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Seven Minutes
Seven minutes isn’t enough for a life. But it’s long enough to remember how much I’m loved.
Eli-
I thought the worst part of losing my husband would be the slow drift apart, the way hospital shifts swallowed our nights, and silence replaced laughter. I never imagined the worst part would be dying in his ER, the flatline screaming while his hands were the last to touch me.
But death isn’t empty. Not at first. In those final seven minutes, my life plays back like a reel, and every frame belongs to him. Our first kiss. Our first night tangled together. The vows we spoke when we promised forever. Even the mornings when we forgot to kiss goodbye.
It’s all him. Always him.
I don’t know if this is the end or a cruel mercy, but I do know one thing—somewhere inside these seven minutes is a choice, a chance, or a goodbye. And if love alone could bring me back, I’d open my eyes to him every time.
Eli-
I thought the worst part of losing my husband would be the slow drift apart, the way hospital shifts swallowed our nights, and silence replaced laughter. I never imagined the worst part would be dying in his ER, the flatline screaming while his hands were the last to touch me.
But death isn’t empty. Not at first. In those final seven minutes, my life plays back like a reel, and every frame belongs to him. Our first kiss. Our first night tangled together. The vows we spoke when we promised forever. Even the mornings when we forgot to kiss goodbye.
It’s all him. Always him.
I don’t know if this is the end or a cruel mercy, but I do know one thing—somewhere inside these seven minutes is a choice, a chance, or a goodbye. And if love alone could bring me back, I’d open my eyes to him every time.
408 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 15, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews
May 19, 2026
4.5***** stars
This story was no joke, emotionally speaking. Everything starts with a marriage on the rocks and an accident that could’ve ended them before they were ready.
I loved that the author dedicated her book to the two main characters.
And while you’re watching these traumatic moments in the beginning where a man is about to loose his husband, looking at his broken body and the flatline on the monitor, the life-threatening accident is not the point of this story. The wake-up call is.
The wake-up call that started with Adrian almost loosing Eli for good. About them reconnecting. About mending what was cracked and broken between them and this time making promises and to actually keep them.
I loved every minute of it.
This story was no joke, emotionally speaking. Everything starts with a marriage on the rocks and an accident that could’ve ended them before they were ready.
I loved that the author dedicated her book to the two main characters.
Adrian once told me that the brain stays alive for up to seven minutes after you die.
And while you’re watching these traumatic moments in the beginning where a man is about to loose his husband, looking at his broken body and the flatline on the monitor, the life-threatening accident is not the point of this story. The wake-up call is.
“You don’t have to keep doing all this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
Because it’s the only way I know how to love you. Because if I stop, I’ll have to feel how close I came to losing you. Because fixing you is the only thing keeping me from falling apart myself. But all I said was, “Because I want to.”“I just… I can’t turn it off. Every time you move, I see it again. The blood. The flatline. You don’t remember it, but I do.”
The wake-up call that started with Adrian almost loosing Eli for good. About them reconnecting. About mending what was cracked and broken between them and this time making promises and to actually keep them.
Eli’s head fell back, his body curving toward me as if gravity had finally remembered who he belonged to.
I loved every minute of it.
May 18, 2026
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Nick J. Russo, and Wow!! What a phenomenal narration🥹
Nick J. Russo is one of the narrators that I very much enjoy listening to, but his narration for this book is top tier💫 One of his best work dare I say. His voice managed to carry all the emotions that this book meant to deliver. He gave each scene the feelings it derserves. He took this emotional story and brought it to life in the most beautiful way.
The way Nick narrates chapter 1 from Adrian POV has to be the best emotional narration I have ever heard. He took the most heartbreaking scene and made it real and raw and so incredibly devastating.
The way his voice shakes and trembles, the way he embodies the sadness, the grief, the heartbreak in his voice😩
I cried reading the book. But Nick made me cry 10x more.
♾️⭐️ for both story and narration
———————————————
♾️⭐️
Ughh, this book😩😭😭💔😢🥹❤️ I started crying, aka bawling my eyes out, from chapter 1, had continuous tears here and there throughout the book, and cried again on last chapter😭
This book gives me hope that romance is not yet dead, and it reminds me why I love reading so much.
So this is the story of Adrian and Eli, an established married couple. The book starts with the ER trauma doors being slammed open bringing in an unresponsive victim after high speed MVC in a very bad condition. Adrian, being a doctor there, approaches to do his work, only to find out that the unresponsive body is his husband Eli.
I thought the story would be about saving Eli only, but it's way more. It's also about saving Adrian and saving Adrian & Eli's marriage as it is falling apart.
“Love isn’t the promise of never breaking. It’s the decision to keep holding on, even after you do.”
I was bawling like a baby during the first 5%😭 The way Adrian forgets anything about being a doctor and becomes paralyzed by seeing the man he loves unresponsive is so heartbreaking💔 You can tell right away how much Adrian loves Eli. You can tell it's all heart and soul consuming type of love. You feel his despair. You feel his heart breaking. You feel his soul shattering.
“I pressed my face to Eli’s palm, his ring biting into my cheek, anchoring me to the life they were trying to strip away. “You’re mine,” I whispered, fierce and broken. “And I’m not letting you go. Not now. Not ever.”
I love how we were told about their past through the snippets from Eli. How they met. How they became. How they fell in love. And God Eli and the way he fought his way back to Adrian😩 No matter what he felt, how much he was hurt by their marriage falling apart, he was clawing his way back because he cannot not be with Adrian😢
“Adrian once told me that the brain stays alive for up to seven minutes after you die. I guess he was right because here I am, still thinking of him—still chasing the sound of his voice through the dark, still hoping seven minutes is long enough to find my way back to the light. Back to him.
Eli and Adrian's journey is not easy or smooth. it's fights and struggles and communication and reconnection. It's not just putting a few pieces back together, it's building up from scratch. Yes, it is easy to blame Adrian because he is the one to distance himself and immerse himself in work thinking it's the right thing to do. But he recognizes that, and he starts to see his mistakes. And what I love most is him admitting that you cannot just say you'll be better and magically everything will be okay. He actually understands that he needs to see someone professionally to help him see things in a different light. That even if he is a doctor and helps people, he also needs help himself.
“This is our new normal,” I said, my voice shaking but firm. “Get used to it. Because I’m not going back to work anytime soon, and I’m going to hover and irritate the hell out of you until you’re better. And then we’re going to fix what I broke. And goddammit, we’re going to live happily ever after, just like we dreamed way back when.”
“Adrian—”
“I love you,” I said fiercely. “I’ve never stopped, and I never will. You’re mine, Eli, and we promised to do this life together, and I’m holding both of us to that promise.”
The writing is so beautiful. It is poetic. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking. It makes you feel and live all the emotions. There are a lot of quotes that struck close to the heart. It embodies a strong powerful love while at the same time showing that love alone may not be enough. It shows how each individual sees love in a different perspective.
“To quiet the guilt that came from always being gone, always putting something else first, convincing myself that providing was the same thing as loving.”
I love that the story is just focused on them. No side characters or friends to interfere or take the spotlight. You just live in Eli and Adrian's bubble. You are consumed by them only, by their hurt, by their love, by their connection, by their intimacy, by them finding their way back together.
“You can’t even be angry when love dies of exhaustion. There’s no villain, no betrayal. Just two people who meant every word of their vows, and then ran out of ways to live them.”
I love how the author handles the spice in this book, that it veered away from the spice and kinks that plagues most books nowadays. The sex in here is not meant to be spicy or dirty, but intimate and full of love. It is a way to reconnect, to mend the heart, and to remind the soul of its other half.
