Tuesday, December 1, 2015

The Lies About Truth: Characters and More Characters

Title: The Lies About Truth
Author: Courtney C Stevens
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Source: HarperTeen via Edelweiss
Goodreads








Sadie Kingston, is a girl living in the aftermath. A year after surviving a car accident that killed her friend Trent and left her body and face scarred, she can’t move forward. The only person who seems to understand her is Trent’s brother, Max.

As Sadie begins to fall for Max, she's unsure if she is truly healed enough to be with him — even if Max is able to look at her scars and not shy away. But when the truth about the accident and subsequent events comes to light, Sadie has to decide if she can embrace the future or if she'll always be trapped in the past.
Review by Nara

Aaand with this book Courtney C. Stevens has landed herself a spot in my list of auto-buy authors. Congratulations, Courtney! You know what she's really good at?
Characters.
Characters that aren't one dimensional, no matter how minor they are. Characters who can recognise themselves as flawed but aren't able to take that step to change themselves. Characters who support others knowing that they're guilty. Characters that inspire, that embolden, that frustrate, that make you swoon.

Characters.

So the first character that needs to be talked about is our protagonist, Sadie Kingston. I have to admit, she's pretty frustrating at times. It's kind of like you're sitting there mentally willing her to be brave and have the confidence to do the things she used to do. Obviously that's easy to do as an observer, but it's interesting because she herself is also frustrated by how she's unable to make progress for a decent portion of the book. On the other hand, when she does take those small steps, you feel strangely proud of her and eagerly await what comes next. I also loved how her parents are very visible throughout the novel- very visible and very supportive. Too often, contemporary YAs forget that parents are often a big part of who people are.

And of course we need to mention the love interest, Max. Gahhh, the nice ones always get me! Max is seriously adorable, and the way he's so supportive of Sadie is one of my favourite things about this book. I have to admit, often the thing that'll tip a contemporary over into "incredible" territory for me is the love interest. Sue me. I'm not going to say much more about Max so you can all meet him yourselves.

Gina and Gray. Two characters who you blame along with Sadie from the beginning. But as the story unfolds, you realise there is more to their stories than what's been revealed to you, and you realise that each character is not good or evil. There is no "them vs us". All of the characters have their reasons for what they've done, and all of the characters have their reasons why they should be forgiven.

Overall, if you're a fan of character-driven novels, I think you'll enjoy The Lies About Truth very much. While the story isn't the most original, all of the characters are wonderfully developed and the romance is pretty swoon-worthy. Definitely recommended.

Incredible
Ratings
Overall: 9/10
Plot: 4.5/5
Romance: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 4/5