This book was a super quick read, and was a follow up to another book I read recently, The Art of Pretending. The male protagonist was a side character in the first book, and gets his own story.
For the most part, I enjoyed this story. The romance was sweet and I liked both the main characters. I also liked that we saw them in the present day and also when they first met each other. One of my favorite tropes (when it's done well) is the 're-connecting first loves' trope. I like it because the characters already have a basis for their relationship. There is a foundation there. They know each other. I felt like this book did a nice job with a concept that isn't exactly unique.
I liked Justin and Peyton, especially Peyton. I liked that she didn't let her illness define her and that she was determined to live a normal life. I liked Justin's backstory, and wish we'd had a little more of that. I wanted a confrontation between him and his dad.
One thing I think could've been stronger were the side characters. Now, a few of them were from the first book, but there were several who were not. We got next to no description of them. One of her supposed best friends, Faith, has all of two scenes in the book, where we learn that she has a fashion vlog on YouTube. And...that's about it. Another friend, Mi-Mi, is mentioned a couple times, but has absolutely zero impact on the story and no personality to speak of. Perhaps they pop up in some of her other books, but here, they may as well be omitted from the book. Also, I felt like Aly spoke in a way that was out of character for her as far as what I recall of the first book. She was throwing around words like 'Y'all' and 'wicked' multiple times and it just sounded off to me. I wish we could've gotten more friendship scenes for both characters throughout this book.
Also, the whole reason for their separation and the way it happened was referred to throughout the book, but I felt like his reasoning behind it was shaky at best, and unrealistic at worst. I get that 15 year-old boys are not the brightest, but his twisted logic felt really forced to me.

The writing itself was fine, but I felt like these characters skewed far older than their actual age based on their dialogue. As I was reading the excerpts from when they were 15, I kept having to remind myself that they are kids, because it read like a couple in their early-to-mid twenties.



All in all, I thought this was a cute book with a cute romance, but I wish it had been a little deeper. It was too surface level for me.