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emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexual content
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Alcohol
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I straight up hated this, but at the same time I felt like it took me through every emotion on the spectrum. So idk where that leaves me. I would've said it had 3⭐ potential because Hallie was less annoying than Kennedy, and Rio was less annoying than Zanders, but the plot of this was so .....lazy and halfbaked while being ridiculous at the same time.
I don't really care for second chance romance even though I clearly keep consuming it, but this one felt both lazy and warranted at the same time. The amount of flashbacks in this is ridiculous. A chapter flashback happens every 2 chapters, and all it does is make you roll your eyes because it breaks the flow of Hallie and Rio coming together in the present. I get it, they were childhood sweethearts but like most of their emotional connection came from the damn flashbacks and it was clearly just used as a way to not have to write about them as adults. Annoying.
In addition to the flashbacks, this was boring AND repetitive. OMG! The way the same dialogue and phrases happened over and over like wtf is going on. I started to feel like I was losing my mind. Examples:
- there are numerous paragraphs where Rio recounts how every couple from the other books met and it's like...literally everyone reading this has read the whole series. I don't need you to keep telling me how everyone met each other, and even if i did, doing it more than once is still unnecessary
- at the end of the book there's a few pages of Rio recounting the entire plot of the book we literally haven't even finished reading yet. Like what in the meta? STOP! It was giving "i have to meet a word count" and served no purpose than making me want to rme.
- Hallie and Rio have been broken up for 6 years and you won't be able to forget it because the phrase "six years" is said 73 times in this story. Can you see me screaming??? Please, tell me ONE MORE TIME how long they've been apart!! I think i might've forgotten!!!
- This one is small, but the way the outfits were overly described was sending me. Rio was giving fashion police with the way he kept detailing Hallie's fits. Also, there was a weird obsession with mentioning how someone had on a beanie and how a small part of their hair was peeking out. The beanie descriptor is used 6 times in this book and really that's too many imo.
The next gripe, the characters virtually had no personality outside of their flashbacks. Rio is shoved in our faces in every book with loud, goofy, and "class clown" energy but in this one he just existed. Literally none of that energy was present here. Hallie had more personality, but even the basis for hers was "she's a cool girl that likes making mixtapes" and really, the mixtape thing was also too quirky and had me doing mental math trying to figure out what year this was taking place in. Her first mixtape has TLC on it, and it's a cassette tape, but she's 25 in present day...which means she would've been born in 2000......and not old enough at 13 to be making cassette tapes with TLC songs on it or to be having a whole ass boombox that played cassettes, but like this rant is getting too long.
Hallie really almost was worse for me because she had so many identifiers that fell off halfway through the book. The whole point of this story is that she's trying to become an interior designer and ends up working on Rio's house and she works PT as a bartender to make ends meet. She should've just been a bartender. There are so many moments in this story where she wants to/or does refuse doing work for her interior design firm (HER MAIN JOB) because "I can't miss my shift at the bar" like what? Do you want to be an interior designer or not? Her priorities were so off.
Now....this is where I really have the most beef with this story. The reason behind the breakup is so fucking ridiculous AND obvious that it felt insulting to me and the characters in the story. The whole reason they break up is because Hallie see's HER MOM leave Rio's parent's bedroom because she's (the mom)sleeping with his dad, and Rio's mom gets mad at Hallie for not telling her and basically tells Rio that Hallie is a pos and he has to break up with her.....which he does. Not to mention this all happens in a flashback 10 seconds after Hallie's dad is diagnosed with blood cancer......wtf????. ABBY JIMINEZ CALLED!! SHE WANTS HER TRAUMA OUTLINES BACK!!! like girl wtf is this!! This pissed me off so bad 😭 Like no WAY this is the reason yall broke up.......and honestly that in itself warrants a second chance because I also wouldn't want to fuck you with after you did me dirty like that but this all just felt so unnecessary.
