Review: YES!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 13, 2014
Read this and other reviews at [...]This series is definitely one of my favorites–and this book, in particular, was really great. KA Tucker knows how to write drama and young love and heartache, but without it doesn’t feel contrived or like it’s mocking that age or those feelings. We met Livie, as the younger sister of Kacey Clearly in Ten Tiny Breaths. I knew she would have a story to tell–and she did. Really, she had a journey to make.Livie is a very old soul–the tragedy she faced at a young age made sure of that. She grew up fast, and she always knew what she needed to do to make her parents proud, to honor their wishes for her. So when she sets out for Princeton, she has a plan in place, an idea of where her academics are going to take her, and where that will all eventually lead her. Her psychiatrist, who was the one to work wonders on Kacey, wants her to act her age, worried she’s not living life how she should. So, with Kacey’s help, they give her a series of tasks she’s to complete. The next day she wakes up in her dorm room, with a tattoo, and very little recollection of the night before. But there’s also Ashton in the room. And he seems to remember it all, but acts perfectly fine to forget it. That kinda bums Livie out, which also drives her nuts because she knows the kind of guy Ashton is, and he doesn’t fit into her plan."Life has a funny way of creating its own tests. It throws curve balls that make you do and think and feel things that are in direct conflict with what you had planned and don’t allow you to operate in terms of black and white."She soon meets Ashton’s best friend, Connor, and they hit it off. He sort of ticks the boxes on Livie’s list–but something’s missing. Like the fact that he’s not Ashton, perhaps? No matter how perfect Connor seems for her, and how much Ashton insists he’s not the guy for Livie, she can’t seem to stop thinking about him. I felt for Connor, but Ashton was just my kind of hero. He was mysterious, yummy, would throw little remarks Livie’s way, without being overtly flirty, and that’s what I love. There was nothing boisterous about his behavior how he approached Livie.“Because you’re not a one-night girl, Irish.’ Leaning in to place a kiss on my jawline, he whispers, ‘You’re my forever girl.”Now, this is where it all sort of a took a turn I wasn’t expecting! In fact, it took a few different turns I didn’t see coming. HOORAY! I love to be pleasantly surprised. And I genuinely was. Livie and Ashton’s story was slower-building. They had great sexual tension and chemistry, and the flirting between them made you feel like you were experiencing it with them. The same goes for learning of Ashton’s past, and what he’s dealing with now. Ms. Tucker wrote this perfectly. The execution had me reading faster than my eyes or brain could keep up. I was smacking my screen like a madwoman, page after page after page.I loved seeing the path Livie took from the beginning of this story, and what she figured out along the way. I don’t think it’s unlike most college kids’ experiences, and I appreciate the honesty behind that. She realized she was essentially living for who she thought she had to be, rather than who she really wanted to be."I walk away. I walk away from the voices, the shouts, the disappointment.I walk away from my deceptions, my mistakes, my regrets. I walk away from all that I am supposed to be and all I cannot be. For all of it is a lie."For fans of Kacie and Trent, you do see some of them in this story, as well, and while you could technically read each of these books as standalones, why do that?