Method: ebook
Rating: 2/5 stars
H rating: 3/5 - Davis
h rating: 2/5 - Rae
Drama: 3/5
Trope(s): small town
Thoughts: will add to review later

Davis and Raelyn’s story is a small town romance filled with twists and turns. Davis is the town grump. Hot but oh so grumpy. Raelyn is much younger than Davis. In her teen years, she tried her best to get him to notice her. She thought she finally succeeded when, on her eighteenth birthday, she was passed a note from a friend that Davis wanted to meet with her at the town library. But unfortunately, things did not go as planned. She goes but catches him with another woman. Humiliated, she leaves town to attend college.

Four years later she reluctantly returns to town to help her parents run their family restaurant. Her one goal when returning to town was to avoid Davis at all costs. Little does she know that while she was away, her parents have grown close to Davis. Even more surprising, Davis does not remember her at all. Forced to deliver groceries to Davis’s house, she tries her best to keep her distance. Holding her secret close. It’s pretty hard to do both when Davis has started having feelings for her. His persistence and her rekindled feeling for him make keeping her distance difficult. It’s how they fix the broken parts of themselves that has me loving this story. I loved seeing their character arcs. How they helped fix each other and grow from it.

This one touched me deeply.

Written from Rae and Davis’s point of view, this small-town romance tugged at my heart-strings. We learn Rae had a thing for Davis as a teen and was crushed by an incident that happened. She fled Oregon for New York, and has recently returned to help her parents.

Davis is five years older than Rae and is troubled by things from his past. Including the look on a young teen’s face when she caught him in the library with another girl. When Rae returns home, she discovers her parents have befriended Davis, and he doesn’t even recognize her.

The tale that unfolds was filled with banter, undeniable heat and secrets. I loved learning about both Davis and Rae as they navigated a romance that ran hot and cold, but never once did I doubt their feelings and emotions were genuine. Of course, a little communication would have gone a long way, but both have to experience growth and confront their own demons. Can they find their way, come to terms with the past and find happily ever after?

The tale touches on teenage crushes, depression, family dysfunction and healing. Through secondary characters, we get hints about the next story and I look forward to listening.

The narration was ok. Each read their point of view chapters. Alex narrated Davis’s chapters and Faith did Rae’s. Sometimes the voice sounded too similar. This was a dual narration and not my favorite. I prefer duet or full cast. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

I would give this book like 3.9 stars. I liked the book, it just made me cringe so much. I had to put the book down several times while reading just because of how much obsessive shit she did at an age where she should have known better. Honestly tho like she is so stupid to think that Davis gave her the letter, like are you kidding me bro, why would Davis give Carl a letter. Clearly Carl hates Davis and doesn’t want you around him. She is so stupid. Davis was 100% the better character, and he was so sweet and caring. He apologized a lot for what he said, which was sweet. Although in my opinion she should have apologized for stalking him and just being a creepy teenager, and honestly everything Gavin said was right, and I loved when David said all those things to her, because she never truly understood that what she did was borderline creepy and objective. Not like she got the hint after tho, still chalked it up to being a teenager. I really liked the epilogue, I’m really happy to know that his brother didn’t blame him and that it was his own fault. Because seriously it was Timothy’s own fault, like he was driving.