True Love Story Paperback – February 24, 2013

When we meet Sparrow she is an innocent, naïve preacher's daughter about to head off to college in NYC with her best friend. She dates an associate minister in her daddy's church and is excited to be starting her life away from her childhood home. Before she leaves, she attends a dinner party with her boyfriend at the home of friends of her parents. There she is introduced to Ian Sterling. He is her parent's friend's cousin and a handsome, sexy, up & coming musician that she has had a schoolgirl crush on forever. There is instant attraction on both parts and the evening is full of innuendo and heated banter. Sparrow leaves with a bigger crush and a guilty conscience over how Ian made her feel.After a very awkward separation from the BF and another confusing evening with Ian that ends with him acting quite cool toward her after a romantic afternoon together, Sparrow heads off to New York and her new life not knowing where her relationship/friendship stands with Ian. Over the next few months, he is very elusive and very sporatic with his contact. She doesn't know if they are a "thing" or not. She dates others but doesn't get her heart wrapped up in anyone else and has a few encounters with Ian here and there. She even suffers a very traumatic experience alone and without confiding in anyone. Ian lets her down time and again until she finally puts her foot down and forces him to start making an effort. All is going so well... until... well until Ian's true colors are revealed.Ok... Men... I swear I wanted to jump into this book and wrap my hands around Ian's throat more than once. I mean ugh. I understand that he thinks she is too young to be focused on just him and that he wants her to experience the full gamut of the "college experience" and I also understand that he has gone through a lot with his family and has never really seen what a functioning relationship looks like, but he does everything wrong. You just want to rip him apart. You really feel Sparrow's pain and you can put yourself in her shoes. Haven't we all been a young girl wondering "does he like me... does he not like me... did I imagine that he liked me... why hasn't he called... should I call him, probably not... are we friends or more?" Took me right back to high school! I love that she gets her act together and makes it clear what she wants and what she expects. She really grows up in this book and you see her mature. I HATED the traumatic thing she has to go through. I thought it was tastefully written and shined a light on a very common problem in college today... although I wish more action was taken because more action was justified in my opinion. I will admit that I had trouble with the connection between Sparrow and Ian in the beginning. It was so instant but I was "told" it was instant instead of being "shown"... I didn't quite feel it until later in the book. That being said you definitely feel it later. After the reveal of Ian's mistakes, I was just a puddle of emotion. I felt Sparrow's pain, I felt Ian's pain. The guilt, the anguish, the remorse, the longing, the numbness, the love... I. Felt. It. All. I highly recommend this book. I devoured it in one night.On a side note... This has to be one of my all time favorite book covers... just wow. I also, loved Ian's nickname for Sparrow "Little Bird" and I the relationship between Sparrow and her parents and best friend. They were all really great secondary characters.Favorite Quotes:"Little Bird, our love has been hard-earned from the very beginning. It is more precious to me than anything on earth. I can't just let go of it. And I won't stop fighting for it." ~ Ian""Aren't you worn out from running?" His lips follow a tear down my neck, and then he brushes my face with his hand. "I don't want to live without you another day. I'm begging you for another chance. Please.""You are in me. In the deepest part of me. Deeper than my memories, my unconscious thoughts. Deeper than my ever-changing emotions. You are in the place right next to where I keep my faith in God (a faith that I won't let go of now, in spite of it being shaken many times, from without and within). You're deep in me."

