Title: Lying About Last Summer
Author: Sue Wallman
Publication: May 12, 2026
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Genre: Teens, YA, Mystery
Pages: 272

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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)

Last summer, Skye’s sister died in a tragic accident. It’s been an awful year without Luisa, and Skye’s parents think that the back-to-back activities of a summer camp might be just what she needs to process through her grief. Skye is sent off to a remote, week-long camp for troubled teens at Morely Hill Activity and Adventure Center. All of the kids at the summer camp have lost someone close, but is bringing them together such a good idea?

Then Skye receives a text…from her dead sister. Who is pretending to be Luisa? And who at camp can be trusted? Skye must confront her past. But what if the danger is right in front of her?

REVIEW:

**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I am always up for a good YA mystery, especially one that involves secrets, suspicious characters, and a tragedy from the past! Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman follows Skye, a teenager who is still struggling with the death of her older sister, Luisa. Her parents decide that spending some time at a summer camp for teenagers who have experienced loss might help her work through her grief. Unfortunately, things take a strange turn when Skye starts receiving text messages from someone claiming to be her dead sister. Suddenly, she’s questioning everyone around her and trying to figure out who is sending the messages and what they know about the past. I thought the premise was really interesting, and I liked that there was enough mystery to keep me wanting to know what happened. Wallman’s writing was decent, and the story held my attention throughout.

While I enjoyed the book overall, there were a few things that kept it from earning a higher rating. The story jumps back and forth between the present and events surrounding Luisa’s death, which I thought was an interesting way to slowly reveal what happened. However, I do think that kind of storytelling can make a book feel a little disjointed at times. My biggest issue, though, was the ending. Without giving anything away, I thought things got a little crazy toward the end! I love a good twist, and I certainly don’t want to figure out everything before the author reveals it, but I also want the ending to feel believable. This one pushed things a little further than I would have liked. It felt like the story spent a lot of time building up the mystery, only for everything to come together in a way that was a little over-the-top. I wasn’t necessarily disappointed with the entire conclusion, but I did find myself questioning some of the choices made along the way.

With that being said, I still think Lying About Last Summer was a good read! I appreciated that Wallman explored grief and guilt alongside the mystery, giving the story a little more depth than just trying to figure out who was behind the messages. I also liked that I genuinely wanted to know how everything ended. That’s always a good sign for me when reading a mystery! While the ending wasn’t my favorite and there were a few things I would have liked to see handled differently, I was entertained and interested throughout the book. This was a solid three-star read for me, and I would definitely be willing to give another Sue Wallman book a try. If you enjoy YA mysteries involving secrets, summer camps, complicated relationships, and twists that might leave you questioning everything, I would absolutely recommend giving Lying About Last Summer a try and deciding for yourself!