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Beverly
FIRST LOVE. FIRST HEARTBREAK.
BROKEN PROMISES. REGRET. WHAT-IFS.
Beverly Price has spent her entire life waiting—for her father to return home from his late-night shifts, for something big to happen, for the world to finally make sense. But when she’s eleven, her father brings home a boy with haunted green eyes and too many scars for someone his age. Over the years, waiting slowly turns into wanting.
Blake McHayes doesn’t believe in second chances. After surviving a childhood that left him more broken than whole, he knows better than to expect kindness. But the Price family gives it to him anyway, and Beverly—loud, stubborn, and impossible to ignore—insists on becoming part of his life.
Blake is supposed to see her as nothing more than his sister.
Beverly is supposed to have crushes on other boys.
But the problem with lines is that they blur when you look at them for too long. And the problem with love is that it doesn’t care about rules.
Their love was the kind that healed and hurt in equal measure. Together, they lived through the highs and lows of a decade defined by change, but their love remained tangled in the wreckage.
SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF LATE ‘90S CALIFORNIA, “BEVERLY” IS A SLOW-BURN, ANGST-FUELED COMING-OF-AGE STORY ABOUT LOVE, LOSS, AND THE IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE BETWEEN WHAT’S RIGHT AND WHAT FEELS RIGHT.
BROKEN PROMISES. REGRET. WHAT-IFS.
Beverly Price has spent her entire life waiting—for her father to return home from his late-night shifts, for something big to happen, for the world to finally make sense. But when she’s eleven, her father brings home a boy with haunted green eyes and too many scars for someone his age. Over the years, waiting slowly turns into wanting.
Blake McHayes doesn’t believe in second chances. After surviving a childhood that left him more broken than whole, he knows better than to expect kindness. But the Price family gives it to him anyway, and Beverly—loud, stubborn, and impossible to ignore—insists on becoming part of his life.
Blake is supposed to see her as nothing more than his sister.
Beverly is supposed to have crushes on other boys.
But the problem with lines is that they blur when you look at them for too long. And the problem with love is that it doesn’t care about rules.
Their love was the kind that healed and hurt in equal measure. Together, they lived through the highs and lows of a decade defined by change, but their love remained tangled in the wreckage.
SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF LATE ‘90S CALIFORNIA, “BEVERLY” IS A SLOW-BURN, ANGST-FUELED COMING-OF-AGE STORY ABOUT LOVE, LOSS, AND THE IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE BETWEEN WHAT’S RIGHT AND WHAT FEELS RIGHT.
680 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 15, 2025
504 people are currently reading
10927 people want to read
About the author
Laura J. Robert
1 book125 followersLaura J. Robert is a romance author with a soft spot for sassy heroines and swoon-worthy book boyfriends who can’t help but fall for them. When she’s not busy dreaming up fictional worlds, you’ll probably find her curled up with a good book or snuggling with her dog. Follow her on Instagram @laurajrobertauthor for book updates and all things romance.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 432 reviews
June 15, 2025
6 HEARTBREAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL STARS!!! Ugh I want to give this infinity stars!! One of my new all time favorite contemporary romance books, one of my favorite reads of the years! This is everything EVERYTHING I want out of a romance novel!! Perfection. I’m honestly speechless. The amount of emotions this instilled in me?!!!! I will never ever ever stop thinking about this story and these characters. It’s permanently etched in my heart and soul.
This is the type of painful angst and yearning and longing and PININGGGG from BOTH characters I want from a romance book! It hurts SO GOOD! Also is set in the early 90s and I loveeeeeeeeee that vibe. It was so nostalgic!
Blake our MMC gets taken in by Beverly’s (our FMC) parents as her foster brother when they’re 12/11 years old, so this is definitely a forbidden romance. Blake comes from such a tortured and traumatizing background and staying with Beverly’s family ultimately gives him a second chance at life. We follow them up until their early 20s on a long and painful journey filled with so much love, heartbreak, loss, and this constant back and forth between Blake and Beverly fighting their feelings for one another.
Blake and Beverly have my entire heart and soul. They are the definition of soulmates. Their love and chemistry is felt so deeply to the point where you are suffering right alongside them. The way they love one another put me to tears on multiple occasions. The way Blake is constantly there for Beverly NO MATTER what and is always doing anything to make her happy. He’s quiet and guarded and loves to hide behind books or his schoolwork. In an effort to get Beverly to read he literally planted hidden messages within the pages of books and would gift them to her so she would have to read to uncover each message. I’m SORRY?? He also loves taking Polaroids of her and using them as bookmarks.
