this was a lot to wrap my head around - mostly the classism conversation surrounding the main characters and the miscommunication littering the entire plot 😭 but paige toon’s writing style is so beautiful I couldn’t help but become entranced!

ash and ellie meet while abroad in portugal and immediately fall head over heels with each other in just a few days - and while insta love usually isn’t my jam, their story was so beautiful … until the entire truth comes out seven years later 👀 and wow, how can you know everything about a person but have no idea what their last name is and who their family is??

in their bones, ellie and ash felt like two halves of the same person, but in reality, it felt like a prince and pauper story… ash being the heir to a wealthy family shouldn’t have been as big of a deal as it was, but ash and ellie refused to have a decent conversation with each other about it 🙄 

if they sat down and explained each other’s emotions and views for the future, the conflict and flight response would have been null and void. and while I can understand how hurt they both were at the end of the book, it drove me nuts that they chose to not speak and push each other away instead of talking out their feelings!!!!! what a concept!!!!

why must love interests always assume the worst I swear 🥴🥴🥴

a huge thank you to putnam and penguin random house for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! 

rating: 3 stars
wine pairing: portugal albariño