This book begun with the line "The air is dead with the stench of blood. Mine. His." and that line in itself had me gripped to the story. My heart was breaking for Seelie; she is arrested and put on trial where she is made out to be a murderer, when in fact what she did was in self-defense, and to keep herself alive. This book handles victim blaming perfectly (unlike another book I recently read) and even though she is terrorised by her high school peers and branded a murderer, she has friends who stick by her and she is given a fair trial.

It is clear from the beginning that she does not have much of a relationship with her mum, which from what I gather is because of a mix of her mum never really seeming to be there for her, which isn't helped by her father dying previous to the events of the book. She also doesn't have many friends, but the three friends she does have are fiercely loyal and are there for her through the entire process of the trial.

Some of the subjects brought up in the story are quite dark for a YA novel but the way the author has written them is perfect. A little over half way through there is something revealed, which I had an inkling about, and that, as well as the whole court proceedings show how much time the author put into researching before writing this book. The ending had me crying and I'm so glad I read this book. The release date (according to Amazon) in the UK for this is 2nd October for Kindle format, and 1st November for paperback - I highly recommend this book!

This book is just so good. It has that special voice that YA books are made great by—somewhere between wide-eyed innocence and invincibility, but not naïveté. The characters are a little rough around the edges and are at that age where the world still shapes them, but they’re coming to the realization that they can shape the world as well. These characters are relatable and able to make you enjoy a story that is far too realistic than anyone wants to realize. This story makes you feel the anger and sadness you should, but it also makes it impossible for you not to smile as well. This book could have dove deeper into all of the topics of the storyline, but it wouldn’t have been YA anymore. The story is just right in its style for this genre and still manages to convey so many great lessons for young people, and old alike. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and fell in love with the faction!

This book was a great, shortish read. It really gripped me and I read it in one sitting. The characters were realistic and had a good amount of depth as well as personality. I found the last couple of chapters slightly rushed and I would have welcomed more details on the court case but as this is a book aimed at younger readers, this was appropriate and understandable. By the end of the booking I was firmly rooting for Seelie and I loved the ending!

This was an intense story that had me turning the pages as fast as I could. I read it in a day! The story begins with a violent crime that Seelie gets charged with, even though she was acting in self defense. It happens at the stables she works at, with the basketball star from her school.

Seelie is a tough, independent seventeen year old, just trying to survive high school when this turns her entire world upside down. With all that she is going through in the story I kept thinking, I would not be able to be as strong.

I really admired her strength in the story and the relationship she had with her three friends. Seelie isn’t the popular girl in school, but instead has a small group of friends that are basically her entire support system.

Once she is released on bail with an ankle bracelet she has to continue attending her small town high school where she is anything but popular. High school is hard enough, but when your charged with murdering the basketball star from your school? It’s beyond imaginable.

This was a powerful story and a quick YA read, I definitely enjoyed it!

My Whole Truth by Mischa Thrace

This is a story about a young girl named Seelie Stanton who called 911 from a horse barn and informed the police that she had been attacked by Shane Mayfield. She stated that she hit him with a mallet also. The issue now is Shane is found dead and his father is a judge. So now Seelie is accused of murder. Seelie has a group of friends that call themselves the faction and they are with her through everything. The only thing is, did Seelie tell the whole truth? The reader will find out the answer and it is not exactly what you expected. The writer does a great job with the characters and the flaws that make them real. You will want to beat Seelie by the time it is through but she is a teenager. I recommend this book highly.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

5 stars ⭐️ out of 5

I'm between 3.5 and 4 out of 5 stars on this story. I will have a full review posted closer to the publishing date on site and all other sits listed on here (plus I JUST -as in today- built a facebook page for Novellives.com- depending on if its ready- it'll post there as well)

Overall I thought it was an excellent book. The writing was fantastic. I really had fallen into a rut of surface, lazy writing when it came to fiction young adult books that were fantasy. This broke me out of that mold (thank you). As you know from twitter, I loved the dedication and the book definitely stayed true to that.

The one thing that really stuck in my side that is making me think on the star review is the mom. I just. She's so stereotypical of the rich working mom. I know they exist. I'm thankful mine wasn't one but still. Even in writing a parental archetype that exists, I feel like it could've been done in a way that wasn't quite so over the type that she ends up taking away from what otherwise is such an excellent story arch and book. It is easy to see why Seely would feel the fear of what she did and blame herself with a mother like she has. There was no reason to play it over-the-top. Trust your readers to get it without making it that obvious.


You have the writing chops to do it with a subtle nastiness that would have kept the consistency of the edginess this book embeds. Otherwise it is an amazing and brilliant debut. I am going to let it settle a bit, go back through it and write up my full review closer to the publishing date and then donate the book to the library.

Thank you again for sending the hard copy arc! It was a huge huge help! I was able to write a blog read a whole book and then read 1/2 of My Whole Truth in one day- finish it the next and write down my notes for this part of my initial thoughts without all the undue side effects. That is so much more me as a reader/writer. And it helps so much of my stress/anxiety/add. THANK YOU!

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have in the meantime!

I had pretty low expectations going into this one, but I ended up LOVING it. It's always super refreshing to see a queer relationship (or a queer person at all) in a non contemporary book, especially it being F/F. This book was extraordinary thrilling as we followed the trail following the main character's attack, and give a perspective not often brought to light.

I am going to give this 4 stars though because I had issues with how the love interest crossed a few boundaries towards the end.

This is definitely a book that I won't forget in the near future.

A tale of two halves. Guilty or Innocent? That's the premise of this hard hitting novel.
Seelie is just your average teenager and in a moment, her whole life changes.
She killed a boy in order to save herself, but will it be this decision that ultimately causes her demise?

My Whole Truth is a psychological, contemporary novel that both intrigues and shocks.



Overall, I enjoyed the premise of the book and upon reading the blurb felt it had a lot of potential.
I loved the diversity in the book, Thrace managed to cover a LOT, from a lesbian relationship, gay parents, religion, and sexual assault (to name a few). I did however, find that because there was so much crammed in, each subject wasn't explored as thoroughly as they could be which left me wanting more. Quality over Quantity comes to mind with this book.
I was also really confused with Seelies relationship with her mum. I wish there was more back story.. why didn't they have a good relationship? Was there relationship always like this? So many unanswered questions! It also bugged me how Seelie never even gave her mum a chance, and shot her down at every single opportunity without even giving her a chance. Again, I think if there was more of a backstory or explanation maybe this wouldn't have irked me so much.
Saying this, I really enjoyed the relationships Seelie had with "the faction". They seemed to take the place of her family and lots of issues were raised within the group. I felt because so much was going on, and so there were so many subplots, that it all seemed a bit underdeveloped, and a lot of it had no relevance to the main story either.
My biggest issue with this novel were the technical inaccuracies. So many issues with the portrayal of the police, how they dealt with the case and questions that were never asked (which would never happen in real life, and I feel it painted the police in a bad way). Also, what type of murder case only lasts one day in court?? Completely unrealistic.

Saying this, I did actually enjoy the story as a whole, and it definitely kept me reading. I think it just needed to focus on less subplots, and fill out the main plots and characters instead.

My Whole Truth is absolutely stunning. The novel drops you right into it’s premise, as it follows Seelie, a 17 year old girl who is attacked by a boy who goes to her school. It’s completely gripping, even more so when it develops into a victim who is demonised for her actions caused by her instinct to survive.

It’s a tough book, there are no two ways about it, especially when Seelie is bullied by almost everyone in her life as a cause of what someone else has done to her. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as My Whole Truth showcases a wonderful central friendship that is able to tough out everything that is thrown at it.

I really felt for Seelie and she was a wonderful protagonist. The only qualm I have is that the trial section was unbelievably short and somewhat rushed, but the journey there made this almost worth it.

My Whole True is an excellent book and I urge anyone and everyone to read it.

