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sophiaknudsen's review against another edition
5.0
This was an AMAZING book...honestly, that's all I have to say.
fatimareadsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
*I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, HarperCollins, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!*
Holy shit. I read the synopsis of this book and immediately fell in love with the story; I'm a sucker for tragic stories. Oops.
I devoured this book in one 6 hour sitting, it's a very quick, but gripping read. The Lies About Truth is a tale of friendship, truths, and forgiveness. I loved everything about the book - how realistic it was, the writing, dialogue, romance... everything.
This story is about a girl, Sadie Kingston, who gets into a car accident which leaves her body, face, and soul scarred. But she's not the only one affected. Her best friend died in the wreck, and her three other friends are scarred too, mentally and physically. Everyone is entangled in a messy web of grief, anger, guilt, and love and there are truths to be revealed about that night never told before. Only Sadie can decide if she wants to embrace her future or stay trapped in the past.
I've come across and read tons of YA Contemporary stories with the same storyline, so I was afraid that this'll be no different than the others. I was scared it'd be boring and overused. However, Courtney C. Stevens manages to stir up new emotions in you while immersing you in her characters' world.
So many things in this book were very realistic, they never felt fake or forced and I'm really glad for that because that's really hard to find in other stories like this one.
I've seen many of the reviews for this book talk about her other book Faking Normal, which I haven't read yet, but I'll definitely have to look into it after this. I'd love to read more of her work because this was definitely a masterpiece.
Another thing I really like about this book is that there's romance, but the story doesn't revolve around it. It was just like the story had this perfect balance between focusing on her romance, her friendships, and her family without making any of them feel overweighted. The romance between Max and Sadie was there, but the story didn't rely heavily on it; and I loved how the relationship between Sadie and her parents and the adults in general was portrayed.
Also, the whole story felt very... smooth. I love how the author revealed everything about Sadie's past piece-by-piece; it was very easy to read and engaging to the reader. The writing style helps with that, too. It was beautiful! At times, it took my breath away with the amazing quotes.
Overall, this was a very beautiful book with an amazing writing style and a breathtakingly emotional plot. A must-read for lovers of deep YA Contemporary books.
Holy shit. I read the synopsis of this book and immediately fell in love with the story; I'm a sucker for tragic stories. Oops.
I devoured this book in one 6 hour sitting, it's a very quick, but gripping read. The Lies About Truth is a tale of friendship, truths, and forgiveness. I loved everything about the book - how realistic it was, the writing, dialogue, romance... everything.
This story is about a girl, Sadie Kingston, who gets into a car accident which leaves her body, face, and soul scarred. But she's not the only one affected. Her best friend died in the wreck, and her three other friends are scarred too, mentally and physically. Everyone is entangled in a messy web of grief, anger, guilt, and love and there are truths to be revealed about that night never told before. Only Sadie can decide if she wants to embrace her future or stay trapped in the past.
I've come across and read tons of YA Contemporary stories with the same storyline, so I was afraid that this'll be no different than the others. I was scared it'd be boring and overused. However, Courtney C. Stevens manages to stir up new emotions in you while immersing you in her characters' world.
So many things in this book were very realistic, they never felt fake or forced and I'm really glad for that because that's really hard to find in other stories like this one.
I've seen many of the reviews for this book talk about her other book Faking Normal, which I haven't read yet, but I'll definitely have to look into it after this. I'd love to read more of her work because this was definitely a masterpiece.
Another thing I really like about this book is that there's romance, but the story doesn't revolve around it. It was just like the story had this perfect balance between focusing on her romance, her friendships, and her family without making any of them feel overweighted. The romance between Max and Sadie was there, but the story didn't rely heavily on it; and I loved how the relationship between Sadie and her parents and the adults in general was portrayed.
Also, the whole story felt very... smooth. I love how the author revealed everything about Sadie's past piece-by-piece; it was very easy to read and engaging to the reader. The writing style helps with that, too. It was beautiful! At times, it took my breath away with the amazing quotes.
