A quick, entertaining read but quite repetitive and more for a teenage market.  I liked the plot but not the chapter headings which spoiled it.  Quite an anticlimax in the end - when they got onto the plane the suspense was conveyed well - were they fleeing a plague maybe .... but in the end it was much more dull than that.  Reading about life in Rio away from the tourists was interesting but overall not convincing.

Ella is confronted with an awful truth about her identity. It turns out she has been living a lie, a lie her parents have taken great lengths to keep going. One could argue that on a base level Ella is aware of the secret, which is why she struggles with a strong inner voice. A voice so strong it has become its own persona. A persona, who makes bad choices and likes to harm others and cause havoc.

Personally I think the question about Bella or rather the truth and explanation about Bella should have remained an element of the book the reader ponders on and decides for themselves. Instead Ella explains that aspect of her personality towards the end of the book.

I would rather wonder about the nurture vs nature argument or whether there is a genetic component to Bella and in particular Bella’s behaviour. Does Bella like to cause harm because of who she really is?

Adoption can be a controversial topic for those involved in it, especially when it comes to the truth about parentage. Quite often the adoptive parents think it is better to lie and/or keep the adopted child in the dark about their parentage. For the majority of adoptees the truth is the quintessential factor in the development of a healthy mind-set and personality. Regardless of whether they make contact with their bio family, it is important for them to know who they are biologically and genetically. A lot of people find this natural pull towards the truth quite difficult to understand. They don’t understand that it has nothing to do with how much they love their adopted parents and the family attachments they have made. It is merely about finding their tribe, and being able to get closure.

In a way Ella has to go through this process, albeit in a very dramatic and dangerous way. She has to work through the trauma of the truth in her own time and way.

Barr approaches a sensitive topic and gives the reader a ringside view of the emotional turmoil a young person might go through in this situation. For teens everything is highly emotional and over-dramatised. The Truth and Lies of Ella Black is a story about a young woman finding her truth and her path in life.

Very engaging vivid. voice recounts her own story .. although there is perhaps a degree of incredulity to narrative .. a 17 year old surviving in favela of Rio, a clearly deranged one too! It's sincere . She keeps finding good should who listen to her but too pay explanation only works in feel good USe titles like this one is eventually .. it tackles serious issues despite some fantasy,  but it's ending and a young woman will liked it ...

This is the first book I have read from this author and if this is anything to go by I won’t be reading another I’m sorry to say. I think it is in the wrong category as I think it would be better aimed at teens or the young adult section. I understand mental illness can affect people in different ways but some of the things that happen in this book I don’t like. Sorry for the negative review which I don’t like giving but I have to be honest.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Ella Black seems to live the life most other seventeen-year-olds would kill for . . .

Until one day, telling her nothing, her parents whisk her off to Rio de Janeiro. Determined to find out why, Ella takes her chance and searches through their things.

And realises her life has been a lie.

Her mother and father aren't hers at all. Unable to comprehend the truth, Ella runs away, to the one place they'll never think to look - the favelas.

But there she learns a terrible secret - the truth about her real parents and their past. And the truth about a mother, desperate for a daughter taken from her seventeen years ago."

If this hadn't been an arc then I would have DNF'd and I am not someone to give up lightly. 

I requested this once I saw that it was the newest novel by Emily Barr. I read One Memory of Flora Banks earlier this year and although it had it's faults, I did enjoy it. The same cannot be said for this one. While written in a similar writing style to Flora Banks, I could not connect in the same way. It felt juvenial and the repetative nature of this one just got annoying. 

I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and carry on as I was intrigued by the opening line: "40 days until she dies". This book had one of the most predictable storylines, I knew what was coming at every turn. I spent the whole time waiting for this big moment that literally had a count down, and it was the biggest anticlimax I have ever seen.

If this wasn't bad enough there was this ridiculous insta-love that just made me angry. Insta-love is something that really riles me up anyway, but this is one of the worst cases I've ever seen. "I love you. I fell in love with you completely. I love you with all my heart. I know I've only known you a few days but...". I was so close to banging my head against the wall. 

I feel this might be something that a much younger audience might enjoy, but for me it was a non-starter and I don't think I will be picking up anything else from this author.

