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A review by bookedwithannie
Nothing But the Truth by Holly James
4.0
I freaking loved this book! The first few chapters had me coming to life, the middle was gripping and fast-paced, and the end was nicely wrapped up without being too sugary. It was fairly close to perfection and I will absolutely be recommending this book to everyone I know, and closely watching for Holly James' next work.
In a surprising twist on the 1990's classic Liar, Liar with Jim Carey, our MC Lucy makes a wish on the eve of her thirtieth birthday that the following day be "the perfect day". As we all know with wish stories, sometimes the universe takes things too literally and rarely answers our wishes in the way we think they would come true. What follows is the twenty-four hours where Lucy cannot lie. While this does pose slight complications with her chosen profession in publicity, James takes a twist on this narrative to focus more on the lies we tell ourselves, especially as women. Lucy admits she doesn't want to go to spin class because she doesn't actually enjoy it; she doesn't want to wear spanx, and put on makeup, and torture her feet all day in stilettos; she wants to wear something comfortable, she wants to eat something that makes her feel full, she wants to dismantle the patriarchy.
This story is a feminist, patriarchy burning dream, and one I simply enjoyed so so much. I will caution readers that there is a large portion of the story dedicated to workplace sexual harassment, so if this is a trigger for you, please tread lightly.
I did think that the workplace situation took over the story for too long though and since I wasn't expecting that plot point at all, it took a bit away from the overall experience. In order to do that portion of the story justice, it had to be thoroughly developed which I do think James did, but it took over the overarching story IMO and once it finally subsided I was like "oh right, this wasn't just about workplace harassment". The only reason I downrated this from five stars, though I would say it was still closer to 4.5 for me.
Otherwise, I simply loved this book and cannot wait for other readers to find Lucy and her story. thank you to Netgalley and Dutton books for an eARC of this story.
In a surprising twist on the 1990's classic Liar, Liar with Jim Carey, our MC Lucy makes a wish on the eve of her thirtieth birthday that the following day be "the perfect day". As we all know with wish stories, sometimes the universe takes things too literally and rarely answers our wishes in the way we think they would come true. What follows is the twenty-four hours where Lucy cannot lie. While this does pose slight complications with her chosen profession in publicity, James takes a twist on this narrative to focus more on the lies we tell ourselves, especially as women. Lucy admits she doesn't want to go to spin class because she doesn't actually enjoy it; she doesn't want to wear spanx, and put on makeup, and torture her feet all day in stilettos; she wants to wear something comfortable, she wants to eat something that makes her feel full, she wants to dismantle the patriarchy.
This story is a feminist, patriarchy burning dream, and one I simply enjoyed so so much. I will caution readers that there is a large portion of the story dedicated to workplace sexual harassment, so if this is a trigger for you, please tread lightly.
I did think that the workplace situation took over the story for too long though and since I wasn't expecting that plot point at all, it took a bit away from the overall experience. In order to do that portion of the story justice, it had to be thoroughly developed which I do think James did, but it took over the overarching story IMO and once it finally subsided I was like "oh right, this wasn't just about workplace harassment". The only reason I downrated this from five stars, though I would say it was still closer to 4.5 for me.
Otherwise, I simply loved this book and cannot wait for other readers to find Lucy and her story. thank you to Netgalley and Dutton books for an eARC of this story.