ot for me. I didn't enjoy the friendships, the main characters or their stories. This one was a miss for me right from the start. It starts with the girls in college and, instantly, as their friendships isn't really friendship, I knew this one wasn't going to work for me. As the POV grew and the character list got even longer, I was so tuned out because I never got fully pulled in. This was an absolute slog for me but only because I didn't connect right from the start.

If exploring female friendships from college to adults and really exploring the ups and downs of it, then this might be for you! It just wasn't for me.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I absolutely loved this book!! I couldn’t put it down.
I just loved all the characters. I highly recommend this book.

"The Truth is a Theory" was a surprisingly emotional journey that delved into a lot of tough topics. I found it was definitely worth the read.

I thought it was a good look into the lives of four friends: Allie, Megan, Zoe and Tess, not all necessarily bestfriends. Allie is telling the story of the friends who met in college, their boyfriends, husbands and marriages. Allie and Dana who have known and dated each other since HS have unbelievable growing pains in their lives. Dana is always focused on his life and career knows exactly what he wants to do and Allie is always front and center. Allie on the other hand doesn't know what she wants to do and has an agonizing self doubts on everything from her father's love, why her mother left and does Dana really love her or loves her too much and she doesn't want to look a fraud. As their lives intertwine, what is the truth for all of them. Megan who has only ever dated two guys, was used by one to brag about in college and other who she trusted, but she can't come to the realization that "no means no" and that she was actually raped. Navigating the self doubt and loathing, she comes to term with her life and moves on with life. Zoe who is rich girl who has it all, looks, money and the great looking boyfriend, Gavin that all girls want must come to terms that Tess, the plain jane has stolen Gavin from her. What is it about her and why is she still loving Gavin. Tess who was Zoe's roommate in college, but friends of Zoe, Allie and Meagan by default because of roommate status still can't believe she has Gavin. What ensues over the years is life of each of the girls, their men and each other.

This book took me on such an emotional journey that I was not expecting. it took me back to my past, and made me question my present. It made me sad, happy, uneasy, and curious. I was so engrossed in the women's lives that I had to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. It also made me question my own relationships, whether with my spouse, my family, or my friends. It was so good, it made me cry at the end!

This book dives into so many real life issues - rape, alcoholism, friendships, marriage and more. I almost thought putting the story of four girls into one boom was a lot and it would have been better suited as two books. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

A story about friendship and love, and all that is necessary to nurture those relationships through life’s ups and downs. There are a lot of POVs and time jumps in this book which makes it a bit exhausting to keep up with at times.

I loved this story!!!!! It is a story of friends, relationships, growing up as adults, & learning how to navigate the adult world with all its challenges. Having friends helps and these four women lean on each other & learn how to navigate life. I highly recommend this book.

The book was ok. Hard a hard time following who was who at times and it jumped years which, in this book, made it harder to follow. There are different points of view and different characters. I just couldn't totally get into the book. It wasn't a bad book, just not what I could get into at that time

While I enjoyed reading about the friends, there was something not quite right with the timeline. Maybe the multiple points of view make it confusing. The journal entries did not add to the whole of the story; in fact, it distracted many times.

I had hopes for this book and was looking forward to reading about the relationships between family and friends. But this just did not appeal to me and I found it hard to become invested in the story and the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wooden Dock Press for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

I had the honor, and stressful responsibility, of choosing this month's book club book. I always feel so much pressure to pick a good one and I'm thrilled to announce I succeeded! The Truth is a Theory by Karyn Bristol features the ensemble cast of Allie, Megan, Tess, and Zoe, four young women who meet on their first day of college in 1986. Told in alternating timelines of the past beginning with college and the present in Allie's journal entries with a start date of June 2000, we see how the women grow together and then possibly apart. We see how their ideal futures turn into their more realistic adult lives. We watch love bloom, marriages struggle, friends fight, and friends hold one another together.

At first I was worried that maybe I had chosen something that leaned too closely to chick-lit for book club. Not that chick-lit doesn't have its place, but it usually isn't meaty enough for a good group discussion. The more I read, the more I realized how meaty and textured this story actually was. There is something we can all relate to as women, experiences we've all had or watched friend endure. I really liked this book and it was a winner for all the ladies in my book club. The themes and topics raised in the novel led to the sharing of similar experiences and lots of really good conversation. There were characters we loved, characters we hated, and we had a good time deciding which of us was more of an Allie, a Megan, a Tess, or a Zoe.

A favorite theme of the novel stems from the title. Is the truth a theory or is it absolute? Does the truth I experience have to match the truth you experience? Or do we all experience the same event differently? A quote that has stuck with me and that I've shared with other friends since finishing this read is when Zoe and Allie are catching up over dinner with the group and Zoe asks how Allie is doing. Allie responds the way most of us do when asked that question: "I'm fine." Zoe then does what a good friend should do- she challenges her:

"Are you?...I'm hearing fine, but I'm not so sure I'm seeing fine in your eyes....You know, you say fine and I say fine, and we just add to the giant myth that everything's great for everyone else and we're the only ones who can't quite cut it. Sometime the brave face isn't the most useful."

