Customer Reviews

All The Truth That's In Me

Wow!!! When I first read the blurb for this book I did not expect to read such an AMAZING book! It has blown me away and I was sad to end such a beautiful book!

All the Truth That's in Me is a story set around probably just under a century ago I think (if my little knowledge of history hasn't failed me!) Normally I'm into my contemporary stories but this story captivated me from beginning to end and i fell in love with it and mesmerised by it.

The story is told in 1st person in the point if view of Judith. A normal, average girl, Judith is one day snatched away from her happy life when her tongue is savagely cut so she loses the ability to speak. Two years after her disappearance she returns to a broken family as her father died soon after she disappeared. Now to make matters worse, the whole neighbourhood, including her mother believe that she is cursed and now start to ignore her existence and stay away from her as if she is diseased or something. She loses her name, her identity and is only spoken to when given orders so there is no need for her to answer. One thing keeps Judith going though in this horrible, worthless life of hers. Her love for Lucas the village boy who she has known since childhood is her only hope. His love is the only thing that can cure her. But the question is that would he be willing to choose her, the mute cursed girl over the beautiful maidens that are desperately wanting and waiting for his attention?

Judith, the protagonist is an average girl but a traumatic incident changes her life forever. However with the absence of her tongue her mind speaks very attentively and she doesn't miss a thing. Soon I started feeling sorry and protective for her. Her character was very realistic and friendly and I became attached to her throughout the story. Although without the ability to speak she is neither assertive or weak . She will do anything for those she loves and is very admirable for her strength, bravery and patience.

The storyline was very thought out and excellently written. I thought it was predictable at first, thinking "i bet thats what happened", Igot proved wrong as so many surprises were lying just round the corner and I was just left shocked thinking "Didn't see that one coming!" Full of mysteries unfolding slowly, keeping the reader intrigued. Also the story was very fast-paced and I couldn't put it down once I'd started as there wasn't one event less or boring moment that i just had to keep on reading!

The story explores many topics but the main one is Love. Not that of a lover but love for family and friends too. Loyalty and friendship played a huge part in this story as well. It's not one of those books that you read and then move onto the next and forget about it, there were many lessons, especially for myself, a reminder of how many bounties and blessings I have that I should be thankful for. It carries a deep message and is one of those books that will be treasured by be as I felt very touched by it.

A beautifully written, fast-paced, eloquent love story full of emotion, tragedies and adventure.A lost girl who struggles with traumatic events of her past that have pursued her until this day and hopes to move on and ceases to exist.

There's this one quote that just fitted perfectly with the story that I wanted to share :
"A secret weighs on us, a terrible secret weighs with a terrible weight."
― Sue Miller, While I Was Gone

Thank you to TemplarPublishing for providing me with a review copy of the book. I really appreciate it! :)

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Wow. That is really all I need to say about this book.

As you can probably tell, I loved All the Truth That's In Me. Not least because I read it in one sitting.

This book is the story of Judith who, a few years ago, vanished with her best friend. Not long after, her friend's body is found, but it is only years later that Judith reappears, her tongue cut out.

But the mystery is not the main thrust of this story. It's an important element, but this book is more focussed on the fact that as a girl, Judith has her voice taken from her, literally, but also figuratively, by the people of her town. And it is not only Judith, but ALL women. Judith's struggle to regain her voice, prompted by a female friend, is what All the Truth That's In Me is REALLY about.

And I loved it.

But be warned, this book is dark and troubling. But it's also very thought-provoking and spectacularly written.

All the Truth That's in Me is a fantastic book. I almost read it in one sitting (work unfortunately got in the way), and I savoured every page as I got to the end. It's beautifully written; shocking, hopeful and heartbreaking all at once.

I don't want to say too much about the plot, because to do that would be to ruin the reading experience. The main gist is that a girl, Judith, returns home after being missing for two years. Her friend Lottie is dead, and Judith's tongue has been brutally cut from her body. She's been forced into silence, unable to speak or tell of her ordeal. The only light in Judith's life is the boy she's loved all her life, her childhood friend Lucas. It's harrowing stuff, made all the worse by what has been and what is still to come.

This book is written using second-person narrative, which I'm quite unfamiliar with. It's written from Judith's perspective, as if she's writing to Lucas, using 'you' and 'your'. Off the top of my head I can't think of another YA book written in this way, though there must be some and I'm sure I've encountered it myself along the way. If I have, none have been as memorable or as well utilised as All the Truth That's in Me, and that's testament to Julie Berry's writing.

I quickly fell in love with Judith and Lucas and everyone else in their complicated lives. Judith's brother, Darrel, was a highlight for me, as well as Judith's friend, Maria. These people all rally together to help Judith get her life back: they help her try to learn to read and speak again, and ultimately they're more supportive that Judith's own mother. Without them she would have drowned in despair, becoming nothing but a silent, withered shell. With them, she has a fighting chance.

All the Truth That's in Me is so powerful and stayed in my head for weeks after finishing it. It's part mystery, part love story, with so much more in between. It's poetic, original and easily one of the most powerful YA novels to hit shelves. I defy you to read this book and not be completely consumed until reaching the last page. Even then, I wanted to flip back to the beginning and start all over again. Just brilliant.

