Book Review: Two Truths and a Lie by Meg Mitchell Moore 

 

Two Truths and a Lie
by Meg Mitchell Moore 

 

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From the author of The Islanders comes a warm, witty and suspenseful novel filled with small-town secrets, summer romance, big time lies, and spiked seltzer, in the vein of Liane Moriarty.

Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, have recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rebecca Coleman, widely acknowledged former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad (having taken a step back since her husband’s shocking and tragic death eighteen months ago), has made a surprising effort to include these newcomers in typically closed-group activities. Rebecca’s teenage daughter Alexa has even been spotted babysitting Katie.

Truth: Alexa has time on her hands because of a recent falling-out with her longtime best friends for reasons no one knows—but everyone suspects have to do with Alexa’s highly popular and increasingly successful YouTube channel. Katie Griffin, who at age 11 probably doesn’t need a babysitter anymore, can’t be left alone because she has terrifying nightmares that don’t seem to jibe with the vague story Sherri has floated about the “bad divorce” she left behind in Ohio. Rebecca Coleman has been spending a lot of time with Sherri, it’s true, but she’s also been spending time with someone else she doesn’t want the Mom Squad to know about just yet.

Lie: Rebecca Coleman doesn’t have a new man in her life, and definitely not someone connected to the Mom Squad. Alexa is not seeing anyone new herself and is planning on shutting down her YouTube channel in advance of attending college in the fall. Sherri Griffin’s real name is Sherri Griffin, and a bad divorce is all she’s running from.

A blend of propulsive thriller and gorgeous summer read, Two Truths and a Lie reminds us that happiness isn’t always a day at the beach, some secrets aren’t meant to be shared, and the most precious things are the people we love.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The woman was Sherri “with an i” (that was how she introduced herself, as though the i were of particular value, a bonus).

 

It was summer, obviously. But in a funny way it felt like it was Christmas morning and Cameron Hartwell was a present Alexa hadn’t yet unwrapped.

 

Outside the door stood a shriveled specimen of a woman. She was holding a small dog with giant ears. The woman made Alexa think of what would happen if somebody took a walnut and glued it on top of an old rag doll. She was looking at Alexa sternly.

 

The zinc she had applied to her face was uneven, making her look like a clown who’d partied too hard after last night’s circus.

My Review:

 

I am enamored with Meg Mitchell Moore’s smooth writing style and well-crafted story. I fell right into this seamlessly plotted, shrewdly paced, and absorbing tale of women’s fiction. Her storylines were well textured and expertly nuanced with generous servings of family drama, personal grief, coming of age issues, wry humor, romance, small-town living, and suspense. While selfishly resenting any interruption to my perusal I may have accidentally on purpose let all calls go to voicemail.

The complex characters were multi-layered, cunningly drawn, cleverly depicted, and realistically flawed. Each had a distinct voice and arresting aspects to their inner musings, painful insights, and observations. The most amusing threads involved the devilish petty members of the Mom Squad, which was a tight-knit clique of the ostensibly in-group of uber moms found in every small-town, who guarded and groomed their daughters’ social standing with as much self-aggrandizing importance as they did their own, and did so with judgmental eyes and sharply wagging tongues.

This was my first exposure to the agility of Ms. Moore’s pen and brain-tickling storytelling. I consider her found treasure and covet her entire listing while planning to follow her future endeavors like a bloodhound on the trail of an escaped convict.

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Meg Mitchell Moore’s fifth novel, The Islanders, will be published by William Morrow in June 2019 and is a July Indie Next Pick. She lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with her husband and their three teenaged and almost-teenaged daughters.

7 Replies to “Book Review: Two Truths and a Lie by Meg Mitchell Moore ”

  1. Not one of my usual genres, but your review is tempting. Love the title!

  2. This sounds enjoyable! Thanks for putting it on my radar.

  3. Omg omg I am seriously so jealous. I want this book. Going to amazon to check its price. Brilliant review. So beautifully nuanced. You are pure voodoo

  4. Oh Calls directed to voicemail level engrossment. Great review,.

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