Liar & spy

I found it to be charming and amusing, up until about the last 40 pages. And then it became thoughtful, and poignant in a way. The characters are unique and get some nice development.

I was all ready to give it three stars, for being entertaining but not overly memorable. Then the end made me reconsider, and I gave four stars. I'm fairly certain I'll remember it.

A nice, solid MG realistic fiction book. The audiobook was well-done and it was sweet and engaging, and at a few points extremely suspenseful–Stead was really able to build up some emotional stakes in this story, even though the plot itself (about a junior high boy and some school bullies and his new apartment building and his parents' new work situation) isn't quite life & death or anything. I didn't loove it like I looved When You Reach me, but it's a different book entirely and I still really enjoyed it.