Review: True to You by Becky Wade

In my little corner of the book blogging world, I saw several gushing reviews that touted the authenticity and adorableness of Becky Wade’s new release, True to You. When your #bookbesties ALL say it’s amazing, you read it at the earliest convenience. Well, as I expected, they were completely right!

After a devastating heartbreak three years ago, genealogist and historical village owner Nora Bradford has decided that burying her nose in her work and her books is far safer than romance in the here and now.

Unlike Nora, former Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient John Lawson is a modern-day man, usually 100 percent focused on the present. But when he’s diagnosed with an inherited condition, he’s forced to dig into the secrets of his past and his adoption as an infant, enlisting Nora to help him uncover the identity of his birth mother.

The more time they spend together, the more this pair of opposites suspects they just might be a perfect match. However, John’s already dating someone and Nora’s not sure she’s ready to trade her crushes on fictional heroes for the risks of a real relationship. Finding the answers they’re seeking will test the limits of their identity, their faith, and their devotion to one another.

 

Attempting to put the beauty and fun of this book into words is close to impossible. It’s the kind of story that leaves you speechless in the happiest of ways.

Allow me to go all nerdy for a mintue…. this is kind of like #bookception. Nora is the ultimate nerdy bookish heroine: she works as a genealogist/librarian and caretaker of a village (!), bookshelves overflowing, a TBR list a mile high, a BBC drama and tea enthusiast. The ultimate opposites-attract situation plays out with John Lawson. A real-life hero as opposed to Nora’s typical book boyfriends, he rocks her world with his serious and quiet demeanor, heroic “Navy SEAL-type stuff” experience, and underlying EMOTIONS. Whew! Basically, John is classic book boyfriend material. But real life material for Nora. But still a fictional book boyfriend for we readers. Hehehe 🙂

One more quick note on these two! Nora is at once shy and confident, able to conduct herself with grace at all times. And her vocabulary is wonderful and smile-inducing! 🙂 John, well,…… I’d make peach cobbler ❤ with him any time ;).

Beneath the lovable quirks and humor found in these pages is a deeper story of growth, of finding identity in Christ, of His sufficiency and plan being greater — and sometimes far different — than we can imagine. Both Nora and John might have different backgrounds and insecurities, but their stories intersect with a beautiful and heartwrenching complexity.

Becky Wade’s skill in storytelling is obvious in the manner in which True to You unfolds. It begins with experiencing the everyday life of both Nora and John in a get-to-know them, fun, and humorous (Nora) way. As the story gets deeper and moves beyond the surface of these characters, the emotional stuff hits you out of left field as you begin to see the heart-longings of Nora and the protectiveness of John. It’s a most beautiful journey that made me laugh and cry with its poignancy. With the strong establishment of Nora’s sister in this book, I’m looking forward to more of this lovable family in the rest of the series!

True to You is book 1 in the Bradford Sisters Romance series. Check out my review of the (free) prequel ebook, Then Came You, here!