This was a highly anticipated read for me because you know with these authors you're going to get hit in the feels. I really liked the story and the emotions, these characters really put you through it but it's so worth it to experience their love. 

Pierce and Will meet at a bar in Cannon Beach and spend a week consumed in their intense chemistry and quietly falling in love. Will heads back to the military at the end of the week, so they know that they can't continue a relationship, but they promise to write and stay in touch platonically. As the months go by, Will is convinced more than ever that he fell in love with Pierce. However Pierce's letters start trailing off and when Will returns to Seattle, they're both hit with a reality that could end their chance of ever having a happy ending together. 

These two have such an instant and intense connection. They just fell into a perfect relationship in the one week they were together which makes what happens after so hard. It makes sense that they didn't plan on keeping a relationship with Will being deployed, but it doesn't make the letters any less heartbreaking. The one constant is that there is something undeniable between Will and Pierce. Will seems like he would be the tougher of the two, but boy does he fall hard. Pierce is a flawed character, and it's hard to be on his side sometimes but he pulls through in the end. 

You know with a story by CE Ricci and Marley Valentine, you're going to get the angst. While it was definitely angsty and I teared up at a few parts, I honestly thought it was going to be more emotional. Part 1 was good because it was all falling in love, but because of the prologue the whole time I was anxious to get to the drama. Part 3 definitely had me hooked and I breezed through it, but there were one or two things I didn't love (I'll put more details with spoilers on GoodReads). I wish we got some more of the fall out after the ending and before the epilogue, because I love reading about drama and it was pretty messy. 

Will and Pierce have a hard won happily ever after but there is no doubt they were supposed to be together. I loved reading about how their epic love played out. These authors know how to write feelings and delivered an interesting and emotional story. 

Read if you like: 
• forbidden romance   
• second chance     
• high angst   

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SPOILERS below: 


From the blurb you know that Pierce gets into a relationship before Will comes back. That's fine to me, they didn't have any commitments to each other besides what they wrote in the letters about maybe seeing each other. What I can't wrap my head around is why Pierce would marry someone else less than a year later. Dating I can see, but marriage? Like you're not even going to wait to maybe see Will again before committing to someone after a few months? I just didn't love that and wasn't convinced enough that Pierce had a good reason for it. 

Now with the twist, it just made me feel weird who Pierce ended up with. I think I would be okay with it being the sister in a different situation but it was just didn't work for me here. I also couldn't stop thinking that Pierce was sleeping with his wife this entire time and it just gave me a little bit of ickiness. I can't tell you why exactly because I do enjoy cheating books (don't come at me), but for whatever reason something was off about it for me. 

Pierce is a flawed character, but I didn't hate him. He just made really bad decisions. I don't think I'll ever be over the fact he committed his life to someone else because he was emotionally in love, with Will's sister, only months after Will. I did think he made up for some of it at the end. Will was ready to let them be and give up on them and Pierce took the bullet and fought for them, even though it was an extremely hard choice. Him putting Will first at the end is the only reason why I think I actually like him.