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Only Ever You
Pippa’s been in love with her brother’s best friend, Deacon, her whole life. When her brother, Lucas, hurts Deacon so deeply that he leaves town for good, Pippa’s heart shatters.
Twelve years later, Pippa and Deacon reunite, and this time it’s Deacon who falls hard.
But when Lucas’s betrayal comes back to haunt them, Pippa becomes collateral damage again.
When Deacon comes to his senses, he knows he’ll have to work hard to get back into her life.
Will Pippa risk her heart a third time?
Twelve years later, Pippa and Deacon reunite, and this time it’s Deacon who falls hard.
But when Lucas’s betrayal comes back to haunt them, Pippa becomes collateral damage again.
When Deacon comes to his senses, he knows he’ll have to work hard to get back into her life.
Will Pippa risk her heart a third time?
- GenresSecond Chance Romance
234 pages, Hardcover
Published May 27, 2024
About the author
Wendy Smith
25 books170 followersWendy Smith published as Ariadne Wayne for three years before deciding she didn’t want to be someone else all the time. She’s an Apple Books and Nook bestselling author, whose book In the End, written as Ariadne Wayne, was named one of Apple’s best books of 2017. All her stories come with a quirky sense of humour, and she cries over everything.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 19, 2024
Not my favourite troupe best friend's sister, so grow up together. But the author didn't fall into the usual cliche, in fact it was a bit different.
7 year age gap.
No details of relationships or women the Hero may have been involved with while they were kids.
Due to an event, spoilers below, the Hero and heroine are out of contact for some time.
Second chance romance.
A fellow worker says of the Hero
'Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. He’s not one for girlfriends or sticking with one woman for very long. I’m just trying to protect you.”'
The Hero says its because none of the women were her. There are no details of previous relationships.
Hero says 'While I haven’t had any serious relationships—not since before college—I’m also not big on anything casual. Hook-ups have been few and far between.'
*CW References to grooming, suicide
Hero is a bit of a mess and definitely has unresolved issues. Quite an angsty read.
Spoilers
They loose contact because the Hero's father catches the heroine's brother with his wife. The Hero thought the heroine knew and was covering for them as lookout but she was so young she didn't realise or know anything about it.
This causes the breakup of the Hero's parents marriage and them to move away from the heroine's family.
Despite offers neither are with anyone else during a breakup.
ARC.
7 year age gap.
No details of relationships or women the Hero may have been involved with while they were kids.
Due to an event, spoilers below, the Hero and heroine are out of contact for some time.
Second chance romance.
A fellow worker says of the Hero
'Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. He’s not one for girlfriends or sticking with one woman for very long. I’m just trying to protect you.”'
The Hero says its because none of the women were her. There are no details of previous relationships.
Hero says 'While I haven’t had any serious relationships—not since before college—I’m also not big on anything casual. Hook-ups have been few and far between.'
*CW References to grooming, suicide
Hero is a bit of a mess and definitely has unresolved issues. Quite an angsty read.
Spoilers
They loose contact because the Hero's father catches the heroine's brother with his wife. The Hero thought the heroine knew and was covering for them as lookout but she was so young she didn't realise or know anything about it.
This causes the breakup of the Hero's parents marriage and them to move away from the heroine's family.
Despite offers neither are with anyone else during a breakup.
ARC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2024
3.4 stars
This is my first book by WS and I have to say that it was a decent try (yay for a kiwi author and setting!). I loved the overall story idea and the writing was of a good standard, but I had a harder time to fully enjoy the execution of the plot.
The first 3 chapters were really well done and set the scene for an exciting read. However, that excitement dimmed a bit in the following chapters, namely because of the way their adult attraction was delved into. For me, that part's writing lacked some finesse. Their convos esp. sometimes felt juvenile, wooden and unrealistic. And kind of cringe worthy at the edges, with all sorts of inappropriate work place moves on the H's part. The psychologies of the leads also felt lacking (e.g. she has not one single thought about how her boss making overt moves for her from the get go could possibly, or not, impact on her new job/ career). I think the first person narrative also did not help in that regard. I kept reading though because I wanted to see when the other shoe would drop. Thankfully, the writing felt better once trouble brew between them (or at least the cringe became less noticeable).
