Review: True Love Story by Willow Aster

God, so much happened in this book that I can’t even begin to put it all into words even if I tried- For starters, This book was okay. It wasn’t great… It wasn’t horrible… It was just… Okay. Once again, I got caught up in all of the amazingly high ratings and reviews and decided to give this one a try in the hopes of feeling the same way. …And while I still enjoyed the book, it just wasn’t captivating or memorable enough for me. There were times when I was entertained and even a few times here and there when I was engrossed in the angst, but over-all I just can’t say that this book was really worth the read.

The characters were just… Ehhh. I honestly can’t name a single basis for Sparrow and Ian’s relationship other than the fact that they’re both amaaaazinglyyy good-looking and only had eyes for each other because of this fact. Apparently being extremely attractive is all you really need to fall in love these days. The hero Ian was supposed to be this gorgeous musician with bad-boy tendencies and commitment issues, but he didn’t come across that way to me at all. First of all, he was way too nice…

I just couldn’t take it. His consistent overly cheesy compliments had me rolling my eyes on more than one occasion and it grated on my nerves… A lot. It was like he knew of nothing else to say on a 24/7 basis, aside from overly dramatic praise and appreciation for the heroine’s looks- It got old fast. Not to mention, it was borderline creepy. All of that aside though, Ian was always good to Sparrow… Until he wasn’t.  

Forgive my language. His character tends to bring out the worst in me- Let’s rephrase to something nicer, shall we?

There. That’s better.

…What started off as a relationship that held promise, eventually turned into one that was full of doubts… Of course that was to be expected since a long distance relationship isn’t always the easiest… But Ian turned difficult into impossible. I won’t go into details here, because I like to avoid all spoilers in my reviews… But I don’t think I ever one hundred percent forgave Ian for what he did. I get it… People make mistakes all the time, and I’m not unforgiving of that. However, it’s just really hard for me to understand how someone can claim to love another so deeply, yet deceive that love by doing something so incredibly deceitful. To say my heart was broken at one point in this story would have been an understatement- Did I eventually truly feel like Ian was sorry for what he had done? Yes. …But at the same time I also couldn’t help but feel that he was only trying to appease his own guilt by doing what he did to try and win Sparrows forgiveness. Bombarding someone with flowers and showering them with love letters and songs doesn’t rectify the situation or make it right. I do think that Ian really and truly did love Sparrow…But I don’t think he loved her enough otherwise he wouldn’t have hurt her the way that he did… And therein lays my biggest issue with Ian. By the end of the novel, I couldn’t help but look at him and his love for Sparrow in a completely different light… And quite frankly, it all just became a big disappointment for me in this book. As for the heroine Sparrow... All I can say is she’s a much stronger woman in her relationship with Ian than I ever would have been. I will say this though: She didn’t let him off easy after he broke her heart and I completely and one hundred percent commend her for that.

Without a doubt, this story was extremely realistic. People find themselves in similar situations and relationships like Ian and Sparrows on a daily basis, and I can’t imagine how it would be easy for any person involved. For me however, the characters were just such a contradiction to the story- From the very beginning you could just feel the love these two had for one another. Reading page after page of how they interacted and felt about one another made it seem like they both had similar feelings… It was as if nothing or no one could ever get in between their love for one another, which is why what happened in this story to cause such a rift and heartache in their relationship made absolutely no sense to me- I honestly felt no connection and had no understanding as to how a person can love someone on such a strong and emotional level , yet take the risk (numerous times) of throwing it all away on something that was never even important in the first place- I just didn’t get it.

I’ll go ahead and give credit where credit is due here and say that this story definitely touches on forgiveness and second chances. …I was honestly happy to read about a happily-ever-after for these two characters; Lord knows after the relationship that they had been through that it was well deserved. I may not have been able to forget what had happened and what was done… But I was able to eventually forgive. People mess up… We all make mistakes and sometimes it’s those certain mistakes that shape and make us into the person that we are today. Some people aren’t ever able to move past being wronged or hurt… Others may never be able to forgive themselves for the pain that they’ve caused someone else. …And then there are some out there who are able to over-come certain situations and become an even better and stronger person in the long run; The same could go for relationships. Without a doubt, this story takes you on a long journey filled with heartache and pain… But through all of the good and the bad, this book can teach you that time can certainly heal many wounds and through forgiveness and second chances, it’s always possible to reach that forever desired true love story.

