1.24k reviews for:

Before We Came

Sloane St. James

3.72 AVERAGE

j_alma_reads's review

5.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3.5⭐️
En general me gustó. Me pareció muy tierno todo, el reencuentro de Bridget con su familia y Lonan.
El spicy muy bueno.
La segunda mitad del libro se me hizo bastante pesado, Bridget daba muchas vueltas, no escuchaba a Lonan. Todos los conflictos mentales que tenía Bridget con respecto a la relación con Lonan se solucionaban prestando atención a lo que él le decía.
Más allá de eso, me gustó.

Absolutely LOVED this book. The plot twist had me in a choke hold. Can’t wait to finish the series!

sheaken's review

4.5
emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

WHY WAS THIS SO GOOD OMG

Birdie was absolutely so damn strong throughout this whole book. I was in awe of her strength. Lonan pissed me off at times but he made up for it many times over. I do wish I could have had more details about Birdies abduction and how Elizabeth passed but I understand why it’s not in there.

This book was great. I enjoyed the chemistry between Lonan and Birdie and I loved that there was a subplot with the evidence submissions. I felt that this book was slightly lacking in the plot considering that there was an immediate acceptance and trust that came when she returned to her family. I felt like that was a fair bit unrealistic but otherwise I really enjoyed the story.

Is anything better than a dirty-talking tattooed hockey player who loves his girl with all he is?? No? I didn't think so.

Birdie unravels a serious family secret at her mother's funeral sending her on a trip to the States to uncover the past she doesn't remember.

I loved Birdie's backstory and her relationship with Lonan. I did wish for more interaction with Birdie's family, considering all she and her family had gone through they deserved a lot of time together and I really wanted to see those relationships develop along with her relationship with Lonan which could have set up some tension as she worried about developing feelings for a man her parents viewed as a son. There was some of that but because we did not see her relationship with her parents a whole lot it was less tension.

Obsessed with the series and will be reading more of it!
xomadewithlev's profile picture

xomadewithlev's review

4.0
dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

madreads97's review

3.75
challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
challenging mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book got me hooked from the beginning with the intriguing story of who Birdie really is 
This story was narrated by Edward Black and Chole Ryan who did an amazing job.  I couldn’t imagine anyone else as The Main Characters,
Their telling of this story was very well executed and I totally enjoyed every second. 

Ok let’s get into this one ..

Birdie 
Wasn’t who she thought she was supposed be , heck her mother isn’t even her adoptive mother instead this woman turns out to be something more sinister. 
But all this was revealed after the woman she thought her mother funeral.. so Birdie started digging to find the truth and was shocked to know what was waiting for her all these years to now, 
a family that never gave up looking!
But what she also found was Lonan Burke  her brother’s best friend who also hadn’t given up hope, and want so much more from her… the girl with trust issues the girl that felt so unworthy of anyone loving or wanting her. 

Lonan Burke 
The defense man for the Minnesota lakes
And best friend of Jake Birdies brother, the woman who he can’t seem to let go of since childhood the one he knows deep down in is soul has always been the one for him. 
It’s magnified more especially when he found out she is now back home .. 
this leaves Lonan struggling to keep hold of the most infuriating person ever ! 

Baggage and scars, I want it all. I’ll take her issues, her trauma, her bad days. Because I know we’ll also have good ones. We’ll have a life full of everything she’s ever dreamed of. There’s a lot of happiness ahead of us, if only she could see it. This isn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.
                ~~~~~~~~~💜~~~~~~~~~LONAN

But Listennnnn 
this girl who when the book started would go after a man with such confidence and control is all of a sudden weak minded with self awareness and mistrust ? 
Yeah I get trust issues after being kidnapped at such a young age, but to refuse this man who have loved you since he was 8yrs old and have been proving himself ever since her return, but here is this FMC citing all the stupid reasons as to why she can’t marry the man is bull crap and frustrating. None of it made sense to me at the moment especially the way she was in the beginning. 
But look I get the trauma she went through but her previous actions just didn’t line up with her reaction nor reasoning further on in this story . 

For most parts I enjoyed the intrigue the suspense surrounding her kidnapping and disturbing disappearance and how her family and Lonan felt during those moments she was lost and then returned. 
I enjoy how each day this guy tries to prove she belong and how much he wants and love  her despite her fighting him at every turn with bull crap nonsense, 
This was one interesting read with spice levels blowing up .. because this guy has a dirty mouth with a dominant personality, and whew the heat level was sizzling for sure when these narrators were taking us through those heated scenes! So freaking good! 
Well done Chole Ryan and Edward Black
 
Be sure to check out this series in KU read and listen this was my first Sloan St. James book and I enjoyed it. 
You won’t be disappointed maybe frustrated at times but you definitely will want to check this out.
Read/Listen if you love 
💜Hockey Romance 
🏒Forced Proximity 
💚Kidnapping (not by the MMC)
🧁Angst
💜Praise
💚Second Chance
💜Dirty Talk 
💚Suspense 
💜HEA
💚Duel POV
💜Found Family 
—————————💜💚🧁💜💚———————
Thanks for reading my POV Ratings and Review.
5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ yeah it’s all good 
4🔥🔥🔥🔥 whew .. this guy …
🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️yes fantastic in my ear 

Happy Reading/Listening hope you will enjoy it as I do. 
@Georgious_eleanorpb🦋