Review: One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker

Warning: ALL THE SPOILERS AHEAD.

I usually take time to talk about how and why I decided to read the book, but today I’m feeling lazy, so I’m skipping everything and jumping right into the review.

The blurb should give you an idea what the book is about:

Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents' tragic death and Kacey's self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would...and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action. 

Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton? 

As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.

This book was one entertaining mess. The heroine is instantly attracted to the bad-boy hero, but she decides to start a relationship with this other guy who is just as hot, but also nice, which instantly makes him the safe, but wrong choice. She’s still lusting after the hero, though, even when he turns out to 1. Have a girlfriend and 2. Be her boyfriend’s best friend and roommate. But who can resist a bad boy, right?  She’s also kind of disgusted by the hero constantly cheating on his girlfriend (even after spending the night with the heroine*, so double rainbow cheating all the way!), but she’s not that disgusted not to cheat on her boyfriend with the hero who apparently was only sleeping around to forget her. This is a thing that happened.

Fast forward a bunch of chapters later and the hero and heroine finally have sex. The morning after, her boyfriend comes into the bedroom desperate because he can’t find her anywhere. You see, in order for the heroine no to feel that guilty for cheating on him, he gets drunk, forgets that he used to be nice, and becomes quite aggressive and rude, so he is now the villain and it’s OK to cheat on him. Anyway, going back to the morning after, the heroine is hiding in the bathroom so the boyfriend doesn't see that she just slept with his best friend. While in there, she’s all stressed and worried, but not worried enough not to start thinking about having sex with the bad-boy hero. This is another thing that happened.

After that, things got really complicated (including the bad-boy hero getting engaged….. to someone else!), but the heroine’s creepy therapist ended up saving the day. I would tell you how, but I've already wasted enough time.

I will give the book props for one thing, though, the hilarious plot and awful characters made a very compelling train wreck, so I pretty much read the whole thing in one sitting waiting to see what would happen next.

*They don’t have sex, but do wake up naked in the same bed; this the night after their meet-cute when he forcibly kissed her.

Grade: 1.5
Sensuality: McSexy
Purchase: Amazon 

One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker
Atria Books. June 11, 2013