Priya Shah is going through a lot. She’s stressed about gymnastics, her math teacher is a tyrant, and her parents are constantly arguing. Priya tends to lie in order to keep the peace, but when she puts on a bangle that belonged to her late grandmother, she finds she is physically unable to lie. The bangle forces her to state the truth at all times, which ends up causing a lot of problems at home and at school.

Priya is a flawed, yet relatable protagonist. She wishes her bickering parents would just get a divorce, something that is simply not done in their Indian American community. Her grandmother, Ba, was the one person Priya could be honest with, and Priya feels lost without her guidance. Priya’s younger sister Pinkie has ADHD; sometimes Priya gets frustrated with her inattentiveness, even though she knows it’s not Pinkie’s fault. Unfortunately, talking about neurodiversity is another taboo in their community.

Priya’s best friends, Sami and Mei, are extremely supportive when she tells them about the magic. With their help, Priya tries to remove the bangle, but nothing works. When the bangle gets Priya in trouble with her evil math teacher she’s sentenced to a week of detention with her bully, a rich girl named Katie Wong.

I really appreciated that Katie wasn’t the stereotypical mean girl you see everywhere. During their week in detention, she opens up to Priya about her own family’s struggles and the girls begin a tentative friendship. Of course, things backfire when the truth bangle forces Priya to blab her friend’s secrets and Katie shares them. However, Katie does redeem herself in the end. I was glad to see that Katie got another chance and that she wasn't portrayed as a one-note evil bully.

A few things I could have done without were the gymnastics and crush drama. The only other gripe I have is that everything wrapped up a little too neatly in the end. A lot of side issues were resolved too conveniently, like with the math teacher. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book!

I recieved a free eARC of this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

Priya's parents fight. A lot. She feels pushed and pulled in many directions, by her parents, at school, at gymnastics, by the bully who makes her do her homework, by her sister who's ADHD makes her hard to handle, by her friends, and most of all by her parent's rules that you don't share any struggles outside family. And her one family confidante, her grandmother, died last year. So, Priya lies. A lot.


All this changes when she puts on her grandmother's final gift to her, a bangle said to be enchanted-and it won't come off. Now, Priya can't lie. Not to the teacher who hates her. Not to her bully. Not to her friends. Not to her parents. Not to her coach. And that doesn't always go well.

Everyone who feels trapped will relate to Priya's story, both the ups and downs. This is an excellent middle grade book that will have a wide appeal to many students. It deserves a place in libraries and classrooms.

Priya Shah has a lot going on in her life, but she has to make sure that she doesn't let anyone know that there are a lot of things that are unpleasant, because her parents think that "not airing one's dirty laundry in public" is very important. Her parents fight so much that Priya doesn't get much sleep at night, so is often tired for gymnastic practice in the morning, and has even fallen asleep in Mrs. Lufthausen's math class! Her best friends Mei and Sami help her out when they can. When things get bad, Priya thinks about the one person who helped her, her recently deceased grandmother, Ba. Ba had given Priya a gold bracelet just before she died, but Priya has never worn it because it was broken. Her grandmother had told her that it was lovely when you can't tell people the truth. Upset and clutching the bracelet one night, Priya hears it click open and puts it on. The next morning, she tells her father that she doesn't much care for the eggs he cooks, and finds as the morning progresses that she tells the truth every time someone asks her a direct question! This becomes a big problem. She takes her lunch to eat in the bathroom because she's afraid of offending Mei and Sami, and is approached by the mean and popular Angela and Katie. WHen Katie, who has been shaking down Priya to do her homework for half the year, asks about the assignment, Priya tells her she doesn't want to do it, but will. At gymnastics, she tells Coach Olaf that she doesn't want to work with Dan Zhang because she has a crush on him. Coach Olaf makes her work with him anyway, and Dan is a little put off when Priya won't tell him why she doesn't want to work with him. She finally has to tell her best friends about her parents fighting, and they come clean with truths of their own, including Mei's news that she is a lesbian. It's hard to spend the entire day telling the truth, and Priya eventually comes clean to Dan about her feelings for him, and he reciprocates. It's a little more difficult for her friends to believe that her bracelet is magic, and this leads to some troubles. She also runs afoul of Mrs. Lufthausen, and ends up spending a week in detention... with Katie. The two bond over a number of things, and become friends. When Priya tells her coach that she's not that interested in gymnastics, he kicks her off the team ahead of a big competition. This will enable her to go to Sami's Bat Mitvah, which is a big deal, but when the team needs one more person, Priya finds herself drawn back in. Being honest with her parents leads to some interesting conversations, but she finds her little sister Pinkie to be a big help in navigating the difficult juggling of the competition and celebration. Will Priya be able to figure out how to get the bracelet off, or will she spend the rest of her life being bluntly honest?
Strengths: Middle school can be hard, but imagine how hard it would be if you had to tell the truth all of the time! Priya never really lies; she just does what most people do, and puts a good face on things. She doesn't tell Dan how she feels because it's scary, and she does homework for Katie because it's easier than fighting about it. I particularly liked her somewhat conflicted feelings about gymnastics, especially in light of her perception that her parents were having financial difficulties and needed prize money that she could win. This is on trend with the current philosophy that you should tell your friends the truth or they will feel disconnected from you, but also throws in that even if you have problems, you still need to check in on your friends, because they have problems, too. The way the magic unfolds makes sense, and it's nice to think of Priya's grandmother caring for her from beyond the grave. My favorite part was probably Pinkie stepping up to save the day, when Priya has previously dismissed her as unhelpful. When Priya's parents finally announce their divorce, she is fairly happy, and this will resonate with readers who have been in a similar situation.
Weaknesses: It's not only an Indian desire to keep family issues under wraps, so I had a lot of sympathy for the elder Shahs, even though their fighting was bothering Priya so much! This was a bit on the long side; it was interesting to see all of the ways that telling the truth got Priya in trouble, but at a certain point, I wanted the story to move on.
What I really think: This is an interesting magical realism title that will be popular with fans of Mlynowski's Best Wishes series or Kelkar's equally magical and somewhat goofy That Thing About Bollywood.