#BookReview: The Truth Project by @DanteMedema

Synopsis: 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?

This title will be released on October 13, 2020. 

Goodreads | Amazon

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Review: This was an emotional story that I loved!! The characters and story were beautifully done and I could not put this one down.  The family themes in this story will make you cry and laugh and just feel so much for the MC.  

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-High schooler Cordelia plans to coast through her senior project, copying her older sister's idea of taking an ancestry test through GeneQuest, and adding her own spin by exploring the results through her poetry. Cordelia teams up with Kodiak, who's a friend, crush, and fellow poet. Recently, Kodiak's life has been troubled: After finding out that a classmate he impregnated was having an abortion, he drunkenly crashed his mother's car. When work and their project begins and the test reveals that the father she has always known is not her biological father, Cordelia is thrown into emotional turmoil. On a trip to a young poets' conference in Seattle, Cordelia becomes rebellious, drinking and sneaking off, and she ropes Kodiak into helping her track down her father. Set in Alaska where the author lives, this novel is told through Cordelia's poetry and her emails and texts to other characters. Cordelia talks at length to other people, a tactic that allows each character to be fully developed. Poetic elements such as rhythm, similes, and metaphors are well done, and the cast is diverse in many ways: Cordelia's best friend Sana is biracial (one parent is Asian), interested in girls, and lives in a trailer park, and Kodiak's project focuses on stories from his Tlingit heritage. She develops ways of coping, but the descriptions of Cordelia's response to Kodiak's creations are extremely emotionally charged, and readers may struggle to connect. VERDICT A story about family and identity that will appeal to readers who like novels in verse, or books about artistic teens.-Liz Anderson, DC P.L.α(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Review

“The Truth Project is a heart-wrenching quest for identity every YA reader will relate to, and a deep dive into the meaning of family." (Ellen Hopkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author  )

"A luminous and lovely novel-in-verse about family, identity, and finding your truth. Cordelia's heart-wrenching quest will captivate readers." (Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces and How to Make Friends With the Dark)

"The Truth Project explores love, identity, and family in all its beautiful chaos. Wrapped in exquisite, page-turning prose, this book is impossible to put down until the very end." (Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Timesbestselling author of Five Feet Apart)

"Dante Medema beautifully weaves together an emotional and riveting story of self-discovery, family, and finding out the truth that's inside us all. A stunning debut." 
(Elizabeth Eulberg, international bestselling author of Past Perfect Life)

"With luminous writing and characters who feel like friends, The Truth Project is a book with its own gravitational pull. A lyrical, evocative exploration of family, identity, and seeking your truth. Wholly original and totally incandescent." (Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of Firsts and All Eyes On Her)

"The Truth Project is a brave and beautiful debut, shining with honesty, courage, and hope." (Laura Taylor Namey, author of The Library of Lost Things )

A gorgeous, compelling, compulsively readable exploration of family and the truths that define us. I devoured The Truth Project, and I think you will, too. (Jared Reck, author of A Short History of the Girl Next Door)

“A captivating, intricately woven story of identity, family, and how we're shaped by our surroundings. From small-town Alaska to gritty Seattle, Cordelia’s search for belonging brims with honesty and heartache. Each lovely word of this novel-in-verse wields a special kind of power.” (Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of Today Tonight Tomorrow)

"Gripping. The Truth Project is a fast-paced hybrid novel that blends verse together with texts and emails to paint a picture of a girl trying to figure out who she really is. A great pick for Juleah del Rosario and Sonya Sones fans." (Kip Wilson, author of White Rose )

"Poetic elements are well done. A story about family and identity that will appeal to readers who like novels in verse, or books about artistic teens." (School Library Journal)

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Posted in: 5 Stars, Netgalley, Review, Young Adult