Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten

It’s been two long years since Ellie’s older sister Nina has disappeared. Pretty much everyone has given up any hope that Nina will return, but not Ellie. Ellie can’t bear to think Nina, her sister whom she loves and idolizes, could be dead. Ellie desperately wants to find Nina, and when she stumbles upon a portrait of her, drawn by Nina, she’s certain she’s found her clue. With the help of a hot and mysterious stranger named Sean, Ellie sets off on a seemingly wild-goose chase for the whereabouts of her sister. But Ellie isn’t prepared for what she learns along the way, regarding her sister and her new love interest Sean. In this suspenseful and fast-paced debut, readers will be swept along with Ellie as she journeys and finds love, lies, and the strength of sisterhood.

I was immensely impressed with this solid debut novel. Weingarten shows a mastery of her skill with words, especially when manipulating the plot. Ellie’s cross-country escapade was filled with humor and lust yet also disappointment, anticipation for the next clue, confusion, and danger. I like how the story strings the reader along nicely and then twists nearly completely around. In the back of my mind, I think I expected part of the outcome of Ellie’s journey, but I was still shocked when it actually happened. I also really liked the development of both Ellie’s and Nina’s characters. Ellie is easy to relate to, especially in her sisterly affection, friendship dilemmas, and thoughts of self-preservation, and this increases the reader’s sympathy for her as well as interest in her story. The reader gets to know Nina mainly through Ellie’s memories and thoughts of her sister, and it creates an image of a wild yet thoughtful girl anyone can love. Some of the minor details of this novel, though, were not as well executed as the plot and development of the major characters. There were some details that never completely added up. Also, Ellie’s relationship with her best friend Amanda seemed strange at times, and their problems seemed to magically disappear at the end of the novel. Other than these few aspects, Wherever Nina Lies was an extremely well-written and enjoyable story.

Wherever Nina Lies is very impressive for a first novel, and I hope Weingarten plans to write more novels especially if they’re as good as this one. Readers will see this novel as a hybrid between two fantastic novels, How to Be Bad and The Year My Sister Got Lucky, and will not be disappointed in this fantastic story of mystery, romance, suspense, and, most of all, sisterhood.

Rating: 4.75

Review copy from Amazon Vine