September 27, 2012

Review: True Love Way by Nancy Scrofano!

True Love Way
True Love Way by Nancy Scrofano
Paperback, 350 pages
Published April 20th 2012
By Simon & Fig

Marlo Spencer relishes all things retro. Old TV shows, classic movies, and even the collectible lunch boxes to go with them. In fact, she's quite cozy in her Malibu apartment, surrounded by her treasured knick-knacks and vintage memorabilia. It's her best friend, Nik, who doesn't get her fascination with all that "old junk," as he calls it. He especially doesn't understand why she's so keen to get back to their hometown of Napa when her high school sweetheart, Josh, suddenly returns after twelve years in Paris and nary a single phone call, eager to reunite with her. So, when Marlo heads up north to wine country to rekindle her relationship with Josh, Nik tags along, claiming he was already planning to visit his sister, Savannah, Marlo's gal pal. Once they reach Napa, however, dreams of a blissful reunion are shattered as old secrets and past betrayals are revealed, leaving an unsuspecting Marlo to pick up the pieces. Can she forgive and forget, or will true love find a different path to her heart?
           

My Review:

     When Nancy Scrofano emailed GCR and requested a review. Upon reading the blurb for her novel, I was quickly intrigued. I'm a huge sucker for a romance and happily ever after stories. So I quickly accepted to read and review it. However, as I began reading, I felt a little frustrated. For one this novel was very predictable. And towards the first half of the book, I felt I was reading a YA rather than an adult contemporary.

     The main character Marlo was hanging on to her past, to a guy who left her 12 years ago with not even a goodbye. Now I understand how someone may need closure to let go of someone or something. But in my opinion this main character acted and thought like a teenager. Her ex came back into town and requested to see her and instead of thinking about to seeing him to clear things out, she was thinking about how she can get things back to the way they were before he left. That way of thinking is too immature for an adult. Now if this was a YA, then this wouldn't have bothered me so much because young adults aren't always mature enough to make a smart decision.

     The author however does shake things up a bit and this helps Marlo in my opinion grow up a bit. This is when I actually start enjoying the main character and her story. She becomes more mature and start making wise decisions. She finally opens her eyes wide enough to see what or rather who is she has before her. That's when the story became what I expected, a true love story. I fell in love with two characters in this story, which is Nik (her best friend) and her Aunt Madge. Those two characters made the story so much better.

     I know I kind of rambled on in this review but the main character really annoyed me throughout the first half of the book. But after she matured and opened her eyes, I started enjoying the story more. I was rooting for Marlo to find her closure and to find True Love's Way. I give this book a 3 stars because of the frustration I felt towards the main character towards the first half of the book. But after that the story picked up and I really enjoyed myself.


4 comments:

  1. I love a happy ending and the idea of a main character who collects retro items definitely sounds interesting to me! Great review! It's too bad you didn't like the 1st part of the book so much but it sounds like it improved and ended up being a good book! Thanks for the info :)

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    Replies
    1. I just feel that if this book was written as a YA, I would have enjoyed it better. She wasn't mature enough for me.

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  2. I'm kind of a retro-geek myself, so just the opening lines of the blurb piqued my interest. Yeah, it's kinda sad that she hung onto a love for so long, but I'm glad that the book turned the plot around and ended up being better than you at first thought. I think I'd like to read this one, so maybe I can request it through my library. Thank you for the good, honest review <3
    Mary DeBorde M.A.D.

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