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Truth Hurts
Having left her hometown in the Idaho mountains eight years ago after her sister's tragic death, Assistant District Attorney, Sylvianna Dunlap, returns for a memorial. Her short weekend visit is sidelined, however, when she discovers someone wants her dead.
Dealing with old heartbreak, old friends and long distant memories, Sylvie must find out who is after her before it's too late. Lucky for her, local rancher, Duncan Jamison, is more than willing to step in and help an old friend out but between stoking old relationships and trying to get back to her new life in North Carolina, Sylvie must decide who she can trust. Duncan Jamison has secrets and so does the killer. The only question is, will Sylvie and her friends be able to stop who's after her or will she become the next victim?
Dealing with old heartbreak, old friends and long distant memories, Sylvie must find out who is after her before it's too late. Lucky for her, local rancher, Duncan Jamison, is more than willing to step in and help an old friend out but between stoking old relationships and trying to get back to her new life in North Carolina, Sylvie must decide who she can trust. Duncan Jamison has secrets and so does the killer. The only question is, will Sylvie and her friends be able to stop who's after her or will she become the next victim?
360 pages, Paperback
Published March 28, 2024
4290 people want to read
About the author
A.R. O'Brien
2 books31 followersA. R O'Brien was born and raised in on a farm in the countryside of Idaho. She has since moved on to explore and experience much of the West and has more recently moved Eastward to North Carolina to expand her writing journey. Coming from a background where she was told that she wasn't allowed to be anything without a man to lead her, she has fought and clawed her way into the bright world of fiction and is happily chasing her dream of writing novels. She has since published two romantic thrillers with many more to come.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 5, 2024
Thanks to The Library Thing and the author, A. R. O'Brien for this copy of Truth Hurts. The opinions expressed are all my own.
Sylvie Dunlap has returned home to place a monument at the top of the mountain where her sister died. Her old flame, Duncan Jamison offers his help, but soon after being chased down the mountain by a storm, Sylvie is shot. Now the race is on to figure out who might be targeting Sylvie, either someone through her job as a DA that has held a grudge or one of the many men she has slept with and discarded.
I found the protagonists in Truth Hurts to be very unlikable. Neither of them shows much emotion over tragic events that occur in the story. Also, Sylvie is a serial dater and Duncan has secrets that come out of nowhere and have little to do with the main plot. Many of the things that occur in the story seem implausible, and the book itself needs lots of physical clean up in spacing and editing. Dialogue that doesn't move the story along and lots of telling vs. showing make this a tough read. While the premise had potential, overall, Truth Hurts lacks entertainment value. 1 1/2 stars
Sylvie Dunlap has returned home to place a monument at the top of the mountain where her sister died. Her old flame, Duncan Jamison offers his help, but soon after being chased down the mountain by a storm, Sylvie is shot. Now the race is on to figure out who might be targeting Sylvie, either someone through her job as a DA that has held a grudge or one of the many men she has slept with and discarded.
I found the protagonists in Truth Hurts to be very unlikable. Neither of them shows much emotion over tragic events that occur in the story. Also, Sylvie is a serial dater and Duncan has secrets that come out of nowhere and have little to do with the main plot. Many of the things that occur in the story seem implausible, and the book itself needs lots of physical clean up in spacing and editing. Dialogue that doesn't move the story along and lots of telling vs. showing make this a tough read. While the premise had potential, overall, Truth Hurts lacks entertainment value. 1 1/2 stars
May 31, 2024
After reading this author's first book and really liking it, then I saw this one pop up recently and decided to buy it. I was not disappointed! This was a great book with grabbing characters that pulled me into the story. I enjoyed it very much. I laughed, and cried... and found myself pondering the true meaning of family. Very well done!
May 10, 2024
I had a lot of fun writing this one. I enjoyed coming up with the characters and found myself smiling quite often as I played with the competitive nature of Duncan Jamison's and Nick Hanlan's odd relationship. I nearly ended it three times, but the story kept going, so I let it take me there.
July 10, 2024
An intense book with lots of twists and turns. I usually guess who did it and this time I was wrong. It was my second choice but still. 😀
If you like a mystery novel with a spicy open door love story you will enjoy this one.
