Book Review: Cross My Heart, Hope to Die (The Lying Game #5) by Sara Shepard

The books would blend one into the next if I didn't write reviews immediately after reading them. This is a good practice, I think.

Summary (as seen on Goodreads):

Ever since Sutton Mercer's murderer tricked her long-lost twin, Emma, into coming to Tucson, Emma has been trying to solve the mystery of Sutton's death. And now someone else is back in town--Becky, Sutton and Emma's birth mother. As Emma gets closer to discovering what exactly happened the night Sutton was killed, she learns that Becky isn't all that she seems. Turns out Sutton wasn't the only Mercer girl with dark secrets. 

Yays:

• While the same pattern from the other books is repeated, at least the suspect is much more realistic this time.
• Clever dialogue - when Garret says "We've got to, like, preserve the earth's resources," it shows so much of his real attitude without having to say so. Showing rather than telling lacks a lot in these novels, so it was nice to see something like this, however subtle, be present.
• Interesting dynamic now that Sutton can touch some things - it's finally something different, and Sutton also isn't so passive anymore.

So-sos:

• The murderer comes back, but the murderer has also been kind of absent. Don't really know how to feel about this.

Nays:

• Strange word choice - for example, what does "groused" even mean?
• This love triangle thing that keeps happening through so many books kind of needs to stop. (Okay, so I'm kind of a hypocrite, but shh.)
• The use of adverbs. Adverbs can be replaced with words that better show a scene.
• Confusing thing about the whole grandmother and mother thing, especially when Mr. Mercer says "Your mom and I have never stopped talking about this." Couldn't tell if this was Kristen or Becky.

While the same predicable pattern continues (not going to continue the predictable pattern of saying this is a thing), this book was at least better than the previous one, so it gets back up to a 3-star. I don't see any book in this series getting above three jellyfish from me, though.

I don't remember who recommended I read this. Wish I could hear their thoughts! Anyway, please leave thoughts below! :)