Swear on this Life by Renee Carlino

From USA TODAY bestselling author Renée Carlino (Before We Were Strangers), a warm and witty novel about a struggling writer who must come to grips with her past, present, and future after she discovers that she’s the inspiration for a pseudonymously published bestselling novel.

When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J. Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.

Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.

That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.

The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?

5 STAR REVIEW by Jeanine:

I LOVED this story. What a childhood Emiline and Jase had. Saying they had it rough is putting it mildly. I was completely heart broken reading about what they went through and what Jase did to make sure Em was safe even if it meant not being together. Now that's love. I couldn't help but feel bad for Trevor. He was going through his own struggles and I think with Em's childhood issues and going through so much she just didn't notice it.

When she was reading the book I could not wait to see what was in the last chapter and I couldn't have been more happy with the way it went. 

I highly recommend this one! I don't want to give anything away, so I'll stop there, but it was amazing, heartbreaking, beautiful, well written, captivating, addictive... I could go on. This is an easy five stars from me and if give it more if I could.