Publishers Weekly
03/19/2018
Miri, Penny, and Soleil, best friends since seventh grade, are obsessed by YA author Fatima Ro’s debut novel, Undertow, and plan to befriend her when she shows up at a local bookstore for a signing. As the three girls and their new friend, Jonah, get closer to Fatima, she uses their lives and secrets to create her newest literary hit, The Absolution of Brady Stevenson. Everything surrounding Ro’s book, including the three girls and the author, become sensationalized when Jonah is beaten unconscious in retaliation for something Ro reveals about him in her book. Peñaflor (Unscripted Joss Bryd) uses interview transcripts, diary entries, articles, and excerpts from Brady Stevenson to slowly reveal why Jonah is in a coma and what he was hiding. Seamlessly moving among narrative devices, Peñaflor keeps the tensions high and the pacing swift while giving each of the three young narrators a unique voice and perspective. She addresses the extremes of fan fervor and raises intriguing questions about authorial responsibility in this suspenseful and smart novel. 13–up. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, the Bent Agency. (May)
From the Publisher
Flat-out addictive, devious, delicious, and gasp-worthy, All of This Is True is your next binge-read. Underneath a mesmerizing plot, Peñaflor weaves a satisfying tale of class, revenge, privilege, and lies.” — Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces
“Sharp, edgy, and intensely electric, All of This Is True is a study in obsession and art, betrayal and forgiveness, and the web of connections they spin. This book is not afraid to shock its readers.” — Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of Firsts and Last Girl Lied To
“Peñaflor has created a delicious, addictive puzzle that readers will gobble up. I had to read it twice, once because it had me by the throat, then again to really savor the wit, sarcasm, and absolute humanity of these characters. An unbelievably creative undertaking, beautifully executed.” — Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, ALA William C. Morris Award finalist author of The Smell of Other People’s Houses
★“Utterly addictive and psychologically delectable—Peñaflor’s second novel will shock at every twist and turn.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★“This twisty exploration of contemporary teen culture is as original as it is disturbing.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
★“Deliciously sordid yet thought-provoking, this will be eaten up by teens. A must-have for YA collections.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“The unusual construct is highly effective and has the same addictive quality as sensational tabloids but with thoughtful themes and content.” — Booklist
“Seamlessly moving among narrative devices, Peñaflor keeps the tensions high and the pacing swift while giving each of the three young narrators a unique voice and perspective. She addresses the extremes of fan fervor and raises intriguing questions about authorial responsibility in this suspenseful and smart novel.” — Publishers Weekly
“[A] thrilling, twisty story that will have you flipping the pages at warp-speed.” — Bustle
“This book is sure to keep you up late into the night—don’t say we didn’t warn you.” — Bookish, Spring 2018 Must-Read YA
Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Peñaflor has created a delicious, addictive puzzle that readers will gobble up. I had to read it twice, once because it had me by the throat, then again to really savor the wit, sarcasm, and absolute humanity of these characters. An unbelievably creative undertaking, beautifully executed.
Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
Sharp, edgy, and intensely electric, All of This Is True is a study in obsession and art, betrayal and forgiveness, and the web of connections they spin. This book is not afraid to shock its readers.
Spring 2018 Must-Read YA Bookish
This book is sure to keep you up late into the night—don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
★“This twisty exploration of contemporary teen culture is as original as it is disturbing.
Bustle
[A] thrilling, twisty story that will have you flipping the pages at warp-speed.
Booklist
The unusual construct is highly effective and has the same addictive quality as sensational tabloids but with thoughtful themes and content.
Kathleen Glasgow
Flat-out addictive, devious, delicious, and gasp-worthy, All of This Is True is your next binge-read. Underneath a mesmerizing plot, Peñaflor weaves a satisfying tale of class, revenge, privilege, and lies.
Booklist
The unusual construct is highly effective and has the same addictive quality as sensational tabloids but with thoughtful themes and content.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)
★“This twisty exploration of contemporary teen culture is as original as it is disturbing.
School Library Journal
★ 06/01/2018
Gr 10 Up—In her latest, which cleverly combines multiple perspectives, Peñaflor provides a psychological study in how the shallow and the profound coexist within the human psyche to foster self-deception. The story unfolds in a series of face-to-face interviews, personal journal entries, and excerpts from a newly released novel. High school juniors Soleil, Miri, and Penny provide their personal accounts of events leading up to the savage beating of their friend Jonah, who remains in the hospital in a coma. They also explain how their formerly favorite author's just-published book tells a remarkably similar story, but with a very different ending. Newly arrived in Long Island, the attractive and mysterious Jonah begins attending the same exclusive private school as the girls. YA author, Fatima Ro, is also new to the area, where she plans to crank out her second book before a fast-approaching deadline. After meeting the four students at a book signing, Fatima takes them under her wing, intimately involving herself in their personal lives, and she enlists the besotted Soleil to discover the reason for Jonah's secrecy about his past. Taking to the Internet, Soleil uncovers a hazing incident at another school that involved sexual abuse. Even with its addictive, soap opera-esque intrigue, Peñaflor's characters remain distinct and believable. Deliciously sordid yet thought-provoking, this will be eaten up by teens. VERDICT A must-have for YA collections.—Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2018-02-20
Four privileged Long Island teens befriend their favorite YA author with disastrous results.Soon after their first encounter at a book signing, the bewitching and charismatic Fatima Ro—23-year-old author of Undertow—takes four of her teenage worshippers under her wing. Snobbish Miri Tan is the self-proclaimed leader of their school's Undertow Society, giddy fangirl Soleil Johnston carefully documents every one of her interactions with Ro, ditzy Penny Panzarella kindly helps out around the author's house after being given a key, and socially isolated Jonah Nicholls harbors an emotional attachment to Ro's story. But when she very obviously writes them into her next novel, The Absolution of Brady Stevenson, the teens' rose-tinted glasses are shattered, painful truths are uncovered—and, most shocking of all, Jonah is attacked and ends up in a coma. The story is related via a mixture of formats, including video interview transcripts, magazine articles, and passages from Ro's second novel, with each providing insight into the characters' individual relationships with the author. The weight of grief, authentic human connections, and whether life offers do-overs are all explored here. A lack of physical descriptions requires readers to speculate about characters' ethnicities based on the diversity of their names.Utterly addictive and psychologically delectable—Peñaflor's (Unscripted Joss Byrd, 2016) second novel will shock at every twist and turn. (Fiction. 13-18)
