Serenity Woods is one of my all time favourite authors and while waiting for her next Billionaire Kings release, I decided to delve into another one of her series.
The plot starts with the heroine Genie returning home after a military tour in Afghanistan. Six weeks prior, Genie's best friend Ciara was killed when their truck was attacked, during which Genie also severely injured her knee. Genie returns home with a frosty reception from Ciara's mum, as she blames Genie for her death, saying that she convinced her to go into the Army in the first place. Genie finds a bucket list written by Ciara, and in honour of her, she asks Ciara's brother Niall (whom she has always had a major crush on) to fulfil the bucket list with her.
I have to admit that I had a hard time with this book, not because it wasn't enjoyable or engaging, but because of plot surrounding the death of Ciara. One thing I love about Serenity Woods books is the well rounded characters who often have tragic backstories. Usually, however they are things that have happened in the distant past. Here, Ciara had only just died, so the grief and mourning from the characters was so raw and fresh that I found it a very emotive and sometimes difficult read. Not only that, but the heroine Genie was dealing with PTSD, a severe injury and OCD, and there was the additional element of the blame placed on her by Ciara's mother.
During the first half, I was doubting that I could give this book more than 3 stars, because I felt that I couldn't get into the romance between Niall and Genie due to the very heavy and sad Ciara stuff. I think the novel got a lot stronger as time went on though, and I loved all the fun activities they did as part of the bucket list. It was really fun to read, and the chemistry and sex scenes between them were electric.
Overall, I think the latter half of this novel really made this book for me. Although the angst and emotion in this book was probably a little intense for me, Serenity Woods always writes engaging plots with well rounded characters, and this was no exception.