What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick: Review

Title: What I Thought Was True
Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Buy This Book: Amazon  / Book Depository


Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her 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.(Goodreads summary.)

I'm actually finding it hard to think of words to describe the disappointment that I feel right now. I was looking forward to this book so much and I am beyond. I read My Life Next Door last year and it instantly became one of my favourite books. So you can obviously understand why I couldn't wait to get my hands on Huntley Fitzpatrick's next book. I was so excited to see what she came up with next and I was certain I would absolutely love it. Sadly, I really didn't and most of the time I was left feeling a little lost.

Gwen needed this lesson. 

This book is set out in a way that had me feeling disconnected from the story. I felt like I had started it half way through, like I'd arrived late to the party and had no clue what was happening. Gwen talks about her past summer a lot and all the mistakes she made, the biggest being Cassidy Somer's. But for the longest time you don't really understand what went on there. The flashbacks mainly taught me that Gwen slept with almost everybody and regretted each and every time. This led me to one important question: why keep making the same mistake over and over and over and over and over again? Learn from it! I started feeling like a horribly judgemental person... But honestly, keep it in your pants woman!

Front seat of a car?
Not even had one date.

At the very beginning, I actually really liked Gwen as a character. I thought she was a realistic female lead for a contemporary romance. She wasn't the virgin girl who's never done anything wrong. But I didn't really agree with many of her decisions. Some of them made me shake my head and want to shout at her. I just think that I couldn't get behind her, especially when she made the same stupid decisions each time and was such an impulsive person. She never seemed to learn from her mistakes, at least for the longest time. I didn't connect to her and I was so upset by that. I was just waiting for Gwen to have an epiphany. I wanted her to realise that guys weren't the problem, she was. I'm pretty sure she didn't have one real conversation with any guy before jumping into bed/front seats with them. You can't then go be miserable about it, that was your decision. Make better decisions!

Cass was a really sweet guy but I wasn't swooning for the guy. This book was advertised as a romance, but for me this really wasn't a romance. Cass was the nicest, sweetest, most wonderful guy... regardless of how Gwen acted toward him. I couldn't buy the romance, even with the flashbacks. I don't feel like I was ever shown that moment where Cass and Gwen fell for one another, developed feelings for one another or had a real connection. Especially in the flashbacks, where they actually began. I was just really confused by the whole thing.

I still love Huntley Fitzpatrick's writing. She gave another great insight into family dynamics and Gwen's family was one of my favourite aspects of the book. She gave me a lot of interesting characters that I wanted to get to know better. It's just a shame I didn't really feel that way about Cass or Gwen. If I am being honest with myself, I found this book really boring. My Life Next Door sucked me into the story, made me want to keep reading until 4am. But this book had the opposite effect on me, I found myself wanting to skip or skim most of it. I am so disappointed, I can't even explain it to you.

3/5 Stars

I struggled with rating this one. My Life Next Door was a 5 star favourite for me, it was hard to realise that I really didn't enjoy this all that much. I wanted to skip past parts at times. I just felt like the flashbacks made the whole thing feel disjointed and it made it hard to get into the story. I wanted to sympathise and understand Gwen as a character, but I just couldn't. I thought Cass was a sweet guy, but he was just there and didn't have any real presence for me. I'll be on the lookout for Huntley's next book and hope I do better with that one. 

Hand me My Life Next Door! I need to weep into it. 

*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.