Concerning the said trouble, the H was indeed very foolish. Both in his on-spot reaction and subsequent actions. It showed how emotionally immature he was and had unresolved trauma from his past. Someone like him had no business rushing into marriage imho. His moronic behaviour lasted a few chapters and was only uncovered by the intervention of the h's brother (btw, his little parts in the story were well developped). The grovel had some very good points but for my taste, it resolved too easily compared to how his foolish actions unveiled how weak his love for the h was. But I have to concede that the middling easy forgiveness works with the kind of woman the h was portrayed to be.
Also, I really think that . The first trope felt extraneous while I detested the second one, the moreso that it no way guarantees that the H will not let the h down again in the face of the next trouble. I know he was sincere but I needed to see (a) more amends for the humiliation he caused (because whatever his reasons, what he did left a deep taint on so many things that are bound to trigger her in the future) and, (b) more time of him building back her trust (i.e. actions backing his words) and deserving it again ().
As I said, I loved the story outline, it was original enough (foregoing the two tropes mentioned above). Better editing would have help the book loads but WS is a decent author and I might be tempted to check her other works.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2026
Only Ever You was about 31-year-old Deacon Miller, the CTO of Infinity Drinks (a beer company he and his college buddies started), and 24-year-old Philippa "Pippa" Chapman, a personal assistant at the same company.
Pippa had been in love with Deacon, her brother's BFF, for as long as she could remember. But when she was 12 (he and Lucas were 19), his parents forced Lucas to watch Pippa while they were out of town celebrating their anniversary, and he took her to Deacon's house. However, she stayed out on the porch, where she fell asleep while reading a book. Not long later, she was taken by surprise and confused when Deacon woke her up and asked what she was doing there. It soon became apparent that Lucas had somehow betrayed Deacon, at which point Lucas' BFF accused Pippa of having been part of the betrayal and had chosen not to tell him what was going on. Lucas also blamed her for betraying him. Only one short week after that occurred, Deacon and his father left town and never looked back. Although Lucas did a half-assed apology to Pippa, she didn't speak to him for over a year.
12 years later, Deacon still refused to return to his hometown. He had never forgiven his mother for breaking his father, who died six years after the incident. In the time he was gone, he and his university friends created a special alcohol-free beer that turned into a multi-million dollar company. He was, therefore, shocked to learn that Pippa was scheduled to be interviewed for the position of PA to the CEO of the company. When asked if he knew her, he looked at her file and said yes. His first thought was that, because Lucas would hate it if he hurt her, it would be the ultimate payback for the destruction of his family. While he immediately rejected the idea, he did inform his friends/co-workers of her identity, of which they were all aware of what happened. Instead of saying they should hire her to work with the CEO, he offered his current PA for that position and said he wanted Pippa to work with him instead. He readily admitted to his co-workers that Pippa hadn't been at fault due to her young age...something he hadn't considered when he blew up her world at that time. (Thankfully, he kept telling himself that all thoughts of using her as a revenge against Lucas weren't fair to Pippa.) Deacon didn't exactly apologize to Pippa for what went down in the past. Instead, he excused his behavior as having been a young, mixed-up kid whose family and life had just imploded. He went so far as to say he didn't even remember what he said to her. The relationship between Pippa and Deacon took off the moment they met again in his office. When things went south for them, Deacon broke her heart, only to learn the truth a month later.
This story was full of angst, drama, conflict, push/pull, and an emotional rollercoaster with so many twists and turns they were off the charts. The major plot twist was both surprising...and not such a surprise all at the same time. It explained so much that this particular reader had found confusing at different points in the beginning of the story.
Both of the main characters were fully developed and mature, with plenty of room for growth. The fact that the MMC didn't hold a grudge against a pre-teen Pippa for things she had no control over showed that his maturity level was valid. However, the things he did later negated that maturity, but only because it shone a light on an area in his life that had never been dealt with until the conflict arose.
There were areas in the writing that needed some major proofreading and editing. Especially the repetitive areas (some included things like "...for the rest of my life..." which had been said so many times it became nauseating), and other areas where a person was called by another character's name instead of the correct one. This deducted a star from the rating because it was both distracting and unnecessary. Therefore, I gave it a three-star rating instead of the four it should have earned.
Pippa had been in love with Deacon, her brother's BFF, for as long as she could remember. But when she was 12 (he and Lucas were 19), his parents forced Lucas to watch Pippa while they were out of town celebrating their anniversary, and he took her to Deacon's house. However, she stayed out on the porch, where she fell asleep while reading a book. Not long later, she was taken by surprise and confused when Deacon woke her up and asked what she was doing there. It soon became apparent that Lucas had somehow betrayed Deacon, at which point Lucas' BFF accused Pippa of having been part of the betrayal and had chosen not to tell him what was going on. Lucas also blamed her for betraying him. Only one short week after that occurred, Deacon and his father left town and never looked back. Although Lucas did a half-assed apology to Pippa, she didn't speak to him for over a year.
