Spotlight Review: All of This Is True: A Novel


All Of This Is True: A Novel by Lygia Day Peñaflor (May 15)
Overview: When bestselling author Fatima Ro's new book hits the shelves, of course her biggest (and best) fans are going to want to read it... until they realize its the thinly veiled story of the past few months of their lives complete with details that got their best friend Jonah beat into a coma. In the media frenzy that follows, the girls each take their turn at telling their own sides of the story. Overall: 5

Characters: 5  Peñaflor has written quite the cast to fill her larger than life story, and they all play their roles perfectly. We probably get to know famed author Fatima Ro best, even though we never get to really see her side of the story beyond excerpts from her second novel. But the girls work together to shape the image of the young, intelligent, open minded author who welcomed them into their lives with accuracy. By the end of the novel, the reader realizes they would have fallen for Fatima's tricks too.
The two girls who do most of the telling are Miri and Penny who both agree to be interviewed by the same journalist. Miri has defended Fatima through the media firestorm, even after the author abandons her. She insists that Fatima exposing Jonah's story was something he wanted, and that she was in no way responsible for what happened to him. Penny feels betrayed and angry. As the story progresses, though, the reader gets to uncover other, more interesting reasons for Penny's feelings.
The final major players in the story are Jonah and Soleil. While we never hear directly from either, Soleil releases her email correspondence with Fatima via the New York Post to show how the author used her for the plot of her next book. We find out about these two mostly from the bits and pieces of Fatima's novel where they, as Sunny and Brady, have their romance build and crumble.

Plot: 5 This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! I devoured the whole thing in two days waiting to see what came next in the twisted story of three popular prep school girls who befriend a mysterious author. While the concept could have easily gotten away from the author, Peñaflor added an amazing sense of grounding to a book that seems beyond the realms of reality.

Writing: 5 Wow. I would love to talk to the author about how she wrote this piece because it feels like a scrapbook of video clips, emails, and excerpts complied together to tell a real story. Every piece worked and flowed with the next and the interviews were written perfectly. I've always loved books in unconventional formats, and this story takes it to another level.

Links of Interest:
August And Everything After: Review Here
Royals: Review Here
The Lies They Tell: Review Here
The Infinite In Between: Review Here

*I received this book for free in advance thanks to Harper Teen in exchange for an honest review*
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