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Review

3.5 stars!

I was really intrigued by the blurb for this book, and love the idea for it. A dramatic, heartfelt, sort-of-second-chance romance, as a woman revisits her past, forcing her to reflect on her life and the choices she has made.

The book begins with Elle travelling back to the town where she attended college, to visit her ex-boyfriend. Her first love, Luke, has been in a major car accident and after being in a coma for a month, he is suffering from retrograde amnesia. He thinks it is ten years earlier than it truly is, and has no memory of the intervening years, believing that he and Elle are still in college and blissfully happy in a committed relationship. When in reality, they broke up a few months after the time that he believes it to be, with Elle leaving him broken-hearted, and she has now been married to somebody else for three years. Rather than shock Luke with the truth right away, the hope is that seeing Elle again will provide some peace and calm for him, as he has been asking to see his girl, and that her presence may even trigger his recovery.

That’s all the information that we are given as we dive in to this story, and my head was immediately full of questions – How did they break up? What is the state of Elle’s marriage? Has Luke moved on and just can’t remember? What will happen when they see each other again? Will he get his memory back? What will happen when he does? Will they rekindle their past love? Will they even want to? It was with a sense of great anticipation that I madly flipped pages waiting to get to the juicy stuff, and I was glued to my kindle as it all unfolded.

I was transported back in time, recalling the chemistry Luke and I had shared as though it were yesterday. The memories that were fresh in his mind came flooding back into mine, so real, so vivid that I was almost able to forget the present and live in the past with him.
Almost.

The story of Elle and Luke’s past unfolds in flashback chapters throughout the book. We get to see them meeting, falling in love and their heartbreaking separation, while in the present, Elle is struggling to deal with her feelings as she reconnects with the amazing man that she left behind all those years ago. More than just wanting to help Luke, she wants to make amends for how she left things with him, but she soon finds herself in the complicated situation of wondering what her life could have been if she’d just chosen differently.

This is a really sweet read. It was well written, and the story was really intriguing and kept me captivated. I liked Elle, and I really loved Luke, and the scenes with them together – both past and present – were great. I wasn’t feeling it as much as I was hoping to though. I’m actually not sure why that is, maybe the idea of people believably pulling off looking ten years younger than they actually are like no time has passed at all? I don’t know. But I definitely enjoyed it!

As for the issue that will probably have a lot of readers wondering whether to give this one a try – is there any cheating? Warning MASSIVE spoiler…

I liked that this was more than just a romance. Elle really reflects on her life, making positive changes that are right for her, and I really admire that. I loved the inclusion of the side characters – Elle and Luke’s best friends, and his parents, all play an important role, and bring a lot to the story. And yes, the love story is really sweet, and the story ends in a great place.

I really enjoyed this heartfelt read. 3.5 stars.

A Review Copy was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.