"we loved each other and we lost each other. and now, even though we still love each other, the pieces don't fit like they used to. i would make myself fit for him. he could make himself fit for me. but that's not true love."

this book was really good! like classic tjr books, this was super fast paced and easy to read, and i enjoyed it a lot. i think the plot was super unique, and the way she wrote emma and jesse's story was great. tjr always has these super deep concepts she likes to bring out by the end of the book, (especially in her older books like this one), like there's always a meaningful lesson or message, and i thought this one was really sweet. it was about how just because a relationship ended doesn't mean that it shouldn't have happened, and it doesn't mean that what you two had back then wasn't real. she was basically saying that the concept of "your one true love" doesn't exist, because you can have many true loves. the people you loved in the past was still all real love and you meant something to each other at that time, which is still so important because it makes you who you are at the end of the day. it kind of changed my perspective on love a bit tbh in a good way, because i never really thought about it that way. i specifically like this line where jesse goes, "just because something isn't meant to last a lifetime doesn't mean it wasn't meant to be. we were meant to have been. you and i aren't going to spend the rest of our lives together, but i finally understand that that doesn't take away any of the beauty of the fact that we were right for each other once".

it's also a lot about how people change, and how the person you once were and the things you wanted, dreams you had, will often not align with the person you are NOW and the goals you have NOW. emma and jesse were so in love in high school and during their marriage, but after he went missing and came back, they had been through so much, and it had changed them. they just were not right for each other anymore, but that doesn't make what they had before any less real. there's this one line i thought was really beautiful, it was when emma said "i have changed over time. that's what people do. people aren't stagnant. we evolve in reaction to our pleasures and our pains. jesse is a different man than he was before. i am a different woman. and what has confused me ever since i found out he was alive is now crystal clear: we are two people who are madly in love with our old selves. and that is not the same thing as being in love. you can't capture love in a bottle. you can't hold on to it with both hands and force it to stay with you". that really, really hit me just the way she said it so simply but it's such a revelation, you know? i love how tjr intertwined both jesse and emma's individual growth.

the ending was also satisfying, i like how she wrapped it up and tbh i have no complaints other than i wish there could have been a bit more backstory and scenes of jesse and emma falling in love in high school, but that's just bc i'm a childhood friends to lovers trope type of gal and i looooove all the backstory stuff, but i know that was not supposed to be the book's focus so it makes sense lols. great read :)