If we could do partial stars I’d give it 4.25.
Definitely recommend
If you like a mystery novel with a spicy open door love story you will enjoy this one.
If we could do partial stars I’d give it 4.25.
Definitely recommend
August 5, 2024
It had a slow start but after a couple of chapters could not put down. It had it's share of twist that I didn't see coming. All an all a very good read.
September 29, 2024
1.5 stars
I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review
Truth Hurts was a romantic suspense story about Assistant District Attorney Sylvie Dunlap going back home for the first time after her sister's death eight years ago. The story gets going right away with Sylvie hiking the mountain that her sister Elaine was found dead on, with a six months investigation finding the death to be accidental. Along with Sylvie on the memorial hike, Duncan, who was Elaine's on again and off again high school boyfriend. Duncan had plans of leaving their small Idaho town too, but after Elaine died, who was also his younger sister Jackie's bestfriend, their mother dies soon after on a hiking accident. Duncan is crushed when Sylvie leaves town right after high school graduation without saying goodbye, having had a crush on her but never acted on it because he felt she was too young for him at the time. Sylvie also had a crush on Duncan but with him being her sister's ex and just wanting to escape the town, she leaves without telling him her feelings. Reunited again after eight years, they find their crushes are going stronger than ever and that their hometown isn't done trying to claim the lives of it's young women.
I found this story to need a lot of editing, there were numerous point-of-views from secondary characters that went off on tangents that I felt could have been cut for streamline purposes. The pace was slow for me and I felt like I was slogging through for the vast majority of the middle. Even with the book starting right off into the story, I felt like it wasn't really explained why Sylvie decided now was the time to come back home, it just starts with her there. This also was heavier on the romantic thread for the majority than I thought it would be, the suspense lingers around the edges but doesn't really get going until the later second half. There are no flashbacks to give readers a sense of the relationship Sylvie and Duncan had back in highschool, so when Duncan is pretty much all in for Sylvie in the beginning first half, it felt like insta-love to me; within the first thirty pages we have them kissing. What keeps them apart, and felt dragging, was Sylvie's M.O. of only sleeping with men causally, instead of having relationships with them. There's some bedroom scenes between the two and then jealousy when men from Sylvie's past keep showing up, but not a lot of emotional development between the two.
The killer gets a pov, so readers know they are around but while there are numerous red-herrings, the identity mystery is left until the later second half. I thought it was pretty easy to guess the killer but there were two other suspects that could catch other's attention. I usually like to get some insight into the villain in stories, but I felt their pov was over-the-top, went into torture porn territory for me with not for the sake of the character but gratuitous shock value. Along with the suspense thread reveal we get a Duncan reveal that I felt came out of left field and didn't make a lot of sense, how I felt about a good amount of threads in this, if things weren't meandering, they felt unneeded or not developed enough.
The later half definitely picked up the pace with Sylvie in danger and it's reveals but I'm not sure I cared enough after having to slog through the middle part. The ending kept going, giving us some role reversal with what's now keeping Sylvie and Duncan apart after the danger was over. Each added chapter just felt like dragging the story on to me and I'm not sure it made complete sense how quickly and easily it was for a character to work for the FBI, not to mention Sylvie felt mostly in name only as an A.D.A. This wasn't for me but if you're looking for a long winded, heavier on focusing on the romantic part in the first half, meanders in middle, but picks up the pace when suspense thread comes back into play, this story had decent secondary characters to wander off with for a while.
I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review
Truth Hurts was a romantic suspense story about Assistant District Attorney Sylvie Dunlap going back home for the first time after her sister's death eight years ago. The story gets going right away with Sylvie hiking the mountain that her sister Elaine was found dead on, with a six months investigation finding the death to be accidental. Along with Sylvie on the memorial hike, Duncan, who was Elaine's on again and off again high school boyfriend. Duncan had plans of leaving their small Idaho town too, but after Elaine died, who was also his younger sister Jackie's bestfriend, their mother dies soon after on a hiking accident. Duncan is crushed when Sylvie leaves town right after high school graduation without saying goodbye, having had a crush on her but never acted on it because he felt she was too young for him at the time. Sylvie also had a crush on Duncan but with him being her sister's ex and just wanting to escape the town, she leaves without telling him her feelings. Reunited again after eight years, they find their crushes are going stronger than ever and that their hometown isn't done trying to claim the lives of it's young women.
