This book was perfect, until the very end, until it was not.

I am one of the few people who is actually a sucker for Friends-to-lovers, yes, it's one of my favorite tropes. I don't care what you say. After I read People We Meet on Vacation, I decided I wanted to read books with that same tone for the rest of my life.

This one got so close to achieving that. The writing was delicate, intense, the development of their friendship from childhood was stunning. However, nothing was more beautiful in this book than the dialogues they exchanged. Every single word between them when they were reading together, learning together, exploring their teenage findings together inside of a closet was made up of sheer perfection.

This book made me feel so many things, things I can't even explain. At first, I thought: "Mom died of cancer, MC works at a pediatrics ICU isle" *eyeroll* wow, these gals are really pushing the sad narrative aren't they? But Elliot took over the book. Elliot carried this book on his back like a 6000lb Elephant. Elliot was smart, mature, sexy, funny, romantic. Elliot was everything. Until he wasn't. I loved the past/present shifts in this book as well, everything was placed so perfectly.

However the miscommunication at the end got a rise out of me. I wish things could have ended differently, could have been handled differently, there were a few things I felt like were left unexplained. I can't deny that this wasn't a five star book for me, personally, I can totally see why it is to so many people. Even with all of these little things that sort of threw me off with the ending of the book and that left a sour taste in my mouth, I still think this is a book worth reading.

Beautiful, captivating and it will make you feel everything. You just have to make sure you want to feel everything before you jump in.

Answering all the questions I got, yes, this is a HEA and no, I did not cry, but you might. Also, there were a couple of sex scenes in this that were amazing.

The teenage tension in this, wow. It brought back so many memories of being 13 and absolutely in love with your best friend. Memorizing his scent, wanting to touch him so badly or you felt like you were going to die. Ugh. I can't deny that this book succeeded in every initial intention it seemed to have. Really good and it will stick with me for a while.