Review: Truly, Madly, Deeply

I think Truly, Madly, Deeply is my favourite Alexandria Bellefleur book to date. I said what I said! I’ve been reading her books since she published Written in the Stars in 2020 and her latest is the fifth I’ve read. It was just…everything I needed. Swoony, emotional, steamy (my lord, was it every steamy). Just wonderful.

Here’s the book’s description:

As a bestselling romance novelist, everyone thinks Truly Livingston is an expert on happily-ever-afters. She’s even signed on to record a podcast sharing relationship advice. Little do they know she feels like an imposter—her parents just announced they’re separating, she caught her fiancé cheating, and her entire view on love has been shaken to the core. Truly hopes the podcast will distract her... until she meets her cohost.
Her first impression of Colin McCory is...hot. But then he opens his extremely kissable mouth. Colin’s view on love just pisses Truly off, even if he does have an annoyingly attractive face. Bickering with a cynical divorce lawyer is the last thing she needs—so she walks out, with no plans to return.
A few days later, Truly is surprised when Colin tracks her down, asking for a fresh start. Truly can’t deny the little thrill she gets from Colin begging, so she reluctantly agrees. As they go from enemies to friends to something else entirely, Truly discovers they have more in common than she ever imagined, including their shared queerness. He’s a genuinely good guy—charming, sweet, and equally as unlucky in love as herself—and there’s something about Colin that drives Truly a little wild. When their attraction reaches a fever pitch, Truly is happy for the first time in years. Yet she can’t help but wonder... is Colin truly, madly, deeply in love with her? Or is it all too good to be true?

I don’t love the enemies-to-lovers trope. Too often I find that the characters clearly hate each other or the “hate” is something stupid or non-existent. And some might find this amusing when they know I love Pride and Prejudice, possibly the first ever enemies-to-lovers romance novel. But what I like about P&P is that Elizabeth and Darcy get off on the wrong foot but they are, after a time, willing to concede that they were too proud and prejudiced and finally see the other as a romantic prospect. I found the same happened in this book. Truly and Colin didn’t really hate each other (even though she tells her mom she absolutely does). They just get off on the wrong foot and then needle each other at subsequent meetings. But they can tell there’s something there and after *gasp* communicating with each other, they realize assumptions were made and maybe, just maybe, they might be good together.

Some of Truly’s behaviour was a little juvenile and hard to get past but that’s getting a little nitpicky. I wish she hadn’t pulled a Parent Trap on her parents (it’s their relationship and has nothing to do with her and I felt she was too smart to not understand that). And I hated her ex and that she thought it was OK to be with just a trash human. If there were no conflict, there would be no story, I get that, but I don’t know if she really would have been ready to move on to an emotionally healthy relationship when she had just been in a toxic one.

I don’t often declare book boyfriends in part because 1. I read a ton of romance novels and 2. I’m just not often drawn that much to the love interests in the way other readers are. But Colin? Yeah, that man is my new book boyfriend. He was smart, sweet, caring, and funny, among other attributes. He also really, truly cared about Truly. And I know that all other romances have characters who care about each other, that’s kind of the whole point, but Bellefleur took it to another level and it was extremely attractive.

Speaking of romance…I mentioned this book was steamy. Folks, this is so beyond NSFW that it can’t even see work in the rearview mirror. And I mean that in the best possible way. The sex scenes weren’t overly numerous nor were they gratuitous. They were well placed and made a whole lot of sense from a plot perspective. They were very well done and very hot. 

There’s also an excellent scene when Truly and Colin are discussing sexual identities that reminded me a lot of the Schitt’s Creek scene when David says he likes the wine but not the label. Like Bellefleur herself, both Truly and Colin are bi which I think is a pretty important thing to state when the book and their relationship is straight presenting. Bi erasure is real and we don’t need that in the world or our romance novels.

Truly, Madly, Deeply was just the romance novel I needed. I love all Alexandria Bellefleur’s books but this one may be my new favourite. It has heart and heat and characters you can’t help but fall in love with. You're going to want to read it!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Avon, via Edelweiss in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*