THE WRITING?!!!!! Don’t even get me started. I highlighted every single page. I want this book injected into my veins. It was so poetic and beautiful and hit me so deeply!!! I genuinely will never get over this and them. I feel so many emotions and I literally could have read about them forever! GIVE ME MOREE!!! Also the found family and side characters were so good, there was comedic relief and love and joy alongside the pain I promise!
In this book you’ll get:
- coming of age
- Dual POV
- Set in the 90s
- Forbidden love (foster siblings)
- First love (only love)
- Found family
- Mutual pining and longing and yearninggggggg
- Protective MMC with a tortured soul who loves reading books and science
- Hurt/comfort
- Friends to lovers
“I love you. And I am yours. And when I say I am yours, B, I’m not speaking in poetry, I’m speaking in fact, in physics, in every universal truth I know.”
“You’re beyond the written word, Beverly. You’re the plot twist. You’re the ink that breathes life into the blank pages of existence.”
“Love was the way my chest ached with every step she took away from me. Love was everything I couldn’t hold, everything I wasn’t supposed to want, everything I had been trying to forget but never really could. Love was realizing I could name a thousand more things, and still never run out of ways to say her.”
This is the type of painful angst and yearning and longing and PININGGGG from BOTH characters I want from a romance book! It hurts SO GOOD! Also is set in the early 90s and I loveeeeeeeeee that vibe. It was so nostalgic!
Blake our MMC gets taken in by Beverly’s (our FMC) parents as her foster brother when they’re 12/11 years old, so this is definitely a forbidden romance. Blake comes from such a tortured and traumatizing background and staying with Beverly’s family ultimately gives him a second chance at life. We follow them up until their early 20s on a long and painful journey filled with so much love, heartbreak, loss, and this constant back and forth between Blake and Beverly fighting their feelings for one another.
Blake and Beverly have my entire heart and soul. They are the definition of soulmates. Their love and chemistry is felt so deeply to the point where you are suffering right alongside them. The way they love one another put me to tears on multiple occasions. The way Blake is constantly there for Beverly NO MATTER what and is always doing anything to make her happy. He’s quiet and guarded and loves to hide behind books or his schoolwork. In an effort to get Beverly to read he literally planted hidden messages within the pages of books and would gift them to her so she would have to read to uncover each message. I’m SORRY?? He also loves taking Polaroids of her and using them as bookmarks.
THE WRITING?!!!!! Don’t even get me started. I highlighted every single page. I want this book injected into my veins. It was so poetic and beautiful and hit me so deeply!!! I genuinely will never get over this and them. I feel so many emotions and I literally could have read about them forever! GIVE ME MOREE!!! Also the found family and side characters were so good, there was comedic relief and love and joy alongside the pain I promise!
In this book you’ll get:
- coming of age
- Dual POV
- Set in the 90s
- Forbidden love (foster siblings)
- First love (only love)
- Found family
- Mutual pining and longing and yearninggggggg
- Protective MMC with a tortured soul who loves reading books and science
- Hurt/comfort
- Friends to lovers
“I love you. And I am yours. And when I say I am yours, B, I’m not speaking in poetry, I’m speaking in fact, in physics, in every universal truth I know.”
“You’re beyond the written word, Beverly. You’re the plot twist. You’re the ink that breathes life into the blank pages of existence.”
“Love was the way my chest ached with every step she took away from me. Love was everything I couldn’t hold, everything I wasn’t supposed to want, everything I had been trying to forget but never really could. Love was realizing I could name a thousand more things, and still never run out of ways to say her.”
June 14, 2025
no fucking words.
June 28, 2025
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!
THIS IS PLAGIARISM‼️‼️‼️‼️
THIS IS STOLEN FROM RJ LEWIS.
THIS IS PLAGIARISM‼️‼️‼️‼️
THIS IS STOLEN FROM RJ LEWIS.
June 14, 2025
GUYS. GUYS. PICK THIS UP NOW.
If you love angst and tension PICK IT UP!!! It’s giving A Love Letter to Whiskey but a little less painful and it’s SO beautifully written and the love story was SHATTERING and also WHOLESOME. I know I’m yelling a lot but OH MY GOD THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!!!!
If you love angst and tension PICK IT UP!!! It’s giving A Love Letter to Whiskey but a little less painful and it’s SO beautifully written and the love story was SHATTERING and also WHOLESOME. I know I’m yelling a lot but OH MY GOD THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!!!!
July 6, 2025
little update ... ! she's deleting comments on her tiktok abt it, she's deleted all of mine, and she refuses to acknowledge that she stole someone else's book. x
goodreads deleted my review but im here to put it back up and let people know that this book was stolen. ive seen some friends on here that still have this in their tbr so just letting yall know—literal pages and chapters were copied!!!!!
goodreads deleted my review but im here to put it back up and let people know that this book was stolen. ive seen some friends on here that still have this in their tbr so just letting yall know—literal pages and chapters were copied!!!!!
