prettylittlewriter

Thank you to Penguin for giving me the opportunity to take part in my first ever blog tour for such a brilliant novel!

Synopsis
'In Gap Mountain, everyone knows about fire season. And no one is more vigilant than 18 year old Hannah Warner, daughter of the sheriff and aspiring FBI agent. But when Hannah and her best friends accidentally spark an enormous and deadly wildfire, their instinct is to lie to the police and the fire investigators. As the blaze destroys their town and heads towards Yosemite National Park, Hannah’s friends begin to crack and she finds herself going to extreme lengths to protect their secret. Sometimes good people do bad things. And if there’s one thing people hate most, it’s liars.'

Lies Like Wildfire is a YA thriller with so many twists and turns that keep you guessing till the very end.

The first line of this novel hooked me straight away. ‘I’m not dressed to find a body.’ Thrilling and intriguing, I desperately wanted to find out why the main character was searching for a body in the first place.

The character of Hannah, our leading lady, was very likeable, and I actually felt incredibly sorry for her. Her friends, especially Drummer, take advantage of her often, and this leads to some severe self-deprecation from Hannah. Drummer is the boy that Hannah has had a crush on since she was young, and she has been following him around little a little lost puppy, hoping he would finally come forward and say he likes her too. Unfortunately for her, this doesn’t happen, but it doesn’t stop her from doing absolutely anything for him.

I disliked Drummer’s character from the start. I don’t like a guy that purposely keeps a girl hanging on for his benefit, it’s such a crappy thing to do to someone, and Hannah did not deserve it.

There was also a memory that Hannah eluded to within the novel, that shook me to the core. Without spoiling anything, it seems that Drummer has been making her keep secrets for him for some time now, and those secrets are not something to be kept lightly.

I also liked the character of Violet, she seemed pretty down to earth and kind, even though she was known as ‘the rich one’ in the group. She was often on Hannah’s side, especially when things started to get rough with the other friends blaming Hannah for their situation.

There were also a couple of moments in the book that I got teary over. I even had to put the book down for a moment to compose myself at one point. Most of the parts that involved animals, including a part where a flock of sheep were completely obliterated by the fire, were the bits that got me emotional.

I liked that the aspect of amnesia that came into things near the end also, as it added even more mystery to what had really happened before one of the friends went missing.

I even learnt one or two things from the book around wild fires, as we don’t really get them in the UK, so it’s interested to know how they move, how quickly they move, and what happens to anything in the vicinity of the point of origin.

I genuinely did not see where the novel was heading. Alvarez surprised me with the huge twist at the end, and I ended up staying up till midnight to finish it as it was SO GOOD.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was well written, with interesting characters and a brilliant premise, and I highly recommend to anyone that likes a YA thriller with some deep dark secrets within.

Grab your copy from 7th September!

4/5 stars.