Swear On This Life by Renee Carlino Published by Atria Books on August 9th 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Purchase @ AMAZON or BN
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When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.
Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.
That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.
The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?
Micah’s Thoughts:
Well, that book was perfect. I sat and read straight through for 4 1/2 hours and did nothing else.
Imagine that your roommate recommended a book for you that she said was really great, she’d been raving about. So, you pick it up, appeasing her. You finally open the cover and discover that it hits home for you. That it not only hits home, it is your exact life story. It was written by your childhood best friend and first love that you haven’t seen or spoken to in 12 years.
As you read his words, it opens up all of those wounds and feelings that you had about him/your childhood/your family you left behind. You look him up and he has a signing in 2 days near you. What would you do?
This is the premise of this book. And it will blow you away. The background of the characters is told in a diverse way. The characters are really deep and thoughtful.
This is really another hit out of the park for this author. The angst is off of the charts. It is a gorgeous love story.
The Verdict:
About Renee Carlino
Renee’s first friends were the imaginary kind and even though her characters haven’t gone away, thankfully the delusions have. She admits she’s a wildly hopeless romantic and she blames 80’s movies staring Molly Ringwald for that. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons, and their sweet dog June. When she’s not at the beach with her boys or working on the next book, she likes to spend her time reading, going to concerts, and eating dark chocolate.
