I’ve really enjoyed the duologies I’ve read this year and The Truth About Him is no exception. It followed on from Everything Left Unsaid, which Has and I read and adored back in early November. This book began where the last book finished, with Annie held captive by her sociopathic and violent husband. The first chapter was full of action and intense drama where Annie had to survive again at the heavy hands of her abuser, but this time Dylan was involved and oh boy was it super intense. This book kept up the intensity as Dylan’s past caught up with him and he was forced to return to his family roots. It really messed with his head again and he had to deal with a lot of suppressed anger towards Pops, and his anger and sadness towards his brother, Max.
Dylan is withdrawn a lot in this book and O’Keefe’s writing talent is immense. There’s a dark and gritty maturity in the characters she created. Annie and Dylan had to work really hard to get their HEA because both suffered such traumatic experiences, with Annie dealing with the aftermath of what happened with her husband and what she did to survive, which resulted in a life changing event in The Truth About Him.
Dylan was snappish and hurtful towards Annie at times, and yet there was this hopefulness still between them that showed that no matter what happened it wouldn’t break those two apart. Annie was such a strong and brave individual and I adored her. She got back on her feet and she fought on for her happiness and for Dylan’s happiness. The action involving Max came into play and he made an intimidating and scary entrance that showed how different the two brothers were in personalities. But there was still a bond and I felt my heart hurt along with Dylan’s, with the inevitable feeling that Max was going to get himself killed. Despite being a super scary guy, Max loved Dylan and still made sacrifices for him so he could be happy. Dylan also made inroads with Ben (Pops) but the hurt and anger never went away. The end result was super bittersweet but not a surprise with Pops. But Annie and Dylan got their much deserved HEA and I was so happy for them. I also can’t wait to see what happens with Tiffany and Blake.
I did have an issue with the ending because it felt really quick and abrupt in some ways, with lots of things tied up quickly and others left untold in the epilogue. Like the Max and Joan pairing really came as a surprise because I was excited thinking, was there going to be an upcoming f/f story with Joan because of a certain scene? But nope and that makes me sad. I was also confused with the labelling, which this series had as NA. I’m not a fan of bait and switching with labelling. Publishers, if it’s not an NA series, don’t call it NA. Call it romance maybe? *shakes my grumpy fists*
Despite my issues with the ending, this was a fantastic book and I can’t wait to read more of O’Keefe’s titles, especially her backlist.
B+