True by Erin McCarthy (ARC)

Title: True

Author: Erin McCarthy

Date released: May 7th 2013

Genre: New adult, contemporary, romance

Rating: 5/5

I received this book as a review copy from NetGalley.

Goodreads Summary:

When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.

Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty that keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…

Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost…

My Review

This book was amazingly refreshing, heartbreaking and heart-warming all at the same time. It was beautiful and slightly crushing while thought provoking.

While I can come up with several adjectives to describe this book I can find no fault with it (apart from some minor spelling errors). It was perfect. I loved the characters, the female protagonist, Rory, wasn't whiny or quick to assume the worst, she didn't jump to conclusions or sabotage her own life through stupidity in any way. In short, she was the most logical, straightforward, sensible character I have come across in a contemporary book which may sound slightly boring but to me it was so refreshing. There was no back-stabbing friends, no twisted love triangles, no messiness in that area whatsoever. I loved every minute of both the high points and the low. I can't say anything more than : BUY THIS BOOK! I promise you will not regret it if you like contemporary, romantic new adult books. This is going to the top of my list. Erin McCarthy had my attention from the start but she got my undivided interest from this quote:

". . .a movie playing on the TV screen in front of us. Some sort of bad Tom Cruise drama. I've never liked Tom Cruise. He always reminded me of someone's creepy cousin, who smiles too big before he touches your butt and whispers something gross in your ear with hot whiskey breath."

At this part I gained respect for Rory and at no point in the book did I lose that respect, she proved to be a strong main character and did not show any neediness or any of those stereotypical female character traits that seem to be so prevalent through this genre. The author remained consistent with this lack of stereotypes throughout the book, creating characters that acted their age 99% of the time.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those like me who are tired of reading books where characters are constantly messing up things from themselves and others. I loved this book and I cannot wait for the next story to come.

-T