The second chance aspect felt warranted (more than the usual "we were high school sweethearts" second chance foundations) and the vibes of "this person knows you completely" were good but everything else about this pissed me off too badly to like it. It was just too ridiculous. It really felt like she only wrote this because people begged her too. The sports barely existed (less than the other books) and Rio just travels "for work" off page. Annoying, annoying, annoying.
I did enjoy the emotional tension somewhat even though I think they were super chummy far too quickly for a second chance trope but like, the payoff emotionally worked in context.
I don't know. Or do I? I hated this lol. I might reread it in the future but idk, almost 600 pages of nothing but flashbacks with a stupid breakup twist and a character who didn't need to have his own story. Go girl give us nothing.
Official Ranking:
Caught Up
The Right Move
Mile High
Play Along
Rewind It Back
I don't really care for second chance romance even though I clearly keep consuming it, but this one felt both lazy and warranted at the same time. The amount of flashbacks in this is ridiculous. A chapter flashback happens every 2 chapters, and all it does is make you roll your eyes because it breaks the flow of Hallie and Rio coming together in the present. I get it, they were childhood sweethearts but like most of their emotional connection came from the damn flashbacks and it was clearly just used as a way to not have to write about them as adults. Annoying.
In addition to the flashbacks, this was boring AND repetitive. OMG! The way the same dialogue and phrases happened over and over like wtf is going on. I started to feel like I was losing my mind. Examples:
- there are numerous paragraphs where Rio recounts how every couple from the other books met and it's like...literally everyone reading this has read the whole series. I don't need you to keep telling me how everyone met each other, and even if i did, doing it more than once is still unnecessary
- at the end of the book there's a few pages of Rio recounting the entire plot of the book we literally haven't even finished reading yet. Like what in the meta? STOP! It was giving "i have to meet a word count" and served no purpose than making me want to rme.
- Hallie and Rio have been broken up for 6 years and you won't be able to forget it because the phrase "six years" is said 73 times in this story. Can you see me screaming??? Please, tell me ONE MORE TIME how long they've been apart!! I think i might've forgotten!!!
- This one is small, but the way the outfits were overly described was sending me. Rio was giving fashion police with the way he kept detailing Hallie's fits. Also, there was a weird obsession with mentioning how someone had on a beanie and how a small part of their hair was peeking out. The beanie descriptor is used 6 times in this book and really that's too many imo.
The next gripe, the characters virtually had no personality outside of their flashbacks. Rio is shoved in our faces in every book with loud, goofy, and "class clown" energy but in this one he just existed. Literally none of that energy was present here. Hallie had more personality, but even the basis for hers was "she's a cool girl that likes making mixtapes" and really, the mixtape thing was also too quirky and had me doing mental math trying to figure out what year this was taking place in. Her first mixtape has TLC on it, and it's a cassette tape, but she's 25 in present day...which means she would've been born in 2000......and not old enough at 13 to be making cassette tapes with TLC songs on it or to be having a whole ass boombox that played cassettes, but like this rant is getting too long.
Hallie really almost was worse for me because she had so many identifiers that fell off halfway through the book. The whole point of this story is that she's trying to become an interior designer and ends up working on Rio's house and she works PT as a bartender to make ends meet. She should've just been a bartender. There are so many moments in this story where she wants to/or does refuse doing work for her interior design firm (HER MAIN JOB) because "I can't miss my shift at the bar" like what? Do you want to be an interior designer or not? Her priorities were so off.
Now....this is where I really have the most beef with this story. The reason behind the breakup is so fucking ridiculous AND obvious that it felt insulting to me and the characters in the story. The whole reason they break up is because Hallie see's HER MOM leave Rio's parent's bedroom because she's (the mom)sleeping with his dad, and Rio's mom gets mad at Hallie for not telling her and basically tells Rio that Hallie is a pos and he has to break up with her.....which he does. Not to mention this all happens in a flashback 10 seconds after Hallie's dad is diagnosed with blood cancer......wtf????. ABBY JIMINEZ CALLED!! SHE WANTS HER TRAUMA OUTLINES BACK!!! like girl wtf is this!! This pissed me off so bad 😭 Like no WAY this is the reason yall broke up.......and honestly that in itself warrants a second chance because I also wouldn't want to fuck you with after you did me dirty like that but this all just felt so unnecessary.