I love this quote because it is so full of truth about being a woman, being a wife, being a mother. We all pretend we're fine and we all think we are the only ones who are lying.

I really enjoyed this book and the discussion that followed it. I hope you'll read it and then talk about it with your girlfriends.

The Truth is a Theory was a wonderful realistic look at marriages, families, friendships, and relationships. I loved reading about the intricacies of each tangled web the characters were entangled in, but more importantly, I was enraptured by the writing. It was so sophisticated and my perception is that the author either took precious time to choose each and every perfect word/phrase/sentence, or she is just so talented that it came easily to her to write so beautifully. Either way, I am impressed and hope that she will write more novels. I am a fan and will read more by her!

This book tells us the stories of four young women who meet their first week of college and become friends.

The plot begins fifteen years after that first week, with Allie’s Journal Entry #1 Saturday Night, June 10, 2000. Allie’s husband Dana has left her and their two children.

Allie looks at her life through periodic journal entries, and we are told her current life in the third-person. We also follow her and her friends through third-person flashbacks that progress from the 1970’s and ‘80’s to 2001. I had no problem following all the storylines.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it.

An incredible journey of the lives of four women. It is quite emotional and not a light read. The feel-good factor of friendship is always delightful!

A story about four friends from college, Allie, Megan, Tess and Zoe. The story bounces around in the timeline but develops the friends story individually. A unique story that would probably be best portrayed as a lifetime movie. I had a hard time keeping track of the time frame and who was part of the narrative at times. Thank you to Wooden Dock Press and Netgalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

Everything about this book was just wondering. It was the type of book I didn’t want to put down. When I wasn’t reading I was thinking about the characters. It slipped between time period in the characters lives while also changing narrators and never skipped a beat. I would recommend this book a million times over.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy- the love expressed here is completely my own!

This was an incredible book. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the characters and becoming involved in their lives. I found myself in some of their personalities and I think that most people will relate to at least one of the characters. I have not read this kind of book in a while where I am truly drawn into the life of a person and I can’t wait to keep reading more about what happens and has happened to them. This was the kind of book that you can’t stop reading, but yet you never want it to end. I look forward to seeing what else this author comes out with!

It took me quite a while to read this book, but in a way I feel like it's fitting for the story. This novel covers the development and changes of friendship between four girls, moving the plot slowly. I am just beginning to understand and relate to some of the themes in this story regarding marriage, and I appreciated this story for its insight (especially the second half of it).

This sounded like a good friend book which followed 4 female friends through college in the mid 80's through 2001. Certainly, the issues are relatable no matter what age you are - we are looking for truth, love, and self discovery. Unfortunately for me the execution did not live up to my expectations.
Each of the women had issues which were stereotypical, and it added up to too many issues - drug abuse, infidelity, alcoholism, date rape, abandonment, illness, abortion, the routines of marriage....I've read about all of these before - so nothing really new. I thought the journal entries were thoughtful but the author seemed detached from them and they took on an aspect of looking at her marriage under a microscope - but not doing anything about the issues that she identified.
In all, there was a lot of promise in the book but the cardboard characters, and their problems never pulled together to make an interesting story.

I received an ARC through NetGalley, provided by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
How do you define the truth? Is it what you see? Is it what you are told by a beloved partner, a best friend, a trusted parent? Is it the whispers you hear in the halls of your life?

However you define it, Allie Sexton is terrified of the truth.

Twenty-eight years ago, Allie’s mother disappeared; never to be heard from again. Allie survived by becoming the toast of the party—any party—and never looking back. But as a thirty-two-year-old mother of two, parties have morphed into playdates, and the closest she gets to Dom Pérignon is watered-down Mott’s. Even her once golden marriage has tarnished into a “How was your day” fly-by. When her husband storms out, Allie knows that this time, she can’t just bury her pain. This time, she needs to sift through it, knowing that the key to her future lies at rock bottom, in the truth about her mother.

Allie’s story weaves through a friendship of four women, a no-holds-barred camaraderie that ferries them through the adventure of dates and deadlines, husbands and babies, and cradles them through the heartbreak of date-rape, infidelity, and alcoholism. As they each grapple with what life has thrown at them, they wrestle with the question: if you ever find the truth, does it heal you or destroy you?

Review:
The story about four friends: Allie, Megan, Zoe, and Tess: is a very relate-able tale of life and all that women may go through. Allie's journal entries helped piece together some of the things that she was going through. Overall, the book read a little off-gaurdish. There were parts that I didn't quite understand how it fit into the story or why it was being told. However, overall the story was a good one and the parts that I did like, I REALLY, liked. This is the first novel from this author that I read and I'm quite curious to read other novels they've written. I give this one a solid 3.5.