Book Review: The Convenience of Lies by Kimberly Castillo

The Convenience of Lies
Author: Kimberly Castillo

Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: October 16, 2013

Review Source: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform/Amazon

 

“It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong. All that matters is if you can. If you can do something, what difference does it make?"

Based on a true story, The Convenience of Lies is a novel that keeps readers up past midnight with its story of friendship, mystery, crime, sex, and betrayal. Set in a suburban town, this story is told through the eyes of a high school junior, Mackenzie, who describes her crush on a "bad boy," Ramon and her relationship with her best friend, Kira. During the course of the story, Mackenzie does her best to attract the affections of Ramon while her friendship with Kira evolves. Eventually, the different characters' property starts getting vandalized and a mystery develops as Mackenzie and Kira try to get to the bottom of who is behind the vandalism.

This is definitely a book that you need to remain focused on. There are a lot of ins and outs and I found myself having to re-read paragraphs again, to ensure that I was on the right track. This book is definitely something that was written quite a few years ago, as the kids interact though instant messenger on AOL and leaving voice messages on an answering machine. Talk about taking me back to the beginning of mainstream technology! :)

The main characters are high schoolers, Mackenzie, Kira and Ramon. The story starts off showing us how high strung her best friend Kira is, just before she is about to take off to Russia for the summer. According to Ramon, Kira is over the top, causing problems and Mackenzie is always the one to try and smooth things over.

Right before Kira goes off for the summer, she and Mackenzie have a huge blow out fight, which leaves them both questioning their friendship. While Kira is away, vandalism strikes. Windows are being smashed, cars being destroyed and no one can figure out who is to blame. Kira returns home and the girls immediately get to investigating. Mackenzie has her theory and Kira has hers ... Ramon. Ramon is one of Mackenzie's best friends and whom she is in love with. She can not fathom the fact that he could even be remotely responsible for vandalism.

Ramon has knowledge of the vandalism, although he is afraid to say, as he knows that there will be consequences for squealing. After some hard core pleading from Mackenzie, Ramon opens up and tells her who is behind the vandalism. He also knows that no one believes that "bad boy Ramon" has nothing to do with it, therefore just wants to drop the topic and move on. Meanwhile "The King", is giving orders on where and when to strike next. The King has his cronies and they do whatever he says, whenever he says. Who is The King? Why is he doing what he's doing? What is the reason behind these attacks?

The epilogue shocked me quite a bit, although I think that you will like it. It was probably my favorite part of this story. It was a nice and easy read and not excruciatingly long, a perfect length for my taste. I hope that you enjoyed my review and as always ... happy reading!