| Title | : | 5 Years Later |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 298 |
| Publication | : | First published April 25, 2017 |
When I was 18, he took my innocence
When I was 23, he said he would love me forever
When I was 28, he broke my heart
Now I'm 33... and there's a knock at the door. He's back, again. And this time he's not alone.
5 Years Later Reviews
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Sex with brother's widow. While going back to the heroine every 5 years? (Stupidest thing ever LMAO)
And while having sex with many others.
I think this is trying to be "shocking ". My opinion: RIDICULOUS. -
I had seen the advertisement for this book
on Twitter and Instagram. I was super excited
to read it, you know I love a friends
to lover kind of book.
UGGGGGGGG. This was not love, it was
not even close. Aidan and Lily were
co-dependent on each other. What
kind of man, that professes to love
a woman would only show up every
5 years? AND WHAT KIND OF WOMAN
WOULD LET HIM??? Lily was an
extremely weak heroine. She took any
scraps that Aidan had to offer, I mean
any.
Don't get me started on Aidan. He just
loves Lily so much that he rarely sees
her, has an affair with his brothers
wife, possibly gets her pregnant,
BUT HE LOVES LILY SO MUCH.
This book was ridiculous. I didn't
like either Aidan or Lily. Aidan did
NOT love Lily regardless of how much
the authors wanted me to believe
he did. Lily was a pathetic doormat
that literally took anything Aidan
had to offer. (which was not much)
I was also over the whole "drug addict"
excuse that Aidan had. He needed
to grow up.
Now, I know technically there was no
cheating....I think it was worse. I hate
weak women and Lily might possibly be
the worse one I have read.
This book got a TON of 5 stars, so maybe
this was me, decide for yourself....but
beware. My rant is over. -
#Tissue Box story
When I was 13, he stole my heart
When I was 18, he took my innocence
When I was 23, he said he would love me forever
When I was 28, he broke my heart
Now I'm 33... and there's a knock at the door. He's back, again. And this time he's not alone.
DON'T FORGET A TISSUE BOX.
This is a amazing story with so many twist and turns that while reading i could not stop crying.This story is about Lily and Aiden and there twisted love story which always bought destruction and heart break for them.Every time Aiden came into Lily's like he bought love and heartbreak. Aiden had a twisted past so had lily but they both had different way to cope up with it.
Aiden and Lily met when they were 15 and 13 and for 20 years they were not able to let go of each other no matter hpw much they tried.And after 5 year Aiden would show up on Lilys door on her birthday and would tell her he loved her but after a heartfull of passion he would leave lily alone because of his demons.
At first the taught came to me that Lily was a idiot who was waiting for a man who showed up after every 5 years and distroy her for another 5 years.Making her loose her heart as well as her job.I felt bad for lily becase every time aiden came back lily would take him bach into her life with any questi0n.
But MY favorite and the most crazy part of the story was the ending and the part when lily opens the door on her 33th birthday with a surprise aiden was standing with.Aiden had drug problems which actually made a whole story a roller coaster ride but the all the crying was fruit full at last. -
This one was tough for me. I can take a second chance romance, but honestly I barely finished this one. First, the storyline jumps back and forth a lot, and we pretty much know what already happened so it’s kind of a waste, but confusing. Aiden has major issues, substance abuse, selfish...he supposedly love his Lily so much, but hurts her again and again. Lily is portrayed as a kind hearted fixer, but really sh’s a doormat that allows this man to stomp all over her again and again and she just welcomes him back basically to have sex because to me that’s all they really had. “I’m crushed, you gutted me, but let’s have sex first because I just can’t wait” EYE-ROLL
I
-
I don't get it. I just don't.
It's probably because of my background in psychology. The subject I love so much sometimes is a curse when it comes to reading books. I see things from what is often a different aspect from what the writer does. In those times, if the author doesn't choose the healthiest option, I get judgy, which I probably shouldn't do, but I can't help it.
