True Colors

I loved every second of this book. Literally. Every second.

~4.5~

"Oskar sets his fingertips on the tablecloth, drawing my eye to the warm saffron-yellow checkers and reminding me for a breath-catching second that he used to be sunglow yellow. My happy, my everything. Now he's rust. Dark, burnt-orange rust. A color to throw away."


Marco associates people with colors. His friend Ben is turquoise, full of bright, vibrant energy. Oskar used to be sunglow yellow, but that was before. Marco is salmon, the color of cowardice.

The story begins with black. That was the color the day Marco's mama died. That day changed everything.

Marco carries scars on his body; he wears long-sleeved shirts even when it's scorching outside. He's never had a lover—he doesn't dare bare himself. There was only ever one boy for him. But that boy betrayed him, and their friendship turned to dust.

Marco is the first-person narrator of this story. This is more his story than Oskar's. It's Marco who needs to let go, who needs to forgive. His anger toward Oskar is all encompassing, and I understood it.

When Oskar moves back to Berlin, Marco's life turns inside out. He's good friends with Oskar's younger sister Zoe, who is thrilled at her brother's return and asks that Marco put aside his grievances for her sake.

Marco's dad expects Marco and Oskar to star in the play he's producing in tribute to his late wife. This is the final play she wrote before she died, and she envisioned Marco and Oskar as the leads—two pirates, once friends, now sworn enemies. Will one stab the other or forgive?

Marco isn't out, but Oskar is. Marco sees Oskar kissing a boy against a tree and runs.

Hate is just the flip side of love.

Anyta Sunday writes beautifully; her prose is simple but evocative. Every chapter is a color. And every color has a story.

The secondary characters—Zoe, Marco's patient papa and opa (a man of few words who's still as sharp as a tack), his friends Ben (who's pining after Sebastian; this book runs parallel to the first book in the series but CAN be read as a standalone) and Elena (who draws Marco like she sees him, scars and all)—are fully fleshed out.

True Colors is about fear and forgiveness and friendship. It's about first love, the one that sticks. This isn't a light story, but it ends with sunglow yellow. There is an epilogue and a frozen pond and messages in a bottle.

MB + OR

My happy, my everything.

I can't possibly give this story less than 5 stars...it really is something special.

True Colors is poignant and heartbreaking, but it's also uplifting and inspiring...a wonderful story about friendship and forgiveness. I was pulled in from the very first page, and I was hard pressed to put it down for any reason. I fell in love with everything Oskar and Marco...their families, their struggles and insecurities, their love for each other.

But it's not just the characters and plot that make this book special. Anyta Sunday is such a fantastic storyteller. The way the story is written feels fresh and original...it keeps you hooked from beginning to end and wanting more because it's just so. damn. good.

There are so many more things I could gush about, but you would do better to just read it for yourself. This one's going to stay close to me.

Sunglow yellow. The start of our story



"There’s a lot of things I’m not sure about. Things I’m still trying to work through. Will work through.
But the thing I know with absolute certainty?
Oskar and me? Our story didn’t start at hate."



I have no words how to explain how much I adored the this story.
Anyta Sunday did it again, playing with my heart, playing with my head, and how I loved the beautiful poetic prose this story brings.
Fear of his s own scars, of how Oskar will see him, destroyed their happiness to be with his soulmates, Marco let his anger rotten. And the way Marco dealt with his own regrets, made them separate for years. But love...sigh.. true love is strong and they're trying so hard to fight their hate, their own demons to reach their pending happiness again, the way they were back then.

This is a beautiful story, just like the author mentioned before, a healthy portion of angst (not much, really), and lots of happiness.

This is the story of acceptance, forgiveness and finding your true colors...Just like Marco and his colors, their life is full of colors and it started with a sunglow yellow...the color of Marco's hair...



"You were my first color.
My Happy. My everything."




SIGH.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

4.5 stars!

True Colors was one hell of an angst read. It was so different, unique, yet amazing that I was blown away. This is my second read by Anyta Sunday and will not be my last by any means. Oskar and Marco used to be best friends before Oskar destroyed it in a few minutes.

This is a story of how they were best friends but became enemies-to-lovers. It's not light at all and filled with so much emotions that you might even shed a tear for them. I certainly did. Their characters were awfully well developed for 20 year old's.

"What colors am I supposed to be?"
"All of them,Marco....you're all of them."

True Colors is a beautiful journey of family, love, and most importantly forgiveness. Even if you've never read M/M, I highly recommend this book. If you're looking for a different story, you'll like it!

I have received the book True colors of Anyta Sunday as an arc in exchange for an honest review. I would have bought it anyway and maybe I still do. I really enjoyed it.

The story is about Marco and Oskar, two boys who grew up as close friends in Berlin. The families of the boys are also very close to each other. Due to an unfortunate incident the friendship stops abruptly. For some time, Oskar lives in another city but he moves back to his parents' house after which Marco and Oskar are confronted with each other and their pasts again. Contact is almost unavoidable, particularly because the families have such a strong connection.

The story caught me from the beginning. It grabbed me and held me until the end. It developed slowly and it felt natural and real, as do the two main characters, their problems and the development between them and also the people around them. It kept me reading and it felt like it mattered to me what happened to them.

The use of colors, as mentioned in the title, was different from what I expected. It was really nice and for me contributed to the story.

True Colors is a lovely story of friendships,family,forgiveness and love

Marco is scared both physically and emotionally.He sees people and the world through colors,some are beautiful,some are not.

Marco and Oskar were best friends growing up together as neighbours.They could see each others bedrooms from across the street.They had a special bond until one day Oskar caused Marco pain and humiliation with a terrible betrayal.

Fifteen months later Oskar is back but Marco can't find it in himself to forgive him.However they are forced to face each other as they are both taking part in a play Marco's father is producing.The play has a special meaning as it was written by Marco's late mother.There are two endings,one tragic,one happy....but which one will Marco choose?

Marco keeps his body hidden,terrified of exposing his scars.He's never been intimate with anyone,keeping his sexuality a secret.

Starting their lives as friends,then becoming enemies this is a slow burn and rightly so.We only get Marco's pov but you can still feel the deep feelings Oskar has for him as they both try and get their friendship back on track.

This is beautifully written and has a kind of poignancy about it as they both admit to what they feel about each other.The use of the color theme was unique and worked so well.


Reds,for courage,strength,deterimation.
Purples for pride,dignity,independence,magic.
Greens for growth,hope,safety.
Sunglow Yellow.....


"What colors am I supposed to be?"
"All of them,Marco....you're all of them."

It took me something like 5 hours to read this book.
I've been waiting for something to get me out of my funk.
Most books can't deliver the slow burn, enemies to lovers, love through the ages, the tension, the angst, the connection that I crave when I pick up a book.

The connection is so so so bloody important to me. This is why I honestly hate anything with insta-lust or insta-love because you cant grasp that yearning feeling that I crave.

Anyta Sunday delivers this to me always. Sometimes I get really invested in her characters that I cry myself to sleep.... Rock... sometimes I get lost and don't realize that a whole day has gone by ... Lenny for Your Thoughts
Sometimes I start at its done in a blink of an eye.

But I always always know that when I read one of Sunday's books Im gonna enjoy myself.

Thanks for giving me what I yearn for.

Mare~Slitsread

Endearing characters and compelling story. Sweet and heart-warming.
Anyta Sunday does slow-burn like nobody out there. The hard work she put into this story is evident at all times, because the final product is a wonderful story about love and growth and second chances- not only for other people, but also about the importance of learning to give them to ourselves, being aware that taking the risk might lead to happiness. Loved every second of it.

While I liked "Bottle Boys" fine, this second story in the series felt much more fleshed out and the connection more real.

Marco had been deeply hurt by the person he trusted most, so he wasn't entirely thrilled when Oskar finally returned to Berlin.

As a teen, Oskar made the most horrible mistake, mostly out of fear. But that mistake gutted Marco to the very core of his being.

But it was time to move on from past wrongs and forgive themselves in order to move on with their lives, so there were a lot of awkward situations and difficult conversations in this story.

Oskar was persistent, though, always seeming to show up when Marco least expected, or wanted him there. Some wounds can never heal, as Marco understood better than most, but some can, given enough time and care.

This was the story of two best friends, then enemies, putting in the work to get back what they'd once taken for granted and lost. Then transforming that friendship into something much deeper, something permanent.

Marco was such a sad, broken character, so it was a complete joy to see him eventually come to accept his physical and emotional scars, no longer allowing them to rule every aspect of his life.

Then we had Oskar, riddled with guilt over his cowardly betrayal of the person he loved most, right from the start, but he finally decided that he had to try and make things right. He remembered how happy he and Marco had once been, so he refused to give up on that without a fight. And fight he did.

With a couple of especially steamy scenes, this was a sexier read than I'd come to expect from Anyta and, let me tell you, she did not disappoint when the clothes went flying off.

The story wasn't overly angsty, but two characters did tend to make my blood boil on sight. Oskar's boyfriend, Jessie. Ugh. And 'Olivia.' Double ugh. Maybe triple, even.

This book overlapped the same timeline as "Bottle Boys," but I suppose it could be read as a standalone; however, I personally would not recommend reading this story until you'd first read book 1.

I'd rate this one at a very solid 4.25 *draw-me* stars and highly recommend it.

Another great slow-burn romance by Anyta Sunday, this time with a bit of angst.

Strong plot, likeable main and supporting characters and good writing style. I recommend this book, especially if you like slow-burn romances.
Even though this is part of a series it can be read as a standalone with no problem.

I liked that Marco and Oskar took their time in getting to know each other again and didn't jump into anything in a rush. That wouldn't have felt right considering their past.
The ending was a bit sappy and there were a few too sweet moments but I could just look the other way and keep enjoying the book.
And I really did enjoy it! Everything in their past was explained, realistic and believable. It took time and effort for Marco and Oskar to be able to overcome the issues they had. There was no magic solution. They had to really work to get over their past and rebuild their connection and friendship.

Also, I loved the way each chapter was named after a color! The story is told in Marco's point of view and he has the habit of thinking about people, situations, emotions and behaviors in colors. He basically catalogues the world around him in colors. It was very interesting to see the world through his eyes.

So, four stars from me and a recommendation to read it!

*ARC of this book was kindly provided to me by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

A moving,beautiful story,about best friends,who sadly become enemies.
tis story is about the journey to a better life,accepting what is done to you,and
move beyond that,to see the love is right in front of you.only if you let yourself.
heal.

