Lindsey Klingele grew up in Western Michigan, where she read every book she could get her hands on. She eventually moved to Los Angeles (the real land of make believe) and worked as a writers' assistant for TV shows such as THE LYING GAME and TWISTED. She still loves living in LA, especially since it's home to great television shows, truly excellent cheeseburgers, and her pitbull, Bighead.
Title: The Truth Lies Here
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary+Sci-Fi
Author: Lindsey Klingele
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication: August 21st 2018
Cover Rating: 5/5
Have you ever been in a reading slump? You're dying to read but no matter what you pick up you just can't get sucked into anything. I absolutely hate that feeling. Reading is a massive part of who I am so when a slump happens I don't feel like myself. So, normally, when I find a book that pulls me out of that slump I always have to praise is. The Truth Lies Here by Lindsey Klingele is the current book I am praising.
Penny has been sent to stay with her dad for the summer. Normally, she stays with him for a few weeks but this year she has to stay the entire summer. But she won't let that ruin anything. She uses the opportunity to try to dig up facts about an event that happened that pretty much left most of the people in the town jobless a few years back. But when Penny first arrives, her father is nowhere to be found. She is used to this. Her dad is always off chasing some made up supernatural story. Penny learned at a young age that all the stories her father has told her were just lies and that really ruined anything fantastical for her. She actually has a stick up her butt when it comes to anything mythical or imaginary but events in her hometown this summer might actually loosen that stick up.
Another fairly main character is Dex. He is her dads neighbor. Penny grew up with Dex. They were pretty much best friends. Even before the divorce, Dex and Penny were falling apart and her moving just solidified that. Then we have Reese. Penny's old best friend that hates her because of something Penny saw and Reese's parents refused to admit to, or maybe they don't even remember? There are a lot of strange things that happen in the town of Bone Lake and memory loss seems to be at the top of that list. Oh, and we can't forget Micah! His father's death is what started everything in this strange little town.
This book was such an amazing story. I loved the whole Men in Black/X-Files vibes and I really liked all the characters. I did have a little bit of a problem with Penny at first. She was just not fun and refused to believe anything unless it was black and white and right in front of her face. If you are looking for a sci-fi book that isn't very heavy then I highly suggest giving this book a read.
Lindsey has this amazing talent for writing contemporary books that have a fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural twist. Her previous works, a duology with the first book being The Marked Girl, mixed present day with a fantasy world and I found that to be entirely brilliant. It felt even more real because it did have the real world in it but it also took me to other places that I know don't exist but she made it seem like they did. She did the exact same thing with The Truth Lies Here. She gave us this present day world and added an element to it that I devoured.
In the end, I am so grateful to the author for agreeing to be on my author spotlight because otherwise, I might still be in a reading slump. This book was a lot of fun and had so many elements to it that I never got bored and I never felt like the plot lulled.
Overall, I gave the book 4.5/5 stars.
1) What inspired you to write a sci-fi contemporary as opposed to your previous fantasy-contemporary novels?
I grew up on genre fiction, and I loved sci-fi and mysteries about as much as I loved fantasy worlds and stories. Anything that includes a fantastical or supernatural element, or some kind of heightened reality, really hooks me. Usually, when I sit down to try and write a realistic contemporary it will still wind up having ghosts or a dragon or aliens in it. It can't be helped!
2) If you had to choose between never writing again or never eating chocolate again which would you pick?
Never eating chocolate again, definitely. I would absolutely miss Snickers and hot fudge sundaes, but I think I could live without them. At the risk of sounding corny, writing is a down-deep part of who I am, and I don't think I could put that aside without losing something really crucial. Not that hot fudge sundaes aren't crucial, of course ;)
3) If you could bring any 1 character from your books to life, who would it be and why?
Dex from The Truth Lies Here! He's loyal and a true believer, which are great qualities in a person. Although if Los Angeles ever descended into an apocalypse-type situation, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to have Kat from The Marked Girl hanging around...
4) Please tell us 5 random facts about you:
* I have EXTREMELY bad eyesight and have worn glasses or contacts since I was two years old.
* I once sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door as a summer job to save up money for college (I was really bad at it).
* I have a pit bull named Bighead
* At 25 I quit my job and moved out to LA with all my possessions in a small U-Haul trailer.
* My favorite food is cheese.
5) Are you currently working on any new books?
Yes! I can't give away too many details at the moment, but I'm trying my hand on a contemporary retelling (and surprisingly, this one WON'T have portals or monsters...probably).
I grew up on genre fiction, and I loved sci-fi and mysteries about as much as I loved fantasy worlds and stories. Anything that includes a fantastical or supernatural element, or some kind of heightened reality, really hooks me. Usually, when I sit down to try and write a realistic contemporary it will still wind up having ghosts or a dragon or aliens in it. It can't be helped!
2) If you had to choose between never writing again or never eating chocolate again which would you pick?
Never eating chocolate again, definitely. I would absolutely miss Snickers and hot fudge sundaes, but I think I could live without them. At the risk of sounding corny, writing is a down-deep part of who I am, and I don't think I could put that aside without losing something really crucial. Not that hot fudge sundaes aren't crucial, of course ;)
3) If you could bring any 1 character from your books to life, who would it be and why?
Dex from The Truth Lies Here! He's loyal and a true believer, which are great qualities in a person. Although if Los Angeles ever descended into an apocalypse-type situation, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to have Kat from The Marked Girl hanging around...
4) Please tell us 5 random facts about you:
* I have EXTREMELY bad eyesight and have worn glasses or contacts since I was two years old.
* I once sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door as a summer job to save up money for college (I was really bad at it).
* I have a pit bull named Bighead
* At 25 I quit my job and moved out to LA with all my possessions in a small U-Haul trailer.
* My favorite food is cheese.
5) Are you currently working on any new books?
Yes! I can't give away too many details at the moment, but I'm trying my hand on a contemporary retelling (and surprisingly, this one WON'T have portals or monsters...probably).
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