"The air is dead with the stench of blood.
Mine.
His."

When a book starts with a paragraph like that, I know I am in trouble because I am SOLD!!

My Whole Truth is a YA suspense novel about a 17-year- old Seelie who is brutally attacked by a 21-year-old Shane and kills him in self-defence. Or at least that's what it seems until she is arrested for murder.

Seelie does not have many friends but she has three very close ones - Lyssa, Finn and Ashlyn. The foursome looks to be unseparable at first but as new facts come to life, little cracks in their friendship start to appear.

The main premise of the book is a murder story but my heart went out to the relationships between the four characters. I was intrigued to discover their stories and secrets. And secrets there were! This book pulled me in and didn't let go until the last page. I will definitely watch out for the next Mischa Thrace novel.

4.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Flux for providing me with a free e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the premise of this story! It selves into places that the world tries to ignore and I am so happy that Netgalley and Flux gave me the opportunity with this DRC. The writing style was easy to follow and was a very heavy read that I was able flow through quite easily.

I am of an unpopular opinion here: I did not enjoy this book as a whole.

What I DID like was the friend group our main character is a part of, though I had trouble keeping track of which female was which because aside from Ashlyn's religious beliefs, she didn't have much of a personality. I loved Lyssa and Finn however, and the camaraderie among the group.

I had a lot of trouble with this book.

In general, being in the dark about something that happened before the book started doesn't bother me because I like being thrown right into the action. The caveat to this for me is when our main character knows something we don't know and just doesn't tell us. It got real old real fast for me that Seelie was keeping something not only from the reader but from literally everyone, especially something that changed the entire nature of her case (no spoilers-- if you want to read my rant about this book including spoilers, you can check out my Goodreads review here).

On the whole, I understand Seelie's relationship with her mother but it continuously rubbed me the wrong way because it seemed to me that no matter what her mom did, Seelie wouldn't accept that maybe she actually cared or was concerned. I feel like this relationship was one of those YA parent relationships that aren't realistic because they're not as complex as they should be. To me it seemed like Seelie was treating her mom the way a mom would see it, not the way a young adult would see it, which made Seelie's voice feel inauthentic.

My biggest issue is with Seelie's secret keeping and the way the ending resolved. I found it unrealistic and frustrating, and I feel like the twist was set up well but everything after it just frustrated me. It's hard to explain why it frustrated me so much without spoiling it, but suffice to say I didn't think Seelie's actions were realistic for someone in her circumstances, I didn't think the court scene was at all realistic in the most infuriating way (court doesn't take a day for a case like this, come on), and it felt underdeveloped.

My last big annoyance with this book is the way Seelie and Ashyln's disagreement resolved, which is to say it didn't. No spoilers, but I had to mention it.

This book made me realize that I've never read an F/F Romance book. Sure I've read books with side characters that were lesbians, but never one about them, which is a tragedy in itself because seriously, I read an unhealthy amount of their male counterpart- M/M Romance.

That literally had nothing to do with the book in itself, but I just thought I'd mention it because why the hell not?

Anyways, since we are on the topic of a lesbian romance, I feel like I should mention that the romance took a second seat in this story.. or maybe third.. or fourth. Wait a minute, let me do a rerun-
• The murder trial
• Friendship
• Mommy issues
• Romance

See? It takes the fourth seat.

Okay moving on.. this story focused on 17 year old Seelie- a normal highschooler who had been attacked by her senior, and she ended up murdering him in self-defense. Turns out the murdered guy was the son of a very powerful judge who then drags her to court to get her a life-sentence or something like that. That seems to be the center plot of the story- the how's and why's and when's of how she moves on and stuff like that.

Thrown into the mix is one ultra-melodramatic mother, one drug dealing friend, one suuuuper religious friend in love with aforementioned drug dealer, and one artistic, dangerous and honestly kind of unstable love interest.

Talk about drama!

Although with all that there's still an HEA, it somehow feels inconclusive to me. Definitely there was a lot that could still be resolved with more that just one sentence- like the whole situation with her narcissistic mother, who I have a really tough time believing that she even existed because seriously, there's impossible, and there's IMPOSSIBLE. Guess which category mommy dearest fell into? And the whole thing with Lyssa felt like an afterthought. I wish there was a little more build to their story other that Seelie just loving her from before the book began, and Lyssa being weirdly overprotective of her.

And despite all that, I liked this book. It was really fast paced, and there were moments where you generally feel for the girl because life just kept shitting and shitting and shitting on her. Mischa's writing has a good tone to it- it fits right in with the genre she initially intended it for- YA and LGBTQ.

