6 March 2016

Blog Tour: White Lies by Zoë Markham



What's it all about?

A haunting YA thriller you won't be able to put down, White Lies is a boarding school story - with a shockingly dark twist.

Everybody hurts

For Abigail, a new school could be the fresh start she so desperately needs. With her parents in the army and her sister Beth too far away to run to, she knows this year needs to be different. She's never been part of the cool crowd and for the first time Abby wants to fit in. And all it takes is just one little white lie…because some truths are too painful to share.

Everybody lies

But at Cotswold Community College, Abby isn't the only one with a past she'd rather forget. And when she stumbles across a closely-guarded secret, Abigail realises that her one little white lie could reveal everything she’s worked so hard to hide…

Sounds Intriguing…

Yes! Yes it is. Abby not only conceals the truth from the girls in her dorm, but also from the reader, which got me hooked from the get-go. Who was the boy in the photo, and what had happened that had left Abby feeling so raw? As well as the mystery concerning Abby’s past, Markham also weaves in some sinister, maybe even supernatural, spook in the form of Malthus/Grey the magpie who seems to be watching Abby.

Malthus?

This is the name that Abby’s sister, Beth, comes up with for the uncanny bird. Beth is away at uni, and provides Abi with much needed comfort and perspective when she’s having a hard time settling in at her new school and figuring out her roommate/resident Queen Bee, Scarlett. But is Scarlett’s crown in danger of slipping? Tyler, a cute surfer-boy and also Scarlett’s ex, seems worried; Scarlett reckons he’s just not over her yet, and being bit of a stalker. So why does she keep acting all jealous when Tyler spends time with Abby?


Aw-kward!

A little, and it only gets worse as rumours start to fly. Thankfully, Abby makes a new friend outside of school who provides her with the distraction and escapism she needs whilst she waits for her father to return from duty. Like Abby, Archie is bit of an outsider, and she has her little magpie friend to thank for bringing the pair of them together. What could possibly go wrong?

So, is it any good?

Absolutely! Yet again, as with Markham’s debut, Under My Skin (reviewed last year), the quirky plot, excellent dialogue and damaged protagonist that you can’t help but root for all come together in one addictive, edge-of-your-seat read. The narrative structure of this book adds to the unsettling nature of events as they unfold, making it hard to guess how and where Abby’s tale will end. I challenge anyone to start reading this book and then just try to put it down. Honestly, it’s impossible.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  


About the author: 

Zoë lives in West Oxfordshire with her husband, son and the obligatory two cats. A full-time copy-editor by day, she writes late into the night, fuelled by coffee - not, as she tells all her son's friends - fresh blood and cold empty darkness.

Zoë likes her fiction dark and disturbing, loathes even the tiniest element of pink fluffiness and has an inexplicable fear of mushrooms. She will do anything to avoid interacting with the Real World wherever possible.

If you'd like to know more, Zoë can usually be found talking books on Twitter, and rarely bites if you'd like to say Hello.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ZoeMarkham

Website: http://www.zoemarkhamwrites.com/

Giveaway: £10 Amazon Giftcard (UK only) - scroll down to the bottom of the page to enter. Good luck!

What to read next:

For Malthus fans, get your spooky bird fix in Juno Dawson’s Hollow Pike (previously published under the name, James Dawson)

For new female friendships that take a turn for the worse in a seriously creepy fashion, try White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick (bloody birds again!)

For twisty, turny, unreliably narrated mystery, I highly recommend Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

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