Reviews

Very slow moving. Decent story, but the main character seemed to be ridiculously whiny and it was obnoxious. I think I would have liked it better if it was about 150 pages shorter.

shaykay's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

If you need an emotional, contemporary read with romance, this one is for you. Reed and Emma are so much fun, but I loved learning about Emma’s past and her grandmother and seeing her develop a new life plan even more. Emma had a tough life; at times, it was a hard book to listen to. It went down some pretty shocking twists and turns. Still, it has a satisfying ending, and it’s standalone, which is starting to become hard to find nowadays. Most standalones nowadays are part of a series, so they’re connected to another book somehow.

Content Warnings

krystone's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I loved this book. The author did a great job providing enough history that you understood what and why but also kept enough hidden that there was some mystery and twists along the way.

frolickingforest's review

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5.0

Amazing character development of complex and humanized characters. The love story of trust and consent was beautiful. Loved it!

ela_35's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

There were a lot of things I liked about this book, but there were also a lot of things that I thought could have been shown more.

I liked Emma and Reed, and how their relationship developed.

I liked the plot. It was basically Emma trying to start over after having lived through yet another traumatic event, and I liked how her reactions were shown. I did think that there could have been a few more scenes where she interacts with Reed’s colleagues as well as his family, because eventually she’s going to have to get used to them.

When this book started, I thought that Emma’s past would be a bigger part of the story, especially since Reed is a cop, but the things about her past are kind of revealed accidentally and were handled quite quickly.

I liked a lot of the side characters, but I didn’t think that they were shown enough. Peter seemed really interesting and funny, and I thought that Emma would spend at least some time with him and Nick since they are Reed’s best friends. Also, Reed’s family seemed fun, but they weren’t shown much, which was understandable since they lived far away, but I wanted the scenes with them to be a bit longer. I’m not sure about Lala and Nora though, since Lala’s behaviour sometimes annoyed me, and I thought that Nora wasn’t shown enough to really have a personality.

I liked this book, and I might try other books by this author, which will hopefully have more scenes with side characters in them.

cj_454's review against another edition

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4.0

Heartbreaking and Beautiful

I haven't read any of the other books that were based on Reed's family and I'm glad I got his first. This was such a beautiful story as it was heartbreaking.
Poor Emma, no child or adult should ever have to go through what she seemed to have endured her whole life, my heart broke every time she tried to face her demon's. You cannot blame her for the way she is and how she reacts, because really, she's not known any kindness from anyone, especially men. Reed, what can you say, he was so beautifully patient with Emma that you had to feel for him when she lashed out. But not once did he ever retaliate or get angry, and the way he helped her trust was just precious.
Little Nora was so special and you could almost feel the love Reed had for that little girl. Their relationship has been captured so beautifully, I only wish we got a glimpse into their future, perhaps with Emma pregnant with their baby and how she copes with that, a really great read, one of my faves

maggielane12's review

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challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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