True Colors was truly unique in some ways. I absolutely loved how the colors and what they represented were used, and what's even better, the design of titles were visually stunning (I can imagine that a paperback would be gorgeous).

Besides that, the characters and the development they went through was so good and captivating that the book was almost impossible to put down; I downright devoured it. There were so many characters who were easy to relate with and otherwise absolute sweethearts; Ben was just so nice, Elena so supportive, Zoe enthusiastic (and totally had a shipper heart), and Marco's family who were just so warm. And Oskar and Marco, oh did I love them, separate and together. Marco needs all the warm hugs and kind words because he's beautiful inside and out. He was deeply hurt and has a lot of trust issues. Oskar was a bit mystery at first but despite the mistake he made, he was a nice guy.

True Colors was a story of learning to forgive, learning to heal and to let go of the past. It was about friendship and enemies and the lines between those. It was about love and courage to be who you are, and accept yourself. In every way, the story was beautiful; at times it broke my heart, just to mend it back. It was so gorgeous because Marco and Oskar, and their relationship which was complicated, steamy, sweet, and just to stunning. I loved the book, most of the characters, and especially the relationship and the journey Marco (and Oskar) went through.

I highly recommend True Colors, because it was brilliant story that had everything; sadness, happiness, hate, love, frustration, fears and overcoming them, friendships and family dynamics.

I was 100% enraptured with this book from the very beginning. I felt the connection between Oskar and Marco right from the start. Their tether, their bond was truly a thing of beauty. The author's prose was gorgeous as well. I felt the colors, I felt the feelings. I felt the angst and the burn, I felt the camaraderie and the desire between them. True Colors was a lovely read and I will be looking out for more in this series and more from this author!

This is the second book I've read by this author and it's just as great. I love this kind of romance, a slow burn with a HEA ending. The best.

This is all about two young children coming to terms with their feelings for each other. Then something happens to make them fall out of friendship and then they slowly get back to what they were before and so much more.

I love Marco and Osker. Their love is so wonderfully sweet. I love watching their path to lovers and confessing their love. I love the journey that Marco goes through while learning to love his body even though he thought it was ugly.

If you like this kind of book, I can say 100% you will love this story. The writing is easy to follow and flows into a wonderful story. All I know is I must read more by this author.

A journey of young love who went through tragedy, wrong choices and redemption. An angsty yet funny story told from a scarred young man's POV. I went through many kind of emotions following Marco through the pages; laughing, smiling, sniffling, all twisty feeling that had me clutch my heart.

True Colors is the second entry to Anyta Sunday's True Love series, set in Berlin. Marco used to be best bud with Oskar who lived next door; they were practically inseparable until the day Oskar did the unspeakable and hurt Marco's already fragile feeling and the friendship shattered. Years later, after briefly leaving Berlin, Oskar is back next door and Marco struggles between his (still) deep- seated hurt, unwanted attraction, and self-consciousness.

At first, I felt slightly exasperated with Marco and thought he's acting a bit childish. But as the story goes and more of his issue revealed, I couldn't help to feel for him. He was scarred at a young age and never really coped from the backlash from someone he thought would always be there for him. On the other hand, Oskar paid the price for his reckless choice and suffers in silence along with Marco.

It was the sort of convoluted misunderstanding that went too long and not easily bridged. I might not a big fan of new adult genre, but the way Sunday span the story and played with the characters’s emotions, I say this is not a story to be missed. Not only is this a romantic love, True Colors also a tale about family love. Like with family, there are some issues you have to face - like annoying, butting-in sister - but you love them anyway, no matter what. That pretty much sums up my state with this book. :)

Advanced copy of this book is kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It only took me two sittings to finish it and that was only because I needed to stop reading to get some sleep. I will admit there was a point that I almost stopped reading it, though. I have a hard time reading sad books. I avoid them like the plague. So when this one started off fairly sad and had even sadder flashbacks I considered stopping. I'm so glad that I didn't! These flashbacks were necessary to give background on the two main characters Marco and Oskar's past.

True Colors is written in first person. Which I'm not a huge fan of but it was written well and I barely noticed after noting that this was the writing style. Anyta Sunday did a wonderful job with the background of the characters and it didn't take long at all to understand who was who and how they related to each other. It can be read as a stand alone book. I didn't even realize it was part of a series until I went on Goodreads to get information for this review!

Marco is the main character. He has a habit of assigning people around him colors. The first is Oskar's color: "It started with sunglow yellow and him." I found this book and Marco's color references to be quite poetic. He is mature in that respect but immature in many others. I'm not a huge fan of new adult books and if I'd realized this was one I may not have read it. I find angst tiring. Luckily, Anyta Sunday didn't include a ton of youth into it despite Marco and Oskar being college students.

This is a m/m aka gay romance which is quickly becoming one of my favorite book genres. One of the characters is openly out while the other is not. There are not a lot of love scenes. If you enjoy a struggle and rocky past you will enjoy this book. Like I said, I had a hard time stopping reading. The by-play between Marco and Oskar is great. I also really liked Oskar's little sister Zoe. There's a lot of history between the two families and a lot of hurt. At times, each of the men come off as jerks but knowing the underlying cause of their reactions are based in hurt makes it forgivable as a reader.

My favorite part of this book were the text messages between Marco and Oskar. I can totally relate to how much easier it is to communicate through the phone or computer. I also really enjoyed the play rehearsals. I really thought that the whole play thing was kind of corny at first but I warmed up to it and it was pretty neat in the end. I would highly recommend this book even if you're new to gay romance since the few sex scenes aren't graphic or detailed.

Summary: Best friends and neighbors spent almost every moment together in their youth until they were torn apart by one wrong decision. Little did they know that each was in love with the other. They were brought closer as children by a terrible tragedy but it is also the results of this tragedy that causes them to lose their friendship. Four years go by before they finally try to patch things up. But can Marco get his confidence back in order to forgive Oskar? Or will he continue being the color salmon and thinking of Oskar as the color rust?

I really really enjoyed this book i just adored Marco and Oskar my heart just broke at times for Marco.This was a very well written book with likable characters and a great storyline i just loved it.

This is a story about friendship and the meaning of accepting yourself and being accepted.
Marco and Oskar learn to be friends again after years apart because a wrong choice. I love the prose of this author and with this one I wasn't able to stop reading until the end of the book because I care a lot about Marco.
I love the color theme and how Marco chooses a color for every person of his life.

5 MAGENTA stars!

I adored how the writer named each chapter with a color, just like one of the characters gave every person in his life a color - depending on his feelings and the vibes he got from the said person.

Well I'll mention MAGENTA is for LOVE, not just red like I would have suspected. But it's a great change. I love magenta!

This is a slow burn romance, not really enemies to lovers - even if it surely felt so, but let's better use: former best-friends to such HOT lovers.
It's amazingly written, with a pretty huge dose of angst, but it's a very fast read.

Oskar "sunglow yellow" - is a blonde cutie, with warm hazel eyes, very sure of himself.
"Reminding me for a breath-catching second that he used to be sunglow yellow. My happy, my everything". (yellow = happiness)

Marco is everything Oskar isn't - insecure, hiding the scars that make him too afraid to experience sex. It broke my heart he felt the need to hide even from his family and friends! He keeps a facade, but deep down in his heart, he's been bleeding for years.

I loved this story! It made me ache, but in the end, it made me all warm and fuzzy.
What started as a 3 stars read for me, ended with 5 bright stars!

I must admit I couldn't quite connect with the characters at first, and it may have something to do with the BIG animosity between them. I couldn't understand Marco's anger towards his childhood best friend, as the author chose to keep us in the dark for a long time.

I was kind of disappointed Marco couldn't forgive Oskar for what seemed at first only a bad joke. Eventually I realized it was way deeper, and when the whole heartbreaking scene was revealed to us, well I felt really bad for resenting Marco. He had all the right in the world to keep his distance from Oskar. He felt betrayed, hurt and humiliated!

I don't want to give too much, because this story is FULL of secrets, ones are hidden very good, some not really.
I found it a little disturbing how Marco strongly denied his feelings towards Oskar, but even if they seemed quite clueless, they had great chemistry. Oh, and I adore a virgin MM story. Always!

I really love Anyta Sunday's writing style. It has something very powerful about it.
I also liked the secondary characters, especially Zoe, and I can't wait to read Ben and Sebastian's story too Bottle Boys!

Off I go now to read Leo Loves Aries! Hope it'll be just as good as True Colors.

An ARC was kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I absolutely loved "Leo loves Aries" , so when I was given the opportunity to read and reviews this book, I jumped on it.

True Colers is a sweet story about friends, loss, fear forgiveness and love.

Marco and Oskar have been best friends since they were little. Oskar has always been there for Marco, especially after his mother died and he got hurt. Oskar has been his rock his first color...his sunglow yellow. That is until they are 16 and he's not anymore...

Fast forward 4 years and Oskar is back in town. Marco is still very angry and hurt. Oskar is the reason for all his insecurities and he can't find it in himself to forgive and pretend like nothing happend. Avoiding Oskar is not an option either. Especially since Oskar's family lives next door to his father and grandfather, they are all good friends. The fact that Oskar's sister Zoe is one of Marco's best friends complicates things even further.

To make matters worse, they are forced to act together in a play, Marco's father is producing. It's a play to honor Marco's deceased mother, so saying no is not an option. Oskar seems pretty happy to be in this play. He wants to patch things up between two of them. He really wants to makes things right.

They are co-stars and it's up to Marco to decide on the ending....there are two options....a tragic one or a HEA. Marco isn't ready to leave the past behind and he is set on the tragic ending.

Slowly but surely they start to start to re-built their friendship. This is a very slow burn, but once with get there...it's burns like hell !!

I really enjoyed this one. I loved reading about Marco and all his colors. I am very happy he got his sunglow yellow back...

"You were my first color". "My happy. My everything."

Sunglow Yellow. The start of our story.

An ARC was kindly provided to me by Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review

This review has been posted on Dirty Books Obsession

*review of an arc received through netgalley*

Anyta is an expert when it comes to M/M slow burn romance. She knows how to get on your nerves while simultaneously persuading you to turn the page. Yes, this one stayed true to her style.

I believe that at its core this story is about forgiveness. Once best friends, these two boys drifted apart over something that mighy have seemed unforgivable at the time. This book shows that the passing of time does heal most wounds when one is willing to treat them.

Asides from that, I really loved the secondary characters on this one. The dynamics of the families and the friendship between them. How Anyta gave meaning to the colors, which reminded me of Rock, another amazing book of hers.

All in all, this was a very interesting read that I definitely recommend.

