Scan barcode
A review by kjcharles
The Truth of Things by Tasha L. Harrison
A terrific romance and a powerful story. This is set in Camden, New Jersey, with some serious grit and realism and a mainly black cast. Our heroine is making ends meet as a photographer when she's caught up in a street fight between two young hustlers that turns into an experience of police brutality--which in turn leads to her meeting our hero Levi, a black cop. (Race is absolutely central to the story.) Ava is extremely distrustful of the police, and Levi has to seriously work to persuade her to give him a chance, which he pulls off in a non-creepy way (the book is highly aware of the potential / tendency for abuse of power where police are involved). Plus she's a drug addict's daughter who knocked around the foster system, and he comes from a Huxtable-like secure upper middle class family, which adds to the layers of the story.
The romance is absolutely swoonsome. Levi is a glorious hero: kind, caring, patient, loving, sensitive, dedicated. (And he's shorter than the heroine at I think 5'8!) It's a really lovely slow-burn-to-hot-sex, and absolutely blissful--particularly in the parts where Levi is negotiating his profession with the hustler kid Ava is mentoring. Ava is intensely relatable in her combination of courage and insecurity and a really strong character to identify with. Levi is just gorgeous, honestly. Purrrr.
So far so adorably sweet, until a horrific incidence of police violence rips everything apart. This is an absolute gut punch and devastating for all concerned, and it is absolutely what contemporary US romance should be writing about. Ava and Levi need to dig deep to get through her trauma and his difficulty reconciling his profession with the reality of how policing affects black people in America.
Unquestionably hard hitting and grounded in strong grim reality of daily struggle and low and high level racism and oppression, but the power of the romance absolutely takes us through it. A terrific read. Some copy editing issues but I really didn't care as I powered through it.
The romance is absolutely swoonsome. Levi is a glorious hero: kind, caring, patient, loving, sensitive, dedicated. (And he's shorter than the heroine at I think 5'8!) It's a really lovely slow-burn-to-hot-sex, and absolutely blissful--particularly in the parts where Levi is negotiating his profession with the hustler kid Ava is mentoring. Ava is intensely relatable in her combination of courage and insecurity and a really strong character to identify with. Levi is just gorgeous, honestly. Purrrr.
So far so adorably sweet, until a horrific incidence of police violence rips everything apart. This is an absolute gut punch and devastating for all concerned, and it is absolutely what contemporary US romance should be writing about. Ava and Levi need to dig deep to get through her trauma and his difficulty reconciling his profession with the reality of how policing affects black people in America.
Unquestionably hard hitting and grounded in strong grim reality of daily struggle and low and high level racism and oppression, but the power of the romance absolutely takes us through it. A terrific read. Some copy editing issues but I really didn't care as I powered through it.