True Love by Melissa Pearl

Synopsis:
One night can change everything…

Nessa Sloan has been in love with Jimmy Baker since the ninth grade when they started up a rock band together. Five years later they’re about to hit the big time—Chaos wins a recording contract and nation-wide tour with Torrence Records. After their celebration party, the two best friends have a one-night stand that will tear their relationship apart.

On the run from Jimmy’s rejection, Nessa takes off on her motorbike, but an accident brings her escape to a tragic end. Now trapped in a broken body, Nessa has to face a future stripped of the one thing that’s gotten her through every past challenge—playing the drums.

Jimmy never meant to break his best friend’s heart, and he will forever regret taking her to bed then treating her like one of his groupies. But once he’d crossed that line, he couldn’t go back. Now Jimmy is on a mission to do something he’s never done before—win a girl over.

Angry and confused by her new disability, Nessa doesn’t want Jimmy’s help. But she has nobody else to rely on…and his pigheaded ass won’t leave her alone. Can these two stubborn hearts get past their own insecurities to figure out what true love really looks like? Or will they drive each other crazy before they finally see the truth?

It’s infuriating, irresistible, and all-consuming…it’s true love.

Find it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26803990-true-love
Order it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1HZdCPV

My Review:
3.5 stars — I received a copy of this ebook through netgalley!

Full disclosure: I’ve only read the first book in this series (and quite awhile ago too) and then skipped to this book, so not sure if there was any additional backstory behind Nessa and Jimmy in those books, though I don’t get the impression there was (except maybe a cameo of Nessa in Home?).

I did feel like I was missing something when I first started this book…like I wanted a bit of Jimmy and Nessa’s past at the beginning so I could feel how they were together….  We did get some flashbacks throughout the book, but they were mostly of Nessa’s past with Rosie and her mother, not as much with how Jimmy and Nessa came to be friends…  Maybe I’m just greedy, but I would have loved to have just a little bit of that story, how they met, that kind of thing.  So basically it felt like we were thrust right into the story at the beginning, and I kept thinking “but how did we get here?”  I’m not sure I appreciated that we didn’t learn about what happened on that night or the aftermath until a bit later in the book….and even then we only got certain snapshots.  It made it harder to get a feel for them as a couple and even as characters…or at least it felt that way for me.

Despite the slow start, I did come to feel for both of our characters.  They were each struggling with the aftermath of the accident, and the choices they made that led up to that, and how that affected their future.  And once I got a feel for their chemistry together, I really did feel it.  It just took a bit to get to that point for me.

The story isn’t just about Nessa struggling to deal with her new circumstances wrt her hand….there was a lot of damage done to her from her childhood.  My heart ached for so much of what Nessa was going through.  There were some amazingly heart wrenching scenes in this book that got me in the feels.  The ending felt a bit rushed to me…it wouldn’t have normally, but she was just so stuck in her thought processes, that it was hard to believe that she could get out of it so quickly….but maybe that was just me.  I wanted to see little breakthroughs here and there to prepare for the final breakthrough.  But then again, now I’m sitting here thinking about it and there were some small breakthroughs, so maybe I’m just on crack.

It almost felt like Jimmy’s story really fell to the side and Nessa’s story was the main focus.  I liked him as a character, but I almost wanted a bit more.

Really loved the rest of the band members…mostly Ralphie and Jace (which surprised me).  They added some much needed humour and heart.

I know this seems like a negative review, but it really was an enjoyable story.  I love the way Ms. Pearl writes.  I just wasn’t as enamoured as I’d expected myself to be, and this review it me trying to figure out why.  Sometimes I think I’m harder on authors I love than on others…