The Almost Truth by Eileen Cook

Standalone. Simon Pulse (December 2012) Library

Teen con artist Sadie might be over her head. To escape her backwards small town, delusional mom, jailbird dad, and the tiny trailer where she was raised, she also must leave Brendan. Sadie wants a better life, and she has been working steadily toward it, one con at a time, until her mother wipes out her savings. 

Brendan helps devise ultimate con. But the more lies Sadie spins, the more she starts falling for her own hoax, and perhaps for the wrong boy. Sadie wanted to change her life, but she wasn't prepared to have it flipped upside down by her own deception. With her future at stake and her heart on the line, she suddenly has more than just money to lose.

At first I already felt like this was just going to be an alright read. It didn't seem like it was going anywhere but, having read previous books by Eileen Cook I should have known better. It got quite interesting, quite fast when I knew what Sadie's real ultimate con was going to be. Although it was fairly predictable what was going to happen when you got a little further into the story, The Almost Truth, was a light and entertaining read - just what I needed after a stress-filled week.

Sadie's life is one she desperately wants to run away from. She lives in a beat up trailer with her mom who always works and expects Sadie to live the same way and her dad who's always either in jail or coming up with his next scam. She might not admit it but she's also running away from her best friend Brendan who she made a mistake with and has been trying to avoid ever since. She doesn't get the chance to reinvent herself when her mom takes all her money from her savings to get her dad out of jail. Albeit Sadie didn't get all that money from just hard work. She took up her father's trade of conning people here and there so she can save up the cash to go away to college and get off her island. Still furious, Sadie doesn't know what to do to get all her money back. She gets an idea in the strangest possible way when she discovers something that happened long ago in her hometown.

The mystery wasn't all there because I figured out what was going to happen right away. I think Cook planned it that way though because she gave pretty obvious hints about what was going on throughout the story. It's more about the journey than the actual reveal. Although, the story of what happened could have been more shocking for me to enjoy the ending more. I liked Sadie and her story. I liked her journey and her self-discovery that no matter where you come from you are who you are and no one can change that. I didn't particularly like the romance in this story. I couldn't feel the connection with her and Brendan probably because she tried to keep her distance from him so much. Regardless of some things I would have liked different, The Almost Truth absorbed my attention and gave me a quick escape into the mysterious life of Sadie.