Review: Brilliant Book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2013
One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker is one of my favorite books of the year.  This is a powerfully written book that pulled at my heart from the very first pages.  The Cleary sisters from Ten Tiny Breaths are back.  Livie, the beautiful, shy, dark-haired younger sister, is all grown up and ready to start her adult life, which includes moving to New Jersey and attending Princeton University, her dream, or is it?In the first book about the Cleary sisters, Ten Tiny Breaths, Livie the youngest of the sisters, was always the good girl, didn't make trouble, and was quiet and caring.  She needed to be the stable one, as Kacey, the protagonist,  was so screwed up. So Livie went along to get along.  It seems that Livie has been going along to get along ever since her parents were killed and her sister injured in the events of Ten Tiny Breaths.  Livie has a need to be the perfect sister, the perfect neighbor, the perfect daughter to her deceased parent, and  the perfect friend.  Perfection can lead only to failure, as it is unattainable or it will rip at the very fabric of the person who is trying to achieve it.Despite Livie's maturity in Ten Tiny Breaths, she is just a kid.  She moves to Princeton and in so doing learns to fly, crash, fly, and mess up her life up like any good eighteen-year-old kid should do.  I was eighteen once a long time ago, but guess what?  I thought I was an adult too. I was Livie to some point; I needed to be perfect.  And unlike Livie I didn't have Dr. Stayner (the psychiatrist from Ten Tiny Breaths) on speed dial. We have all been Livie and had our year of living dangerously. It is the time in our lives where we find out who we really are, and at the same time, we see a glimpse of the adults whom we will become.  The problem is that Livie is stunted at eleven, so everything she thinks her parents would have expected of her is stunted too.  Since  As they are dead, they never got to know Livie as she grew and changed because Livie didn't change from the eleven-year-old good girl her parents knew. Not changing and fulfilling the dreams she had at eleven is a way to keep her parents alive.  (Just call me Dr. Karen.)All of you who read my reviews know you won't get much of the plot from me.  Why would I want to destroy the fun of going on the adventure with Livie?  Just know that hunks and Jell-o shots play a role in Livie's college awakening, not to mention a lot of firsts- some good and some not so good.  But, this is more than a simple coming of age book, as there are secrets that will impact Livie's world- lies too that may end up destroying not just her, but the people around her.This book will make you cry, it will make you swoon, it will make you want to slap Livie upside the head, and it will make you wish you had Livie as a friend, sister, or daughter.  It may even change your life a little and make you wonder whether you are you living an authentic life for you or for someone else.  I could not recommend this book anymore as it is one of the best books of the year.