FROM AMAZON: Nazi England, 2014. Jessika Keller is a good girl — a champion ice skater, model student of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, and dutiful daughter of the Greater German Reich. Her best friend, Clementine, is not so submissive. Passionately different, Clem is outspoken, dangerous, and radical. And the regime has noticed. Jess cannot keep both her perfect life and her dearest friend, her first love. But which can she live without? Haunting, intricate, and unforgettable, The Big Lie unflinchingly interrogates perceptions of revolution, feminism, sexuality, and protest. Back matter includes historical notes from the author discussing her reasons for writing an “alt-history” story and the power of speculative fiction.

Jessika lives in a world where Nazi Germany took over Great Britain. She is trying to come to terms with her bisexuality while her best friend becomes more and more rebellious. The premise to the story is interesting but it's not easy to remember this is supposed to be a contemporary story set in the UK. The only reminder of its contemporary setting is a Justin Bieber-like singer coming to town. The main character, Jessika, is amazingly dense and so the story ends up being very confusing to the reader since she has no clue as to what's going on around her. ( )

Liked the narrator's voice and self reflection. Chilling look at alternative history. Felt a little confused by events at end- a few plot holles I needed plugged. ( )

I think this novel had a lot of potential. The story is really interesting and I was happy that the novel was told from the perspective of a teenage girl. The author touches on a lot of different topics like loyalty, sexuality, and freedom, and these topics were presented very well. Jessika is undoubtedly the main character, and the whole story is about how she is changed through her interactions with Clementine. The story is split into 3 parts that chronicle 3 different time points in Jessika's life. I think that the strongest part of the book was Part One; this is where the story really developed. We only hear from Jessika's perspective, but it is a very good perspective to read from as we see her ignorance being chipped away by the events she is seeing and the emotions she is experiencing. We see her try to reconcile between the truth and what she has always believed, and we see how hard she fights to maintain her innocence. This part made me feel the most connection to Jessika and it had me invested in the story. However, the second and third part of this story was a big let down. In the second part, the author went back and forth in time (again from Jessika's perspective) but after the constant forward motion of the first part, this just made it confusing to read. I also thought that there were big jumps being made in the story that weren't really addressed by the author. More detail and a more consistent flow would have made this section better. The last section of the novel was even more inconsistent; it felt like it wasn't even part of the same book! Now, Jessika is at a different time point and age and there was no real transition to this new point. The abruptness really didn't work for me and it left me disappointed in the ending, which didn't have the depth of emotion that the first part had. Overall, this novel had a very interesting start but the choppiness of the second and third part of this book led to disappointment. I'm giving this a 2.5/5 stars, rounded to 3.

I received this novel as an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I wanted to like this but just couldn't get into it. Reads like an obvious kids book, more than one aimed at teens. I received a free copy from the publisher, via Library Thing’s Early Reviewer program, in exchange for my honest review.