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Lies My Girlfriend Told Me
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Lies My Girlfriend Told Me
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Lies My Girlfriend Told Me
Audiobook6 hours

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me

Written by Julie Anne Peters

Narrated by Christine Lakin

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

When Alix's charismatic girlfriend, Swanee, dies from sudden cardiac arrest, Alix is overcome with despair. As she searches Swanee's room for mementos of their relationship, she finds Swanee's cell phone, pinging with dozens of texts sent from a mysterious contact, L.T. The most recent text reads: "Please tell me what I did. Please, Swan. Te amo. I love you."

Shocked and betrayed, Alix learns that Swanee has been leading a double life – secretly dating a girl named Liana the entire time she's been with Alix. Alix texts Liana from Swanee's phone, pretending to be Swanee in order to gather information before finally meeting face-to-face to break the news.

Brought together by Swanee's lies, Alix and Liana become closer than they'd thought possible. But Alix is still hiding the truth from Liana. Alix knows what it feels like to be lied to – but will coming clean to Liana mean losing her, too?

A Hachette Audio production.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 10, 2014
ISBN9781478980797
Unavailable
Lies My Girlfriend Told Me
Author

Julie Anne Peters

Julie Anne Peters is the critically-acclaimed, award-winning author of more than a dozen books for young adults and children. Her books have been published in numerous countries, including Korea, China, Croatia, Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil. Julie is a member of The Society of Book Writers and Illustrators, the Colorado Authors League, and The Authors Guild. She loves writing because she gets to be her own boss and doesn't have to work in an office cubicle. It's hard to think outside the box when you work in a cube. Julie lives in Lakewood, Colorado, with her partner, Sherri, and far too many cats. The cats are under the impression that they're creative geniuses, since they spend a majority of their day walking back and forth across her computer keyboard. They probably generate more words per day than she does, but who can read cat gibberish?

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Reviews for Lies My Girlfriend Told Me

