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The Truth Project by Dante Medema Published by Quill Tree Books on October 13, 2020
Genres: contemporary
Format: ARC
Source: Edelweiss, Harper Collins INTL
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Seventeen-year-old Cordelia Koenig was sure of many things going into her last year of high school. For one, she wasn’t going to stress over the senior project all her peers were dreading—she’d just use the same find-your-roots genealogy idea that her older sister used for hers. Secondly, she’d put all that time spent not worrying about the project toward getting reacquainted with former best friend and longtime crush Kodiak Jones who, conveniently, gets assigned as Cordelia’s partner.
All she has to do is mail in her DNA sample, write about her ancestry results and breeze through the rest of senior year. Done, done and done.
But when Cordelia’s GeneQuest results reveal that her father is not the man she thought he was but a stranger who lives thousands of miles away, Cordelia realizes she isn’t sure of anything anymore—not the mother who lied, the life she was born into or the girl staring back at her in the mirror.
If your life began with a lie, how can you ever be sure of what’s true?
I received this book for free from Edelweiss, Harper Collins INTL in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:
drinking, mentions of smoking, mention of pregnancy and abortion, cheating.
☂️ DIVERSITY: Half-Asian, lesbian main character, Asian and Indian side characters, main character with Tlingit origins.
There are no spoilers in this review.
I ENJOYED…
☂️
- I rarely read novels in verse so The Truth Project was, I’ll admit it, a little bit out of my comfort zone, at first. That being said, I’m so, so glad I ventured out there because what a wonderful discovery I made here.
- As it’s written with poems, emails, texts and verse, I was a little afraid I wouldn’t be able to connect, or really throw myself into the story… yet the opposite happened. I started reading and became SO engrossed in the story I almost read the book entirely in one sitting. Something that, well, never happens to me. The writing was beautiful and I often felt myself stopping to relish the words and their echo. It was so lovely.
- You know me and my contemporaries. You also know me and my characters. I need to really vibe with them in order to fall for a book and here, it happened. If I sometimes, yes, found the main character frustrating, I just loved her journey and her growth through the story and found myself rooting for her so much.
- I got wonderful friendships I rooted for and adored. Yes to a girls’ friendship without all the mean-girl, backstabbing and drama. We need more of these always and forever and I’m so happy we got it here. Sam was amazing and such a good friend, the kind of friend screaming at you when you need to be screamed at and supporting you, offering you her shoulder when you need to cry on it and I loved that.
- I really liked the childhood-friends-to-strangers-to-friends-to-oh-are-those-romantic-feelings kind of thing The Truth Project got going on. I know, that was LONG, but on point, if you ask me. I enjoyed reading about Kodiak and loved how we got, little by little, to unpeel his “bad boy” image, discovering what has happened to him in the past and discovering him and who he has become.
- The family, the idea of family, identity, who you share your DNA with and who you belong with and what it all means: so many topics tackled in such a quick read. I found myself a little emotional about the character’s journey and loved seeing her understand, little by little, what family means.
I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️
- It’s really a tiny and very “me” thing, here, but I wish I could have known a little more about the characters and the family and their dynamics as a whole. This book is focused on the main character’s journey and appreciated it, a lot, but I was missing a bit of depth in the characters’ connections to each other in the story, especially within the family. I feel like there were lovely opportunities to explore some relationships more.
OVERALL
☂️
If you’re looking for a wonderful, quick contemporary read about family and identity with beautiful writing, I really recommend you give The Truth Project a try. This book was a stunning debut and I know I’ll be reading more from the author next.
FINAL RATING : 4 drops!
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Did you read The Truth Project? Do you want to?
Do you have any recommendations of novels in verse I should try reading?
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Great review 😊 this book sounds pretty good tbh and I’m definitely gonna add this to my TBR 😊
Oh thank you so much! I hope you’ll love it 🙂
I adored this book. I thought the author did such an incredible job taking me on this journey with Delia. I think I accepted her missteps because it was such a shocking situation she stumbled upon.
Ahh I so agree with you, I loved this book so, so much and the main character’s journey was wonderful <3
I am so glad you enjoyed this book! I don’t really read novels in reverse but I don’t necessarily have a reason why that is. I might have to give this a go, nice review!
I don’t usually do, either, but this one just caught my attention and I’m so glad I gave it a try. It was so good. I hope you’ll enjoy it if you decide to read it <3
Oh wow this cover is SO PRETTY!! I hadn’t heard about this book until recently, and it sounds so interesting ah. Lovely review Marie <3<3
Ohh I hope you’ll give it a try. It’s a beautiful read <3