The Lie That Binds by Amy Argent – Review by Shea Gilkerson 7/10/22

The Lie That Binds by Amy Argent
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

High school is heavy on secrets, lies, friendships, loyalties, the strength of kids dealing with adult situations, pretending and emotions. This book focuses on all of those things and also shares stuff in a way that is eternally relevant to teenagers and the stressors of high school.

Holly is new in Oregon, freshly transplanted from Texas after her mom died. Nathan is one of the popular guys leading the clique of their class. While generally an outsider, when Holly sees Nathan, she can’t stop staring at how beautiful he is…until he opens his mouth. It turns out Nathan hangs with bullies and IS a bully to students like her.

Holly daydreams about becoming one of them and running her fingers through Nathan’s wild hair, but her attempt is shot down. When she befriends Megan and the Gothlet, she has found her group. Unfortunately, her group of friends is one of Nathan and his cliques favorite targets. After Nathan makes an inexcusable decision to humiliate one of her friends, Holly has had ENOUGH. High schools are the same all over, you know? The bullies and jocks and popular people seek out the outsiders, and she refuses to let her new friends be diminished by hateful people.

Holly, normally quiet, catches Nathan at his locker and lets him have it – it turns into quite a screaming match. After Nathan runs away, angry, Holly is NOT finished with this conversation and follows him, only to find him hiding in a classroom and in trouble. Before she knows what is happening, she finds herself helping him…the only student besides his brother to know his secret. Originally, Nathan starts trying to build a relationship with her to ensure his secret gets kept, but in time, they genuinely enjoy each others company. The rest of the book is weaving their way through trials and tribulations of high school, great internal monologue, getting to know one another, and so much courage.

Quick read, as I was invested in this story. I really enjoyed it.

View all my reviews