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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
I truly don't know where to start. I'm still emotional, and honestly, I will probably never be over this book, this world, and these characters. I can't believe we have to say goodbye to this series. They became my safe place, my hideaway. It was like finally coming home from a long trip, it felt like I'm at home.
LJ started with a kickstart, right in the heart. My tears just fell as soon as I started the book. I'm even tearing up now just writing about it. It's never happened before. Safe to say, every ASH fan waited for this story to finally see our babies, Lev and Bailey, and how their lives are going. They are perfectly imperfect and born to be together. Whatever happened along the way, it was written in the skies. I cannot put it into words how beautifully and amazingly Bailey's struggle with addiction was written. The author went deep and showed us all the shades of darkness of its mental part. It was brilliant, painful, and beautiful at the same time.
I think I've never seen a Golden Retriever type of hero from LJ Shen before, and I'm sure it's not going to happen soon, but this woman can do it as well. Lev stole my heart. He is really the most likable, adorable MMC of LJ Shen's.
Honestly, I don't know how I feel about how Dean's life is going. I think I need more time for that. I have to mention one thing: every interaction between Lev and Jaime is pure gold, I'm living for these moments. Also, the author balanced the emotions so well that when it was hard to breathe, she tried to soothe it with some hilarious scenes. I think I have never read a book before where I cried in a minute and then laughed so hard with the tears still in my eyes in the next.
Long story short, LJ Shen can't miss, and I would never ever stop recommending her books. I'd give it a trillion stars if i could.
LJ started with a kickstart, right in the heart. My tears just fell as soon as I started the book. I'm even tearing up now just writing about it. It's never happened before. Safe to say, every ASH fan waited for this story to finally see our babies, Lev and Bailey, and how their lives are going. They are perfectly imperfect and born to be together. Whatever happened along the way, it was written in the skies. I cannot put it into words how beautifully and amazingly Bailey's struggle with addiction was written. The author went deep and showed us all the shades of darkness of its mental part. It was brilliant, painful, and beautiful at the same time.
I think I've never seen a Golden Retriever type of hero from LJ Shen before, and I'm sure it's not going to happen soon, but this woman can do it as well. Lev stole my heart. He is really the most likable, adorable MMC of LJ Shen's.
Honestly, I don't know how I feel about how Dean's life is going. I think I need more time for that. I have to mention one thing: every interaction between Lev and Jaime is pure gold, I'm living for these moments. Also, the author balanced the emotions so well that when it was hard to breathe, she tried to soothe it with some hilarious scenes. I think I have never read a book before where I cried in a minute and then laughed so hard with the tears still in my eyes in the next.
Long story short, LJ Shen can't miss, and I would never ever stop recommending her books. I'd give it a trillion stars if i could.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
tense
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
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
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
This is another friends to lovers book and follows Bailey and Lev. These 2 went different ways when Bailey left for Juilliard and even though they weren’t talking Lev was the first person Bailey called when she OD’d. When I was reading this I was shocked that this FMC was going to become an addict as I read her character in the other books and I could not see it.
The communication between parents and children again is terrible. Although Mel did not push Bailey she felt she needed to follow in her footsteps and graduate Juilliard and Lev felt that pressure from his dad to make it to the NFL. I am not a parent but I was told when I was younger I can do what I want. Why couldn’t these parents let kids follow their dreams?
The hard topic in this book is Dixie. A lot of people do not like her relationship with Dean but I think it will lead to a great friendship and co parenting that Dixie deserves. Even though she stayed because of Rosie she helped Lev and she did not have to. This does not diminish Rosie and how she loved all her boys. She was a great mom and wanted someone to be there for them.
I gave this book 4 ⭐️ and 2 🌶️ their first time in the forest was perfect for them but also the strip search at the pool 🥵.
I recommend this if you like friends to lovers and a heartbreaking story they have to overcome to be together.
Happy reading everyone 📚
Sorry, not sorry, I‘m over it. Some ol‘ shit in these books: a lot of cock-talk (at least every chapter has at least 5x the word cock in it), a lot of juvenile talk about sex.
The ‚depth‘ of this book was lost after the prologue…
The ‚depth‘ of this book was lost after the prologue…
dark
emotional
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How’s the sky looking? Cloudy with a chance of heartache
It's really well written, I might have gotten a little teary a few times and almost threw my tablet across the room a couple of times too. Every time I thought Bailey hit rock bottom she just broke out a shovel. And I felt for the kid, I really did.
But there were several things I had issues with and for what they are worth, they are under the spoiler tag ...
First off, I'm probably older than the intended audience, coming in at almost half a century old vs in my 20s or 30s. The main characters being 18/19 made the spicy stuff difficult to get into because to me they are children! I know they aren't actually children but they are so young!
It also made their undying love difficult not to dismiss (sorry!) because I have been 18/19 and I know how the person you thought was the world ends up being 'Oh, some guy I used to go out with'.
The using sex to distract her from her withdrawals wasn't the flex he thought it was. It was just wrong, dude, come on.
Having the 'poor girl' be a freaking psycho was also just not cool. Also just using her for sex while he called her the other girl's name? Dude! How am I supposed to be rooting for this kid again? Ick. major ick. Honestly, he kind of deserved some of the sh*t Bailey put him through for treating someone else like that (not that he ever grasped that at all).
I did not read the previous books, so I don't really get what some of the other reviews are talking about. However, it seemed like Dixie kind of settled for having dude's baby rather than being with him in a relationship? And I'm like, what the f*ck is that about? If he's still hung up on his dead wife, then let the man go, girl. Find someone else that will love you and let him have his grief.
It was just weird and I felt sorry for the character to be reduced to that kind of desperation.
But there were several things I had issues with and for what they are worth, they are under the spoiler tag ...
Spoiler
First off, I'm probably older than the intended audience, coming in at almost half a century old vs in my 20s or 30s. The main characters being 18/19 made the spicy stuff difficult to get into because to me they are children! I know they aren't actually children but they are so young!
It also made their undying love difficult not to dismiss (sorry!) because I have been 18/19 and I know how the person you thought was the world ends up being 'Oh, some guy I used to go out with'.
The using sex to distract her from her withdrawals wasn't the flex he thought it was. It was just wrong, dude, come on.
Having the 'poor girl' be a freaking psycho was also just not cool. Also just using her for sex while he called her the other girl's name? Dude! How am I supposed to be rooting for this kid again? Ick. major ick. Honestly, he kind of deserved some of the sh*t Bailey put him through for treating someone else like that (not that he ever grasped that at all).
I did not read the previous books, so I don't really get what some of the other reviews are talking about. However, it seemed like Dixie kind of settled for having dude's baby rather than being with him in a relationship? And I'm like, what the f*ck is that about? If he's still hung up on his dead wife, then let the man go, girl. Find someone else that will love you and let him have his grief.
It was just weird and I felt sorry for the character to be reduced to that kind of desperation.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated