The Truth About Letting Go

by Leigh Talbert Moore

[Rowena]

This is the third book by Leigh T. Moore that I’ve read and I’m pretty stoked to say that she keeps getting better and better with each read. I am definitely a fan of her work. This book is about Ashley Lockett’s journey to coming to terms with her father’s death. Her father died of cancer and she’s struggling with her grief and the grief that she doesn’t see her mother or brother showing. She’s angry with God for not answering her prayers to cure her father. She’s angry that her mother has thrown herself into work and isn’t showing an ounce of grief over the loss of her father and she’s angry that her brother has gone on with his life as if nothing has changed.

To make matters more complicated, Ashley is pulling away from her friends for reasons that she’s not aware of. Her best friend feels like a complete stranger to her and the only girl that she looks forward to talking to is a plus size girl who she meets down by the creek. The creek that she goes to, to think. To clear her head and to talk about her Dad with someone who had nothing but good memories of him, along with her.

Ashley is mad at the world and she’s looking to be a little bad. The very last thing that she wants or needs is someone to care about and to care about her but when she meets Jordan, thing start to get away from her. Her intention to go after the bad boy Colt, her intention to do anything and everything that would make her forget her grief.

When we first met Ashley, I wasn’t at all sure that I was going to end up liking her because of the way that she lashed out at her brother Will and her mother. She’s out of her mind with grief and she doesn’t know how to deal with it and she acted like a total brat about the whole thing. I’m not a fan of teenagers who think that it’s their right to be douches because they’re hurting or because they’re sad. But Ashley wasn’t that bad. She didn’t step over the line of no return and I’m glad for that. I really enjoyed getting to know her as the book continued on. It was pretty neat to see her come around and it made the story even better when the alleged bad guy, turned out to not be bad at all.

The characters all came to life for me throughout the book as well. Jordan was a fabulous character that wormed his way into my heart at the very beginning and even though I should have hated Colt for being a punk for a lot of the book, I didn’t hate him. I liked him and saw the goodness that he didn’t show many people. Ashley’s family were pretty great too. It was good to see Harley’s parents from The Truth about Faking It and it was nice to hear that Harley and Jason are still going strong.

Overall, I’m glad that I got this book for review. I’m glad that I read this book and I definitely recommend this if you’re in the mood for a good, coming of age contemporary YA novel. Leigh T. Moore is a great author that really knows how to weave a story in a way that keeps the reader invested throughout the entire story. I enjoy the way that she tells Ashley’s story and I’m looking forward to reading even more from her. Kudos to Leigh T. Moore on another winner of a story.