I didn't read the first one in this series, and don't believe I suffered because of that.

This coming-of-age story is slow building and relies on all the secondary characters playing their parts, while the two MCs dance around each other - one hurt and angry, the other regretful and patient.

I was a little confused initially to be honest and I may have been reading too fast to really appreciate the sad undertones, especially with the precise details of Marco's tragic loss. I didn't ever think I found out the source of his scars, but I joined some dots and am happy where that took me (even if it's wrong).

This could easily be classified into NA. Marco and Oskar are in their early 20s. They attend uni and have part-time jobs and head to music festivals. It's realistic and detailed. Once I got a clear picture in my head of all the characters (and it really didn't take that long), I very much enjoyed this journey back to forgiveness and love. I love the use of colours (sorry Australian here, must include 'u') to bind the story together.

Thanks Netgalley for the copy to read. Out on March 14.

Heartwarming

True Colors is a friends to enemies to lovers story that's sure to pull on the heartstrings of even the most cynical reader. Marco and Oskar grew up together, were the best of friends who spent countless hours together doing nothing and everything. One fateful day tragedy strikes Marco's family which forever alters the landscape of his life.




Thankfully he still has the support of his best friend until an event in a boys locker room turned his best friend into his enemy and shattered a piece of his soul along the way.

This is a slow burn told in Sunday's unique style with some flashbacks to explain the hurt. The comfort is delivered in spades but requires patience.

Told from both of their perspectives which gave each of these characters depth and gave the story poignancy. I appreciated Oskar's perspective to truly understand his actions and to invest in them as a couple because what Oskar did was awful. I'm glad it wasn't glossed over and that Marco doesn't capitulate at the first apology. Oskar needed to prove himself worthy of Marco more than once, for me.




What resonated the most was how much of an impact hurtful words can have on someone's psyche. The foundation of Marco's self-image was damaged in that locker room and that's not something he can recover from easily, nor can he ignore that Oskar is still under his skin. It's clear Marco's still has strong feelings for his first love and erstwhile best friend. More than just animosity too.

When he returns to Berlin with a boyfriend all those feelings become harder to ignore. He does try though. As you know, I have a thing for the possessive ones and Oskar is not happy about all of Marco's "trying". I liked that Sunday went this direction with his characterization because it makes it abundantly clear that the shadow of Marco casts a long shadow.

The secondary characters and family dynamics added tension and pushed the narrative forward. Zoe and how protective they are of her was entertaining. Grandpa a.k.a. Grandmaster Scrabbler cracked me up with his grunting. I feel like he's an oracle, but a non-verbal one. And I really REALLY loved when Marco finally comes out and everyone being like, 'yeah, we know'.




There isn't an excessive amount of sex, as you might expect with this trope. But in its place is oodles of longing, desire and romance to satisfy most readers.

This may sound hokey but I have to mention how much I LOVED all the fonts and the colors, how Marco uses those colors and how colors are integral to his character. It's uncommon and maybe a little quirky but I really enjoyed it.

Recommended!




A review copy was provided by NetGalley.

The day that Marco’s mother died was a black day. His mother used to attach a color to every day and now that she is gone, Marco has taken it up in her place. Oskar was Marco’s happy place, the brightest yellow, but his color turned to rust after he betrayed Marco and their friendship has never recovered.

Marco lives with the pain over his lost friend and the guilt over his mother’s absence. His body also bears the scars of that fateful day and he can’t allow anyone to get close or to see him exposed. He covers up his body with clothes and he covers up his emotions so no one will see his weaknesses. He thinks that he is salmon, the color of a coward. When Oskar comes back to town, old feelings climb back up, but Marco can never forget how Oskar wasn’t there when he needed him most. Oskar has apologies to make and Marco is going to have to let down all of his defenses to live his life next to the only man he has ever truly wanted.

Anyta Sunday strikes a cord with a story about two friends who fell apart and then try and find their way back to each other. As the book opens, Marco is trying to figure out when his story with Oskar started. There are so many defining moments of their friendship and now all he can see is the hate he feels towards Oskar.

The book deals with heavier themes, but doesn’t come off as overly heavy as the writing has a lightness to it. The prose flows well and is filled with all of Marco’s colors, both the lighter ones and the darker ones as well. Marco’s feelings toward Oskar are justified, except only the two of them know what really happened, or maybe Marco thinks he does but he doesn’t know the whole story. It’s still of no consequence as Oskar’s words and actions left a scar on him as much as the accident itself.

Marco’s mother used to write plays and the tradition has been kept up to perform one of her plays each year. This is the last play she has written, only the ending wasn’t complete and the two that Marco’s father wrote mirror the struggles between Marco and Oskar. Marco has also remained close to Oskar’s younger sister and she expects Marco to put aside their differences and have everything be the way it used to be.

This is a slow burn story as Marco struggles with all of his feelings about his scarred body and about Oskar. Marco never knew that Oskar was gay and while Oskar has come out, Marco cannot find the courage. Marco is good at running. When he sees Oskar kissing another boy he runs and when Oskar wants to talk he runs and he even runs from his own voice and his own thoughts.

The book is also about family and is filled with secondary characters as well. Marco’s friend Ben was featured in Bottle Boys, a short story that was part of the Wish Come True anthology, and this story is set within the same time frame as that one. While Marco and Oskar’s story is a stand alone, there are details that could be missed from Ben’s story, but overall it would be easy to overcome.

I would have liked to have seen more details, even in the general sense, regarding Marco’s accident and then his recovery. He is dealing with so many things, but it didn’t seem like he ever had anybody to talk to regarding his mother or his scars or any of the thoughts in his head that were pulling him under and the story had jumps in time that weren’t filled in enough for me. The book is also set in Berlin, but it didn’t have a strong sense of place and I would have enjoyed more detail.

True Colors incorporates friendship, betrayal, loss, and ultimately forgiveness. The guys come full circle to get not only their friendship back, but to move forward to all of the brighter colors.

Sunglow yellow. The start of our story.

True Colors is the second book I've read by Anyta Sunday and I loved it just as much as the first one (Leo Loves Aries). She describes the book as "an enemies/friends to lovers, boy next door, first time, slow burn M/M gay romance with a generous helping of UST. This no-cliffhanger, HEA book can be read as a standalone" and her description is spot on.

I have to tell a funny on myself. I didn't know what UST was (I thought it was a typo with the L missing from lust) so I emailed Ms. Sunday and asked her. She very kindly explained that it means Unreleased Sexual Tension and boy is this book full of that. It's rare that I can give an MM book a "Spicy" rating instead of "Scorcher" but I truly appreciate reading a story with a little less explicit heat from time to time. Don't take that to mean that this book won't turn your crank – it will! – the UST is very nice and when things finally happen between Oskar and Marco – wow! Another thing I really liked about this story is that it's set in Berlin, Germany which was new for me.

Marco is so emotionally damaged by something that happened between him and Oskar that it not only affected their friendship it also has kept him from forming close relationships with other gay men. He is still in the closet and afraid of what will happen when his family finally finds out that he is gay.

Anyta Sunday's books are a bit different, and may not be for everyone, but I love them and I'm definitely adding her backlist to my TBR list.

True Colors is the second book in the True Love series but you don't need to have read the first one to enjoy it (I haven't read True Luck yet but will be correcting that soon).

A review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.

I really really really liked this story. It was book 2 in a series but can absolutely be read as a standalone without losing the plot.

I liked the outlook Marco had on life with his colour-coding of emotions , events and people. I found it fascinating. However, he had a lot of self love and self esteem issues which dictated most of his actions throughout the story. Oskar, his estranged bestfriend and unwitting cause of most of these issues ,spent most of the story trying to get back into his good books.

Sometimes with second chance books, you think the one who got hurt just needs to "let it go" but here, it was a tangible emotional scar that was inflicted so it wasn't going to be that easy. The way it was sorted out, the way they forged ahead with a new line of friendship and the way they reaffirmed the feelings they had for each other was done very very well. It made the story feel very real for me.

If they had just hopped into bed after the first kiss( with all the insecurities flying around ),the story would've lost me. The writing was very good, secondary characters were fleshed out, the dialogue was engaging and the steam was very adequate for this type of story.

If you are in the mood for a well written, realistic second chance book , try this one. I enjoyed it a lot.

Oh, I loved this book! Anyta Sunday is quickly becoming a "must read" author for me.

Marco and Oskar grew up next door to one another and were best friends until they were about 13. Remember those shameful moments when your younger self didn't do the right thing? Didn't stand up and speak truth? For Marco and Oskar, it tore their friendship apart and began years of anger (at least on Marco's part):

"I gaze at his slightly upturned lips that hold the memories of a hundred songs we sang between us, tens of plays, a handful of secrets, and six soul-destroying words."

Then Oskar returns home to Berlin from attending school in Mannheim and despite trying to keep that hatred and anger around him like a protective cloak, Marco can only:

"Think back to when every touch made me giddy, when every laugh fizzed in my veins, when we had whole conversations quoting song lyrics and our favorite movies-when every smile felt like a secret."

Their story is well-told and their love is so beautifully resurrected. 5 stars!

True Colors is a friends to enemies back to friends and more story that is moving and sweet at times and hard to read at other times. This book is written in first person by Marco and it's really his story about how he learns to forgive and let go of past hurts. Marco and Oskar were the best of friends until Oskar betrayed him in a horribly awful way. We as the reader don't know exactly what it is Oskar did to Marco through a good portion of the book but we do know that Marco is horribly hurt and angry over it and has never gotten past it. Marco has burn scars and feels unattractive. He's hiding his sexuality and his pain. He is very good friends with Oskar's little sister and he's never told anyone what really happened between the two of them. When Oskar moves back to town he's forced to interact with him and face those feelings. It's obvious that Oskar feels guilt over his actions and wants Marco's friendship back. When Marco sees Oskar kissing another man he is hit with even more hurt. From Marco's perspective Oskar has been able to admit his sexuality and have and have a relationship when Marco hasn't been able to be physically intimate with anyone. Everyone wants Marco to forgive and renew his friendship with Oskar including Oskar but it isn't that easy for Marco. He sees people as colors (something he does to honor his mother who died) and Oskar was his first color. The secondary characters add depth to the story and I loved both Ben who is pinning away for Sebastian and Elana who wants to draw Marco. This is a sweet and poignant story of first love and how hate is really just the other side of love and all it takes is the ability to forgive to find your way back. It's about friendship and not just Marco and Oskars. It's moving, sweet, heartfelt and brought a tear to my eye a time or two. It shows us how in one frightened, careless moment everything can change but with effort, time and forgiveness all is not lost.

