Review: Live Your Best Lie by Jessie Weaver

Everyone thought that Summer Cartwright lived the perfect life as a teen influencer. She’s pretty, popular and has millions of followers. On top of that, she has an amazing boyfriend (well, she did until last week), great friends and attends an elite school in Los Angeles. Everything is going perfectly in her life, especially since she got a book deal. Her career and post-high school life are mapped out for her.

Well, until the night of her Halloween party. Everyone who is anyone is going to be there and Summer has big plans. Her best friend Grace Godwin is keeping track of attendees and their friendship seems to be improving. After a big fight, Grace and Summer are getting back to normal.

At the same time, Adam Mahmoud, Summer’s most recent ex-boyfriend, still goes to the party to keep up appearances. He feels bad about hurting Summer, but he’s ready to tell Grace how he fells.

Then there’s Laney Miyamoto, who isn’t close with Summer, but got an invite because of a deal they made a few months ago. Laney will do anything to get away from Summer’s influence, but that could jeopardize everything she has worked so hard for.

Lastly, Cora Pruitt, the wannabe influencer, is ecstatic to be invited to Summer’s party. They’re not friends yet, but Cora’s dedicated her life to being just like Summer. It’s a dream come to true to be invited to the biggest party of the fall.

The party is amazing, until a post on Summer’s Instagram goes live, saying Summer has minutes to live. At first, everyone thinks it’s a Halloween prank and Summer decided to surprise everyone with a murder mystery twist.

But when Summer’s body is found, everyone realizes that someone close to Summer decided to kill her. But who would want to hurt Summer, the beautiful, popular, perfect influencer. After all, everyone loves her, right? Well, not Grace, Adam, Laney and Cora.

Live Your Best Lie ended up being an excellent book club pick. The four POVs kept all of us guessing throughout the entire book because all of the characters had a motive.

Our favorite POVs to read were Grace and Adam, because we found them to be the most compelling of the group. Grace had an interesting backstory and because of it, her friendship with Summer felt complex. The same goes for Adam, who we had trouble seeing how he could like Summer.

But Adam had his own secrets. We liked him as a person, even if we wanted to shake him to just be honest with Grace. Seriously, just tell her how you feel.

We found Cora to be such a tragic character. While we felt bad for her, she became obsessed with the idea of being Summer. We weren’t huge fans of her, but getting inside her head proved to be Weaver’s social commentary on how young girls today have unrealistic expectations because of social media.

We had a hard time connecting with Laney. She was our least favorite of the four and we found ourselves bored by her. She didn’t have as much to add to the story. We wish her flashbacks and present-day commentary were as interesting as the other characters.

When it comes to the mystery, Weaver kept us guessing for most of the story. Seriously, almost everyone had a reason to want to ruin Summer. She blackmailed just about everyone her life. The twist at the end was unexpected, especially because the killer had a dark secret that they wanted to keep hidden.

Part of what made the mystery so great was the style of the story. In between chapters, Weaver included social media posts, news articles and interviews. It added to the depth of the characters and provided much-need information on Summer, who became famous for her perfectly imperfect persona.

Summer was a terrible person, but we did feel bad for her because of her horrible family situation. Summer’s need for attention also commented on society’s obsession with influencers today and the dangerous repercussions. Nothing feels real with Summer because she created a carefully cultivated life. But nobody, not even her friends and family, knew the real Summer Cartwright. The world of internet fame is hollow.

Even though the story reminded us a bit of Sara Shepard’s Follow Me (The Amateurs #2) and Influence, Weaver’s take on influencer culture is fresh, dark and timely. It’s a cautionary tale of letting everyone in the world into your personal life. Weaver also talks about how being famous online can also lead to feeling unfulfilled in your life.

Overall, Live Your Best Lie is a great debut YA thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. The social commentary provided a powerful look at the dangers of influencer culture. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book, which released in January.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