The Gritty Truth is emotional and steamy. Quincy is strong and flawed, but how he owns his flaws is what brings him into your heart. Roni is a bit of an oddball - but sweet even through all life has thrown at her. Together their story will you smiling, tearing up, and wondering why it's suddenly so hot in here. A must read if you love bad boys gone good, and friends-to-lovers romances. ( )

Hero totally devoted to the heroine.
Small pushing away from heroine to start.
No intimate scenes other than the Hero and heroine.
Both have been celibate for some time.
Hero, 2 years as he it is part of his recovery programme for addicts.
Heroine had bad experience with sex in her college days.
HEA. ( )

The Gritty Truth is emotional and steamy. Quincy is strong and flawed, but how he owns his flaws is what brings him into your heart. Roni is a bit of an oddball - but sweet even through all life has thrown at her. Together their story will you smiling, tearing up, and wondering why it's suddenly so hot in here. A must read if you love bad boys gone good, and friends-to-lovers romances. ( )

This was such a beautiful, and phenomenal story. I enjoyed many moments smiling, laughing, melting with the heat, but Melissa absolutely broke me emotionally on more than one occasion with this. She took the wind out of my sails with the most emotion I've ever felt whilst reading a book.

Quincy has held a special place in my heart ever since meeting him and Tru in their traumatic story of Tru Blue. I thought I was prepared to relive his heartbreaking past and ready to take on whatever was going to come along but my heart felt like it had actually broke as I read certain scenes. This is now firmly planted forever as my #1 Top Melissa Foster read! It can definitely be read as a standalone but I feel that there is a special connection to the characters that seeds from Tru Blue that brings even more feelings to this book.

I always love my time in the Whiskey world, it's always fun, people genuinely care about each other, no judgements are made and are everyone is so supportive, which is what Quincy, a recovering drug addict, needed more than most. He was in his second drug free year and doing really well, he had turned into such a genuine, caring and thoughtful guy, and he was falling hard for sexy dance teacher Roni, who also had her own traumatic history. As we follow their story the author brings the beautiful excitement of fresh love to the pages, the giddiness, stolen glances, the innocence of kissing, drifting you back in time and bringing a smile to your face.

They have the ultimate connection and chemistry, but as things start to progress Quincy finds that he can not allow the relationship to strengthen until he has been totally honest with Roni about his past, even if it means delving into his mistakes he regrets on a daily basis and the possibility of losing Roni completely by scaring her off. As you read, you could feel the sheer anguish, pain, and sadness, running off the pages, whilst remembering to tell yourself to breathe. It ripped my heart out listening to Quincy retell his heartbreaking and unthinkable past. And even though we love Quincy now, imagining how Roni must have felt not knowing what to do with all this painful story. She could be taking the biggest risk of her life. It definitely makes you think about your own thoughts and how would you deal with the biggest decision of your life. What will Roni decide? And what will happen next?

After finishing the book I was an emotional wreck, it left me speechless with emotion as I sat thinking...I just...I can't...I just...I felt like I'd taken all the emotion I could. I found myself writing to the author to try to express just an ounce of how I was feeling...

"I feel like an absolute wreck, I don’t think I could have take much more emotion, can’t get the words out, but phenomenal and beautiful is all I can say. I actually feel like my heart has broke. Thank you for being such an amazing writer xxx"

Phenomenal #1 Melissa Foster read! ( )

The Gritty Truth by Melissa Foster
The Whiskeys #7

Quincy Gritt and Roni Wescott both had parents that were not there for them when they were growing up. Roni was lucky enough to have a grandmother there to aid her achieve her dreams, but Quincy had only a bit older brother to keep him safe. The two met through a bachelor auction then texted for months before actually going on a date. The connection between them was strong but would they be able to honestly communicate, share past traumas, and then move forward to create a future together? It was well worth the read to find out.

What I liked:
* Roni: Strong, focused, big-hearted, giving and loving, there for the man that captured her heart.
* Quincy: Generous, loving, intelligent, family oriented, focused, romantic, and a man there for his woman.
* That Roni and Quincy were open, honest, and communicated openly with one another.
* That the two were both able to overcome huge obstacles and do so in a positive way
* The love shown between the two
* The frank open way drug abuse/addiction is discussed in the book
* The supporting cast of characters
* That this book is standalone and easily read without having read previous books in the series
* All of it really except…

What I did not like:
* Puck: what a horrible person he was!
* The childhood Quincy and his siblings suffered through
* The life changing injury Roni suffered

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more in the series? Yes

Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4.5 Stars ( )