Tips for Tuesday: Books: Alice Rue Evades the Truth, Last First Kiss & In Bloom; Movie: Invisible Warriors

We may have been given complimentary copies and/or access for review purposes to any books, products, and/or any other visual or audio media mentioned below. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Books: Alice Rue Evades the Truth, Last First Kiss and In Bloom

Me -Today, I am talking about Alice Rue Evades the Truth by Emily Zipps. Alice Rue was a very messy and flawed main character. She had a really difficult and traumatic upbringing, and it was easy to sympathize with her and understand why she acted the way she did. Even when I wanted to physically shake some sense into her and yell in her face because she was making such poor decisions, I understood why she was making them and continued to want the best for her. She was extremely lonely and deeply longed for love and family, so when her comatose crush Nolan Altman's family mistakenly thought she was his girlfriend and accepted her with open arms, it made sense that she couldn't find it in herself to turn them away. However, watching her dig herself further and further into this lie, knowing she was going to hurt everybody, including herself, when it inevitably blew up in her face, made for a pretty stressful reading experience. Additionally, due to all of Alice's trauma, guilt, pain, and inner turmoil, it could be really difficult to be in her head sometimes. That said, it was rewarding to watch her ultimately begin to slowly turn her life and her situation around.

The romance between Alice and Van– the sister of the comatose man with whom she was pretending to be in a relationship– was cute, but it was hard for me to fully get invested in them. Not only because I knew Alice's lies would eventually derail things in a major way but because building a relationship on a foundation of lies just seems unhealthy, unfair to the person being lied to, and therefore unlikely to last. The chemistry between Alice and Van was good, and I liked the gentle way they interacted and cared for each other, but I spent nearly the whole book desperately waiting for Alice to finally be honest. Additionally, I wasn't a fan of the mixed signals Alice kept sending Van. She frequently went back and forth between briefly giving in to her feelings and then only pushing Van away again. Still, the two of them made a cute couple, and I was pleased with the way they finally got together at the end.

Mom - Today, I am talking about Last First Kiss by Julian Winters. Jordan shares a kiss with his cousin's best friend, Jamie, when he's a teenager, and somehow he can't get it out of his head.  Years later, when his family's business is hired to plan a wedding, he ends up working with Jamie, who turns out to be the best friend of the bride-to-be, Amy.

This novel is not completely believable. There are a lot of things it gets right.  Jordan's confusion over who he is seems real and relatable, as do Jamie and Amy's difficulties standing up for themselves in the face of family pressures. There are numerous admirable, supportive family relationships and friendships, including those between Jordan and his cousins, especially his younger cousin Nikki, as well as the friendship between Jamie and Amy, and more. 

However, the love relationship doesn't feel real. It seems strange that Jordan would still have such strong feelings for the first person he kissed all those years later, especially since he was so busy trying to figure out who he was during that time, and even more so that Jamie would still have such strong feelings for him as well. Also, even though Jordan is the main protagonist,  Jamie goes through at least as much of a personal journey, if not more, throughout the story. However, most of his character growth takes place off the page, so the reader doesn't get to go through it with him, and it's like being cheated out of half the story.

Mom again - Today, I am also discussing In Bloom by Liz Allan. A group of close-knit teenage girls has nothing going for them except the band they formed in the hope that it will be their ticket out of their pathetic lives. However, when their beloved music teacher is arrested for the alleged assault of their lead singer, everything begins to fall apart. 

This is a heartbreaking novel permeated by an overwhelming sense of despair. Throughout most of the book, the main characters aren't even mentioned individually or given names; rather, they are treated as a single unit. This both adds to and takes away from the story. It makes the whole thing even more poignant, but on the other hand, it makes it harder to care about the characters when they are just a group of anonymous girls that you don't really get to know. Near the end of the story, when the girls are finally given names and treated as individuals, it is a real gut punch. 

If you or a loved one have been the victim of sexual abuse, you are probably going to want to stay away from this book. Otherwise, if you are interested in a gritty but harrowing human drama, you might want to read it. 

Movie: Invisible Warrior 

Today, we recommend the film Invisible Warrior. Most people are familiar with Rosie the Riveter as a symbol of the women who, for the first time, took on jobs outside the home to keep this country going during World War II. However, not all women engaged in this effort fit that iconic lilywhite image.  There were plenty of black women filling necessary jobs as well, and they had it twice as hard.  Not only did they have to deal with the same problems as the white women they worked alongside, but they also had to deal with racial prejudices even from their own co-workers. This eye-opening film highlights both their contributions and their struggles. 

And that's our view. Alice Rue Evades the Truth was published in October. Last First Kiss and In Bloom were published last Tuesday, January 27, 2026. Invisible Warriors is available on Video on Demand starting today.

Tune in tomorrow for Where-To-Go Wednesday.

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