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Review: All of This is True

Maybe I'm a little late to the party, but I'm here. My life has been so hectic the past few months that I didn't get my review up for this blog tour, and I sincerely apologize for the delay! HUGE thanks to Alice @ Arctic Books for hosting this tour, and to the author for providing the ARC.

ALL OF THIS IS TRUE by Lygia Day Peñaflor
Standalone
432 pages
Published by HarperTeen, May 15, 2018
Diversity: multiple leading characters of color
Rating:
CONTENT WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT

No matter how engaging this book was, I was consistently underwhelmed. I didn't think it was especially unpredictable, and I didn't care for most of the characters. I was expecting a lot more from this, especially considering all the hype it's gotten. However, if you're looking for a quick summer thriller that takes a unique perspective on the YA book world, this might be the book for you.

Even though I wasn't a fan of the book as a whole, I really enjoyed the different formats that the story was told in. There were interviews, excerpts from the book within a book, and journal entries, all of which lent their own unique perspective onto the plot. i'd love to see more stories told in similar ways!

As far as the major content warning is concerned: this book took an...interesting perspective on sexual assault, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's obviously supposed to make you think, and it certainly succeeded in that, but I felt kind of uncomfortable with the whole situation. I can't say much more without spoiling a major reveal (though it honestly wasn't much of a twist for me), so I'll leave it at that.
Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to meet the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her, even if her friends won’t admit it now. As for Jonah, well—Miri knows none of that was Fatima’s fault.

Soleil Johnston wanted to be a writer herself one day. When she and her friends started hanging out with her favorite author, Fatima Ro, she couldn’t believe their luck—especially when Jonah Nicholls started hanging out with them, too. Now, looking back, Soleil can’t believe she let Fatima manipulate her and Jonah like that. She can’t believe that she got used for a book.

Penny Panzarella was more than the materialistic party girl everyone at the Graham School thought she was. She desperately wanted Fatima Ro to see that, and she saw her chance when Fatima asked the girls to be transparent with her. If only she’d known what would happen when Fatima learned Jonah’s secret. If only she’d known that the line between fiction and truth was more complicated than any of them imagined...

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