12 years later, Deacon still refused to return to his hometown. He had never forgiven his mother for breaking his father, who died six years after the incident. In the time he was gone, he and his university friends created a special alcohol-free beer that turned into a multi-million dollar company. He was, therefore, shocked to learn that Pippa was scheduled to be interviewed for the position of PA to the CEO of the company. When asked if he knew her, he looked at her file and said yes. His first thought was that, because Lucas would hate it if he hurt her, it would be the ultimate payback for the destruction of his family. While he immediately rejected the idea, he did inform his friends/co-workers of her identity, of which they were all aware of what happened. Instead of saying they should hire her to work with the CEO, he offered his current PA for that position and said he wanted Pippa to work with him instead. He readily admitted to his co-workers that Pippa hadn't been at fault due to her young age...something he hadn't considered when he blew up her world at that time. (Thankfully, he kept telling himself that all thoughts of using her as a revenge against Lucas weren't fair to Pippa.) Deacon didn't exactly apologize to Pippa for what went down in the past. Instead, he excused his behavior as having been a young, mixed-up kid whose family and life had just imploded. He went so far as to say he didn't even remember what he said to her. The relationship between Pippa and Deacon took off the moment they met again in his office. When things went south for them, Deacon broke her heart, only to learn the truth a month later.
This story was full of angst, drama, conflict, push/pull, and an emotional rollercoaster with so many twists and turns they were off the charts. The major plot twist was both surprising...and not such a surprise all at the same time. It explained so much that this particular reader had found confusing at different points in the beginning of the story.
Both of the main characters were fully developed and mature, with plenty of room for growth. The fact that the MMC didn't hold a grudge against a pre-teen Pippa for things she had no control over showed that his maturity level was valid. However, the things he did later negated that maturity, but only because it shone a light on an area in his life that had never been dealt with until the conflict arose.
There were areas in the writing that needed some major proofreading and editing. Especially the repetitive areas (some included things like "...for the rest of my life..." which had been said so many times it became nauseating), and other areas where a person was called by another character's name instead of the correct one. This deducted a star from the rating because it was both distracting and unnecessary. Therefore, I gave it a three-star rating instead of the four it should have earned.
September 24, 2025
1. The conflict in this book just felt so manufactured and phony. Deacon blamed Pippa when he caught his mother and Lucas having an affair; he accused her of knowing about the affair and covering for her brother. She was TWELVE, FFS!
2. Deacon and his father left town and Deacon refused to forgive or speak to Pippa for TWELVE years. When she came for a job interview, he was super friendly and SO happy to see her; he called her by her pet name and told her how much he’d missed her. He never apologized for the way he had treated her and she was just grateful that he forgave her.
3. I hate it when the H knows he was wrong and instead of trying to earn the h’s forgiveness, just sits around feeling sorry for himself. Deacon said, “There’s no point going after Pippa – she’ll never forgive me for the way I’ve treated her. It’s better she move on and find someone who isn’t so messed up.” Boo fricking hoo.
2. Deacon and his father left town and Deacon refused to forgive or speak to Pippa for TWELVE years. When she came for a job interview, he was super friendly and SO happy to see her; he called her by her pet name and told her how much he’d missed her. He never apologized for the way he had treated her and she was just grateful that he forgave her.
3. I hate it when the H knows he was wrong and instead of trying to earn the h’s forgiveness, just sits around feeling sorry for himself. Deacon said, “There’s no point going after Pippa – she’ll never forgive me for the way I’ve treated her. It’s better she move on and find someone who isn’t so messed up.” Boo fricking hoo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2024
This second chance brother's best friend romance had me hooked from the get go. Pippa has crushed on her brother's best friend Deacon since she was too young to know what love really was. Then just as she was just entering her teens, a tragic set of circumstances rips Deacon from her life and its over a decade before she sees him again.
Now she is back in his life and he sees her for the beautiful woman she has grown into. However, past hurts and mis-communication threaten to derail their second chance at a happily ever after before they have even begun. Deacon must deal with his past hurts and mistrust and hope that it's not too late to get a final chance with the woman who always captured his heart without him even realising it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Pippa and Deacon's story.
