Blog Tour And Review: The Truth About Jack by Jody Gehrman

The Truth About Jack by Jody Gehrman

The Truth About Jack

Release Date: 04/14/15

Publisher:Entangled Crush

Summary from Goodreads:

Dakota McCloud has just been accepted into a prestigious art school. Soon she'll leave behind the artists' colony where she grew up―hippie dad, tofu since birth, yurt―and join her boyfriend and best friend on the East Coast. It was the plan…until Dakota finds out her boyfriend and best friend hooked up behind her back.

Hurt and viciously betrayed, Dakota pours out her heart on a piece of paper, places it in a bottle, and hurls it into the ocean. But it doesn't quite go where she expects…

Jack Sauvage finds the bottle washed up on the shore and responds to Dakota's letter. Except what if his straight-laced life doesn’t jive with the free-spirited girl he’s only seen from afar? As Jack creates a persona he believes she’ll love, they slowly fall for each other with each new letter. Now Jack is trying to find a way to make this delicate, on-paper romance happen in real life…without revealing his deception.

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Rating:4 stars

Review:

I've read Jody Gehrman's books before and I had loved Babe in Boyland.So naturally I jumped at the chance to review her new book The Truth About Jack, which had such an interesting premise.

I really liked this book.It had the perfect mix of cuteness,romance and real life.The book starts with the protagonist Dakota, who lives in a hippy artists' colony, discovering that she has been accepted into RISD.She is very ecstatic, but soon she reads an email sent by her BFF that she and Dakota's boyfriend had gotten together.She feels very hurt and betrayed and starts questioning her choice to study in RISD.

Meanwhile our other protagonist Jack, who is a home-schooled music prodigy, is once again denied the chance to drive a car by his overprotective mom.He goes out for a drive with his chauffeur intending to find beauty, when he sees Dakota at the cafe.He is immediately attracted to her but is too shy to make a move.Soon they both end up at the same beach as a coincidence.Dakota in her anger and sadness,writes out a letter, puts it into a bottle and tosses it into the sea.Then she leaves.But due to the tide the bottle washes back on the shore and Jack finds it.He is captivated as he reads the letter.

He is unable to bring himself to approach Dakota in real life so he pens a response to her letter under the fake name Alejandro Torres and sends it to her.Then they begin to form a relationship through letters but Jack begins to feel increasingly bad about his deception.

I loved the characters of Jack and Dakota.They were incredibly fleshed out with very interesting backstories that made them the way they were.Even the supporting characters of Anya,Dakota's dad,Emily,Attila,Joaquin,etc were very good.All the characters in the story were mature.Though, I could understand Jack's motivations for the deception, I wished he had gathered up his courage and approached her.I think I liked Jack's character more than Dakota's.

Though I could feel Dakota's anger,hurt and betrayal, I still felt that it was a foolish move to give up RISD just because her boyfriend and BBF would also be present there.But still I could relate to her wish to see and discover the world before embarking into college life.The ending was really sweet and I loved Jack's gesture.It was the most brilliant thing to do.I also loved the fact that Dakota forgiving Jack wasn't dragged out like in other books.

So if you're looking for a book with the perfect mix of a sweet romance,characters facing dilemmas and the trademark Jody Gehrman humor, I urge you to pick this one up.

About the Author

Jody Gehrman is a native of Northern California, where she can be found writing, teaching, reading, or obsessing over her three cats most days. She is also the author of ten novels and numerous award-winning plays. Her Young Adult novels include The Truth About Jack, Audrey's Guide to Black Magic, Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft, Babe in Boyland, Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty, and Triple Shot Bettys in Love. Babe in Boyland was optioned by the Disney Channel and won the International Reading Association's Teen Choice Award. Her adult novels are Bombshell, Notes from the Backseat, Tart, and Summer in the Land of Skin. Her plays have been produced in Ashland, New York, San Francisco, Chicago and L.A. She and her partner David Wolf won the New Generation Playwrights Award for their one-act, Jake Savage, Jungle P.I. She is a professor of English and Communication Studies at Mendocino College.

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