Review: True by Erin McCarthy

True is the first novel in New York Times best selling author Erin McCarthy's NA True Believers series, which has been available in Australia for a little while now. It is also a book that stayed on my to-read pile for a very long time and was almost culled without being read. The cull would have been for a good reason--the blurb simply did not appeal and I believe that life is too short to waste reading and reviewing books that I cannot feel some level of enthusiasm for.  A book where a naive young woman's best friends feel the urge to rescue her socially by paying a bad boy to take her virginity did not appeal to me and think the world will survive without hearing an emotional response from me on the topic, thinly disguised as an online book review. 

But for one reason or another, while I was recovering from a severe bout of the flu, I decided to pick my copy of the novel up. And, honestly, it really was not that bad. The novel itself is a sweet romance about a socially awkward (but kind) girl who meets an boy who may be from the wrong side of the tracks but still has a good heart. The pair overcome some obstacles and fall in love. The whole virginity thing plays out more like a misunderstanding from a poorly written sitcom and it plays out in a few pages and all it really does is detract from an otherwise sweet, simple and occasionally sexy plot. It is difficult for me to give this one much analysis, as there isn't much to work with, but if you want an escapist romance with young characters and lots of 'firsts' this one may be worth giving a chance. 

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