I loved this book. And then I hated it. And then I loved it again. Every relationship has its ups and downs. And Sparrow (love her name!) and Ian’s relationship definitely had its highs and lows. This story took me on a very emotional and rocky journey that made me laugh, cry, scream with frustration, and very happy at the ending.“It has been a year, two months, and seventeen days since I last saw him. Two years, ten months, and five days since he had broken my heart-well, since I knew that he had broken my heart. Technically, he began breaking my heart the moment I met him, five years, eleven months, and one day ago.” - SparrowTrue Love Story begins with the prologue, present day. Sparrow and Ian run into each other at the airport, both on their way to the same destination. They haven’t seen each other in a long time after a very heartbreaking break up. When they realize they have seats side by side one another, could it be fate that brought them back together? As they are catching up on the plane, Sparrow, who was hurt deeply by Ian, reminds him exactly why they broke up.Rewind five years. Sparrow Fisher is in a relationship with Michael, the perfect future husband. He adores Sparrow. Her parents adore Michael. But Sparrow just doesn’t feel that way about Michael. She wants to be single and free to expand her horizons, so she moves away to college with her awesome best friend, Tessa.Before she leaves for college, she meets Ian Sterling, a very charming and sexy musician. The attraction between them is instant. The chemistry between them was so intense, it could almost be touched. When they speak, it's like everyone else around them instantly disappears. Unfortunately, they must go their separate ways. When they meet again, they end up spending a fun and exciting day together. That day, they both realize what they have together is special, but Ian is nine years older than Sparrow and travels a lot for his music. With only a sad goodbye spoken from Ian, he takes off on his Harley. And Sparrow has no idea if she will ever see him again. What she never expected is for her life to change forever after meeting Ian.Sparrow is now single, living in New York, and going to school. Sparrow and Ian run into each other several times over a period of time. They end up becoming good friends with lots of sexual tension vibrating between them. Sparrow wants to be with Ian, but he remains distant and evasive. This is confusing to Sparrow because she knows there is a mutual attraction between them. Ian is always telling her with sweet words how much he adores her. And eventually tells her he loves her. But the problem with Ian is, he’s always on tour and comes and goes as he pleases in Sparrows life – never attempts to make a commitment with her. And when he does come back into her life, after disappearing for months at a time, he thinks they will just go back to their usual ways together. This is starting to piss Sparrow off and she’s reached her limit with Ian. She finally tells him how she feels. They mutually agree to form a committed relationship, but Ian still wants to give Sparrow the freedom to see other people.Say What? I wanted to know why Ian doesn't want her to fully commit into the relationship, besides using the excuse that she needs to experience college life. If I was Sparrow, I would've been asking a whole lot of questions. But they never TALK about it. Sigh. All they had to do was talk. I felt completely and utterly frustrated with Sparrow’s passive behavior. She really needed to speak up.The attraction and chemistry between these two was beautiful and intense. They understood each other and loved one another unconditionally. What they have together is definitely special. And even though I was frustrated with Ian some of the time, I found him just as irresistible as Sparrow. He’s a delicious treat with his sexy physique, poetic words, and the man writes music and plays the guitar - nothing sexier than a sultry voice and a guitar. So, with that said, I understood why Sparrow would continue to see Ian even if he remained aloof at times.When Sparrow finally comes to her senses and demands some answers that she's been avoiding asking for a while now… Oh. My. God. I suspected the answer to this question, but I really didn’t expect to be reeling from the whole truth. Insert dagger in my heart. My intuition was right about Ian, but getting the whole truth was extremely painful. My stomach hurt. I wanted to curl up in a ball with Sparrow.“Little Bird, our love has been hard-earned from the very beginning. It is more precious to me than anything on earth. I can't just let go of it. And I won't stop fighting for it." - IanSigh. I really loved it when he called her Little Bird.It was really sad to see this couple fall apart. Part of me didn’t want Sparrow to walk away, but at the same time I understood why she did. She couldn’t trust him anymore. And because of what Ian did, he not only broke Sparrow’s heart, but she changed mentally. She went from a carefree, outgoing, 'life is good' kind of person to someone who is distrustful and a man hater. But I don’t think it was just the trust issues towards men that truly kept her from moving on. She loved Ian with all her heart and soul. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. And that kind of true love is hard to get over.I’m not trying to justify Ian’s actions, but I truly felt just how much he regretted his mistake. I almost melted into a puddle of mush reading just how sorry he was. Damn my mushy, romantic heart. But that doesn't mean I forgave him right away. Ian is still an arse for what he did.What I like about this story is that it took years for Sparrow to finally forgive him. When they meet again on the plane, it really was like fate bringing them back together again. This time around things are different between Ian and Sparrow. They've both changed and matured and found peace within themselves. I really adored this sweet but bitter love story. The writing sucked me in and didn’t let me go until I was well and truly an emotional wreck. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from Willow Aster.-A review from Romantic Book Affairs

