
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This was an extremely engaging tale with seven unique characters that I came to love almost equally.

Though this was told from seven different perspectives, the characters were all fantastically crafted and had their own issues and personalities. They all melded together well, and it was easy to keep track of who played what role at various points in the story. Each felt real, as if this was a series of memoirs instead of a novel.

To me, Claire felt like the main character, though I'm not even sure if she was my favourite. I did get sick of her complaining about how insecure she was and how she used to have braces and acne, but my dislike of her kind of contributed to my enjoyment of the book overall--in real life, the odds of me liking seven people are low.

I loved how well one character's pansexual identity was played. There's another character who is likely asexual and I was disappointed by how that wasn't addressed; however, I highly respect that it was present if not explicitly so. Both identities felt very natural and very real, not at all as though they were forced.

The plot of this was multifaceted with main thread pulling together the various lines and providing a beginning and an end, but I like how all characters had issues that related to each other's issues and propelled the plot forward without having them all be caught up in the scandal.

This was a really well crafted and fun high school book, and I look forward to more from Redgate. ( )

Interesting take on the seven deadly sins and how they can be applied to the lives of seven high schoolers. Each chapter in the chronological story is told by a different teenager but each has a small part to play in the overall story arc of a relationship between a student and a teacher being rumoured to be occurring at their high school - the school's announcement that they don't know who it is but they know something IS happening is the catalyst for the story. We meet Kat and Olivia - twins burdened by their mother leaving the family in different ways - Olivia is LUST in that she sleeps with random boys, KAT is WRATH in that she is angry with the world. Their friend Juniper is GLUTTONY as she takes up drinking to cope with her problems. Matt the resident stoner at school is SLOTH as the drugs effect his ability to care about anything except his little brother. Valentine is PRIDE as he believes he is so superior to his classmates that he cuts himself off from them. Claire is ENVY as she wants to be like Juniper and Olivia. And finally Lucas is GREED as he sells drugs and alcohol to his classmates and buys himself expensive watches and tech with the proceeds to present an image that his family is better off than they actually are.
Redgate the successfully weaves a narrative with all these characters being eventually made to face their demons and come to terms with the Deadly Sin they represent. Satisfying ending to a book that will appeal to fans of "One of Us is Lying" and similar books. ( )

"I care."
"Why? What, do you care because I'm here? Is that how your mind works, you just go around throwing your 'care' at whatever's within range?"
"Why not? Not like I'm going to run out."

And here we have the exact moment when I realised, holy crap, most Generic American Teen Drama YA books suck because they aren't written by Generic American Teen writers. Who knows, maybe Redgate is just that good, but MAN, the difference was stark.

Hello, teens who actually speak like teens, using terms and phrasing ("it's a good") that aren't awkwardly shoehorned in with far too much frequency by some confused mom. Hello, teens with attitude and judginess and cruelty in their narration that isn't insufferably obnoxious. Hello, teens kind of stumbling into tumblr-era social justice without being annoying or preachy about it (forever yay).

This was exactly the sort of quick-paced, easy, charming book that I needed. Needed enough to read 80% in one day, apparently. It wasn't exactly laugh-out-loud funny but it wasn't made of jokes so much as it was just made of a really nice, carefree tone that begged me to speed through it. I totally loved most of the cast and their POV's were so subtly distinct without it being an obvious style change (except Juniper's...I appreciate that daring effort, but I don't think it worked too well. My brain was in 'quick sarcasm reading mode' from all the other POVs, so Juniper's always read like a lazy teen's poetry project, as if it was gonna make some "from yonder window breaks wind" joke). I wish the dynamics between the seven had a little more weight and significance - there was one little section where it did and I really wished it carried on throughout more of the book. But still, super fun characters. I can't tell you which character is which sin, but uhhh, it seemed more like a quick title/summary key than an actual story tool.

The events and the plot didn't even really try to blow me away. The Generic American High School YA Novel has a pretty limited stack of events and plots: school dance, class elections, graduation, group/partner projects, and so so many house parties. This didn't really try to veer away from that, and I guess it was fine for it? It was definitely more of a character book, and I had a lot of fun with that.

It transitioned easily and expertly from light and funny to sensitive, without cheating its characters and their awkward teen-ness nor its overall tone. I left it feeling happy and like it wrapped itself up really cleanly - maybe not leaving me with any deep lasting impression, but I still enjoyed the whole book start to finish. ( )

Riley Redgate's debut novel, Seven Ways We Lie, is an engrossing read.

In the novel, Redgate tackles, and conquers, the feat of writing from the viewpoints of SEVEN characters.

The tale follows seven high school students whose stories connect, with each chapter told from a different character's point of view.

From a student-teacher sex scandal, to questioning one's sexuality, to friends evolving into frenemies, Seven Ways We Lie covers virtually everything that can be experienced by hypothetical teenagers.

I really enjoyed the way in which Redgate juggled the development and personal experiences of seven protagonists. I feel that Redgate succeeded in giving each character his or her own unique voice.

The book is surprisingly easy to follow, due perhaps to the characters being such individuals, even twins Kat and Olivia.

The story unfolds and at the end is wrapped up neatly with a little bow, with no questions left unanswered. ( )