Review: True – Erin McCarthy

When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.

Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty that keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…

Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost…

Series:
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: InterMix
Source: NetGalley
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Reviewer’s Thoughts

I really liked the story and I loved Tyler and Rory. My only problem was the way it started out with a hint of humor and then turned to try and have that grittiness a lot of the New Adult books have. The humor at the beginning had me chuckling and wishing my Kindle App on my iPad would let me highlight text in a PDF, but it seemed to clash with where the author was trying to go.

After rescuing Rory from the unwanted advances of one of his drunken friends, Tyler and Rory strike up a friendship.  For Rory, he’s a hot guy who’s couldn’t possibly be interested in the shy virgin amongst their group. But when he starts hanging out with her their relationship blossoms into something much more.  Something both of them desperately want.  Rory sees Tyler for who is, despite the secrets he’s kept or where he’s from.  But when Tyler’s home life bleeds into what he has with Rory, they both have to make a decision about exactly what they want.

I liked both Tyler and Rory.  Tyler for the way he stepped in to make sure his little brothers had what they needed, despite their mother.  And the fact that he was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of his family.  Then there was Rory.  She too was willing to sacrifice herself for someone she loved.  In this case it was Tyler.  She fought with her family and sometimes disagreed with her friends because of him or his situation.  At their age, sometimes certain situations are just too big to deal with together.  That was almost their case.  Luckily they found a way to move forward together.

I did wish for the story to be a bit longer so it could get a bit of a proper ending instead of the somewhat abrupt (while happy) ending that we were served up.