Review – True Love Story by Willow Aster

Willow Aster is a talent to watch for, she totally captivated me with all the angst and betrayal that isTRUE LOVE STORY ~ Guilty Pleasures

Description:
Sparrow Fisher is transforming. No longer dressed up in antiquated clothes and ideals, she is finally trying on her freedom.

Before she moves to New York City, she meets Ian Sterling, a musician Sparrow has dreamed about since she first saw him. The attraction is instant, but their relationship isn’t so simple.

Over a five year span, Sparrow and Ian run into each other in unusual places. Each time, Sparrow has to decide if she can trust him, if he feels the same for her, and finally, if love is really enough.

Ahh…this review will be all over the place (because that’s how I feel about the book) and may contain spoilers, which I hate doing, but in order to make you understand why I feel the way I do, I have to include them. I did not like this book, I wanted to give it 2 Stars (almost 1.5 Stars)…but I am giving it a 3.5.  Why? Because I can see how fans of the New Adult sub-genre will go bat-shit crazy over this book. It’s full of angst, has a sexy famous musician hero and a quirky heroine.

TRUE LOVE STORY spans about 5 years, it starts off present day, Ian and Sparrow are not together but they end up on a plane and have to face their unresolved feelings. To do so Ms. Aster takes us back through how their relationship develops and subsequently falls apart.

Sparrow is the daughter of a minister, strict upbringing and a good girl.  When the book starts Sparrow is dating the youth minister from her church, her parents are ecstatic. Then she runs into Ian at a dinner, it is lust at first site. It made me think of the old Looney Tunes cartoons where the boy and girl bear meet and hearts pop out of their eye sockets. Ian is a much older, jaded, playboy and musician.

Ian and Sparrow get thrown together again, and as a result of the developing feelings Sparrow breaks it off with Micheal and breaks his heart. Ian does a great job of wooing Sparrow and is extremely charismatic. What I found odd about the whole Sparrow and Ian dating thing, is Ian is a musician and her parents had almost NO RESERVATIONS about him dating Sparrow. They welcomed him in their home and lives. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many ministers who would be happy about his lil’ darlin, dating a famous musician.

Ian and Sparrow carry on a long distance relationship, Sparrow in NYC at college and Ian on tour all the time. When they do get together they are cute, sexy and loving (most of the time). But they never went “exclusive” during all this time. What really killed the story for me is the fact that Ian has been sleeping with his cousin’s wife even AFTER he asks Sparrow to marry him. When Sparrow finds out she is devastated and breaks it off like a smart woman would….Ian is really sorry and turns all crybaby, almost stalkerish, trying to get her back…seriously the letters he constantly wrote her were over the top and just serve to continue to rip Sparrow’s heart apart. Ok – yes I know cheating happens, I can deal with a repentant hero trying to win the heroine back after say ONE time…but an affair..NO Ma’am!! I couldn’t feel sorry for him…nope not at all. And DAMMIT  I wanted to connect with Ian in the beginning, I was honestly rooting for him to bump Michael out of the picture.

I do have to admit I LOVED Sparrow’s friend Tessa and I loved Tessa and Sparrow’s friendship. The ending was cute and I actually loved the epilogue, even though I am still pissed at Ian.

*beep beep* back up a sec….while I say I didn’t like Ian and what happened, I read it in one sitting and that is why I am giving it 3.5 stars instead of 2, because despite the fact Ian pissed me off and the story made me want to chunk my e-reader through the wall….I still couldn’t put it down, it had a “touch” of reality to it, showing how cheating tears apart love and destroys relationships. That being said, I have to give Willow Aster credit for creating a story, that I have come to realize, I love to hate. This book has haunted me since I finished it late Monday night and has taken me 4 days to try to formulate some semblance of a review.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE – if you like New Adult, give TRUE LOVE STORY a try.  Don’t take my opinion and not read it, you may love it. This is just my opinion and not all books work for everyone. I do think Willow is a talent to watch for and can captivate readers with the worlds she builds.

3.5 Stars

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