The Finest Lies by David J. Naiman
A Young Adult Novel published by Empire Old Line Media (10/14/21)
First reviewed through Reedsy Discovery as an ARC
Summary:
Given the opportunity, Nicole would gladly trade her brother Jay with a robot. When a mysterious mirror man makes her this offer, she accepts immediately. But Jaybot isn’t Jay and mirror man keeps playing games with her.
Keywords:
Teenagers, Young Adult, Siblings, Sibling Relationship, FAmily, Friends, Lies, Past, Confrontation, Bully, Rape, Games
My Review:
This holesome story reminded me of the fun and wacky Willy Wonka combined with the Spirits of A Christmas Carol. If you like a story about personal growth and lessons learned, then you’ll pick up a thing or two reading this story.
There are so many great pearls of wisdom from the author, the Dad of the story, and the characters themselves as they learn and grow. These lessons are also articulated through the story as well. “You either change with somebody or you change without them.” (65%, Kindle Edition). “You can never change what you’ve done, but you can always be a better person.” (95%, Kindle Edition).
I loved the fun use of words and language. Phin, especially, loves to talk in alliterations and elaborate phrasings. Like, “I am the Grand Poobah of Grandiose Pontifications.” (18%, Kindle Edition). The writing is very cheeky, especially the way Jay jokes with Phin and his dad about alternate realities while one is in the library and the way the bots are humorous. The dad even says, “I guess there’s a certain magic to being transported into an alternate reality with high stakes.” (42%, Kindle Edition). while there’s a Nicbot at the table!
Nicole is forced to see some of the times when she was the most horrible and when her perception of events was skewed. She falls through interdimensional holes and into these scenes as view-only. No editing. At first, she doesn’t think about changing the scene. Eventually, she sees that she often jumps to the worst possible conclusions, letting her insecurities get the better of her, and lashing out with the intent to hurt those like she herself was hurt. At the time she saw her actions as necessary, at the moment she did what she had to and had no other choice, but through the re-viewing, with the holes, she gains a new perspective. She can see the disheartening, destructive theme of herself as a freshman. Gradually she sees the errors of her ways and wishes desperately to interact with the past and make better decisions.
Nicole wants a brother to say nothing to upset her and do whatever she wants. Both Nicole and Jay make assumptions about the other because they stopped talking to each other, stopped sharing their lives, stopped being a family. Phin intervenes just in time for Nic and Jay to halt this path and move in the opposite direction, closer to one another. The book itself is divided into Jay’s perspective and Nic’s perspective. I really enjoyed reading each of their stories.
This novel was published by Empire Old Line Media on 10/14/2021 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 4.50
Links for more information:
Rachel Author Barnard 