Truly, Madly, Deadly
Author: Hannah Jayne
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Release Date: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Summary:
Sawyer Dodd is a star athlete, straight-A student, and the envy of every other girl who wants to date Kevin Anderson. When Kevin dies in a tragic car crash, Sawyer is stunned. Then she opens her locker to find a note:
You’re welcome.
Someone saw what he did to her. Someone knows that Sawyer and Kevin weren’t the perfect couple they seemed to be. And that someone – a killer – is now shadowing Sawyer’s every move…
First Sentence: “Thank you for coming.”
I received an eARC through NetGalley. Thank you!
My Review:
When I first saw the summary of Truly, Madly, Deadly, I knew that the book was made/written especially for me. A book about an accident, which really turns out to be murder caused by a mysterious admirer? Sign me up! Unfortunately, even though Truly, Madly, Deadly had a beyond awesome premise that I was extremely interested and excited to read about, it sadly failed to deliver for several reasons.
First of all, there was the insta-love. You guys should know by now how I feel about insta-love right? I honestly wasn’t expecting any romance in Truly, Madly, Deadly because Sawyer’s ex-boyfriend Kevin had just died, but surprise surprise, there was romance in the book. The relationship between Sawyer and Cooper didn’t feel real and I wasn’t sold with their romance at all. They got together so quickly and got serious so quickly. Yes, no “I love yous” were exchanged from both Sawyer and Cooper, but their relationship gave off that “very serious” vibe where you can feel a “I love you” coming, even though it wasn’t put in actual words.
“Does this make me look stupid?” he said with a slight smile.
Sawyer nodded, grinning. “Stupid.” She fell into him, feeling him hesitate for a beat before wrapping his arms tightly around her. “And sexy.” (ARC 261)
And Sawyer. I didn’t really like her. That girl lacks guts. Yes, I know, she was emotionally hurt and traumatized from all the abuse her ex-boyfriend Kevin caused her (I don’t think this is really a spoiler because the goodreads summary reveals this fact), but Sawyer still has to stand up for herself and speak up for herself! She just let others bully her, takes it, and doesn’t do anything about it. Sawyer just kept it to herself. I don’t know how many times I mentally screamed at her in my mind to grow some guts and fight back. Sadly, she doesn’t change in the end, aka there was no character development.
“You – you did.”
She tried to force what happened to the forefront of her mind, but already it was slipping behind the haze of self-doubt. (ARC 44)
I had two major, major problems with Truly, Madly, Deadly, the first one being why did the killer reveal himself/herself as the one who did everything? He/she was in absolutely no danger in being found out. The whole situation revolving the killer was flabbergasting. It’s like bam, the killer reveals himself/herself as the killer for no reason, then a mini-fight, the very short aftermath, and then the end. The ending felt so abrupt and left me feeling empty and unsatisfied.
The other thing I have a major problem with is that so many things were left out because of the abrupt ending.
[HUGE] SPOILER: Where was the realization/acceptance that the killer is in fact a serial killer? (This is important to me for some reason.) When will Sawyer finally realize that she didn’t deserve her dead boyfriend’s abuse? Will people ask why the killer killed Ryan (aka will Ryan’s abuse of Sawyer be revealed?) When will everyone know that Mr. Hanson is indeed a pedophile? Where is the scene where everyone apologizes to Sawyer for misunderstanding/accusing her for things she hasn’t done?
Honestly, now that I think about it, there’s nothing I really like about Truly, Madly, Deeply except for the promising premise that didn’t live up to my (hopefully not that high) standards. The execution of the book could have been so much better and that just makes me sad.
Overall, I’m sad to say that Truly, Madly, Deadly was a disappointing read. It could have been so much better, especially with that unique and awesome premise, but it just sadly failed to deliver.
Awhhh…sorry you didn’t like it more): Great review though!
Jackie
Jackie recently posted…Summer Lovin’ Read-a-Thon Day 1: Class Orientation
Yeah, I’m really disappointed that I didn’t like it more. ):
Thanks Jackie!
Kelly recently posted…Summer Lovin’ Readathon: Day 1 – Class Orientation + Teaser Tidbits
I’m sorry this didn’t live up to your expectations! I was really looking forward to it myself, but I hate rushed endings, not to mention insta-love. Since I haven’t read it, I didn’t highlight the spoiler, but it does sound kind of stupid for a killer to reveal him/herself in that situation. I’ll still check this out, but my hopes won’t be as high. Thanks for your thoughts!
Rebecca recently posted…June Wrap-Up
The spoiler just contains things I wished was more talked about and discussed further. SO many things were left unfinished and since I doubt this would be a serious, it majorly ruins the book for me.
I hope you’ll enjoy this book a lot better than I did Rebecca! At least your hopes aren’t too high like, like mines was.
