One Tiny Lie (Ten Tiny Breaths #2)
by K.A. Tucker
Summary: Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents' tragic death and Kacey's self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would...and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action.
Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton?
As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.
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Source: I purchased a Kindle copy
Review:
Note: The Ten Tiny Breaths series does not have to be read in order because each book features a side character from the previous book and shoves them into the limelight. It helps to read them in order so you know the backstory, but it’s not crucial to the enjoyment of the story. (But K.A. Tucker books are awesome so you might as well buy them all and read them in order.)
One Tiny Lie was Livie’s story. I skipped over it a couple of years ago because I didn’t like Livie. I didn’t know how on earth I was ever going to enjoy reading a book from the point of view of a perfect, goody-two-shoes person who loves the company of children so much that she offered to babysit Mia 24/7 in Ten Tiny Breaths. While I share Livie’s determination and rule following demeanor, I’m not a caregiving or nurturing kind of person at all and I kind of hated how sweet and perfect she was. But I know K.A. Tucker has surprised me in other books by giving me a character I can’t stand and making me love them, so I finally picked this book up and loved it.
In One Tiny Lie, the doctor from the first book picked Livie as his pet project. He seemed to recognize that her plans and determination to remain innocent and perfect was a side effect of losing her parents. On the surface, she seemed to know what she was doing, but somehow he knew that she had no idea and just wanted to follow a plan she created at 9 years old to make her parents proud. Immediately, I knew I would enjoy the book. Livie needed to lighten up, lose control, and learn about who she really was.
She met Ashton on her first drunken night and ended up stumbling into him on campus nearly all of the time. He was no good for her, had a girlfriend of his own, but she was drawn to him anyway. She attempted to forge a relationship with one of his friends who fit the mold of who she wanted to be. He was sweet and kind and cookie cutter. Ashton was anything but.
A lot of people dislike One Tiny Lie because it involves a lot of infidelity. As a cheating hater myself, I totally understand that. It’s not my favorite part about the book at all. However, I think that Livie needed to make crazy mistakes in order to grow. Yeah, she could have broke things off with her cookie cutter good guy boyfriend, but a person like Livie wouldn’t make that decision unless she was ready to admit that the things she set up for herself weren't necessarily what she wanted. Livie was NOT going to admit that.
Livie’s connection to Ashton, which ended up being much deeper than attraction and lust, was kind of the tool that led her to have the ability to make that decision for herself. So I kind of think the whole thing was necessary for her development, as much as I cringed about it. I don’t defend Livie or her infidelity at all, but I realize it was a drastic character growth tool. She wasn’t ready to admit she liked Ashton enough to end things with the perfect guy she saw herself with under her vision of her future. I don’t think the author threw in cheating just for kicks and once I realized that, I got over my initial disgust about it. You don’t cheat on people you love, but we all knew as readers that Livie didn’t belong in the plan she set up for herself.
I learned to really like Livie as she grew up and realized that maybe it’s not the best thing to have a plan. You can change things. Kids aren’t supposed to grow up and do exactly what they said they were going to do. That’s part of life.
I highly recommend One Tiny Lie. It wasn’t as good as Ten Tiny Breaths because I thought Kacey’s personality was amazing and awesome, but it was really really good. And fortunately, Kacey still has some minor scenes in the book that made me laugh. I can’t wait to continue the series!
Labels: contemporary, New Adult, Review, romance
