Swear On This Life: Synopsis
When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.
Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.
That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.
The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?
Swear On This Life: First Sentence
In class we say That’s too on the nose when someone has written a story or scene where exactly what you think should happen does happen.
Swear On This Life: My Opinion
You all know that I am always on the hunt for sweet love stories. So, when I went to Seattle and to Barnes and Nobel, I knew I just had to come out with a lovely, heart warming feel-good story. A story which isn’t hard to read, in which I can dive into, forget the world around me and fall in love with the characters and the storyline.
Well, I basically just reviewed Swear On This Life by Renée Carlino in one sentence but let me give you some more details.
I heard about Renée Carlino before and I always wanted to get Wish You Were Here but I couldn’t find it in any bookstore around me, so I set this wish aside and concentrated on the other books on my tbr. Then, when I was in the Romance section in Barnes and Nobel, I saw it and instantly knew that no-one in this world would be able to persuade me not to buy this beauty (like, beauty literally…have you seen the cover?!). Next the Wish You Were Here was, of course, Swear On This Life and after I read its synopsis I was in love and well at this point I knew I would be go out of this bookstore with two Renée Carlinos.
Long random story, I know. Sorry, guys. But now, onto my actual review.
Swear On This Life reminded me a lot of Colleen Hoover writings who, as you know, I am a big fan of. I loved that it was an easy, fast read and I didn’t have to think too much. I was able to just read and enjoy and guys, I haven’t been feeling like this for a very long time.
To be honest, even though I really liked the storyline, I wasn’t a big fan of the main character Emiline. Of course, she went through a lot in her childhood but for my taste she was too far away. Like, you know sometimes when you read a book, you instantly feel connected to the characters and I didn’t feel any connection to Emiline at all. Actually, I liked her more as the character Jase created for his book.
Jase is, of course, the typical male character. Good looking and cute with a lot of charm but again, I didn’t feel any connection. I liked him so much more as Jackson in his own writings. He behaved so strange and absent and I just don’t know why. Something was missing. The characters weren’t fully developed, I feel like.
Still, they fit perfectly into the story and I loved loved loved the storyline but I expected more of the characters.
Swear On This Life: Summary
Swear on this Life was definitely the perfect read to get me fully out of my reading slump. It was an easy read, it had an interesting storyline and the characters were fine too. So, I would definitely recommend it to everyone who is looking for a quick read, a cute love story and a feel-good book. Because, that is exactly what Swear on this Life by Renée Carlino was for me.
Swear On This Life Rating: 4/5 ★
Find all details about Swear On This Life on Goodreads.
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