So what don't I get? How a person can claim to love another, actually feel whole in their presence (which I'll get to in a minute), but the second everything falls into place, he sabotages things, every single time. It may not seem to be on purpose. Others may say that it just wasn't the right time. But every single meeting they have, he ruins, causing another five-year hiatus.
I think in the 20 years since they met, they sporadically spent a total of three or four months actually together.
When Aiden places all the responsibility of his sobriety on Lily, saying that when he is with her, the desire to get high goes away, how is that healthy? Isn't that just trading one addiction for another? Their whole all-consuming love, so much so that every time they meet, they fall immediately into bed, it's just wrong. It felt wrong every time.
And don't get me started on the relationship between Aiden and Alice. Gross. I guess that whole "it's only ever been you without protection" he said to Lily was just a bunch of crap.
I don't like reading books involving addicts. I mean I understand addiction, but I just don't like to read about it, especially when the addiction becomes the relationship itself.
And the timeline, telling the story in random time-shifting flashbacks, just got annoying. I don't mind flashbacks at all as long as they are told in a way that progresses the current story. Toward the end, it felt like, "Oh, yeah, we forgot to tell that part, so let's do it now." It was weird and unnecessary.
It all just becomes one big depressing read. I don't see it as beautiful, only pathetic, and I feel I wasted my time. -
*******Spoiler Alert******
Somehow the pages of this book though inanimate seethe with the drug induced world of it's main character.It's a dark journey of one failed musician and 'his' girl who remained his constant light house for decades.
He 'poison gifted' her on her birthday every fifth year or so when he was not otherwise preoccupied,f#*ked her into an enchanted stupor,created havoc & left her until the next birthday or maybe the fifth in between various other women and one almost 'incestuos' relationship and she silently accepted without much protest.
Though there is no cheating as the blurb indicates,there is a twist to the tale that would make you think that the heroine had been betrayed a hundred fold making one dislike the 'hero' even more than what you would have already had a few pages into the book.
The four stars are for the stark look into the feverish mind of Aiden the addict and the words of beauty that he gave to Lily the heroine which held her captive like prey to some mythical monstrous cupid that came after a 1500 days to inject her with it's venom until it's next visit. -
I am a complete sucker fro second chance romances, but frankly I'm just done with this one. He's fucked up and she has this need to need to fix him. Problem is she's more fucked up than he is and can't even see it.
With all the back and forth with 10 years ago, 5 years ago, present day I was getting whiplash.
Aiden pops in every years on her birthday and Lily just miraculously forgives him for leaving her hanging for 5 years and its just exhausting and it got old. Get your shit together and grow the fuck up. -
5 Years Later, despite having a great blurb and having been written by an author I’ve read and enjoyed in the past, didn’t work for me AT ALL. It’s basically the story of an alphahole jerkwad who disappears from a woman’s life just long enough for her to get her crap together, then comes back to wreck everything for her, over and over again. Rinse and repeat. I could end the review there, but let me elaborate on all the stuff I hated about the book:
Aidan, the “hero”:
I use the term hero very, very loosely here. I don’t mind so much that Aidan has dependency issues and is a recovering addict. I could forgive that. But every time he comes back into Lily’s life, he ruins everything for her, never really apologizes, immediately jumps back into bed with her (while promising that “this time”, it’s forever), then abandons her without a goodbye for another 5 years. (He also insists on condomless sex, even though he’s been high and far from celibate while they were apart. Dick.) The last time he comes back, it’s with a kid in tow, and he refuses to give her any info about where he’s been or what he’s been doing for a LONG time after they start having sex again. He’s an ass. I hated everything about Aidan.
And after everything he puts Lily through, at the end, when he has one setback, his first instinct is to immediately go back to using. He isn’t even able to stop himself. It takes the help of his sponsor and Lily to get him to admit he’s being an idiot. So, what’s Aidan going to do when things don’t go his way in the future? From what I’ve seen in this book (including right up until the end), he’ll go back to drugs and probably leave Lily high and dry.