Seelie Stanton is a fairly normal seventeen year old. She enjoys horseback riding and spending time with her small group of friends (who call themselves the faction.) While at work one day, she is attacked by Shane Mayfield, the brother of one of her classmates and son of a local judge. Shane dies as the result of Seelie defending herself. Seelie is left in the difficult position of having to convince the small town she grew up in and the legal system that she was defending herself from an attack.

I liked a few things about this book, but I disliked even more.

The things I liked:
-I loved Seelie and the faction. They felt like very real teenagers. Sometimes I feel like teens in YA are written a lot more mature than your average teenager. It wasn't the case in My Whole Truth. I loved the little mentiosn of things like Doctor Who, Supernatural, etc, because those were things I also relate to my teen years.
-It is written beautifully. There's a few lines that conveyed what Seelie was feeling perfectly.
-I liked how there were mentions of Seelie's crush on Lyssa, but that it wasn't a main storyline.

The things I disliked:
-Seelie's mom. She's awful. I don't understand how or why she constantly blamed Seelie for the attack. I also feel like there was no growth between Seelie and her mother and it left something to be desired. I would have at least liked there to have been a reason why her mother was so awful.
-I felt like the story was super unrealistic. Usually I want my contempory reads to be somewhat realistic. Things that struck me as being unrealistic would be the fact that the school allowed Seelie to attend class even though she was on trial for murder. Another is how the hospital never once considers that she could've been raped and never even mentioned collecting a rape kit. I also felt like Seelie was discharged from the hospital a little early considering her wounds.
-The tone felt a little too light for the story. It felt like almost no one was taking anything seriously.

Overall the story was okay, but it just didn't feel complete.

This was a good read. Seelie is a well developed character in a terrible situation. This book is great for young teens and adults.

I thank Netgalley and the publishers for sending me this book.
I must say, the story was touching and emotionally charged on all levels. I am really happy that I read this book. Honestly, I was sitting in an airport waiting for the flight to arrive while I sat on one of the many waiting chairs as I got lost in the pages of this book. I couldn’t stop reading. Believe me when I say that the chair was extremely uncomfortable and yet I was fixated on my iPad reading this book. I was reading as if my life depended on it. If you had seen me, while I was reading this book, well, you would think I was crazy. I kept on reading until my head was throbbing and my limbs felt frail. Finally I finished the book after 4.5 hours. I closed my iPad and just sat there staring at nothing in particular. It was that wonderful.

I cannot stress enough on how good it felt after I read the ending. A flood of emotions took me by surprise but I am happy by the way the book ended. I wouldn’t say that this book is character driven. There was much importance to the plot and how everything unravels as the story progressed. I was much engrossed in unknowing whether Seelie would be charged for murder or not. Sure every plot needs good characters but this book’s main goal is to establish Seelie innocence.

The story is quite simple and the ending was what anyone would expect. The unique thing about this book is how Seelie saw everything. She was traumatized, attacked, assaulted, labeled as murderer, and was arrested. Amidst all this she found happiness in the smallest of things, like eating chocolate yogurt or talking to lyssa and the faction or bitching about her mom. She tried to be normal when her situation begs her to be anything but normal. I really liked Seelie, her reaction to what happened is unique. She fought like a brave women she is and got out of the situation with many scars which can be easily taken for scars of the war. Damn, it was a war for her, a struggle to prove her innocence and a struggle to get back on her feet both literally and metaphorically.

Her friends Alyssa, Ashlyn and Finn were beautiful addition to the already beautiful story. The faction really lighted the things up. I observed that Seelie and the faction opted to laugh things out rather than be broody and upset about whatever the situation was. The wit and humour in the writing style really impressed me.

The court room scene scores a big A. The conversations in the room were very real and the closing and ending arguments were compelling. It really did feel like a real court room. The realistic conversations actually applies to the whole book.

At some places, the hurt and sadness is so intense that it suffocated me. The hate, anger, sadness and hurt just ripped my heart out. A very powerful, emotionally charged book is what My Whole Truth turned out to be. I liked it so much and I can’t say enough good things about this book. Though this book reminded me of a Hindi movie, Pink, this book was much better on all accounts.

Things I didn’t like: (Mild Spoilers Ahead!)
I wouldn’t say the book is perfect. Nothing is perfect. My Whole Truth is a beautiful story written in a smart and humours way. It was like really reading a seventeen year old girls brain. The confusion, panic and the urge to do the stupidest things are what defines a teenager. Seelie was exactly that and some more. The character development was lacking. All the characters seemed under-developed. Most of them are just there for the sake of it. It was understood that the mother is not caring but why she was acting the way she did is still a mystery.

I am deeply disappointed in the way the police department acted. I still can’t understand why the female officer didn’t ask Seelie if she was sexually assaulted. That should be the first question. At least the nurse who got scolded my Seelie for touching her while taking out the tube from her body should have known. Seelie repeatedly asked many characters not to touch her. I right away understood that she was sexually assaulted. On multiple occasions I totally predicted the story. I am usually not good at that sort of thing. If I can predict the story that means anyone can predict it.

