Seventeen-year-old Seelie Stanton never wanted to kill someone. She never wanted to be invisible in her own family, she never wanted to crush on her best friend Alyssa, and she definitely never wanted to know how effectively a mallet could destroy someone’s head. But the universe doesn’t care what she wants. Shane Mayfield doesn’t care what Seelie wants either. When the former high school … basketball star attacks her, she has no choice but to defend herself. She saved her own life, but she can’t bring herself to talk about what happened that night. Not all of it. Not even when she’s arrested for murder.
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Read for 2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge “upside down image on the cover”
My Whole Truth is a YA contemporary about a teenage girl that is attacked by a fellow student that had bullied her in the past and he is ultimately killed in the confrontation. The reader is challenged to look at issues around bullying, self-defense, found family and the justice system.
The book begins with her attack but the sequence of events and the secrets she’s keeping (and those that are kept from her) are slowly revealed. I won’t lie…I found Seelie a frustrating main character at the beginning of the book. Her issues with her mother often clouded her judgement and made her extra clingy with her friends. Her mother was pushed to a peripheral role and was almost cartoonish in her work obsession and disinterest in her daughter’s case. I think it would have been a more interesting dynamic to show how her mom’s struggle to support the family as a single mother and widow PLUS try to have an active role in her daughter’s life.
Seelie’s friends are almost over the top supportive and engaged in her life (they are the first people she texts after 911 and while bleeding nearly to death) and calling them the “faction” plus her entire dependency was frustrating at times. BUT at a certain point in the novel she starts to see her friends flaws all, cracks appear and those relationships are richer for it. She also keeps secrets and covers up certain aspects of her life which made her feel overly bullheaded for no reason and could have hurt her defense.
I also had questions about the realistic nature of the entire court case. This is a small town and her attacker was the town golden boy. But the treatment of the police, prosecutors and the neglect of the hospital to ask one important question was all a little iffy. At the center of the novel is a murder case that was somehow thrown together in less than two months and the defendant (despite life threatening injuries and physical therapy appointments) was expected to attend school in person (with the friends and family of her attacker) and without permission to do school remotely. I found that dubious.
In the end, I have My Whole Truth 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Despite some issues I had with characterization and legal case I did think it was a well written and engaging novel that brought up some interesting issues.
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.
This book is not an easy read due to it’s subject, but it’s a book that is needed. Mischa takes a hard, real look at what it’s like to be sexual assaulted and what happens to the victim after the fact. If this book doesn’t make you angry you aren’t paying attention.