This Much Is True (Truth In Lies, #1) by Katherine Owen

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Author's Page:

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Genre:

Contemporary Romance/ New Adult

Summary on Goodreads:

Fate brings them together

Fame & Lies keep them apart

One truth remains…

She’s become the Paly High girl with the most tragic story…

At 17, Tally Landon just wants to graduate and leave for New York to pursue ballet. Her best friend Marla convinces her to attend one last party—a college party—where she can be among strangers and evade the whisperings about her heartbreaking loss of her twin that follows her everywhere she goes. She meets Lincoln Presley, Stanford’s famous baseball wonder and has a little fun at his expense—when she lies about her age and who she really is—intent on being someone else for the night and escaping her tragic story.

His only focus is baseball, but he can’t forget the girl he saved on Valentine’s Day…

At 22, Lincoln Presley’s star is on the rise—about to finish at Stanford and expected to be taken early in Major League Baseball’s upcoming draft—his cousin’s party serves as a welcome distraction. But then, he sees the girl from Valentine’s Day that he saved from that horrific car accident and can’t quite hide his disappointment when she appears to look right through him and not remember him at all. He vows to learn her name at least before he leaves. What’s the harm in getting to know this girl? What’s the worst that can happen?

They share this incredible connection, but fate soon tests these star-crossed lovers in all kinds of ways...

And yet, despite the lies being told to protect the other, and the trappings of fame that continually separate them, and in lieu of the deception by those they’ve come to trust the most; one truth remains.

This much is true.

RATING:

***REVIEW***

***Arc provided via Netgalley in exchange for honest review***

"Nobody wants to be the dead twin's sister."

How many opportunities did we miss out, dreams did we crush, desires we extinguished, because life, our pride or fear of failing got in the way?

How many "easier roads" in the labyrinth of life did we walk, because of the fear of unknown and the fear of ending up hurt? How many "ifs / would-have-beens/ could-have-beens"  and loss can a single person handle???

This book is a true masochist read. It literally cut me open with every next page and

that's a lot of emotional torture for a book which is around 450 pages long, but like every masochist reader I loved it.

Dark, deeply emotional & touching.

I think that this is one of those stories that you'll either love or hate, because it's full of unexpected twists, painful secrets and lies meant to hurt and shock, some of which not everyone will be comfortable with. For me, of course, that was also what makes it so good and compelling.

The main characters of this book are a 17 year old ballet dancer Tally Landon and a 23 year baseball player Lincoln Presley, both soon-to-be famous in their careers, but the story is told from various povs. Tally and Linc have a lot of things in common- they both are perfectionists in what they do, very familiar with death and loss, very ambitious and career-driven with no room for anything in their lives besides ballet and baseball, especially no room for love, but then, one day, they meet and suddenly everything they worked for and believed in is put on the line.

Ballet is all about the mastery of repetition

 and a continual quest for perfection.

Somehow, that works for me, even now.

I can take in the air again

as I dance. I can breathe again.

Ballet is my life.

Ballet is what I know.

Ballet is all I have left.

Striving to perfectionism is both, one of their biggest strengths and biggest flaws, because as we all know- the world is far from perfect and trying to be perfect in an imperfect world is unrealistic and simply impossible.

And no matter how far that characteristic has brought them in life, the price for it was too high. Both of them are very complex, unpredictable and flawed characters, who the minute you think you get them in a way, surprise or shock you all over, especially Tally.

Here's the truth: 

I am the female version of a heartbreaker,

The one that everyone says is too dedicated

to ballet,

too self-involved to ever care about 

anyone else besides herself.

I'm The Rebel.

The Bad Twin.

I'm Tally- The Loner, the party of one.

The love and leave'em prototype.

Heartless. That is me.

I have no time for romance, flowers or relationships.

I like one-night stands with plenty of sex 

and no promises of a future.

I like the lies I tell.

I'm comfortable in telling them...most of the time.

This is me.

She made a lot of choices in life which left me, as a woman, shocked or appalled, things that are totally out of my character, but then again trying to look at things from her perspective- I got her in a way. When you are young, you do a lot of stupid things which you later regret, especially if you go through some pretty bad situations Tally has.

I had a love & hate relationship with Linc too. He frustrated me on a whole different level, because of his insecurities and indecisiveness. Just like the two of them- their love was passionate, imperfect and complicated. There were so many secrets and lies between them, so much pain that from time to time I asked myself how could anything good come from it.

The ending is coming.

I can feel it.

I don't know if I can take it this time.

But then again,

I say that every time and yet,

every time I take it.

And, I come back to her again for more.

I will take whatever time I can get with her.

I will do that for a lifetime.

I will.

I know that much about myself.

She's my water.

I can never get enough of her, and it appears that

I will die trying to love her... 

These two drove me crazy through the whole book- one minute I was torn between feeling sorry for them, because of all the fucked-up things life threw their way and already in the next one I hated their guts for some of the things they did or not did, but I must say that sympathy won in the end. 

The lies have just built upon one another.

One follows the other like connected dots on a road map;

but this path leads me to him, 

and I can't stop now. 

I stay with the lie.

I revel in the lie.

She's mine for now, at least.

And, I'm most definitely hers.

The story made me think about life, especially about: how far are people willing to go and risk in order to get what they want? There were some surreal things, things that make me think- yeah, like that could ever happen, some unnecessary drama and also I'm not a fan of insta-love relationship, but if the author and the story is good and has a decent writing style- then, basically, you can make me read anything, even the things that are way out of my comfort zone, and Katherine Owen is definitely one of those authors.

This book is a New Adult novel and it deals with lot of heavy issues, but if you're looking for a sexy and more erotic read- this is not it. There are some sex scenes, but they are very rare and not explicit.

The focus is on the story itself. I would highly recommend this book to every fan of masochist reads out there, especially fans of authors like Tarryn Fisher and Megan Hart- I think you will understand this complex & beautifully flawed story and love it! This was my first book by this author, but it definitely won't be the last.

"What are you so afraid of?"

"Falling. Failing. Losing.

Those are the big three.

They are practically interchangeable

and apply to every aspect of my life."

He pulls me tighter into his arms. 

"Me, too," he says, breathing the words into my hair.

"Stay with me for awhile. Please.

You make me feel unafraid."

About The Author:

Dark. Edgy. Contemporary. Romantic.

Were we describing me? Or my fiction? Sorry. I drink too much...coffee, not enough water. I swear too much for God and my mother, and I slip these into my fiction. Sorry. I'm impatient, a perfectionist, a wordsmith, a dreamer, which ends up being good and bad. I'm a workaholic; ask my fam-dam-ily.

I've written four novels in as many years: Seeing Julia, Not To Us, When I See You and my latest release This Much Is True.

If you love angsty, unpredictable love stories, I'm yours. ♥

XOXO