The second chance aspect felt warranted (more than the usual "we were high school sweethearts" second chance foundations) and the vibes of "this person knows you completely" were good but everything else about this pissed me off too badly to like it. It was just too ridiculous. It really felt like she only wrote this because people begged her too. The sports barely existed (less than the other books) and Rio just travels "for work" off page. Annoying, annoying, annoying.
I did enjoy the emotional tension somewhat even though I think they were super chummy far too quickly for a second chance trope but like, the payoff emotionally worked in context.
I don't know. Or do I? I hated this lol. I might reread it in the future but idk, almost 600 pages of nothing but flashbacks with a stupid breakup twist and a character who didn't need to have his own story. Go girl give us nothing.
Official Ranking:
Caught Up
The Right Move
Mile High
Play Along
Rewind It Back
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Infidelity
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dare I say this was my favorite book in the entire Windy City series?! Rio is such an amazing MMC with such good depth to his storyline. I was worried because he came off as such a cornball in the other books, but this softer side of him was sooo endearing. I was ready to hate Hallie for breaking his heart, but I ended up really liking her and feeling connected to her storyline as well.
This was an adorable second chance romance and a perfect ending to the series. I'm really not ready to say goodbye to these characters, but I find a teeny bit of solace knowing Monty will have a standalone book in the future. This is hands down my all-time favorite romance series.
This was an adorable second chance romance and a perfect ending to the series. I'm really not ready to say goodbye to these characters, but I find a teeny bit of solace knowing Monty will have a standalone book in the future. This is hands down my all-time favorite romance series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Medical content
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This story completely wrecked me in the best way.
I thought Isaiah was the most golden retriever of the group.
But I was wrong. Rio is the softest, sweetest man—funny, loyal, and so hopelessly in love. We need to protect him at all costs. ALL.
The audiobook is beautifully narrated in duet by Megan Wicks & Connor Crais.
Tropes:
Second chance
I thought Isaiah was the most golden retriever of the group.
But I was wrong. Rio is the softest, sweetest man—funny, loyal, and so hopelessly in love. We need to protect him at all costs. ALL.
The audiobook is beautifully narrated in duet by Megan Wicks & Connor Crais.
Tropes:
Second chance
Interior designer / hockey player
Hopeless romantic MMC
Found family
Girl next door… again.
Content warnings
Cancer
Infidelity (not between the MCs)
Infidelity (not between the MCs)
Hallie and Rio’s history runs deep. Childhood best friends, first love, years apart, and now they’re thrown back together when she’s hired to design his house.
I swoon so much. Watching them slowly find their way back to each other, through pain, misunderstandings, and so much love—it just got to me.
This story isn’t just about romance—it’s about healing, growing, and holding on to the people who feel like home.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Alcohol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Rewind It Back” 💽 🎶 @liztomforde.author has a double platinum hit with her fifth and final Windy City series book! The found-family, friend group is perfect. Rio and Hallie may be my favorite couple, or tied for it at least! From childhood crushes and mixtapes to second chances and one true love with their dream career, forgiveness of each other and themselves for their stupid choices that hurt them both - best book trope mix!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️
🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexual content
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
as a high school sweetheart girlie there is no way i could ever give this anything over than 5 stars but i expected nothing less from the most consistent romance series i've ever read. every single book was 5 stars for me and i don't give 5 stars out too lightly... i just loved these characters so much i don't think any sports romance series will ever compare. been reading this since mile high first came out so idk what i'm going to do with myself from now on. loved this so so much 💗
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Terminal illness