Long-ish (mostly ramblings, what's new? 😅)...
Ehhhh, idk, I have no idea what to expect from it, and my hope was still on the midpoint even before I read this. But this turns out to be underwhelming for me. 🤷♀️
The romance was unbelievable. Sorry, I just couldn't buy it. 😭 Even the suspense part was not that intriguing, but this could probably be because I've read way too much romantic suspense in the past that the plot wasn't anything new to me anymore. 🙃
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River (35) and Charlotte/Charlie (34) have known each other since they were teens. As he and his brother used to spend their summers with Charlie's family and their mothers are friends. During these visits, they aggravate one another most of the time, while secretly harboring a crush on each other. They've never been in a relationship—nothing of the romantic sort. But there's spark and chemistry.
Anyway, after River graduated from high school, he went to the Navy. He told Charlie about this plan, but of course it still hurts her in some way.
During his deployment, after a few years, Charlie got into a relationship with River's brother; they even got engaged. I can't blame her, though, because River never showed signs that he was willing to try or start something with her (even LDR) while he was serving. It definitely crossed his mind, but still, he never said or did anything. And in the present time, it's been seven years since Charlie and the brother have gone their separate ways, and the guy's already married to someone else.
Side note: Sibling's ex is one of the tropes I avoid 90% of the time. It's just too icky to keep it in the family, you know??? Anyhoo, moving past that...
When River found out Charlie and his brother were dating, he was heartbroken (I wanna sympathize, but that was his own doing). Instead of dwelling over the fact that he lost his chance with the girl with whom he's been in love for half of his life, he put all of his focus and energy on the Navy and then the CIA.
And when the two broke up, it took River another two years to finally speak to Charlie and hope to shoot his shot. But fear got into his head, hence why he never told her how he really felt. In the present time, it has been five years since they last saw each other, since that failed confession by River.
Truthfully, had it not been for the assassination plan for Charlie, I don't think these two would ever cross paths again. 🤷♀️
River said that he's been in love with her since he was 17, and until now, he still feels the same. But the wasted time and chance when he could've gone and talked to her shows differently. I can't, for the life of me, buy this "in love with her since forever" if there's no freaking action to back it up. 18 years is quite a long time to get his crap together, and the idea that it could've probably extended to another few years if there wasn't any assassination, I think, was more than enough to show that he's all words and nothing more. 🤦♀️
So how can I believe this guy if he never put any effort into seeing Charlie over the last few years? Keeping tabs on her at times isn't it; anyone who has hacking skills can do that (even without one, tbh, hello social media). He didn't pursue her when she was single, didn't connect with her, and didn't visit her. In short, he didn't do anything to show his supposed "love" for her. There's zero, zip, zilch, nada, nothing. So again, how can I believe him?? 🥴 I'm blaming him because he's the one who always leaves, so it's up to him to fix the damage he has caused.
Then, to make matters worse, this is insta-something. Charlie went from 0-100 when she was supposed to be angry at River for basically ghosting her for years. I think it had only been three days before they finally gave in, and around the 46% mark, River dropped the ILY (only him). They hardly talked, and they let the physical and sexual attraction decide for them. 🤦♀️
This is why I'm having a hard time believing the romantic aspect of this story because it was so rushed; it feels like almost two decades were brushed off entirely and treated like just nothing in the grand scheme of things. 🤦♀️
The only good thing that I came to appreciate here was the fact that they both lived their lives in those 18 years. She didn't pine for him and had a life of her own. She became successful and had boyfriends that lasted for years, but of course, she never loved them. 🙄 River did the same too; he became successful in the security field, dated plenty of women (his words), with the longest lasting only for 3 months, because of course, he's sooo in love with Charlie and no one can compare. 🥴
Looking back at it while writing this, all throughout the book I was mostly in utter disbelief, disappointed, and annoyed at how this panned out. It was just so unconvincing, and while I know this is fiction, there's only so much I can suspend disbelief from.
Overall, I think, nope, I finally realized this didn't work for me. Sorry, I tried, but I'm just not the right reader for this. I can't wrap my head around the things that happened here. This is, by far, my least favorite in this series. And while it wasn't for me, other readers might feel differently. 🤔
Book info:
- Romantic suspense
- Second-chance (ish)
- Brother's ex
- Attempted Assassination
- Insta-something
- No cheating, OWD, separation
- OMD (h's ex, but didn't cause trouble for the budding romance)
- HFN (engaged)