07 | March | 2017 | By Hook Or By Book

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As many of you may have heard, Mr. Trump, who apparently was not pleased with more recent developments in the investigation into his administration’s ties to Russia, had a Twitter tantrum early Saturday morning that reportedly caught even his handlers by surprise. While he’s known for making wild and false accusations, this time he’s leveled his libelous vitriol at our previous president, Barack Obama, accusing him of illegally wire tapping Trump Tower. I’m not going to bother going over the paranoid delusional insanity of this accusation, but something in an article written by Mile Allen of Axios, really struck me. He spoke to an unnamed White House official who had this to say regarding this:

The president just has a great nose for these things. It’s the bureaucratic leaks–the deep state–that bother him the most. Even if it turns out not to be true that they surveilled Trump Tower, he will have a very good point to make about the level of sabotage coming from Obama holdovers.

Even. If. It. Turns. Out. Not. To. Be. True. Um…All righty then. So while this probably shouldn’t come as a great shock to anyone, apparently we can all look forward to Mr. Trump and his minions to continue pulling “alternative facts” out of thin air as long as they keep furthering their agenda. Please excuse me. I need to go take an aspirin now.

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Espionage, Mystery, Thrillers, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 7th, 2017

400 Pages

Synopsis: Some secrets are best kept hidden…

Anastasia Phoenix has always been the odd girl out, whether moving from city to international city with her scientist parents or being the black belt who speaks four languages.

And most definitely as the orphan whose sister is missing, presumed dead.

She’s the only one who believes Keira is still alive, and when new evidence surfaces, Anastasia sets out to follow the trail–and lands in the middle of a massive conspiracy. Now she isn’t sure who she can trust. At her side is Marcus, the bad boy with a sexy accent who’s as secretive as she is. He may have followed her to Rome to help, but something about him seems too good to be true.

Nothing is as it appears, and when everything she’s ever known is revealed to be a lie, Anastasia has to believe in one impossibility.

She will find her sister.

Proof of Lies is the introduction to Wallach’s new Anastasia Phoenix series, and it certainly starts things off with a bang! The action begins on the very first page and never slows down, which had me finishing this in one sitting despite it being 400 pages. What really carries this book is its main character, Anastasia who’s basically a teenage James Bond. After their parents are killed in a car accident Keira becomes Anastasia’s guardian, but there’s a lot of resentment between them and their relationship is rather rocky. Despite that, when Keira disappears, Anastasia doesn’t think twice about conducting her own rescue mission when the official police investigation stalls. She stubbornly believes Keira is still alive despite everyone else saying otherwise. She continuously dives into dangerous situations that could easily get her killed, but she doesn’t let this stop her. She’s already lost her parents, she’s parents and she’s determined that she’s not going to lose her sister too. Aiding her in her cross-country search are Keira’s best friend and computer hacker extraordinaire, Charlotte, and the mysterious Marcus, who has an intriguing connection to Anastasia’s family. The romance between Anastasia and Marcus was a little bland, but I think this may be because it’s meant to take a back seat to the search for Keira. What I really loved though is that the author sets her completely wild story against events that actually happened. The two blend together into a unique and intriguing mystery which kept me guessing right up until the end. Proof Of Lies is the type of book where many of the situations are totally improbable, but you just have to go with it. I highly recommend it to YA and adult fans of exciting mysteries and espionage thrillers. I can’t wait for the sequel, Lies That Bind to come out next year!