Review- Where The Truth Lies by Jessica Warman

Where The Truth Lies by Jessica Warman

Published: September 2010

Publisher: Walker & Company

Pages: 320 pages

Source: Library
Series: Standalone book

Rating from A+ to F: I gave this book an A-! You can find why with the rating analysis at the end of my review, with a parental review.

-Summary-

On the surface, Emily Meckler leads the perfect life. She has three best friends, two loving parents, and the ideal setup at the Connecticut prep school where her father is the headmaster. But Emily also suffers from devastating nightmares about fire and water, and nobody knows why. Then the enigmatic Del Sugar enters her life, and Emily is immediately swept away—but her passionate relationship with Del is just the first of many things that aren't quite what they seem in Emily's life. As the lies she's been told start to unravel, Emily must set out to discover the truth regarding her nightmare; on a journey that will lead her to question everything she thought she knew about love, family, and her own idyllic past.

This companion novel to Warman's critically acclaimed Breathless proves that sometimes the biggest lies are told to the people you love the most.

-Review-

Where The Truth Lies is definitely a book with a heavy message. I had no idea the message of this book until about halfway into it, and I have to say it was beautifully written even considering the main idea of the story. (I can't tell you what that message is since it would be a spoiler, but you have to figure out for yourself by reading it!) This book is definitely a thrilling page-turner and I had to find out what happens as soon as I got into it.

When you first begin to read this book, you find Emily to be the perfect girl, living at a boarding school where her father is the headmaster. Emily has a great life, except for her nightmares which fill her dreams with horror. Whenever she has these nightmares, they seem so familiar to her, but she can't place where they come from. So, basically readers are led onto thinking the main problem in the book is the nightmares, but you'll find out as you read it...it isn't. That's just a side problem. Emily learns secrets and lies, but she also has secrets of her own. When she meets Del Sugar, everything changes in her life and Emily is faced with things she doesn't know how to handle.

I guarantee that you won't be disappointed by this book, with wonderful writing from Jessica Warman.

RATING ANALYSIS:
1. Plot-18 out of 20 points.
2. Characters-15 out of 15 points. The characters were well-developed in the story.
3. Writing-20 out of 20 points. Beautiful writing!
4. Creativity-14 out of 15 points.
5. Originality- 6 out of 10 points. Not a very original book, I could think of a few books like it, but that was my only problem with the book.
6. Ending-14 out of 15 points.
7. Cover- 5 out of 5 points. Really pretty cover!
Equals: 92!

PARENTAL REVIEW:
Violence
Mild/Excessive Cursing
Mild/Excessive Sexual Content
Drug/Alcohol Use- You will find a few pages with drug use in this book.
I'd recommend this book to ages 14 and older.