From this "fantastic storyteller" comes an unforgettable, heart-wrenching love story about soulmates, second chances, and finding your way home (Melanie Harlow, USA Today bestselling author).
It’s been eight years since the moment that changed Olivia Dalton’s life. Gabriel North was her first love—her only love. But an accident shattered their world, leaving Gabe with a serious injury and Liv with a broken heart.
In the years that followed, Liv left their small coastal town in Georgia and began her career in North Carolina. But she often feels like a stranger watching the woman she’s become drift farther and farther from the girl she used to be.
Now, confronted with a decision and a future that seems more uncertain than ever, Liv can no longer ignore the hole in her heart that’s been quietly aching for years. The only way to move forward is by going back—back home to face the love she left behind.
True North is a deeply emotional, second chance romance inspired by the unconditional love of family, the tender love of adolescence, and the deep, everlasting love between soulmates.
Robin is a published author who spends her time raising kids, writing books, and balancing a career in no particular order. She is an extroverted introvert with a healthy dependency on her horoscope and a knack for plotting emotionally charged love stories. She loves the ocean, thunderstorms, coffee, wine, and Steel Magnolias. She hates turtlenecks, chunky jewelry, kitchen gadgets and high heels, though she begrudgingly wears them often. Robin lives in Florida with her husband and three children.
I was lured by the blurb. This promised heart wrenching love story. But it turned out to be just another second chance romance.
The H and h were lovers. The h’s brother was there friend too. But a stupid mistake caused an accident. The consequences were tragedic.
After the accident, the H pushes away the h, because he thinks he is not good enough for her now. He is also living with the after effects of the accident. So the h finally leaves him and goes to another city to study college. But after seven years when her boyfriend proposes her, she realises that she still loves the H and hence she comes back.
The blurb says “.....everlasting love between soulmates” Haha...good joke.
“If you want me to love you every day for the rest of our lives, I will.”
Gabe and Olivia love story completely warmed my heart. A second chance love story of two people separated by tragedy only to find themselves again 7 years later ready to find closure and forgiveness. My heart is no stranger to these twisted emotions. Robin Huber’s story telling knows how to pull on my heart strings. From the start, Gabe and Liv took my heart by storm.
“True North” is a dip and heart wrenching love story that has all the feels. It’s an emotional read that had me winning since it landed on my kindle as a “GR giveaway.” I was drawn to Gabe and Liv story from day one. Liv finds herself returning back home to the small town she grew up to find closure from her past, one that has been haunting her since she left. It’s no mistake when her journey leads her right into the arms of the person she escaped from, Gabe North. Gabe and Liv are childhood sweethearts. Their massive love was torn apart by grieve. One that has left Gabe tortured to move on, until the one person he has been running from returns home to stay...his TRUE NORTH!
The portrayal of the characters depth was what made this a 4 star read for me. Robin did a phenomenal job of getting it right from beginning to end. Plenty of moments to rekindle between this two from their childhood moments to conquering obstacles together. However, the star who completely captivated my heart...was our hero “Roxy” the golden retriever!
True North is the story of Liv and Gabe. Childhood sweethearts who experience a tragic accident that changes the world as they know it. They come out of it, but it leaves Gabe with a serious injury and Liv with a broken heart.
Liv leaves their small town to finish college but after 8 years, she can’t stay away any longer. This is an emotional, second chance romance set in Georgia.
I truly loved this book. It’s one of those stories that you can’t put d0wn and when you finally finish it, you wish you could experience it again. I love that the author tied up all of the loose ends with an epilogue. I like t0 know how everything ended and have closure with the characters.
This is the perfect book to take to the beach or on your next trip!
True North: A Love Story Release Date: May 12, 2020 Review Copy Provided by the Publisher
Like most of the world right now, I’ve been feeling unsettled, and I haven’t been able to focus on much. Reading is one of my daily joys, and not having the motivation to pick up a book has been difficult for me. I started reading True North yesterday afternoon. The ARC had been sitting on my kindle for well over a month. I had just finished up distance learning with my 9 year old, which sucks balls, and I needed something to soothe my frazzled nerves. I knew that Robin Huber was supremely talented, but this book was nothing short of a masterpiece.
