She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Truth Hurts, and reported the following:On page 69 of The Truth Hurts, Poppy and Drew are newly married and utterly in love - despite only having known each other for a few weeks. Poppy is sunbathing by the pool at their villa, reflecting on the strange and magical turns that her life has taken since she met her new husband. She has suspended the voice in her head that tells her 'this is too good to be true'. We see how having money had suddenly made everything easier and better for her - at least temporarily.Follow Rebecca Reid on Twitter.
Any reader who enjoys page 69 of The Truth Hurts would, I think, enjoy the rest of the book. There's certainly an element of escapism throughout the book (huge English country houses, handsome strangers, whirlwind romances) which is present on page 69. I also think (hope?) that even if page 69 was a little 'light' for your tastes, there would be other elements of the novel that you would be able to enjoy.
The Truth Hurts is not a fairytale. It does feature shopping, sex and sunshine, with a side order of interior design and gossipping friends, but at its core it's about the way that we choose to believe a person is perfect and ignore our worries about them, because we so badly want to be happy. It's also about the parts of ourselves that we hide in relationships. While Drew and Poppy are extreme examples, with some pretty twisted secrets, it's a macro version of what we all tend to do when we start dating someone.
The Truth Hurts was inspired by my experience of falling in love for the first time - though it's a far, far more extreme version (thank goodness). As a reader I find it really satisfying when an author takes an accessible, every day experience, and then blows it into dramatic proportions, so that's something that I try to include in every novel that I write.
Q&A with Rebecca Reid.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