Overall, this was a very beautiful book with an amazing writing style and a breathtakingly emotional plot. A must-read for lovers of deep YA Contemporary books.
ambeesbookishpages's review against another edition
4.0
The full review can be found at The Book Bratz
Hands down, this is one of the most realistic contemporaries I have read in a long time. Everything from the events, to the friendships, to how the characters interacted it all actuality had a real feeling to it. Courtney's writing had me laughing one moment and crying the next. Her story is about how to live when your life changes so dramatically, and who will be there for you in the end.
Imagine loosing your best friend, and becoming so badly scarred in the process that you want nothing to do with society anymore. Most of us will shake our heads and say how that will never happen. But it did for Sadie. After a normal day with her friends, Trent collided the car he was driving with a tree killing himself, and injuring his brother Max and Sadie in the process. When the story begins, almost a year has passed. Max and his family left for El Salvador shortly after Trent's death, Sadie doesn't really speak to her best friend Gina, or her ex-boyfriend Gray anymore and she now has scars all over her face that she names and draws on with sharpies. Her parents plan on sending her back to the school in the fall and to socialize with her old friends, but nothing is the same anymore. The Lies About Truth is about a lot of things, but the biggest is Sadie learning to live again after her life was turned upside down.
I've read books because where the main character was injured in an accident, or lost their friend and I usually end up hating them because all they do is whine and complain about everything. Sadie, she wanted to live again. She made lists of things she wanted to accomplish. Wearing a tank top, shorts, walking at graduation is just a few of them. Sadie just didn't know where to start. Yes, she had her moments and she was allowed them. If I could pick any character from a book to be proud of it would be Sadie. I could never imagine going through half of what she did.
In the beginning I was terrified of a love triangle due to Gray's confession that he loved her still. There is no love triangle! Sadie quickly shoots him down. He was part of an old life that she no longer wants a part of. I was worried about the romance when Max came home from El Salvador, Sadie never sent any pictures of herself since the accident to Max, so he didn't know what she looked like at all. My favorite thing is how he tells her she still looks the same. Gray can't even look her in the eyes. The romance in The Lies About Truth was both beautiful and tender.
The only thing I didn't like: Though Trent wasn't in the book (except in flashbacks) he was such a huge character. As morbid as it sounds I would have liked to know how he died. All we know is that he was killed in the accident, whether on impact or after. It wasn't said. We do know that Max held his hand and said he didn't appear to suffer. *insert endless sobs at that scene*
Overall I loved The Lies About Truth. I can't wait to read more from Courtney soon. She is an incredibly talented writer. The Lies About Truth is beautiful story that I recommend anyone looking for a fairly quick contemporary read.
Hands down, this is one of the most realistic contemporaries I have read in a long time. Everything from the events, to the friendships, to how the characters interacted it all actuality had a real feeling to it. Courtney's writing had me laughing one moment and crying the next. Her story is about how to live when your life changes so dramatically, and who will be there for you in the end.
Imagine loosing your best friend, and becoming so badly scarred in the process that you want nothing to do with society anymore. Most of us will shake our heads and say how that will never happen. But it did for Sadie. After a normal day with her friends, Trent collided the car he was driving with a tree killing himself, and injuring his brother Max and Sadie in the process. When the story begins, almost a year has passed. Max and his family left for El Salvador shortly after Trent's death, Sadie doesn't really speak to her best friend Gina, or her ex-boyfriend Gray anymore and she now has scars all over her face that she names and draws on with sharpies. Her parents plan on sending her back to the school in the fall and to socialize with her old friends, but nothing is the same anymore. The Lies About Truth is about a lot of things, but the biggest is Sadie learning to live again after her life was turned upside down.
I've read books because where the main character was injured in an accident, or lost their friend and I usually end up hating them because all they do is whine and complain about everything. Sadie, she wanted to live again. She made lists of things she wanted to accomplish. Wearing a tank top, shorts, walking at graduation is just a few of them. Sadie just didn't know where to start. Yes, she had her moments and she was allowed them. If I could pick any character from a book to be proud of it would be Sadie. I could never imagine going through half of what she did.
