✰ Bianca ✰ Janeane ✰ 
★★★★
4.25 Stars
Nine years ago, Emery Saunders moved to Hartwell to start her life over as a bookstore owner. Her inability to trust people made it hard for her to find a place in the small community until Jessica Lawson moved to town and befriended the shy beauty.
But there was one person in Hartwell who tried to befriend Emery long before Jessica arrived…
Jack Devlin has his secrets. One of them is that he fell hard for Emery the moment she appeared in Hartwell. Another is that his father blackmailed him into covering up a dark family tragedy. It forced Jack to sever his relationships to protect the people he cared about. Yet, staying away from Emery has not been easy throughout the years and he hasn’t always succeeded. When Jack’s mixed signals hurt Emery once again, she puts him out of her heart for good.
Until the Devlin family secret is finally revealed, freeing Jack from his father’s machinations. What Jack wants more than anything is to repair his relationships, starting with Emery.
However, Emery isn’t ready to forgive and Jack’s not ready to give up.
And when the town’s latest scandal ties Jack and Emery together, Jack is not above using their new reality to prove to Emery once and for all that their love is worthy of the legend of Hart’s Boardwalk.
Emery and Jack.
We all remember them.
She's the quiet and super shy coffee shop / book store owner billionaire heiress. And he is the son of the town's villain.
In the first part of the book we go back to when Emery arrived in town almost a decade ago. We see how she met Jack and how they kind of fell for each other instantly. But we also see how it's not really happening for them through the years. Jack is too deep into dirty business with his family and he doesn't want to drag Emery into it.
And then we're finally in the here and now ...
What will happen with Emery & Jack??
Will we get our happily ever after??
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT! ☺
Finally Emery & Jack's story!
We were waiting for them to finally get their happily ever after for what seems like centuries!
And their story was beautiful!
But also so very heartbreaking and sad - especially in all the back-in-time moments. It was just never their time. Ugh. So sad. But now they can finally try it for reals - but destiny has some more obstacles available first. LOL. Poor Jemery. Emerack???
It takes them a long while to get that happily ever after - 9 years - but we'll get there!
And the reader has an amazing time watching them fight for that happy end!
I didn't really love-love the whole back and forth through the years. It was just too long. And then in the end I wanted them together so much faster, but they were still a bit too stupid to get it right.
I wanted to slap them both a few times. But I still loved reading this!
I love that this is a mature series. Those couples are all in their thirties .... we don't have any immature 21-year-olds running around. ☺
I loved that we got to see all the other people in town again. And I SO need more stories for some of them - even the new generation. I see an amazing enemies-to-lovers story coming in 20 years!
Beautiful series!
THE TRUEST THING was a sweet & heartbreaking & sparky kinda-2nd-3rd-chance-love-story! Run to your nearest amazon for your own Jack - this one is MINE!!!
ARC received for an honest review
As with every trip back to Hartwell, I knew I was going to be happy, and said, and angry and frustrated.
Samantha Young did not disappoint there.
One thing Samantha Young goes, and does well, is give us a tale that is not rushed and insta. Her stories are told over a number of years, and leave the reader yearning for the characters to find their HEA.
Jack and Emery's decade long tale left me, most of the time, wanting to throw my reader across the room. When I wasn't frustrated and p'd off at Jack, I was wanting to give Emery a clip around the ears for how she treated Jack. Neither of them are faultless in this story, and as annoying as it was at times, it made me love the story more.
I loved the people of Hartwell, and was wonderful to find out more of the couples from the previous books (not going to lie, I still need to read one of the earlier books).
My big thing with this story (and my big bug bear in any tale) is communication. Talk to each other people! I know it was the plot device for The Truest Thing, but gah! It gives me the irrits, no matter who or what the reason - rant over.
I adore Sam Young and would read the Chinese takeaway menu if she wrote it and put it in front of me. I can't wait to see what she brings us next.
Book #2
Book #3
