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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2020
A few months back I read the first installment of Kennedy Fox’s Roommate Duets Series, “Baby Mine” and “Baby Yours” and couldn’t put them down. Hunter and Lennon’s story was so emotionally charged, so complex and full of turmoil it ripped through my soul like a lightning bolt. As a result, my expectations for Mason and Sophie’s story were huge! And, for the most part, “Truly Mine”, the first book in Fox’s second duet pairing of the series delivers as I had so hoped it would.
Beginning almost immediately where “Baby Yours” ends, here you are once again reminded of the abusive horrors Sophie has endured at the hands of Weston. A saga threaded throughout the ending chapters of Hunter and Lennon’s story. You are immediately launched into the very first moments after Weston and Sophie arrive at the reception where all the friends including, Hunter, Liam, Mason, Lennon, and Maddie have gathered in celebration of Hunter’s brother’s wedding. A celebration where you are horrifically plunged headlong into the bloodshed that culminates. What follows is a kaleidoscope of events so emotionally complex, so saturated in doubt, self-loathing, and fear, so tainted by desperation, and overflowing with heartache that once it begins you will be unable to put the book down until it ends.
However, unlike the series books before it, this one requires patience as it is plotted at a much slower pace for the first twenty-two chapters.
It is a pace so methodical, almost purposefully maddening, that it creates a dark, anxiety inducing tone that at times, will have you putting the book down to look away and compare notes from earlier chapters, and the earlier books. And while I understood and appreciated the reasoning for creating a more foreboding undercurrent to this book because of the very serious themes of physical, verbal, and mental abuse portrayed within. The undercurrent and pacing also made it difficult for me to connect fully to the growing bond between Mason and Sophie until the very end. It is a delicate balance of flashback and present day that gets a bit murky at times and takes away from the deeply layered characters within. And while I also thoroughly appreciated the alternate viewpoints of the events surrounding Brandon’s death and how this cataclysmic event affects the friend group overall. I wished Mason and Sophie were afforded the same character depth as Hunter and Lennon were, and that they were cemented more firmly within the literary fabric of this intimate “family is what you make it” story world.
So many things within the first twenty chapters pertaining to their backstory are overshadowed by the events of the first few pages; it was hard for me to appreciate some of the more light-hearted moments, witty banter, simmering flashes, and profound personal revelations occurring between them both, as well as, absorb and appreciate the backstory belonging solely to Mason. A story I found to be equal in importance as Sophie’s. A story many, many readers will identify with and gasp in emotional turmoil over.
Despite my dislike for the disconnected pacing, this book remains a courageously written emotional landscape. It is a story containing a deeply personal, torturous journey for both the lead protagonists, a journey that was as deeply affecting as it was realistically and truthfully told. And once again, the duo that is Kennedy Fox creates a breathtaking story about how tiny moments in time can so profoundly alter one’s life path. A story about how seemingly simple, even innocent decisions can alter the very structure of your heart and soul. And how the people, places, and things involved with these decisions can alter the very fabric of your world in such ways that unforeseen actions are placed into the ether you are powerless to prevent. Such as the events at the end of this book; irrevocably life altering events that Mason and Sophie are powerless to stop, events that will have you so on edge you will immediately reach for book two before this book is even closed…
Beginning almost immediately where “Baby Yours” ends, here you are once again reminded of the abusive horrors Sophie has endured at the hands of Weston. A saga threaded throughout the ending chapters of Hunter and Lennon’s story. You are immediately launched into the very first moments after Weston and Sophie arrive at the reception where all the friends including, Hunter, Liam, Mason, Lennon, and Maddie have gathered in celebration of Hunter’s brother’s wedding. A celebration where you are horrifically plunged headlong into the bloodshed that culminates. What follows is a kaleidoscope of events so emotionally complex, so saturated in doubt, self-loathing, and fear, so tainted by desperation, and overflowing with heartache that once it begins you will be unable to put the book down until it ends.
However, unlike the series books before it, this one requires patience as it is plotted at a much slower pace for the first twenty-two chapters.
It is a pace so methodical, almost purposefully maddening, that it creates a dark, anxiety inducing tone that at times, will have you putting the book down to look away and compare notes from earlier chapters, and the earlier books. And while I understood and appreciated the reasoning for creating a more foreboding undercurrent to this book because of the very serious themes of physical, verbal, and mental abuse portrayed within. The undercurrent and pacing also made it difficult for me to connect fully to the growing bond between Mason and Sophie until the very end. It is a delicate balance of flashback and present day that gets a bit murky at times and takes away from the deeply layered characters within. And while I also thoroughly appreciated the alternate viewpoints of the events surrounding Brandon’s death and how this cataclysmic event affects the friend group overall. I wished Mason and Sophie were afforded the same character depth as Hunter and Lennon were, and that they were cemented more firmly within the literary fabric of this intimate “family is what you make it” story world.
So many things within the first twenty chapters pertaining to their backstory are overshadowed by the events of the first few pages; it was hard for me to appreciate some of the more light-hearted moments, witty banter, simmering flashes, and profound personal revelations occurring between them both, as well as, absorb and appreciate the backstory belonging solely to Mason. A story I found to be equal in importance as Sophie’s. A story many, many readers will identify with and gasp in emotional turmoil over.
Despite my dislike for the disconnected pacing, this book remains a courageously written emotional landscape. It is a story containing a deeply personal, torturous journey for both the lead protagonists, a journey that was as deeply affecting as it was realistically and truthfully told. And once again, the duo that is Kennedy Fox creates a breathtaking story about how tiny moments in time can so profoundly alter one’s life path. A story about how seemingly simple, even innocent decisions can alter the very structure of your heart and soul. And how the people, places, and things involved with these decisions can alter the very fabric of your world in such ways that unforeseen actions are placed into the ether you are powerless to prevent. Such as the events at the end of this book; irrevocably life altering events that Mason and Sophie are powerless to stop, events that will have you so on edge you will immediately reach for book two before this book is even closed…
