Cover Image: Truth and Other Lies

Truth and Other Lies

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Member Reviews

Three women's careers hang in the balance: a famous journalist, a fledging politician, and the young reporter with ties to each who must navigate the tricky terrain between secrets and lies.

This was a good contemporary fiction novel, with a sprinkle of mystery, secrets and social commentary. This was a really good debut novel all-in-all, it just fell a bit short for me. I love women's fiction, so I love that this cast of characters is predominantly women. They just were a bit surface level, I didn't connect to or really like them. The pacing was also a little off, but I did enjoy the overarching plot.

Thank you NetGalley and Ten 16 Press!

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Megan Barnes is a journalist who recently lost her job at a New York newspaper. To top it off, she caught her boyfriend cheating. She decides to return home to Chicago to stay with her mother, Helen Watkins.

Upon her arrival, Megan discovers that her mother is running for Congress with a backing from the Republican Party. Megan is a starch liberal, always has been, and her views on issues such as abortion differ from her mother’s. She decides to stay away from her mother’s political campaign.

One day, Megan attends a protest to end violence against women, where she has an altercation with a skinhead from the opposing side. This gets noticed by Jocelyn Jones, a prominent and world famous journalist, who was making a speech there. Jocelyn is a feminist and someone that Megan admires.

You can imagine Megan’s surprise when Jocelyn offers her a job in PR, which she accepts as she is desperate for money.

When Megan confides to her mother about her new job, Helen gives her a warning and tells her to be careful, which obviously riles Megan, who is in awe of Jocelyn and her success.

However, some anonymous account on Twitter starts posting messages accusing Jocelyn of being a liar… Megan is desperate to prove that Jocelyn was set up by a jealous troll. What will she uncover?

I really enjoyed this book. There were some strong female characters there, including Megan, Helen, and Jocelyn.

Megan started off naive and somewhat annoying (especially when she talked about her mother). However, towards the end of the book, when she discovers the truth about Jocelyn and what Helen has been through, she is tough and ready to protect the ones she loves.

Helen was an overprotective mother – despite Megan being an adult, she would check up on her daughter and it would cause friction between the two of them. However, Helen had a reason for this and it was heartbreaking to read. I was glad that the two of them managed to reconcile at the end.

Jocelyn was power and fame driven. She didn’t have a partner nor any close friends (which to me sets the alarm bells ringing!) and her work was her everything. She would drop people when she didn’t need them anymore.

Overall, it is a great psychological thriller where every character is keeping a secret.

Thank you to TEN16 Press for approving my NetGalley request to read and review this book.

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Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith is an insightful exploration into the tangled webs of truth and deception that underpin our society. Megan Barnes is forced to confront the truths and lies of her life as she dives deep into an investigation led by her new boss and mentor Jocelyn Jones, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist. Smith navigates the intricate world of PR, politics and ambition through a female perspective and portrays a series of intriguing and strong female characters in a gripping plot. The story centres on a thought-provoking subject – the online manipulation of truth and its power over real life events. It examines the themes of ambition, betrayal, identity and trust with great precision. With echoes of The Devil Wears Prada and All the President's Men, Smith delivers an entertaining and gripping tale of female friendship and the impact of lies. A must-read for fans of contemporary fiction.

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Thank you for the eARC of this, but unfortunately this book wasn’t really for me. I was pulled in by the reference to The Devil Wears Prada as that’s one of my favourite films but unfortunately I found this book just fell flat.
I wasn’t really invested in the characters or the plot. 100% can see why people enjoyed this, it just wasn’t for me I’m afraid.

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I was unable to read this book before it archived on NetGalley. The low rating is not a reflection of the work itself, but rather an indication that I selected other titles before this one.
I did not read this and need to remove from my shelf.

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This book was going well, but then it lost me somewhere around the middle. Megan's dedication to Jocelyn was a bit troubling to me as she had never met her. By the end, I found it just hard to get it all together and have it make sense to me.

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Maggie Smith's debut novel is a multi-layered women's fiction with an intriguing plot and riveting characters. With a persuasive story line, the novel kept me hooked till the end. It starts with Megan, a journalist moving back home after losing her job and breaking up with her boyfriend. In Chicago, Megan is not happy to find that her hovering mother Helen has plans to run for congresswoman. This impacts Megan's chance of scoring a reporting job till after the elections. A chance encounter with Jocelyn Jones gets her a position as Jocelyn's publicist for her upcoming memoir. With no other job prospects and Megan's deep admiration for her hero Jocelyn, she reluctantly accepts the job. But when an anonymous troll accuses Jocelyn of Plagiarism, Megan is not sure whom to believe. Her quest for truth puts the people she loves in a state of vulnerability.

