This book was pretty fun.  I enjoyed it.  I wasn't quite as gripping and suspenseful as I had hoped, but overall it was a solid read. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

Loved this book. It was fun and mysterious with serious heart and soul. I loved the independence and ferocity of the main characters. Can’t wait for the next one!

This was such a ride! I really enjoyed being in Sawyer’s head—her voice just shines. Little White Lies sweeps you up in the world of debutantes and family secrets, and it’s full of hijinks and heart. I can’t wait for the sequel!

I really liked this title.  It seemed like a typical Cinderella story at first but then became  interesting and unexpected as it’s characters developed.

Unforgettable and absolutely hysterical. You may have read other books with a similar premise, but Barnes does it better. She consistently delivers unputdownable reads and Little White Lies is no exception. Hilarious, heart-wrenching, intriguing and so, so much fun, you can't help but laugh out loud. The first half of the book was nicely paced and plotted, although the latter half felt a bit slower. That said, it's refreshing to delve into the world Barnes has created when so many of the YA books coming out are falling flat. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Gilmore Girls meets Pretty Little Liars in this scandal-filled mystery. 

Sawyer and her (single) mom live "on the other side of the tracks" and have ever since Sawyer's mom was pregnant 18 years ago. Sawyer's world does a complete 180, though, when her grandmother shows up and offers Sawyer $500,000 in exchange for coming to live with her for nine months... and participate in the debutante season. Sawyer only agrees to the deal when Lillian promises to tell Sawyer who her father is, a secret that Sawyer's mom refuses to discuss. So, Sawyer packs her bag and heads to the Taft mansion. There, she meets her cousin Lily; Lily's best friend Sadie Grace; their archenemy Campbell; an ex-boyfriend; a charming possible-half-brother, a down-on-his-luck, country club valet; and other Southern schemers. Through some blackmail, the girls get involved in a heist, a kidnapping, an alibi-creation, and other trouble, all in the name of framing a Bad Guy and learning who Sawyer's dad is. 

This mystery might be considered a bit dark, but the Southern belle comedic timing definitely puts it more in the CW tone: campy, just-enough of a threat, and cute boys.

I started this book for my "Monthly Try A Chapter Challenge". I got through the prequel and thought the book sounded really fun but once I got into the first chapter, I quickly realized that I was expecting a thriller and this was completely not what we were getting. The characters seemed fake and the first chapter felt rushed to get on with the rest of the story. Their wasn't really a background building before we just jumped right in.

Please do not only take my word for it, there are many others that adored this book! Be sure to visit their reviews too.

Not as good as her other work.  While I finished the book because I wanted to solve the mystery, I wasn't really engaged with anything else.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is an autobuy for my library. Her books fly off the shelves, and get passed from hand to hand by my students, male and female.

Sawyer Taft's life is turned upside down when her estranged grandmother appears seemingly out of nowhere-- with an offer that Sawyer can't refuse. 

The 17-year-old is then thrust into a world of white gloves, malicious scandals, ballroom dancing-- the debutantes.  As Sawyer tries to figure out the identity of her father, she is also forced to deal with her cousin's kidnapping scandal, and providing an alibi for someone that seems far too dangerous and suspicious.  

This book is entertaining.  I would say that the writing and characters are for the younger reader, but the content (sex, lies, alcohol) is for the YA reader.  Sawyer is a strong female, but her obsession with her strong assets really bothered me.  This is like one of those boarding school books where everything is a little too unbelievable.  However, I did want to know where everything was going.  And it wasn't predictable.  Also, Sadie-Grace's character just made me smile.  All in all, I recommend this book!  A little vapid, but entertaining :)

4.5 stars. Excellent! This was everything I wanted it to be. Sawyer is my favorite sort of protagonist - smart, strong, sassy. The story was twisty in tons of different ways - there was a time jump, there were questions about Sawyer's search for the identity of her father, and then questions about the activities of some of the Debs. Book 2 can't come out fast enough for me! Books like this are why Jennifer Lynn Barnes is my favorite author for teens. Highly recommend!

Jennifer Barnes delivers in her new series Debutantes with book one Little White Lies! She had me from the start with her snarky, never back down protagonist Sawyer! This new series focuses not on murder, but on friendships and family unlike her previous mysteries in the Naturals and Fixer series. I loved the before and after chapters. It was very easy and fun to follow along with. I highly recommend this book! Can't wait for the next one!

Little White Lies falls into the category of "new adult" in my opinion, as the main character is 18 and has her GED. Fans of Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale will appreciate the mystery and dark humor in this book.

Sawyer Taft is 18 years old and lives with her mother over a bar. That is, when her mother isn't off living it up with yet another guy she just met. Her life is a million miles away from the way her mother grew up, a wealthy debutante from a well-to-do Southern family. When her estranged grandmother shows up to offer her a chance to participate in Debutante Season, Sawyer isn't interested... until she is offered both a six-figure bonus (that's a whole college education!) and a chance to solve the mystery of who her father is once and for all. 