Such a wonderful, beautiful, slow burn romance between two friends / enemies that made my heart melt and put a smile on my face.

I don't have any negatives. The story of Marco and his journey to accept himself and the various issues he has (grief, physical anxieties, sexuality, trust) were handled with great care. Surrounded by a great cast of family and friends, showing what the love of family and friends can do. I loved it.

It’s official, I have a new favorite trope: Friends to Enemies to Lovers. Is that a thing? Cause that’s what I’m calling it. Set in Berlin, True Colors is a story of friendship and betrayal, but mostly it’s about love, both familial and romantic.

Marco and Oskar were next-door neighbors and the closest of childhood friends, until their friendship was ripped apart. Their story, told in Marco’s POV, had a somewhat shaky start for me with several time jumps within the first few pages. It featured seemingly random moments when the boys were 13, then it fast forwarded to age 20, which is where their story takes place. It’s only throughout the course of the book that you start piecing together everything that occurred during that seven-year time lapse.

The storytelling was really well done and I was completely hooked. Marco had a vulnerability and quiet intensity about him that drew me in from the start – he just felt real to me. His hurt, elation, anger – all his emotions – radiated off the page, but what got to me the most was how ashamed he was of the scars he carried on his body. It soon became apparent that it wasn’t just self-consciousness that kept him from things like, say swimming or sex, and his hurt and humiliation at times flowed so heavily and painfully off the page that it swallowed me whole. There may or may not have been ugly crying on my part during a few choice intervals. Okay, maybe more than a few.

All the tingly, bright colors I’d attributed to Oskar swirled into an ugly bleeding red.

I really loved the way Marco used color to describe moods and personalities. I didn’t always understand or remember the significance of each color, but what started off as something quirky and refreshing (Ben – full on turquoise – saunters past me with a cocky grin. I admire his confidence.) became so much more poignant and meaningful.

Oskar: Fine. I’ll be olive. Peaceful.
Me: You remember what my colors mean.
Oskar: I remember everything you tell me, Marco.

I also loved how central family is in this story. Both families were so intertwined and I loved how present they were in each other’s lives. I loved the way Marco was like a cool older brother to Oskar’s sister Zoe, and I adored that Oskar would spend time with Marco’s grandfather. I thought the play that the families were working on sounded horribly cheesy at first but I quickly changed my mind as it wove yet another layer into the story.

My skin is stained with past pain. The boy who made me feel every inch of its ugliness is the man who’s kissing me like I might still be beautiful.

If you haven’t already guessed, it’s a very slow burn between old friends who have to overcome a deep betrayal to get to their HEA. A lot of hurt had festered between them over the years and it took time and forgiveness to regain that lost trust. This book is not about UST or overdue hookups and for once I’m glad for it.

True Colors isn’t perfect – after I finished, I realized that there were several years during which they still lived next door to each other while their families mistakenly assumed they were still BFFs – and I briefly considered rating it 4.5 because of it. But honestly, this was such an all-consuming read that I honestly couldn’t care less about those missing years. If you’re familiar with the author’s work, this book is reminiscent of Rock. And if you’re not familiar with it, well, then I happily recommend both books.

I’ve read Leo loves Aries by the author and was flashed and with True Colors it wasn’t different.

What’s different is the theme, the tempo as well as the topic. Where Leo loves Aries is sweet, slowburning this book is a story where former friends become “enemies” (it has a reason I write it in quotation marks).

I really was captured by the way how the story was displayed. We get right into the story, right from the start you understand that something terrible happened to Marco.

You understand for a short time not the grief of Marco, you have too many details left out but you are aware of other things and so – piece by piece – you get the whole picture.

It realy hit you hard, to be honest, because it is – at least for me – understandable why Marco is rejecting Oscar.

The tension is still there, Oscar is trying to connect with his old friend, but Marco has a lot – maybe too much – on his shoulders.

I really loved how we got the insight of Marco, we see as a reader how he suffers, how he is torn. And the ending is so sweet you are so happy.

It is hard to go the path with Marco but when other things are settled there is the other side displayed, too, the side by Oscar.

I can only give this book also 5 out of 5 stars for its slow burning, former friends turn to enemies and reunited later story.
*~~*ARC kindly provided to me for an honest review *~~*
Review originally posted on my blog with added content on Mikku-chan / A world full of words

This was another hit out of the ballpark for me. I love everything I've read by this author. This is a enemies to lovers story done a bit differently. Marco and Oskar had been best friends until *something* happens but you don't know what until a ways into the book. I couldn't put the book down during this part and was I read as fast as I could trying to find out what had happened. This author has such a great ability to keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to find out things.

If you read this author's book Rock you know she started each chapter with a type of rock and they were important to the MC. In this the same is done with Marco and colors. Honestly I wasn't sure about this when I started the book. I wondered if it would work since she'd already done it with Rock. It did though. Although it was similar is was also really different and it worked so well. I loved how the colors were weaved through the plot.

This was a bit angsty but since that's my favorite thing ever in books I loved that about it. I enjoyed both of the MC's, I loved Marco as the story teller and I enjoyed the side characters and their roles in this. (There's some over lap in events as from the first book in this series Bottle Boys. You don't have to have read that first though. This works as a standalone.)

This was full of colors, some angst, some romance and lot's of feelz. I just adored it and I totally recommend it.

**ARC received from the author through Negalley**

*4.5 stars*

Anyta Sunday is my go-to author for contemporary romance. She just writes the slow-burn romances that I like to read! She rarely lets me down, and she won me over again with True Colors.

True Colors is a second-chance romance between two friends whose friendship crumbled from a series of events that happened years ago. I love when there is a hurtful situation in the past and the two MCs have to get past it. I'm a sucker for bullies-to-lovers stories, and while this one isn't quite like that, there are major obstacles that these two MCs have to overcome.

I don't think it's a big spoiler to say that one of the MCs has some scarring that he is very self-conscious about. It's more or less in the blurb. Scarring is a topic near and dear to me, and while my facial scars from an accident have faded, I still have a soft spot for a scarred MC. There is something very vulnerable about having a scar; you feel exposed, flayed open, and ready for criticism. I related big time to Marco, the MC with the scars, and I REALLY wanted Oskar to grovel for forgiveness, perhaps even more than Marco did.

The story is a lovely slow burn. It takes its time and allows for the hurt to resolve naturally. I felt the attraction and chemistry, and I loved how it all unfolded. Oh, and we get a *virgin* MC... guys, you know how I go gaga for a virgin!

There is also a lot of family involvement in this story, just so readers know. I didn't mind, but some people might not like the amount of pagetime spent on issues with secondary characters.

The only thing I would change is the "color" aspect of the story. I found that to be a little gimmicky and unnecessary. In fact, it reminded me a little of rock, which is the only Anyta Sunday book that I haven't liked.

Overall, this book was nearly perfect. A little angsty, a little second chance romance, a little family-oriented, and they all came together to make for a wholly satisfying read.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

4.5 Stars

Well…I just found a new auto-buy author, and I’m pretty giddy about it. In fact, I read two of her books this weekend, and have already started a third. So, that should give some indication of how much her writing clicked with me. I’m talking about Anyta Sunday, and I know I’m tardy to the party, but I was in book bliss on Saturday after discovering how much I enjoyed her style. Such a happy reading girl was I. 🙂

True Colors was so, so lovely, you guys. I truly adored both Marco and Oskar, and honestly, everything about this story. Though tagged as enemies-to-lovers, it’s actually friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, as Marco and Oskar were the best of friends for most of their lives—until one horrible mistake in judgement and moment of cowardice ripped them apart. It has been years since Marco and Oskar were friends, and fifteen months since Oskar moved away, but now he has come back home to Berlin, and Marco must find a way to face the past. And, Oskar must fix his life’s biggest regret. I loved the emotion in this line, describing what it was like for Marco to see Oskar again:

“I gaze at his slightly upturned lips that hold the memories of a hundred songs we sang between us, tens of plays, a handful of secrets, and six soul-destroying words.”
Growing up, Marco and Oskar were next-door neighbors, and their families were extremely close. In Oskar’s absence, Marco has remained as an amazing older brother figure to Oskar’s sixteen-year-old sister, Zoe. The relationship between Marco and Zoe is fantastic. I loved how Marco made seeing her basketball games a priority, and that they had traditions of their own. Zoe was also clearly a fixture in the Brandt household, evidenced by the easy nature of her interactions with Marco’s father and grandfather. And, when Oskar comes home, we also see how much he cares for Marco’s family, particularly the love he shows Opa. Sunday did a beautiful job of building these connections and making the reader care about all the characters.

I also really enjoyed the flow of the book. The author uses some flashbacks to flesh out the story, beginning with the first two wonderfully written chapters, Black and Sunglow Yellow. The brief glimpses of the past are instrumental to building the history, of course, and tie in perfectly to the rest of the story. Sunday also uses one of my favorite devices, that of text message exchanges between the characters, to rebuild the relationship between Oskar and Marco. We are seeing this tool used more and more in contemporary romances, and it’s such a great way to see inside both characters and move the story along.

This is definitely a very slow burn, but it’s done so well. The love between Marco and Oskar is never truly in question—at least it wasn’t to me—but there is a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done. The hurt that Oskar inflicted on Marco was immense and long-lasting. Marco has been unable to have any type of romantic relationship because of the insecurity and fear of rejection that are so deeply ingrained in him from the past. I hated how that hurt clung so hard to Marco. He so deserves to be happy. They both do. Seeing them get their chance was worth every bit of time waiting for the payoff. And, this line…guhhhh…

“My skin is stained with past pain. The boy who made me feel every inch of its ugliness is the man who’s kissing me like I might still be beautiful.”
Gorgeous stuff, right?? But, I need to stop rambling on…So, quickly, a couple of other things I loved…I loved the play that is an ongoing part of the plotline. This is the traditional Christmas play that Marco’s mama always wrote, which his papa has been carrying on in her absence. This year’s play is special because it’s meant to try to bring Oskar and Marco back together. It was an integral part of the story, and I loved how it was woven in. And, of course, I have to mention the colors. Marco assigns colors to people in the same way that his mama used to use them to describe what kind of day it was. Blue for sadness, yellow for happiness, magenta for love, etc. The colors were a beautiful part of the book and were brilliantly used as the chapter titles.

True Colors is the second book in Sunday’s True Love series but works one hundred percent as a standalone. I’m going to go back and read Ben and Sebastian’s story at some point, for sure, but it is absolutely not necessary to read it first. I couldn’t be happier that I decided to jump on this one! You guys should, without question, give it a go.

