I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
'‘I used to trust Jack with my heart. I couldn’t explain why. I just had. I … I didn’t trust him like that anymore. And without trust, what was the point?’
The Truest Thing is the fourth addition to Samantha Young's Hart’s Boardwalk Series, and is a book I have been highly anticipating.
Nine years ago, Emery Saunders moved to Hartwell to start her life over as a bookstore owner. Her inability to trust people made it hard for her to find a place in the tight knit community until Jessica Lawson moved to town and befriended her.
But before Jessica, there was one other person who that Emery considered a friend.
Jack Devlin has his secrets, one of them is that he fell hard for Emery the moment she appeared. Another is that his father blackmailed him into covering up a dark family tragedy.
Forced to sever his relationships to protect the people he cares about; Jack was unable to stay away from Emery completely. But Jack’s mixed signals hurt Emery once again she puts him out of her heart for good.
Until the Devlin family secret is finally revealed, and Jack is free to finally act on his feelings for Emery. But Emery isn’t ready to forgive and forget so easily.
‘“I had to do that.” His voice was hoarse, his tone almost apologetic. “I had to do that just once in my life.” Then he released me. He walked away. And tears filled my eyes. Because his words suggested I’d never experience a kiss like that again.’
I have been dying for Jack and Emery’s story since the first book in the series, The One Real Thing, released in 2016 and was so excited to receive this ARC. I’m also a die-hard Samantha Young fan which is why I’m sad to say I didn’t enjoy this book nearly as much as I was expecting to.
I think the main thing was that I had such difficulty getting into the story from the beginning. The first 30% of the novel is a series of flashbacks starting nine years ago and gradually working up to the present day, switching POV between Jack and Emery. Normally when a book contains multiple flashbacks they’re scattered through the novel in key places, having all the flashbacks occur one after another for the first 30% of the books made it very difficult get absorbed in the story and felt like it was an extended prologue rather than part of the story as a whole.
Additionally, along with the flashbacks there was a lot of exposition during Emery’s point of view, as she quickly rehashes what’s happened to her friends and basically giving a brief summary of the past books in the series.
The flashbacks, combined with the switches between POV and the exposition really impacted the pacing of the novel for me. There was so much jumping around and information that it seemed more like someone reciting a series of events every few pages to fill you in on what’s happened rather than letting it unfold naturally. By the time Jack and Emery get together you’re not as connected to them and they seemed to lack the emotional depth that a natural timeline progression would have provided and allowed both characters a better sense of development.
It was a bit like watching a film that’s been adapted from a book- one you haven’t read- and they’ve grabbed the most important scenes from the book and left out everything else. Resulting in having a movie that’s disjointed and disconnected as it jumps from pivotal scene to pivotal scene, and you leave theatre with a limited understanding of the plot and swearing that there must be more to it than that.
I was sure that Jack and Emery would be my favourite couple and that The Truest Thing would end up being my favourite book but unfortunately that was not the case. It really seemed like the majority of the interactions between Emery and Jack ended up in an argument, or one of them pushing the other away. A lot of the time it was over something that could have easily been resolved or avoided, or they were arguing over the same thing they had argued about earlier. This added to the point I mentioned earlier, where their relationship didn’t really have much development and seemed to result in a lack of chemistry between the two.
I think this also resulted in their happily-ever-after, something that after being hinted at for three books, and discovering that their relationship had been nine years in the making for them, should have been epic. But instead seemed to have little to no emotional payoff for the reader because you hadn’t been all that invested in them.
They did have some sweet moments that I enjoyed, specifically early on when their friendship/romance was just starting out and I also really liked it when they briefly reunited about partway through the book.
'“Em … I’d like to take you out. On a date.” Her eyes flew to his, lips parted with surprise. “You? A … a date?” … “No fucking around,” he promised. “I mean a real date. To be followed by another. And another and another …” Until there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Emery Saunders belonged to Jack Devlin and Jack Devlin belonged to her.'
I think my favourite part of The Truest Thing was getting to see Jack and Cooper reconcile. I loved getting to see them as friends during the flashbacks which is something we hadn’t gotten to see in the previous books, and to see Cooper finally get an explanation about Jack’s betrayal, after seeing how hurt he was by it in the other books, was a fantastic culmination of the four novels.
“I’m so sorry, Coop. I’m so fucking sorry,” he choked out. “Yeah, I can see that. I’m sorry too. For what happened to Rebecca. For what happened to you.”
I did enjoy parts of The Truest Thing. Getting to see the characters from the previous books, Jack & Cooper’s reunion, along with a few of the moments between Jack and Emery. But generally, I found that this wasn’t a cohesive or engrossing story. There was so much exposition, and the recounting on top of the flashback chapters, that it was a real challenge to lose yourself in the plot & characters and overall, I was left unsatisfied.
The Truest Thing releases August 18th 2020.
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