I am on page 12 and can't continue, Ella/Bella is already a terrible representation of mental illness. Using said mental illness to justify smashing a baby bird to death is totally unacceptable and not something I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to or support.

The Truth and Lies of Ella Black

This is the story of a bright middle class girl finishing her “A” levels at a school in Kent, when her parents suddenly take her out of school and away to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. There she learns some truths about her background causing her to run away.

Ella is haunted by her other self whom Ella blames for causing her to be destructive and fights with this self throughout the story. Ella can only be described as a spoilt brat with a very naïve outlook on the world which to her revolves sneaking into a club or sitting about drawing. The character appears as a farce from the outset and chunks of narrative are endlessly repeated. Her actions in Rio are something of a fantasy as she apparently survives sleeping rough in a slum area. The book starts with a 40 day count down until I die, that could have been the best thing to have happened.

The book was shown as an adult read on Netgalley, with an interesting synopsis involving the various twists and turns, none of which came to much. On reading, I did read it all, the vocabulary and writing style suggested that it was at best a Young Adult selection probably for readers in the 14/15 age group. They may well be much more in tune with Ella and therefore enjoy the story a lot more than me.

Least said the better on this one. 2stars at a stretch.

Thanks to Netgalley.

This was a difficult book. I felt like the entire thing suffered from over exaggeration. Ella, the main character, is a normal teenager with a normal life. Only she has an alternative “bad” side that she never tells anybody about. Just before her eighteenth birthday, her parents whisk her away to Rio de Janeiro. 

The plot just slides the moment they set down in Rio. It’s confusing, there’s insta-love which isn’t written brilliantly, and there is so much overreaction. Learning one secret and overreacting is the entire plot, and Ella is such an insufferable character. It would have been much more interesting if it had actually looked into the mental health of Ella, but instead, it just follows Ella as she runs away and gets into increasingly more incredulous situations. Literally the only thing ramping up the tension in this book was the chapter titles, leading up to a death. 

The ending itself felt unfinished. It could have explained much more or actually looked at the aftermath of the novel. The entire book felt rushed and unfinished.

I am not sure how old the author is, but she perfectly captures the voice of a disillusioned and desperate teenager. This is a well written, almost diary-style, first person narrative in the voice of 17-19 year old Ella Black; a teenager who discovers a devastating secret her parents have kept from her. They aren't the only ones keeping secrets, as Ella has a rather dark secret of her own. 

In trying to run from both her parents and her own actions, Ella ends up finding herself in a Brazilian favela. Here she finds out who she truly is and what she is capable of. She also finds out who she isn't - which is just as important to Ella. 

I will say that her dark side is excessively dark and some of the things made me rather uncomfortable. I was a rather confused and disillusioned teenager; I had a perfectly nice upbringing, but felt out of place among my peers. I didn't understand them or how I was supposed to react to things, so often tried to do what seemed right. Regardless, I was different from a lot of people and I think that came through. So - to some extent I can understand how Ella feels in this book. She loves her parents, but feels constricted by the environment she lives in. She doesn't understand where she fits and is afraid of herself, her dark side. The older she gets, the more afraid she becomes that she is going to lash out (as Bella) and hurt someone. 

Finding out the secret her parents have kept may have caused her to run off, temporarily, or to lose her temper, but that would have been it had it not been for the accidental cut she gave the waiter. That, combined with the knowledge she's gained and the fear she has of herself - which now seems justified in her mind - is the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. She fears what will happen to her now. When she finds out the full horror of her background, she is ashamed, afraid that her dark half is genetic and can't face the boy she's met on holiday. 

Now, although there has been criticism of the teenage 'insta-love' scenes, I will say that I remember being that age and I remember how intense everything felt for me at the time. I was 18 when I met my husband, so I really can't criticise too much. 

Yes, some of the background characters are a little one-dimensional, but they are there and gone again. They don't need to have in-depth backgrounds or multi-faceted character, as they are usually there just for the length of a scene. Jack was enjoyable and I would have liked to see more of him, I will admit. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would happily recommend it to people.