Oskar used to be Marco’s best friend. His everything. His sunshine yellow. But now he's the color of rust because Oskar failed Marco when he needed him and said some harsh words that couldn't be unheard or taken back. So now Oskar is the color of rust and he and Marco are both broken because of it.

Since the falling out of their friendship Marco has been in hiding. He hides behind long sleeves that therefore hide his scars. He hides behind his scars in order to keep his distance from letting anyone get too close physically or sexually. He doesn't dare show what he deems as his imperfections to anyone. He has friends but he keeps them at an arms length as well. No one really knows all of him. Well, except for Oskar. And now he's back and Marco is finding his world becoming unraveled by his appearance in his life again after 15 long months.

Marco has a close relationship with Zoe who just happens to be Oskar's little sister. He took the role of older brother when Oskar left and has since formed a sister and brother relationship with her. When Zoe see's the distance and tension between her brother and Marco she demands that they put their differences aside and try to get along for her. With both guys willing to do anything for her, they try.

Marco learns some important information about the time when Oskar betrayed his trust. I think after learning this is when Marco starts to let down his guard and starts trusting Oskar little by little. He also learns the boy who was once his everything is also gay. Oskar is out and Marco is still doing what he has done since Oskar hurt him; hiding. He's the color of salmon; cowardice.

Soon Marco finds his courage. His color changes and we get to see him happy and the acceptance of himself that he was working so hard to get to in the book. It was gratifying. I loved his and Oskar's story.

The story is told beautifully. I loved the writing. I loved that it was character driven. I even enjoyed the slow burn. I'm learning that the slow burn is so worth the ending when it comes to this author's story-telling. The build up is so worth the wait.

I loved the color theme that this book had. It seemed so easy to sum all your feelings up in just a color. As if saying just one word, one color, could hold the meaning of so many emotions. And it did. It totally worked.

FR- Alors alors... alors comme je vous le disais j'adore Anyta Sunday, j'adore ses YA (Ok j'aime beaucoup de YA en M/M j'avoue) mais ceux d'Anyta Sunday ont toujours ce petit quelque chose qui me touche particulièrement.

Ce roman là n'a pas fait exception. Je dois avouer que j'en attendais beaucoup et que je n'ai pas été déçue.

J'ai beaucoup aimé le fait que le roman se passe en Allemagne, ça change un peu des Etats Unis où se déroulent la plupart des romans en VO que je lis et j'avoue que vu que je vais à Berlin au mois de juin j'étais super attentive à tous les petits détails donnés sur la ville.

Pour parler du roman en lui même, une fois de plus j'ai beaucoup aimé le style de l'auteur, cette façon qu'elle a de nous raconter une histoire, de nous présenter des personnages à travers tout un tas de petits moments d'eux.

J'ai adoré le personnage de Marco (ne me demandez pas pourquoi je voulais l'appeler Markus apres ma lecture). Comme souvent il est assez fragile et on sent en lui une rancoeur énorme envers Oskar.

Le personnage d'Oskar est lui plus "facile" peut etre parce que comme on est du point de vu de Marco, on a moins ses ressentis et ce par quoi il est passé. Mais on sent en lui tout un tas d'émotions presque aussi fortes que celles qui traversent Marco.

Une fois de plus ce roman est une petite merveille, une petite pépite que j'ai dévoré, une tranche de vie, un moment dans la vie de ces deux personnages qui va changer leur vie à jamais.

J'aime la façon dont l'auteur, à partir de choses insignifiantes, de moment choisis mais pourtant anodins, va construire une histoire tellement forte qu'on ne peut que tourner les pages pour en avoir plus, encore et encore.

ENG-So... well well well.. well, As I told you I love Anyta Sunday, I love her YA (Ok I like a lot of YA in M ​​/ M I admit) but those of Anyta Sunday always have this little something that touches me especially.

This novel was no exception. I must admit that I expected a lot and I was not disappointed.

I really liked the fact that the novel takes place in Germany, it changes a bit from the United States where most novels are set. I confess that since I go to Berlin in June I was super attentive to all the little details about the city.

To speak of the novel itself, once again I really liked the style of the author, the way she has to tell us a story, to introduce us characters through a bunch of little moments of them.

I loved the character of Marco (do not ask me why I wanted to call him Markus after reading). As often he is rather fragile and you can tell that he's got an enormous resentment towards Oskar.

The character of Oskar is more "easy", maybe becausethe book is from Marco's POV, we can't see hi feelings and what he went trough as easily as for Marco. But he clearly fell emotions almost as strong as Marco's.

Once again this novel is a little wonder, a small treasure I devoured, a slice of life, a moment in the life of these two characters that will change their lives forever.

I like the way the author, starting from insignificant things, chosen moments but yet innocuous, will build a history so strong that we can only turn the pages to have more, more and more.

There’s few writers that make me feel like I’m reading some magic words in a contemporary world. For example, Suki Fleet, who I’m always cautious because I know it’ll hurt. Nash Summers, who captured me with Maps and Fawn, because wow are this character dazzling. And Anyta Sunday, who writes characters as if they’re something magical, who love and feel in such a way that you can’t help but root for a HEA.

True Colors was like the epitome of my daydreams. I know, it’s a weird sentence. See, I often say I don’t like angst, but I do when it isn’t the entire plot, or when it’s because of some miscommunication. But I love angst when you want that character to grovel, and pine, hard.

Reading about Marco and Oskar was hard. Mostly, because I didn’t know how Marco could get pass those six words. I felt for the kid. I felt for the kid who trusted and instead got six letter words that impacted his life, his outlook, and his self-esteem. And Oskar, little cocky shithead who at times I wanted him to hurt, because who dare you.

This story featured a friends-to enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope, and hell yeah was it enjoyable. I loved that Marco took his time, that it wasn’t shoved under the rug.

But. True Colors wasn’t perfect, by all means. For example, Oskar’s sister has had Marco as a brother of sorts since he’s moved away. There’s this moment when Marco, justifiably so, snaps at Oskar. Then, Zoe (sister), gets so mad at him that she uninvited him to her game, made him feel guilt and demanded him to make it up to him. Like I get it it’s your brother, but you’ve known this guy maybe not get in the middle of something you might not understand?

I also had a problem with Oskar and his boyfriend. I don’t know if Jessie (boyfriend) was a plot device, because things don’t add up.

Lastly, the sex scene. I don’t want to get super spoilery, but six words change Marco’s life. Those six words have impacted his life in a big way, and then when they have sex, in this defining scene, I wish it wouldn’t have been “tighly-wrapped-in-a-bow” type of scene. I wanted the, look, things will take a while, and they will because no magic dick will heal my insecurities.

Regardless, I did love reading about Opa, Zoe, the play ( I want this type of plays in my life, and it actually was so vivid in my mind, what the heck), Marco standing up to Oskar’s mom. And I especially loved reading Marco and Oskar’s journey. A journey filled with pain, forgiveness, and friendship. Learning what happened, and why those six words were uttered.

At times I didn’t want Marco to forgive Oskar, but Oskar won me over, little by little.

Hope this story wins you over.

True Colors is a lovely story of friendships,family,forgiveness and love. Marco was in a car crash that killed his mother and left scars all over his body at nine years of age. Marco and Oskar were best friends growing up together as neighbors. They had a special bond until one day Oskar caused Marco pain and humiliation with a terrible betrayal.

It’s a really really good finding-yourself, hate-to-lovers story, with a really well plotted story arc. It skirted between adorable, and angsty, and isn’t that just the perfect blend you want to read in a book? And that ending was just beautiful. Really, those last lines in the book were magical, with how the author captured the moment. It was easily one of the most vivid scenes I’ve been able to see behind my eyes in a long time. And so for that, I have to commend her. It’s her first book I’m reading, but there’s another book in this series, and I’m really going to check the other one out soon. Need some Ben and Sebastien.

HEART BREAKING AND HEART WARMING!!

5/5 It is just worth it.

This book is incredible! Well written, and the story is so GOOD! The way Anyta Sunday describes the way Marco sees people and how Oskar is trying and struggling to be his best – is AMAZING!!!

You can see and feel the raw ache in both characters. See how they hurt, and how they hide it and manage it. It is extremely emotional, in the good and bad ways, as in, there are those cute and funny moments, and then suddenly something happens and it all goes blue.

This story is insufferably frustrating, seeing as both Marco and Oskar are completely blind to each other’s emotions. And it only gets more frustrating when the secondary characters come out and tell them they see it before they do.

This book shows us not just how strong love is, but how it never goes away, it was only overshadowed by a stronger emotion. And that hope is the last to die, for there is always a chance that things will go as you expected it to.

Anyta Sunday aime bien prendre le temps avec ses personnages comme vient le confirmer cette petite romance. True Colors c'est une histoire d'amitié, d'amour, de pardon que j'ai lu très rapidement et apprécié.

L'intrigue se déroule en Allemagne, elle met en scène deux jeunes garçons, Oskar et Marco, qui deviennent les meilleurs amis du monde mais dont l’amitié volera en éclats. Quand Marco reviendra à Berlin après une longue absence, un de se buts sera de renouer avec Oskar, de réparer ce qui a été cassé.
Le récit contient un certain nombre de flash backs qui permettent de faire un éclairage sur le passé et de comprendre pourquoi cette amitié a fini par se briser.
Marqué dans sa chair et dans son esprit par un terrible accident, Oskar m’a touchée par sa vulnérabilité, lui qui s’est forgé une carapace pour se protéger du regard des autres et de leur jugement. Sa souffrance et cette peur d’être à nouveau blessé par une des personnes.
L’alchimie entre les personnages est bien là et Anyta Sunday parvient à nous faire ressentir les émotions qui chamboulent les personnages. Oskar est empli de colère mais elle se dispute à des sentiments plus tendres qu’il ne peut s’empêcher d’éprouver pour Marco, qui a fini par représenter bien plus qu’un ami. Le revoir le bouleversera et à un plus d’un titre...
J’ai beaucoup aimé être le témoin de ces retrouvailles, du combat intérieur d’Oskar, de la persévérance de Marco et de sa façon, tout en douceur, d’apprivoiser son ami et de lui faire comprendre tout ce qu’il représente pour lui.

Le titre fait référence a l’habitude prise par Oskar de décrire les personnes, les ressentis en utilisant une couleur pour les qualifier ce qui apporte une touche de poésie au récit tout en représentant le lien très fort qui l’unit à sa mère. Les répétitions d'une pièce de théâtre que l'on suit en fil rouge et qui permettront aux héros d’extérioriser leurs sentiments sont un autre aspect du roman que j'ai apprécié.
La famille, les amis occupent une place importante dans ce récit , j’ai particulièrement aimé le personnage de Zoe, la petite sœur de Marco, et le grand-père d’Oskar, si plein de sagesse.

