Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino Published by Atria Books Publication Date: August 9th 2016
Pages: 320
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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?
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
I love Renee Carlino – this is the 2nd book I have read of hers and each one is better than the last; especially since she writes second chance romance which is my all time favorite.
Emiline lives a quiet simple life – she has been with her boyfriend for 7 years but they are really not moving forward. She has dreams of being a writer but hasn’t found anything meaningful to write so she is an adjunct writing instructor at her local college in San Diego. This life is far from where she grew up in Ohio a life she wishes to forget but can’t forget the one person from her past that saved her and hurt her all at the same time. That is until her best friend recommends a best-selling novel from author J Colby – as she reads the story she knows that J Colby is talking about her life.
Jason Colbertson just wrote the story of his and Emiline’s life growing up – they haven’t seen each other in over 10 years and Emiline is shocked and angry that Jase wrote their story. Forced to come to terms with her past can Emiline forgive the one person who meant the most to her.
This story is so intricate and complex it’s fantastic. The story within the story is so well written and then when you see the characters in real life it’s amazing to me how well the transitions are done. Renee Carlino does a fantastic job with the books exposition that you as the reader are transported to rural Ohio then back to San Diego seamlessly. The story takes place in a very short amount of time but the arc of Emiline is very well done. Told from Emiline’s POV only I would have loved to get Jase’s POV to see where he is coming from; if I had one thing I wanted different it would be that.
This is an amazing book from Renee Carlino I highly recommend it!
About Renee Carlino
I’m the author of Sweet Thing, Sweet Little Thing, Nowhere But Here, After the Rain and my latest novel, BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS. I’m a California native currently residing in a beach town in Southern California where I live with my husband, our two boys, and our sweet dog June
