I am at once bereft and joyful having read the final book for for The Ones Who Got Away series. So many emotions and I'm misty eyed that this group of friends have reached their final HEA. For a series based on a friend group brought together for the anniversary of the school shooting they all survived, Loren does an amazing job of keeping things emotional yet never too heavy that you cannot see the light coming. Bravo.

I've been eagerly awaiting Kincaid's story the most, as she is the crux of the group, the one who seems the most okay but kind of really isn't, the one who needs to feel her feelings and find her peace. I adore a childhood friends to lovers to enemies to second chance romance, and this one hits all my sweet spots. Plus the bonus of "my childhood friend is now super hot." Plus the PINING. OMG the pining. Ashton is a sexy, secretly jacked, book nerd who's loved Kincaid for forever, but kept his feelings for her secret as she needed a friend, not a lover, and then his best friend caught her eye first. I loved seeing how Loren played with the complexity of this relationship, never truly vilifying Kincaid's first boyfriend, but showing how our dead one's can be put on a pedestal they don't truly belong on.

On a lighter note, there's a delicious scene involving a bookstore and Ashton's naughty mouth. Oof dah.

CW school shooting, violence, domestic violence, drug use, parental neglect and abuse, gas lighting (none of this between the main couple).

Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy!