A passionate first love. A deep betrayal. One last chance to make it right.
Jax Walker left Chiara Campbell behind without a word, but he’s never forgotten how it felt to love that fiercely. Not that it matters—he can never go back to Tierney Bay, because the secret he’s keeping would tear them both apart.
Chiara has written Jax out of her life and her memory—until he shows up at the shop where she works. All the hurt she thought she’d buried is still there, and so is her fiery attraction to him. The more Chiara and Jax work together to save the shop, the more she wants things she can’t have.
She knows she’s going to get her heart broken again. She knows it’s going to hurt like hell.
And she’s pretty sure that when he kisses her, she’ll kiss him right back.
Review:
Second chance romances can be tricky–the author not only has to bring her MCs to an HEA, but they also have to show readers reasons why *this* time those crazy kids will make it, even though the first time it was a bust. It took quite a while for us to find out the whole story of what went wrong last time (though the fact that they were still teens and not 100% in charge of their own lives the first time around made it more believable even before reasons were given) and the lack of communication/confession of WHY made me a little crazy at times, Serena Bell pulled it off in spades this time!
Chiara and Jax’s story was just wonderful, minor frustrations along the way aside. I loved Kee’s SuperKee/SuperJax cartoon (and will totally volunteer to bother Mr. Bell until he recreates them–still waiting for that promised phone number! Check her IG feed for her “Five things you need to know about SO TRUE” post to find out what I’m talking about) and the game store setting was so much fun! I’m not a real gamer–let’s face it, I’d rather be reading–but pretty much my whole family is, and I know just enough about them to even geek out a little at the descriptions of the goings-on at Meeples. (Plus knowing the Easter egg moment about one of the scenes there made it more poignant–check her IG post!)
And of course, let’s not forget the romance, because that was fantastic too! Even though I wanted truths to come out sooner, I really can’t complain about how things played out in the end. Ms Bell made a good case for why things weren’t revealed then, and for them coming out now in the way that they did. I especially loved that her hero and heroine showed that they had indeed grown up in the ten years since and worked through their problems like adults in the end instead of sitting around acting butthurt over slights as so often happens in these situations.
And OMG, was it steamy! I was grateful that it had cooled off a bit around here while I was reading, because whoa… 😉
So True is the second book in the Tierney Bay series, but it really could work as a standalone. If you’ve read other books by Ms Bell, though, you may also enjoy knowing that Lily and Kincaid (but mostly Lily) from Turn Up the Heat make cameos here too, because yep, they also live in Tierney Bay. So for newbies, yep, this is a great book to start with, but fans of Ms Bell’s? You. Will. Love. It!
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.