Today I am taking part in the blog tour for The Ugly Truth. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Melanie Lange has disappeared.

Her father, Sir Peter Lange, says she is a danger to herself and has been admitted to a private mental health clinic.

Her ex-husband, Finn, and best friend, Nell, say she has been kidnapped.

The media will say whichever gets them the most views.

But whose side are you on?
#SaveMelanie
#HelpPeter

Told via interviews, transcripts and diary entries, The Ugly Truth is a shocking and addictive thriller about fame, power and the truth behind the headlines.

Review:

I was really intrigued by the premise of The Ugly Truth and I love the insight it gives the reader into celebrity lifestyle, celebrity culture and the way these are portrayed in the media. LC North has presented Melanie’s story as a series of e-mails, transcripts, newspaper articles and Twitter feeds, which is a really effective way of showing how toxic the media can be. It really helped me to put myself in Melanie’s shoes, which at times was uncomfortable but emotional reading. It’s a story that’s incredibly relevant to society in the wake of campaigns such as the #bekind campaign that followed the death of Caroline Flack. 

The blurb asks us to pick a side – #SaveMelanie or #SavePeter – and LC North builds the characters really well so that we can do this. Despite only  about them in short bursts, I did actually get a pretty clear view of each character’s personality. There were a few characters (I won’t say who because it’s a potential spoiler) who really made my skin crawl and others who had my sympathy. Several of the accounts contradict each other (as they would in the real life media) and this made it difficult to know who to believe, but it did make The Ugly Truth an engaging and thought provoking novel. 

Through her exploration of Melanie’s life and rise to fame, LC North writes in depth about a number of themes including grief, motherhood, childhood trauma and mental health. There are many messages to take away from the novel and they are incredibly hard hitting, which is testament to the strength of the author’s writing. 

I thought I had managed to guess how The Ugly Truth would end and, as usual, I was completely wrong! Although it’s not the ending I expected, I understand why the author chose the ending she did. 

The Ugly Truth is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: