When I met Caden at YALC last year, I was so excited! I’d heard about Truthfully Yours and I wasn’t expecting to be sent it, but I am so honored. If you love fandom, romance, and Scotland, this is for you! Keep reading this book review of Truthfully Yours for my full thoughts.
Summary
Rules are set in stone… but life is meant to be improvised.
Charlie did not think things could go this wrong… Yet here she is, in Scotland, thousands of miles away from home, after having publicly called out one of the actors of her favorite show for being ableist at a convention… and of course, it went viral. The one silver-lining? Her best friend signing her up for a work stay program at an independent bookstore in Scotland, where she’ll be able to live in the owner’s apartment for the next three months. What Charlie does not realize is that she’s one good golf club swing away from chaos.
Enter Page, or Jamie Mahone, as the fans of StarVerse know him, the unfortunate co-star to the actor who started all this. Page did not for one second imagine that surprising his sister one night would lead to a good headache and a handful of trouble. Stuck in the same apartment, they must not only fight their immediate dislike of each other but also their attraction to one another. Their solution?
Flatmates rules!
1. The apartment stays clean, and we stay out of each other’s respective rooms.
2. If one of us feels uncomfortable, we need to tell each other.
3. Flatmates don’t fall for flatmates.
After all, Charlie is the show’s number one public enemy, and Page cherishes his privacy above anything else, so giving in to the rising attraction between them would be a bad idea… Right?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Being dual POV makes Truthfully Yours into a tender romance story about the people who see us. The people who come to embody home for us. From page one I fell in love with Charlie and Page. I love their initial chemistry, the fireworks, and the glances. There’s a smoldering tension with barbs and retorts which only gets stronger as their feelings grow. If you love characters who deny their feelings? This is for you. Because flatmates never fall for flatmates right?
In Truthfully Yours we see how they get to know each other. We witness their vulnerability, the hidden pieces of ourselves we show. The people we can’t stay away from even though we know we should. For Page I love how he has to realize the masks he lives behind and the fears he’s holding onto. And for Charlie who is so afraid that people will get tired of her and leave. They’ve carved out places in my heart. Truthfully Yours allows both of them the space to feel. To realize that denying what someone means to us won’t make the pain disappear.
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Truthfully Yours is swoony and heartfelt at the same time. It made me tear up and also smile. While I wish there had been a bit more space at the end, maybe that’s just because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet. But this is a fantastic romance debut which will appeal to anyone who loves Scotland, dreams of running away to a bookshop, and adores fandom. Find Truthfully Yours on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.