Name: Shan's review of What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Item: What I Thought Was True
Rating: 3
Author: Shan

Huntley Fitzpatrick

The eagerly anticipated follow-up to My Life Next Door is a magnetic, push-me-pull-me summer romance for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han. Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her idyllic Nantucket-esque island this summer. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past--or the island--Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true--about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself--with what really is. Huntley Fitzpatrick delivers another enticing summer read full of expectation and regret, humor and hard questions, and a romance that will make every reader swoon.

What I Thought Was True

Vicki Aldersley 

Seventeen-year-old Gwen Castle is a working-class girl determined to escape her small island town, but when rich-kid Cass Somers, with whom she has a complicated romantic history, shows up, she's forced to reassess her feelings about her loving, complex family, her lifelong best friends, her wealthy employer, the place where she lives and the boy she can't admit she loves.

Shan

Took me a while to read through. Wasn't very attached/interested until the last fifty pages. Love this authors other books though!

Jaclyn

LOVED THIS SO MUCH! Just like in My Life Next Door, Huntley Fitzpatrick just knows how to write such AMAZING characters and get readers swept away with her fantastic writing style. Everything was so realistic and I felt for Gwen, Cass, Nic, Viv, Emory, and even Spence! All of the "side characters" weren't even side characters because there was so much going on that we got to know and become attached to everyone. Everyone had these depths and layers to them which was so wonderful to read. I enjoyed all of the "flashbacks" we got and thought that they really helped the character development and brought more to everyone. I absolutely LOVED all of the moments leading up to Cass and Gwen finally talking and getting together! That was by far one of my favorite parts of the whole book! I loved how OPEN and HONEST everything was and it happened at the right time. 
This is a book about friendship, healing, reconnecting, finding out where you're supposed to be in life. and falling in love all over again. It was so raw and so honest. I also loved all of the funny moments that Gwen had throughout the book! She was so REFRESHING to read about and I LOVED how charming Cass was! There were times I was surprised, laughed, cried, and let out a huge "AW" from all of the cuteness!! Overall this book is fantastic and a PERFECT book for the summer!!

Kathryn 

Sofie

I loved loved loved My Life Next Door, but for some reason I'm having a really hard time getting into this book. I guess it's just sort of hard to pin down what exactly the point to the book is at this point. It's all over the place. I won't give up though, I love Huntley's writing too much. Stay tuned.

UPDATE.

So I really wanted to love this book. I loved and adored Huntley Fitzpatrick's debut novel, but I found What I Thought Was True lacklustre. And I'll explain why.

If I'm being honest, it didn't really feel like Huntley had a story to tell. There's no real story arch, save for the love story, there's no obvious character development, unless you count Gwen realizing things aren't always as they seem. I didn't feel immersed the way I usually do when reading a novel. This book took me longer than usual to finish, and it was because I didn't feel invested enough in the characters for read on. I suppose the climax would be (view spoiler)[when Gwen and Cass talk things over and get together (hide spoiler)], but even that was pushing it. Nothing felt like it was leading up to anything - there was no grand revelation, there was no suspense, there was no real conflict. I mean, there was conflict, but it never felt urgent or important enough. It was all very slow.

I didn't like the back and forth between the now and the past. What was so great about My Life Next Door was that we went on the journey with Samantha, and experienced everything as she did. With Gwen, readers started the book in the dark. There was so much we would only discover later on. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if the novel had started before The whole thing with Cass, if it had showed the courting and emotions and drama, and then went into the betrayals and realizations and conclusions. It felt disorganized. It felt underwhelming. 

I didn't root for Gwen. I hated Nic. Cass was one of the only characters with any substance. I would have liked to have seen more of Spence. Viv was an unbearable hypocrite and I couldn't have cared less about her drama. No-one wants to read a book with subpar characters.

That being said, the writing was good, and Cass was enough of a gentlemen to earn the novel 3 stars.

Maria

автор, по-моему, запуталась фабуле и зачем-то флэшбэки сделала более событийными, чем настоящие события. это здорово мешает, между прочим. плюс добавила пару бессмысленных персонажей, у которых практически никакой роли в истории нет, и несколько ненужных второстепенных линий. в общем, не справилась с управлением. иногда нужно напоминать себе, что пишешь не сто лет одиночества, а летний роман про подростков

Sophia De La Garza

3.5 Stars 
Slow start 
Not "enough" romance 
*
* 
While, this book was the cute contemporary I needed at the time, the pacing of this book just wasn't working for me. The plot line just seemed a bit dragged and I personally feel that this book would've been better as a 200 and something paged book and not a 400 and something paged book. 
The only other issue I had was the romance didn't go anywhere. There was this huge build up of a crush but when the couple ends up together, it didn't click for me. It seemed a bit forced and predictable, in my opinion. 

So, I gave this book 3.5, which is being a bit generous since those issues I pointed out bugged me more than I would like to let on.

b.andherbooks

Sweet, thought-provoking East Coast island romance. At first I thought this was too similar to a Sarah Dessen story I recently read, but then it took many surprising turns that kept me on my toes.

It took me a long time to finish this book, y'all. (I originally started it on audiobook back in September, but only more recently picked it up again.) it wasn't that I didn't enjoy it. I did. I just don't have much audiobook listening time. After deciding To start listening to it again this week during my one mile walk to and from the convention center, I found myself loving Gwen and Cass and needing more. I finished it tonight in Kindle format and I have to say... I adored this book. 

More to come soon. (And the rating totes might change to 5 stars when I revisit my feelings to write my review.)

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

2.5 stars

I know I’m in the minority for this one, but I was really disappointed with this book. And I honestly can’t pinpoint why. We all know how much I adore contemps. I read more contemporary books BY FAR than any other genre. So why, oh why, didn’t I like this book? I LOVED My Life Next Door. I gave it 5 stars and recommended it to anyone who would listen. So what happened with this one? I DON’T KNOW!

I love Huntley Fitzpatrick’s writing. I love the way she brings her characters to life. But with this story… I was bored for a majority of it. It just felt soooo longgggg. It dragged. I felt like nothing was happening for most of the book and just kind of wanted to get to the end to see what was going to happen. It was disjointed and extremely underwhelming.

I’m so bummed. I really think I’m in the minority here, so I would say still give this book a try if you’re a fan of this type of story. I really WANTED to like this, but sadly, I just really didn’t. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t enjoyable for me either. :(

Audiobook Impressions:
I don’t have any complaints about the audiobook, though I can’t help but wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I read the book, rather than listened to it.

(Thanks to Listening Library for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

Kate

Although I didn't enjoy this as much as My Life Next Door (which I LOVED), this was still a cute and enjoyable read! I just want all the cute, summer contemporaries from Huntley Fitzpatrick please!

Vicki Aldersley &
What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

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