In the beginning I was terrified of a love triangle due to Gray's confession that he loved her still. There is no love triangle! Sadie quickly shoots him down. He was part of an old life that she no longer wants a part of. I was worried about the romance when Max came home from El Salvador, Sadie never sent any pictures of herself since the accident to Max, so he didn't know what she looked like at all. My favorite thing is how he tells her she still looks the same. Gray can't even look her in the eyes. The romance in The Lies About Truth was both beautiful and tender.
The only thing I didn't like: Though Trent wasn't in the book (except in flashbacks) he was such a huge character. As morbid as it sounds I would have liked to know how he died. All we know is that he was killed in the accident, whether on impact or after. It wasn't said. We do know that Max held his hand and said he didn't appear to suffer. *insert endless sobs at that scene*
Overall I loved The Lies About Truth. I can't wait to read more from Courtney soon. She is an incredibly talented writer. The Lies About Truth is beautiful story that I recommend anyone looking for a fairly quick contemporary read.
rachcannoli's review against another edition
4.0
This book is such a little diamond in the rough and I feel like my sweet Sadie goes on such an emotional journey in such a short amount of time and I’m here for it. Sadie is not only grappling with the aftermath of a car accident that destroyed her normalcy, but in the process she lost a friend and had many reconstruction surgeries from having gone through the windshield, she she has a lot to deal with. Despite everything, I don’t find her whiney or frustrating, she deals with her issues in such a relatable way and pushes herself the most she can while also being understandably traumatized and concerned that nothing will ever be normal again. It’s such a quick read, but hit me in all the right ways and my heart just went out to her. For anyone who’s lost a friend I found it cathartic and a way and it’s a different look at trauma from a teen angle, but not dumbed down at all. I also utterly adored Max and wish I had my own version. I think the only thing keeping it from a 5 rating was the random spurts of emails thrown in now and again. It was cute to see those moments, but don’t understand the decision to only show Sadie’s side and never Max’s responses especially since a lot of the subsequent emails would comment on something we’d never seen. For the most part you can fill in context clues, but sometimes it just felt odd and jarring. I understand it’s Sadie’s story, but especially with the regular email chain at the end, I think we would’ve benefited by seeing Max’s responses. I don’t know, all in all I really enjoyed this and it was a pleasant surprise.
sandeeisreading's review against another edition
4.0
RATING:
MANY THANKS TO HARPER TEEN FOR THE REVIEW COPY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW
"Best friends, even former ones, were supposed to understand crap like social anxiety and scar exposure."
First off let me just say that I liked this book. I liked the flow of the story and the characters. There were things here and there that made me wonder why anyone would ever do something like that. But overall, I really liked this book.
The Lies About The Truth dealt with pain. All types of pain. The pain of not being able to tell everyone how you feel. The pain of going through something you think no one could understand. The pain of having to let go of the past. And lastly, the pain of not being able to do the things you have been able to do.
Wear a tank top in public.
Walk the line at graduation
Forgive Gina and Gray
Stop following. Start leading.
Drive a car again.
Kiss someone without flinching
Visit the Fountain of Youth
These are things Sadie Kingston would like to do. But she puts them off everytime. Trying to make excuse on why she couldn't do it just yet.
Almost a year ago, an accident happened that completely changed Sadie's life. It was an accident that killed her best friend Trent, damaged Max's voice, and left Sadie with physical scars she doesn't want anyone to see.
The physical scars not the only scars she got that day. Emotional scars because of the death of Trent and a lot of guilt for surviving the crash while Trent hasn't.
Sadie feels Max is the only one who could really understand how she feels. Max didn't shy away from looking at her even with the scars on her face. But is she healed enough to start a real relationship with Max? Or does she have to face the past first before she could finally move forward.
Sadie
I loved Sadie's character. I found her reaction to everything she went through was realistic. How she felt insecure. How she felt scrutinized every time she goes out. How her scars remind her every day that she lost not only her best friend, but also her confidence. It hadn't been easy for her to go out with big scars all over her body. She's been through a lot of surgeries to fix them, but the surgery could only do so much. And with all that, she wasn't some bitter, full of angst teen who always rant about how unlucky she was that this happened to her. She even named her scars. She named one Mississipi and I forgot the other ones. But she also have one named Pink Floyd. So cute.
