Forever Obsession: The Truth About Jack

ISBN: 9781633752085
Pages: ?
Source: Entangled Crush

Publication Date: April 14, 2015

Appearance:

Summary:

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.

Hello everyone! Welcome to my review for the Truth About Jack by Jody Gehrman. Sorry it's going up a bit later than expected but this week was literally a nightmare...I can count the number of hours of sleep I got every day on one hand and let's just say I'm a walking zombie. Anyway, let's get into my thoughts~

The Truth About Jack follows Dakota McCloud and her message in a bottle. After finding out that her best friend and boyfriend have hooked up in the East Coast while she's finishing high school in California, she pours out her feelings in a letter and throws in into the ocean. She expected to never get a response, but her message gets swept back in the next tide right into the hands of Jack Sauvage. Jack's life is the completely opposite from Dakota's; raised the son of a rich winery owner and with plans to attend Juillard in the upcoming fall, he has nothing in common with her. But when he first sees her in the coffee shop, he finds a connection with her and vows to find out more. The letter washing up at his feet on the beach is pure luck and he decides to write back, but not as Jack Sauvage.

Reviewing this book is turning out to be harder than I expected. There were so many factors in this book that made it enjoyable I can't put them all into words. Let's start off with the premise of the romance. Jack writes back to Dakoraa under the pen name of Alejandro, a traveling soul from Barcelona, Spain the very place Dakota wants to visit. I knew just from that very plot line that there was going to be some drama going on especially when Jack finally reveals his true identity, but when that climax came, I found myself a bit hanging. Don't get me wrong, I did feel a punch in the gut when Dakota finds out, but I expected to feel a bit more. However, the writing and creation of the relationships between the characters was very solid and well written.

Okay moving on to characters, Dakota is pretty dang awesome. She's snarky, fun, and easy to relate to. When she first discovers the betrayal you can almost feel it ripping through your heart as if it was happening to you. Hopefully it never does, but you get my point. Throughout the book she constantly put on a tough mask to hide the insecurity that she feels, but she still continues to grow stronger. I guess her testing point of the story could be when she finds out that Jack is Alejandro but I think it's really when her boyfriend shows up at her yurt and tries to win him back. She finds that while lying is one of the biggest sins out there, there is a difference between Jack's lie and Cody's lie.

To be honest, I don't know if I should be creeped out by Jack or to be won over by him. He's a successful pianist and a bit awkward if you ask me. When he first sees Dakota, he decides to follow her to the beach and watches her while she throws her letter into the ocean. Now that's a bit stalkerish if you me. However, he does have some redeeming qualities such as his gentle nature and how he truly cares about Dakota's passions and listens to her. His fake persona, Alejandro, was a creation of who he thought Dakota would want, but he ends up finding out that he's fine just the way he is.

I want to quickly mention Atila who is Jack's chauffeur because he's literally hilarious and one of the best characters out there. He becomes this "dad" figure for Jack, guiding him as Jack tries to navigate his emotions about Dakota and their relationship grows from being strictly professional to one of friendship. There's also River who was Dakota's best friend. I wanted to sympathize for her even just a tiny bit but I ended not being able to. She's sorry that she broke Dakota's relationship, but she even more sad that Cody still loves Dakota not her. Talk about being a terrible friend...

Overall, the story was a cute and enjoyable read. While I did wish there was more umph and push to the ending and Dakota made Jack beg just a little more, I still thought it ended on a pretty magical note~