Now she is back in his life and he sees her for the beautiful woman she has grown into. However, past hurts and mis-communication threaten to derail their second chance at a happily ever after before they have even begun. Deacon must deal with his past hurts and mistrust and hope that it's not too late to get a final chance with the woman who always captured his heart without him even realising it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Pippa and Deacon's story.
July 11, 2025
okay
SPOILER INCOMING
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She forgave him a little too quickly.
If I got left at the altar, there ain’t no way I’m remarrying the guy so soon after reconciliation. She went from, ‘I forgive you but I don’t trust you yet so let’s take this slow,’ to ‘let’s fly away to Vegas and get married’ on the same day and within a few paragraphs.
The damage he did to her heart was huuuuge. He obviously needed some major therapy since he has a habit of jumping to conclusions and avoidance.
SPOILER INCOMING
X
X
X
She forgave him a little too quickly.
If I got left at the altar, there ain’t no way I’m remarrying the guy so soon after reconciliation. She went from, ‘I forgive you but I don’t trust you yet so let’s take this slow,’ to ‘let’s fly away to Vegas and get married’ on the same day and within a few paragraphs.
The damage he did to her heart was huuuuge. He obviously needed some major therapy since he has a habit of jumping to conclusions and avoidance.
July 31, 2025
Felt very rushed.
There were some great moments to the story that were heartfelt, but overall the story felt rushed. I feel like the author struggled with the inbetween moments and how to move the story through their timeline. They met, they were suddenly in the relationship and then the timeline jumped a little and it was go go go.
I did feel like they barely got to know each other as adults before jumping in.
The reconciliation was rushed as well. A quick story that could’ve had a deeper grounding if the time had been taken.
There were some great moments to the story that were heartfelt, but overall the story felt rushed. I feel like the author struggled with the inbetween moments and how to move the story through their timeline. They met, they were suddenly in the relationship and then the timeline jumped a little and it was go go go.
I did feel like they barely got to know each other as adults before jumping in.
The reconciliation was rushed as well. A quick story that could’ve had a deeper grounding if the time had been taken.
March 19, 2024
I love Pippa and Deacon’s story, The brother’s best friend trope was so good I couldn’t put it down. Wendy has always, in my opinion, written amazing books and this one doesn’t disappoint. I absolutely love this book, and I highly recommend you read it.
April 23, 2024
I could not get enough of Declan and Pippa's story and I couldn't put it down.
It is not very often I read a book that makes me sob while reading it but Only Ever You is one that I will definitely read again.
Thank you Wendy Smith for writing an amazing story.
It is not very often I read a book that makes me sob while reading it but Only Ever You is one that I will definitely read again.
Thank you Wendy Smith for writing an amazing story.
July 15, 2025
SPOILER ‼️
seriously? she forgave him for leaving her at the altar FOR NO GOOD REASON WHATSOFUCKING EVER???????? THIS IS BULLFUCKINGSHIT everything from start to finish is just a train wreck. RUBBISH!!!!
seriously? she forgave him for leaving her at the altar FOR NO GOOD REASON WHATSOFUCKING EVER???????? THIS IS BULLFUCKINGSHIT everything from start to finish is just a train wreck. RUBBISH!!!!
July 13, 2025
Well written and angsty, but she forgave him too easily. He was a gullible moron who needed to grow up and she deserved better.
In my humble opinion, of course 💙
In my humble opinion, of course 💙
March 21, 2024
Another phenomenal unputdownable book by Wendy!
Pippa has loved Deacon since she was a child but dramatic circumstances made them lose touch....until by chance they're reunited when Pippa applies for a new job and it's at Deacons company!
This book gave me all the feels, from laughing to shock to sadness to happiness. It's so well written, like all of Wendy's books, that I just couldn't put the book down as I needed to know what happens next and it was such an easy page turner! Highly recommended!
Pippa has loved Deacon since she was a child but dramatic circumstances made them lose touch....until by chance they're reunited when Pippa applies for a new job and it's at Deacons company!
This book gave me all the feels, from laughing to shock to sadness to happiness. It's so well written, like all of Wendy's books, that I just couldn't put the book down as I needed to know what happens next and it was such an easy page turner! Highly recommended!
March 21, 2024
Fantastic
I was fortunate to receive and ARC of this wonderful story and all I can say is WOW. Fantastic read
I was fortunate to receive and ARC of this wonderful story and all I can say is WOW. Fantastic read
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews