I found this a well crafted observation on the cult of celebrity and social media. It hooked me in enough to stick with it but writing the story entirely in reported social media snippets, transcripts and e-mails seemed to somehow dilute the tension in the build up to the ending.

The father, Peter, was an interesting character but I felt I wanted to know more of his emotional struggles, having taken the decisions he did, I lost him in the story a bit.

An all too credible and relateable story, this is a good read and I recommend giving it a punt.

This was a very powerful read showing the true cost of wealth and fame today’s stars and influencers often hide away from. The main character may be flawed, but those around her are much worse! Highly recommended.

I’m sorry to say I had to give this one up despite being intrigued by the plot. I just couldn’t enjoy the style of writing that the author had used to tell the story.

My thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and share my review.

I didn’t find this book particularly interesting. It was presented as a story with two viewpoints - a concerned father looking after his daughter’s mental health v a daughter claiming to be imprisoned under duress by a father intent on taking over her business interests - but the viewpoint is too one sided in support of the daughter and neither appear to be credible, or likeable witnesses. The toxic effect of social media and the tabloid press comes across well, however. I think it’s a good book for a book club type discussion and debate but overall a bit dull and without much of a plot.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

This is an incredible book that I devoured! It is so unique and cleverly written. It depicts the toxicity of celebrity, echoing some of the struggles that stars like Britney Spears have been through. The different narratives were really intriguing because you’re unsure throughout who to trust.

A really good read!

A book about the toxic celebrity/social media culture. It begins with mollie claiming to be being held prisoner by her controlling father ( think Britney spears) and then backtracks through the years leading up to that. The story is told through tweets and interviews with key characters. It's interesting at the start but found my attention waning towards the end- no real plot as such.

A good book that slowly draws you in, I found it hard to make sense of what was happening sometimes as there is a lot of backwards and forwards but overall I enjoyed this book.

So we find out quite early on that Melanie (the protagonist) is being held against her will by her father and we then skip back and forth to understand the what's and why's that got her there. Think real-life examples like Princess Latifa and Britney Spears.

The story is told through social media, interview style techniques, which reminded me a bit of Daisy and the Six. I loved the short chapters as it made me say 'just one more' and end up reading into the early hours. The story held my attention and kept me guessing, and rereading parts sometimes! I also liked that there were enough characters to not get too lost with who is who . Although I would have liked more detail on the Zara and Mellie relationship, it felt quite hollow (perhaps that was intentional?). An enjoyable, but sad in places read that highlights the effect of the media at many angles.

This is a book written in various formats in the form of interviews, transcripts and comments. It makes it a little difficult to follow at times. The story is a good one, following the story of the disappearance of Melanie Lange.

I loved the twists and turns throughout as we got closer to finding out what exactly happened to Melanie, but the final twist at the end was a shocker.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy.

Im really not sure what I make of The Ugly Truth. I was intrigued by the synopsis and was expecting and absolute thriller of a book. It’s promoted as being told by interviews, transcripts and diary entries so I knew what to expect but I just didn’t enjoy reading a novel written in that manner. However it did make me stop and think about those involved in the public eye, celebrity culture and coercive control. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK Transworld Publishers and the author for the chance to review.

The #FreeBritney movement has had a lot of attention in the past few months, and The Ugly Truth is a fictional take on a similar situation, which focuses on how social media and the press can influence (and ruin) people’s lives.

The marketing of The Ugly Truth revolves around the question of whose side are you on – #SaveMelanie or #HelpPeter. The book is entirely written in the form of interview snippets, diary entries, newspaper articles and Twitter comments telling both sides of the sad tale of Melanie Lange. Melanie was thrust into fame at an early age and has been dominating the tabloid headlines ever since, but when she disappears, her fans are left wondering where she went – is she in rehab? Or is something more sinister going on?

I really enjoyed the writing style of The Ugly Truth - sometimes mixed-media snippet style narrative can keep you from engaging with the characters and make for a difficult read, but I was hooked throughout for most of this. I do think it felt a little long at times though and it did feel repetitive as you were hearing the same things multiple times from different perspectives.

Although a lot of the marketing for the book focuses on #SaveMelanie or #HelpPeter, I don’t really think the #HelpPeter movement is explored at all in the book. It’s either #SaveMelanie or don’t believe she’s in trouble - we never really fully believe that Peter is innocent and there isn’t really a convincing argument for his side of the story – we just have to read more to see how his character develops.

