Mia spent all of high school wanting Noah. He barely acknowledged her, and she was never able to act on her crush. When she went to college she expected to date, but ended up falling for Declan. Declan is a year younger than Mia but wastes no time when it comes to pursuing her. They get engaged and end up marrying young because when you know you know. They end up having two beautiful little girls and Mia gives up her career as a teacher in order to stay at home with them. Now a few years later she is stuck being a housewife and a mom while her husband is constantly away on business trips. The love and bond they once shared has become distant and cold and they don't connect like they used to. When Mia finds out that Declan was unfaithful to her it absolutely crushes her. She kicks him out and is determined to figure out what the future holds for her. Declan tries to convince her that they are worth fighting for, but doesn't really do much in the way of actually fighting for her. When Mia attends her high school reunion and comes face to face with Noah, all her old feelings are rekindled and she thinks that this might be her second chance. Mia and Noah begin to date and things are starting to look up for her. As Noah and Mia grow closer, Mia and Declan drift further apart. But Declan isn't willing to give up their relationship and family and is determined to be the one in her future.
Declan is one of those characters that you both love and hate. He is sexy and charming, sweet and determined. I really liked how he was when they were in college and how sure of their relationship and future he was. He took things slow and did things the right way. I liked that he made her feel special and went out of his way to do things to show her that right from the very start. I also really hated things he did. He reacted really poorly in several huge and pivotal situations. He also did the unthinkable and instead of talking to his wife about his feelings and problems went and cheated. Then he says he screwed up and wants her back but proceeded to not really put up much of a fight. It was really confusing. I know he was giving her some space, but at times he really did seem indifferent to Mia and it was no wonder that she thought he had given up on them. I never stopped rooting for him though. I am firmly team Declan and I was so glad to get his POV towards the end of the book because it really changed how the reader views him. We finally get to see what is really going on in his head and how he feels. Noah on the other hand was extremely likable and easy to want to root for. He was in a really bad situation being that the girl he had once liked and never done anything about was finally an option only she wasn't really. He was sweet and thoughtful, kind and considerate. He went out of his way to do things the right way regardless of the awful situation he was in with Mia. I liked that he was never pushy or tried to make her do things that she wasn't ready for. I never felt like he was the right guy for Mia though. He was perfect and a great guy, he just wasn't perfect for Mia in my opinion. Mia had her moments for me. She was strong and I liked that she was committed to her children and family. I thought that a lot of the problems with her marriage though were just as much her fault as Declan's. He might have made one massive mistake, but they both were at fault for not communicating and really telling each other what they were going through. Plus I really had some problems with her when she had kicked Declan out for cheating and then she proceeds to full on date her high school crush. Declan had made one mistake and then didn't see anyone else, so it just felt wrong to kind of string him along while she dated Noah.
Besides those things though, I had a few other things that really influenced how I rated this book. I thought that the jumps in time and back and forth got to be a bit much. I liked getting to know how they got to where they were and seeing things that had happened, but it really sort of took me out of the moment with things going on and I found myself starting to not care about some of the things from the past. I wanted to know what was happening in the present and would rush through the other stuff to get back. It also bothered me that Declan wasn't the one who came clean about what happened. The only reason that everything went down was because Mia caught him in a lie and demanded the truth. I am not sure he ever would have told her what happened otherwise and that really got to me. They had some real problems that weren't brought to light until it came up about him being unfaithful and if Mia had never found out it makes me wonder what would have happened. I did like this story and I liked the way things ended. It was a tough journey throughout and it was just a really bad situation. I thought that for the most part it was handled well, and I liked that even though there was cheating that it was only kissing. It's still cheating, but it could have been so much worse. I was drawn in right from the start and I couldn't put this one down. I liked both Noah and Declan and I knew I was going to feel bad for whoever was not chosen. I really hope that he gets his HEA because he truly deserves it. This book was one of those that just seemed real to me and I thought that it was written really well. Faith Andrews is definitely one that I will be keeping an eye on and I can't wait to read more from her in the future especially this series.
**ARC provided by Inkslinger PR**
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I agree with your review 100%. I felt the same when reading it.
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