Rating: 3.6578947368421053 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

76 ratings24 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Caution: reading this book may induce uncontrollable eye rolling.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Pude sentir a los personajes con cada fibra de mi ser. Me enamore y me voy con eso para siempre.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another solid book from Julie Anne Peters. Dramatic and tender, with a realistic portrayal of the difficulties of being a young person. One very notable thing is that she is comfortable with technology and incorporates it seamlessly into the narrative, reflecting the reality of her young readers. The cover art is a bit odd and sets it up to be a more intense book, which is really isn't. Cute, easy to read, the kind of book that teenagers will feel "gets" them and young adults will read and remember those times in their lives.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was great read, filled with grief, deceit, new love, and forgiveness. I really thought Julie Anne Peters captured the essence of sorrow right from the beginning and then weaved through the lives that surrounded Swanee as seen through the eyes of Alix, our protagonist. We journey through the lies and half truth of Swanee's existence and Alix coming to grip with them. To complicate the matter, Alix finds herself falling in love with Liana, one of Swanee's other girlfriends. As the story progresses it becomes Alix's and Liana's story as their feelings for each other grow. Unfortunately Alix, holds a secret that could destroy this new love even before it fully starts.I felt that Peters gave Alix a very authentic voice, which added greatly to the story. Alix felt a like a teen who is beginning to understand what it means to be an adult. She hovers between recklessness and accepting responsibility. Through the story we see her begin to mature. The great thing about it is that, Alix never loses that teen voice that makes her seem real.As with any great story, I found myself wanting to see the story told from some of the other characters' viewpoint, especially Liana's. Don't get me wrong, the story is complete on to itself. It would just be really awesome to hear her side of the story. I highly recommend reading it.One last thing, for some reason I just loved the line about a certain law of physics and butt-checking the ground.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book got off to a rough start - the main character waking up is almost never a good sign - and sadly did not get much better. While the characters weren't awful, they were mostly forgettable. I am so happy to see some diversity in books, this one just fell a bit flat for me.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This book is absurd. I really, really wanted to like it - I'm a middle/high school librarian always looking for new books to recommend to the kids. Sadly, this isn't one of them. The fact that it's a book about lesbian relationships, and the central plot of the story focuses on something else and actually treats these girls like full-fledged human beings, is a big big plus. But the premise is completely unbelievable. The characters are flat and one-dimensional, making them difficult to relate to. Swanee's entire family is written almost like a parody of real people - they're stereotypes and cliches instead of characters in a story. It had some really great moments, some good dialogue, some brief glimpses of Alix's inner turmoil, but overall this book just plodded along and had me shouting, "oh, come on!" (in disbelief) too many times to be enjoyable. I don't recommend it, but I would encourage others to give it an honest look for themselves just in case.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was a very quick read and while I enjoyed reading it, I really didn't find myself liking the characters very much. The book starts after Swanee's death and I think that the story suffers a little bit for it. We never get to see Alix and Swanee together only in flashbacks. And in the flashbacks, alex is usually angry with something that she now knows in retrospect. So we don't get to see their relationship together in the sense that it must have been before she died. I also had a really hard time with the relationship between the two girlfriends. It didn't exactly feel organic to me but it was still was interesting to see them work things out together. This was my first time reading a novel where the characters were gay. And I think that the author did a very good job of making it seems just as natural as a boy girl relationship. I'm sure this comes from the fact that the author herself is gay. And is able to write it from experience. Overall though I may not have been able to connect with the characters very much, in truth I really did not like Alix at all (hard to explain, she just bugged me), I still really enjoyed reading this book.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Alix is devastated when her girlfriend, Swanee, dies suddenly one day. Soon, though, Alix is discovering things about Swanee that she never knew - including another girlfriend. But what happens when Alix meets this other girl and feels sparks start to fly?I won this book in LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I requested it because I'd heard Peters' name over the years - she's known to write books dealing with LGBTQ issues and she usually gets good reviews. So I figured I'd put my name in the hat for her newest title, and was lucky enough to win a copy.Unfortunately, I feel pretty disappointed with what I discovered. I should have known from the beginning - the entire premise of the book was just too strange for me. I completely understand that people grieve in different ways and I always appreciate it when books show that in realistic ways. Though much of Alix's behavior made me uncomfortable, it wasn't difficult for me to understand where she was coming from. Stealing Swanee's phone, her overwhelming desire to meet Liana, her difficulty relating to Joss' grief - these are all pretty normal grief reactions. Maybe my problem is just that I didn't believe the relationship between Alix and Swanee. The book starts after Swanee's death, so readers never really get a first-hand look at the relationship between the two. However, Alix does describe it frequently, and it never sounds like a good relationship. Swanee comes off manipulative and deceitful, selfish and uncaring. Really, she sounds like a terrible person. So, that makes it difficult for me to believe that either of these girls - who seem relatively normal and self-confident - would have put up with her shenanigans. I suppose it is a realistic portrayal of a teenage relationship - quite often, you find yourself changing in small ways, ways that might make you unrecognizable when looked at as a whole. With hindsight, you might realize how unhealthy and destructive those relationships were. It is so easy to get caught up in young love - any love, really - that you might forget yourself. So perhaps I shouldn't fault this book too much. What it sets out to do I think it does pretty realistically (though I find the relationship between Alix and Liana to be terribly rushed). I just never found myself invested in the story and I very much looked forward to the time when I would be finished with it. Just not for me, I suppose, though I will try to check out one of Peters other titles in the future.Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader's copy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As with several YA love stories, this seemed a bit overdramatic (plot wise) and undeveloped (character wise) for me. Alix's girlfriend of 6 weeks (Swan) dies suddenly. Within a couple of months (? time is a bit hard to keep track of), she starts dating Swan's other girlfriend. After a month of knowing each other exists, they are already professing their love. I guess this is realistic for teenagers, but it was too contrived for me. There's not much depth when it comes to coping with loss. The subject has so much potential for a more moving story.Even though Swan dies early on, I was hoping this book would be more about her (as she is the most interesting character) and her double-life than about the two girls she left behind. The title suggests something a bit more scandalous. Still, for a teenage audience it's probably just risque and intriguing enough to keep their attention.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a quick read and an interesting story, although perhaps not my favorite book by Julie Anne Peters. The beginning parts felt a bit clunky to me, but then the story smoothed out once Alix and Liana got closer. I actually felt like there was so much going on in the story that the book could have benefited from being a bit longer, to give more time to the stories of each of the characters. Overall though it was an enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a very sweet story, and very important due to the little amount of YA gay/lesbian fiction out. The book starts out with a very unlikeable, very erratic main character but as you get into the story she grows up, and starts to grow on you. The story is full of twist and turns, romance and humor. Then only flaw to this book was there is a major element of the story left open ended, a trouble character simply 'exits stage left' and there is no real resolution.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Super cute, quick read. Loved the development of the characters. Everything felt organic to the story. I definitely enjoyed this and i'm sure many others will too.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book begins with a young teenage girl facing the loss of her girlfriend. Although the two were not together very long (6 weeks), Alix the main character feels confused and angered by her girlfriend's Swanee's sudden death. At first Alix is angry and pushes her parents away seeking solace in her room. Soon after, she begins returns to Swanee's room to get some closure and finds her cell phone. Strange text begin to ping on the phone and Alix is intrigued. Some investigation reveals that Swanee lived an entire life apart from Alix. This book focuses on Alix's journey through loss, grief, and discovering new love. The book feels authentic 90% of the time. Other times the inner dialogue feels awkward and rushed. Overall, the book is enjoyable and easy to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Julie Anne Peters is one of my favorite YA authors, and her newest book didn't disappoint. The storyline hooked me from the beginning and I had definite angry emotions toward Swanee, the dead girlfriend. She was a really awful character which you gradually find out along with the main character as the layers are peeled back. However, the main character, Alix, was also irritating at times. She was really inconsiderate towards her parents through the whole first half of the book which made it hard to like her in the beginning. However, she had grown on me by end. Overall, this was a fast read and another good book added to the growing ranks of LGBTQ YA fiction-a much needed genre.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another good one from Julie Anne Peters. Lies upon lies lead two girls to develop a relationship.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There is something about a Julie Anne Peters novel that makes me keep on reading. Lies My Girlfriend Told Me is soft and sweet. It is, in some ways, innocent and in some ways not. It's got great characters and a good plot.Alix's mother wakes her up with really bad news. Her girlfriend, Swanee, died of cardiac arrest in the middle of her daily run. How can that happen to a 17 year old girl? They had only been going out six weeks. It wasn't long enough. Now it will never be long enough. Alix is devastated.While in Swanee's room, after her death, Alix hears Swanee's phone ping with a text message. It's from L.T., whoever that is. There are dozens of texts: where are you, why didn't you meet me, i love you..... Alix forces Swanee's sister, Joss, to tell her who L.T. is. And it turns out, she'd rather not know, because Swanee was dating her at the same time she was dating Alix.Alix steals the phone and, for two weeks, texts L.T. back, as if she was Swanee. But then she realizes that L.T. would want to know what happened and they meet.That's enough of the story to get you going. Lies My Girlfriend Told Me is tender. It's realistic. It's romantic. So, if you're a Julie Anne Peters fan, if you're a romantic, if you like a good story, then read Lies My Girlfriend Told Me. I couldn't put it down.KeepingYouASecretAnd let's not forget my all time favorite Julie Anne Peters book, Keeping You a Secret. So, pack them both in your bag as you leave for vacation or the beach.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I walked into Barnes and Noble to just search and look around for something to grab my attention. Well, a lot of books did, but I couldn’t decide which book I wanted to grab. Then my sister came across this and my choice was made a lot easier. The cover, like I said in our previous posts, caught my attention and is what made me read the synopsis. I was so excited to start reading through this book, but when I started I was a little disappointed.I feel like with my first two reviews on here, they aren’t so positive. They both also have some of the same reasons as to why I did not particularly enjoy the books. In Lies My Girlfriend Told Me there was a lack of growth in the characters. Alix was very whiny and annoying throughout the book. I know you may think that is harsh and you’re thinking, ‘well of course she was, she just lost her girlfriend.’ But, it wasn’t just the fact she lost someone…she just always felt sorry for herself (in more ways than one). Throughout the book we don’t hear much about Swanee. Yes, she passed away and she had a lot of skeletons in her closet, but to me that’s all we go out of her. Now, moving on to Liana… She is someone that I did enjoy in the book. Someone going through (Swanee’s passing and her deceit) is also going through the lies of Alix.I never wanted the book to end. Not because I was engaged throughout the whole thing, but because I felt like nothing was truly fulfilled. I felt like I didn’t receive closure. To me it seemed like the focus was just on couple relations and no other relationships. Family was a factor in this book and there was no closure in that sense of relationship, which really upset me. Each page I turned kept upsetting me more because I knew that I wasn’t getting the information I wanted back.To wrap everything up and to put it simply…I just wish there was more.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really wanted to like this book, but can't. I think that under the right circumstances, say, if you were a very middle-class US-American female teenager and had had a struggle with coming out, then that makes sense. A lot of the issues Alix faces are informed by her background and upbringing and drove me nuts. (Why does she say she "deserves" a car? If she wants a car so badly, why can't she be bothered to even research cars she thinks would be good herself?).

