Truest Review

Truest

Jackie Lea Sommers

Katherine Tegan Books

September 1, 2015

5/5

Quotes:

"I've belonged to you since the second you showed up on my doorstep."

"You destroyed my old plans and became my new plan."

"So the good days I swallow like grace on a spoon."

"Silas Hart, whose kiss was exploding my heart from a bud into a blossom with such alacrity that I marveled I could be so full without bursting."

"He pulled his hood of now and treated me to that grin of his- the one that made me want to take flight, the one that felt like a storm cell was raging in my chest, thunder and lightning and hurricane- strength winds and all."

Truest was a surprising read for me. I wasn't sure what to make of it when I first picked it up. Honestly, I put off reading it for awhile because the summary I read was so brief that I couldn't tell whether or not it'd be something that I liked. I think entering in without knowing all that much background was a good choice. This is a beautiful debut novel from Jackie Lea Sommers and I highly recommend it!

It’s the summer before Westlin Beck’s senior year and she’s stuck in Green Lake, Minnesota, the same small town she has lived in her whole life. Normally, she has the company of her best friend and boyfriend, but both of them have busy summers. West’s father is a minister and she tags along when he brings communion to the family that just moved there from Alaska. She becomes closer to the Hart family, Silas, the boy who is the same age as her, in particular as they work on cars together. Gradually, West strikes up a close friendship with not only Silas, but also his mysterious sister Laurel. What secrets about Laurel is Silas keeping from West and why? Read Truest to find out more.

Silas Hart is such an incredible character. I hate to compare characters but it's pretty much impossible in this situation. Basically, Silas is a lot like another favorite male YA book character: Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars. They are similar in the respect that they both are so romantic and upfront with how they feel for the female character. They both have some endearing but dorky obsessions and are passionate about many things. Silas also is amazing at writing poetry I mean, what is more romantic than a guy writing poetry for the girl he likes. I also love his Holden Caulfield shirts and all his other t-shirts that dropped hilarious pop culture references. I really liked West as well and I think she was a great narrator. I obviously just didn't love her as much as Silas but she was still really cool and also passionate about radio shows and pop culture in general. Silas's sister Laurel was also a well written supporting character who I loved right away. I don't want to give anything away so I won't go into much details about her and her secret, but let's just say that Jackie Lea Sommers wrote this part extremely well.

The relationship between Silas and West was one of the major highlights of the book for me. I love both of the characters individually, but they become even more intriguing and enjoyable when they come together. I just love how the relationship begins slowly as a friendship, due to West's boyfriend and the girlfriend that Silas has back in Alaska. The pair being together never feels rushed which I think can often happen in YA books. I love that they had so many common interests like books, poetry, and the radio show that West listens to faithfully that none of her friends like but Silas instantly adores it. They are just two people that balance each other out and there wasn't much that I didn't like about them as a couple.

As I said earlier, Truest was a complete and total surprise for me. I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. It's just one of those books that instantly clicked for me and I felt completely connected to the characters and what was going on. By the end, I found that I both laughed and cried throughout the book more times than I have in a very long time while reading. It just provides readers with so many emotions and it's just a cleverly written book as a whole. I'll definitely be talking about this one for awhile!