Thank God I didn't have to read "beg for it" or "good boy" because it's not about that. It't not about the act itself but about the feelings that are being shared during the act.
“Maybe love wasn’t about keeping the world from falling apart; it was about finding your way back after it did.”
Eli and Adrian story is emotional and beautiful and heartbreaking and heartwarming. It hurts then it heals. It breaks then it mends. It makes you questions then it makes you believe. It scares then it gives hope. And throughout it all, you never doubt that these two don't love each other fully and completely. Love is always there, in the good and bad, in the hurt and the hope.
“Eli… I married you twelve years ago thinking I knew exactly who I was. What I wanted. How life was supposed to work. And I loved you then, so much I didn’t have the maturity to understand the weight of it.”
“But I love you more now. I love you with context. With failures and fights and fatigue. I love you with every scar we put on each other and every scar we helped heal.”
“I love you in all the ways that matter,” he whispered. “Not the ways I thought mattered. I choose you, again, with clear eyes. With both hands. With the man I am, not the man I pretended to be.”
“And I promise… I will keep choosing you. In the messy years. In the quiet ones. When we’re steady. When we’re stumbling. When life shifts. When we shift.”
“You are my home. And I will spend the rest of my life making sure you stay safe inside it.”
Their story will live with me for a long time. It is one of my top favorite reads this year. I am definitely getting the audiobook cause I'm glutton for punishment🙄😂
“You’re such an idiot.”
“Yeah,” I said, my throat thick. “Your idiot.”
He let out another laugh that sounded suspiciously close to a sob. “God, we’re a mess.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “A beautiful mess.”
FYI, this is the second "Adrian" this year that makes me cry. So fair to say I'm getting allergic to the name Adrian😂
Nick J. Russo is one of the narrators that I very much enjoy listening to, but his narration for this book is top tier💫 One of his best work dare I say. His voice managed to carry all the emotions that this book meant to deliver. He gave each scene the feelings it derserves. He took this emotional story and brought it to life in the most beautiful way.
The way Nick narrates chapter 1 from Adrian POV has to be the best emotional narration I have ever heard. He took the most heartbreaking scene and made it real and raw and so incredibly devastating.
The way his voice shakes and trembles, the way he embodies the sadness, the grief, the heartbreak in his voice😩
I cried reading the book. But Nick made me cry 10x more.
♾️⭐️ for both story and narration
———————————————
♾️⭐️
Ughh, this book😩😭😭💔😢🥹❤️ I started crying, aka bawling my eyes out, from chapter 1, had continuous tears here and there throughout the book, and cried again on last chapter😭
This book gives me hope that romance is not yet dead, and it reminds me why I love reading so much.
So this is the story of Adrian and Eli, an established married couple. The book starts with the ER trauma doors being slammed open bringing in an unresponsive victim after high speed MVC in a very bad condition. Adrian, being a doctor there, approaches to do his work, only to find out that the unresponsive body is his husband Eli.
I thought the story would be about saving Eli only, but it's way more. It's also about saving Adrian and saving Adrian & Eli's marriage as it is falling apart.
“Love isn’t the promise of never breaking. It’s the decision to keep holding on, even after you do.”
I was bawling like a baby during the first 5%😭 The way Adrian forgets anything about being a doctor and becomes paralyzed by seeing the man he loves unresponsive is so heartbreaking💔 You can tell right away how much Adrian loves Eli. You can tell it's all heart and soul consuming type of love. You feel his despair. You feel his heart breaking. You feel his soul shattering.
“I pressed my face to Eli’s palm, his ring biting into my cheek, anchoring me to the life they were trying to strip away. “You’re mine,” I whispered, fierce and broken. “And I’m not letting you go. Not now. Not ever.”
I love how we were told about their past through the snippets from Eli. How they met. How they became. How they fell in love. And God Eli and the way he fought his way back to Adrian😩 No matter what he felt, how much he was hurt by their marriage falling apart, he was clawing his way back because he cannot not be with Adrian😢
“Adrian once told me that the brain stays alive for up to seven minutes after you die. I guess he was right because here I am, still thinking of him—still chasing the sound of his voice through the dark, still hoping seven minutes is long enough to find my way back to the light. Back to him.
Eli and Adrian's journey is not easy or smooth. it's fights and struggles and communication and reconnection. It's not just putting a few pieces back together, it's building up from scratch. Yes, it is easy to blame Adrian because he is the one to distance himself and immerse himself in work thinking it's the right thing to do. But he recognizes that, and he starts to see his mistakes. And what I love most is him admitting that you cannot just say you'll be better and magically everything will be okay. He actually understands that he needs to see someone professionally to help him see things in a different light. That even if he is a doctor and helps people, he also needs help himself.
“This is our new normal,” I said, my voice shaking but firm. “Get used to it. Because I’m not going back to work anytime soon, and I’m going to hover and irritate the hell out of you until you’re better. And then we’re going to fix what I broke. And goddammit, we’re going to live happily ever after, just like we dreamed way back when.”
“Adrian—”
“I love you,” I said fiercely. “I’ve never stopped, and I never will. You’re mine, Eli, and we promised to do this life together, and I’m holding both of us to that promise.”
The writing is so beautiful. It is poetic. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking. It makes you feel and live all the emotions. There are a lot of quotes that struck close to the heart. It embodies a strong powerful love while at the same time showing that love alone may not be enough. It shows how each individual sees love in a different perspective.
“To quiet the guilt that came from always being gone, always putting something else first, convincing myself that providing was the same thing as loving.”
I love that the story is just focused on them. No side characters or friends to interfere or take the spotlight. You just live in Eli and Adrian's bubble. You are consumed by them only, by their hurt, by their love, by their connection, by their intimacy, by them finding their way back together.
“You can’t even be angry when love dies of exhaustion. There’s no villain, no betrayal. Just two people who meant every word of their vows, and then ran out of ways to live them.”
I love how the author handles the spice in this book, that it veered away from the spice and kinks that plagues most books nowadays. The sex in here is not meant to be spicy or dirty, but intimate and full of love. It is a way to reconnect, to mend the heart, and to remind the soul of its other half.
Thank God I didn't have to read "beg for it" or "good boy" because it's not about that. It't not about the act itself but about the feelings that are being shared during the act.
“Maybe love wasn’t about keeping the world from falling apart; it was about finding your way back after it did.”
Eli and Adrian story is emotional and beautiful and heartbreaking and heartwarming. It hurts then it heals. It breaks then it mends. It makes you questions then it makes you believe. It scares then it gives hope. And throughout it all, you never doubt that these two don't love each other fully and completely. Love is always there, in the good and bad, in the hurt and the hope.
“Eli… I married you twelve years ago thinking I knew exactly who I was. What I wanted. How life was supposed to work. And I loved you then, so much I didn’t have the maturity to understand the weight of it.”
“But I love you more now. I love you with context. With failures and fights and fatigue. I love you with every scar we put on each other and every scar we helped heal.”
“I love you in all the ways that matter,” he whispered. “Not the ways I thought mattered. I choose you, again, with clear eyes. With both hands. With the man I am, not the man I pretended to be.”
“And I promise… I will keep choosing you. In the messy years. In the quiet ones. When we’re steady. When we’re stumbling. When life shifts. When we shift.”
“You are my home. And I will spend the rest of my life making sure you stay safe inside it.”
