Little White Lies was a five star read for me. It delivered debutante and family drama with white gloves. So going into Deadly Little Scandals I wasn’t sure how Barnes was going to top the secrets and mystery in Little White Lies. I shouldn’t have been worried.
Summary
“Think of the White Gloves like the Junior League-by way of Skull and Bones?”
Reluctant debutante Sawyer Taft joined Southern high society for one reason and one reason alone: to identify and locate her biological father. But the answers Sawyer found during her debutante year only left her with more questions and one potentially life-ruining secret. When her cousin Lily ropes her into pledging a mysterious, elite, and all-female secret society called the White Gloves, Sawyer soon discovers that someone in the group’s ranks may have the answers she’s looking for. Things are looking up… until Sawyer and the White Gloves make a disturbing discover near the family’s summer home–and uncover a twisted secret, decades in the making.
No one is quite who they seem to be
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
In Deadly Little Scandals I still loved Sawyer’s point of view. It was one of my favorite elements from Little White Lies. Sawyer continuously has to grapple with questions of family, how the mistakes of the past come back to haunt us, and the quest to reveal the truth. When there’s a truth you know in your heart, it can tear you apart. She may have had a dream of a complete family, of closure and white gloves, but what Sawyer will realize is that nothing is as it seems.
Deadly Little Scandals has the same sort of cyclical beginning, where there’s all this tension because we know a little about what situation they are going to find themselves in, but not why or how. I didn’t think it could get any wilder than Little White Lies and I was 100% wrong. Half my notes are just, “omg” because there are twists and turns littered all over the page. But at the heart of Deadly Little Scandals is a story about family. Pacts, friendships, and lake vacations.
It’s a story where we are afraid to let people in because we know that if we deny it, they cannot hurt us. Love can be dangerous and we know too well the damage love can do. When we are ready to run to avoid ever being abandoned. Buried secrets never stay buried and Deadly Little Scandals proves that over and over again. I think the character that stole the show for me in this book was Lily. Not only do I totally love the relationship between Lily and Sawyer, but I adored her character development. Lily always believed her family was perfect, so what will happen if secrets worm out of the woodworks?
Overall,
Deadly Little Scandals is about images and expectations. And are we ever what we appear? When our family is built on lies and manipulation, do we leave them behind? Take them as they are? Love them in ignorance? Overall, Deadly Little Scandals is a perfect sequel and if you enjoyed Little White Lies, you have to pick this one up too!
Find Deadly Little Scandals on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound & The Book Depository.