There was just something missing for me.**spoilers.I connected with both characters and their love story together was believable and really well written. But what was missing for me was more detail of him cheating. We knew from the beginning that he broke her heart. The build up to it was fantastic, there were breadcrumbs here and there, and we knew as a reader that Sparrow wasn’t asking the right questions.The problem was when we did find out it fell a bit flat. There just wasn’t enough information on the how, why, when. I assume the author wanted to stick to main two characters and not make it about Laila, but it was that part that was missing for me. It was touched on later in the story but only paragraph or so. I know we’re meant to read between the lines, but the main reason for them breaking up was because he cheated on her but we barely got any information on it, and really it was skirted around. It just made it seem not entirely worth it. Did he ever show guilt? How many times were they together? When did he see her? It was understood he had commitment issues and there was a chapter of all the letters he wrote to Sparrow apologising. But seeing as the whole book led up to that moment of him cheating and their heartbreak it just never really made an appearance in the book.Maybe a chapter from Ian’s POV would’ve filled in the gap, I wanted to feel his hatred, the reasonings, the when, the why, his guilt, his thoughts about Sparrow when he was doing it. I think that would’ve made it a more well rounded story.

I don't know where to start....I loved this book, and I cant believe I haven't read it sooner. It's been on my kindle for a while, and a friend encouraged me to read it - I'm so glad she did!It's a beautiful story of first love, heartbreak and betrayal. The kind of story that has heart-warming moments, funny moments and gut wrenching rip your heart out moments. You will need tissues for this book!Its the story of a blossoming relationship between Sparrow and Ian. The story actually starts with Sparrow spotting Ian in an airport and desperately trying to avoid being seen by him, but failing. They then end up being sat together on an airplane, where we discover that they have a history that goes back 5 years, and has ultimately left Sparrow devastated.We then go back to the very beginning, where they first met. Sparrow is out with her family and Ian is with friends of her parents. There is an instant attraction between them, with friendly banter going back and forth.During the course of the book, Sparrow and Ian meet up through family get togethers, but with Ian blowing hot and cold, Sparrow is often left wondering where she stands with him.The author sets the tone of the relationship perfectly, although they have that instant attraction, they do not declare their love instantly. The relationship builds over the course of a year or so, with Sparrow away at college in NYC and Ian often on tour with his band. Ian is more 'worldly' than Sparrow, (who is 19 and the inexperienced daughter of a preacher) and he wants her to experience college life without feeling tied to him.All through the book, (because of the prologue)I knew that something BIG was coming, something that was going to blow this relationship out of the water, but I still wasn't prepared for when it eventually did happen. It was absolutely gut wrenching. I truly felt for Sparrow.My heart was pounding as though I was Sparrow feeling those emotions, I felt physically sick. I wanted to crawl right in to that book and slap Ian.Ian's actions after the revelation, the way he persevered desperately trying to put things right with Sparrow had me in tears, I was utterly devastated for the pair of them.When the book gets up to the part where they are together on the plane, I could not read fast enough, because I just had to know how this story ends - will she forgive him and put them both out of their misery, or will she eventually get the closure she needs and move on with her life.......?You need to read this book and find out for yourself!