Their story will live with me for a long time. It is one of my top favorite reads this year. I am definitely getting the audiobook cause I'm glutton for punishment🙄😂
“You’re such an idiot.”
“Yeah,” I said, my throat thick. “Your idiot.”
He let out another laugh that sounded suspiciously close to a sob. “God, we’re a mess.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “A beautiful mess.”
FYI, this is the second "Adrian" this year that makes me cry. So fair to say I'm getting allergic to the name Adrian😂
June 14, 2026
Elias + Adrian 🖤
Marriage in crisis | Rebuilding trust | Hurt comfort
“Remember when you told me about that study in your medical journal? The one about brain activity after death?” "Yeah. Up to seven minutes.”
“It’s real. And every single one of my minutes was of you.”
⚠️ potential spoilers below in detailed tropes, content and warning lists
Tropes/content:
Marriage in crisis
ER doctor married to his work
Paralegal
Hurt comfort
Showering together
Rebuilding trust
Adrian was Eli's first
Love making
Reverently kissing all his scars from the tubes and accident
Panic attack
I missed this. I missed you.
Dancing in the kitchen
Strict roles
Epilogue - they get "remarried" privately on their 12th anniversary. Just the two of them saying vows to each other in the vineyard where they made love the first time.
No cheating
Warnings/icks:
Marriage in crisis
Physical trauma to an MC resulting in death (he's revived)
Emergency room
Severe bleeding
Car accident
Traumatic brain injury
Broken ribs
Bruised lungs
Panic attack
Trauma response
Marriage in crisis | Rebuilding trust | Hurt comfort
“Remember when you told me about that study in your medical journal? The one about brain activity after death?” "Yeah. Up to seven minutes.”
“It’s real. And every single one of my minutes was of you.”
⚠️ potential spoilers below in detailed tropes, content and warning lists
Tropes/content:
Marriage in crisis
ER doctor married to his work
Paralegal
Hurt comfort
Showering together
Rebuilding trust
Adrian was Eli's first
Love making
Reverently kissing all his scars from the tubes and accident
Panic attack
I missed this. I missed you.
Dancing in the kitchen
Strict roles
Epilogue - they get "remarried" privately on their 12th anniversary. Just the two of them saying vows to each other in the vineyard where they made love the first time.
No cheating
Warnings/icks:
Marriage in crisis
Physical trauma to an MC resulting in death (he's revived)
Emergency room
Severe bleeding
Car accident
Traumatic brain injury
Broken ribs
Bruised lungs
Panic attack
Trauma response
August 11, 2026
3 stars ⭐️
I think I’m in the minority here because so many readers have given this book really high ratings.
I actually enjoyed the first few chapters. they were good and made me emotional too. I really loved the message the author was trying to convey about not taking the people you love for granted. I also loved how Adrian realized that and tried to make things right with Eli in the best way possible.
But what bugged me the most was the length of the book and all the repetition. The middle felt so stagnant, like nothing much was progressing, and honestly, it made me a little bored.
Anyway, I really do love Adrian and Eli as characters. This was definitely more of an emotional read than an angsty one.
I think I’m in the minority here because so many readers have given this book really high ratings.
I actually enjoyed the first few chapters. they were good and made me emotional too. I really loved the message the author was trying to convey about not taking the people you love for granted. I also loved how Adrian realized that and tried to make things right with Eli in the best way possible.
But what bugged me the most was the length of the book and all the repetition. The middle felt so stagnant, like nothing much was progressing, and honestly, it made me a little bored.
Anyway, I really do love Adrian and Eli as characters. This was definitely more of an emotional read than an angsty one.
Did Not Finish
August 27, 2026I'm out, calling it quits early. Dropped it at 14% without a rating. I figured this was supposed to be an emotional story, and the whole premise of reliving a life in the final seven minutes before death sounded pretty interesting at first. But before I'd even formed any connection with the characters, dumping all their backstory on me with such flowery prose did zero favors for my reading experience—and it took me way longer than seven minutes to read! And Eli, a dying man, how on earth did he manage to think through so many detailed things in just seven minutes?!
May 15, 2026
4.5 stars
This story had an emotional beginning which had me immediately invested in the lives of ER doctor Adrian, and his husband Eli. The sadness at realising love isn't enough and seeing the breakdown of their relationship over time as life and responsibilities get in the way.
It is such a sweet and heart wrenching journey, the writing made you feel the pain and fear, hope and joy from both of them.
"Maybe love wasn't about keeping the world from falling apart; it was about finding your way back after it did."
I thoroughly enjoyed this established couple on the brink of divorce facing all the challenges of a serious accident and recovery.
A beautiful emotional hurt/comfort story of an almost broken couple finding their way back to each other. Struggling with trust and fear the dual POV's give great depth to both of these men. I loved it so much that I read it in a day.
This story had an emotional beginning which had me immediately invested in the lives of ER doctor Adrian, and his husband Eli. The sadness at realising love isn't enough and seeing the breakdown of their relationship over time as life and responsibilities get in the way.
It is such a sweet and heart wrenching journey, the writing made you feel the pain and fear, hope and joy from both of them.
"Maybe love wasn't about keeping the world from falling apart; it was about finding your way back after it did."
I thoroughly enjoyed this established couple on the brink of divorce facing all the challenges of a serious accident and recovery.
A beautiful emotional hurt/comfort story of an almost broken couple finding their way back to each other. Struggling with trust and fear the dual POV's give great depth to both of these men. I loved it so much that I read it in a day.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Before I start, I just want to say thank you, so so much, to Raquel Riley for this story. From the bottom of my heart. I just wish I manage to find the right words for everything I felt while reading it.
You know how there are good books, and then there are the books, the ones that exist on a completely different level.
You don’t just read them, you live them. They make you question yourself, make you look deeper. Make you feel things you aren’t usually ready to face.
This is one of those books.
The blurb kind of warns you that it wouldn’t be easy. But honestly, “hurt” isn’t even the right word for what this does to you. I am not sure there were any pages without the tears.
“I almost lost him. And the worst part? He’d been alive the whole time. No trauma. No blood. Just the slow, inexorable death of something we’d both once sworn was immortal.”
I’m a very emotional reader, I need to connect with the characters to love a book.
But here I didn’t just connect. I drowned in them.
It wasn’t feeling like I was reading only Adrian and Eli’s story, it felt like I was also looking at pieces of my own life.
So if you pick this up, try to go in open. Let yourself be vulnerable and feel it. Let it hurt and be uncomfortable. Because this isn’t just a love story. It’s a reminder of what actually matters.
“Love isn’t the promise of never breaking. It’s the decision to keep holding on, even after you do.”
This is not an easy and entertaining read. There’s no gentle buildup, it breaks you open from the very first pages and just..doesn’t really stop.
Every chapter felt like it was pulling something out of me - my guilt, my fears, memories, quiet aches I prefer to forget I am carrying. It’s painful because it’s real, there’s no sugarcoating here.
After 12 years of marriage, I felt this in a way that scared me so much.
It touches on all the things we avoid. The things we postpone. The things we assume we’ll “deal with later.” But we don’t always have later.
“Love doesn’t end with a single act of cruelty or neglect, but with a thousand quiet surrenders.
You can’t even be angry when love dies of exhaustion. There’s no villain, no betrayal. Just two people who meant every word of their vows, and then ran out of ways to live them.”
And yet, despite all that said, Adrian and Eli’s story is beautiful. Devastatingly, painfully beautiful.
Necessary really. There are no magical resolves. It’s about healing. About finding your way back and choosing each other again, not because it’s easy, but because it matters.
