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Review

Romantic, passionate and heartbreakingly beautiful.

As many people have said before, this is not your normal romance book. While we all love our ‘boy meets girl and they fall in love’ stories, this is the ‘after’ book – what happens five years after the beautifully swoony hook up, when the hero and heroine are still blissfully in love, but hit a rough patch. And in beautiful, emotional, heart wrenching detail, in this book – we get both.

I love the concept of this story, and don’t want to get too descriptive, because it’s best to just throw yourself into it and feel it all because OMG, the feels in this book are off the freaking chart! I fluctuated between swooning like an idiot, having my heart broken (multiple times) and actually feeling physically sick at what these two go through.

Five years after meeting, Dean and Olivia (Liv) have been happily married for three years, they are still as madly in love with each other as they have been since they met, they love their life together, and they still have an intense passion for each other.

“Since the day we met, I haven’t wanted anyone but you,” Dean says.
My heart jumps a little.
“Never looked at another woman,” he continues. “Never thought about one. It’s always been you, Olivia.”
My white knight.

Through flashbacks we get to see the beginning of their relationship and their epic, epic courtship. Nine years older than Liv, Dean is “successful, authoritative, experienced, sophisticated, assured”. Liv is not. Having survived a terrible childhood, she has dragged herself out of hell to create a good life for herself, and although she has grown to be strong and independent, she still struggles with her past. When she meets Dean, she finally finds somebody that she can open up to and trust for the very first time in her life, and he proves to be everything that she could ever want and need.

“I don’t want you to walk away,” I said.
“Good.” The lines between his eyes eased with relief.
I gripped his wrists, a knot of fear binding my throat. “But you… you might want to go,” I warned.
Darkness flashed in his expression. “Why?”
My eyes stung. I swallowed hard.
“Here be monsters,” I whispered.
A heartbeat of silence, brewing with danger, filled the space between us. Then Dean tightened his hold on me and, with his thumbs, brushed away the tears that spilled down my cheeks.
“Liv,” he said, his voice rough with tenderness, “you don’t have to be afraid.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ll slay monsters for you.”

*sniff*

Oh my God, the man is incredible! Both protective and respectful of Liv, he leaves her in no doubt as to his intentions towards her, but he is gentle and proves himself worthy of her, and the story of them coming together had me swooning and grinning like an idiot as I both watched and felt them fall hard for each other.

“Don’t you want to touch me?” I whispered.
“More than I want to breathe.”

They create an amazing life together, but one innocent conversation leads to feelings that are kept hidden, mistrust, secrets revealed and bad decisions, until it spirals out of control and Liv and Dean find themselves in a situation that they don’t know how to escape from – even though they both desperately want to.

“I don’t want to lose you,” I whisper.
“You’ll never lose me.” He slides his hand to the back of my neck … “I’ll be here, beauty. Waiting for you.”

Most of the book is from Liv’s POV, which I loved, because being in her head allowed me to understand her feelings, so I could appreciate the things she said and did. Later in the book it switches to Dean’s perspective – and not a moment too soon so that we his side of the story as well. And watching them individually try to deal with everything that they are going through is devastating! I had many ‘OMG’ moments, and sat reading with a hand over my mouth as things between continued to disintegrate. And what makes it so emotional is that it’s so realistic – anybody who has ever been in a relationship can relate to their story, and that makes it even more brutal.

Through it all, their love and passion for each other is still incredibly strong, and even though it changes as they both react to their situation, it’s still there, and you never doubt how committed they are to being together. So as hard as it is to read, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

“Maybe this was meant to happen, this discovery of cracks where now a different, new light can shine through.”

Beautifully written, this is a truly heart-wrenching story, and I devoured every single word. It’s one of those books where you reread passages over and over again just to let them sink in, and I absolutely loved it. Ending on a bit of a cliffhanger, I can’t wait to delve straight into the next book.

4.5 stars.