There are so many amazing aspects in this book that deserve appreciation.
The unpredictable nature of the characters which led to some incredible twists in the book. The author handled various sensitive subjects like pro-life movement and plagiarism in a balanced and unbiased manner. Her wise one liner makes for some splendid quotes to ponder. Overall, Maggie Smith's debut novel is a gripping fiction and a must read. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes contemporary women's fiction with strong and sensible characters.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this title. All opinions are my own.
We meet Megan, who is reinventing her life after the end of a relationship. In returning home to live with her mother, she begins to make headway on her personal life by securing employment for as PR staff for a well-known journalist. Megan feels very real, as she navigates both her own choices and those of the influential women around, including past and current decisions that have an impact on her life. Engaging and good pacing, with some satisfying twists to keep readers interested.

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DNF. Unfortunately, this was a book I started multiple times but could just not get into. I appreciate having the opportunity to read this book, it was just not a good fit for me as a reader. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted review copy.

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Maggie Smith's Truth and Other Lies is a compelling and fast-paced debut novel that sucked me in from the start. The story follows Megan Barnes, a reporter who finds herself out of a job and her boyfriend on the same day. She moves back in with her over-protective mother and quickly realizes that they are two very different people. When Megan is given the opportunity to work for a Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist, she jumps at the chance. But when an anonymous tweet threatens to bring everything crashing down, Megan must uncover the lies before it's too late.

I really enjoyed this book! Maggie Smith's writing is sharp and witty, and she has a great handle on the complexities of female relationships. The story is also very timely, with themes of fake news and the power of the internet.

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Fast paced, touches on lots of relevant topics, feminist ideals and female friendships;; I enjoyed this!

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

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A young writer, down on her luck & living with her mother again. Her luck turns when she meets a journalist hero who offers her an interesting job opportunity. The first half of the book is a bit slow and bumbling, but the back half picks up.

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Megan Barnes (MC) is a young women who lost her job and her boyfriend in the same day. Plot unfolds into her moving back in with her mother where she bumps into a veteran journalist who offers her a new job. The story unfolds but holds many themes of feminism and women's literature. It is slow and awkward to build authentic characters but the plot twist is worth it. I will say that I was already not invested half way through the novel because of how slow it was to fully enjoy it like my friends did. Read this as part of a book club too!

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A good story about mother/daughter relationships set in the modern world of social media and politics. Our book club had a good discussion about this one.

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Truthfully, Truth and Other Lies is right on the edge of my “normal” categories. It was a surprise how much I enjoyed it - isn’t that the best?!

Megan’s life is spiraling so she heads home to Chicago to live with her mom. Their relationship isn’t exactly healthy but it means someplace she can get her feet under her again. They are on different sides of the political spectrum and her mom is a helicopter parent. It doesn’t help that her mom is unexpectedly running for a Congress role. And when Megan finally lands a role with a PR agency promoting a journalist she’s admired for years, it may not be everything she dreamed of.

I loved Megan! Her tenacity, her drive, her willingness to fight for what’s right was inspiring. Though she may be a little too trusting of the people around her, she has a good head on her shoulders. Time and time again she kept driving forward despite naysayers and that’s admirable.

Overall, this book had me continually turning the pages. It was hard to put down! Politics is such a complex web of social game. And the journalists around political issues are no different.

A cut-throat, high-stakes read!

Thank you to the author @maggiesmithwrites for the opportunity to read this book. The review expresses my own personal opinion.

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This book was a fun treat! I loved it! It was a good reset after I read a heavier book. It kept me flipping pages well past my bedtime!!

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This book felt like it was going somewhere good but then it lost me somewhere around the middle and never recovered. Megan's dedication to Jocelyn Jones never felt like it worked. She did not waver even though she had never met her. I understand that as an idol she probably had a little hero worship but I just never felt like it was developed in a way that warranted most of the second half's plot line. By the end, I found it just hard to get it all together and have it make sense to me. Definitely a taste in writing and characters rather than a poor story though, it was an interesting storyline.

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This was an interesting story that started slow but eventually evolved into a compelling read. Lots of layers regarding female frienships and relationships with mothers. It was an interesting dichotomy that Megan faced between her mother and Jocelyn Jones... they both had to make difficult choices to get where they were. I also like the mystery twist in trying to figure out where the emails were coming from.

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Wonderful! Fast-moving, artfully developed characters, rich text and so much more! This is a modern-day novel delving into topics that can be "touchy" for some, but Maggie Smith brings them to light skillfully. This novel spans 50 years and three generations of women and makes for an entertaining and captivating read. Maggie Smith may be a debut author with this novel, but in my mind, she is a skilled writer with a gift. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

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There is so much to love about this book: the complex mother daughter relationship, the bond between a mentor and mentee, a new relationship, workplace dynamics, politics, and more. In a less skilled writer, this many topics could have been overwhelming but this author did a fantastic job. I loved every part of this and was sad when I finished.

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