The plot of the story, and particularly its ending really hammers home the dark side of the press and how even small, judgmental comments on Twitter can really affect celebrities. It’s a warning about the way we conduct our lives online and the high price of Fame.

Overall, The Ugly Truth is a cautionary tale, I just wish there was more of a two-sided story at play. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers & Bantam Press for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and felt so sorry for Melanie. The way that it was written meant that it was a shorter read than I would have normally expected but the reports and facts being so well presented was superb. I had to stay up to read this until I knew what was really happening and I ended up wandering about all the other stories that the press put out about famous people, how easy they can destroy lives and for the sake of selling papers they do not care the outcome. Reporters harrowing people, social media giving their two penny worth as well all was so negative and it is a real shame that negativity and not positivity sells papers and attract readers. I did not expect the ending. All the characters were very well described and it was easy to relate to their behaviour patterns.. Great story that packs a real impact on the sad state of life

This book surprised me….in a good way. I could not stop reading it, totally engrossed in the story of
Melanie. The title is perfect, the ugly truth of fame and celebrity. How the British press behave is atrocious, and this fictional story had me thinking about Princess Diana and what happened to her, much of it due to the way the press hounded her.

This book is told completely in mixed media, newspaper articles, test messages, interview transcripts, chat room comments etc. I think the audio book would be fantastic. It is about a girl, who comes from a wealthy and famous family, who then becomes a famous model at a young age. What happens to her during and after this modelling career is what makes up this story. The public’s love/hate relationships with the famous. It tells of her mental health issues, her loves me losses, her new career. It was fabulous.

Thanks o Random House UK for my advanced copy of this book to read. Publishes on March 16th.

This book was rather difficult to enjoy due to the use of mixed media formats e.g. chatroom comments, interviews, etc., which I suspect may become more prevalent in contemporary literature. It doesn't make for easy reading, especially as an e-book.

Melanie is an influencer who goes missing but messages her followers to say that her father is holding her prisoner. An interesting concept but I don't think I am in the market for stories like this. it will probably appeal to people in their late teens and early twenties. Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam Press for the opportunity to read and review The Ugly Truth.

I liked the premise of this book, but I didn't register that it was written in transcripts, interviews and diary entries. It's not my kind of thing so I struggled with it.

3.5 stars
Let me start of by saying that I LOVE a thriller that uses mixed media. I find it really makes the plot fly by and I enjoy how you get other peoples opinions shown (through tweets, etc) so I thought this would be right up my alley. And I did really enjoy it, but as it went on I did end up feeling slightly let down.
Going off the blurb I was expecting to be reading from different characters POV and that they would be unreliable narrators. They weren't. It felt like the story was just layed out flat in front of you. There was no mystery in this for me and it was definitely not a thriller.
Having said that I did enjoy the writing but as it went on it did seem to fall flat.

A sad life of how social media can affect you. I understand the moral of the story but being full of Tweets, transcripts and interviews which I found a bit boring and not my type of book.
Melanie is an influencer since a teenager then she goes missing, her father claims she is getting help for her mental health issues but after a few months Melanie sends a video to her friend saying her father is keeping her prisoner.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC

This was a really gripping read and I enjoyed the format of using interviews, newspaper clips, chatroom comments and Netflix commentary to tell the story and put forward the various points of view. Following the publication of Prince Harry's 'Spare' and its excoriating criticism of the press it seems very relevant to our current climate of building up celebrities and tearing them down again and how people are made and broken by fame.

The characters are well portrayed and I definitely found myself being swayed from one to the other depending on the point of view of the narrator. An excellent and thoroughly enjoyable book, I highly recommend it.

I really enjoyed this; the way the book was laid out was totally different to anything I’ve read before where it is completely made up of narrative from a documentary and interview excerpts as well as Twitter commentary and newspaper articles. It’s a really clever way of telling the tale and was very engaging. It shone a really interesting light on the media and their obsession with building people up to knock them down and how we as the public often feed into it. Great story. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book sounded really up my street, and super intriguing.
I enjoyed this book. I found it really engrossing, and I liked the kind of mixed media approach to the text. It's very clear that L.C North has taken inspiration from Britney Spears and Caroline Flack.
The book feels incredibly real - we've heard things like this in the news before.
One downside to this book is it felt repetitive at times, it kept repeating things and it didn't drive the plot forward. However, thanks to Norths writing style, it still kept me reading and turning the pages.

I enjoyed reading this book even if it was very bleak.