Tennessee Truths
Contemporary Romance
April 16, 2020
344
eBook
https://amzn.to/39Ya2cT
Faith: Our story was classic. A typical fairytale. Two young kids falling in love under an onyx sky. He was my dream …and I naively thought I was his. Until he bartered our love and sold me a lie. Now, I’m returning to the life I once knew…but not as the pathetic mess that left five years ago. I’m a married woman, wed to the richest man in Nashville. But it seems I wasn’t the only one who changed during my time away… Hardened by life, Jace Walker’s glares drip with heat and derision. He has war in his eyes and venom in his veins. I thought I would be safe coming back home, but it seems I only ran from my present to be caught in the crosshairs of my past. Jace: I traded my future for a life. I knew what was on the line when I made the deal, I knew what I could lose, but I also knew that I didn’t really have a choice. I gambled and lost. Now the one person I had dreamed of having a future with was walking back into my life bearing the last name and wearing the ring of another man. Lips painted red, hair that same honey gold and there against her creamy throat was our promise to one another, still dangling, reminding me that I may have lied, but she ran. I was a liar, she was a coward. Now she was home, and she wasn’t mine. This is a standalone- second chance- enemies to lovers romance
UGH! This book was so frustrating and heartbreaking – so much to the point it was hard to finish (not because it was bad but because it just HURT)! This is a slow burning, second-chance, enemies-to-lovers romance between two people who have suffered pain and disappointment during their YA years.
This book is also about two people who are selfish and rather emotionally splintered, so much so they can’t see perspective.
The Story
Jace and Faith’s love started when they were very young. Jace’s approach to his crush on Faith started with a boys-will-be-boys kind of mentality where he bullied her because he didn’t know how he felt about her.
After these two finally came to terms with their feelings, they fell in love and were together throughout high school. They had made plans for their life after graduation but unexpectedly, Jace broke things off with Faith.
Faith then ran into the arms of another man, Bryan, who she then married, despite having promised herself to Jace at a young age.
After Faith endures abuse at the hands of her husband, she decides she’s had enough and escapes back to her hometown to stay with her parents, and continues to run into Jace.
These two have so much in their past that they have to work through but both are so unwilling to communicate as adults and TALK through the problem, so they fight continuously, almost reverting back to the bully/bullied phase of their early relationship.
The Characters
Faith: There are SO MANY TIMES that you get frustrated with Faith. First, the fact that she was extremely immature in her actions following the break up with Jace. Her actions were to immediately run into the arms of another man, which is hard for me to relate to.
I also found her very emotionally selfish. She can never see things from Jace’s perspective – granted he doesn’t say why he did the things he did, but still, there’s enough tragedy that she is aware of that she doesn’t pay attention to.
Jace: Jace was the same way. I feel like he was rather emotionally stunted as well as he used anger/fear to mask what he was truly feeling. What he doesn’t understand is that him avoiding those emotions also makes him rather selfish. His emotions had a larger impact on those around him but he had blinders on.
I get why he made the choices he did but HE made those choices. He never held himself accountable for his actions but in turn blamed Faith for the actions he took.
Neither of these two ever really stood up for themselves when it came down to the wire.
Let’s Talk About (the) Sex, Baby!
This is a super slow burn with a ton of angst and frustration.
The Writing
When this book started off, it had so much promise for me. There were a lot of amazing and beautifully written sentences that I thought would carry on through the book but because of the E2L path, it dropped off a bit.
Except Me.
I was stone he crashed upon with force and destruction.
One thing I really liked about this book is that it didn’t downplay the young-love aspect. While these two met in high school, their love was true and never trivial. They knew that what they had was real love, not young love.
I wanted the reckless kind of love that made people crazy, the kind that kept people connected over years and years, like the stars… always a part of or past, always present in our future.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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