Kelly recently posted…Summer Lovin’ Readathon: Day 1 – Class Orientation + Teaser Tidbits
Kelly, I literally *just* finished this one and I have to agree with about pretty much EVERYTHING. we are twins. JUST KIDDING but I agree with you, the romance was quite insta-lovey! I don’t think the romance played THAT big of a role in the story so it didn’t bother me too much, but it was definitely there. And Sawyer was so dull for me too! She really just blocked everything out. UM, NOT HEALTHY. I thought the plot was fast-paced and thrilling, but OMG THAT ENDING. WTF. So many unanswered questions and it was way too abrupt! The reasoning behind why the killer killed.. grr. No. But anyway, very nice review, I completely agreed with you, Kelly! Sorry for both of us that it was disappointing. :/
Jen recently posted…Tie a Bow on It: June 2013 Wrap-Up
We may not be real life twins Jen, but we can be bookish twins! ;D<3
The romance bothered me quite a big because I have a thing for guys named Cooper (that IS a hot name you know :P) and the ending gave me such a HUGE insta-love vibe.
YES, what Sawyer did was SO not healthy. I wanted to shake some sense into her when she was with Mr. Hanson. You're not alone girl, there should be other girls like her which Mr. Hanson used.
That ending needs to be changed. It left me disappointed, frustrated, and sad because I REALLY wanted to like this book.
I kind of get the killer's reasoning (I watch a lot of Criminal Minds, 48 Hours, Dateline, and serial killer documentaries :P), but the killer revealing his/her own identity for no reason just KILLED me. He/she weren't even CLOSE to getting caught.
I'm sorry that this book disappointed you too Jen. Hey, at least we're not alone in our disappointment now!
Kelly recently posted…Summer Lovin’ Readathon: Day 1 – Class Orientation + Teaser Tidbits
Cool review! This book sounds scary. I didn’t read the spoiler cause I didn’t want to be spoiled! To bad the girl lacked guts; I like a kick ass girl that takes charge. ;)
Don’t worry Cali, in the end, this book isn’t that scary. It’s just a frustrating book.
Yeah, I wanted a kick ass girl, but on the other hand, that wouldn’t really make sense because a kick ass girl won’t ever cower from her boyfriend’s abuse.
Kelly recently posted…Top Ten Most Intimidating Books
How disappointing. The blurb sounds very promising. I went on and read the spoilers anyway (I don’t think I will be reading this book anytime soon) and I hate it when books have so many loose ends. I need my answers! And insta-love.. didn’t see that coming either.
Mel@thedailyprophecy recently posted…Review 171. Barbara Kyle – Blood between queens.
The many loose ends the book left me with made me feel so frustrated. I want my answers! ):
Yeah, to think a book likes this one will have insta-love. I didn’t see that one coming either.
Kelly recently posted…Top Ten Most Intimidating Books
Bummer! I have only seen one other review, though from that review and yours I wouldn’t even have guessed they were about the same book. Eh, I’ll probably skip this one. Too many great books out there waiting to be read!
I take it as that review praises Truly, Madly, Deadly a lot? :P
Kelly recently posted…Summer Lovin’ Readathon: Day 4 – Tears On My Pillow + Book Spine Poetry
It is always a bummer when a book that you are super excited for fails to deliver in almost every way. Sounds like this is just one of those books. I actually just got it from the library today. I may give it a go since it is a super short read, but I don’t know yet. Going to have to wait and see, I suppose!
I know! D:
And I hope you enjoyed it more than I did Jaime! Let me know what you think.
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [41]
Now that I have read the book, I must let you know that…. just ugh. It was not at all the awesome book that I was hoping for. It had its points, but for the most part it was honestly nothing special. Very disappointing. Still a huge fan of the cover, though!
Too bad if it is disappointing, well, i was caught with the title at first, then my interest grew bigger after reading the summary, but then… you bring me down with your review! Kkk, no, just kidding sis;)) i always respect you because of your amazing reviews and… of course your giveaway, love you kkk^^
—Elee
Yeah, the title and the summary caught my attention asap, but then the actual book sadly disappointed me. ):
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – April Genevieve Tucholke
Too bad this book disappointed you =( I didn’t read it yet, but the premise is interesting and I already had put it on my tbr list =/ Oh well, maybe one day i’ll to read this.
great review ;)
Yeah, sadly Truly Madly Deadly did not meet my expectations of that awesome premise. :l
I hope you’ll enjoy this one more than I did when you get your hands on it Kassi! :D
And thanks! (:
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [53]
This sounded really great at first but after reading your review, I’ll pass. It’s too bad because I think the basic story is really different and it could have been really good!
I know! The premise of Truly, Madly, Deadly sounded BEYOND awesome. Overall, I was really disappointed with how the author executed her wonderful idea. :l
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [57]
Okay, I’m definitely sure that I’ve never heard about Truly, Madly, Deadly before. The title definitely caught my attention. At first while reading the summary I thought the book was about a guy because the girl’s name is Sawyer which is different. But it’s still interesting. But I’m still stunned that I’ve never heard about this book before, especially when it just came out a few months ago. Either I was living under a rock then or not too many bloggers blogged about this book. I’m glad you did though because now I feel like checking it out :D