The Price of Truth, A Chasing Peace Novel, by Michele Clarizio
“When truth becomes a weapon, will love be enough to survive the fallout?”
📚 Welcome to today’s iRead Book Tour stop featuring The Price of Truth by Michele Clarizio! This debut YA thriller blends emotional suspense, first love, and a gripping mystery. A powerful start to the Chasing Peace series that doesn’t shy away from hard truths.
👇 Keep scrolling for the giveaway.
📚Book Info
The Price of Truth
By Michele Clarizio
Series: A Chasing Peace Novel
Published by Independent on June 18, 2025
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Formats: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 380
Seventeen-year-old Karis Russo is no stranger to pain. Still reeling from her father’s death, she’s weighted down by grief she can’t seem to outrun. But nothing prepares her for the night that upends her life once again.
After attending the grand opening of The Aragon Luxury Resort and Spa, Karis wakes up bloody and bruised with no memory of what happened. Determined to find the truth, she embarks on a relentless quest for answers.
Her investigation takes a surprising turn when she learns Mason Whitman, practically Duncan High “royalty”, has harbored a crush on her for years. His charm and their undeniable chemistry throw her into a tailspin. Caught between piecing together the night she lost and embracing the possibility of love she never saw coming, Karis convinces herself she can juggle both worlds.
But the deeper she digs into the mystery of that fateful night, the darker the truth becomes. As shocking betrayals surface and long-buried secrets claw their way to the light, Karis realizes the price of truth may cost more than she’s willing to pay.
Source: iRead Book Tours, Kindle Unlimited
Content Considerations: PG-13 + M: Language, implied rape scene, kidnapping, violence, and a character's dad committed suicide, but it's only a reference since it happened in the past.
📚 Where to Find The Price of Truth
Available on Amazon
[amazon box="B0FDDKQLPV"]
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✨ My Thoughts on The Price of Truth ✨
Karis Russo is every woman!
Karis Russo is every woman—resilient, vulnerable, and searching for peace in a world full of chaos. Michele Clarizio’s The Price of Truth is a compelling young adult mystery thriller that combines suspense, emotional depth, and just the right touch of romance.
From the first chapter, I was drawn into Karis’s voice—raw, honest, and deeply human. Her journey through grief, trauma, and the unraveling of a chilling mystery is both heart-wrenching and empowering. The chemistry between Karis and Mason adds emotional tension without overshadowing the more serious themes of assault, memory loss, and justice. Clarizio handles these heavier moments with sensitivity, making this debut feel both authentic and impactful.
What I loved most about The Price of Truth is how it embraces complexity. This YA thriller doesn’t offer easy answers—but it does offer hope. For readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories with high emotional stakes and twisty suspense, this book delivers a compelling experience. As the first installment in the Chasing Peace series, it sets a strong foundation, and I’m eager to see where Karis’s path leads next.
I received a copy of the book for the tour. This review represents my honest and unbiased opinion.
📚 If You Liked The Price of Truth, Try These Too
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💪 Miranda Fights by Gail Ward Olmstead – A powerful novel about a woman battling injustice and reclaiming her voice after trauma.
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❄️ Beautiful Evil Winter by Kelly K. Lavender – A chilling, emotionally charged thriller where survival demands strength, courage, and hard choices.
About Michele Clarizio
Michele Clarizio first discovered her creative spark in sixth grade during an art class. Although she joked about having no artistic talent, she still fondly remembers the joy of molding a piggybank from a simple block of clay. As the years passed, Michele wasn’t quite sure how to channel her creativity into a lifelong pursuit, so she chose a practical path—earning a degree in International Finance at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
It wasn’t until her final semester that her creative fire was reignited during a journalism course focused on advertising. Crafting a fictional ad campaign for Visa was exhilarating. But life called, and once again, her creative ambitions were set aside in favor of a job in corporate America and the practicalities of student loans.
Time moved on. A summer wedding brought with it God’s blessings—the arrival of a spirited baby girl, followed two years later by an adventurous boy. A decade later, on Mother’s Day, when her children asked her how she wanted to spend her special day, Michele made a simple request to sit in the sunshine on the deck with a good fiction book. That quiet day turned out to be life-changing. As she read the work of another author, inspiration sparked. She realized she too had a story to share.
In August 2012, Michele answered the call. Writing her novel became a labor of love, squeezed between her children’s activities, late-night writing sessions when the house was fast asleep, and weekends clicking away at a keyboard. Despite the challenges, crafting her novel has been one of the greatest joys of her life.
A near-native of Denver, Colorado, Michele is fortunate to have her adult children, Mackenzie and Matthew, nearby. The Price of Truth is her debut novel and the first installment in the Chasing Peace series.
🖋️ Guest Essay from Michele Clarizio
Deeply Human
I’d never written anything before—let alone considered myself someone with the gift of writing. But one day, I felt a persistent tug in my heart, telling me I had to write this book. Ever since, I’ve felt divinely guided to do just that.
The Price of Truth began with a mind dump on a Tuesday afternoon when my kids were in school. Thousands of words poured out in a freewriting session, no outline or direction of any kind. But the moment Karis Russo came to life on the page, she claimed a permanent place in my heart.
From the start, my goal was to create a character that women—whether young or seasoned—could truly see themselves in. Karis is strong-willed and outspoken, but also deeply human. She faces trauma, loss, and anxiety in a world that often feels isolating—where it can seem like everyone else is doing just fine while we’re silently falling apart. Karis challenges that illusion, not by being unbreakable, but by choosing to be real.
Karis is a reflection of the kind of resilience I admire, not the kind that pretends everything is perfect, but the kind that learns to live with the scars and still moves forward.
What I hope readers take from her journey is this: strength isn’t about never struggling—it’s about moving forward, even when the path is messy and painful. It’s okay to seek therapy. It’s okay to wrestle with hardship. It’s okay to despise the place your life holds in a single moment. It’s okay to crumble and weep without shame. It’s okay to feel that life is unfair. That’s part of being human. Ultimately, it’s okay not to be okay.
If Karis’s voice helps even one person feel seen, heard, empowered, or understood, then I’ve done what I set out to do with her story.
Authors on iTours: Michele Clarizio
🎁 Giveaway: The Price of Truth Prize Pack!
Enter to win:
- ✍️ Author-signed copy of *The Price of Truth*
- 🕊️ Ceramic guardian angel
- 💰 $25 Amazon gift card
🗓️ Open to U.S. only | Ends July 22
Be sure to follow the tour for more chances at every stop.
Enter THE PRICE OF TRUTH Book Tour Giveaway
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📌 Quick Book Tour Recap
Book Title: THE PRICE OF TRUTH by Michele Clarizio
Category: YA Adult Fiction (18 +), 380 pages
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Publisher: Michele Clarizio
Release date: June 18, 2025
Content Rating: PG-13 + M: Language, implied rape scene, kidnapping, violence, and a character's dad committed suicide, but it's only a reference since it happened in the past.
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Are there any real-life people or experiences that inspired the characters?
The cover art looks amazing. Sounds like a good read.