I found this story to need a lot of editing, there were numerous point-of-views from secondary characters that went off on tangents that I felt could have been cut for streamline purposes. The pace was slow for me and I felt like I was slogging through for the vast majority of the middle. Even with the book starting right off into the story, I felt like it wasn't really explained why Sylvie decided now was the time to come back home, it just starts with her there. This also was heavier on the romantic thread for the majority than I thought it would be, the suspense lingers around the edges but doesn't really get going until the later second half. There are no flashbacks to give readers a sense of the relationship Sylvie and Duncan had back in highschool, so when Duncan is pretty much all in for Sylvie in the beginning first half, it felt like insta-love to me; within the first thirty pages we have them kissing. What keeps them apart, and felt dragging, was Sylvie's M.O. of only sleeping with men causally, instead of having relationships with them. There's some bedroom scenes between the two and then jealousy when men from Sylvie's past keep showing up, but not a lot of emotional development between the two.
The killer gets a pov, so readers know they are around but while there are numerous red-herrings, the identity mystery is left until the later second half. I thought it was pretty easy to guess the killer but there were two other suspects that could catch other's attention. I usually like to get some insight into the villain in stories, but I felt their pov was over-the-top, went into torture porn territory for me with not for the sake of the character but gratuitous shock value. Along with the suspense thread reveal we get a Duncan reveal that I felt came out of left field and didn't make a lot of sense, how I felt about a good amount of threads in this, if things weren't meandering, they felt unneeded or not developed enough.
The later half definitely picked up the pace with Sylvie in danger and it's reveals but I'm not sure I cared enough after having to slog through the middle part. The ending kept going, giving us some role reversal with what's now keeping Sylvie and Duncan apart after the danger was over. Each added chapter just felt like dragging the story on to me and I'm not sure it made complete sense how quickly and easily it was for a character to work for the FBI, not to mention Sylvie felt mostly in name only as an A.D.A. This wasn't for me but if you're looking for a long winded, heavier on focusing on the romantic part in the first half, meanders in middle, but picks up the pace when suspense thread comes back into play, this story had decent secondary characters to wander off with for a while.
October 6, 2024
All in all, this was a really good read. The pacing was definitely a bit slow at some of the earlier parts, and there were some grammatical errors the editors probably could have done a better job with, but overall I loved the story, the complex interactions between characters, and the psychology of it all.
During one of the chapters near the end, I basically couldn't stop crying, even though crying isn't something I do often. There were multiple really powerful messages to be made with this book, and I'm grateful to A. R. O'Brien for standing up to convey those messages.
Also a great read if you like an unpredictable ending. I never would have seen that ending coming.
During one of the chapters near the end, I basically couldn't stop crying, even though crying isn't something I do often. There were multiple really powerful messages to be made with this book, and I'm grateful to A. R. O'Brien for standing up to convey those messages.
Also a great read if you like an unpredictable ending. I never would have seen that ending coming.
August 2, 2024
Overall, this was a very good book - had a hard time putting it down! The author grabbed my attention from the very first page and held it firmly all the way to the end. My only complaint is that the otherwise likeable main characters - Duncan & Sylvie - were spoiled a bit by their sexual preferences. What could have been a truly romantic subplot was marred, in my opinion, by sexual deviance that seemed a little extreme and, at times, not believable. That was a little disappointing, but the main murder-mystery plot was excellent! I recommend this book.
May 31, 2024
I would have given this book a five-star rating, but I wasn't the fondest of the formatting. The book itself was sooo good. It pulled me in with likeable characters and before I knew what happened I was invested entirely in whether or not Sylvie and Duncan became an item. Such a good storyline that kept me guessing all the way. I loved it! Especially how the author continued the story all the way out to show the effect of the trauma on the people involved in tragedy.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews