Two Truths and a Lie by April Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
One of my reading challenges for this month, June 2023, was to give an author a second chance. After careful thought, I decided to give April Henry my second try.
I’ve only read from Henry once before, her 2019-release The Lonely Dead. I gave it 2-stars and upon completion, really had no desire to read more. It wasn’t a great experience.
Henry writes a lot of books and since The Lonely Dead was released she’s had quite a few that do sound interesting to me. This book is one of them.
I am so glad that I picked this up. It’s not perfect, but it was so quick, fun and easy. I had a great time with it!
In this story we follow Nell, a high school girl who is traveling with her acting troupe to a competition when they get stuck in a blizzard. Seeking shelter from the storm, their troupe coach, and only chaperone, finds an aging motel for them to stay at.
She warns the kids to be good and then she retires to her room. The driving was stressful and she needs rest. How much trouble can they get in anyway?
As the kids settle in and begin to explore the motel, they discover they aren’t the only travelers caught there. Amongst the other guests are a robotics team from another school.
The teens gather together in the common room and decide to play a game to pass the time: two truths and lie. The perfect way to get to know one another.
As the game escalates, it seems their night of harmless fun has turned into something much more sinister, even deadly.
It appears a murderer hides in their midst. Will they all be able to make it through the night alive?
I enjoyed Nell a lot as a main character. Also, I listened to the audiobook and the narration was fantastic. The narrator, Christine Lakin, was Nell to me.
This had a lot of tropes I enjoy. Examples being, the team getting stranded at a creepy motel due to inclement weather; I always love that sort of set-up. The strangers they meet being a little odd and possibly dangerous. The motel having a dark and brutal history and the gaming element.
I felt the whole package was incredibly intriguing.
There were some directions it took with the plot that I wasn’t as crazy about, but I feel like overall, it is an engaging and entertaining YA Thriller.
I walk away a happy girl. I’m so glad that I gave this a shot and had such an enjoyable experience with it. I am going to be comfortable now sifting through Henry’s backlist and picking up more of her work.
This is a perfect example of why you should always give authors another chance. Especially if they have only had one book that didn’t work for you. We all deserve a second chance, don’t we?
Read a shiny book to earn the breastplate of your suite of armor: For this I completed, The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell. I haven’t done a review or decided on a star rating for this book yet. It was a lot. There were a lot of character perspectives to follow and time jumps and things got hecka confusing there for a while. I did enjoy it. I thought the characters were great but I am just a bit at a loss as too how much I enjoyed it. Does this ever happen to anyone else? Regardless, the ouroboros-type graphic on this is super shiny in the light of the hardcover version that I read.
Read a book with assassins in it to earn your fighting
Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West — This YA Contemporary was recommended to me by a friend on Goodreads who knew that I liked books that contained mixed media elements such as podcasts, newspaper articles and journal entries. This is a story following a girl who ends up becoming the host of a high school podcast. Kasie West is a beloved YA Contemporary Romance author. I have never read any of her books and looking forward to giving this one a shot. I will be listening to this in audiobook format.
Call It What Your Want by Brigid Kemmerer — This is a YA Contemporary that releases on June 25th. I actually requested a copy of this ARC directly from the publisher, Bloomsbury YA, as Brigid Kemmerer is one of my favorite authors. This story follows two teens, Maegan and Rob, who are both going through a lot when they get paired together for a calculus project. I am sure a friendship or romance of some sort will develop between them as they try to help each other with their problems. Kemmerer’s writing is beautiful and she examines difficult topics with such care. Rob’s father in this is a white collar criminal so I am also interested to see how that plays out.
If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kahn — I received this ARC through a Goodreads giveaway from the publisher, Swoon Reads. I was so happy to hear I would be getting an advanced copy of this but as with life, I didn’t actually get to it before release day. This came out on June 4th so you can pick it up now! This YA Contemporary follows Winnie, a high schooler who works at her Grandmother’s Southern diner. She has big dreams but needs money in order to make them happen. Her solution is to compete in a cooking competition for prize money. This just sounds like a fun summer read and I am really looking forward to picking this one up!
While You Sleep by Stephanie Merritt — This chilling psychological thriller follows Zoe Adams, who fresh from America, moves into the McBride house on a remote Scottish island. The house has a mysterious and disturbing past and it doesn’t take long before Zoe begins to suspect something is seriously wrong there. This has the hints of a ‘things that go bump in the night’ kind of story and I am so down for that. I received an ARC copy of this from the publisher, Pegasus Books, but unfortunately, again, did not get to it before its March 8, 2019, release date. I am most excited for the location of this one and am hoping for a super spooky atmospheric tale.
Read your most recently acquired Contemporary
Read a diverse Contemporary
Read a dark or taboo Contemporary – Someone grab the tissues because for this challenge I am planning to read Adam Silvera’s, They Both Die At The End. This futuristic YA-Contemporary imagines a world where a company, Death-Cast, lets people know the day they are going to die. When Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio get their Death-Cast calls they both decide to seek a new friend for their ‘death day’. Using the app, Last Friend, they find each other and set out on one last adventure. I know this book is going to crush me but it has been sitting on my shelves for way to long and I need to get it read. My eyes fill up with tears just thinking about it.
Read a Contemporary in a non-traditional format – For this I am going to listen to the audiobook of Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch. I just read Love & Gelato by Welch last month and absolutely adored the humor and the topics of family and love that it touched upon. I am really looking forward to this one as it is set in Ireland, which if you know me, you know I am pretty much obsessed with.
Read a Thriller: For this I am choosing, Baby Teeth, by Zoje Stage. This is an Adult Thriller that was released in July and I believe it revolves around a woman who thinks her young daughter is possessed. Who doesn’t love a story with a creepy kid in it, am I right? I really don’t want to know too much about this going in but I have heard some pretty good feedback on it. I have the hardcover of this which is 304 pages.
Read a Book Not Set in Our Time Period: For this I am finally getting to a book that has been on my ‘to be read’ list since 2016 and that is, Stalking Jack the Ripper, by Kerri Maniscalco. This is the first book in the Stalking Jack the Ripper series. There are currently three books out in the series and I have all three so really would like to start this. This is a historical fiction YA story that follows a girl named, Audrey, who wants to study forensic medicine and I guess is apparently going to try to solve the Jack the Ripper case? I don’t know if that last bit is true or not but makes sense based on the title, I would say. I love forensic science and the Jack the Ripper case is one that I have had interest in for a number of years so this seems like it would be right up my alley. This is part of the James Patterson Imprint and will be my first book to read of their releases. I have the hardcover of this as well which comes in at 326 pages.
Read a Book with a Spooky Word in the Title: For this I have chosen, The Wicked Deep, by Shea Ernshaw. I bought this book when it was released in March and have been specifically saving it for this month. This is about a small town called, Sparrow, that is cursed since two centuries before they hanged three sisters for witchcraft. Apparently every summer these sisters return and lure boys of the town into the local harbor where they ultimately drown. You would think these parents would keep their boys locked up in summer but anyway, regardless of absentee parenting, I am really excited to FINALLY be getting to this. This gives me strong Hocus Pocus vibes and I live for that! I have the hardcover version for this book, which also happens to be my favorite book cover of the year, and it comes in at 308 pages.