Book Chatter

Where The Truth Lies
By Anna Bailey
Atria Books, 9781982157166, August 3, 2021, 384pp.

The Short of It:

This story keeps you guessing.

The Rest of It:

At a party in the woods, seventeen-year-old Abigail leaves her friend Emma to hang out with a boy. The next day, she turns up missing. Emma keeps revisiting the last moments she had with her. The moment where she pleaded for Abigail not to go but Abigail always had a mind of her own and now, she’s gone. Emma’s only friend.

The community is rocked by her disappearance but small communities, ones that know everyone, also know their business and Abigail’s family left a lot to be desired. A father who drinks too much, beats his wife and children, a mother who is powerless to protect them, it’s no wonder the girl went missing. She probably ran away the first chance she got.

Emma knows better though. And as the police come up short again and again and don’t seem to care whether she is found or not, Emma begins to investigate on her own and secrets begin to reveal themselves. Did she even know Abigail? Can you ever really know a person?

There are a lot of stories out there about missing people. Especially, young girls. What I liked about Where The Truth Lies is that it’s more than just a missing person story. The level of abuse that Abigail’s family is forced to endure and the relationships they seek as a means to survive, really carried this story for me. You will care about these characters even though they don’t always make the best choices. They are flawed and damaged but I felt that the story came together beautifully given how many characters the author chose to focus on.

Well done. Recommend. Trigger warning for sexual abuse.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Neighborhood It’s been warm. About 104. Not horrible if you can get most of your errands and walks done early. The pup and I try to take our walk at 7:30 a.m. As you can see from the photo, it’s nice and shady for a good chunk of our walk. She tends to dawdle though so sometimes it’s quite warm by the time we return.

I have quite a bit going on this week. Two in-person meetings in the evening which in and of itself is not much but more than I am used to these days. Plus, my daughter and I share a car right now so I will have to figure out the ride situation since she will still be at work by the time I need to leave.

I am surprised at how early some schools are starting this year. I have two friends whose kids have started already! I mean, they started in July! That is unheard of. I started to see first day of school pics and my brain imploded. I know it’s a stressful time too because some states are not requiring masks for those young students and of course they are unvaccinated. This has caused a lot of anxiety for some of my friends. I pray that these littles stay safe!

As for me. I got that memo about a return to work but never any details so I suppose I will be back in some form in September. I hope PJs and yoga pants are acceptable. I kid you, but I am also dead serious. I lost the Covid-19 (pounds) that I gained over the past year and a half but I do not care to go shopping for clothes and it would be weird to wear the same things I had when I left work so long ago. Like, time stopping. Anyone else in the same boat? Does anyone even care what I look like?

This past Monday I reviewed The Paper Palace. It is a Reese pick and once again, a solid pick it was. It was very good but a very tough subject. I included a trigger warning for sexual abuse so be aware of that going in. I am now almost done with Where The Truth Lies and hope to have the review up by this Friday.

I keep putting it off but I really need to have a list of dorm essentials by the end of this week. I know lists exists and the school even sent one but I want to keep it trim since the idea of moving all her stuff out and back every semester gives me hives. Not easy to do from afar.

I hope you are all doing well and that your reading is great. I am getting excited for fall and crossing all my fingers that the R.I.P. Challenge happens.

Chatting with friends about books and life…