The Truth About Jack by Jody Gehrman

The Truth About Jack by Jody Gehrman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary
Dakota McCloud has just been accepted into a prestigious art school. Soon she'll leave behind the artists' colony where she grew up―hippie dad, tofu since birth, yurt―and join her boyfriend and best friend on the East Coast. It was the plan…until Dakota finds out her boyfriend and best friend hooked up behind her back.

Hurt and viciously betrayed, Dakota pours out her heart on a piece of paper, places it in a bottle, and hurls it into the ocean. But it doesn't quite go where she expects…

Jack Sauvage finds the bottle washed up on the shore and responds to Dakota's letter. Except what if his straight-laced life doesn’t jive with the free-spirited girl he’s only seen from afar? As Jack creates a persona he believes she’ll love, they slowly fall for each other with each new letter. Now Jack is trying to find a way to make this delicate, on-paper romance happen in real life…without revealing his deception.

My Review
The Truth About Jack was a really unique book, and the writing style really worked for me. I loved the setting of the artist's colony, the cafe, and the beach. I enjoyed getting to know Dakota and Jack and seeing them grow and discover what they really want and stand up for themselves - something I seem to never get enough of, and learn something from every time. I loved the artsy and musical aspects and how they understood each other so well.

I loved the conversations between Jack and Dakota, and the fact they TALKED and had REAL CONVERSATIONS instead of spending an obscene amount of time kissing like happens in so many YA books. They were so realistic, earnest, sweet, and perfect! I loved the fact that they came from such different backgrounds yet were still perfect for each other, and I really appreciated that their differing backgrounds wasn't to huge of an issue. The way he knew her and wanted so badly to talk to her, but was afraid to was adorable, and I thought it was nice how she got to know him as both Jack and the guy she wrote letters to (normally has the potential to be really cliche, but it really worked)!

While I am normally all about admitting the truth immediately, and I probably would have found this annoying and/or cliche, I can't really blame Jack for not telling her right away in this circumstance. I mean we girls do tend to take things to the extreme sometimes, and we may not always understand the meaning guys are attempting to convey (don't shoot me for pointing out he obvious, it was kind of hard to admit). Or maybe guys just aren't very good at explaining things - maybe that ability evaporated with memory and hearing?

I must say that I really loved the language and word choice. I really learned some new vocab words, and yes I plan to use them!

This was a semi light novel that was nowhere near fluff. There was a lot of beautiful depth that I wasn't expecting, and while some of the circumstances could have been cliche, the author somehow seemed to avoid all of them, and speak to me, making this a YA novel that I won't soon forget.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. This in no way affected my opinions, and all thoughts and opinions are solely my own.

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