Mon seul regret est constitué par des passages que j’attendais avec impatience dans la dernière partie mais qui n’ont pas été décrits par l’auteur...Alors certes, ils ne concernaient pas directement le couple mais je trouve dommage que l’auteur ne nous ait pas permis d’assister à ces différentes « mises à nue ». Ces quelques pages m’ont manqué ...
Je n’ai pas lu le 1er tome , True Luck, dont l’intrigue se déroule en parallèle à celle de True Colors, mais comme Ben est craquant , cela ne saurait tarder !


♥♥♥, 5 / 5

Very touching, second chance novel. Careless words sculpt who we are. We all still think about the "harsh" criticisms of bullies and comments years later, even if we think we are above it all. Marco is shaped as a man by both his best friend betrayal at his scarred body, his words and the fact he remains stagnant and in need of love.

He was a joyous MC, as a reader Sunday got us behind his insecurities and trepidations. He carried the whole novel from his POV thus making Oscar a harder character to love. I really did like Oscar but his actions sculpted the whole of this novel. His actions past and present define Marco. I did like him as an MC but he seemed fickle and flighty with this consequences.

This is my second novel by Sunday and so far she writes lovely, slow burn romances. An author to watch in this genre.

4.5 stars!

***I received a free copy from the Publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.***

True Colors is a story about finding yourself and accepting who you are; it’s about learning to forgive, about learning to trust again after being hurt, about second chances; it’s about love and how healing true love can be; how it can help you pick up your broken pieces and make you whole again.

It’s Marco Brandt's story.

Marco sees people in colors (kind of like his mama did). Each person to him is a color. Each color is linked to a feeling that person represents to him.

Blue for sadness, green for hope, olive for peacefulness, yellow for happiness, scarlet for lust, magenta for love...

Marco's color is salmon - the color for cowardice... because Marco is afraid of a lot of things...

Marco has always liked guys... but nobody knows that - not his Papa, his Opa, or, even, his friends! Marco is very close to his family and he is afraid of disappointing them ... so he is stuck in the closet. Even if he doesn't want to…

"I want to let my guard down and be myself."


Then, there's Oskar – Marco’s first color...

Marco and Oskar were childhood best friends and extremely close... But, one day everything changed…

"... he used to be sunglow yellow. My happy, my everything.
Now he’s rust. Dark, burnt-orange rust. A color to throw away."

They're neighbors, but Marco hasn't Seen Oskar in 15 months, since he left town for College.

Their families are friends and spend a lot of time together.
Zoe - Oskar's 16 years old sister - is kind of a little sister to Marco too.

So, when Zoe excitedly tells Marco that Oskar is coming back home, Marco's afraid... afraid of seeing Oskar again, afraid of getting hurt...

“The smile tipping the corners of his mouth. It’s been years since I’ve seen it. My stomach clenches traitorously and I white-knuckle the doorframe. I gaze at his slightly upturned lips that hold the memories of a hundred songs we sang between us, tens of plays, a handful of secrets, and six soul-destroying words.”

Marco's Papa is directing his Mama's last written play, in her memory (as he's been doing every year since she passed away)... and he asked Oskar to be a part of it!

So, Forced to be in the same play together, Marco and Oskar have to get their act together and deal with being around each other, which is hard because Marco absolutely hates Oskar...

But… Is hate ALL Marco feels for Oskar?!


Oskar wants nothing more than to fix things between them and go back to being friends.

But, that is easier said than done! ... Something happened when they were 16, that tore them apart. And, 4 years later, Marco still can't get past it.

“We’re broken.”

“Marco. What I did—what I didn’t do—I regret it every day.”


What happened 4 years ago? Can Marco go back to being Oskar's friend? Or is their friendship too broken to fix?

And Will Marco ever find the courage to come out to his family and friends?!

Read the book to find out :)

*************************************
I really liked this book!

The book initially starts when Marco is only 12 years old… and then the story gets fast forward 7 and a half years, to when Marco is 20. I didn’t like this very much because I thought it would take away on the feels of the book… gladly, it did not!

As the book is told in Marco’s POV, we get to experience in first person what happened that made Marco hate Oskar. And I did really feel it .. It brought tears to my eyes :'-(

We got some flashbacks… not many, I would have liked to have seen them more as teens.

And I would have liked to read Oskar's POV (a double POV or at least a chapter in his POV).

Still, what I loved in this book was the relationship between Marco and Oskar – it was SO WELL DEVELOPTED – NO INSTA LOVE HERE! :)

I loved Marco. He was so realistic. His fears and his lack of confidence were really understandable and realistic after what he experienced in his life. And his struggle with telling people he is gay… even to close friends, he was so afraid of not being accepted, of being treated differently… and that is so heartbreaking.

I also loved the sense of family in this book. They were all so close, so loving and, still, real, not perfect.

And Marco and Oskar together were just so SWEET, but HOT at the same time, too (there were messages in bottles and writting initials in a tree, and, also, some spicy scenes). I loved them as a couple.

So, if you like gay romance books with a bit of angst and deepness, then this is Definitely the book for you! Give it a try... I know I'll be taking a look at this author's other books :)

Full review can be found in: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1947098675

All those five big stars This...this is the writing I love
The intensity was overwhelming....beautiful written .... All those colors
A bubbling Vulcan. The tension...all those feeling... amazingly written

Marco and Oskar....a friendship that goes beyond a friendship....until it's over....done...
The reason is heartbreaking, devastating...

When Oskar returns after years, Marco can't handle it. He is torn between love and anger, between his scars and his longing.
Deep down he loves Oskar but above that he has so many other devastating feelings....

Viewed from Marco's point we get to know what ruined their deep friendship years ago.
Oskar sweet strong Oskar receives all Marco's blows as if he earns them...

Their friendship is slowly getting stronger but Marco has trust issues against Oskar. They just can't live without each other. All those feelings deep inside Marco bubbling up and up. When he finds out what really happened years ago and the heartbreaking reason why Oskar left, he only can see sunglow yellow again.

It's a deep languorous and sultry read. It's harsh and so sad beautiful I had to stop now and then because my heart hurt.

The sentences are one by one beautiful written just as I hoped it would.
The colors....my god....all those colors I saw and felt them.
Outstanding developed story and layered personalities.
This author has a gift to write in a very emotional, deep moving way, with longing and yearning and thank god with a HEA else I couldn't handle it.

Highly recommend for the ones who can handle burned orange, salmon, turquoise, purple and sunglow yellow (forever :)

Copy received from Netgalley given by Publisher

This was amazingly hot and interesting.. it had a slow burn to it and was an amazing read. The writing was wonderful and im glad i got to review it

Very good story. Fell in love with the main characters a few pages in. Would read more from this author.

I'm sure there are probably a dozen stories out there like or similar to this one but sometimes it's not so much the story as how it's told and for me this story was woven through with the colors as much as the words and enriched with characters who added yet another layer of richness to it's brilliant colors.

Marco's mama had colors for her days but for Marco it was people. He saw colors for the people in his life. Marco's first color was sunglow yellow. He saw a color that was bright and full of happiness and life...full of everything good and right. That was Oskar's color, until Oskar's color became..."Dark, burnt-orange rust. A color to throw away."

"True Colors" is told through Marco's eyes as he shares his colors with us and watch his struggle to move on from a past that's filled with heartache and pain. The pain of losing his mother in horrible car crash that left Marco scarred and then the heartache of his best his best friend's betrayal. Marco and Oskar were best friends inseparable until the day that Oskar did the unimaginable and betrayed him. I won't lie, I was pretty damned angry with Oskar and honestly I'm a firm believer in second chances but it took me a while to truly believe that Oskar deserved one.

While we are given this background the story actually starts in the present when Oskar returns to Berlin...that's right everyone...this story is set in Germany and I have to say I loved that, it was just a nice little touch of something different.

The journey that Marco and Oskar take to find their way back to each other is filled with anger, frustration, heartache, confusion and love no matter how hard Marco tries to fight it the bond of friendship and love that started when they were boys was never truly broken and texting lots and lots of texting and I loved these conversations.

I can't honestly say that I feel like I have adequate words to explain how deeply this story touched me and how much I loved it. It didn't feel so much like being run over by a steamroller as having a small child tugging gently on your hand in an effort to get your attention and then when you finally look down you realize that this is what love looks like. It's small and fragile with an underlying strength and resilience that can leave you speechless.

I really liked this one. I love how Marco uses colours throughout this story: he associates different ones with his feelings and assigns them to people in his life as well. We learn that Marco and his once best friend had a falling out. As the story progresses, bit by bit, we get the reveal of what really went down. This was done really well I think and through Marco's flashbacks of what led up to him and Oskar not being friends for all those years.

It's all wrapped up in Marco's insecurities about his burns. Burns he sustained in an accident that took his mothers life. Now Oskar's back and all these old insecurities are rearing their head again. And now that Marco's dad is including Oskar in his (Marco's) late mother's play, he can't even escape of of the hurt, anger and sadness that's bombarding him.

I adored the way their relationship grew, from them finally talking it out, to coming back to being friends, all the while it's so obvious that something more is simmering beneath the surface to finally lovers!

The supporting characters were great as well. Well fleshed out, and so Marco's friends were so supportive of him when he does come out. that scene near the end with Marco's Opa, where he just accepts him (i knew Opa was already clued in on what was going on with Marco and Oska, you always gotta look out for those old ones lol) made me want to cry.

Oskar's parents on the other hand, whoooo boy they pissed me off so much, so I guess the author did a good job of creating parents who made Oskar's whole coming out about them. Damn they got me heated. I really felt for Oskar there, that his parents made it seem like their support was basically a chore. At the very end they seemed like they were trying to be better though.

Oskar and Marco finally getting together, finally being intimate with each other was so well crafted and felt so real. *cue the tears* Marco was so vulnerable there and Oskar didn't rush him, made Marco feel safe and cared for and loved. As he should in that situation.

So i really liked this one a lot :D

True Colors by Anyta Sunday

Poetic

Heartwarming

Emotional

Healing

Forgiving

and

Lovely

I can't recommend this beautiful enemies to lovers, best friends to lovers story. 4.5 Stars.

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!

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!

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**

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.

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!