I already loved Raquel Riley’s writing, but this is something else. I have over 40 highlights, which could be more if I wasn’t so lost in the book. Never have I felt that something was excessive or repetitive. Every word had a place and every moment meant something.
It was honestly read in almost one sitting. Aside from the moments that were too much and I needed to breathe.
And the epilogues… Thank you, thank you for both of them, it felt like I finally could breathe 🥹
“And one day, when it was my turn to watch my reel at the end of a long, well-lived life, I wouldn’t ask for those seven minutes back. Not if I’d spent every day living the eighth one loving him.”
I know it is all emotional, messy and all over the place.. but that’s honestly what I feel.
I hope it shows how powerful this book is.
I’m going to go read to my son now.
And then I think I’ll spend the evening hugging my husband for a change.
With some show I won’t really watch..
And thank you for trusting me with this ARC 🤍
You know how there are good books, and then there are the books, the ones that exist on a completely different level.
You don’t just read them, you live them. They make you question yourself, make you look deeper. Make you feel things you aren’t usually ready to face.
This is one of those books.
The blurb kind of warns you that it wouldn’t be easy. But honestly, “hurt” isn’t even the right word for what this does to you. I am not sure there were any pages without the tears.
“I almost lost him. And the worst part? He’d been alive the whole time. No trauma. No blood. Just the slow, inexorable death of something we’d both once sworn was immortal.”
I’m a very emotional reader, I need to connect with the characters to love a book.
But here I didn’t just connect. I drowned in them.
It wasn’t feeling like I was reading only Adrian and Eli’s story, it felt like I was also looking at pieces of my own life.
So if you pick this up, try to go in open. Let yourself be vulnerable and feel it. Let it hurt and be uncomfortable. Because this isn’t just a love story. It’s a reminder of what actually matters.
“Love isn’t the promise of never breaking. It’s the decision to keep holding on, even after you do.”
This is not an easy and entertaining read. There’s no gentle buildup, it breaks you open from the very first pages and just..doesn’t really stop.
Every chapter felt like it was pulling something out of me - my guilt, my fears, memories, quiet aches I prefer to forget I am carrying. It’s painful because it’s real, there’s no sugarcoating here.
After 12 years of marriage, I felt this in a way that scared me so much.
It touches on all the things we avoid. The things we postpone. The things we assume we’ll “deal with later.” But we don’t always have later.
“Love doesn’t end with a single act of cruelty or neglect, but with a thousand quiet surrenders.
You can’t even be angry when love dies of exhaustion. There’s no villain, no betrayal. Just two people who meant every word of their vows, and then ran out of ways to live them.”
And yet, despite all that said, Adrian and Eli’s story is beautiful. Devastatingly, painfully beautiful.
Necessary really. There are no magical resolves. It’s about healing. About finding your way back and choosing each other again, not because it’s easy, but because it matters.
I already loved Raquel Riley’s writing, but this is something else. I have over 40 highlights, which could be more if I wasn’t so lost in the book. Never have I felt that something was excessive or repetitive. Every word had a place and every moment meant something.
It was honestly read in almost one sitting. Aside from the moments that were too much and I needed to breathe.
And the epilogues… Thank you, thank you for both of them, it felt like I finally could breathe 🥹
“And one day, when it was my turn to watch my reel at the end of a long, well-lived life, I wouldn’t ask for those seven minutes back. Not if I’d spent every day living the eighth one loving him.”
I know it is all emotional, messy and all over the place.. but that’s honestly what I feel.
I hope it shows how powerful this book is.
I’m going to go read to my son now.
And then I think I’ll spend the evening hugging my husband for a change.
With some show I won’t really watch..
And thank you for trusting me with this ARC 🤍
June 8, 2026
Seven Minutes is a very emotional story about a marriage falling apart and then desperately trying to find its way back together again. Adrian and Eli have spent almost their entire adult lives together ,college, careers, first home, years and years of memories ,until somewhere along the way they stopped being partners and started simply existing beside each other.
Eli is lonely. Adrian is consumed by work. Their marriage is hanging by a thread.
Then comes the accident.
The title refers to the seven minutes Eli is clinically dead after a car crash, and those opening sections absolutely destroyed me.
Watching Adrian realize that the patient being rolled into his ER is his husband? Brutal.
Watching him stop being a doctor and simply become a terrified husband screaming, begging, refusing to let go while everyone around him tells him it’s time to stop? Yeah. That hurt.
And maybe this is controversial, but I have to admit something.
I preferred Adrian.
Not because what happened to Eli wasn’t heartbreaking. Not because I think Adrian was right. Absolutely not.
But from what we actually saw on page, I connected more with Adrian’s character. We watched him break. We watched him panic. We watched him realize exactly what he had done to his marriage. We watched him pour love, care, guilt, devotion, and desperation into every page afterward.
And unfortunately for me, I am apparently weak for emotionally destroyed men.
The thing is, this book isn’t dark.
It is emotional.
It is angsty.
But it exists inside this very soft little bubble where most of the story becomes healing, recovery, rebuilding trust, second chances, and two people trying to find each other again.
Usually I love character-focused stories that just let me live inside the relationship. That part was good but may I just say the softness lulled me to sleep a little ?
I think I’ve broken my reading brain but reading too much dark romances.
Because while this book was good and genuinely, I cannot find anything wrong with it never gave me the emotional intensity that I personally crave.
I like my romance with pressure.With chaos.With people making terrible decisions while being deeply in love.
This was soft. Very soft
So this became the weird situation where I enjoyed reading it, cared about the characters, liked their journey, and still walked away thinking:
“Okay. That was lovely. Now please give me back my emotionally unstable men.”
This was probably the perfect palate cleanser.
And now I think I’m ready to return to darkness.
May 28, 2026
6⭐️
Thankyou to whoever read this and made a review, I’m so glad I came across this recommendation while scrolling GR.
This story was everything 💙
Beautiful
Heart wrenching
Emotional
Realistic
I was looking for a read with more depth and relatable emotions, and oh boy did this deliver.
Adrian
If we just keep going, I thought. One more compression. One more breath. The next push will bring him back. The next wheeze of the ventilator will breathe life into his broken body. But the monitor doesn’t listen. It screams its flat, endless note—accusing, absolute.
Adrian 💔
“Please, Eli,” I whispered into the crook of his elbow. “Don’t leave me. Not like this. I need more time—I need one more laugh, one more kiss, just—just one more.” My shoulders shook, breaking me down smaller and smaller. “Please, baby, please.”
Eli 💔
And the worst part—the absolute worst part—was realizing he was still good. Still kind. Still the man I fell in love with. Not a cheat. Not an abuser or a drunk. Just tired. Just gone. You can’t even be angry when love dies of exhaustion. There’s no villain, no betrayal. Just two people who meant every word of their vows, and then ran out of ways to live them.
Adrian
Our marriage hadn’t exploded. It had eroded. Quietly. Gradually. Like the tide wearing down a rock until nothing remained but dust. And I’d let it happen.
Adrian 🥰
And one day, when it was my turn to watch my reel at the end of a long, well-lived life, I wouldn’t ask for those seven minutes back. Not if I’d spent every day living the eighth one loving him.
Eli & Adrian 💔
Thankyou to whoever read this and made a review, I’m so glad I came across this recommendation while scrolling GR.
This story was everything 💙
Beautiful
Heart wrenching
Emotional
Realistic
I was looking for a read with more depth and relatable emotions, and oh boy did this deliver.
