If I had only one word to describe this book, it would be this: heartbreak.

I really loved the POV and timeline switches, although I have to say that I wish the past timeline hadn't been so contemporary in language. It didn't exactly feel like the 1940s. I enjoyed seeing Stella and Dan's relationship develop. I could see them falling in love on the page and understand why they developed such strong feelings for each other, and that's partly why it was so hard for me to believe that

Stella would give up so easily and stay with her husband. She could have lied and said the baby was Dan's. She could have threatened to tell everyone that he beat and raped her. Although back then, it was believed that marital rape didn't exist, I don't women in their community would have looked too kindly on this. She could have threatened to tell everyone he was a closeted gay man. She could have made his life absolute hell, but she did nothing and let Dan go.

I understand what the author was trying to do by creating a parallel to their story in the present, but I wish she hadn't. In contrast to Stella and Dan, Jess and Will's story was rushed and their feelings unfounded. Given where they both were in their lives, it felt rather toxic and founded on lust more than anything else. Like two drowning people cluthing onto each other, thinking it would keep their heads above water. I'd have liked it much more if they could have gotten to know each other better throughout, had mutual experiences that made them closer, and gone on a date at the end.

Another thing I didn't appreciate was the severely misleading depiction of depression and mental illness – getting laid and thinking you're in love does, in fact, not cure you, unfortunately.

It's known from the start that the ending would be absolutely soul-crushing, but still it just punched me in the gut. I don't know how one can live with the regret and despair and know that you can never get that time back, get another go, change anything. If I was Stella, I'd have gone mad.