4.5/5

L loved this book it kept me enthralled from start to finish.
Will pass it on to my daughter to read

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The place I want to start with this review is the blurb. I read it on Netgalley.com and have to admit I was immediately intrigued but also confess I did not realise it was a historical fiction book. It was unclear to me what time period it was actually set in and I wish this was more clear as it made it hard for me to get in to the book at first. The blurb lead me to believe that the attack on her village and her return to her captor was the main storyline to this book. So when I discovered that this only led up to about a quarter of the way through the book I was quite surprised. It did throw me off a little bit as I hadn't seen it coming, but I am so glad that was the case. Really this book was about the after effects of Judith's decision to go back to her captor and ask for his help to save her village. The rediscovery of a man presumed dead leaves a lot of unanswered questions to what happened all those years ago to Lottie and Judith. The book is also told from Judiths point of view as if she were talking to Lucas, another thing I did not expect but surprisingly enjoyed; it's something I don't see to often in books.

I want to tell you about the parts of this book I loved but I must admit there are quite a few so please stick with me. I don't want to just say "the characters" but was tempted as I actually adored so many of them for different reasons. My favourite character was Judith, the idea of the main character and narrator of a book who is unable to converse with others seemed so strange to me. I was a bit worried that it would make her harder to connect with but I was so wrong. Her voice was incredible, the way she handles herself and the treatment she receives from the village really touched me. She seemed so brave and also so strong and the deep feelings she has for Lucas were so believable to me. How she reacts to news of his impending wedding, or how she feels when he asks her questions about her time in captivity almost made me well up, that's how real her emotions felt to me when I was reading them. The author actually made me feel like I was reading someones personal letters to someone she loves.

I must talk about Lucas, the young man Judith has loved for as long as she can remember. I was glad to find a male love interest in a book that wasn't just an amazingly attractive man and little else. He had a personality, makes mistakes and is so blind to Judith's feelings for him that I wanted to knock some sense in to him.

The friendship that developed throughout the book between Maria and Judith was really beautiful and I glad someone was willing to give Judith a chance and not just judge her for her missing tongue and what that might mean. The development of Judith's relationship with her mother was always something I enjoyed. I struggled to understand her mother and why she was not completely ecstatic that her daughter was returned home to her alive and well. But that is the time they are living with and that was something that I had to get used to.

The story of this book did keep me guessing throughout which I liked; it can get quite boring reading books that you can tell exactly how they are going to play out. It was part historical, part romance and part crime mystery; and what a great mix that was. I loved the second half of this book the most, which was centred more around on the after effects of Judith bringing her captor back, it leaves a lot of unanswered questions and the town are determined to uncover the truth.
I really want to give some reasons why I didn't like the review so I can feel like I was objective but I can't help it. I really enjoyed this book and can't really say I didn't like it. My only point would be that I don't think the blurb really showed what the book was going to be about which really threw me at the beginning and made it difficult for me to get into the book.

All I can really tell you about this book is what I loved about it and why I enjoyed it so much. I know everyone likes different genres and types of books so I can't guarantee you will like this book but I would really recommend this. It touched me and had me close to tears at one point but also tempted to throw the book across the room as I didn't like where it was headed and I was actually tempted to do a Joey from friends and put the book in the freezer. If Julie Berry writes anymore Young Adult fiction I am going to be there waiting to grab it as soon as it hits shelf. I loved this!

4/5 Stars

*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.

Written in the first person, Judith has had no voice since the day she returned from the dead, and her mother's joy quickly turned to disgust.

The book is written in a curious way with the reader having to unravel the backstory for themselves. Identified as a 14+ by the Carnegie Shortlist, the age limit is a good guideline as Judith's story is harrowing, echoing the position of many women today who have no voice. It is set in a specific religious and cultural setting but Berry makes the characters her focus, and despite the historical context they remain accessible.

Her only concession to this being a YA novel is the ending, which some may applaud and others may feel is a little too convenient. An intelligent, well written and emotional tale - highly recommended.

I thought it was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Although the book was sad most of the way through it was good for the book to have a happier ending, but not an obvious one. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend because I just couldn't stop reading it.

What a great and interesting read. I was hooked and just had to keep going. I lived inside the young girls head and felt trapped with her. When the truth came out I thought it was a great twist.

I was unsure whether I wanted to read this book at first but as it was on offer on Amazon and all the reviews on here seemed to love it, I thought I'd take the plunge and try it.

I have to say that I did not like this book at the beginning and was almost ready to give it up. I found the writing confusing and bitty. I didn't like the jump between memories of Judith's childhood to present day to being taken etc. It all appeared extremely random and I did not enjoy it. However, I decided to stick with it and I was so glad that I did. Once I warmed to the writing style and the different time jumps I really started to love this book.

Reading through, what were in essence, Judith's thoughts sometimes seemed almost intrusive but it worked. Most people's thoughts are completely random and in that aspect this book was very cleverly written. As the book progressed I came to really care about Judith and what happened to her. I felt heartbroken about how her mother treated her after she came back and wasn't 'whole' but I loved her relationship with her brother. Judith sacrificed everything for the people in her life and thought little for herself. She was a wonderful heroine and surprised everyone who thought they knew her. I felt so much empathy for her towards the end of the book as she finally realised her dreams only to have them stolen once more. This was such a heartbreaking tale which, thankfully, did have a happy ending after all.

There were some great twists within this story which I was not expecting and really added to my enjoyment of the whole thing. I also loved the that this was set (I'm assuming) somewhere within the mid 1800's - of course I could be mistaken. However, the time period really worked for the story which was being told and it was refreshing not to have all the modern day noise that can sometimes distract from a story like this.

I would recommend anyone thinking about reading this to keep going and give the book a chance as it's worth getting to the end.