Adrian
If we just keep going, I thought. One more compression. One more breath. The next push will bring him back. The next wheeze of the ventilator will breathe life into his broken body. But the monitor doesn’t listen. It screams its flat, endless note—accusing, absolute.
Adrian 💔
“Please, Eli,” I whispered into the crook of his elbow. “Don’t leave me. Not like this. I need more time—I need one more laugh, one more kiss, just—just one more.” My shoulders shook, breaking me down smaller and smaller. “Please, baby, please.”
Eli 💔
And the worst part—the absolute worst part—was realizing he was still good. Still kind. Still the man I fell in love with. Not a cheat. Not an abuser or a drunk. Just tired. Just gone. You can’t even be angry when love dies of exhaustion. There’s no villain, no betrayal. Just two people who meant every word of their vows, and then ran out of ways to live them.
Adrian
Our marriage hadn’t exploded. It had eroded. Quietly. Gradually. Like the tide wearing down a rock until nothing remained but dust. And I’d let it happen.
Adrian 🥰
And one day, when it was my turn to watch my reel at the end of a long, well-lived life, I wouldn’t ask for those seven minutes back. Not if I’d spent every day living the eighth one loving him.
Eli & Adrian 💔
May 27, 2026
I shouldn’t read books like this while I’m on my period. I couldn’t control my tears I cried so much, especially in the first parts when Ellie was in a coma.😭🖤
June 6, 2026
This is a really beautifully written book, but in the end, it just wasn't for me.
It started off really well and drew me in, but then, almost just as quickly, I lost interest. It was a bit heavy—and not in the emotional way I was hoping for. Unfortunately, it didn’t resonate with me on an emotional level as much as I’d hoped, and after a promising start, it started to became a bit repetitive and tiring.
After the beginning, there wasn’t much else besides Adrian and Eli finding their way back to each other and mending their relationship, which wasn’t enough to keep me engaged this time.
But as I said, it is a beautifully written book. I liked the writing style, and I can see why it resonates with so many people. Not every book is meant for every reader, though, and this one wasn’t for me.
”Love isn’t the promise of never breaking. It’s the decision to keep holding on, even after you do.”
’Love doesn’t end with a single act of cruelty or neglect, but with a thousand quiet surrenders. The sound of the faucet. The buzz of his phone. The pills gathering dust. That’s how it happens. Not with a fight or a slammed door, but with the dull ache of habit. With one person holding on and the other slipping further away.’
It started off really well and drew me in, but then, almost just as quickly, I lost interest. It was a bit heavy—and not in the emotional way I was hoping for. Unfortunately, it didn’t resonate with me on an emotional level as much as I’d hoped, and after a promising start, it started to became a bit repetitive and tiring.
After the beginning, there wasn’t much else besides Adrian and Eli finding their way back to each other and mending their relationship, which wasn’t enough to keep me engaged this time.
But as I said, it is a beautifully written book. I liked the writing style, and I can see why it resonates with so many people. Not every book is meant for every reader, though, and this one wasn’t for me.
”Love isn’t the promise of never breaking. It’s the decision to keep holding on, even after you do.”
’Love doesn’t end with a single act of cruelty or neglect, but with a thousand quiet surrenders. The sound of the faucet. The buzz of his phone. The pills gathering dust. That’s how it happens. Not with a fight or a slammed door, but with the dull ache of habit. With one person holding on and the other slipping further away.’
July 20, 2026
4 Stars ⭐️
3.5 🌶️
This Was Such An Amazing Book Yall I Lived Adrian And Eli A lot, They Definitely Got The Happily Ever After They So Deserved. Definitely Recommend This Book Yall It Was So Worth It For The Ending
3.5 🌶️
This Was Such An Amazing Book Yall I Lived Adrian And Eli A lot, They Definitely Got The Happily Ever After They So Deserved. Definitely Recommend This Book Yall It Was So Worth It For The Ending
May 13, 2026
Seven Minutes - Raquel Riley
🌟 5/5 🌟
* SPOILERS *
This was my first book by Raquel and man, she definitely didn’t disappoint. She’s been an author on my tbr list and man, I’m going to have to go through her backlog because I’m just in complete awe.
The first two chapters broke me because I didn’t know what to expect to be honest. I was in complete shock what was happening but I realized just how amazing this book tugged at my heart from the first page all the way to the end where these two men got another chance at happiness.
I just love how beautiful their love was and how they worked together to give their marriage a second chance. I’m such a fan for second chances. I loved how every now and then, a little humor would pop in with some sarcastic comments.
The buying a new vehicle had me giggling because if Adrian could wrap his husband in bubble wrap or buy a military grade vehicle, he would!
This book is so much more than what I thought. I love how they both went through their own journey of healing because it truly helped their marriage. I just loved how you could see how much these two truly cared for one another and I was here for every moment.
I received a copy of this book and this is my honest review.
🌟 5/5 🌟
* SPOILERS *
This was my first book by Raquel and man, she definitely didn’t disappoint. She’s been an author on my tbr list and man, I’m going to have to go through her backlog because I’m just in complete awe.
The first two chapters broke me because I didn’t know what to expect to be honest. I was in complete shock what was happening but I realized just how amazing this book tugged at my heart from the first page all the way to the end where these two men got another chance at happiness.
I just love how beautiful their love was and how they worked together to give their marriage a second chance. I’m such a fan for second chances. I loved how every now and then, a little humor would pop in with some sarcastic comments.
The buying a new vehicle had me giggling because if Adrian could wrap his husband in bubble wrap or buy a military grade vehicle, he would!
This book is so much more than what I thought. I love how they both went through their own journey of healing because it truly helped their marriage. I just loved how you could see how much these two truly cared for one another and I was here for every moment.
I received a copy of this book and this is my honest review.
April 25, 2026
4.5 ⭐️ I was not expecting to be ugly crying in the first 4% but yet there I was. This story cracks your heart open from page 1. The writing is phenomenal, I could literally feel Adrian’s pain seeing Eli being brought in. This story is definitely about getting a second chance to get things right. Adrian and Eli had been drifting apart before the accident but afterwards Adrian is determined to fix his marriage and be there for Eli. It’s definitely a slow process, give and take, push and pull. We get to see this couple rebuild their relationship and fall even more in love with each other. This book is absolutely amazing.
*arc review*
*arc review*
June 8, 2026
The epitome of the 'I got you' trope.
Right from the start this book has me in its grip. It's devastating and heartbreaking but you cant look away either. With my fingers crossed I made it through the first 30%. Rooting for something more than just two people finding their way back to each other.
I wish there was an extra angle to the second chance part of their story. It makes sense that their wounds and coping keep showing up in the same way, but for some reason it felt repetitive. Like nothing has changed and then eventually something clicks and it does.
Apart from that it was a nice introduction to the author and I will definitely pick up another book.
Tropes:
Second chance
Established couple
Takes care of him when hurt
Caretaking
I got you
Dancing in the kitchen
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Right from the start this book has me in its grip. It's devastating and heartbreaking but you cant look away either. With my fingers crossed I made it through the first 30%. Rooting for something more than just two people finding their way back to each other.
I wish there was an extra angle to the second chance part of their story. It makes sense that their wounds and coping keep showing up in the same way, but for some reason it felt repetitive. Like nothing has changed and then eventually something clicks and it does.
Apart from that it was a nice introduction to the author and I will definitely pick up another book.
