The Truth About Heartbreak by B. Celeste
Genre: NA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book): Forbidden Romance - Check.
Cheating - Check.
Brother's Best Friend - Check.
Angst - Check.
I fell in love with him when I was thirteen years old.
He was older, mysterious, and unattainable. The guy I could never touch.
Then one night changed everything for us. But there was one huge problem.
He belonged to her.
MY OPINION: ****
I've been going through a to-read list of books surrounding the same tropes of forbidden love, brother's-best-friend, love-triangle romance novels, mainly because they're easy to read, fast, and usually quite cute. However, I would not categorize this book as "cute" in any capacity and instead it was much more serious and intense than I was expecting it to be. While it wasn't my favorite book ever, there were a lot of things that I did end up enjoying about it.
The story follows River and Everett, who are four years apart and meet when she is thirteen and he is seventeen. Obviously (thankfully) the relationship does not begin here because that's obviously wrong and would be illegal once he turned eighteen but I liked seeing the caring and loving friendship the two develop. There are a few "crush" feelings but it's not a love or anything like that and neither of them act on it at this point so I wouldn't say that this book is forbidden like some people keep saying it was because of the age gap.
River does try to act on her feelings when she is sixteen and he's nineteen/twenty but he wisely and thankfully declines her, which I loved and respected because I was afraid the book was going to take a dark turn that would have caused me to genuinely quit reading it. The two don't really start a romantic relationship until they are somewhere in their twenties, which I definitely loved.
However, the forbidden aspect is mostly portrayed in the fact that Everett has a long-term girlfriend that he has been with for ten(?) years since high school. I think that the relationship between Everett and Isabel was toxic and fairly manipulative but I do not think this condones the cheating that Everett does with River. Cheating is never okay, no matter how poorly your current relationship is going and while I think the book handled it well towards the end, the cheating aspect was never fully resolved. I wish Everett had found the courage to break up with Isabel before getting with River because nobody deserves to be cheated on, no matter how bad of a person they are.
River has grown up in the foster care system and meets Everett once she is permanently adopted by an amazingly wonderful family. Everett is her new brother's best friend and both of them are particularly good at helping her cope with the sudden change, being brought to a nice family that is without abuse or toxicity, and dealing with men. River's entire body is covered with scars and these have taken a toll on her mentally, giving her trust issues and a shy persona but I loved how Everett slowly helped to break her out of her shell.
Some parts of the plot gave me very Wattpad-esque vibes because of how outlandish and sometimes ridiculous they were. There were so many twists and turns that sometimes it felt like the author had too many ideas that she had tried to incorporate in a cohesive way that only made it more complicated and convoluted. However, I did love the author's writing style in this book because it was very professional and beautifully-written and wonderful for a first-time (?) writer.
I do think that the evolution of River's and Everett's relationship was beautifully illustrated throughout this book. They start as friends, with slight feelings that neither can act on, evolve into something a bit more, though Everett still has a girlfriend, and ultimately submit to the chemistry that has been brewing for the entirety of the book. While the book is lengthy, it does a great job of covering a fairly long expanse of time in an organized and effective fashion that was distinctly different from each other; thirteen-year-old River thankfully felt nothing like twenty-three-year old River and I liked the fact that I could tell when they were older even if the time jump hadn't been clearly stated.
I will NOT be reading the second book, no matter how much I liked this book, because the age gap in the second one is just too much for me and does not sound appealing in the slightest.
Overall, I would recommend this book to readers looking for a wild, heartbreaking, forbidden, intense romance novel!
Main Character: River, Everett
Sidekick(s): Oliver, family, friends, etc
Villain(s): Isabel, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.
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