Dylan Cole. Handsome, Powerful. Rich. Ruined. Veronica Petrov. Beautiful. Artistic. Damaged. Dylan grew up in New York Society. Prep school, privileged. He fell in love in college but destroyed the relationship with his spoiled, cheating ways. Since then he has played the role he was born to play. Business mogul, married to a society girl. Perfect image. But it's not real. Inside he's jaded, unhappy in his marriage. Veronica is part of a large immigrant family. Family that Kasia, Dylan's college love happens to belong to as well. Her childhood was ideal until her abusive father isolated his wife and daughters from the rest of the family. Then at 17, her father threw her out of the house, unjustly calling her a whore. Veronica survived on her own, working multiple jobs and crashing on friend's couches. Finally, she reached back out to her estranged family who gladly welcomed her back. Now she works in her cousin Alex's florist shop. She's once again close to Kesha but their time together is limited. Dylan and Veronica cross paths when she is his coat check girl at one of her jobs. He's immediately attracted to her and true to character, tries to pick her up, unsuccessfully. Their paths cross again in random ways and eventually, he learns that she is the little girl he met while dating her older cousin. While he realizes that this should make her off-limits it does nothing to dampen his desire for her. Then one conversation after all of these years with Kasia changes the course of Dylan's life. He realizes that he deserves to be happy and takes actions to be so.
I loved this book. I hated this book. It was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I was uncomfortable from page one. This life of the wealthy; superficial, shallow, meaningless, entitled, spoiled is so distasteful to me. Plastic surgery, affairs, one-upping each other. The hollow, vapid existence of this layer of society turns me off completely. Why would you not want more out of life? How could you not demand more from your friends, spouses, family? It hurts me that people go through life thinking this is okay. It broke my heart for Margot and Dylan. It was easy to see how trapped they were within the confines of their station. But still, Dylan embraced his role even while despising himself. From the barn scene of a teenage Dylan, he proved his lack of character. He took cheating to an artform. Cheating is a deal-breaker for me, so the fact that I actually continued to read this book and came to like the man is a testament to Lily Foster's writing. I loved Veronica. Her damaged spirit called out to me. She too was a victim of her upbringing. She was innocent when labeled a whore and after years of being mentally abused, she believed the words over her own actions. I loved her resilience, sympathized with her fear, and understood her feelings of worthlessness. Throughout everything, her spirit shined. I had no issues with the age difference and was able to put aside Dylan's former relationship with her older cousin. There were uncomfortable moments and I do wish that Dylan could have been more emphatic separating his attraction for both women. I would have appreciated more wooing. To state that he knew what he wanted but would walk away if she didn't immediately seem into 'it' was not the endorsement for undying passion and love that I would have preferred. It would have helped if Dylan were more exposed, vulnerable while pursuing her. Veronica was attacked by his ex several times, his best female friend, and yet I felt like she was the one made to smooth things over in their relationship. I will be honest, I may not be impartial when looking at these two. I loved them together but since Dylan cheated in every conceivable manner his entire life, I needed more proof of a change. Veronica deserved more.
This book elicited so many emotions from me. I was enthralled from beginning to end. I was wrecked by the final pages. It's a coming of age story that took way too many years to come about. But it left me with hope. People can change, grow, figure out what truly matters and turn away from the rest. There is a HEA out there waiting.