Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it’s stopped mattering whether it’s true.
The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault.
 Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it.
Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

****

I read TTAA in less than five hours. It's a very quick, very engaging read that I could not put down. 

I was firstly blown away at how fluid and dynamic this book was. It's told from the POV's of multiple characters, both boys and girls. Each characters' personality came through and differed from the last. From the first sentences, you could see that each character had a different though process, a different way of speaking from the last. I especially loved how the author portrayed the boys. From experience, when female authors write from a male's perspective, it doesn't always work out. However, Mathieu did an excellent job at making the teenage boys actually sound like teenage boys. 

What I found interesting about this book that it isn't simply a story about some mean girls in high school. There are definitely elements of that, but the story goes so much deeper. As we found out more about each character, it became clear that not everything was so black and white. This doesn't mean to say that these people don't make bad choices, but in the end, they're teenagers and simply human. Even Alice herself, who is the victim of the story, isn't a complete angel. What I liked about that is that it made the book and its situation entirely more real, and gave it a huge amount of depth due to its honesty. 

"If you give people enough time, eventually they'll do the most heartbreaking stuff in the world."

This book kept me guessing and thinking the entire way through. I liked figuring out each character and coming to realise why they behaved in particular ways. 

A thoroughly enjoyable, fast paced read with complicated and flawed characters. It was a real breath of fresh air to read such honest and realistic characters. 

The Truth About Alice comes out June 3rd. 

Pre-order it on
Amazon

Jennifer Mathieu 
Website
Twitter
Facebook


*I'd like to give a huge thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this book*