Review: Where the Truth Lies by Jessica Warman

Title: Where the Truth Lies
Author: Jessica Warman
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pub. Date: 9.28.2010
Genre: Contemporary YA
Keywords: Family, Secrets, Lies, Boarding School, Love, Relationships
Pages: 320
Description (from arc):
Between the past and the future… Between pain and forgiveness… Between the ones you know and the ones you love… Is where the truth lies.
On the surface, Emily Meckler leads the perfect life. She has three best friends, two loving parents, and the ideal setup at the Connecticut prep school where her father is headmaster. But below the surface, Emily is suffering from devastating nightmares about either fire or water, and nobody knows why.
When the enigmatic Del Sugar enters her life, Emily is immediately swept away – but her passionate relationship with Del is just the first of many things that aren’t quite what they seem in Emily’s life. And as the lies she’s been told start to unravel, Emily must set out to discover the truth regarding her nightmares; a journey that will lead her to question everything she once thought she knew about love, family, and her own idyllic past. This companion novel to Warman’s critically acclaimed Breathless proves that sometimes the biggest lies you tell are for the ones you love the most.

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of books that are good, but not great. All that changed with WHERE THE TRUTH LIES. Jessica Warman had me totally and completely engrossed in Emily’s story. I even spent dinner explaining to a patient friend what was happening in Emily’s life – how compelling, yet shady I found the curiously named Del Sugar, my hypotheses about the secrets the various characters were hiding, and my fears regarding how the novel would end. I was, in short, consumed.

Poor Emily… she just can’t get a break. There were very few times when I could confidently say that I knew what was going to happen next… and half of those times I still wasn’t right. The more I read, the less I’m surprised by novels. That is, I feel that I’ve become more adept at noticing small details and interpreting foreshadowing, which means that I usually have a basic idea of how the novel will end. With WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, I honestly thought I knew where the clues were leading, but I hadn’t even started to imagine all the lies and twists that were so intricately knotted around Emily and her past.

It almost seems like it’d be easy to judge Emily… for the reader to shake her head and think sadly, she was warned. But I felt as though I was there with Emily… and I was thinking, right along with her, but…. But they don’t know him. But they don’t know me. They just don’t know. I know. And I understood her choices… her fears. Life is not simple and that fact is abundantly clear as Emily’s story progresses.

Relationships are an important part of this novel. What makes a family? A best friend? A boyfriend? A true love? A mother? Yet none of these ideas are defined. Instead they are given a vague sort of shape, that can shift to fit to even the most unexpected individual… or the person you should have expected all along.

WHERE THE TRUTH LIES is a companion novel, but it isn’t necessary to have read BREATHLESS before delving into this story. But I can assure you that you will want to have both novels on hand. You won’t want to leave behind Warman’s gorgeous writing… and, regardless, her characters will refuse to let you go.

Grade: A+

Cover Comments:
An absolutely perfect fit! Gorgeous.

Review Copy provided by publisher.