I enjoy reading a really good YA book every now and then and this book did not disappoint. Cecelia "Seelie" Stanton was attacked in the hayloft of the barn where she was taking care of the horses. Seelie ended up killing Shane Mayfield, a known drug user and a bully. Seelie received serious injuries during the attack and was subsequently arrested and charged with murder. Seeley and her 3 friends who refer to themselves as "The Faction" and are a very strange bunch of characters. All of the characters with the exception of Cara, Seeley's lawyer, are very unlikable. Even with all the unlikable characters, this was a fast-paced easy read and I really enjoyed. At the end of the book, I still did not like any of the characters except for Cara.

Seelie, a seventeen year old, is brutally attacked by twenty-one year old Shane and she kills him in, what she believes, self-defense. At least until she is arrested for his murder.

The book begins with a ton of suspense, but kind of fizzles out, at least for me. Seelie is not very well developed as is her poor relationship with her mother, which is a recurring theme in the book. I didn't feel as though most of the story was realistic and it really hurt my view of the book.

I really enjoyed this YA novel written about a 17 year old girl who was attacked and killed her attacker. Given the status of her attacker (popular kid) and his dad is a Judge, we see Seelie put through the ringer as she is tried for murder as opposed to self defence, what an emotional rollercoaster, fast paced full of twists and turns, I’m still thinking about it.

Many thanks to Netgalley and North Star Editions for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Featuring themes of physical violence, sexual assault, victim blaming, absentee parenting, crooked politicians/cops, and more, this book is a difficult and emotional read. But it is absolutely true to this day in age, and I could see everything that happened happening right now. A teen is attacked, and in defending herself, kills her attacker. The only problem is that her attacker happened to be the son of a prominent local judge. Her troubles get worse from there as she's arrested for murder and the whole town seems to turn on her. Thrace is a excellent writer, weaving twists and turns into the story. Highly recommended if you can handle the frustration and details of the assault and the attack.

I finished this book in one day. So hard to put down with all the twists! The characters were great. This author quickly became a favorite for me.
Thank you to netgalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Holy crap!!!! I read this book in 3 hours, I could not put it down. And the unexpected twist at the end was the perfect thing to add to the story. All the characters were written flawlessly, kept to their character, and the story and plot flowed really well. I would buy this book for sure. I’m adding this author to my list of favorite authors.

My Whole Truth Read like an episode of a law show - we got to see all sides of a case, and see justice be fought for a survivor. I really enjoyed this young adult novel, a solid story about a girl who did all she could to protect herself from a boy that was attacking her. There were a few small surprises along the way, but the book ended pretty much like I’d predicted. I appreciate the diversity of these characters and I loved the faction group of friends - that tight-knit group of teens that protect each other, judgments aside. I really enjoyed this read, and recommend for anyone that loves a good case of law and order.

Loved this book, even when I was not reading it I kept thinking about it and couldn’t wait to pick it up again, hence I finished it in a day. Would definitely recommend to others and can’t wait to read other titles from this author.

I enjoyed this young adult book. The opening had me hooked, then the story did seem to lull a bit. Some characters were believable, some had surprising issues, & some seemed pointless. Overall though I do recommend this book to someone who can keep an open mind

Seelie seems to be a normal teenager when the unthinkable happens: she is attacked by the older brother of classmate, and in self defense, she kills him.

Her mom seems out of touch with reality and seems to really only care about her restaurant, which only makes matters worse.

Seelie has a tight-knit group of friends, who she counts on daily, in her mom's absence. She has feeling for one (female), and a surprising truth comes to light about the lone male (Finn) of their group.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. Thank you to Flux/NetGalley/and the author for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Title: My Whole Truth
Author: Mischa Thrace
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary/Thriller(?)
Publisher: Flux
Publication Date: October 2, 2018
Format: eARC
Length: 242 pages
ISBN-10: 1635830249
ISBN-13: 9781635830248

Series or Standalone: Standalone

Literary Awards:
N/A

Themes: LGBTQ+?, Friendship, Parental Relationships
POV: Single 1st person
Tense: Present

Why I Read It: Provided for free through netgalley, saw the blurb and requested.

