I recently read The Truth about Alice by Jennifer Mathieu…

The release date is June 3. Mathieu is an English teacher and this is her first novel. The Truth about Alice is YA fiction, a story about a girl who has more rumors flying around her than one of the Kardashians (OK, maybe not THAT bad). She apparently slept with two guys in one night, and then it’s her fault that one of the most popular guys on campus is dead. There’s a bathroom stall dedicated to making her look even worse, and through all this, Alice continues to come to school and attempt to function normally.

The story is told from a variety of perspectives: Alice herself, a former friend of hers, a couple of popular kids on campus, and the token geek boy. Each perspective lends some insight into what actually happened, but also into the minds of teenagers (always a scary place to be) and how they negotiate relationships, conflict, and their own inner issues.

Alice herself is not perfect, by far, but it’s a telling view into how rumors can affect someone. I did like the book and the writing; my only complaint is that the story is fairly obvious. There’s no real new insight…of course, I work with teenagers and am an adult who has apparently survived high school, and since this is geared towards the demographic of teenagers, it’s possible they may not realize what they’re doing and this might help them deal with issues at school or with other teens. So I would say it would be a good choice for teens. There is another version of the cover, but I like this one because of the reference to the bathroom stall wall.