Review: The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens

The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens
Publisher: Harper Teen 
Publication Date: November 3rd 2015
My rating: 3 stars 

Sadie Kingston, is a girl living in the aftermath. A year after surviving a car accident that killed her friend Trent and left her body and face scarred, she can’t move forward. The only person who seems to understand her is Trent’s brother, Max. As Sadie begins to fall for Max, she's unsure if she is truly healed enough to be with him — even if Max is able to look at her scars and not shy away. But when the truth about the accident and subsequent events comes to light, Sadie has to decide if she can embrace the future or if she'll always be trapped in the past.

The Lies About Truth was a story I was really looking forward to after devouring Faking Normal last year. Stevens just has a way of weaving such a beautiful story that you find yourself thinking about it days afterwards. And that was exactly what happened with The Lies About Truth. Four friends found themselves in the most difficult situation after a horrific accident. And nearly a year later, Sadie, Max, Gray and Gina aren’t any closer to forgiveness, listening to one another, or finding the beautiful friendship that existed amongst them. It was sad to see just how separated people could become after one life changing event and how one said event could change things dramatically.

I loved the story that Stevens gave us in The Lies About Truth, there was so much to think about when it came to what happened and what turned everything upside down. That I appreciated Stevens giving us the story in smaller chunks, it was an awful lot to deal with in one go and so made the heartache to deal with that much more bearable. If I had to go through with what Sadie had been going through the past year I honestly wouldn’t know how I would cope. She had so much to deal with and then that little incident that took place afterwards brought things crashing down even more. She lost her faith and confidence in herself, and best friends that were meant to help her through this difficult time. But I’m glad to say that Sadie was able to find a friend in the least expected of places. Sadie knew Max as Trent’s younger brother and although she hadn’t been that close to him before. He was everything that she needed; he was caring, considerate, gave her the space to think things through, but most of all helped to slowly build her confidence back. It was a really tough journey for all of the characters to go through, and one that I knew that would take time for the scars and hurt to heal. But I sort of assumed that they had already been through so much, so I didn’t really expect the later revelations to be thrown in my face (highlight to view spoiler) the way we were given this story I’d assumed that Trent had loved Sadie more than a friend, I had never had guessed he was gay. 

Despite experiencing one of the toughest years in their life, I loved the way Stevens brought their story to a close, it really was the best way to the end their journey: through forgiveness and closure. The Lies About Truth really was a tough read at times, it was horrible when Sadie would recall a happy memory, but had such a difficult time dealing with it, as she was pretty much still going through the grieving process. But The Lies About Truth isn’t all about heartache and sadness, Stevens throws in neat little scenes which bring about rays of sunshine and make you believe there is hope and that things will get better.