My Rating ~ Five Stars
RELEASE DATE: 12 May 2022
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Publisher: Penguin Books
Blurb
‘Follow your heart and speak your truth.’
For Samantha Miller’s young fans – her ‘girls’ – she’s everything they want to be. She’s an oracle, telling them how to live their lives, how to be happy, how to find and honour their ‘truth’.
And her career is booming: she’s just hit three million followers, her new book Chaste has gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists and she’s appearing at sell-out events.
Determined to speak her truth and bare all to her adoring fans, she’s written an essay about her sexual awakening as a teenager, with her female best friend, Lisa. She’s never told a soul but now she’s telling the world. The essay goes viral.
But then – years since they last spoke – Lisa gets in touch to say that she doesn’t remember it that way at all. Her memory of that night is far darker. It’s Sam’s word against Lisa’s – so who gets to tell the story? Whose ‘truth’ is really a lie?
‘You put yourself on that pedestal, Samantha. You only have yourself to blame.’
Review
Thank you so much to Penguin Books Australia for providing me with a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review!
Samantha Miller has worked her way from a small town girl to an internet superstar, bestselling author and all round wellness guru. She has devoted and loyal fans in the millions, who she helps through difficult times, by sharing her own difficult past. But when she releases a book detailing a sexual encounter with her childhood best friend, and her friend responds by saying the encounter was nothing like Sam remembers, it was actually non consensual, Sam is shattered. With her public profile spiralling, she heads to her home town to find out why her friend would do this to her.
I went into this thinking it would be a fun little read about an influencer gone wrong and I was NOT prepared for the dark and intense story it actually was! This was an incredible read with sensational twists and characters that make you question everything. Dealing with so many difficult topics on page made for a harrowing journey and a book that I won’t forget in a hurry. Eating disorders, sexual assault, mental health issues, family dynamics, bullying, high school drama and internet stardom gone wrong, I was glued to this story. Each and every character had a story to tell that slowly slotted in to reveal what had really happened that night.
It feels strange to say I ‘loved’ a book with so many heartbreaking topics but the writing was superb and I’d highly recommend checking it out!
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