Of course, immersing herself in this wealthy world comes with both pluses (getting to know her cousin and make some friends) and minuses (dresses, makeovers, big egos). There's also more than a smattering of scandal, and not just her own origins. Every closet has its skeletons, and glitter, as it turns out, is only skin deep.

*My Notes* I got absolutely pulled into Sawyer's world, and was thrilled to find that she was a strong, independent, likable character who didn't want to take any BS from anyone... but did, when it was for the greater good. She was a true friend with a moral code -- even when that code didn't necessarily align with everyone else's. I look forward to book 2!

Subject-matter-wise, I wasn’t so sure about Little White Lies, but Jennifer Lynn Barnes is on my auto-try list (it’s the auto-buy’s much less expensive cousin). Debutante stuff isn’t my favorite as a general rule, though obviously there are exceptions; I love the setting in theory, but the amount of girl hate that often comes part and parcel with it doesn’t really work for me. Then there’s a fact that it’s a mystery to contend with. Little White Lies is a fast-paced, entertaining blend of Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, and Barnes’ The Fixer.


I read Little White Lies in one sitting basically, interrupted by prior plans to go to the movies. That’s not something I get to do very frequently anymore, and it’s always great when it happens. Because of my frustration about the lack of series completion, I’d forgotten how good Barnes’ writing was, but that immediately struck me when I started Little White Lies. The narration’s acerbic, clever, and funny.

Seriously, I can’t help wondering if maybe some of these elements were going to be in a third Fixer book, because the vibe’s pretty similar, though Little White Lies is much more comedic. Sawyer, though, reminds me a lot of Tess. They’re not the same girl by any means, but they’re both scary smart and indefatigable in the face of mysteries. Like Tess, Sawyer’s not particularly cuddly but she also goes to bat for anyone being ill-treated just because she can’t stand watching bullies win.

Sawyer’s “been raised” by her single mom all of her life, though truthfully it’s more like Sawyer took care of them both. Her mother struggles to hold down her job in a bar and has a tendency to run off temporarily with men. This basic family set up happens a lot in YA, but what’s interesting here is that Sawyer accepts this and loves her mother anyway. Admittedly, there’s a reason for that; a basic level of stability has been maintained consistently through her childhood. I’m always a sucker for atypical dynamics, and their relationship was complex and loving, albeit complicated.

At the opening of the novel, Sawyer’s working as a mechanic, having gotten her GED. Her mom’s just gone on a trip with a new guy she met at the bar when a woman appears at her apartment with an offer she can’t refuse. That woman is her grandmother, Lillian Taft, society matron and unshakable badass, who Sawyer has never met. Her offer: half a million dollars in a trust to pay for college and anything else in exchange for nine months living with the Tafts and doing the debutante thing.

Despite her skepticism about her mother’s family, about whom she’s never heard good things, and her disinterest in high society, Sawyer’s a practical girl and she signs up. There’s something generally pretty implacable and realistic about Sawyer, even when she fully commits to bad idea plans, like abetting an accidental kidnapping or investigating to figure out who knocked up her mom. The plot goes to some pretty ridiculous places, and I love the way that it didn’t go where I thought it was going to at all, because that does not happen to me frequently.

Given how unputdownable I found this book, it actually moves at a fairly leisurely pace until closer to the end. Sawyer’s narrative voice and the technique of flashing (very briefly) to the prison scene and then back keep things entertaining even when the mystery plot hasn’t activated (which actually doesn’t happen until maybe halfway?). That’s a tough thing to pull off, but it really worked here.

In fact, I’m impressed how much I enjoyed this book, considering that it truly is a high society mystery. There’s shockingly little romance in this book, though maybe it shouldn’t be shocking given Barnes has done that before. The character arcs are pretty great, though, especially among some of the secondary characters, which is impressive. Everyone’s more complex than they seem at first glance.

The existence of Little White Lies doesn’t totally fix my need for more Fixer books, but it does make dealing with the dark truth that I won’t be getting one slightly more tolerable.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I first read the description of this book I thought it would just be about pageants, beauty queens, teenage drama, romance, etc. What I didn't expect was murder cover-ups, framing people, kidnapping, and the list goes on. But did I love the change that the book had? Yes! This book was awesome! I was wondering the way the book was ending how they would have a sequel when boom, another twist. Great novel! I can't wait for the next book.

Little White Lies, the first book in the new Debutante series, introduces eighteen-year-old mechanic Sawyer Taft, who struggles to make ends meet and feels more like a parent than a daughter to her absentee mother.  She is astounded when her estranged Southern belle grandmother shows up, offering her half a million dollars if she participates in debutante season.  Although she is conflicted, Sawyer ultimately accepts.  Not only will the money pay for college, it will also give Sawyer an opportunity to find out who her biological father is.  But she gets a lot more than she bargained for when her newfound friends involve her in kidnappings, theft, and high society scandal. This layered mystery is a fun romp through makeovers, gorgeous clothing, twisted relationships and romantic liaisons.

