This is Courtney C. Stevens’s sophomore novel and can I just say that it was amazing. I actually read this one before I read her first one, but I believe that both of them are equally powerful and filled with memorable characters. Stevens is a beautiful writer, and her ability to craft words so effortlessly is a rare talent to say the least. “Faking Normal” was a devastating book to say the least. I also found that “The Lies About Truth” was just as tragic in a different sort of way. Obviously, Courtney is tackling very different topics in both of these novels, but they both deal with truly realistic subject matter.
“The Lies About Truth” follows a girl named Sadie, who is now dealing with both physical and emotional scars from a car accident that killed her best friend, Trent. While recovering, Sadie starts up with a close relationship through emails with his brother Max, until he comes back to the town. During this time, Sadie must begin to heal emotionally, and accept what happened to Trent. Max is a serious help to Sadie, as he helps her find her way back to some sort of normalcy in her life.
I feel like the best way to start out talking about the characters is by saying that I absolutely love Max. He’s charming, understanding, and he accepts Sadie for all of her scars. I found it very clever that they interacted through emails at the beginning of the novel. It showed us how the two were becoming acquainted in a different way, besides Sadie simply viewing him as her friend’s brother. I enjoyed Sadie’s character as well. I truly sympathized with her during this difficult time for her. I found the part about her struggling to drive again after the accident to be extremely well done and realistic. She struggled with some of your basic things due to the loss of her friend, which makes so much sense if you really think about it. I didn’t love the other characters that were in the friend group with Sadie, Max, and Trent. There wasn’t anything wrong with them exactly, they just weren’t all that memorable. In my opinion, Sadie should have been with Max from the beginning, but that’s just me!
As for the story, I was surprised by some of the minor but still important twists in the story. For instance, there was a truth about Trent that I really wasn’t expecting. Throughout the novel, I was curious about how Trent viewed Sadie, and it’s surprising once that question is finally answered! Trent seemed like such a lively and spirited character, and his death was seriously tragic. But I also loved getting to see how those closest to him got past his death and made their way towards happiness. It was a beautiful book that certainly left a pretty huge impact on me personally!
RATING: 10/10
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