The Fine Art of Truth or Dare
By Melissa Jensen
YA Contemporary / Romance

RATING: 4/5

(Come back Thursday to read an interview with Melissa Jensen)

Ella is madly in love. The problem? The love of her life is a long-dead artist, and no matter how much she obsesses over his artwork or has conversations with his self-portrait, he’s not getting any less dead. Alex Bainbridge, part of the reigning popular crowd, is far more alive, if almost as unattainable.

Melissa Jensen paints a convincing picture of a private school. Ella Marino is on a scholarship, and when she’s not hanging out with her best friends in the lowest rung of the social hierarchy, she’s helping out at her parents’ Italian restuarant, and swooning over her dead painter crush. Ella sees the school from a very cynical perspective, and I enjoyed watching her views change as she got to know Alex better.

I really loved Ella from the get-go. Although she’s dealing with her own share of self-esteem issues, she’s actually really brave. Even when she’s faced with impossibly embarrassing situations, she doesn’t turn away. She grits her teeth and bears it, even if she makes a fool out of herself. She doesn’t think she’s strong, but she is. I love that type of character. You don’t need to slay monsters or win wars to be a strong heroine. Sometimes the quietly strong are the most impressive.

I was also won over right away by her “relationship” with the dead painter, Edward Willing. She’s half in love with his work itself, but a lot of her crush is based on her ideals of love. Edward Willing was known for being madly in love with his wife, and painfully heartbroken when she died. Ella’s touched by their story, and is even forming a thesis around it to help secure her a place at the college of her choice. She also talks to a self-portrait of Edward, and he talks back. That was one of my favorite elements of the story. Ella’s not crazy, and we’re not meant to think she is, but who hasn’t nurtured a crush on someone who effectively doesn’t exist?

I also enjoyed the side characters. There are a lot of them, and they all have really complex backgrounds and subplots. However, this kind of became a problem after awhile. I like ensemble pieces, but I felt like there wasn’t enough time to dwell on all of them. I wanted to know more about Frankie and Daniel. I wanted to know more about Anna. There were almost too many side-characters to fit in, and I wish some of them could have been relocated to books of their own.

Overall, The Fine Art of Truth or Dare would make a good beach read, but also has a deeper level to it. Under the surface are issues of institutionalized racism, societal views of romance, and classism. Not a book to miss.

Author’s Website /  Publisher’s Website / Goodreads
Powell’s Books / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Other Recommendations:
The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) Kody Keplinger [review]
Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
Pink by Lili Wilkinson [review]