Lily, the heroine:
Lily is a wimp. Not only does she tolerate Aidan’s behavior, she encourages it by taking him back with open arms (and legs) whenever he reappears. She doesn’t ask too many questions, or expect an apology. A good heroine, in my opinion, would have kicked Aidan in the nuts the second time he popped back into her life, then gotten a restraining order against him. I also hated how Lily was so ready to burn her life to the ground whenever Aidan waltzed back through her door. Have some self-respect, girl!
The bouncing timeline:
Keeping up with all the time jumps in this story was like trying to follow all the character names in Game of Thrones. It got tedious after a while.
For all the grammar Nazis out there, it’s probably worth mentioning that you’ll find lots of errors in this book. Missed words, misused words, punctuation errors, weirdly phrased stuff that doesn’t read anywhere close to right...these are all issues you’ll have to tolerate in order to finish this one.
Long-story-short, I hated the hero with a fiery passion and wanted the heroine to grow a spine so that I could fix her up with a better hero from another book. That is all.
Don't forget to follow the Romance Rehab blog for reviews, book lists and other fun, romance-y stuff:
http://www.romancerehab.com/ -
After reading the last sentence in “5 Years Later,” I felt a surge of emotions come over me. Too many to list. I’ve read so many wonderful and memorable books this year and yet, I don’t think a story has hit me as hard as “5 Years Later” in a really long time. We’re talking ugly tears. The last time I was all choked up was Mia Kayla’s “Choosing Forever.”
We meet Aiden and Lily, two broken people whose lives have been connected for the past twenty years by… love. Told in different stages of their lives, we see them fall in love as teenagers, separate, reunite, separate, rejoin briefly only to separate again. It was a never-ending cycle that occurred every five years, always around Lily’s birthday.
“5 Years Later” took me to a dark place. The words written on every page consumed me. I knew it would take at least twenty years if not longer for the two of them to finally make it. However, will they do it together or separately? Not only was I invested in Aiden and Lily’s happily-ever-after, I was also invested in both of them as individuals. Happily ever after or not, I wanted both of them to find their peace, their happiness.
Addiction is a tough subject to tackle. London Casey and Jaxson Kidman did an incredible job writing it into their story. Reading Aiden’s point of view with regards to his ‘demon’ and his need for ‘sweet venom,’ was heartbreaking. I could see him. I could feel him. I wanted so much for him to make it out alive. Because through it all, there was no doubt that he was a good man. A loving man whose struggle with his demons would continue to haunt him but would not defeat him because of one woman’s love.
Reading Lily’s unwavering support was nothing short of beautiful. There were times in the book when I wondered, “Will she ever give up?”
If you love a story that will keep you up all night, will make you cry, will make you want to scream out loud, put you through an emotional roller-coaster, will make you feel like your heart is struggling to jump out of your chest because you’re so torn up, then I highly recommend reading “5 Years Later.”
I’m probably doing a terrible injustice to this amazing book by writing this review. I just needed to express how much I truly loved reading this unforgettable, epic journey between Aiden and Lily. -
Not for me. All the jumping back and forth from past to present would have been fine if it had felt at all necessary. It only served to distort the narrative. But the main reason I gave this one star is because the characters were so flat and so one-dimensional that there was hardly anything of substance to them at all. They had very little backstory and very little real human motivation.
Probably the thing that annoyed me the most is that the book suggests that every premature baby is selectively mute by choice. This is not a common thing. I know because I gave birth to a premature baby. He talks all the damn time. Sure it MIGHT happen on very rare occasions but that's not what I got from this book.
