Lygia Day Penaflor

“Devious, delicious, and gasp-worthy.” (Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces) In this genre-defying page-turner from Lygia Day Peñaflor, four teens befriend their favorite YA novelist, only to find their deepest, darkest secrets in the pages of her next book—with devastating consequences. Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to hear the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her. 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. Penny Panzarella was more than the materialist party girl everyone at the Graham School thought she was—and she was willing to share all her secrets with Fatima Ro to prove it. Jonah Nicholls had more to hide than any of them. And now that Fatima’s next book is out in the world, he’s the one who is paying the price... Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying—and told as a series of interviews, journal entries, and even pages from the book within the book—this gripping story of a fictional scandal will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

All of This Is True: A Novel

Ryan 

3.5 stars

i don’t know how to really feel about it. this is going to take a while.

Caroline Oestergaard

This was good. Gripping, bingable, easy to read. Enjoyed the twists and turns in the storyline, but didn’t really like any of the characters. This is so well written though, you really get a sense of each person’s personality and the way you get each person’s perspective through emails, interviews and excerpts from the fictional book was absolutely brilliant and not something you see that often.

Tate

I found the writing of Fatima's character to be very interesting and it was her character that kept me actively engaged with the story. I have conflicting feelings about the other characters and the overall story.

Tiffany Robinson

I thought this book had an interesting premise and I liked how the story was told through interviews, journal entries, etc.

Jelke Lenaerts

Trigger warning for sexual violence/intimidation

I enjoyed this book but it was nothing special to me. Well, it was different from anything I’ve read before it just didn’t do much for me.

Nikki Sojkowski

All of This is True is an exquisitely complicated story about 4 high school students who meet and befriend their favorite author. A dream come true right? Until they become the main characters of said author’s next book! 

The whole novel is told through transcripts of video interviews, news articles, released text messages, and the author’s manuscript to divulge to the reader what might have gone down between these high schoolers and the author. This makes for a bit of a mystery read, you experience the story as if you were an interested party researching the story yourself via the internet. You never *truly* get a traditional book POV, instead you see and read public information. What’s true? That’s up to you!

Switching between the character’s ‘real’ names and book within the book names as a little confusing a first but was easy enough to latch on to. I love that you get the most insight into the characters through the author’s manuscript, which is not necessarily what happened or what the characters were actually thinking. So your thoughts on all of the events going on are heavily influenced, and the ending needs to be taken with a grain of salt. 

This will keep you on your toes and questioning everything you’re told- All of This is True was such a uniquely creative read and I would recommend it to everyone!

All of This Is True: A Novel

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