    The parts at the beginning of the book in which Alix is still trying to figure out what happened to her girlfriend are interesting To read, after finding a new fling things get old. Thirty pages on it just gets cheesy and after that I just stopped caring, though I did finish it.

    The preachy parts about coming out and The Gay Experience I could have done without, but I suppose in a different mindset I might have appreciated them.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I found this pretty predictable, and therefore boring. I knew how this book was going to turn out literally from page one. Also, the synopsis gives a lot away.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This young adult LGBT novel takes a realistic look at the difference between toxic and non-toxic relationships. Alix is devastated by the sudden death of her girlfriend, Swanee. But their relationship was not what it seemed. When Swanee’s family offers Alix the opportunity to select keepsakes from Swanee’s room, Alix accidentally learns some unhappy truths. Most upsetting is evidence that Swanee was engaged in another relationship, a serious one. The book really takes off as Alix struggles with the decision of whether to notify her rival, Liana, about Swanee’s death and how to do the right thing while dealing with her own loss and pain. Alix and Liana become closer as they discover disturbing things their relationships with Swanee had in common. It becomes obvious that Swanee was a troubled girl. Anyone who was ever a teen will remember this inexperienced stage of life when it’s all too easy to miss these signs and to let “love” carry you away … from common sense, your old friends and any sense of who you are – if you even know. The revelations and the loss in common bring Alix and Liana together in a way that is ultimately more positive than either of their experiences with Swanee. In a real sign of progress, there is little conflict in the story over the girls’ sexuality. The story is simply one of two teens learning to cope with romance in all its tragedy, glory and all the things in between. The book is a fast, absorbing read for both teens and adults.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It’s difficult to know where to place “Lies My Girlfriend Told Me” within the pantheon of queer YA literature. On one hand, the fact that the main characters are queer and that this isn’t an issue for their parents is a positive, and much needed step, forward. Yet, the overall story plods along traveling the expected coming-of-age trajectory often seen in this genre. Still, the characters are well nuanced and their are some truly sweet moments that asks where the line between love and obsession resides. I’m recommending this book mainly because it does something almost unheard of in recent YA: it establishes the parents as significant figures in the lives of their children, while also not shying away from making them incredibly living but fallible.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I received this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers. As I was reading it, I had to keep reminding myself that it is a YA book—but even with that in mind, I thought many of the characters were still unnecessarily immature, overly dramatic, and hard to sympathize with at times. It took my longer to get invested in the storyline, but I was hooked by the end and wanted to see how everything would turn out. I’m very glad to see YA books with LGBT storylines but was a little disappointed by this book. With much more character development, the plot has the potential to be very interesting. But for a YA audience, it would probably be a pretty enjoyable but very light read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book. Nice quick read, great for summer. It takes a look into the life of a girl, who loses her first love suddenly. The death of her girlfriend makes her see everything differently once she discovers the lies that her girlfriend had told her. She actually sees how manipulative her girlfriend was and sees the girlfriend’s family in a different light. The lies lead her on a new path and a new outlook on life, as well as reconnects with her own family. Recommend
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Julie Anne Peters has been writing Gay YA for over a decade, and her latest book, Lies My Girlfriend Told Me, is also her last. LIES is about the unearthing of a tangle of lies left behind after a girlfriend’s untimely death. It has romance, friendship drama, cheerleaders, baby brothers, and mystery. What can I say- I was entertained!In LIES, Alix’s life revolved around the magnetic Swanee. She’s devastated to find clues to a secret romance on Swanee’s cell phone. Should she A) Use Swanee’s phone and pretend to be Swanee to fess out the situation with this other girl or B) Stay out of it and let Swanee rest in peace. I think you can guess which door Alix chooses in this scenario.Swanee was one of those girls that could charm her way out of anything. Her little sister worshiped her, her parents spoiled her, and she was the center of the universe at school. She was the star of the track team and it was a total shock when she collapsed on the field of sudden cardiac arrest. Alix gave up everything to be with her because Swanee commanded her full attention. Finding out that Alix left behind this double life was devastating to her.The cell phone trail leads to Liana, who is just as big a victim as Alix. They soon become unlikely friends, even though their new alliance is built on a lie. Is this budding romance a rebound as Alix’s dad suspects, or the real thing?Swanee is painted as the villain in this book, and I wished we could have had her side of the story. Because as it stands it’s hard to see how Liana and Alix were so blindly in love with her. There are many examples in the book where she is portrayed as cold and calculating, though she obviously had both girls under her spell.One of the side stories is about Swanee’s little sister Joss, who acts out after Swanee’s death. This story is kind of left hanging and I wanted a little more resolution there. And there’s also a look at two very different parenting styles – Alix’s helicopter parents and Swanee & Joss’s parents’ live and let live motto.The romance between Liana and Alix is sweet and the pair has chemistry. Though considering the traumatic experience they’ve had I would rather see them keep things casual for a while. But their need for monogamy probably has a lot to do with Swanee’s deception.This is my first experience with Julie Anne Peters’ writing, and I think she has a good pulse on YA’s- the dialogue and behavior read as authentic to me. This story had a lot going on for a shorter book and it kept my earbuds glued to my ears.I listened to the LIES audiobook, read by Christine Lakin (The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Parasite.) The production is crisp and clear, and Lakin’s voice is natural and effective. Her style reminds me of narrator Emma Galvin (Divergent), and she’s a good storyteller who doesn’t overdo it with her performance- she lets the story shine. Her voice for Alix is matter of fact and suits the character, while her voice for Liana is sweet and bubbly, just how I’d imagine her. I’d select more audiobooks solely based on Lakin as the narrator. Her voice is pleasant to listen to.Author Julie Anne Peters announced that this is her last book – she’s retiring to focus on children’s literacy and tutoring kids to read at their grade level. Luckily I still have her back catalog to catch up on. Check out this book if you like romance, contemporary YA, and LGBT books that are not coming out stories.