Devi Nair
🎧 Listened in audio 📢 Narrated by Katherine Chin & Andrew Eiden ⏱ Duration: 11 hours 🏷️ Publisher: HarperCollins 🏆 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Romance (2024), Winner for Readers’ Favorite Debut Novel (2024)
I'll be honest, this one was a DNF for me. The premise itself lost me before the halfway mark.
Helen's hatred towards Grant for her sister's death (a confirmed suicide, where his car was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time) felt misplaced to me. And not just misplaced, but sustained well over a decade. That's a long time to carry that level of blame. So, when adult Helen is suddenly in close proximity to Grant and falling for him, my brain short-circuited. This is the same man you held responsible for your sister's death. Stick to one emotional lane. I couldn't reconcile that shift, and it pulled me out of the story hard enough that I ultimately DNF'd.
That said, Yulin Kuang's writing is sharp, intimate, and cinematic, which makes sense given her background in screenwriting (and if her name sounds familiar, it's because she's the one adapting Emily Henry's People We Meet on Vacation). She has a gift for making emotions feel raw and unfiltered, even when the plot doesn't land. The narration by Katherine Chin and Andrew Eiden was also excellent. Both captured the ache and tension between Helen and Grant beautifully.
Sometimes a book can be well-written and still not be for you. This one was definitely not for me.
Would I recommend it? If you love angst-heavy, grief-laced romance with complicated emotional baggage and morally messy dynamics, this might absolutely wreck you in the best way. The writing is strong, the performances are immersive, and the emotional stakes are high. But if you struggle with long-held blame as a romantic foundation, you may find yourself as frustrated as I was.
🎧 Listened in audio 📢 Narrated by Katherine Chin & Andrew Eiden ⏱ Duration: 11 hours 🏷️ Publisher: HarperCollins 🏆 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Romance (2024), Winner for Readers’ Favorite Debut Novel (2024)
I'll be honest, this one was a DNF for me. The premise itself lost me before the halfway mark.
Helen's hatred towards Grant for her sister's death (a confirmed suicide, where his car was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time) felt misplaced to me. And not just misplaced, but sustained well over a decade. That's a long time to carry that level of blame. So, when adult Helen is suddenly in close proximity to Grant and falling for him, my brain short-circuited. This is the same man you held responsible for your sister's death. Stick to one emotional lane. I couldn't reconcile that shift, and it pulled me out of the story hard enough that I ultimately DNF'd.
That said, Yulin Kuang's writing is sharp, intimate, and cinematic, which makes sense given her background in screenwriting (and if her name sounds familiar, it's because she's the one adapting Emily Henry's People We Meet on Vacation). She has a gift for making emotions feel raw and unfiltered, even when the plot doesn't land. The narration by Katherine Chin and Andrew Eiden was also excellent. Both captured the ache and tension between Helen and Grant beautifully.
Sometimes a book can be well-written and still not be for you. This one was definitely not for me.
Would I recommend it? If you love angst-heavy, grief-laced romance with complicated emotional baggage and morally messy dynamics, this might absolutely wreck you in the best way. The writing is strong, the performances are immersive, and the emotional stakes are high. But if you struggle with long-held blame as a romantic foundation, you may find yourself as frustrated as I was.