If you love a good snot and bawl, an epic ugly cry, then this book will give you that in spades! Seriously, my stomach was in a twisted knot for 99% of the story. Gabe and Liv have been through so much loss, and unimaginable heartbreak. Their journey back to each other knocked the air from my lungs.
I loved every moment that I spent with these characters. I could feel their loss like a tangible thing. It was heavy, just sitting on my chest. I wanted Brandon back. He was only on the page very briefly, but I loved him all the same. You could definitely feel him throughout the book. He was woven into everything.
If you read one book during this lockdown, or this year...read True North. It is one of the best love stories that I’ve had the privilege to read. Gabe and Liv are amazing, and the secondary characters are so likeable. You can’t help but want to know them. Phenomenal is the word I’d use to describe this book, and I’m not even sure that it’s adequate enough to explain my love for this story.
It is so aggravating to take a chance on a book and actually buy it, and then not have it deliver. I was intrigued by this book since it appeared on my radar but hesitated at buying it for the reason I already mentioned, and after reading it perhaps I should just stick to what's on KU for the for foreseeable future. Or maybe forever, since the bell of indie/self publishing can't be un-rung and the drop in the quality of books is unlikely to change.
For the average reader this book will be fine. It's very lightweight reading, which surprised me given the setup of the story. But the writer chose to tell the majority of the grittier parts of the story rather than include the reader and show them. So straight away that disconnect is an issue.
The heroine, Liv, was very immature for almost 30, and shallow as a puddle, always thinking about how beautiful Gabe was, how ripped he was, how women fell all over themselves when they saw him 🙄🙄😑. Yeah, we get it. He's hot. Move on, already.
There was a separation of 7 years between Liv and Gabe, during which Liv just couldn't get her shite together. I think the term 'stage 5 clinger' was coined with people like her in mind and I don't blame Gabe one bit for kicking her to the curb way back then. She was annoying. But while Gabe had more to overcome and did considerably better with his life in those 7 years, the pair of them were very co-dependent and unable to do much more than exist without each other. I get it that people think that's sooo romantic...but is it? Is it, really? I don't think so. I think it's unhealthy to charge someone else with the responsibility of YOUR happiness. How can you love someone else, or love life, if you can't love yourself and the life you create on your own? How can you make someone else responsible for making you happy and fulfilled when life operates on its own plans and schedule? In a nutshell, these two were too dependent on the other and if anything ever happened to one of them, the other wouldn't survive it and to me that's not romantic. It's just sad. I appreciate strong, independent characters, not needy, clingy ones.
But Liv and Gabe's co-dependence wasn't what tainted this story for me. I see plenty of this unhealthy attachment in books and it makes sense since most writers these days are young and naive. But that doesn't excuse them from doing their research and that this writer didn't care to do hers was very evident. Gabe has a TBI due to being in an auto crash. He has seizures attributed to scar tissue on his temporal lobe from his injury and takes meds to control the seizure activity. So far, so good. Realistic enough. But the seizures still occur as often as a few weeks to every month or two, and yet he drives a vehicle with an apparently unrestricted driver's license. Um, no. I checked on this myself and in the US a person has to be seizure free from a period of three months to a year to drive, depending in which state they live.
Gabe had grand mal seizures and people with them don't just 'fall over and start shaking.' There are signs - called an aura - hours to moments prior to onset that the person may or may not always notice, but in the seconds before one begins that person is not going to be chatting away unaffected. During the attack a loss of bladder and sometimes even bowel control can happen. And after the attack the sufferer doesn't wake up alert and oriented acting like everything is hunky-dory. The postictal stage of a seizure is a bit more than being 'just tired.'
The setup for Gabe's seizure was a bit contrived - as was much of this story - but Liv's hysteria during it was unacceptable given that she knew he had them. But she really took the biscuit by needing him to comfort her afterwards. You get that? HE had the seizure, but SHE expected him to comfort HER. Self-absorbed much? No respect for that.
