Marco and Oskar were best-friends growing up, but a falling out tears apart the friendship that once seemed strong and unbreakable, and sends Oskar running away. Now Oskar is back and the young men are forced to interact, Marco has to decide if he can forgive Oskar for the hurt he caused in the past.

Anyone who reads my reviews knows my very favorite trope is second chances, and I absolutely loved this one. This was a sweet, yet heartbreaking story. My heart absolutely broke for Marco. He is so insecure about the scarring on his body and he is so desperate to have someone love him romantically, yet he's never tried for fear of being rejected.

Marco is such a lovable character, but I wasn't sure about Oskar. It took time for me to warm up to him, but once the issues were resolved, the way he treated Marco made me absolutely swoon. While I loved the secondary characters of their respective families, I wish more of the story had been devoted to Marco and Oskar as a couple.

This was a well-written story. It's filled with family, community, acceptance and love. Oskar and Marco had amazing chemistry, and the sex was hot, passionate and filled with love. This is my first book by this author, but I'll definitely be checking out some other, especially book one in this series. Absolutely recommendable!!

*copy provided to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

"True Colors" is the tragic, bittersweet, enthralling love story of Marco, whose life got out of control in his teens, and Oskar, who was his best friend before he hurt him badly. teenage age was thrown out of the line, and Oskar, who was his best friend before he hurt him. Therefore, their meetings are full of diverse emotions. Mourning. Anger. Even hate. And - of course, in spite of everything - affection. Lust. Love.

Marco is a protagonist who sees the world and the people in his life in colors, which is also reflected in the structure of the story - each chapter is entitled with a color that symbolizes his mood or the events. He, together with the reader, is experiencing an emotional roller coaster when Oskar, who used to mean everything to him, suddenly reappears and is determined to regain his friendship, which is supported by Marco's friends and relatives. He sincerely regrets what he did, but I can very well understand why Marco was angry and hurt and did not want to trust him anymore. Oskar did something that was terribly wrong and it hurt to see what happened between them. But it was nice when they slowly began to process the past, allowing them to heal.

All the characters are well written, even though I didn't always like how they acted, but ultimately they do not have to behave perfectly. Oskar and Marco are great protagonists and the development of the relationship between them was nicely portrayed. The journey is definitely not easy and they have to work through a lot of pain and hurt, but the story is not depressing, even if the scenes around Marco's problems were hard to read. There was a great balance between serious themes on the one hand and beautiful moments with family, friends or lovers on the other.

"True Colors" is the second volume of a series, but the plot is completed and even though the characters from volume 1, "True Luck", are friends of the protagonists, their romance is only hinted at, so the book can indeed be read as a stand-alone. Since I liked "True Colors", I plan to read the first book soon.

Anyta Sunday knows how to write a story that is emotional and tugs at you! This is a tale full of angst, regret, frustration.
Oskar and Marco were best friends growing up, until a heartbreaking moment that changed everything and had consequences even years later. Add in the fact that Marco has a hard time letting people know who he really is, this story gives me all the feels. Oh, so Oskar makes me so mad sometimes! In the past, plus how he is either oblivious or inconsiderate in the present. UGH! And Marco, man that boy knows how to hold a grudge. But I understand and he's been through so much.

I love the explanation of the colors, and appearances from characters from another book. I cried through half of this thing! Oh and the love scenes were awesome! I received an arc of this.

This is my first novel by the author, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.
I certainly liked how the Kindle edition of the book looks, the way the story is composed and the presence of colors in the narration.

What I did not like were the main characters.
To be honest- I think my favorite character was Jessie - he was the only one whose actions I could understand and somehow relate to....

Maybe it's just me, but I honestly did not get how two people, who are said to have been best friends for so long, can bury their bond so...so easily.

Perhaps if I had seen more of the friendship Oskar and Marco shared initially, not just being "told" they were friends, I would be able to understand them better...

I found some of the plot lines undeveloped, despite them being potentially interesting.
The ending was sweet, though predictable.

** Thank you, Netgalley for giving me the chance to read this one in exchange for an honest review **

Oh yes -- Anyta Sunday is back. I love this. This has the same level of love, history, and angst as my favorite book of hers (Rock).

She does complicated characters like no one else. Specifically, the type of complication where it should be steamy but is so held-back, so painful--because it's so hurtful--but when it breaks through, it's wonderful and so, so satisfying.

This is another one with multi-read potential.

And yes, thanks. I think I will.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆☆
5 Amazing Stars.

I don't know where to begin with my review, other than fangirl for several paragraphs. Anyone who reads my reviews knows I'm not a gushing type reviewer. True Colors hit every note I need in an emotionally gut-twisting read. I've always found something special with Anyta Sunday's writing. I'm not a huge rereader when it comes to contemporary romance, but now two of this author's books are added to that list: Rock and True Colors.

Marco is our narrator, telling us a story that bridges nearly a decade. At twelve, Marco's favorite person on earth is Oskar, his neighbor and best friend. A tragic event changes all of that, when guilt and shame take over Marco's life.

The beginning portion of True Colors sets up the entirety of the book, featuring scenes from when Marco is twelve and his mother is still alive, showcasing the making of the play that will be the foundation of everyone coming back together.

Marco feels betrayed over words Oskar voiced when they were teenagers. Having already lost his mother, and Oskar breaking his trust, Marco doesn't have the ability to allow people in. He has friends, but he keeps them at arm's length, never opening up. He's scarred from the tragedy that took his mother away, so he refuses to get close to guys, even for a biological need.

Returning home from college, Oskar is everywhere in Marco's life, refusing to back off, forcing Marco to deal with the past. Their meddling neighbor families refuse to allow the animosity to remain.

True Colors was sweet, heartfelt – real. The angst caused that gut-twisting sensation to happen to me over and over, a sensation I look for when reading a novel. I laughed, smiled, got teary-eyed, and felt utterly satisfied at the end of the novel.

True Colors was a beautiful story I plan on revisiting in the future... I see this is book two – I interrupt this gush-fest to go locate book one.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆☆
This is a beautiful story. At its most simple, it is a very damaged young man’s coming of age story. It is also the story of the life-long relationship between two young men. At its most complex, this book explores grief and betrayal, intimacy and desire. It is a story about self, family, and community.

The writing is sparse. Marcus tells his story in a disjointed, non-linear series of memories and moments. The writer forces readers to pull Marcus’ story together for themselves – but we fully understand Marcus’ past at the very moment he starts to understand his present.

Even though Marcus is a university student, there is young adult feel to this story. He is still tied tightly to his family and his community. Incidents in his past have left him scarred, but they have also left him very innocent in many ways.

The author offers very little to create a sense of place. In many ways, the other characters provide the backdrop for this story of Marcus’ emotional growth. And the characters in this story are wonderful.

This book is a deliberate puzzle and it is almost impossible to discuss it without giving too much away. I loved it. I loved the unique writing style. I enjoyed the unconventional structure and I fell in love with so many of the characters. It is an honest story. The emotions in this book are raw and real. I know that this will tug at my heart and my mind for quite some time.


Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/M Romance
Triggers: Click HERE to see Avid Reader’s review on Goodreads for trigger warnings.

Hmm, this is a very emotional story. It really is about two boys' friendship and the trials and tribulations that come with growing up. Can you really trust your family? Community?

I loved the secondary characters because they helped shape the story between Marco and Oskar. This is a story that is told in stages. You have to be willing to put some of the pieces together – it's not told in a straight fashion, but rather flashback and pieces.

While I did enjoy the story, I did find that there was a lot of back and forth but without substance. There was a lot of talk, without saying too much.

This is a fairly straight forward story – friends, enemies, confused, friends. While there are some people in the story who are less than helpful to both Marco and Oskar, I think that the accepting characters more than make up for it.

You can't really say too much without giving the story away, but this was a coming of age, discovering what's important, forgiveness at its most basic form, and about learning to love yourself.

This was my first book by this author and I have to say, I LOVED this story. It was fantastically written, and I loved each and every one of the character's! I am not sure how I have not read anything by this author before, but rest assured, she is now on my must read list!

I didn't finish this story so I am uncomfortable rating it.
I have read 25% and those were filled with grammatical errors (which will probably be edited before release) and weird word usage. Things like "I want to yoke at least an ounce of that mindset", had me baffled enough to DNF this book after reading the first quarter.
I think this book need a couple of proofreadings and a good English educated editor.

Really 4.5.Deducted 0.5 as I did not like the "colours" idea.
I thought at first that I was going to have problems with this but once I got through the first couple of chapters I was so caught up in Marco and Oskar's story that I could not stop reading.
Forgiveness and moving- on are the major problems dealt with here;enduring love and happiness are the rewards for dealing successfully with them.
This book is so well-written, warm and, at the same time, heart-wrenching.Your emotions will be all over the place!
Thoroughly recommendable to those who enjoy their m/m romance with a sprinkling of angst and a pinch or two of sex!

This was the perfect book to lose myself in after reading some hard hitting nonfiction. The romance between Oskar and Marco was a slow simmering burn that made the ending that much better. I loved the way that Sunday didn't make this an easy relationship....there were parts of those two coming together that had me yelling at the book. Will be on the lookout for more books from Anyta Sunday.

Marco and Oskar were neighbors and friends, they grew up together. Something happens in Marco's life that marks him and some time after his relationship with Oskar is damaged. At first, I didn't know what to think about this story, I didn't want Marco and Oskar's issues to be something dumb blown out of proportion but at the same time I didn't want an awful story because you do get attached to them or at least to Marco really fast. Their past was beautiful and sad but it wasn't overly dramatic, which is surprising because a lot of the story is Marco basically avoiding and hiding a lot of things and at the same time keeping all this resentment towards Oskar, but like I said the execution was done great.

I ca’t really say much about this book except, it was great.

First of all, I love Marco! I loved how he attempted to move on but when he realized he couldn’t he accepted it and reassessed his options. I loved how hard he worked to earn forgiveness. I loved how determined he was even in the face of his own personal shit he had going on in his life. He put others before himself. He made mistakes and owned them. And he forgave himself. I just….:sigh: I love him.

Oskar….not so much. He came off a bit too whiny for me TBH. His refusal to forgive and keep holding onto his pain and hatred were a huge turn-off for me. I’ma huge believer in the power of change so that’s probably why I had such a hard time with him. But he did end up redeeming himself in the end, so he wasn’t so far gone that there was no return from the island of assholes. He was a great support system for Marco’s sister and he was close with his family so there was some depth to see.

And holy shit, the sex scenes! I mean, they seemed a bit too intense with this love story but damn I think I may have blushed while reading them, which doesn’t happen very often. 😉

http://redzworld.blogspot.com/2017/05/true-colors-by-anyta-sunday.html

This is the second Anyta Sunday book I've read and it was almost as good as the first one. I loved Marco and Oskar and thought about them when I wasn't reading.

This delicious slow burn is a second chance love story of two best friends that fell out of friendship when one betrays the other. It does such a good job of giving us angst, but not so much we are choking on it. Marco rightfully keeps Oskar at a distance, but slowly their friendship begins to build again and it was natural and genuine. I loved that it was slow and we got pieces of the puzzle as we went. I ached for them to figure it out.

The other thing that was nice was the family dynamic. Some people won't like so much secondary time, but I liked the glimpse into their relationships. Just as much as I wanted Marco and Oskar to figure it out, I wanted Oskar's family to pull their heads out.

There were a few things I saw coming and called, but there were a lot of things that made me surprised and I didn't mind knowing where the story was going because it just meant I was being lead to a happy ending--which is a must.

All in all this was a great story of second chance love with the friends to lover bit with it (which is my fave). I got all the feels and can't wait to read more of Anyta Sunday.

**copy provided in exchange for an honest review**

<b>Received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review</b>
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

This is my second time reading Anyta Sunday's books and to be honest I didn't even realize this was also written by her as the styles of the two novels I have read were so different. I want to make it clear that this is not a complaint.

Oskar and Marco's story is not a happy one, at least not at first, and the pain within that story is palpable. The trauma is as real as if it was happening to someone I know in real life and the way it is written is delicious.

Anyta Sunday has a great way of pulling the reader into her story, making them feel invested, and truly feel what the characters are feeling. Though the plot can sometimes feel rushed, as though there is a hurry to get to the conclusion, this was a very fulfilling read, one which will likely stay with me for a while.

While I do know that some people will balk at the idea of happily ever afters, in this day and age I find those are the novels that I am seeking out the most. Sometimes you need a little solace from the harshness of the outside world and this novel offers the reader just that. A well written plot with a tidy resolution.

If I could wipe my mind, I totally would for this book. That way I could reread it and feel like it was the first time again. That rush of indignation, of dislike, and fleeting happiness. Because for a while I didn't know how Oskar was going to redeem himself, if he wanted to. He was too cocky, too confident when it came to Marco, but Anyta Sunday does not disappoint and by the end I wanted more. I didn't want to end the novel, much like all of Anyta Sunday's novels. All of my heart seemed to break at some point.

Sorry, but this was a DNF for me. I appreciate being offered the chance to read the book, however. Thank you.

Wow, one of those unputdownable books! The emotions run so deep between those two that it gave me goosebumps. I loved how they fought their way through their problems even though they seemed insurmountable at the beginning.
A truly intense read I thoroughly enjoyed!