Tropes:
Second chance
Established couple
Takes care of him when hurt
Caretaking
I got you
Dancing in the kitchen
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
May 29, 2026
Omg this was 😭 these two men went through such an emotional journey to find their way back to each other. The first 100 pages were gut wrenching or maybe it hit me so hard, because I was in a similar situation. Recovering from a physical trauma can be brutal, it takes a toll on the body and mind. It can strain a relationship or make it stronger.
Eli and Adrian are a couple, married 10 years. We got to see a little flashbacks of their firsts - first meeting, first date, first starting living together. Every little milestone a couple has and they love each other and are happy. Then life happens. This book feels real, these characters are very believable, they could be you or me. There isn’t a single event that shatters their marriage, it’s the slow drifting apart, the missed dinners, the quite house, no shows of affection the tiny things that build and build, then resentment comes in, the doubt “is it me, am I that unlovable, how can I compare..” etc Poor Eli I felt his pain like it was my own and I hated Adrian.
But the author had other ideas and slowly, gently brought them back together. Because these two love each other very much, but forgot that you need to be involved, to make space, that saving a marriage needs work. It was totally worth it. It was romantic, it was emotional, it was perfect. 🌸
Eli and Adrian are a couple, married 10 years. We got to see a little flashbacks of their firsts - first meeting, first date, first starting living together. Every little milestone a couple has and they love each other and are happy. Then life happens. This book feels real, these characters are very believable, they could be you or me. There isn’t a single event that shatters their marriage, it’s the slow drifting apart, the missed dinners, the quite house, no shows of affection the tiny things that build and build, then resentment comes in, the doubt “is it me, am I that unlovable, how can I compare..” etc Poor Eli I felt his pain like it was my own and I hated Adrian.
But the author had other ideas and slowly, gently brought them back together. Because these two love each other very much, but forgot that you need to be involved, to make space, that saving a marriage needs work. It was totally worth it. It was romantic, it was emotional, it was perfect. 🌸
May 24, 2026
This is a very intense & emotional read about two men trying to rebuild their failing relationship. Both Eli & Adrian are very strong characters and I very much enjoyed the deep-dive into their characters and marriage. The terrible accident which happens to Eli at the start of the book - and from which he has to slowly recover - is a mirror image of the fragile nature of their relationship, and both men have to negotiate and find a way through to a better place both in terms of health and their marriage. I loved it.
May 23, 2026
This was as much devastating as it was beautiful. But that is life.
May 14, 2026
***ARC Review***
This is my honest and voluntary review.
Eli and Adrian will break your heart in this story and then slowly mend it back together. Raquel Riley has woven together a beautiful story about focusing on what and who truly matters. Things start off traumatic from the start and my blood pressure just kept on rising as the scenes and story unfolded. When I wasn’t clutching my chest, I was tearing up and trying not to bawl like a baby. So all in all, I’d say this is one of the most moving stories that I have read in a long time.
I love that we are reading about an established couple whose marriage is on the brink of collapse. I love that both Eli and Adrian are imperfect people who are trying to find their way back to one another and themselves. This book is achingly gorgeous. There are so many highlight-able quotes, it’s not even funny. Riley really pulls you in from the first sentence and the enticement just keeps on tugging.
The way that Riley breaks this story down into sections is flawless. It’s both heart wrenching and poetic. You can feel every emotion bleeding out on the page. The underlying current of every scene is love and the challenges people face when that may not be enough. This story really makes you think about how you interact with your loved ones and reminds you to keep them close. I know I’m hugging mine extra tight as soon as I post this review.
Eli and Adrian have an uphill climb to their HEA. It’s hurtful, messy, distressing, scary, and full of so much love and longing you will absolutely need to take a minute so that you don’t completely fall apart reading their journey. The progression of healing is this book is well thought out. I am absolutely delighted about how these two husbands mend their marriage and figure out a way to keep their promises. The extended epilogue will make you swoon. I adored this book and I hope you will too!
This is my honest and voluntary review.
Eli and Adrian will break your heart in this story and then slowly mend it back together. Raquel Riley has woven together a beautiful story about focusing on what and who truly matters. Things start off traumatic from the start and my blood pressure just kept on rising as the scenes and story unfolded. When I wasn’t clutching my chest, I was tearing up and trying not to bawl like a baby. So all in all, I’d say this is one of the most moving stories that I have read in a long time.
I love that we are reading about an established couple whose marriage is on the brink of collapse. I love that both Eli and Adrian are imperfect people who are trying to find their way back to one another and themselves. This book is achingly gorgeous. There are so many highlight-able quotes, it’s not even funny. Riley really pulls you in from the first sentence and the enticement just keeps on tugging.
The way that Riley breaks this story down into sections is flawless. It’s both heart wrenching and poetic. You can feel every emotion bleeding out on the page. The underlying current of every scene is love and the challenges people face when that may not be enough. This story really makes you think about how you interact with your loved ones and reminds you to keep them close. I know I’m hugging mine extra tight as soon as I post this review.
Eli and Adrian have an uphill climb to their HEA. It’s hurtful, messy, distressing, scary, and full of so much love and longing you will absolutely need to take a minute so that you don’t completely fall apart reading their journey. The progression of healing is this book is well thought out. I am absolutely delighted about how these two husbands mend their marriage and figure out a way to keep their promises. The extended epilogue will make you swoon. I adored this book and I hope you will too!
May 25, 2026
This is an established couple, hurt / comfort romance, featuring Eli and Adrian, and is a standalone book.
As Eli dies in his husband’s ER, he relives the most important moments of their relationship during his final seven minutes. Caught between life and death, he realises their love never faded, even after they began drifting apart.
This book made me cry in the first chapter and I got teary on and off all the way through it, thanks Raquel for making me feel ❤️.
Eli and Adrian go through so much to mend their marriage and come back to each other. I won’t tell you anything else as it would spoil it but I will say that I loved it.
Things to expect in this book are:
Standalone
MM romance
Check CW
Married couple
Doctor x lawyer
Hospital / medical trauma
Hurt/comfort
Life-or-death stakes
Grief & Emotional angst
Flashback
Near death experience
Marriage in trouble
Caretaking
Rebuilding trust
Spicy times
Carries him
Second chance at love
HEA
As Eli dies in his husband’s ER, he relives the most important moments of their relationship during his final seven minutes. Caught between life and death, he realises their love never faded, even after they began drifting apart.
This book made me cry in the first chapter and I got teary on and off all the way through it, thanks Raquel for making me feel ❤️.
Eli and Adrian go through so much to mend their marriage and come back to each other. I won’t tell you anything else as it would spoil it but I will say that I loved it.
Things to expect in this book are:
Standalone
MM romance
Check CW
Married couple
Doctor x lawyer
Hospital / medical trauma
Hurt/comfort
Life-or-death stakes
Grief & Emotional angst
Flashback
Near death experience
Marriage in trouble
Caretaking
Rebuilding trust
Spicy times
Carries him
Second chance at love
HEA
May 19, 2026
I am sure that this is not going to be a popular opinion, but I found this book to be okay.
For some reason I did not feel a connection to the characters and I did not find myself crying over anything. (Which makes me wonder if there is something wrong with me, as everyone else seems to be crying like crazy over this book!)
While I liked the premise of how the book was set up-the seven minutes where Eli relived his life with Adrian, I do not feel like there was enough there to establish a connection with the characters for me to care that much about them.
I also found the book to be too repetitive which at some points became very frustrating for me.
I received an ARC for my honest review.
For some reason I did not feel a connection to the characters and I did not find myself crying over anything. (Which makes me wonder if there is something wrong with me, as everyone else seems to be crying like crazy over this book!)