I was a really big fan of the author's previous book The One Memory of Flora Banks so I was beyond excited to receive a copy of this from NetGalley. Unfortunately though while this has a lot of similarities in terms of writing style and story this just didn't do it for me. There was a scene pretty near the beginning that I found really disturbing and unnecessary and I think it just put me into the wrong frame of mind and I started finding problems everywhere. Ella wasn't a particularly likable character, there was the most instant of insta love I think I've ever come across and there were more than a few scenes that just made me feel really uncomfortable (and not in a good way).

The storyline is unusual and it really picks up in the second half of the book where there are a lot less of the problems I had with the first half. It is a pretty quick and easy read and I would definitely describe it as unpredictable which is something I do like.

I will look out for more books by this author but I'm afraid this one wasn't for me.

Ella is a seemingly normal 17 year old, although plagued with demons. The story covers 40 days of Ella's life in which time she is dragged from her school by her parents and taken to Rio de Janeiro with no explanation. While there she is determined to discover the reason why and does. The revelation about her life is devastating and leads her to run away. While on the run she discovers a lot more about herself and her mental state. There are parts of the story that lack credulity but on the whole it is well written with nicely drawn characters. The descriptions of  Brazil are interesting.  I think it would appeal to young adults.

The Truth and lies of Ella Black a powerful five-star read. This is a book that I loved and I know my teenage god daughter will love as well, it’s a story that people off all ages will get. I hope when I give a copy to my god daughter it sparks a passion for reading that a similar book my aunt gave me when I was a similar age to her had on me, that book altered the course of my life and I think this book has a similar power. There is a certain 40 days and 40 nights parallel to this story as its told over 40 days and Ella was a character I couldn’t get enough of. Ella is almost to intelligent for her own good, she has a bratty side to her but also a good side hidden underneath. The plot can be a little fanciful, but I read to escape and be taken to a different life, I don’t want reality so I enjoyed that. 
I have loved Emily Barr’s adult books and now I’m a huge fan of her YA books as well. Well done on a job well done. Can’t wait to read more from a talented and thrilling writer.

I was given a Netgalley copy of this book by the publishers in an exchange for an honest review:

So our main character Ella has been plagued with issues since she can remember, caused by an internal additional personality ('bad Ella') whom she has nicknamed Bella. Bella makes her do extremely horrible things and lash out, sometimes violently.

I do not want to give any spoilers away, but quite near the start events takes an unexpected turn bringing the setting to a much more exotic location...(I quite enjoyed this as I was on holiday abroad ha!) Here you find out a few big secrets (of which the options there were many, so the one the author went with was a little disappointing as I had expected more. However there is a twist to this as well...) Once you find out what the big secret is, Ella's life changes forever and again went in such a way I wasn't expecting and I didn't particularly enjoy. There is also a bit of a romance thrown in, a somewhat unrealistic one, but I'm sure some teens will love it!

I still think this is worth a read, but that there was so much potential for this book in my mind.

Unfortunately I was not a fan of this book. I found the premise of Good Ella and Bad Bella difficult to appreciate. I think there's a long history of split personality stories that stigmatise people with severe mental illnesses as dangerous and Jekyll and Hyde. I think if mental health difficulties were better understood and less stigmatised then a story like this could be a simple 'fantasy'. But that's not where we are at right now and I think this book only furthers some damaging concepts among a young age group. 
Having said that Emily Barr is a good writer, this particular story just isn't well handled in my opinion.

The Truth and Lies of Ella Black was a great book. It was quite difficult to get into at first but as I read on it kept me on edge. This book really makes you think about what might happen next, which made it a very interesting read indeed.
My favourite character was Ella as she was a very strong person and had so much to her. Ella was extremely intelligent yet troubled, she stopped at nothing to achieve what she needed to, even if her path was unclear. I loved the contrasts and similarities between the characters. They were all very interesting and made the story even better.
I would rate the book 4.5 stars out of 5. This is because I found some bits were a little confusing and didn’t really make sense, yet the storyline was brilliant. I would definitely recommend this book!

Review by Joanna age 12

The only thing I can say I liked about this was that it was a quick read. 
It seemed to be full of the things that are over done in YA or things I just hate.

