Savage Lies

Brutal Savages, Book #1

By Samantha Barrett

ISBN# 9780645116557

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Review

Jessica Hastings’s mom just made them move … again.  Jess is tired of moving and just wants to stay in one place.  She has to start another new high school and be the new kid… again. 

However, Jess quickly learns that something is a bit odd here at Rosewood.  It seems like there is a big secret that everyone knows, but her.  And she swears she keeps hearing growling at school.

Jess made a new enemy within minutes of getting to school, Kayla.  However, she also made a pair of friends right away too.  Callie and her brother, Colton.  They are actually two-thirds of a set of triplets.  They are much nicer than the third triplet, Credence, though.  Creed looks like a Greek god, but is surly and very hot and cold with her.  Oh, and apparently, he’s Kayla’s boyfriend.  Figures.   At least he was.  After Kayla knocks Jess out with a punch she never saw coming, Creed repeatedly warns Kayla to leave Jess alone.  And, he warns off Josh, who’s been flirting with her, as well.  Although, Creed doesn’t exactly seem happy to be her new protector.  And, what’s with his eyes changing colors?

Callie quickly becomes Jess’s first best friend though so she just has to deal with the temperamental Creed.

Jess has known that her mom has kept secrets from her during her entire life.  However, it seems like it’s gotten worse since coming here.  And, now she has forbidden Jess to hang out with the triplets.  Not that it ever kept them apart.

And, when the secrets finally start to come out, it will turn Jess’s world upside-down.  She has a big decision to make, but in the end, it may get made up for her.

This book had its good things and bad.  The storyline itself was interesting and kept me invested throughout.  I found myself having trouble putting it down, honestly.  It had major Twilight vibes, so much so that it left me wondering if maybe it originated as a fanfic.  I do have an author friend that pushed-to-publish her fanfics so it’s always possible.  Although after reading the author’s thank you, I think it’s less likely in this case. Jess brought up Twilight multiple times with her new friends.  She is team Edward, all the way.  Even ‘the council’ seemed very Volturi like, as well.

I was waiting for that moment where I would completely fall in love with Creed and Jess, as a couple.  That moment, never really came though.  I wanted to like Creed, but he makes it hard.  He was so hell-bent on his revenge that he couldn’t see much else and it left him being a total jerk to Jess, at times.  However, he sure didn’t want any of the other guys near her, not even his brother!  And, even when he was trying to fix things, he was still super crass talking about her, in front of her… telling his parents they screwed.  Like really dude? 

I found the book a bit clunky overall.  How the paragraphs were laid out made it really hard to tell who was speaking.  When we got to the big climatic part of the book, I was so confused because of this.  I had to go back and re-read it to figure out what the heck just happened.  This by far was my biggest complaint with this story.  There was also a chapter that obviously had the wrong character listed as being our point-of-view person.  It said Jessica, but once it mentioned looking to ‘my dad’, I knew it had to be Creed’s point-of-view since Jessica’s dad died and she never knew him.

The book also ended in an odd place.  I wouldn’t say it was quite a cliffhanger, but I guess it kind of was.  It just lacked the excitement, for me to consider it, as such.

Overall, this was a decent story, but it had some pitfalls, to be sure.  I really hope that Creed can be less of a jerk in the next one to actually become likable.  I will probably give it a try sooner or later.