Week 31 Review: All of This is True

From Goodreads:
Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to meet the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her, even if her friends won't admit it now. As for Jonah, well—Miri knows none of that was Fatima's fault.

Soleil Johnston wanted to be a writer herself one day. When she and her friends started hanging out with her favorite author, Fatima Ro, she couldn't believe their luck—especially when Jonah Nicholls started hanging out with them, too. Now, looking back, Soleil can't believe she let Fatima manipulate her and Jonah like that. She can't believe that she got used for a book.

Penny Panzarella was more than the materialistic party girl everyone at the Graham School thought she was. She desperately wanted Fatima Ro to see that, and she saw her chance when Fatima asked the girls to be transparent with her. If only she'd known what would happen when Fatima learned Jonah's secret. If only she'd known that the line between fiction and truth was more complicated than any of them imagined. . .

My Review:
I really enjoyed reading this book! I loved all the different ways the story was told, through the interview in the present, the diary entries wrote and emails she exchanged with Fatima, and excerpts from the book that caused all the trouble. It was so great to read!

Honestly, Fatima writing a book about this group was in bad taste. Sure, Jonah wanted to be rewritten, to have his character/his past changed, and he got it. At the expense of the truth coming out. So my feelings toward Fatima are a mix of the public and Miri. Because she wasn't as bad as she was made out to be, she was a person and she made mistakes, but she tried to write them better, like instead of not letting the girls in in "real life" in the book she does. So it's complicated and not as simple as it seems.

The parts that were the excerpts from the book that was written about the situation, were a little bit weird. Because Fatima wrote an author character meant to be her, and yeah, it was a bit egotistical in the way she was described.

In the end, the one person I felt the worst for was Penny. She just wanted to be important, to be the main character. It had a terrible cost, and all for an author that she didn't even read! Sure, she didn't lose the most, but she started off with not a lot to lose. Yeah.

Loved reading this book, it was creative and awesome!

Author: Lygia Day Peñaflor
Read: July 31st 2018
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a SAC 2018 Book and Sophomore Challenge Book!
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: May 15th 2018

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4/5 Stars