Title: One Tiny Lie
Author: K.A. Tucker
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths series
Rating: ★★★★★

I read One Tiny Lie while in the hospital and hooked up to a heart monitor. Normally, reading in the hospital is one of the most peaceful, uninterrupted times I get to read. However, when the five electrodes monitoring my heart’s activity send constant updates to my nurse as I read (making her come check on me frequently), my time is not so uninterrupted. Each time my nurse stuck her head in the room and asked for the reason my heart was racing, I shyly held up my book and just said “good part.”

One Tiny Lie is not an extremely long book. So it says something that my nurse was making near constant stops by. The entirety of this book was so good, it literally had my heart acting up.

Livie is the normal one of the two Cleary sisters. She hasn’t had a mental breakdown, she’s done well in school, and she’s stayed focused on her dreams and ambitions. She’s starting at Princeton, looking ahead to being pre-med and saving children. Everything she does is to live up to the promise she made to her father. “Make me proud.” She’s never deviated from the path she knows he’d be proud of.

Once she’s in college, though, she starts actually living life. She has fun with her roommate, goes to parties, and starts getting interested in boys. There’s Conner, the guy she know her dad would be proud of. And then there’s Ashton, they guy who frustrates her and pushes her buttons a little too much.

Not only are their guy troubles, but college isn’t what she expected. She’s not acing every test. Volunteering at the children’s hospital has her unsure if she could really be a pediatric oncologist. And she’s no longer sure if she’s still keeping her promise to her father.

Something that I really connected with was Livie struggling with college. The first time I tried college, I fell apart. Not for the same reasons as Livie, but I started questioning myself and my life path. I had been so sure for years of what I wanted to do, but circumstances had me questioning that. In my desire to not let my parents down, I tried as hard as I could to make it work. I understood Livie as her future started to fall apart in front of her. I know the feelings she was having. I know how much it hurts to feel as though you are failing to live up to the promises you make your parents.

Ten Tiny Breaths moved me because of how much Kacey had to go through in order to find herself. She didn’t have a starting point and had to build herself up. One Tiny Lie had an even bigger impact on me because it wasn’t only about finding who you are. It’s about coming to realize that what you think you are doesn’t have to be the truth, but not knowing where to go. That confusion in losing yourself after years of thinking you know what you’re doing is such an important thing to talk about. Just because you don’t live up to the original idea doesn’t mean you aren’t living up to yourself.

One Tiny Lie is a fantastic book that is a definite must read.

If One Tiny Lie sounds like your kind of book, you can purchase it here:
Amazon
Audible
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.