I just can't even with this book. -
Nope
This book was so confusing. Maybe it would have been decent if it was told on a linear timeline? Too much pointless drama, the 5 year thing is more creepy than a hook. I might have liked this story if it had one or two less steps, but taking place of 20 years? Too much. All of the romance is sucked out at this point. It’s not believable. They were both sleeping with other people. And sometime close to when he saw her last (5 years ago) he got involved with his sister in law and literally shows up with the kid from this dalliance. What kind of dou**bag does that? Of course she forgives him and they jump into bed together. Just no -
The real problem with this book is I cannot trust the H to stay sober. Sorry. At 95% he has a serious relapse after some terrible news and goes to buy. His friend stops him by punching him. Not sure he won’t relapse again over future BS and break his sobriety. He was pushing 4 years sober when that scene happens :/ And we never know his drug of choice.
I also think I needed more of them together and happy during and after the events of this book to get why the h kept taking him back. I liked the book...I just needed more. -
A must read.
Now this is my first book and a new author to me.
A 4 star ⭐️ read for the past and present dual POV by both characters.
It’s not all perfect of flowers and chocolates but it’s a story about second chances, love, the life struggles the responsibilities that Aiden faced and fought for Lily every time, sometimes it felt like he could never catch a break. I did however love their chemistry (even though for me Lily was a tad annoying) but it made up for the last couple of chapters and that epilogue. -
Holy shit, I think 5 Years Later is Jaxson and London's best work to date. It's a 20 year long look at addiction and the havoc it plays on someone and the people he loves. It's sad, gritty and unrelentingly honest. Lily and Aiden meet when she's 13 and he's 15. Their each other's first loves, but their road is not an easy one. She eventually gives him her virginity, only for him to slip out that night to go become a famous rockstar. He doesn't end up becoming famous, but, he does still love Lily, and continues to crash in and out of her life, usually every 5 years or so around the time of her birthday.
I felt so badly for Lily, every time Aiden came back into her life, she would take him back unreservedly, but the whole time she was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to leave her again. While Aiden may have been addicted to his "demon" as he called drugs, she was addicted to him and could never, ever give him up. Sometimes I just wanted to shake her and tell her to wake up, that Aiden was no good for her, wasn't nearly good enough for her, but, she loved him unconditionally and that's kind of a beautiful thing, even if it got her heart broke every single time.
I think the ending is my favorite part of this crazy, beautiful story. It turned out that Lily and Aiden's story has a silver lining after all, and it needs it, because the whole journey up to that point had been one of pain and heart break. Thank you, Jaxson and London for this beautiful, raw story. I won't soon forget it!
I received an ARC for an honest review. -
É uma leitura meio pesada porque os heróis ficam longo tempo separados e ele luta contra vícios. Eles vão se reencontrando ao longo dos anos e estes encontros sempre resultam em devastação na vida deles. Os heróis são bem complicados e é penoso acompanhar a trajetória deles, mas a história é bem escrita e prende a atenção do leitor.
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Is a heavy reading because the heroes are long time apart and he fights against addictions. They will reunited over the years and these meetings always result in devastation in their lives. The heroes are very complicated and it is painful to follow the trajectory of them, but the story is well written and holds the reader's attention. -
“Even if forever wasn’t real for us, we had for now. And for now, I wanted all of him, good and bad.”
This ended up on my radar and honestly? I don’t even remember how it got there, only that it had mixed reviews.... of those, the negative ones are what really spoke to me, promising the type of story that broke my heart & infuriated me in the best of ways. I knew it would be angsty, I knew it would likely seem hopeless at times, & I knew it would end with some kind of HEA. It was the details of those moments every five years when life brought them back together that I became obsessed with discovering.....& as luck would have it, I needed a book that also included an Audible version bc I couldn’t spend another day wrapped up in a book and nothing else.
So here I am, diving into a story where some reviewers call the heroine a weak pushover & the guy a selfish a-hole....only by experiencing it myself could I discover if I agreed or not, and I COULDN’T WAIT A MOMENT LONGER. You’ll see my “official” verdict further down, but I had so many issues I could write my own book going into detail about them. The narration being AWFUL.....seriously they sounded as into it as they would reading an encyclopedia. The writing, the characters, the “plot”, etc etc.....it all came together to be one big letdown.....
