3.5 stars

When Lily is 16, she's forced to move to Australia with her mom. Feeling a bit lost, Lily eventually gets a job in a conservation park and meets Ben. Even though he's 12 years older, they have an instant connection and despite nothing ever happening they can't forget each other. Ten years later, Lily is engaged but bumps into Ben - suddenly she has to wonder if Ben is who she should be with or should she forget about him once and for all.

Note: this book has spoilers for Lucy in the Sky.

I've been wanting to read this book for a while and i must admit, I knew the outcome as Lily has a connection with Bronte from Thirteen Weddings (I always recommend reading Paige Toon in publishing order as a lot of characters from past books made cameos). I genuinely really enjoyed this book and all the lovely romantic chemistry that was in it.

I was concerned when I realised that Ben was so much older than Lily as naturally you just believe the story is going into creepy territory and in the past I have had problems with some books that had such a relationship but weirdly, I really loved Ben and Lily. They never even kissed or touched when Lily was young (thank god) but there was a huge amount of chemistry that couldn't be ignored. I also enjoyed the side plot of how Lily crushed on Josh for a while and how their relationship turned out.

The book definitely snagged a tiny bit once it got to the 'present'. From the get go, Lily's engagement with Richard is so awkward and I really hated it as I didnt think she was being fair to him at all or to herself. Their whole relationship felt very forced. I also didn't like that Lily's life had kind of crumbled once Ben wasn't in it and the only time she seems to be able to be inspired is when he's around. A bit too much dependency on what a guy thinks for me, despite Ben being lovely.

I think Ben's character seemed a bit flat and let down in the second part of the book as well. We had gotten to know 28-year-old Ben through Lily in the past but I think the second half relied on this too much and didn't focus on who 38-year-old Ben was. It's been ten years so surely he has changed a bit. He was also a bit too encouraging straight away with Lily, he acted like they were in a relationship from the get go and never actually asked her if she had a boyfriend straight out.

I did like the ending though there was a real summary feel in the epilogue and I don't always like that. It feels like a homework assignment.

And the kiss was the most satisfying I've read about in a long time. The whole book and they had never even kissed!