Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review. Opinions shared are mine.

It’s been a while since I read a YA novel that I could envision as a TV series right in my own brain. Deadly Little Scandals broke that barrier! I only wish I’d had a chance to read book #1 in the series first. Though book #2 provides some background in order to catch the reader up to the current moment, it sounds like it would have been a killer of a book. It also would have helped make sense of the tangled familial background the characters were knotted into. If you’re thinking about dipping your toes into these waters, I suggest starting with Little White Lies.

The teens in Deadly Little Scandals are a wee bit scary in their ability to unearth damaging secrets and potential landmines. I like smart characters in books, and this was even better because they were young smart characters with lots of potential to be practically diabolical!

My copy of the book was an electronic ARC, and there were lots of issues with the chapter formatting. There seemed to be dual timelines, but since I didn’t have the background knowledge from book 1, I found myself frequently confused about what was going on.

DEADLY LITTLE SCANDALS

Title: DEADLY LITTLE SCANDALS (Debutantes #2)

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Pub. Date: November 5, 2019

Publisher: Freeform

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 352

“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 in this twisty, soapy, gasp-inducing sequel to Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ unputdownable Little White Lies. 

Title: LITTLE WHITE LIES (Debutantes #1)

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Pub. Date: November 6, 2018

Publisher: Freeform

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 390

“I’m not saying this is Sawyer’s fault,” the prim and proper one said delicately. “But.”

Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother’s “society” might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life-her father’s identity-she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn’t expect to find is friendship, but as she’s drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn’t the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother’s glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer’s search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.

Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates and rolling green hills, Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can pull off. 

About Jennifer: 

Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) is the author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed young adult novels. She has advanced degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science, including graduate degrees from Cambridge University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and Yale University, where she received her Ph.D. in 2012. Jen wrote her first published novel when she was nineteen-years-old and sold her first five books while still in college. In additional to writing YA novels, Jen has also written original pilot scripts for television networks like USA and MTV, and she is one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of fandom and the cognitive science of fiction and the imagination more broadly. Jen is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she holds a dual appointment in Psychology and Professional Writing.