A review by originalbooknerd
Truly Madly Deeply by L.J. Shen

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

💕𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕝𝕪 𝕄𝕒𝕕𝕝𝕪, 𝔻𝕖𝕖𝕡𝕝𝕪 - 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕓𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝟙 - ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 

 

𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳: 𝘓.𝘑. 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘯 - @authorljshen 

 

𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦: 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢 “ 𝘊𝘢𝘭” 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘷𝘪𝘯 & 𝘈𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 “𝘙𝘰𝘸” 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘴 

 

𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴: 

💕"𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝘼𝙇𝙒𝘼𝙔𝙎 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪" 

🫶🏻"𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝘺𝘰𝘶" 

💕𝘽𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙'𝙨 𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 

🫶🏻𝘌𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 

💕𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 

🫶🏻"𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪?" 

💕𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝙗𝙤𝙨𝙨 

🫶🏻𝙂𝙧𝙪𝙢𝙥𝙮 𝙭 𝙎𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 

💕𝙏𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿!𝙚 

🫶🏻"𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴" 

💕𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 

🫶🏻𝙃𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩/𝙃𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘿𝙀𝙍 

💕𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 

 

𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸: 𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙈𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮, 𝘿𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙮 by 𝙇𝙅 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙣 is another 𝙈𝘼𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙋𝙄𝙀𝘾𝙀! This book 𝙍𝙄𝙋𝙋𝙀𝘿 my heart out, stomped on it and then gradually taped it back together in ways only Leigh is able to do and Cal and Row will be one of my favorite angsty couples for months if not years to come! This book was a lot different than what LJ normally writes but was also 𝙒𝙃𝙊𝙇𝙇𝙔 captivating from the 𝙁𝙄𝙍𝙎𝙏 page! Row and Cal were a 𝙈𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙔 𝙍𝙊𝙈𝘼𝙉𝘾𝙀 waiting to happen and I absolutely 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀𝘿 every word, feelings, twist and turn until the words “𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙣𝙙!” 

 

This book kicks off 𝙃𝘼𝙒𝙏 and the tension between the two MCs only grows as the book goes on! LJ immediately dove into the heat between a younger Cal and Row but then did us 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙏𝙔 with the tragic breaking up of two best friends. The emotions she portrayed in that first chapter alone sucked me into this book and they was she was able to capitalize on the 𝘽𝙐𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂 emotions between Row, Cal and Dylan upon Cal’s return home years later kept me reading to see what would happen between the two. While the romance in this book was swoon-level good, the friendship between Cal and Dylan was really one of my favorite parts in this book! The two of these women were 𝙃𝘼𝙉𝘿𝙎 𝘿𝙊𝙒𝙉 hilariously witty. The way they bolstered each other and leaned on the other during this book showed true friendships and healing - an LJ strength! 

 

𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙈𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮, 𝘿𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙮 is a 𝙎𝙇𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙒 𝘽𝙐𝙍𝙉 romance with high angst, tension and simmering emotions throughout. Row and Cal are 𝙋𝙀𝙍𝙁𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙇𝙔 𝙄𝙈𝙋𝙀𝙍𝙁𝙀𝘾𝙏 for each other but are also so 𝘽𝙀𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙄𝙁𝙐𝙇𝙇𝙔 𝘽𝙍𝙊𝙆𝙀𝙉 that they both are a little hesitant to get hurt…or epically oblivious and in denial in Cal’s case! LJ created their romance perfectly and in a way that put the emotional turmoil in her other books to shame! Cal’s journey to finding herself and healing her traumas was 𝙏𝙍𝘼𝙂𝙄𝘾𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙔 𝘽𝙀𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙄𝙁𝙐𝙇 to read and it was only elevated with Row’s relentless need to support her, care for her and 𝙊𝘽𝙎𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙄𝙑𝙀𝙇𝙔 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 her to pieces! 

 

The amount of utter 𝘿𝙀𝙑𝙊𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 Ambrose Casablancas had for Cal shot him to the top of my book boyfriend list and it’s safe to say he is up there competing with another LJ classic - 𝙑𝘼𝙐𝙂𝙃𝙉 𝙎𝙋𝙀𝙉𝘾𝙀𝙍! Row was my character in this book, his 𝘼𝙇𝙋𝙃𝘼𝙃𝙊𝙇𝙀-𝙄𝙎𝙃𝙉𝙀𝙎𝙎 was next level at first but I 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀𝘿 his snark and personality all the way through! His banter and friendship with Rhyland kept things entertaining since Rhyland gave his sh*t for all the pent up feelings and 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙔𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 he had for Cal and I also 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀𝘿 all the antagonism they put each other through. LJ however, shined with the enemy vibes between him and Kieran! I 𝘾𝘼𝙉𝙉𝙊𝙏 wait for Kieran’s book, if only to see Row go postal about his sister falling in love! 

 

Overall, this book was 568 pages of lust, angst, turmoil and learning to love yourself. Leigh wrote a beautiful book full of characters that are 𝙧𝙖𝙬, 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩, and 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙇 but also 𝙐𝙏𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙇𝙔 𝘾𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙄𝙑𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 in a story. She did what she does best and provided us with a new book boyfriend with a 𝙙𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝, 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 and 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 for his woman that is guaranteed to 𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 in the angsty romance lists! Cal and Row were a romance I’ll be revisiting and one that left me satisfied but wanting more of both them and the other wonderful characters Leigh introduced in this series so far! 

 

(P.S. - Let’s talk about 𝙏𝘼𝙏𝙀! Can we get his book pretty please, cherry on top? I would love to read all about that man’s built up 𝙏𝙀𝙉𝙎𝙄𝙊𝙉 and 𝙉𝙀𝙀𝘿!) 

 

𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨: 100+; 𝘓𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘽𝙇𝙀𝙒 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬! 𝘊𝘢𝘭'𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘰𝘸'𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝙄𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙎𝙎𝙄𝘽𝙇𝙀 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥! 

 

 

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝙇𝙅 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙣, 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙋𝙍 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝘼𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊!