Emotional and heartbreaking with a happy ending

I went into this blind and I really enjoyed it. It's my first Natasha Madison book.

This is an emotional and heartbreaking, but also sweet book. It wasn't as emotionally damaging as I thought it was going to be, given how the book started. It’s a small town romance with enemies to lovers, best friend’s ex, love after loss, trauma and healing.

The characters are dealing with grief, guilt, and loneliness, which results in a very messy relationship between the main characters that some readers might find toxic. I think it's a very realistic representation of how people react to this kind of situation. That's not to say Charlie didn't annoy me at times with his treatment of Autumn, but I’ve read and watched enough stories about teenagers/new adults living in the aftermath of a drunk driving accident (a trope that I think was very popular 2000s YA fiction) to give the characters some grace. Charlie (wrongly) blames Autumn for taking away the love of his life, and makes it very clear that he hates her. For 8 years, he can't seem to get past it, until she comes back into his life. And eventually, he starts to see things differently. I love a story where two damaged people help each other heal and find their safe place in each other.

I liked seeing depth in the characters. They aren’t just their grief. They’re close to their families (who are very loving and supportive) and they’re passionate about their work. The relationship between Charlie and his best friend, Emmett, inserted some well placed humour to balance out the heaviness of the story.

It's an enemies to lovers so there's a lot of tension in this story, even after they start sleeping together, because they still hate each other at that point. I loved how subtly the change in their feelings for each other happened. I feel like it's one of those things where if you don't pay attention to the little things, it'll seem like it's out of nowhere. I do feel like the pace of “we have feelings for each other” to “I want to spend my life with you” felt a bit fast because we didn’t get a lot of insight into their friendship before the accident, which is what seems to propel their current relationship at the speed it did.

The narration was great. I think this is my first Gregory Salinas book, but I've listened to a few Savannah Peachwood performances. These two put on an amazing performance full of emotion. Charlie’s desperation during aftermath of the accident broke my heart. I loved Savannah’s portrayal of Autumn’s strength and vulnerability.

There are topics discussed in the book that certainly could have been discussed more deeply and fully, but for a book that’s less than 300 pages, I think the author did a good job in addressing these delicate topics while focusing on the elements that were important to the main storyline. If you’re looking for a romance that will make you feel, but not totally wreck you, give this a listen.

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