While I liked the premise of how the book was set up-the seven minutes where Eli relived his life with Adrian, I do not feel like there was enough there to establish a connection with the characters for me to care that much about them.
I also found the book to be too repetitive which at some points became very frustrating for me.
I received an ARC for my honest review.
July 14, 2026
My heart...
One of the best books I've read this year. Heck, one of the best books I've ever read. Raquel Riley walks the fine line between emotion and melodrama with subtle skill. I was gutted, destroyed in the way all the best books do...then stitched together again like the characters.
Heed the trigger and content warnings. But if you love character-driven stories that leave you feeling both emotionally exhausted and exhilarated, read this book.
One of the best books I've read this year. Heck, one of the best books I've ever read. Raquel Riley walks the fine line between emotion and melodrama with subtle skill. I was gutted, destroyed in the way all the best books do...then stitched together again like the characters.
Heed the trigger and content warnings. But if you love character-driven stories that leave you feeling both emotionally exhausted and exhilarated, read this book.
May 27, 2026
10 days to read because this one hurt. Emotional damage.
May 17, 2026
I don’t even thought where to start with this one! First of all my heart was almost ripped out when I first started reading. There were so many emotions I was experiencing but the author did a fantastic job of really describing what the characters were feeling and going through.
I appreciated the story and how it progressed. I also really like the character development. The lessons learned are ones that many people have to go through. The dissolution and the repair was something that was so real but also heartwarming to experience.
Highly recommend! But definitely have the tissues ready.
I appreciated the story and how it progressed. I also really like the character development. The lessons learned are ones that many people have to go through. The dissolution and the repair was something that was so real but also heartwarming to experience.
Highly recommend! But definitely have the tissues ready.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I am absolutely a fan of Raquel’s hurt/comfort stories and her tendency to tackle difficult topics, and this book was absolutely no exception. Adrian and Eli completely stole my heart, and the story itself had me deep in my feelings. I felt so much for my poor baby Eli, he simply needed time, attention, and someone willing to truly see him.
But I could also deeply relate to Adrian. Always the fixer, always the overthinker, so caught up in trying to achieve goals and make life better for the people he loves that he sometimes forgets to simply live it.
I’m very passionate about NDE topics in general, so reading a story built around such a premise was honestly such an experience for me. I truly think the author did a beautiful job portraying just how easy it is to lose everything in a single moment, and how often we take the best parts of our lives for granted.
Their journey contains grief, healing, and a marriage in crisis in a way that feels both raw and comforting at the same time - a story about finding each other again and learning how to rebuild a relationship when everything feels broken.
All.The.Feels.
“And one day, when it was my turn to watch my reel at the end of a long, well-lived life, I wouldn’t ask for those seven minutes back. Not if I’d spent every day living the eighth one loving him.”
June 3, 2026
I already did a visual review but I wanted to also write one for those who didn’t see it.
This book is not five stars, it’s infinite stars for how beautifully written it was. How real and relatable Adrian and Eli were.
When I read the blurb, I thought it was about a couple who had to see the love of their life pass way and how the other person wouldn’t recover from that loss. But this book was so much deeper than that.
Yes, there was a temporary death after Eli was in an accident, but the story really centers on their marriage and how it slowly started to die due to Adrian’s neglect of Eli. He was so focused on his career that he forgot about his husband.
He forgot that there was someone waiting for him at home who needed him more this his patients. He forgot that life was much more than a position and a paycheck. It wasn’t until it was too late that he realized what an idiot he had been.
Eli had to watch how the man he loved was pulling away from him each day and didn’t know how to reach him. He felt like he was the only one trying to fix their relationship and Adrian didn’t even care.
It took almost losing Eli for Adrian to see the damage he had caused. But Eli surviving the accident wasn’t the hardest part. It was putting the pieces of their lives back together that really made it difficult. Adrian had so much to make up for and prove to Eli that they could still save their marriage.
But Eli had been there before. He had been promised changes that never lasted and promises that had been broken, so it was only human of him not to fully trust that things would be different this time.
It took a lot of work on both their parts for things to get better. It wasn’t about fixing the broken parts, it was about rebuilding with a stronger foundation and sturdier walls. Making compromises to be there for each other before things got out of control again and choosing each other.
𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍-𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝑰’𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎.
It was a hard battle but they came through in the end. That extended epilogue was absolutely worth the pain and tears I shed😅 It proved that when you put in the work into what really matters, things can get better.
If you only read one book for the rest of the year, PLEASE read this one. It will put so many things in perspective whether you have a partner or not. It’ll help you understand that communication is the key to a happy relationship. It’s not about buying the best house or the best car. It’s about making your partner feel wanted, cherished and treasured, not taken for granted and neglected.
I’d also recommend listening to the audio. Nick J. Russo did such a phenomenal job narrating book. The way he embodies Eli and Adrian is absolute perfection.
This book is not five stars, it’s infinite stars for how beautifully written it was. How real and relatable Adrian and Eli were.
When I read the blurb, I thought it was about a couple who had to see the love of their life pass way and how the other person wouldn’t recover from that loss. But this book was so much deeper than that.
Yes, there was a temporary death after Eli was in an accident, but the story really centers on their marriage and how it slowly started to die due to Adrian’s neglect of Eli. He was so focused on his career that he forgot about his husband.
He forgot that there was someone waiting for him at home who needed him more this his patients. He forgot that life was much more than a position and a paycheck. It wasn’t until it was too late that he realized what an idiot he had been.
Eli had to watch how the man he loved was pulling away from him each day and didn’t know how to reach him. He felt like he was the only one trying to fix their relationship and Adrian didn’t even care.
It took almost losing Eli for Adrian to see the damage he had caused. But Eli surviving the accident wasn’t the hardest part. It was putting the pieces of their lives back together that really made it difficult. Adrian had so much to make up for and prove to Eli that they could still save their marriage.
But Eli had been there before. He had been promised changes that never lasted and promises that had been broken, so it was only human of him not to fully trust that things would be different this time.
It took a lot of work on both their parts for things to get better. It wasn’t about fixing the broken parts, it was about rebuilding with a stronger foundation and sturdier walls. Making compromises to be there for each other before things got out of control again and choosing each other.
𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍-𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝑰’𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎.
It was a hard battle but they came through in the end. That extended epilogue was absolutely worth the pain and tears I shed😅 It proved that when you put in the work into what really matters, things can get better.
If you only read one book for the rest of the year, PLEASE read this one. It will put so many things in perspective whether you have a partner or not. It’ll help you understand that communication is the key to a happy relationship. It’s not about buying the best house or the best car. It’s about making your partner feel wanted, cherished and treasured, not taken for granted and neglected.
I’d also recommend listening to the audio. Nick J. Russo did such a phenomenal job narrating book. The way he embodies Eli and Adrian is absolute perfection.
May 25, 2026
HEART WRENCHINGLY POIGNANT AND POETICALLY BEAUTIFUL!💕❤️🩹🏚️
I can’t remember when was the last time I bawled my eyes throughout while reading a book from page one to the very last Epilogue and it gutted me from the inside for these two beautiful special imperfectly perfect fragile souls!
“We’re losing him.” “We already lost him,” another voice answered.”