Ice.
What is the first thing you think of? Frozen. Brittle. Or how about transparent crystals?
When I think of this story, the first thing I think of is ice and then a kaleidoscope of colors rush into my mind’s eye.
In theory, I should think of colors first but I don’t.
I envision a boy who was enamored with the beauty of his world…until it froze.
Then it shattered and he was left numb, fragile and at first glance, without any colors. But when the sun hits Marco, he will blind you with a captivating array of the rainbow.
Oskar was Marco’s sun but Oskar went away and took all the light with him.
Now he’s back….and nothing will ever be the same again.

I had a little “moment” when I began this story. I saw it during the pre-release hype and knew I wanted to read it because I want to read everything that Anyta creates. However, I wasn’t really paying attention and didn’t realize it was book two in a series. I’m reading along and HEY! I know these guys!! It was rather exciting even if it made me real foolish for not knowing beforehand. So yes, this is book TWO in the True Love series but it can easily be read as a stand-alone. I don’t often say that, but it runs with a parallel timeline with book one. I absolutely adored Bottle Boys and was beyond ecstatic to see the guys again.

What's to Like:
We are back in Berlin and the boys are studiously working their way through college. Marco has decided the memories are too potent living at home, next door to his former best friends house, and moves into an apartment. Marco is a survivor but he is also riddled with guilt, shame, and pain from ‘the’ accident. He takes his role of stand-in brother to Zoe, Oskar’s younger sis, seriously. In addition to his father and grandfather, Zoe is his closest family. He’s made a few new friends but continues to hold them at arm’s length. He suffered the biggest mistake of his life when he let his defenses down many years ago and refuses to do so again. Maintaining distance bears a high price and he’s never felt so alone. When Oskar returns with a bright smile and an endless supply of olive branches, Marco is rattled. He can’t forget. He can’t forgive. But he can’t continue living like this anymore either. Will he open his eyes to the true colors surrounding him? Or lose his chance at happiness?

What's to Love:
I love a story that defies tragedy and captures the elusive happy ending. Marco and Oskar are best friends until a painful moment breaks them. Oh, how my heart hurt. I longed for a time turner to erase the words and eliminate the anguish. As we know, there is no way to turn back time, only forge ahead and attempt to recover. Problem is, Marco can’t move forward. He’s stuck, trapped in an emotional pit of quicksand. I find synesthesia fascinating. Are you familiar? It’s when your senses blend together and intertwine creating different perspectives. Marco feels in colors and designates colors to people. This story begins with black but it doesn’t stay there. Prepare to ride the rainbow on this journey. It’s an epic ride.

Beware of:
An emotional but rewarding journey. Anyta Sunday happens to be one of my favorite authors for a reason; I know it’s not going to be easy but it will be worth it in the end.

This Book is For:
This story is a stark reminder that when we love someone with our whole heart, we give them immense power and the ability to destroy us, but in turn, they have the ability to restore us…if we let them. If you enjoy falling alongside first love, true love, and ONLY love, then I am certain you’ll want to take the dive into this color wheel.

Oh, wow. This was wonderful and heartbreaking all at the same time. Oskar and Marco were friends for most of their childhoods, then Oskar betrays Marco and Marco doesn't think he can ever forgive him. When Oskar leaves town, Marco thinks he can forget about him. Of course he can't, and when Oskar comes back, sparks fly.

This story was beautiful. The imagery, especially how the colors are described, is poetic. Love is poetry after all and is even more beautiful when described poetically. I was worried that because the pov is all Marco's that we wouldn't be able to get a sense of Oskar's true feelings but that wasn't the case, you could see Oskar's love from the very beginning. I liked that there was real conflict to fuel their strife too, it makes sense that it takes so long for Marco to forgive Oskar. I don't know if I would have been able to. All of the supporting characters helped them to get their hardwon HEA but were also interesting in their own right. I thought the portrayal of the parents was realistic, they loved their children, weren't bad people, but still struggled to accept Oskar and Marco's sexuality due to societal pressure. They still, unknowingly, pushed them together in their own way though.

Ultimately, if you like the friends to enemies to lovers trope, you'll love this. If you love poetic love and shy awkward guys, you'll love this even more.

This was my first Anyta Sunday read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a slow-build friends to enemies to lovers story - so definitely not the usual for me. But this time, the slow-build actually worked. There were times where I felt as though things were rushed or someone did a total 180 all of a sudden (Oskar's Papa's reaction for instance when he found out his son was gay), but I still thought the book was great and the connections between characters were well-established.

Oskar and Marco were best friends growing up - they were inseparable. But then tragedy strikes and leaves Oskar motherless and himself with burns over his body. His self-esteem deteriorates, but that doesn't stop Marco from being his best friend. But of course they're teens and peer pressure is real and Marco says something hurtful and stupid, ruining their friendship. They don't speak after this and Marco has now been living elsewhere for a while before finally returning home.

Oskar never forgot Marco and has loved him since they were teens. So he's both happy and upset to see Marco again for the first time in 15 months. He's like a big brother to Marco's sister Zoe, so of course that means he'll have close interactions with Marco. Then there's the whole family play thing they do every year and Marco plays opposite Oskar in the play that Oskar's mom wrote.

We're taken on both a heartwarming and heartbreaking journey of Oskar overcoming his insecurities, rebuilding relationships, learning about himself and stepping out to grab that happiness he deserved. I liked that this book was real and didn't rush towards the HEA. It really did take you on the journey of Oskar finding his happy. I wish Oskar had forgiven Marco a long time ago though since they wasted so much time not being friends. It was an honest teen mistake and we all do and say stupid things at that age. But I understood why Oskar was hesitant to forgive.

Oh and the whole color part was interesting and unexpected. It was also sweet and a nice ode to his mother.

Love, hate, angst, forgiveness...so many feels in this book. A second-chance, friends to lovers, hate vs. love story that drew me in with the scars, both emotional and physical, of both young men. Marco who had his confidence stolen by the betrayal from Oskar that he never thought would happen. Oskar who scarred himself with his own cowardice. This story is full of healing and light at the same time that each low is felt too, all through the lens of Marco's colors.

Each chapter had a different color for the title and gave a brief preview of what to expect from the contents. The writing was beautiful and effective. Oskar and Marco had so much imperfection that bonded one another through all the stages of their relationship. While I found the confession via play a bit cheesy-dramatic, it fit their age and the theme of their interactions.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and have no qualms recommending others to become involved in the world Anyta Sunday has created around these young men. I hope to read the first story in the series too so I'll be on the lookout for it at my library or anywhere else I can indulge on a budget.

Childhood best friends turn enemies. Growing up together they did everything together until the school bully at summer camp did something to break their bond. Separate for years, secrets to hide the truths fighting for the pain one caused by words and actions. Scars from a dark time, the loss of a loved one. Tears of hate, sorrow, loss, depression, love that could never die. Can these two soul mates guys overcome the obstacles that's keep popping up in their paths of completeness....


Copy was voluntarily exchanged from Netgalley.com

When I started reading this book the whole set up with the pirate play sounded familiar. Checking the blurb I realised that I had read the previous book, True Luck, back when it had been called Bottle Boys. And even in my review back then I had wondered, what's the deal with Marco. Well, this is Marco's story and it is told purely from his pov. It also runs in tandem with the events in True Luck.
Marco and Oskar had been best friends until something happened to tear them apart. What this thing is we the reader don't really know and we find out in fits and starts as the two friends turned enemies try to come to terms with Oskar's return to the neighbourhood.

The forgiveness Oskar seeks is a hard won battle and the romance is slow-burn, more so because Oskar is already in a relationship when he returns. The secondary characters have a lot of page time as their families still live next door to each other and Marco's family is Oskar's family and vice versa.

Not only must they overcome what happened in the past, but Marco also needs to address his own body issues due to the scarring he received in an accident when he was a teenager. This also means we get a virgin MC, and the deliciousness that goes with this.

There were a number of missing/wrong word issues, but not enough to drag the reader from the story.

Overall this was a lovely, hard fought love story which managed to break my heart in places.

A sweet and entertaining romance with interesting characters.
Marco and Oskar were best friends, until Oskar did something that tore their freindship apart. Scarred in more ways than one and terrified of revealing himself to others, Marco is unable to move on. When Oskar unexpectedly comes back into his life, Marco is forced to face the things he fears most, including the fact that, beneath his anger, he still has feelings for Oskar. The book's title comes from Marco's ideosyncratic habit of assigning colors to people based on their feelings and personlities. While Oscar was once "sunglow yellow" to Marco, he has become a nasty shade of rust, and Marco sees himself as salmon - the color of cowardice. If Marco can find the strength and courage to face his fears and forgive his former friend, maybe their true colors will shine again.
This story is sweet, entertaining, and predictable. It's a "safe read" because it tells you want to expect in the discription (HEA = happily ever after; standalone; no cliffhangers), which is nice to know but also takes some of the fun away because you already know the ending.
Recommended for those seeking a light, character-driven, slow-burn M/M romance.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. The story of Marco and Oskar is about friends who have sexual issues at a young age and things go wrong. Later they are able to know the entire story, forgive and move on. They love each other and Marco finally tells his father he is gay. This has a HEA ending.

A light read that still manages to tug on heart strings.

While not as incredible as Sunday's Leo Loves Aries and rock, True Colors was a tender novel that simultaneously broke and repaired my heart.

I really connected with the protagonist, Marco, especially his issues with his scars. He is a main character that everyone will be able to connect to, but I do think he let Oskar off too much. What Oskar did was terrible, and I feel as though Marco forgiving him was too quick (although that could be due to the length of the novel). I would have liked for the novel to focus less on Oskar's relationship with his two-minute boyfriend, and more on Oksar trying to make amends with Marco. I also don't quite think Oskar's love for Marco had been apparent in childhood, especially if he was supposed to be in love with Marco from then too.
I also enjoyed the way Marco saw the world through colours: that was so unique, and sweet as the chapter titles correlated with his developing feeling for Oskar.

I also don't know if I would label this novel an enemies-to-lovers romance - Marco and Oskar didn't feel like enemies, especially because Oskar didn't hate Marco, he was in love with him.

Other than those few issues, the novel was written beautifully, as is always the case with a Sunday novel. I really can't wait to read more from this author.

This book was like a unique handmade chocolate, so precious, unique and very sweet. I have read ‘Rock’ by the author and felt similar emotions. It was quite unlike most romances I’ve read, I felt it had almost a fairytale feeling to it. Set in Berlin, Marco and Oskar have a falling out where their friendship seemingly ends and they don’t speak for many years. Marco takes time before he lets Oskar back into his life and then finally comes out to his family. The first kiss is so very sweet and the later sex scenes are very hot and well described but it was so much more than that, it was a essentially a story of great love, not just chemistry or sex. The colours connecting the chapters and Marco's feelings for different people reminded me very much of the stones in ‘Rock’. A lovely story which I would recommend for the authors unique storytelling abilities.

