Title: My Whole Truth
Author: Mischa Thrace
Genre: Contemporary
Target age group: YA
Dates read: 24/09/18 – 25/09/18
Rating: ★★★
Review:
This was a fairly good story let down by some rather repetitious storytelling and fairly flat character development.
When Seelie kills a man after he attacks her, she is forced into a trial by media (as well as school population), as well as coming up against the powoerful family of the man she killed. On top of that, her friendship group is changing and she is not sure how she will make it through.
And I’m going to say this, even though some might consider it a spoiler. Others may appreciate the warning. The attack on Seelie does involve her being raped. While this isn’t spoken about for quite a while in the book and I think it is sort of supposed to be a reveal, there are those who might find it triggering to suddenly get to that part of the book.
The thing that bothered me the most in this book is that when it came to the characters and their relationships, nothing ever changed. I know that is true to life, sometimes you just don’t get on with someone and that’s that. But in a book, I expect some kind of arc. This bothered me particularly when it came to the relationship between Seelie and her mother. I wouldn’t have minded whether they reconciled their differences a bit, or if Seelie had moved out in a huff, but it was just the same the whole book. There was also something that was revealed about one of her friends, and it never really came to much. I thought he was lucky that the rest of their group still considered him a friend at all, but instead, he kept expecting things of them.
I did really enjoy the relationship between Seelie and her best friend, Lyssa. Seelie’s crush on Lyssa wasn’t over-dramatic, but her fears about making a move and ruining the dynamic of their group rang true. I also liked the relationship that burgeoned between Seelie and her lawyer, Cara. At first, Seelie isn’t sure what to expect of a lawyer in her 20s who has a matching pair of heels for every outfit, but they develop a bond which turns into friendship after the trial.
Plot-wise, I thought this was a realistic depiction of the aftermath of such an assault. Things like a condition of bail being that Seelie return to school once her injuries have healed, even though everyone at school calls her a murderer, seemed especially likely. I did feel like there was some filler in there that could have been left out. The narration inside Seelie’s head often felt quite repetitive. Again, I’ve no doubt someone in Seelie’s situation would honestly have thoughts going around and around in circles, but it is not engaging for the reader.
Still, I think its valuable that these types of stories are beginning to be told more often, and I am grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy of this one.
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A Keyboard and an Open Mind 
Great review!
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