However, what made me angry was the handling of the service dog. The important role service dogs play has taken a bit of a hit in recent years by the appearance of 'therapy dogs' - which are basically pets of people with non-medical issues that are given the same latitude as true service dogs. The existence of therapy dogs is a joke because they aren't held to the same standard of training and they undermine the importance of a bonafide service animal and interfere with the animal's ability to properly do the job it was extensively - and expensively - trained for. Therapy dogs are pets with a bogus title. A service animal is not a pet. You don't treat someone's service animal as a pet, either, by fawning over it and exciting it with enthusiastic handling and exclamations of praise. It's a tool, not a toy. A service animal is 'on-duty,' all the time, and is not distracted by food, attention or noise. It is precisely attuned to its master to the exclusion of all else. It won't race off across the beach requiring it to be called back and it's absolutely not going to leave its master unattended while it goes for a romp through a field of flowers. That is utter bullshit. That dog should be glued to its master at all times until commanded otherwise, and it sure as shite isn't going to detect the cascade of electrical brain activity preceding a seizure while it's totally distracted and a half a mile away! Epilepsy dogs can absolutely sense an aura or possibly even smell one, but from a much closer range. Roxy was the most piss-poor example of a service dog I have ever seen in a book.
Some think that suspension of belief and so-called artistic license is acceptable in fiction. And it is - in certain TYPES of fiction. That's called FANTASY. In romantic fiction, not so much. The kinds of things I mentioned suggest that the writer is too lazy to be bothered to check their facts or they think their readers just don't care that much. And most don't. But I'm not one of those, so don't piss in my ear and tell me it's raining.
Do better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I loved Robin's debut (which full disclosure was published by Forever's eBook imprint) and I've been so excited to check out what's she's been writing lately. I started this book last night on a whim and stayed up way, way past my bedtime reading. What a love story. Robin has a way of creating these epic second chance romances, and True North was no exception. Gabe and Liv are childhood sweethearts who plan on being together forever. A terrible accident severely injures Gabe and changes his relationship with Liv forever. Years later, Liv is back in their hometown, hoping to find the parts of her that have been missing and bumping into Gabe brings back so much pain but so much possibility too.
It's emotional, it's sexy, and it was honestly the perfect distraction during a stressful time. I'm actually really sad it's over because I'm not ready to leave the nice bubble it put me in.
Robin is *such* an amazing writer, and I can't wait to read her upcoming books!
I had the great fortune to read an an Advanced Reader Copy.
Young love, sunshine and sandy beaches was followed by years of heartbreak and disappointment. Liv and Gabe were the lucky ones that put hurt feelings and fear aside to bravely pave a path for a second chance at true love.
I promised myself I would savor this book, reading only a chapter or two a day. Impossible!! I didn’t cook dinner and continued to read in bed, waking up in the wee hours when the Kindle hit my face. My dreams were about the people in Robin Huber’s awesome book. The next morning, you could find me in my Kindle’s glow, curled up on the couch before dawn, reading in the dark.
Now I am in that lull that follows a really good read, feeling personally connected to the people and wishing the story would go on forever.
I wish I had the ability to write a review that truly does this book justice. I finished it a month ago and have struggled with how to put into words all the feelings and emotions I experienced. It's rare that a book makes me breakdown and cry, but the story of love, forgiveness and healing was so very touching. Thank you for sharing your talent with us Robin Huber, I truly enjoyed the journey.
Wow. I can’t remember the last time I cried that much from a book. As soon as I read page one, I was immediately connected to these characters and felt everything with them. It takes an incredible writer to make a reader feel so much, so soon in a book, but Robin had me crying in Chapter 2, and many more moments throughout this book.
Gabe and Liv’s love story centres around childhood sweethearts who grow apart after a tragedy, when eight years later, Liv finds herself coming back home, to her beacon.
Robin took a very tender topic of grief and living with a traumatic brain injury and turned it into a beautiful story about forgiveness, happiness and finding yourself again. The connection between Gabe and Liv is undeniable and I fell in love with their tender, heartbreaking love.
