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Two weeks ago I had the privilege of receiving an advance copy of my friend’s debut novel, Truest. Jackie Lea and I have known one another since 2004, so I have had the opportunity to hear a bit about the book through its development. Because of this, the anticipation has grown over the past few years as I’ve waited to get my hands on the book, and I have to say that I was amazed at how good the book was!
Truest is a story of a group of high-schoolers in a small town in Green Lake, Minnesota. The Hart twins move to Green Lake at the start of summer, and it changes West’s world. The story follows this group of teens as they navigate romances, mental health issues, family dynamics, and small town life. While this book is considered Young Adult Literature, I think this book will appeal to people of all ages, as the characters wrestle with “big life questions and issues”.
Sommers does a fantastic job in her descriptions of people and places, and I felt very quickly that I had completely entered into the story, that these people were my friends (I do very much wish I could be friends with West!). This story made me feel deeply, and I found myself smiling through most of the book. I read the last 50 pages while on my bike trainer, and I sat there biking, reading, and sobbing (a sign of a great book!). In fact, I don’t think a book has made me feel so deeply since reading The Fault In Our Stars in June 2014. So often in reviews I say that I wish the book had been a bit shorter, that details felt unnecessary. Not true with this story though! I just want more!! 🙂 The romance that’s woven through the book is moving as well.
Truest comes out on September 1st, and I’ll be talking about it a bit more between now and then, but I wanted to share a favorite quote, as I often do on reviews:
He smiled a little and squeezed my hand. “Writers know that the climax comes before the resolution.” He was quiet for a second, then said, “Not just in fiction, either, West, but in real life too. How many times has the worst thing turned out to be necessary? Or even the best? Rescue wears masks, you know. It’s why people say it’s darkest before the dawn. Sometimes things take a long time to make sense. Could be years and years- or only a weekend. Or they might never make sense. But that doesn’t mean you stop trusting that the world is being rescued.”
It was a lot to take in. “I can’t decide if I feel happy or sad,” I finally said.
“Feel both,” Silas replied. “But remember that rescue stories are the best kind. If you look around at the world, it seems pretty clear that God favors redemption over perfection”.
-Truest (p. 206-207)
If you’re interested in more reviews of Truest, check out goodreads.
To follow the author, you can follow Jackie Lea Sommers on Twitter @jackieleawrites and Jackie Lea Sommers on Facebook. You can also check out her blog here. <-If you’re interested in pre-ordering it, she has the links for ordering at the top of the blog page.
[…] exciting for me to watch her passion for writing come to fruition. A few months ago I published a blog post with a review of Truest (if you missed it, check it out!), and I’ve only grown more excited since reading the book […]
[…] you’d like to know more about Truest, you can check out my book review here and you can read more about it on goodreads. I also did an author interview with her a few weeks […]