Scan barcode
now_booking's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
It was okay… like pretty much an inoffensive, if a little bland, second chance romance featuring high school sweethearts who lose touch after Cynthia makes the heartbreaking decision to abandon her love Marcel with a Dear John letter after finding herself pregnant and deciding not to have the baby. There are themes here of difficult mother-daughter relationships with emotional abuse, gaslighting and manipulation, abortion, and issues around differences in fertility preference and decisions around not being a mother.
I didn’t feel like the characters were always as mature emotionally as they could have been or as careful with each other as they could have been-especially given this was a second chance romance. I don’t think Cynthia had to drag out opening up to Marcel that long and that tension between them was needed- the elephant in the room was obviously there from the moment they met and what felt unrealistic was the way they were dancing around it and pretending some relationship could exist between them at their big age without any closure. In fact, with the way things were revealed in the conflict with Cynthia’s mom, I’m not sure they ever actually had the conversation they actually needed to have which was the moment this book was waiting for. Ultimately I listened to this in audio and it was a fairly pleasant listen. I don’t know if I felt invested enough in this series to read the second book featuring the FMC’s friend but perhaps… I certainly didn’t dislike it and it was a pleasant enough low key read so I might check out more from this series at some point… maybe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Abortion