Review: True LOVE Story by Willow Aster

I saw all the hype. I went with the hype. I was not disappointed with the hype but with that being said, for ME, it wasn't a jaw dropping, AH-MAY-ZING (seriously stop using that phrase) story. It's not a bad read, but when I read a book, I like to relate to the heroine and I just couldn't relate to her so it wasn't for ME. *shrugs shoulders* Don't take this as slamming the author or story. It's just my opinion. I still recommend it. Either you agree or disagree, read the book and post your review. BOOM. On to the story...

When we meet Sparrow (awesome name) she's at the airport waiting for her flight. She's sees Ian. The man who completely devastated her heart, body and soul. As fate plays along, they are seated next to each other and start conversation. He tries to get her back and she almost caves in until she remembers their past. With Sparrow's last line of, "How's Laila?" you know he hurt her bad.

Cue in 5+ years ago...Sparrow is in a relationship with Michael, good looking-parents absolutely adore-great guy- but he does nothing for her. She grew up "sheltered" plus she's an innocent (virgin) who kinda wants to be "free". She's moving to NYC for schooling along with her BFF Tessa, who I adored. LOVE BFF!

On a dinner outing, Sparrow meets Ian Sterling. He's a musician and Sparrow is instantly attracted to him AND vice versa. They meet yet again and have this great chemistry but then Ian goes cold on her. Sparrow doesn't understand this but I could see this a mile away.

Ian and Sparrow meet up off and on thru many months. They get along perfectly when they're together but when Ian is hot and cold with her, it gets tiresome. He gives great kisses then he can flip the switch and he's distant and Sparrow doesn't understand his emotions. He tells her he's bad news but she doesn't believe him. Was he bad news. NAH. He just needed to get his mind straight which takes a long ass time for him to do. When Ian decides to see Sparrow she is royally pissed at him. He comes back thinking they will just go along as they always do until she sets him straight. They finally make a commitment with each other but he suggests that she still sees other people cause he wants her to experience more of life since he's nine years older than her. At this point Ima thinking...you gonna be faithful to me while I go and do what you suggest? You think I'm a fool?

I see their attraction and chemistry. I won't lie and say it's not there. I get on how Sparrow could fall in love with Ian. I get how Ian fell in love with Sparrow.

They are together for more than a year and all is going well, or so we think. Sparrow keeps having these dreams about Ian and a certain someone. When she asks him..."When do you think you'll be over Laila?"...you know the SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN. It's heartbreaking. Did I cry? No. Did it suck to see how Sparrow and Ian became with his decisions? Yes.

 

This is the first story I've read where you can see how much the man regretted cheating with the woman. Ian begs for Sparrows forgiveness is heartbreaking but over done. His letters to her were sad. Some made since and some didn't. What I also liked was that it took YEARS for Sparrow to finally forgive him. Him staying celebate while she fucked around was a nice change. It's usually the other way around. Ian's cheating affected Sparrow. Sure he broke her heart with that but he also changed her. Her saying..."I despise the distrust I have for everyone." when she wasn't like that, I got. She couldn't get past it and it hurt her with her future relationships. THAT is what I hate about cheaters. They put doubt in your mind when you didn't have any and not only that but it's about them being disrespectful and breaking that trust. If you don't have that then you're in for a heartache.

They both matured, forgave and love was enough for them to FINALLY get their HEA. I was happy with the story. Will I be reading anymore of WA's work. Absolutely. Maybe I can relate to another of her heroine for me to like the book that much more.

***Did you notice all the italicized and CAPITAL words? Did it get on your nerves? Yes? Well that's the way it is in the story. Every page had an italicized word and every other page there was a capital word. This didn't work for me, some may find it outrageous that I point this out but SERIOUSLY, how can you not point it out. Because of this, I  dropped a 1/2 star to my review. It may seem dumb but it got old. I GOT it.