Trudchen grew up hearing Odette’s stories of their monster-slaying mother and a magician’s curse. But now that Tru’s older, she’s starting to wonder if her older sister’s tales were just comforting lies, especially because there’s nothing fantastic about her own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio.
In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all.
Odd & True is a historical fiction book that takes place between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The book is told in rotating point of view. Odette’s point of view takes place in the past and Trudchen’s point of view takes place in the present. I quite enjoyed this format, as it was easy to follow along with and it was essential to the story that Od’s point of view told the story of the past.
The present story line is told through the younger sister’s eyes, Tru. Tru was disabled at a young age due to polio. Because of this, she is sheltered and thought of as delicate. Tru and Od were separated for a few years due to Od being sent away. During this time, Od goes through some horrors that she has trouble coping with.
In Od’s point of view, we see what happened in the past. Od, being the older sister had been through some life-changing situations when she was younger. Trying to be the protective older sister, Od never tells Tru the truth of their past and hides it by telling tall tales. She tells tales of how their mother and her siblings are monster-hunters and that monster-hunting and magic runs in their blood. One day, after Od’s long absence, she shows up and takes Tru away to hunt for monsters across the country.
This tale is truly one of sisterhood. I loved how even though the sisters were torn apart for a few years, their bond always stayed strong. Everything Od did was to protect her sister, even if that meant telling lies.
Going into this book, I expected the typical paranormal fantasy book about monsters. That is not all that I got. While there are paranormal aspects to this book, there are a lot of hard hitting topics as well. Od had been through some traumas that she had to work through over the course of the book. Even though it wasn’t the story I was expecting, I truly enjoyed this book immensely. I thought Cat Winters did a great job of writing about these hard topics and how the characters reacted to the horrors.
All in all, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. Publication date is September 12, 2017.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and Cat Winters for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.
A story about sisterhood! Sounds reallly interesting. Great review!
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Yes! It was a good book for sisterhood!
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Great review
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Thanks!
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I’m not huge into historical fiction, but this sounds interesting to me. Also I’ve been hearing a ton about Cat Winters lately 🙂
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I love historical fiction! This one was a good one bc it also adds in paranormal elements.
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That’s what’s luring me in i think lol 🙂
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Do it! 😜
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I don’t read enough historical fiction. I might need to pick this book up too change that! 🙂
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This ones a good one!
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Okay, that’s it. I need to read this book asap! Great review xx
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Yes! You do! Thanks’
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This sounds so amazing! Definitely putting on my tbr (: Lovely review dearie!
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It is great! Thanks! 🙂
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I’m actually going to buy this Tuesday when it comes out! I’m so excited for it! And glad you liked it!!
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Yes! I voted for you to buy this one on your poll on twitter the other day!
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This book looks kind of spooky *runs away* lol!! I’ll take my romances and let you keep the scary books deal?! I am glad you enjoyed it though ❤
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Nah it wasn’t scary!
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I actually just saw the cover of this book today and it looked very interesting. I got so excited when I saw you posted a review about it. Great review! I can’t wait to check this book out. It’s different from the books I normally read and I’ve been wanting to read something different.
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Thanks! It was such a good book! I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
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Normally I dislike historical anything, but one of my favorite books growing up was “Fear Street Saga” trilogy by R.L. Stine which would have actually been slightly categorized as a historical paranormal trilogy itself. This comparison makes me give my initial feelings some pause and makes me interested in reading this. I am going to goodreads and adding to my TBR pile! Great review!
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Thanks! And you totally should give this one a try!
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Ooh I love historical fiction books! Sounds great x
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It’s a good one!
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Great review! I might check this out later, I love when books have great sister relationship in it!
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Me too! This one is a good one!
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Can’t wait to read this book, heard so much about it! Great review 🙂
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It’s good! I hope you like it when you read it! 🙂
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I loved this book also! Great review 😙
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This one sounds interesting, but I’m not sure it’s my kind of book. Nevertheless, great review!
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Thank you! 🙂
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Thanks! Your comment was in spam for some odd reason..You’ve never gone to spam before and I have you pre-approved. Weird.
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I’ve seen this pop up a few times now and it sounds really interesting
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It is certainly unique.
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I’m SO glad you enjoyed this. I loved it too!
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It was different than I expected but I still really liked it
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I really need to read a Cat Winters’ book sometime! They always sound so unique.
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This is my first book by her but I did read a short story she wrote in Slasher Girls and Monster Boys and her story was my favorite of the bunch.
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I have seen this book coming up a lot lately and it really sounds fascinating!
Britt | http://alternativelyspeaking.ca
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It was definitely unique but in a good way!
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