***I’m skipping my “ratings” section bc it wasn’t going to be positive anyways....in any “scale”.
Book Facts:
POV: Dual
About: A time-jumping, second chance standalone romance spanning across 20 years. Lily fell in love with Aiden at 13 & then he skipped town and left her broken-hearted. Every 5 years on her birthday he reappears, where they pick up where they left off only for something to force them apart again. On her 33rd birthday, he shows up again....but this time he isn’t alone & he needs her help. Could this be the time he stays forever? Or will the past repeat itself once again?
Safe Read? Does feature drug use/addiction (overdose as well).
What kind of ending?
My Thoughts:
Let’s skip the lists this time & get right to it....I need as much space as I can get for this. Here goes.....
Writing: The “idea” was great, the execution was not. There is ZERO believability or foundation for this “timeless” love. You know what they do every 5 years? Abandon all responsibility & lock themselves in her apartment to have sex NON-STOP (it was so much I skipped most of it & saved half my reading time). Meaningful conversations? Yeah right, who needs those when you are having so much sex. And they wonder why their reunions are short lived, yet I’m supposed to believe they ride off to this perfect cookie-cutter HEA?
......Yeahhhh okay.
Aside from the above, my other major writing issue was repetition...we aren’t talking using the same words or phrases too often throughout, although if I had to hear how she was his “fix” or the only drug he needed one more time I was going to hunt this author down (okay maybe not but you get it). I felt like they thought we were stupid, that we had to be constantly reminded. NOPE WE GET IT. The following examples show exactly how frustrating & how ridiculous the repetitiveness got......
“She would fight my demon. But I didn’t even want to fight my demon. My demon and I had a mutual agreement of sorts.”
.....am I reading a Dr. Seuss book?
“He had a monster grip and looked like a monster.”
.....what?
Lily: I thought Luca in Dirty Letters was the worst heroine in history, but Lily is just as bad but in different ways. This girl is the WEAKEST PUSHOVER in the history of romance fiction. I’m serious......this chick not only takes him back every time, she has put her life on hold waiting on the next time he will be there. She is a HOT MESS, it’s pathetic & sad and not at all romantic. He just has to push her against a wall & kiss her and she’s willing to sacrifice her career/jobs and everything else for sex...
.....all I have to say is he must have the worlds best D.
Them Together: They aren’t in love, this is co-dependency at its worst. It would be one thing if they matured (emotionally) as the years went on, or if we saw them connect in a way that wasn’t sexual. You will wait for that moment you just know they are “ready” for HEA, but it never happens. They get an extended epilogue, where they are both successful & where they want to be & have this cookie cutter life....however it didn’t align in any way to the characters we got to know or their “relationship” in the book.
But what probably topped it all would be the many times (especially the following quote) that the author used other characters to try to convince us that Lily was everything she’s not....
“Because a woman like this is once in a lifetime.”
....are we being serious right now? Once in a lifetime what? Ohhhh, she’s the only woman in his lifetime to put up with his shit and act like a puppy waiting on her owner to show her attention. She doesn’t even handle his addiction or recovery properly. No amount of secondary characters boosting her ass up will make her anything other than what she is....a pathetic doormat.
Verdict:
If the above “rant” didn’t accurately display exactly what I thought about this book, I wouldn’t recommend my worst enemy to read this book. I can’t say there wasn’t anything I didn’t like about it, and honestly I was so entranced by the epic trainwreck these two were that I couldn’t stop reading even when I desperately wanted to. Looking back though? All it did was piss me off I wasted so much time & frustrated that I was more invested in these two characters futures than they were. This one is a DUD.