If you’re looking for a second chance romance that will rip your heart out, and slowly, beautifully mend it back together again, then I HIGHLY recommend you pick up True North when it releases on May 12th.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5 very strong stars for this beautiful book. (I rounded up to 5 for Goodreads as I’d say it’s closer to 5 stars than it is to 4 stars).
Thank you so incredibly much Robin Huber for gifting me this advance copy in exchange for my honest review. After reading and LOVING (seriously 5-stars each) your first two books, I felt so honoured to be asked to read this one. I will always read anything you write, you are so unbelievably talented.
*audiobook* Oh my word, this book hit me right in the feels. When a book makes you feel things like this, you know it's good. This is in the Nicholas Sparks vein of romance novels but with a couple 18+ sections. Honestly, I loved it. I would read it again, easily. I could see this being a good movie.
What a love story.... lovely and real characters.....you got to know them gradually... but when I was about 1/2 way through.... I spent the rest of the day, not moving except to turn pages and try to contain my emotions! I could not have put the book dow unfinished! Great new addition to this new and exciting author’s works. What a romance!
For someone who generally reads mysteries, biographies and science fiction, “True North”, was a very different genre for me and I was completely drawn in from the first chapter. I loved all of the characters: Liv, Gabe, their families, Liv’s girlfriends...
Having lived in the lowcounty of SC for many years, which is very similar to St. Simon’s Island, it was so nice to be taken back to that beautiful place once again. I look forward to what Robin has in store for her readers in her next book.
Robin Huber is such an amazing storyteller! Her characters pull you in and it's like you've known them forever! True North was such a beautiful love story about a second chance at love and finding your way home. It was such an easy and engaging read! I couldn't put it down! I can't wait to read her next book! I recieved True North as an advanced reader copy, very glad I had the chance to dive into this book early!
If you want a taste of the south, love the eastern coast and need a break from your daily life True North is a book you will want to read especially if you love romance and a happy ending. Throughout the story there are many bumps in the road for Gabe and Liv but their love is enduring and you will know as you turn the pages that theirs is the kind of love that is true and long lasting. The characters are wonderful and as you read, you find yourself wanting to become friends with this couple and their families. I have read all of Robin Huber’s books, she has the perfect beach read set up, and every time you finish a book you are ready for the next one! I read an advanced copy.
True North is a story of a lasting love through time and trials. Torn apart by tragic circumstances, two young lovers hold on to their hearts till they find their way back to each other. Robin has a gift for descriptive phrasing....”the gravitational pull of Gabe’s golden brown eyes”, “ like warm honey and melted chocolate”...they drew me in for more!
True North pulls you in from the first chapter. You care about the characters and love them deeply. The author has a brilliant way of writing that makes you feel comfortable. Couldn't put this down. Hoping we get a sequel.
Robin is such a talented writer. The emotion that you truly feel from reading this book feels so authentic. She’s great at describing I’m building the characters. This is the type of love story that has joy, Humor, pain, sex and the deepest love. After I read this book it makes me thankful for my husband and the love that we share. Go read it!!
This is the most underrated book I’ve read this year. However, TW: car accident death.
I cried and smiled and laughed, idk why but I genuinely attached to the characters pretty much right away. Anyone judging the characters in lesser star reviews clearly forgot what it was like to be a teenager or never had someone impact their life so deeply they still think about them 7 years later or have never been through something as traumatic as the MC’s in this book. So good, this book deserves way more recognition.
I'm in love. With Gabriel, with Liv, with this whole book. Highly emotional second chance romance that felt very raw, very open. It was so smooth to read, so eady despite difficult topics that I could barely put it down. I'm in awe of how well-written this book was. Absolutely a five star and I highly recommend it!
True North is a beautiful love story. It's about the love shared between Liv and Gabe. They have a pull for each other, a connection like no other. Their love is described in a way that you can feel it in your soul while reading. I could feel every emotion in this book. I cried, laughed, smiled while reading it... I was entranced after the first page!! I neglected my family for two days because I could not put it down!! I've read all of Robin Huber's books and they've all been fantastic!!
I couldn’t believe all of the emotions I went through reading this book. There were highs, lows and everything in between. I definitely needed tissues for this story. The author broke my heart and put it back together nicely. Please note that I won a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.