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heykellyjensen 's review for:
To Be Perfectly Honest: A Novel Based on an Untrue Story
by Sonya Sones
Colette's mother is a movie star, and this summer, she's shuffling Colette and her little brother away from their home and the promise summer in Paris to a small town in California where she's filming her next movie. Colette's beyond bummed about this, but when she meets Connor, she starts to sing a little bit of a different tune. Maybe it won't be so bad when there's a cute boy around.
Something to know about Colette: she's a liar. She lies about everything. And it's not that she's an unreliable narrator. She's completely reliable -- if you accept she's a liar.
Colette and Connor are in lovvveee or so it feels. And when Colette tells her mother she needs alone time with Connor, away from her brother, her mother grants this wish to her. She even leaves a box of condoms, in order for them to be truly safe.
But Colette's not ready for that quite yet. Even though she's told Connor she's 18 (she's not -- she's 15) and that she's experiences (she's not -- she's a virgin), when the time comes for them to take their relationship somewhere more physical, she takes a stand and says no.
That's when Connor gets back at her for her lies.
He wants to get with Colette so badly, he tells her he has cancer. He goes as far as to make himself look sick -- a slick little trick Colette herself has tried in order to get attention. As a reader, I had a suspicion he was lying about this. But Colette is none the wiser, nor would she be. He's convincing! His head is bald. He looks sick.
It's all a rouse so he can get her to sleep with him. And yes, it's a big charade for a sexual encounter, but as he tells her later, he's gone further. It was a conquest for him. To make it more disturbing, he's not 18 like he claims.
He's 21.
Since no sex goes down -- Colette figures him out before it could happen -- there's no rape, no charges. But she wants to get back and get even.
Except, Colette comes around before the big "gotcha" happens.
The turnaround in Colette is believable and I was appreciative of it. I didn't love her as a character but that's why I was compelled by her. In fact, when she was prepared to take Connor for a ride herself, I was really invested. Would she REALLY go through with her plans or was this a rouse on us, as readers?
I felt the end of this book was almost a cheap way out of the story. But I had to remember the main character is 15 -- just turned 16 at that point -- and so it was less of a cheap way out and more of a realistic way out of HER story. I believe her and it, even if it wasn't my favorite ending.
Sones masters verse novels. This is how verse WORKS. It plays with the story, and it tells enough, leaving enough UNSAID to make the reader wonder where and how Colette is leading us on. Her voice is spot on, and I thought the relationship she had with her learning-disabled younger brother was sweet and authentic. The wrap up with her mother and her mother's boyfriend was a little schmaltzy for me, but it was believable in context of the story.
This one is for YA readers who like challenging characters, who like verse novels, and who are good with "tough" topics like sex, drugs, and drinking in their books. Even though Colette is on the younger side, this is one to hand to younger teen readers only if they're ready and like those topics tackled in their books (and many do!). I wouldn't put this on the level of Ellen Hopkins in terms of content, but I'd say it's a stepping stone to readers who will go to Hopkins down the road.
Longer review to come!
Something to know about Colette: she's a liar. She lies about everything. And it's not that she's an unreliable narrator. She's completely reliable -- if you accept she's a liar.
Colette and Connor are in lovvveee or so it feels. And when Colette tells her mother she needs alone time with Connor, away from her brother, her mother grants this wish to her. She even leaves a box of condoms, in order for them to be truly safe.
But Colette's not ready for that quite yet. Even though she's told Connor she's 18 (she's not -- she's 15) and that she's experiences (she's not -- she's a virgin), when the time comes for them to take their relationship somewhere more physical, she takes a stand and says no.
That's when Connor gets back at her for her lies.
It's all a rouse so he can get her to sleep with him. And yes, it's a big charade for a sexual encounter, but as he tells her later, he's gone further. It was a conquest for him. To make it more disturbing, he's not 18 like he claims.
He's 21.
Since no sex goes down -- Colette figures him out before it could happen -- there's no rape, no charges. But she wants to get back and get even.
Except, Colette comes around before the big "gotcha" happens.
The turnaround in Colette is believable and I was appreciative of it. I didn't love her as a character but that's why I was compelled by her. In fact, when she was prepared to take Connor for a ride herself, I was really invested. Would she REALLY go through with her plans or was this a rouse on us, as readers?
Spoiler
And in the end, we don't really know.I felt the end of this book was almost a cheap way out of the story. But I had to remember the main character is 15 -- just turned 16 at that point -- and so it was less of a cheap way out and more of a realistic way out of HER story. I believe her and it, even if it wasn't my favorite ending.
Sones masters verse novels. This is how verse WORKS. It plays with the story, and it tells enough, leaving enough UNSAID to make the reader wonder where and how Colette is leading us on. Her voice is spot on, and I thought the relationship she had with her learning-disabled younger brother was sweet and authentic. The wrap up with her mother and her mother's boyfriend was a little schmaltzy for me, but it was believable in context of the story.
This one is for YA readers who like challenging characters, who like verse novels, and who are good with "tough" topics like sex, drugs, and drinking in their books. Even though Colette is on the younger side, this is one to hand to younger teen readers only if they're ready and like those topics tackled in their books (and many do!). I wouldn't put this on the level of Ellen Hopkins in terms of content, but I'd say it's a stepping stone to readers who will go to Hopkins down the road.
Longer review to come!