This was cute and breezy, as if we took a summer day where you have no plans except soaking in the sunshine by the water and put it in book form. The narrator of the audiobook was a delight.

Sad but hopeful romance. Bouncing between timelines from teen years to adulthood. Heartbreaking, second chance, filled with forgiveness and understanding. It was really sweet. 🌶️🌶️

From the first page, I thought this was going to be my first five star of the year. I even finished this in a day! I'm so disappointed that I was wrong. I really enjoyed the angst, the tension, and the visceral longing that radiated from the pages. Had it not been for the ending this would have probably been a five star. 

I found Percy very relatable in the first half, and her struggle with anxiety and panic attacks was really well depicted. But any sympathy I felt or relatability she had was completely soured in the last 50 pages.

I hate the cheating trope and I just felt like there was absolutely no excusable reason for either Charlie or Percy to do what they did. As much as Percy was responsible for the cheating, what got me most is that Charlie would do that to his own brother! Charlie was at least twenty when he slept with his younger brother's eighteen-year-old girlfriend!!! Like hello???!!! I'm a little upset that his responsibility for that betrayal was very glossed over at the end, due to Sam already knowing about the cheating. I would have loved to see a few chapters in Sam's perspective, especially eighteen-year-old Sam! I think it would have been really satisfying to see his and their mom's reaction to Charlie's confession.(Cuz I know Mama Sue was probably hopping mad when she found out!)

I mostly really liked Sam! He was a really sweet and thoughtful boyfriend, if a bit immature at times. I do think the immaturity of both him and Percy were pretty on par for two eighteen year old kids, but in the end only one of them cheated on the other! I'm glad they ended up together in the end, but wish we had had more time to see them work through their issues. Because it was such a quick wrap up, it was a little hard to accept that they were both  just able to forgive each other and move on. 

To be clear it was very obvious that the author was exploring themes of forgiveness and betrayal. And while it definitely wasn't badly written, I just really dislike cheating. I was mad at the characters not the writing, which to me is usually a sign of good writing. I'm definitely willing to give her other books a try, but I'll be checking the trigger warnings a little closer in future.

3.5 ⭐ is my final rating.
As always, reviews are subjective and please love what you love! 😘 XOXO