Going back, I felt Sadie's struggle. I understood her fear of going out. Being seen by people and when they see her ask themselves , "what the fuck happened to that girl's face?". She didn't like to be pitied. That's why she tried to avoid everyone as much as she can. But she tries. She tries to make herself better. She doesn't roll her eyes and scream at her parents for wanting her to feel better about herself. She accepts the suggestions and try to do it. She tries to do them in baby steps. And I like that. Sometimes, moving on and letting go of stuff from the past is hard. But she's so lucky she has a good family, good friends, and a good head on her shoulders.
Max
Max was so cute. I liked him the first time he was introduced to the story. He was reliable and thoughtful and sweet. And everything I wanted him to be. Max is Trent's brother who was also close with her and their other friends. At first, I was worried about him, but as the story progressed I really liked how supportive he was of everything Sadie does. There was also a sense of possessiveness at times which was okay. It was cute.
Trent
He was Sadie's best friend. He wasn't present in the story physically, but you get to know a lot about this guy. You see how his relationship is with his family, with Sadie, and with his self. Trent has secrets that I would not spoil because I did not expect it at all. His actions through Sadie's flashbacks were pointing me to a different scenario. I'm not going to spoil you but I love Trent just as much as Sadie.
Secondary Characters
I'd like to say that I love each and every character on this book. Especially the parents of both Max and Sadie. They were so supportive and fun. They weren't disregarded in the story. They played an important role in the life of their kids and five thumbs up for that. I liked Gray and Gina too who were the other . All five of them has this sort of friendship that I really envy. I loved the dynamic that all of them had. You could feel the deep connection between these characters and I loved it.
I was scared. There was a point in this book that I was worried that the story might be an entanglement of relationships. I'm so fucking glad that it wasn't. There was romance, but it isn't the main story. It was there, but when you read about it, you'll see that it isn't the main focus.
I loved Max and Sadie. I knew they were meant to be together. I was worried for a bit that I would have liked someone else for Sadie, but no, Max is the man for me.
Max and Sadie's relationship wasn't forced. It was built on friendship, trust, and love. I always love romances like that. There was no insta-love. Thank goodness! And it was realistic. The relationship that bossomed between these two was as realistic as they can get.
It was very easy to get to. This is my first Courtney C. Stevens and I really enjoyed her writing and the way she characterizes her characters. She really does well showing us how she builds the relationship with the characters. There were times that were a bit too slow for me, but I felt it was necessary for Sadie to realize the things that she needed to do. To realize that she needed to settle a few things before she could really move forward with her life.
- I loved the theme of this book. It dealt with friendship, love, forgiveness, and letting go.
- I loved Sadie's relationship with her parents. You'll constantly sense their presence in her life, even if it's just o the sideline. You'll feel how much they care about her and her well-being. There's not much of those type of parents in YA literature. Mostly, you will see a negligent parent or a parent who says love their kid but isn;t ever present.
- The friendship. I love the friendship that these five had. Through ups and downs they were together. They did encounter hiccups along the way, but their friendship endured.
- The characters were all well-rounded. No stock characters here.
- The romance was a plus for me.
- The writing was very good.
- I liked the e-mail exchange between Max and Sadie. I thought it was a nice way of showing us what Max and Sadie's relationship was like when they weren't together.
- I loved Trent. Seriously. He's dead (not a spoiler), but the way you got to know who he is and what he was like and the secrets he kept, made me love him. I just love him.
- The pace was a bit off for me at times. I didn't like how sometimes, it seems to drag on some places. But this is just me.
- These kids were all keeping something. The only valid one in my opinion was Sadie's and Trent's. I get the reason why Sadie couldn't tell Trent's secret because it wasn't her secret to tell, but the others were a bit weak. I didn't get why Gina and Gray would do the things they did. I don't buy their reason for not telling Sadie the truth. It was really stupid. They waited a year to tell her. Tsk tsk.
All in all, I really loved this book. I haven't touched a good contemporary book in a while so I was lucky I picked this one.