A nearly twelve year marriage that was slowly crumbling from the inside got a wake up call when an car accident whic rendered Eli Hawk broken and dead for seven minutes which left his workaholic husband Dr. Adrian Hawk helpless and devastated BUT he never gave up and begged his husband to come back to him…
“The Seven Minute” 🥺
Eli heard his husbands heartbreaking call in the darkness and saw their life flash before his eyes like a reel…
Their first meet cute, first date, first time, wedding, first house, first real belated honeymoon 5 years later with promises to return every year… which never happened, laughter, banter and then lastly their heartbreaking last argument… no goodbye just a “don’t wait up”
“The Eighth Minute”🥹
“the extra one—the one we built with trust, slowly, carefully, touch by touch. The one where he didn’t doubt me walking through the door. The one where I didn’t doubt our future. A single, ordinary minute where we chose each other without hesitation”
This is their devastating emotional and heartbreaking love story of how two broken halves tried to make something whole after abandonment, loneliness, neglect, broken trust, overworking, health issues and a pending separation!🥺
I cried with them through each emotional chapter where recovery, trust, touch, compassion and love played a huge part in the mending of their broken relationship where they had to build a stronger foundation, repaint the peeling wall paper together with kept promises, touch, devotion, trust, therapy and most of all time spent together! 🥹
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you Raquel Riley for trusting me with this ARC to do your story justice as it deserves 10 stars!
I can’t remember when was the last time I bawled my eyes throughout while reading a book from page one to the very last Epilogue and it gutted me from the inside for these two beautiful special imperfectly perfect fragile souls!
“We’re losing him.” “We already lost him,” another voice answered.”
A nearly twelve year marriage that was slowly crumbling from the inside got a wake up call when an car accident whic rendered Eli Hawk broken and dead for seven minutes which left his workaholic husband Dr. Adrian Hawk helpless and devastated BUT he never gave up and begged his husband to come back to him…
“The Seven Minute” 🥺
Eli heard his husbands heartbreaking call in the darkness and saw their life flash before his eyes like a reel…
Their first meet cute, first date, first time, wedding, first house, first real belated honeymoon 5 years later with promises to return every year… which never happened, laughter, banter and then lastly their heartbreaking last argument… no goodbye just a “don’t wait up”
“The Eighth Minute”🥹
“the extra one—the one we built with trust, slowly, carefully, touch by touch. The one where he didn’t doubt me walking through the door. The one where I didn’t doubt our future. A single, ordinary minute where we chose each other without hesitation”
This is their devastating emotional and heartbreaking love story of how two broken halves tried to make something whole after abandonment, loneliness, neglect, broken trust, overworking, health issues and a pending separation!🥺
I cried with them through each emotional chapter where recovery, trust, touch, compassion and love played a huge part in the mending of their broken relationship where they had to build a stronger foundation, repaint the peeling wall paper together with kept promises, touch, devotion, trust, therapy and most of all time spent together! 🥹
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you Raquel Riley for trusting me with this ARC to do your story justice as it deserves 10 stars!
June 1, 2026
This is a 5-star book. No question about it. I originally gave it 4-stars but only because it made me cry so much that my head hurt.
This story makes you stop and examine every single one of your relationships. Did you commit and show up every single day? Did you truly choose them above all others? Did everyday life wear you down? Could you have fought harder and loved stronger?
Please let me be proud and take comfort from my seven minutes. Please let me have no regrets.
Will I remember this? Forever.
Did it touch my heart? Touch… stomped on… tore out and shredded.
This story makes you stop and examine every single one of your relationships. Did you commit and show up every single day? Did you truly choose them above all others? Did everyday life wear you down? Could you have fought harder and loved stronger?
Please let me be proud and take comfort from my seven minutes. Please let me have no regrets.
Love isn’t the promise of never breaking. It’s the decision to keep holding on, even after you do.
Maybe love wasn’t about keeping the world from falling apart; it was about finding your way back after it did.
Will I remember this? Forever.
Did it touch my heart? Touch… stomped on… tore out and shredded.
May 15, 2026
Eli • Adrian
….
“I was choosing the only version of myself I wasn’t afraid of. And it cost me the one thing I didn’t want to lose.”
….
This isn’t just a story. This is a reminder, a love letter to love. Why even after years of falling into daily routines we should also nourish it for it to forever bloom. This concerns relationships as in friendships. Why making effort - even if it’s yours should never fade away. This story made rewind back and ponder, made me think and feel. Set some hard truths and made the heart beat a bit faster. I wonder what I would see in my seven minutes…
Second chances aren’t a trope I grab for often but if I would have to be convinced to read more of it - this story would be one to do that, as it did.
….
“The sound hollowed me out. My name, cracked and broken, leaked from him with the last breath he had left.” // “This was my everything, bleeding out beneath the harsh, unfeeling lights.” // “I need more time—I need one more laugh, one more kiss, just—just one more.” // “Just the echo of his name in the dark.” // “Adrian once told me that the brain stays alive for up to seven minutes after you die. I guess he was right because here I am, still thinking of him—still chasing the sound of his voice through the dark, still hoping seven minutes is long enough to find my way back to the light. Back to him.” // “Do you even see me anymore?” // “Love doesn’t end with a single act of cruelty or neglect, but with a thousand quiet surrenders.” // “It wasn’t a memory anymore. It was now. And I ran toward it.” // “I just watched him breathe, realizing that for all the things I knew how to fix, this was the one that would undo me: the quiet miracle of him still here.” // “Someone you love still wants you to try.” // “It tested the seam. And for the first time in years, the seam held.” // “You are my home. And I will spend the rest of my life making sure you stay safe inside it.” …
….
*I reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
….
….
“I was choosing the only version of myself I wasn’t afraid of. And it cost me the one thing I didn’t want to lose.”
….
This isn’t just a story. This is a reminder, a love letter to love. Why even after years of falling into daily routines we should also nourish it for it to forever bloom. This concerns relationships as in friendships. Why making effort - even if it’s yours should never fade away. This story made rewind back and ponder, made me think and feel. Set some hard truths and made the heart beat a bit faster. I wonder what I would see in my seven minutes…
Second chances aren’t a trope I grab for often but if I would have to be convinced to read more of it - this story would be one to do that, as it did.
….
“The sound hollowed me out. My name, cracked and broken, leaked from him with the last breath he had left.” // “This was my everything, bleeding out beneath the harsh, unfeeling lights.” // “I need more time—I need one more laugh, one more kiss, just—just one more.” // “Just the echo of his name in the dark.” // “Adrian once told me that the brain stays alive for up to seven minutes after you die. I guess he was right because here I am, still thinking of him—still chasing the sound of his voice through the dark, still hoping seven minutes is long enough to find my way back to the light. Back to him.” // “Do you even see me anymore?” // “Love doesn’t end with a single act of cruelty or neglect, but with a thousand quiet surrenders.” // “It wasn’t a memory anymore. It was now. And I ran toward it.” // “I just watched him breathe, realizing that for all the things I knew how to fix, this was the one that would undo me: the quiet miracle of him still here.” // “Someone you love still wants you to try.” // “It tested the seam. And for the first time in years, the seam held.” // “You are my home. And I will spend the rest of my life making sure you stay safe inside it.” …
….
*I reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
….
July 18, 2026
What a beautifully written hurt/comfort story. Wow. 🤩 I loved the characters, the storyline, and how deeply this book made me feel. I felt all the emotions.
This is a heartfelt novel about love, loss, grief, forgiveness, second chances, and hope. It beautifully captures the depth of a love worth fighting for and reminds us that even in our darkest moments, hope can still find its way in. This one will stay with me for a long time. ❤️
This is a heartfelt novel about love, loss, grief, forgiveness, second chances, and hope. It beautifully captures the depth of a love worth fighting for and reminds us that even in our darkest moments, hope can still find its way in. This one will stay with me for a long time. ❤️
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