Title: Truly, Madly, Amy
Author: Kerry Wilkinson
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
First published: July 21st 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Finished reading: June 28th 2022
Pages: 390

“That’s what places like this are for. We become the people we choose to be – and that’s what matters. It’s not who we are at the beginning, it’s who we are at the end.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

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I tend to enjoy his psychological thrillers, so of course I couldn’t resist adding Truly, Madly, Amy to see how he would tackle the romance genre. Taking on different genres can be tricky to do and it’s not something every author can pull off, but this story has proven to me that Kerry Wilkinson is one of them. I confess that I usually skim over the blurb when it’s a title by a known author, so the fact that this story is in fact a coming of age romance with a YA vibe came a bit as a surprise… Once I got used to the idea, I ended up having a great time with Truly, Madly, Amy though.

The story is mainly set during the summer of 1999; especifically the six weeks where the main character Joe works at a local summer camp and meets his first love Amy. The setting has that nostalgic feel with many nods to what it was like back in the 1990s; I was a bit younger than the main characters in 1999, but it was still something that I could really appreciate. I do have to say that the underage, excessive drinking and (basically) alcohol abuse was a bit too much for me; I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but I wasn’t a fan of the blatant way it was described and done by the characters.

Truly, Madly, Amy is a story about first love, but it also incorporates a variety of different topics including friendship, growing up, bullying, family issues and mental health. The main character Joe doesn’t have an easy home life, and it was intriguing to learn more about his past as well as seeing how he slowly changed over those six weeks. The different elements added extra dept to the story, and I much preferred them over the actual romance. While sweet, it went from lust to love a bit too fast; Amy’s character itself was great, but I liked her more for how she helped Joe’s character grow than the romance itself.

The writing style is once again solid, although I did have slight issues with the pace in some points and I did feel the story was a bit overlong. Truly, Madly, Amy is mostly character-driven and focuses on Joe’s growth over those six weeks as well as the changing relationships with the people in his life. The 1999 summer camp setting was great, and the story definitely had that nostalgic feel for me. All in all a solid read if you like your YA romance and coming of age stories well balanced with a bunch of different elements.

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