She was still a confused teenager deciding what to do at the end. Though that unfortunate night changed many things in Seelie’s life, what she understood at the end was it is very important to trust your friends. They are called friends for a reason right? The thing she dreaded to tell her friend Lyssa turned out to be the last piece in their relationship. When she finally told the whole truth, it only brought them closer.

I thought that since Seelie belongs to LGBTQ community, I thought there would be some sort of disagreement or agreement from her mother or friends. However, no one ever talks about her sexuality. I don’t understand why that was not one of the major plot outliner.

Mrs. Stanton was an awful mother and I would have liked to see change of heart from her about Seelie. May be after everything that happened, Mrs. Stanton should have changed, but she did not.

To sum everything up in the discussion, I would say that the book is extremely wonderful and incredibly beautiful. The story will forever be with me. It was a brave attempt to write story about such a hard topic. Well, I guess if I tell you what that hard topic is I would be spoiling the story for you. Anyways, this is a great book and you should definitely try this one.

the last time I had this hard of a time getting thru a book due to the intense nature was "13 Reasons why"
There does need to be a trigger warning for sexual abuse, murder, bullying etc.
This is truly hard for me to rate. It was a very good book and probably one of the best books I read on this sensitive subject.
I had heard that there was a lesbian side story, but it was so subtle that I would not recommend this book as a LGBT book at all, nor is it truly a thriller. It is a heart breaking work of art. Calling it a thriller is an injustice to the book as it should be marketed as Fiction. I don't even think it qualifies as YA. I'm can't desribe why I can't get this book out of my head.

Gripping and devourable as an episode of Law & Order, covering lots of dark and thorny territory in a quick and compelling read.

My Whole Truth by Mischa Thrace is a darker, YA contemporary set for release early October 2018. I apologise for reading this so early but I could not help myself, it was that good! Anyway, this story focuses on a young woman named Seelie who must defend herself after being attacked, and in doing so kills the perpetrator in self-defence. Next thing you know she's getting trialled for murder and this story focuses towards determining whether she's guilty or not.

I'm not going to lie, this book was difficult to read. The themes is this book were quite heavy and I'd suggest to be in a good head space / cautious when picking this up, especially if you have experienced sexual assault. This book went quite in depth into the themes mentioned above and described them quite vividly.

Saying that, I appreciate this novel bringing these uncomfortable, yet poignant themes to light as they are important in today's society. I loved the complexity of this novel, with great pacing and shocking plot twists thoughout. I must say though, I would of loved to see the ending more fleshed out and I believe it ended a bit too conveniently.

A great debut and I would not hesitate to read this author's future work.

This was my first time reading one of Mischa Thrace's books and I must say that it is a good read and it kept my attention, but it also frustrated me to no end. While I enjoyed reading this book that began in the present and backtracked to a traumatic day (October 21st) for Cecelia "Seelie" Stanton throughout the story, at times I became so irritated with her I could scream. I understand why the book is entitled, "My Whole Truth", but Seelie really should have just told the truth from the beginning which would have saved her a whole lot of trouble in the end. As she lay in the hospital bed, it was totally obviously to me what her attacker, Shane, had done to her and that surprise after a 20 minute trip to Walmart later on in the story really wasn't much of a surprise at all to me because it was obvious what had happened. I have so many mixed emotions pertaining to this book right now. While it's a good story, I am sitting her typing out this review feeling frustrated that I even read the book in it's entirety because she should have just told the truth. I'm really steaming hot mad at her. Like, seriously. I haven't been this frustrated with a fictional book character in a very long time. I would suggest reading this story only if you have patience to deal with a 17 year olds version of untruths which will eventually lead up to her "whole truth". I almost want to pull my hair out, I am so irritated right now and not in a good way.

However, emotions and feelings set aside, this book was well written and flowed well. The author does a great job at telling the story and is really detailed about the character's emotions, feelings, and fears. The author also did a great job in writing the judicial aspect of the book. I did enjoy reading about Seelie's feelings for one of her friend's in the "Faction", but I had guessed early on it the story she felt that way before it was revealed. If you are looking for a drama filled YA book, then this one is definitely for you. If you end up as nearly as frustrated as I am, don't say that I didn't warn you ahead of time.

Very heartbreaking story. I wished through the whole book she would find her voice, and she finally did! Great read!