Told in first person narrative, from Sparrow's point of view. At 18 she is very young, naive and innocent. She's lead quite a sheltered, protected life with her overprotective mother taking control over all aspects even her clothes. Ready to leave for college and a plan to transform herself Sparrow meets Ian. Having already been drawn to him through his music there is an undeniable connection between them from their first encounter.Unfortunately, the prologue set 5 years in the future, sets the tone of inevitability to the story. There is a constant tension awaiting events hinted at within the prologue that in all honesty did spoil it a little for me. The story follows the developing relationship between Sparrow and Ian after that first encounter across a 5 year time frame.Ian is a little older and far more experienced than Sparrow, the detail in the story regarding his childhood and lack of affection provided some insight and understanding to his actions but on the whole it felt as if he was more immature than Sparrow with regard to dealing with his emotions. It really annoyed me how hot and cold he blew towards Sparrow, it felt as if he was toying with her emotions for the most part. It wasn't until the end of the book that I felt Ian and Sparrow were remotely suited as the way in which their home lives had shaped them into adults did not gel together. Through their relationship Sparrow does make Ian a better person and Ian in turn gives Sparrow confidence. Essentially love at its finest when two people bring out the best in each other.A few incidents within the plot felt unnecessary and detracted from the character development rather than enhancing it. I also found the name Sparrow initially irritating until the explanation behind her parents choice of name was revealed and did surprisingly endear her name to me. As well as allowing Ian to name her `Little Bird' which provided swoon-worthy moments.After all the tension within the story and the inevitable outcome, the story rejoins the present, five years after the initial meeting between Sparrow and Ian. Unfortunately, the ending felt a little rushed and forced. I would have rather seen more of the relationship in the present than the length of the reflection on their previous relationship.On the whole I did enjoy the story and must mention the letters Ian wrote to Sparrow near the end effectively changed my feelings to him. However, I did feel as if the prologue overshadowed the story for me and the ending was too rushed for my personal preference. It is these issues that are reflected in my rating.

Ahh I'm so undecided about this book!On the one hand I love that it wasn't you're typical predictable fluff with a HEA you can predict 2 pages in.But on the other hand the price of writing characters that are real with real issues and flaws...ugh it killed me.I loved that this was original and didn't follow the same route as all the others but when there's a conflict I'm just so used to it being fixed and everything getting all fluffy and warm again. It makes my chest ache when the characters are in pain.Willow Aster is one of those authors who's words manage to make you feel happy, warm, giddy, angry, sad. I love that. You know a book is well written when you want to cry and laugh along with its characters.So...to summarise this poor excuse of a review...Reasons to love this book- Brilliantly written and original. It was unpredictable and heartwarming and heartbreaking.Reasons to hate this book- It's brilliantly written, so be prepared to go through an emotional roller coaster! The characters are equal parts brilliant and frustratingly flawed. I'm still angry at them over something that happened part way in!

A writer who really does live up to the glowing reviews. I started reading this in the evening and had to finish it in one sitting; a book that held me enthralled into tthe earty hours of the morning. This one is from a writer who REALLY can write, unlike the increasing number of sub-standard and amateurish 'productions' that seem to be infesting Amazon at a rapid pace.The writing itself was flawless. Every verb, every noun, every turn of phrase was written into the story where they were intended to be. No word was out or place or out of context. In some parts it did read like a journal. As a rule a story that is 'drawn' through a journal can sometimes turn laconic; but in this case it worked because the writer had the skill to make it work. We were invited into Sparrow's heart and mind. We took the journey with her; and although we did not have the direct link into Ian's thoughts, his actions were so well described that we could share in his emotions as much as we could in Sparrow's. I loved this couple. They made me smile and made me cry. The part where Ian finally accepted that he had lost Sparrow, when he wrote that final letter to tell her he was letting her go was one of the most emotional reads that I have experienced in recent times. Only a gifted writer has the ability to wring every drop of emotion out of the reader. And interspersed with the intensity and the emotions were the light-relief that only Sparrow's best friend Tessa could provide.I am glad I gave this book a chance. Almost passed on it despite the great reviews because I have been 'stung' as often as not by books and writers who do not live up to the enthusiastic reviews. This is one time when the writer and the book is a gem of a find.