“Remember, my Lily, my flower… this moment. Always… this moment.” -
Unfortunately I could not finish this book. I got about a 3rd of the way through and I refuse to waste anymore time. I think based off of the blurb this had potential to be a good story, but the dramatic scenes feel WAY WAY too over dramatized and illogical. The first time Aiden leaves because he had a last minute meeting for a contract, which might I add didn't even end up really working out for him. He easily could have woken Lily up and taken 2 seconds to explain where he was going. Instead he skipped town and left her with no explanation right after taking her virginity. Then the second time he comes around, Lily is so dumb and puts Aiden before her job and ends up losing it. How are you gonna try to tell me that a girl is so into her bf she can't work? No!! That's not logical. And then Aiden beats someone up again for no good reason and when the cops come to arrest him for it, he knees them in the face and tries to flee! Again he does something that makes absolutely no sense and is unnecessary just to add more drama and keep the plot moving. The big problem is you can't have a book that flows when the characters actions are so out of left field and unexplained!
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I'm a major sucker for those second chance romance tropes and I couldn't wait to dive into this one.
All the time jumps irked me the eff off! I couldn't take it. I can't stand when the H/h are apart for most of their lives. I could have dealt with the hero being a fuck up, but the time jumps, man, not for me. Some readers who don't mind those will probably get into this story more than I did.
I ended up skimming to the end. They have a HEA. So there's something. -
I didn't enjoy all the back and forth. It was a little annoying because it happened so many times. Not a fan of that. Otherwise, good book.
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Just baddddddddd.
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I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.
Lily and Aiden. Hit-and-miss. That was what the past fifteen years meant. They'd be on the same page, once every five years, only to crash and burn leaving each other to fend for themselves...again. The other, thinking, hoping, wishing things could be different. More. Maybe they are toxic when mixed? Maybe they are better together? Time would tell because they had no clue. Two people living two very different lives.
Lily, the fixer, always trying to see the good; forgiving to a fault. Aiden saw that in her and tried to be that in return; never wanting to hurt her. Lily tried her best to move forward, with Aiden's memory in her thoughts constantly, hoping to see him just one more time. Aiden, running from his demons, covered in guilt for having hurt Lily by not being...what? Good enough for her? Not being able to get his life together? Not being there for her? All of the above?
Aiden is going with his gut, one day at a time with Lily. Lily is leading with her heart, anticipating the other shoe dropping and watching Aiden walk away once again.
How is this time different? People change a lot in 5 years, both physically and emotionally. Both are lonely and they never forgot what could have been. Is this the last chapter in their story?
I cried for Lily. Lily missing Aiden and hoping to see him again. Even if she only got to see him every 5 years, she'd take that and cherish it, knowing she'd break when he would leave, because he would leave, eventually. Aiden, knowing the hurt he causes her, just can't keep away. He tries, but he can't. He hurts too. His guilt, he holds, for her mistrust of him.
This book is about addiction, the kind you can't beat. The kind no classes, no therapy, no prescription will cure.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK ! I NEVER WANTED IT TO END ! I WANT THE NEXT 5 YEARS AND THE NEXT.... A WELL WRITTEN, HARD DRIVING, FAST PACED LOVE STORY ! GRIPPING ORIGINAL STORYLINE THAT HOOKED ME FROM THE FIRST PAGE UNTIL THE LAST ! I felt as though I was privy to someone's private journal; words that should be kept deep in your soul and not shared. And at times, like I was invading their privacy. I knew if Aiden and Lily could just get on the same page, get their sh!t together, they would be amazing! AIDEN AND LILY SHARE AN UNDYING CONNECTION ! THEIR LOVE IS DEEP, RAW AND REAL WITH UNRESTRAINED PASSION ! ! ! THIS BOOK WILL, DEFINITELY, STAY WITH ME FOR A GOOD, LONG WHILE !
YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO READ THEIR STORY ! ! !
YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED ! ! ! -
This one was too disjointed for me. It skipped around in time in ways that didn't make sense to me, leaving the scenes feeling choppy and really hard to get into the story. In the end this one just wasn't for me.