May 18, 2025
if you’re looking for a book to fill the void of the boys of tommen series this is PERFECT!! THE ANGST. THE PINING. this was the most anxiety inducing book I’ve ever read. I could feel my heart beating in my chest from the stress. it’s no secret that I love books that make me sob, I love when they break my heart over and over just to put it back together again every single time. this book made me feel every emotion I am capable of feeling and I’ll never recover
Read
June 27, 2025 This is fully plagiarized. Like, for full fucking charpters; all of it. If you have it in your TBR and are a normal person who gives a single shit about ethics, take it out of there
Read
July 4, 2025I actuallywas really enjoying this but then hello this was plagiarized🙏😭
--
ೀPre-Read:
We all know by who i was influenced to start this 🙈 , hope it gets me out of my reading slump 🤞
--
ೀPre-Read:
We all know by who i was influenced to start this 🙈 , hope it gets me out of my reading slump 🤞
June 16, 2025
alr tik tok you did your big one
Read
June 28, 2025he literally wrote her letters for a whole year..😶
. . . . .
"It's 9 p.m., and I love you. In five years, I will love you. Ten months ago, I loved you. When I'm 80 years old, sitting on our porch in a big white house by the lake, watching the sunset with you beside me, I will love you. I just hope you'll be there for all the time I will love you.”
”Real love is when someone sees you. Really sees you. Not just the version of you that you show the world, but the you that exists when no one else is looking.”
How can someone still ruin your day when they haven't spoken to you in a year? I'd give anything to ruin yours. Just so I knew I still existed in it.
(this letter?!)
"I love you. And I am yours. And when I say I am yours, B, I'm not speaking in poetry, I'm speaking in fact, in physics, in every universal truth I know.”
<3
. . . . .
why did this have to be stolen?? 😭😭
. . . . .
"It's 9 p.m., and I love you. In five years, I will love you. Ten months ago, I loved you. When I'm 80 years old, sitting on our porch in a big white house by the lake, watching the sunset with you beside me, I will love you. I just hope you'll be there for all the time I will love you.”
”Real love is when someone sees you. Really sees you. Not just the version of you that you show the world, but the you that exists when no one else is looking.”
How can someone still ruin your day when they haven't spoken to you in a year? I'd give anything to ruin yours. Just so I knew I still existed in it.
(this letter?!)
"I love you. And I am yours. And when I say I am yours, B, I'm not speaking in poetry, I'm speaking in fact, in physics, in every universal truth I know.”
<3
. . . . .
why did this have to be stolen?? 😭😭
June 4, 2025
2.5 ⭐️
Definitely skipped through the majority of the last 100 or so pages. This was SO boring 🙃
I would have DNF’d if I wasn’t so far through already.
I was intrigued initially but after a while, the constant pining (or more accurately whining) actually became quite irritating.
How people are comparing this to Boys of Tommen I’ll never understand 😭
Definitely skipped through the majority of the last 100 or so pages. This was SO boring 🙃
I would have DNF’d if I wasn’t so far through already.
I was intrigued initially but after a while, the constant pining (or more accurately whining) actually became quite irritating.
How people are comparing this to Boys of Tommen I’ll never understand 😭
not-for-me-do-not-read
June 18, 2025https://www.threads.com/@bookswithash...
it looks like it was plagiarised by the author 🤡 such a shame
it looks like it was plagiarised by the author 🤡 such a shame
June 26, 2025
THIS BOOK HAS BEEN STOLEN AND PLAGIARIZED FROM OBSESSED BY RJ LEWIS
————————————
4.75 ⭐️’s
This book was soooo cute and yet so frustrating and yet so sad!!!
This book takes place for the main characters between the ages of 11-20, I was expecting (hoping for) some sort of time jump further in to the future so this book and relationship could feel a little more adult/grown up
The middle felt a little repetitive and Beverly could get on my nerves sometimes by her actions but she is in high school so I understand her maturity level was around a teenager
————————————
4.75 ⭐️’s
This book was soooo cute and yet so frustrating and yet so sad!!!
This book takes place for the main characters between the ages of 11-20, I was expecting (hoping for) some sort of time jump further in to the future so this book and relationship could feel a little more adult/grown up
The middle felt a little repetitive and Beverly could get on my nerves sometimes by her actions but she is in high school so I understand her maturity level was around a teenager
Read
June 30, 2025sadly i’m deciding to dnf but not too sad since it’s plagiarized (srry to those who wanted a review<3)
June 29, 2025
I did not enjoy this book. It must be a me problem, because everyone else seems to love it.
Edit: Turns out this was plagiarized. That brings it from two stars to one.
