Book Review: Nothing But the Truth

Nothing But the Truth by Holly James

Best described as Liar, Liar meets the #metoo movement, Nothing But the Truth takes us on a wild ride through one crazy day in Hollywood publicist Lucy Green’s life. Why is this particular day, her thirtieth birthday, so different from any other day? Well, it starts with the realization that she is no longer able to lie. She can’t speak lies, and she can’t lie to herself about what isn’t working in her life. Was all of this chaos caused by the “life-changing” cocktail the cute bartender whipped up for her the previous night? Who knows?

Lucy uses the effects of whatever truth serum magic this may be to take a stand against all the annoyances and injustices in her life. She takes painful bras, evil shapewear, and the ridiculous hours spent creating a fake image with hair and makeup and throws them all right out the window. Hushed conversations about periods? Eating a few blueberries for lunch instead of a burger? Waxing the lady bits? Lucy is DONE.

And while all of this is humorous and fun, this story does tackle some larger issues as well. When the CEO of Lucy’s firm makes a pass at her, and then she finds out that the same thing has happened to another woman in the office, they are both ready to take a stand. And while I did enjoy the all-in feminist tone of the book, I did find it a little heavy-handed at times. But overall this was a fun read with a little bit of magic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.