4 stars

REVIEW:
Yes - the book is spelt True Colors, but I live in South Africa where we like the u's so I write Colours with a u (like it's meant to be).

I probably fell in love with these characters from the get-go. I’m going to the Town Hall to adopt them, anyone coming with? If we all pool our money together, we can buy McDonalds.

It was such a good read. I loved basically every scene of it, especially anything to do with Marco and Oskar.

I love the whole friends-to-lovers trope, but it's also the worst because they're friends, which means there's the possibility of them growing up, which means they know each other, so they'll be used to each other and know everything and probably have inside jokes and touch each other like real friends do and as much as I love that, it's also the absolute worst, as it makes you slam the table or whatever is near you - please let it not be an animal - and cry out in anguish because these characters that should be together are not.

I love how Marco sees in colours like come here and let me hug you and bring Oskar as well and then I can just hug both of you 24/7. It reminded of Percy Jackson - with the titles in a specific way. It seems like Chapter Titles are either Chapter 1 and so on or like in Harry Potter - The Deathday Party and so on; but I'm also happy to find a book where the titles are different.

They live in Germany, yet I never see any indication of that other than the landmarks? Where’s the language and slang?

It’s all very good and well that Marco’s learning to love his body and all, but he basically goes from zero to a hundred in a heartbeat, to ‘I can barely look at myself’ to ‘draw me, Elena.’ Not that much realistic. It takes some time to love yourself and be able to let someone else look at you in that way.

There was this confusing part in the beginning of the book where the boys were 13 and the one narrating it (Marco) used words like ‘lurched’, ‘slanted’ and ‘protruded’. I look after a 12 year old and she’s never used any of those words – and she’s smart.

I was wondering on how to pronounce Marco, as I know three ways to pronounce it:
English version – as in Marco Polo
Afrikaans version – pronounced Mar-coh
Italian version – pronounced Mar-koh
Just wondering which pronunciation I should use. Though considering the book is set in Germany, it’s probably the Afrikaans version.

So, they never speak of what happened to Marco the entire book. I was wondering and speculating and thought they would tell me and the scene would end with Marco and Oskar kissing or whatever, but I'm happy that they didn't tell us.

I love how every chapter's title is a colour.

So yes, I would definitely recommend this book to everyone! It's amazing, cute, gay, what more can you want?

I really wish I could give half stars on Goodreads because I want to give this book 4.5 stars but I can't! There were a lot of things I loved about this book. I really loved the general premise of enemies to lovers with them used to being best friends before and having to deal with their families knowing each other and not knowing why they had a fight. And I think the fight was handled really well. I could completely understand why Oskar did what he did even if I think it was cowardly but he knew it was and you could tell how much he regretted it and how much he wished he could go back and turn back time. At the same time, when we found out what had happened between the two of them, I completely understood why Marco blanked Oskar. It was obvious how hurt and humiliated he must have felt, to hear those words coming out of his best friend's mouth, and I really loved how, after they made up, those insecurities and the hurt didn't disappear just because Marco had forgiven Oskar. I was so pleased at that scene, though it hurt at the same time. The characters of Marco and Oskar felt very real and I really enjoyed both their characters (although I would have loved some chapters from Oskar's POV).

I liked the colours theme, though I felt like it got lost a little in the middle, only to be picked up at the end. I really liked how the other characters were involved but in a way that made it obvious they weren't just supporting characters, they had their own lives and goals as well and that is something I always appreciate in side characters.

The reason why I didn't give this book five stars, despite how much I liked it, was that I wasn't such a big fan of the play subplot. I can see why it was needed, forcing the characters to interact, but I wasn't a fan of it. That I think was more personal than anything wrong with the book as such though.

I really loved this book and would definitely recommend it!

4 Stars!

I loved Marco and Oskar's story, although perhaps not as much as the other Anyta Sunday books I've read before. It was a slow-burn and I have to admit I had to stop at one point and ask my co-blogger, Tracy, who'd read this book before I did, if they were ever going to get together, because I was sort of losing hope. And then I had a bit of a problem because having taken so long for them to get together, I felt kind of cheated because I would have liked to see them being a couple for longer.

This is not the first book by this author that I've read and the others have been similar in that sense, slow-burn that gradually morphs into more. I guess I was just wanted more of Marco and Oskar together. *shrugs*

I loved Marco from the start, but I wasn't sure what to think of Oskar. I started to suspect there was more to him than met the eye when we met his boyfriend Jesse and realized he looked a lot like Marco was supposed to look. I am not a fan of the MCs being in relationships with others but it served its purpose here and I think it made the story even more realistic. Oskar and Marco had great chemistry and it was lovely seeing them get past their misunderstandings and move forward into rebuilding their friendship and then take their attraction to the next level.

The book was enjoyable and well-written, I felt it took too long until Oskar and Marco finally got together, but that's mostly my personal preference. Still, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book, it was really good!

***Copy provided to the reviewer via NetGalley for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***

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.

The FEELS. Anyta Sunday really knows how to make your heart ache for the characters. The reason for Marco and Oskar’s falling out just breaks my heart. We saw Marco in the novella, True Luck, but never learned the reason for his secrecy until this book. This is a second-chance friends-to-lovers story and it’s beautiful in that this is a slow burn romance that has a wonderful ending.

Marco is very self-concious about his looks. Or rather, how other people view him and his body every since the accident that had killed his mother. He always opts to wear long sleeves and long pants, even at the height of summer. At the beginning of this book, he’s moving out of his father and grandfather’s home and looking to start a life on his own, even if it’s only a few blocks away. Life was fine for Marco, until his once best friend and next door neighbor, Oskar, moves back home.

They haven’t seen each other in months and haven’t been friends for years now. But, Marco does still keep in touch with Oskar’s family. He goes to all of Oskar’s younger sister’s basketball games and hangs out with her all the time, sort of taking over the older brother position in Oskar’s absence.

The attraction between Marco and Oskar is undeniable, but there’s a big hurdle that relies on whether or not Marco is willing to forgive Oskar for something that happened between them as teenagers that broke both of their hearts. There’s no cheating in this story, but I guess it should be noted that Oskar does have a boyfriend, called Jessie, for about half of this story, even after he meets Marco again.

I liked the “color” aspect of this story, how Marco sees, or feels, things in color. For each emotion, he associates with a color. It’s a thing his mother had done, and when she was gone, he had started doing it too. Do note that the chapter headings, if read on a tablet or a phone, are reflected in the color they’re named for (that you won’t see reading from an e-ink reader like a Kindle).

This story is only ever told from Marco’s perspective, and while I would have loved to read the story from Oskar’s perspective as well, I think the book manages to encompass their thoughts and their feelings for one another through one POV. The book is also set in Berlin, which is really neither here nor there. I don’t think it particularly added to the story anymore than if it were set anywhere else in the world. There’s also a Christmas play Marco’s father puts on every year (continuing a tradition Marco’s parents did yearly), and it was cute at times to draw Marco and Oskar closer together, but became sort of boring to read about after a few rehearsals.

This book’s events takes place in parallel with True Luck. While this story does work as a standalone, I would still recommend the novella, simply because it’s cute reading about Ben and Sebastian from an Marco’s POV.

This is a story of forgiveness and features a scarred, virgin MC. True Colors is heart-wrenching to read at times, but the characters do get a nice and lovely ending.

***Thanks to the author for providing a copy of this book on NetGalley***

From the first chapter I was hooked and couldn't put the book down. Anyta Sunday has become one of my favorite go-to authors.

This is a phenomenal second-chance romance between two friends whose friendship crumbled from a series of events that happened years ago. I love that there is a hurtful situation in the past and the two Main characters have to work to get through it together. I've always been a sucker for bullies-to-lovers stories, and while this one isn't quite like that, there are major obstacles that these two MCs have to overcome. I found both Marcos and Oskar charming, courageous and (obviously) hot, hot hot. They're romance was well developed over the story. It's a lovely slow burn. It takes its time and allows for the hurt to resolve naturally. I felt the attraction and chemistry, and I loved how it all unfolded. The character development needed a little more polishing but I enjoyed their struggle, they're fighting and overall how the come to fall in love all over again as adults. This is my first book by this author and I can't wait for more. Must Read!

A beautiful slow burn story of healing and finding your way. I really enjoyed this story. I'm not a huge fan of slow burn but it worked for this story and was necessary given the MC's situations. In the end they got their well deserved, hard won HEA. Recommended.

**I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review**

True colours is the second book in the True Love series by Anyta Sunday and is an enemies to lovers style story.

From they were young boys, Oskar and Marco were the best friends who lived next door to one another. That was until a tragic incident and some cruel words changed everything and suddenly they weren't. Fast forward 7 years and Marco's life is turned upside down once again when he finds out Oskar is coming back back home. Despite Oskar's wish to rekindle the friendship that they once had, Marco finds it difficult and no longer wants anything to do with him. However the one question remaining is can Marco learn to live with the emotional and physical scars of the past in order to get back his Sunglow Yellow?

First off I always eagerly anticipate the release of Anyta Sunday's next book and this one was just fantastic as her previous works. I have to say as much as I love her earlier work, I am really enjoying the new series' (Leo love Aries, Scorpio hates Virgo and the previous book True Luck etc) because they all have a theme like horoscopes or in the case of this series colours. Another thing thing which stood out to me was the fact that it was set in Berlin as opposed to some American town/city as many other M/M romance stories are. It was refreshing to read something different and that little bit more unique.

I actually really like the fact that although it was an enemies to lovers story it was done slightly differently to the rest with the two MC'S being friends as young boys. I found both Marco and Oskar in the end to be likeable characters. It did take me a while to warm to Oskar and convince me that Marco should give him a second chance but I am glad that their complicated but beautiful story ended the way it did. Moreover I enjoyed the fact that the story at times jumped between the past and present as I believe that it gave us a deeper insight into the personalities of the characters and also helped us understand why they felt the way that they did (e.g. why Marco was so hard on Oskar at times).

I honestly couldn't put this book down and had to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to finish it. I was left constantly wondering what was going to happen but as it was a slow burner I was forced to wait to find out how it was going to end. But it was totally worth it and the epilogue left me with all the feels :'). I can't wait to read the next book in the series as the first two have definitely not disappointed.