Edit: Turns out this was plagiarized. That brings it from two stars to one.
June 17, 2025
3.5 ⭐️
Gostei bastante mas o livro é demasiado longo, a meio já estava cansada de ler
Gostei bastante mas o livro é demasiado longo, a meio já estava cansada de ler
June 17, 2025
I am pretty sure I read a book with this exact storyline and even plot points some years ago. Where I did enjoy that book this one was a miss. The fact that I'm 30 percent through which is over 200 pages in and really not much is happening... I don't know it's just a miss for me and I really don't want to read over 600 pages of a book that is just redundant and juvenile, and where the writing isn't super great either .It's just not my thing, I think I'll pass on the rest of this book.
June 28, 2025
the sixth sense? uhm… oh yes, plagiarism 🥰😍
.•.𓍯𓂃
⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ —— sometimes i have this feeling just seconds before something huge unfolds (sixth sense, intuition and, most likely, anxiety
.•.𓍯𓂃
𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈
⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ —— sometimes i have this feeling just seconds before something huge unfolds (sixth sense, intuition and, most likely, anxiety
July 21, 2025
original review deleted [plagiarized❗❗]
hope the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V keys are doing okay.
────୨ৎ────
ᯓ★ pre-read
i picked this up on a whim and decided to go in blind bcs why the hell does this book have mostly only 5 star reviews?? 💌
hope the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V keys are doing okay.
────୨ৎ────
ᯓ★ pre-read
i picked this up on a whim and decided to go in blind bcs why the hell does this book have mostly only 5 star reviews?? 💌
Read
June 26, 2025‼️THIS BOOK IS PLAGIARIZED‼️
June 15, 2025
I don’t get the hype at all. this is f-ed up on so many levels. and so unrealistic. Especially the last 20% - 30% were mind-numbingly bad. the pacing and the story, very disappointing after all the hype.
June 27, 2025
I cried…of relief when it’s over.
update: This ass book gave me the most annoying slump ever, and the fact that it was plagiarized? Fuck booktok
update: This ass book gave me the most annoying slump ever, and the fact that it was plagiarized? Fuck booktok
July 7, 2025
♾️ I’m not sure if my heart is broken or mended?? Someone send help
Read
June 28, 2025 I’m withholding my rating due to the plagiarism discussion. After reading some parts of ‘Obsessed’ by RJ Lewis, I see why people are drawing comparisons. So, yeah… no rating or review.
July 4, 2025
{ ❌ } plagiarism!!!!!!!!
June 15, 2025
i love an angsty book
June 2, 2025
6/5⭐️!!!! finally a romance book that lit my heart UP. if you’re someone who loves some messy, heart-wrenching drama like in Magnolia Parks or The Boys of Tommen series, this book will be your next obsession. I thought this was gonna be a sweet lil romance and now i’m sitting here with tear streaks on my face and my soul in a blender
July 8, 2025
plagiarizing a book in the big '25 is insane
June 16, 2025
4,5★
J'ai vraiment adoré cette lecture, les premiers retours sont vrais : c'est un mélange entre love letter to whiskey x boys of tommen (joey/aoife energy) x magnolia parks x n'oublie jamais. Si vous avez aimé ces livres, foncez. Je suis vraiment passé pas loin du coup de coeur, c'était si addictif !
J'ai adoré la vibe années 90/2000, les personnages et le fait qu'ils ne soient pas parfaits - les sujets abordés, la plume, les citations et les émotions que le livre m'a fait vivre (frustration, tristesse, compassion...)
J'enlève juste 0,5 pts parce que j'ai trouvé ça parfois un peu cliché (par rapport aux œuvres citées au dessus notamment) et la fin m'a paru peut-être un chouille facile ? - mais franchement rien de bien grave, j'ai vraiment adoré l'ensemble.
J'ai vraiment adoré cette lecture, les premiers retours sont vrais : c'est un mélange entre love letter to whiskey x boys of tommen (joey/aoife energy) x magnolia parks x n'oublie jamais. Si vous avez aimé ces livres, foncez. Je suis vraiment passé pas loin du coup de coeur, c'était si addictif !
J'ai adoré la vibe années 90/2000, les personnages et le fait qu'ils ne soient pas parfaits - les sujets abordés, la plume, les citations et les émotions que le livre m'a fait vivre (frustration, tristesse, compassion...)
J'enlève juste 0,5 pts parce que j'ai trouvé ça parfois un peu cliché (par rapport aux œuvres citées au dessus notamment) et la fin m'a paru peut-être un chouille facile ? - mais franchement rien de bien grave, j'ai vraiment adoré l'ensemble.
January 25, 2026
This book is entirely too long. The FMC is incredibly annoying and selfish.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 432 reviews