Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

I've recently been on a bit of a NetGalley drive, and am trying to get my ratio up, so when I noticed that I had this book on my list, and had already read book 1, I decided to start with To Be Perfectly Honest. Now, we see Gracie as she is getting used to college, but when it's revealed her dad lost his job, and had been keeping it a secret from her, she decides to be perfectly honest to everyone, for the next fifty days. Now, this isn't always going to work out well, and it's inevitable that she ruffles a few feathers along the way. Will Gracie see that honesty is the best policy, or is it sometimes okay to have a few white lies here and there.

Now, like I said, I read this to clear some of my NG shelf, and if it wasn't for that reason, I would've DNFed. I wasn't overly keen on book 1, but this one was utterly ridiculous. Gracie is not a good character, she's vain, selfish, and completely childish, and I can't stand her. When she decides to be honest to everyone, she is, and it's just evil at times. There's a difference with being honest, and being rude, and she crosses that line often. I mean, sometimes she just talks for the sake of it, and it would've been so much easier, and not even lying, to just shut her trap, and not say anything. About 70% through, it picked up a little, when she realised what a cow she had been, especially to Shannon, but I can't in good conscious give this book anything more than a 2 star review. And, I won't be reading book 3 either.

To Be Perfectly Honest was a classic, fun young teen read. I haven't read the first book in the series, but I didn't found that stopped me enjoying this. I would recommend Jess Vallance to teens looking for a fun and funny read.

To Be Perfectly Honest is the second book in Jess Vallance’s Gracie Dart series, but could easily be read as a standalone. Just like You Only Live Once, it opens with a hilarious scene – of a group of teens accidentally partying to the beats of industrial washing machines – that had me laughing out loud from page one.

Frustrated by her family hiding their money problems and her friends lying to make themselves sound cooler, Gracie gives herself a fifty day challenge to speak nothing but the truth: ‘For fifty days, I will only speak the truth. Fifty days of total honesty.’ But is honesty really always the best policy?

I had mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side, it really is funny and it helps to fill the gap for books for younger teens, who might not be ready for the topics covered in YA. It’s a quick read – I finished it in a couple of days – and would be perfect for fans of Holly Smale and Louise Rennison.

I like the friendships in the book (although there’s not nearly enough Reeta in the second half for my liking – I love her!) and it’s great that the romantic relationship isn’t the primary focus of the plot. For Gracie, her friendships and family come first.

A noticeable difference from the first book in the series is that this doesn’t go so much into the darker themes that the second half of You Only Live Once explored and I actually think that this is a better fit for the series. Whilst it touches on complicated parental relationships, financial difficulties and the realities of relationships, it remains a fun, breezy read.

However, I did find that Gracie got away with far too much in the story and things were resolved far easier than they would be in real life given that her misadventures do cause some real hurt. I was particularly disappointed that Gracie’s complicated relationship with her girlfriend Sarah wasn’t fully discussed. We see the difficulties in their relationship played out in the book – they discover that they don’t have as much in common as they first thought, they struggle to find time for each other and Gracie begins to feel like her feelings are dismissed as ‘dramatic’ – but this is resolved quite easily at the end. I would have loved to have seen a more open discussion about their relationship and how Gracie was feeling, even if it had the same outcome.

Overall, this is worth a read and I’m pleased that the Gracie Dart series will continue to provide much-needed funny books for teens. I will be intrigued to see if the third book in the series, By Popular Demand, follows a similar format with Gracie challenging herself to live by a different motto (YOLO in the first book and honesty is the best policy in the second!)

I was really upset to find that I didn't like this book. I loved the first so much, but I think with the concept of being honest, too many people got hurt in Gracie's misadventures for me to feel any sympathy with her.

In the first book I felt she was a little dumb and took things to extremes but in general she was sweet and easy to like. But with her decision to be honest and specifically to tell the whole truth it meant that she was just really harsh to everyone around her. Because quite often we hide things and don't tell the whole truth to people just to be kind to them. Because if everyone went around being so blunt about everything the whole world would be filled with arguments and hurt feelings. I really feel like Gracie should have come to this realisation earlier.

I really hope that the next book is better, because I like Gracie's way of seeing the world around her. I like how she viewed this whole honesty thing as a research project. I want to like her again.

But for this book, I just found that I couldn't.

I loved the first Gracie Dart book and couldn't wait to read this one. Jess Vallance has such a light touch - she's an effortlessly funny writer and her dialogue is fresh and spot on. I really enjoyed this one.

Uncovering a family secret, Gracie decides she's had enough of lies and pledges to be completely honest to everybody she meets.

For fifty days, nothing but 100% brutal honesty at all times. But total honesty doesn't always go down well when you've got a family dinner to go to, a job interview to get through and a new girlfriend to impress.

And when Gracie finally goes too far, she realises she's going to have to think creatively if she's going to put things right.

You can read my review of You Only Live Once (Gracie Dart #1) here, where I talk about how I really enjoyed the first in the series. The follow up, though? Not so much.

First of all, Gracie has lost her spark. I don't find her funny and witty anymore, and I can't pinpoint any moment in To Be Perfectly Honest that I would liken to having 'Georgia Nicholson vibes' as I said in my first review. I found her annoying and immature, and very naive, and the plot of this story didn't help. 'Oh no, lying is bad. Oh, let's never lie again. Oh, wait, no, sometimes lying is good.' And her whole attitude to her dad's job is very backwards, for someone of her age and intelligence, she just doesn't handle it well.

I don't really have a whole lot to say about any of the book, because to me it was mostly just 'meh.' The Shannon storyline was sad and heartwarming at times, but the whole going to Cornwall with the clayniacs just to find her was far-fetched and ridiculous. I also found it strange there was no mention of her parents permission for her to go to Cornwall on a limb, which would have cost money for the hostel and transport, and also how her mum was so quick to call out a handyman to fix the fence, when they're supposed to be so short of money?

I just didn't feel this book. I lost the magic of the friendship between Grace and Til, Sarah became an unnecessary character, as was Reeta at most parts, and I just didn't click with Grace at all. 

Overall, quite disappointing, and I don't think I'll be reading any more in this series.

Funny, joyful.
Great read. Really enjoyed it.
Thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

'To Be Perfectly Honest' by Jess Vallance is a second book in the series about Grace who sticks to the promises she makes to herself. This time after discovering that her family was keeping a secret behind her back, Grace decides that honesty is the best policy and that's how her 50 day complete honesty period starts. But since Grace is second Georgia Nicholson or Harriet Manners not everything goes according to plan and it seems that honesty not always turns out to be the best way to handle things. Grace sticks to her promise for 5o days and causes a bit of a chavoc on the way. Will she be able to repair everything that complete honesty destroyed? It's for you to find out. Great read for fans of Louise Rennison and Holly Smale. I do recommend!