Even When You Lie to Me

by Jessica Alcott

Charlie, a senior, isn't looking forward to her last year of high school. Another year of living in the shadow of her best friend, Lila. Another year of hiding behind the covers of her favorite novels. Another year of navigating her tense relationship with her perfectionist mom. But everything changes when she meets her new English teacher. Mr. Drummond is smart. Irreverent. Funny. Hot. Everyone loves him. And Charlie thinks he's the only one who gets her. She also thinks she might not be the only one with a crush.

• ISBN10: 038539117X
• ISBN13: 9780385391177
• Publish Date: 9 June 2015 (first published 1 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 2 September 2021
• Imprint: Crown Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[bestmessever]

This was such an amazing book. Charlie and Drummond were so witty and sarcastic. I love that it was a slow burn and it was extremely believable. This book made me laugh out loud and cry. Fantastic read.

[Jack]

Couldn't finish this it was sooo boring. And the characters didn't act their age, they acted so much younger.

[Amber]

I don’t really have much to say about this book. Partly because I read it a couple of months ago, and partly because it was uneventful and the ending was anti-climactic. Even When You Lie to Me was a quick read. It was easy to fly through. But I didn’t feel any connection to the book or the characters at all. I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about Charlie, and the forbidden relationship between her and her teacher wasn’t told in an original way at all. I remember liking the ending because of what happened to Charlie and her development. But I didn’t love it.

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



I have to say I'm pretty curious to see how the book community reacts to Even When You Lie to Me by Jessica Alcott. Each month I'm trying to read an ARC that I picked up from ALA MidWinter. This month Even When You Lie to Me started calling from the stacks. It was slim and I needed some light vacation reads.

Charlie was a likeable enough character. For the most part she reminded me a lot of myself at that age. Charlie is introverted, loves to read, and has a smoking hot best friend who uses those looks to her advantage. Too much of that was familiar. My smoking hot firend and I don't talk anymore and I'm sure that's why I really disliked Lila. They were too similar.

Spoilers from here on out!

I really can't talk about the plot without spoilers. If I'm being honest, if it wasn't for Charlie pursuing Mr. Drummond this book would have been the most boring book on the face of the planet. Without that a girl goes to high school, is forced to extrovert a little, gets in a fight with her best friend, and graduates. The end.

I think Alcott is trying to force conversation about these types of situations but I'm not sure what that conversation is. What I do know is that I felt awkward reading Even When You Lie to Me. Clearly the situation with Charlie and Mr. Drummond is skeezy to the max but at what point do we become responsible for our own actions? Charlie went after Drummond like a half-starved dog for a steak. She was relentless but Drummond is the adult. Maybe that was Alcott's goal. Simply put, this book makes you think and think again. I still haven't decided where I stand on it which is why I'm a solid three out of five.