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*I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book*
5 YEARS LATER
Wow what an emotional read, it was like a rollercoaster ride with so many ups and so many downs. It was such a intriguing and captivating read, bringing some of lifes true tragedies to light. The characters were amazing, they were loving and sweet but at times you couldn't help but feel real sadness for them. This is a well written story that has alot of flashback moments, but were all needed to get a true feeling and understanding of this story as a whole. But it flowed smoothly and was easy to follow. They say true love never dies, and this love story proves just that. A heartbreaking and heartwarming read. -
Wow. This book was amazing. Once I started I could not put it down. Lily and Aiden fell in love when they were teenagers. Separated and reunited through the years, their love grew but their life struggles were great. Heartache and happiness filled their journey as we discover how strong true love really is. This book had me in tears and then cheering them on for their HEA. A very emotional and very romantic love story!
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ARC review For honest review. This is the story of two characters that love each other ,but can't get it together .To come together with all their mistakes life keeps coming around till it stops. Fated love . Very good.
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***********spoilers************
3 stars only for the writing. In my opinion there's cheating, abandonment and emotional abuse of the heroine. This didn't feel like a romance, more like a cautionary tale and just because it spanned a 20(?) year span doesn't make it romantic. The heroine was used, just like H used drugs, just like he used every single person he came across and in my opinion his "son" too, for various emotional needs that he had. I never felt like he redeemed himself, just let others pull him out and then hold him up. Not even the epilogue could erase the bad taste I was left with after reading. Honestly, I didn't want to leave 3 stars, but if an author has good writing skills (and she really does) I just won't insult them that way because the story wasn't to my taste. -
I really can't understand why this book got such good reviews. I hated both characters. I understand lily loves aiden but she drops everything and ruins her life for him and he treats her like shit. They sleep together every time they see each other which is so unhealthy. Aiden is so self centered and he only cares about Felix who may or may not be his child. He does the paternity test and says he won't love him any different. However after we find out that Felix isn't his, he completely drops hims and is never mentioned in the book again. I wouldn't recommended this book at all and I skimmed when they talked about the past
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To be honest, I don't know how I got through this book. I loved the premise of this book, with childhood sweethearts, but the constant, and lengthy, flashbacks, just as the book was getting going, really ruined things for me. What also ruined things were the constant sex scenes. I love steam at the best of time, but in this book it was constant. It got to the point where I would skim over them. I don't think they added to the story, in fact, they got in the way of it.
This book had so much promise but ultimately didn't work for me, sorry. -
The back and forth telling of this tale, not only between the two main characters, but between each of the times they ended up together, served to show just how stormy and star crossed these characters were. Through each's own recollections of what happened up to the point of present day, along with their accounting of what was going on IN the present day, we get a fuller picture than we would have if the author had chosen to tell the story from only one character's POV. I also think it was more powerful and easier to read, than if the author had chosen to go 3rd person with the story.
Aiden and Lily meet when they are both too young to really understand true love, but that doesn't matter. Through a shared history of family drama and an instant connection, they both know they'll be in each other's lives forever. But life doesn't always work out that way and many things kept getting in the way and they end up split from each other for five years at a time, several times. When they finally end up meeting again for the final time, it doesn't look very promising for a happy ever after...
I was instantly drawn in and held captivated for the whole book. I look forward to reading more by this author! -
This was the first book of these 2 authors that I have read. It definitely made me feel a range of emotions from hopeful, to sadness and restlessness when the story changed to the past and I wasn't sure what was going to happen. It was a little confusing how it went back and forth through the years and when it went back the last time to almost the very start of their relationship I was wondering what was happening but it all came together in the end! This book was a one that took me on an emotional roller coaster through all of the turmoil of their relationship but each time they came together you could feel sense the love but yet the under current or self destruction. All in all it was a really good read! I was glad the way it ended and almost came full circle, especially for Aiden.