The Lies About Truth is a very well written book with a heartwarming story about a Girl who wants to let go of her past but is having a hard time to. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a contemporary book about moving on and forgiveness that isn't too dramatic.
jessethereader's review against another edition
4.0
Courtney C. Stevens does it again with another fantastic book! I'll admit that it took time for me to get completely sucked in. The characters felt a bit meh to me at the beginning, but they grew on me towards the middle of the book. It also took awhile for the story to really take off, but once it did, it soared! I can't wait to see what Courtney C. Stevens has up her sleeve next.
trinitynoel's review against another edition
4.0
Really good!!! kept me interested and read it in around 3 hours:)
perilous1's review against another edition
4.0
Originally reviewed for YA Books Central: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/17862-the-lies-about-truth
3.5 Stars
“Once upon a time, there were four friends, two couples, who stopped being friends before they stopped being couples.”
The story takes place in contemporary Florida, nearly a year after five close friends are both the witnesses and unwitting participants to a catastrophic car accident that claimed one of their lives. The account is told entirely through the first-person point of view of 17-year-old Sadie Kingston, who was left disfiguringly scarred in the same incident that killed one of her best friends. Despite a year of corrective surgeries and therapy sessions Sadie’s psyche is stuck in a self-imposed exile, steeped in loss and blame and things left unsaid between those she once loved.
Leisurely paced and thoughtfully written, this intensely relational telling has a sort of teen soap-opera feel to it. It gently weaves together so many minute, seemingly innocuous decisions and their unforeseeable consequences. This book takes a hard look at grieving, in both its effective an ineffective forms—at the same time, examining the intimacy that often comes from shared secrets and communal trauma. It also serves as a sort of quiet caution against the corrosive tactic of avoidance in conflict resolution
“No one talked about the questions, because talking ruined plausible deniability. Talking burst the bubble of innocence. Talking ended the happily ever after.
These were the truths they believed.
And they were lies.
They should have talked while there was still something to say.”
What I liked:
This book contains an exceptional number of meaningful and memorable quotes. Stevens is a wiz at stretching out her voice and pulling you in with attentive, impactful wording.
"I fell, and it didn't kill me. So I decided that if I was going to fall, I might as well fall moving up."
"Above me is a sky full of stars. In front of me is an ocean full of waves. Beneath me are a million grains of sand that used to be rock. That ocean I love so much beat rocks into sand. I'm afraid that's what I've done to you."
I LOVED the salvage yard scenes. The unique relationship Sadie formed with the yard’s endearingly cantankerous owner was one of the most profound and believable parts of the book, in this reader’s opinion. A close second was Sadie’s devoted and remarkably healthy relationship with her parents—a dynamic that’s almost a novelty in the young adult genre.
The author beautifully captures the essence of growing up with the beach as your stomping ground. The amount of detail put into the scenery and ocean-based activities was hugely enriching to the overall feel, and leant itself well to the atmospheric authenticity.
What Didn’t Work For Me:
While I loved the idea of sprinkling in a number of Sadie’s emails to Max over the course of the year to demonstrate how their pen-pal-ish relationship grew, it was disappointing to not be allowed a look at any of Max’s written correspondence. A few pertinent things could be derived from the one-sided conversations readers are privy to, but it sat more like a lost opportunity to get to know Max.
On a related note, the romantic angle seemed a bit detached. Readers may have some trouble buying Max and Sadie’s chemistry once they do come together.
This reader was strongly impacted by the author’s debut book, Faking Normal, and was somewhat relieved to see her second work take on a slightly lighter tone. The telling carries along well enough for the first 30%, propelled by the visceral degree of Sadie’s social struggles and physical/emotional scarring—along with the anticipation of her finally seeing Max again in person after a year of forming deep and romantic interest via email. From there though, the momentum did some dragging.
The ‘big reveal’ comes in the form of two vaguely related secrets that certain members of the group have been keeping from each other—mainly, because they didn’t feel they were their secrets to share. But the seriousness of these two bits of information ultimately felt underwhelming; bordering on melodramatic. And the tension wasn’t much enhanced by finally learning which of Sadie’s friends had been sending her anonymous letters containing her own stolen diary-like quotes. In that way, this quote sums up the conflict succinctly: “Sometimes a small thing is bigger than a big thing.”
