RATING: ★★★☆☆
TITLE: Half Truths
AUTHOR: Rachael Brownell
RELEASE-DATE: August 17, 2020
PUBLISHER: Independently Published
GENRE(S): Adult Contemporary Romance
Thank you to The Next Step PR and NetGalley for my gifted advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
BLURB:
All-American boy meets broken girl… at rehab?
It will never work.
How could it?
Alex is Chicago royalty. Harley considers herself Las Vegas trash. While he’s been handed everything his entire life, she scrapes to make ends meet. Still, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Both long to break free from the stereotypes of their upbringing and embrace each moment together. Yet, neither are ready to share all of who they are.
Their secrets.
Their fears.
Their bitter realities.
Does their budding relationship stand a chance under a blanket of secrecy? Or will owning their truth set them free?
So, the most important thing I have gathered from reading this, is that the title is overwhelmingly accurate. This is a book about people who literally only tell others half truths. They lie about their lives and their pasts in order to create new and better lives for themselves and the people they hold close to them. They lie in order to protect the ones they love most.
Alex is running away from his Chicago home with his younger sister, Daphne, whom he found in her bedroom after suffering from a drug overdose.
Harley is a drug counselor who has run away with her younger brother from a drug addicted mother who neglected them both.
Their hearts are in the right place, but they lie to each other when they meet, and they don’t stop lying until the lies catch up with them. Then where does that leave them?
Alex and Harley meet when he brings Daphne to the rehab center where Harley works. And the two can barely keep it in their pants long enough to get the girl situated. They are immediately attracted to one another. And it isn’t ethical or responsible for them to enter into an emotional relationship, but they do it anyway.
This was an enjoyable read. I found myself caring what happened to each of the characters, even when I didn’t agree with the actions they were taking. It all comes down to love, though. The lengths that Alex goes to protect his sister from their parents, who care more about appearance than Daphne’s health, was a bit extreme, but I understand it was in the name of love. Harley was kind and caring even when Daphne was horrid to her. I liked the sweet but strong nature that she exuded (something that definitely benefited her as a drug counselor).
feather bound books 