Review: True Love Way

True Love Way by Nancy Scrofano

Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 350
Published: April 20, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Fig
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit

My Rating: 4.5/5

Summary (from amazon.ca):

Marlo Spencer relishes all things retro. Old TV shows, classic movies, and even the collectible lunch boxes to go with them. In fact, she's quite cozy in her Malibu apartment, surrounded by her treasured knick-knacks and vintage memorabilia. It's her best friend, Nik, who doesn't get her fascination with all that "old junk," as he calls it. He especially doesn't understand why she's so keen to get back to their hometown of Napa when her high school sweetheart, Josh, suddenly returns after twelve years in Paris and nary a single phone call, eager to reunite with her.

So, when Marlo heads up north to wine country to rekindle her relationship with Josh, Nik tags along, claiming he was already planning to visit his sister, Savannah, Marlo's gal pal. Once they reach Napa, however, dreams of a blissful reunion are shattered as old secrets and past betrayals are revealed, leaving an unsuspecting Marlo to pick up the pieces. Can she forgive and forget, or will true love find a different path to her heart?

Review:

**NOTE: This book was provided by the publisher.  However, no compensations were made and this review reflects my honest thoughts and feelings.**

I don't normally start my reviews with a disclaimer but I want to do that with this one.  When I first received True Love Way, I went from looking forward to reading it to 'Meh'.  Why?  The cover.  I am not a fan of books with covers that look like a drawing and to be honest, I would have never picked this up.  That being said, the story inside was simply wonderful and I want to make sure that no one falls into the same trap that I always do... judging books by their covers.

As I said, True Love Way is a wonderful, fun, romantic story that flows so beautifully from the pages that you can't help but feel your heart swell as the story continues.  I fell in love with the main character, Marlo (or Gidge) because she seemed like someone who isn't afraid to be herself.  An obsession with old movie/TV memorabilia sets her apart from so many characters in similar books and I know that seems weird but it was a quirk that I have never come across before and I thoroughly enjoyed how it added to so many situations within the story. 

The supporting characters were all so well developed that I could have honestly seen them each as the main character of their own books.  Nik (or Phoenix) has to be my favourite and as his character/role in the story became more clear, I was totally routing for him to be the leading man.  Josh, while devoted to Marlo, seemed to have his own agenda and yet was so endearing.  It was really hard to find a character that I disliked throughout the entire novel.

As for storyline... it was your typical light romance novel and yet there were moments that I was tense with anticipation.  There were also times that I was so mad/sad/happy at/for Marlo that I felt like I needed to put the book down or risk shouting at her through the pages.  Nancy Scrofano has a brilliant way of engaging the readers and making them constantly wonder what would happen next.

Overall, True Love Way is an amazing debut novel and I will definitely be keeping Nancy on my must-watch list for a long time to come.