The story of Seelie Stanton is one that has stayed with me since I had finished it. The author, Mischa Thrace, was successful in making me feel the pain, and grief, that Seelie is suffering with after surviving a violent attack that leaves her assailant, a boy from a popular family, dead.
Seelie's story is one that speaks of the aftermath of what she is dealing with when the people of her community believe that she used excessive force in what she says is self defense. Seelie has an amazing support system within her friend group as they help her heal and get through the legal side of her case. Her mother is one that is unsupportive and selfish to her daughter which makes her a villianlike figure that drives Seelie to seek the comfort from her friends. There are different pieces to the puzzle of that night that are revealed throughout the story and with each reveal the plot gets darker as the harsh reality surrounding that night comes into the light.
Thrace was capable of bringing up many topics that aren't usually addressed in YA fiction and doing so in a way to let the reader connect and sympathize with Seelie's experiences which I think was a huge success for this novel. Seelie's whole truth is one that should be read and shared by many. I really enjoyed reading this novel and the events in the plot have stayed with me as I have been in awe at how wonderful this novel is.

From the very first page, I was captured. The author does a fantastic job of gaining your attention and not letting up until the very end. I usually do not gravitate towards books like this but I’m so glad I read this one!

I did not realize that this book was YA fiction. I may not have read it, if I had known. Having said that, I really enjoyed the novel. It was well written and after finishing it, I think it is an especially thought provoking read . High school can be a treacherous place for young adults who don’t “fit in” the way their peers deem acceptable. It can be a tough ride for many. Having the moral conviction to “do the right thing” and then stand by that conviction, is as commendable as it is arduous. Seelie Stanton, with the enormous help from the “faction”, a steadfast group of loyal and true friends, stays the course. Who can dispute, that having such a support system, regardless of your age, is all-conquering? I am recommending this book to my teenage grandchildren and to my peers as well. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher, for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Not what I expected and not my favorite read. Decent characters but a somewhat boring narrative with few twists.

I guess authors think that if they give unusual names to their characters, the story would be more memorable... What is the name of the MC here, Seelee, Selee? I don't know and I'm not going back to check.

Anyways, why was the MC so angry at her mother? She didn't want her mother present in anything because according to the MC, her mom was always busy at the restaurant. I think that this whole mother-daughter relationship should've been left for a story of its own. I just disliked the MC because from the very beginning she disliked her mother but I didn't see a reason why.

And why was the MC angry at the world, at large? Is like she hated or didn't care for anybody but her 4 friends.

So she killed in self-defense but then she is acting all shy and crying about it. That did not go with the strong character that she was at the beginning.

I liked that there was some type of trial going on (I love that type of books), and then the MC saved an information-bomb to throw it out during the trial. I think it didn't make sense but it did have a nice shocking effect. Who would thought that a 17 year would be so clever and know so much about the consequences of holding evidence?

The school... why were they bullying the MC when the guy she killed didn't even go to that school anymore? The guy was 20 years old! That means that nobody knew him there any longer. Ah yes, the brother; I guess he was the one vandalizing the MC locker and stuff.

Over all, I liked the plot because I had always wanted to read about the aftermath of a situation like this. Usually, a plot ends when the bad guy is killed. This story is the opposite, it starts with the bad guy already dead and then it takes us through what happened to the surviving victim.

This surviving victim, AKA MC or Seelee, I didn't like one bit. She was a strong girl who didn't want to show weakness and I got that, but she just came across like someone angry at the world for no reason.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

Loved the LGBT rep, discussion of an important topic, portrayal of close, mostly healthy friendships and a gripping plot. There was a spoiler subplot that didn't resonate with me, but that might be because it was a bit too close to home, and sometimes we project our own expectations of representation onto one book that isn't able to tell everyone's story at once, so I'm not letting that affect my overall rating. Recommend!

*Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!*
Release date: October 2nd

More like a 4.5*

This book was really raw and emotional. When I read it, I kept thinking that it couldnt go worse for our main character, but it kept getting worse, and surprising me.

My whole truth is the story about Seelie Shanton, who one October afternoon gets attacked while working, by a guy named Shane. He tried to kill her and hurt her deeply, and in an act of self-defense Seelie kills Shane.
Now she is being charged with murder, and as the story continues, we discover new secrets and new twists.

This was phenomenal. It brought up some very important themes and I think that when this book gets released, it will create debate, which is good.

Not sure where to begin on this one as the storyline was a bit unbelievable but the writing was good and it flowed. There is a small lesbian storyline offshoot for the main character Seelie (Cecelia) and her closest friend Lyssa but it is very minor. The main focus of the book is on Seelie and her small "faction" of friends that include Lyssa and two other close friends of Seelies. I like how her close knit group of friends really stick up for each other. I think Seelie's savage attack that ends in the killing of her attacker (not a spoiler) and her defense of her actions in court are a little too cartoonish and slightly unbelievable. In addition, her horrible relationship with her mother is completely overdone and there is no growth or development at all. All in all, I would recommend to younger adults --Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.