A solid pick for readers interested in stories about loss, forgiveness, emotional healing, tight-knit friendship groups, and the impermanent tenuousness of teenage romance.
3.5 Stars
“Once upon a time, there were four friends, two couples, who stopped being friends before they stopped being couples.”
The story takes place in contemporary Florida, nearly a year after five close friends are both the witnesses and unwitting participants to a catastrophic car accident that claimed one of their lives. The account is told entirely through the first-person point of view of 17-year-old Sadie Kingston, who was left disfiguringly scarred in the same incident that killed one of her best friends. Despite a year of corrective surgeries and therapy sessions Sadie’s psyche is stuck in a self-imposed exile, steeped in loss and blame and things left unsaid between those she once loved.
Leisurely paced and thoughtfully written, this intensely relational telling has a sort of teen soap-opera feel to it. It gently weaves together so many minute, seemingly innocuous decisions and their unforeseeable consequences. This book takes a hard look at grieving, in both its effective an ineffective forms—at the same time, examining the intimacy that often comes from shared secrets and communal trauma. It also serves as a sort of quiet caution against the corrosive tactic of avoidance in conflict resolution
“No one talked about the questions, because talking ruined plausible deniability. Talking burst the bubble of innocence. Talking ended the happily ever after.
These were the truths they believed.
And they were lies.
They should have talked while there was still something to say.”
What I liked:
This book contains an exceptional number of meaningful and memorable quotes. Stevens is a wiz at stretching out her voice and pulling you in with attentive, impactful wording.
"I fell, and it didn't kill me. So I decided that if I was going to fall, I might as well fall moving up."
"Above me is a sky full of stars. In front of me is an ocean full of waves. Beneath me are a million grains of sand that used to be rock. That ocean I love so much beat rocks into sand. I'm afraid that's what I've done to you."
I LOVED the salvage yard scenes. The unique relationship Sadie formed with the yard’s endearingly cantankerous owner was one of the most profound and believable parts of the book, in this reader’s opinion. A close second was Sadie’s devoted and remarkably healthy relationship with her parents—a dynamic that’s almost a novelty in the young adult genre.
The author beautifully captures the essence of growing up with the beach as your stomping ground. The amount of detail put into the scenery and ocean-based activities was hugely enriching to the overall feel, and leant itself well to the atmospheric authenticity.
What Didn’t Work For Me:
While I loved the idea of sprinkling in a number of Sadie’s emails to Max over the course of the year to demonstrate how their pen-pal-ish relationship grew, it was disappointing to not be allowed a look at any of Max’s written correspondence. A few pertinent things could be derived from the one-sided conversations readers are privy to, but it sat more like a lost opportunity to get to know Max.
On a related note, the romantic angle seemed a bit detached. Readers may have some trouble buying Max and Sadie’s chemistry once they do come together.
This reader was strongly impacted by the author’s debut book, Faking Normal, and was somewhat relieved to see her second work take on a slightly lighter tone. The telling carries along well enough for the first 30%, propelled by the visceral degree of Sadie’s social struggles and physical/emotional scarring—along with the anticipation of her finally seeing Max again in person after a year of forming deep and romantic interest via email. From there though, the momentum did some dragging.
The ‘big reveal’ comes in the form of two vaguely related secrets that certain members of the group have been keeping from each other—mainly, because they didn’t feel they were their secrets to share. But the seriousness of these two bits of information ultimately felt underwhelming; bordering on melodramatic. And the tension wasn’t much enhanced by finally learning which of Sadie’s friends had been sending her anonymous letters containing her own stolen diary-like quotes. In that way, this quote sums up the conflict succinctly: “Sometimes a small thing is bigger than a big thing.”
A solid pick for readers interested in stories about loss, forgiveness, emotional healing, tight-knit friendship groups, and the impermanent tenuousness of teenage romance.
sigfig's review against another edition
4.0
read in one sitting till 2 am so that's tells you something