Tennessee Truths by Ashley Munoz

He was a liar.

I was a coward.

At age fourteen the boy who wrote me secret notes stole my heart.

The cunning thief that he was, he had convinced me we were soul mates.

Or so I thought.

At eighteen he shattered my heart.

I didn’t know that kind of pain existed and I didn’t stick around for anyone to witness it.

Five years after running away, I’m returning home as a married woman.

Nothing much has changed, including the fact that the boy I once loved, is still here.

Only now he’s a man who owns a mechanic shop and shows up everywhere I don’t want him to.

He won’t stop saying the rudest things imaginable.

Every barb tears through me, like a whip, and in turn, I say the most horrible things right back.

I hate it.

I hate him.

All I want is to lay low and lick my wounds in private.

But in small-town Tennessee, there isn’t much that stays private.

Including the lie, he’s clung to and the secret I’m hiding.

This book is a complete standalone, while it is angsty, there is no cheating.

My Review

Faith is a small-town girl in middle school at the start of this story, dealing with emotions and hormonal teenage changes while battling the school golden boy and his bullying tendencies. But she has a secret that keeps her hopes and dreams alive. She is also in love with the idea of reckless true love. A girl after my own heart with her love of storms. 

Jace is the golden boy with blue eyes, dark clothing, and a scrappy attitude. He seems to take advantage of Faith being a bully to her. He has some Knight in shining armor tendencies, but I still needed to figure him out. Oh, now it starts to make more sense. 

We jump forward quite a few years from middle school to young adult. Then we jump to the end of college, and Faith and Jace are in midlife. Lots of time jumps in this story, and we are just starting chapter 1.

Faith’s life has taken a turn, and her free mind and strength vanished, leaving behind a shell of women. She is making the right choice, leaving the abusive billionaire husband. Her first meeting with her high school sweetheart doesn’t go as planned. I don’t know where this dramatic story is going. 

This story gets emotional as it gets angsty, and the past is brought up. Their past is a mess of potholes and mistakes, but they are both broken people now. Faith and Jace seem to go from love to hate to friendship and back again. This book is a rollercoaster with so many lies, emotional issues, and drama getting in the way of the genuinely epic love Faith and Jace have for each other. Eventually, it finally works out, but in the meantime, it will have you feeling flustered and angsty, and moments of love to anger at the characters. Overall, this was an emotional read about midlife characters, first love, and finding yourself amidst drama and bad choices. 

If you want to read Tennessee Truths by Ashley Munoz, you can find this book on Amazon. As an Amazon Assocaite, I earn on qualifying purchases.

If you like this book, you may also enjoy books with these tags and categories: Small Town, Enemies to Lovers, and Damaged Mc.