Reviewer: Nick Morgan

Review:

So, I was really excited for this book. The whole alleged murderer who definitely killed the guy premise is really interesting, if not unique. There’s a lot of interesting psychological stuff to explore there, besides the whole trial and community reaction thing.

But the book fails to deliver. Not only does that cover copy give away basically all the twists in the story, but the community reaction, and the behavior of the cops, and the character’s way out are cliché and cheaply handled. There’s pretty much no effort on the character’s part, or internal drive. She’s a main character, but not a protagonist in the sense of driving the story in any way. Her only two major decisions are both stupid and have no consequences.

The book does a terrible job handling the police aspects and the courtroom drama. The way the authorities act is nonsensical and probably even against procedure in most police departments and courts. They seem to be playing hack-sack with the idiot ball in order to allow for *stunning “reveals”. The first major reveal is clearly spoiled in the teaser and would be incredibly obvious even if it hadn’t been, and it’s very unbelievable that none of the authorities even suspected that it happened given the nature of the crime she is accused of and her behavior after.

The character’s friends are implied to be the most important aspect of the story, but their actions make no sense and are often very clearly rigged by the author for cheap melodrama. There was absolutely zero interesting stuff going on there, and that includes the so-called “crush” mentioned in the teaser.

In other reviews I saw a lot of criticisms about how the story handled the character’s relationship with her mother. I actually thought that this was not an issue, excepting only that like every other part of the story it was criminally-underdeveloped. The broad strokes were perfectly believable given the situation, but the author failed to add the detail work that makes it interesting.

There are two betrayals in the book, and both of them were bring because the author again failed to move beyond broad strokes. The first was out of nowhere and also forgiven waaaaaay to easily, in my opinion. I couldn’t believe the MC would get over it so quickly if at all. The second was not particularly surprising, but again, it felt like a massive authorial intrusion because the author did no build-up or support ahead of time, and in fact implied the character would feel almost the exact opposite way. Without going into spoilers, this part of the plot had a great deal of potential for very interesting character drama and some incredible nuance around friendship and also around the betraying character’s personal beliefs. It would have been not only very topical, which seemed to be the author’s goal with this story in general, but also very interesting to read and illustrative of a lot of the themes and issues around friendship in our society. An opportunity to actually show that the characters were as close as the author was obviously trying to portray them as. Both these plot points could have been masterfully-carved gems in the crown of this story, but instead were more likely really shitty repair welds in damaged antique jewelry that end up lowering the value significantly.

The depiction of the community response to the attack and subsequent killing was also disappointing. Very bare bones, and some incredibly odd behavior on the part of the school the character went to. Especially a particular teacher who says one thing and acts very differently. The one realistic aspect was how badly the administration was out of its depth in responding to having an accused murderer at school. That would have been a really cool thing to explore in the novel, but like everything else it felt under-utilized.

Overall, the greatest flaw of My Whole Truth was that the author failed to provide any depth to any aspect of the novel whatsoever, and that’s why its getting one of my very rare 1 1/2 star equivalent ratings. There are so many better novels touching on this subject matter out there, and no point in wasting your time on such a disappointing entry to the category.

Conclusion: 48/100 (More like an outline than a novel)
Premise: 7/10 (Interesting idea poorly executed)
Plot: 4/10 (Lots of plot holes, too predictable)
Setting: 6/10 (Well-drawn)
Main Character: 5/10 (Shallowly depicted and boring)
Technical 5/10 (Lots of technical mistakes in police and hospital procedure)
Suspense 4/10 ()
Supporting Characters: 5/10 (Shallowly drawn and no enjoyable)
Writing: 6/10 (Competent from a technical perspective)
Themes: 4/10 (Under-served and in your face)
Resolution: 5/10 (Boring and nonsensical)

Buy Or Borrow: Borrow if you plan to read it at all. It just didn’t feel good enough to be worth paying for.