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Monday, May 18, 2015

Book Review and Sneak Preview: The Truth According To Us By Annie Barrows

This is a book review and sneak preview of The Truth According To Us by Annie Barrows that is due to be published by Random House on 9 June 2015.

Annie Barrows lives in Northern California with her husband and two daughters. She has written a number of books about diverse subjects such as fortune telling, urban legends and opera and even a series of children's books.


This story starts in the hot and sweaty Summer of 1938 and is narrated by a 12 year old girl Willa Romeyn who lives with her aunts, father and sister in the small town of Macedonia, West Virginia.

The history of the Romeyn's family is told when a spoilt young girl Layla is sent to board at their home and write about the History of Macedonia. As talk of the town unfolds, the family's ghosts and secrets come out, and this is what the story is based around.

What stood out to me was the love between brother and sister and all of the family, they definitely put each other first no matter what.

I liked the writing style and the characters, especially when it was Willa narrating I thought she was adorable. The descriptions of the scenery and homes was brilliant I felt like I was right there with the family on the porch feeling the hot summer breeze on my skin.

Unfortunately, I didn't get into the theme of the book until half way through when it picked up the pace and I found the start of the book to be far too long. It was only when love stories developed and emerged and more was discovered of the family's background that I became engaged with the story. To be honest if it wasn't for the writing style that I enjoyed so much, I was tempted to not even finish this book. But I'm no quitter, I can't handle not finishing a book I've started and I'm glad I finished because it really did end with a bang and all the questions were answered in the end.

I recommend this to readers interested in historical American fiction of the 1930's era.


I give this book 2 stars out of  5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:
1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch paint dry than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up the last tim tam for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read


The Truth According To Us can be purchased direct from the author here or Random House


Sharing my book review on Good Reads here and Netgalley

You can visit the author's website here

Disclosure:  NetGalley partner with bloggers such as me to help promote authors and their books and I was given this ebook published by Random House to review. As always, all opinions are my own.


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[Image via Random House]


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