Little White Lies is a little snarky, a little mystery, but a lot about warm friendships and complicated family relationships. Sawyer accepts a deal from her grandmother to become a debutante in exchange for college tuition support, with a side of finding out who her biological father is. All she has is a photo of the season her mother debuted, and a food preference to go on. But soon she realizes that discovering the identity may not be as easy as she thought, as this society is determined to keep its secrets.

Sawyer’s personality is all sass and blunt, which rubs some people the wrong way. She is boyish, and has a little ‘not like other girls’ complex but her derision towards the other debutantes also is along the lines of ‘WTF rich people?’. When she saves her cousin from her bully, it forms a little clutch of girls who have some similar motives. Their group slowly grows, in between fittings, and functions, and soon they are digging into their town’s secrets, particularly who got away with what. Sawyer’s search takes her to some unpleasant revelations, as well as some warming ones. She realizes her mother’s family are the pit of snakes she was led to believe and that maybe only relying on her mother’s word led her to be estranged from them, too. She has to continuously reevaluate the complicated mother-daughter relationships in her family with respect to these revelations, and also the way these relationships can play out in different families.

The vibe of the book doesn’t really come across as mystery, actually. It opens on a comical scene where a police officer is preparing for the headache of dealing with four teen girls who seem like debutantes, sitting in his jail cell, and no one knows why they were arrested. And while the main story is playing out on Sawyer’s life from the time her grandmother finds her, to this opening scene, it is cut with that police station scene, and we get glimpses and clues of what happened to have them end up there. That part was played out so well – I didn’t expect THAT to come about from the first half of the book. I would put it more as a comedy-mystery in the theme of something like Gallagher Girls.

Overall, an engaging and entertaining mystery, but not really dark.

. When I first heard about this one, I was a bit iffy. A book about debutantes, mystery, and Southern belles and gentlemen doesn't seem like a "me" thing, so I wasn't exactly chomping on the bit about it. But then I realized it was by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and all those worries went away. It doesn't matter what it is, any mystery by Barnes I'll give a shot. 
      Just as Sawyer gets off work something she least expects happens.... Her grandmother comes out of nowhere and offers her 6 figures to come and live with her and be a debutante. She expects the big dresses and tradition, but not the family and acceptance that comes with it. She really doesn't expect the friends and scandals they brought with them. Its a whirlwind of debutante balls, Southern belles and gentlemen, and southern charm mixed with some mystery and thrills to make a story to put the reader on the edge of their seat.
     This isn't something I thought I would really enjoy, but once I started reading it and fell into Barnes' familiar storytelling, I couldn't stop. Her writing style can always pull me in. The humor and wit and Sawyer's sarcastic nature was my absolute favorite part. Barnes is a master storyteller and this one was no different. She told it alot differently than her other stories that I've read, but for this one it worked. And it worked really well. The story goes back and forth between a couple hours before the debutante ball (time does a countdown to the debutante ball over those chapters) and when Sawyer first got to her grandmother's world. It sounds like it might be confusing, but once you get to reading it, you start to understand the timeline more.
     And for a book that had so many characters, it seems as if it's hard to have all of them be so well developed. Not for Barnes. I really enjoyed every character that she introduced and everything they brought to the story. Sadie-Grace had to be my favorite and I can only hope that the next book is gives us a little more back story or detail about her. Lily was interesting to learn about as well, with everything that is revealed in the end of the book, it will be interesting to see how things end up in the next book. 
     As for the setting, I LOVED the Southern atmosphere in this one. My mom was a debutante and she told me all her stories and we're from the South, so I kind of had a feel for it. I've always felt like they would be in a world all their own and Barnes really portrayed that. 
     The twists and turns were my absolute favorite part of this book though. No matter what it seemed like I knew, I didn't. It got REALLY messed up in the end. As things started clicking into place and secrets came out, this story got really weird lol It was completely different than what I was expecting and I really enjoyed that. As much as I read, thrillers aren't really a surprise for me anymore, but this one was and it made it 90% more enjoyable than the others. 
      The only thing I didn't care for was the ending. For something they had been working on for the entire book, it was a little non-existent in the end. It was talked about, but I wish Barnes had given us something from that point of view instead of just skimming over it. It would have been nice to get in on all the secrets. 
      Although I still haven't given up on campaigning for more of her Fixer series, (see what I did there? lol) I will definitely be wanting more of this series as well. I already have so many questions and I can't wait to get the next book in my hands. I'm not sure I'll be able to wait an entire year! Barnes opens up readers to a new world in this book that will have them wanting to set into the debutante world themselves.

Barnes' new series explores the dark secrets that lie underneath high society polish, as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks finds herself lured into becoming a debutante by the grandmother she's never known. While her time with the other debs should be nothing but parties and gowns, Sawyer quickly discovers the dark undercurrents that keep the rich in power. A great mix of suspense and humor.