The topics covered in The Truth and Lies of Ella Black are commendable. Unfortunately, the plot and characterisation don't live up to the hype. A thriller this is not. Am I surprised an editor/publisher hasn't felt the need to re-edit? Yes. Barr's previous book The one Memory of Flora Banks was far better. Sorry.

I read some of the reviews of this book that were not at all good. I thought about not bothering to read it, but I remembered that I love haggis and blackpudding and many people hate both.
I feel I must have read a different book. I loved it (well, maybe not so much Humphrey and the hammer).
I can't give the review I want to without spoiling the read for others. I can say that it rattles on at a pace...and that I read it in one sitting because I enjoyed it so much. It all made sense to me.
I found it to be a truly good read and would recommend it to anyone.

I enjoyed this book and it kept me wondering how it was going to end. 
Ella has a split personality which is made progressively worse when she is taken from her everyday life by her parents and finds out that she is adopted. 
This book is the discovery of herself as well as where she came from. 
She is a bit annoying at times but you learn to understand her character more as her story unfolds.

I am one mixed bag of sprinkles, my friend.

I don't even know what to think, where to start? Behold me and my conflicted emotions. I knew my indecisive nature would soon come through on Goodreads.

So this is about Ella, she has this 'Bad' side to her named Bella and she was like this different person inside the protagonists head and she was really violent and came out at some points and made Ella act really bad and horrible. And...I honestly didn't enjoy any of it? It was executed VERY VERY VERY POORLY. 

I COULD NOT CONNECT TO ELLA. LIKE. AT. ALL. I'm sorry but for the first half before the big reveal, she was so?? IMMATURE for 18 years old and SO HAPPY GO LUCKY. "I know it would be great for my parents if they got divorced!" I JUST. Her two sides WERE COMPLETELY OPPOSITE and even when she was 'Bella' she didn't FEEL BAD. she just felt, illogical?Basically, I really didn't connect to her.

Plus after she leaves her parents she IS SO LOGICAL. Like If I found out that I was (view spoiler) sure I'd been flailing like you and perhaps run away but I WOULD MISS MY PARENTS and she was so calm? That she was alone? LIKE I GET YOU ARE 18, but I would be a hot mess. 

Ella was 18 and way too inconsistent for my likings. I couldn't keep up with her thought processes? Like one minute she was like IM RUNNING AWAY BUT THEN SHE IS CALM ABOUT IT? HOOOWWW? Also, I'm not 18 so like she's just too old and great and responsible for me. 

And then she whisked off to Rio and SHE DOSEN'T EVEN BUG THEM THAT MUCH ABOUT WHY?? if my parents one day came to my school and were like 'hey sweet heart. get in the car. we are taking you on a plane for god knows what reason' I WOULD DEMAND AN EXPLANATION??? ANd sure Ella did but for like 2 seconds and then gave up.

ELLA WAS BASICALLY TOO CALM ABOUT ALL SITUATIONS.And even the Bella scenes? THEY JUST DIDN'T SEEM TOO PANICKY???? I DONT EVEN KNOW.

And at some parts, it was really boring LIKE I COULD FALL ASLEEP BORING

It was SO CONVENIENT? Like Jasmine is just like 'hey come live with me!' and Julia as well or whatever. And she found a job so quickly and WAS MAGICALLY GOOD AT TEACHING. She also conveniently had money AND IT WAS SO TOO EASY. Like, If I WAS RUNNING AWAY, boi, I'd probably die

INSTA LOVE. Omg if you hate this insta love THIS IS THE WORST CASE OF INSTA LOVE YOU WILL EVER READ. Out of every book I have read, this is by FAR THE WORSTTTTTTT. She literally sees him and says as soon as they have eye contact 'I love him'. WHAT. WHATTT. It was so unrealistic? She knew him for less than an hour and she is just flailing over him and saying he is the lover of her life. Goodbye. 

[ And?? Her birth mother dies AND SHE IS SO MENTALLY STABLE A YEAR LATER. she moves away from her adoptive parents and SHE IS SO OKAY WITH IT? ANd i'm sorry, I so don't understand that (hide spoiler)]

How i felt about this book: 😶