So many twists and turns I did not see coming all the way to the end. Extremely well done. I also liked how she looked at the perspective of how parents view themselves reflected in their kids’ behavior or in protecting them.

And that’s all I will say to keep from spoilers ;).

4.5⭐️. A nice light romance. Loved Isobel and Kieran and the Highlander setting. I wish it was longer and had a little more backstory to it but it was still really good. Loved the threads about valuing commitment, bravery, standing up your worth, and forgiveness, weaved throughout.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up. This was a slow moving book but had a ton of thoughtful nuggets, even a little philosophical maybe. It reads sort of like an autobiography, from someone who observes and thinks hard and honestly about people, and himself in his little town. Makes you think and consider. I was glad I listened to it on audio though because it would have been too slow for me if I was reading it normally.

It was a nice closure to the story of Lily and Atlas, although parts of it seemed rather unlikely, especially Atlas’s and Ryle’s interactions. It felt a little too easy and a little to perfect in a lot of places but the story was still good nonetheless.

I love how Ms Hoover writes such messy, thought-provoking, and emotionally difficult stories. They make you think, they make you open yourself up to be empathetic towards others, and to consider how you feel. This one was certainly one of them and I still feel like I need to think about it more for awhile after this. It had so many profound concepts about how we view relationships, how we allow people to treat us, and how we view our own worth in those relationships, and the importance of breaking destructive patterns before they break us and those we love.

She’s absolutely right that it’s easy to judge and decide what others should do when you’re on the outside of but she did such an excellent job at getting you into Lily’s head and contemplating what you would do if you were in her situation. It made me war with myself on what I would do so many times and then rethink why. Excellent book.

Relatable, engaging, and thought provoking, and I always love a story about redemption and reconciliation. I really liked both main characters and their tension and pursuit, and character growth, and Vee was a great secondary character.


The story highlights the consequences of not grasping your worth as a woman, and living in an environment of shame and regret that just gets compounded by that. It tied in well with the concept of sexual assault and how so many women blame themselves or excuse it. It’s not a pretty or easy subject but I thought it was done tastefully and sensitively, and well worth being told.

There were a number of little weird flow or plot gaps I kept getting stuck at - someone was in one location and then all of the sudden docking a boat somewhere else the next sentence, standing and then all of the sudden from sitting position, etc, without fleshing out the transitions. Not a big deal but it made me have to read over a few sections to try to follow or see if I missed something. That’s really the only reason I dropped a star. Loved the story itself.