Ashley Herring Blake is a great romance author and their writing is the best aspect of this book. I could not get behind this particular romance, though. Brighton and Charlotte should not be together. 

The book tries so hard to justify Brighton's actions in the past and present Charlotte as also being part of the problem, but I just can't see it. Charlotte had some flaws, sure, but what Brighton did was devastating and cowardly and Charlotte not being able to magically intuit what Brighton wouldn't actually tell her is not something she should be faulted for. You cannot expect your partner to read your lip quivers and figure out what you want. And later in the book when

Charlotte leaves, the situation is entirely different. Number one, she actually told Brighton she was leaving and why. Number two, Brighton was not literally waiting at an altar for her, they were just hanging out with friends for the holidays. These events are not equivalent, yet the book implies that now they're even I guess?

Also the resolution to all the conflicts is just tucked into the final chapter and feels a bit unfair. Spoiler rant:

Charlotte, who allegedly loved New York and her music career there, just gets over that and decides she does want to live in Nashville where Brighton wants to be. I feel like this whole book is Brighton getting to have everything her way despite causing all of her own problems. She refused to compromise with her band and is upset that they go in a different direction without her, but then gets to shame them for using her song (even though she is partially at fault for showing it to them in the first place and putting it in their backlog). She has a supportive and loving family that she can always crash land on when she makes bad decisions. She has an unconditionally patient friend who is also her boss and tolerates her snapping at customers at work and boosts her music career. She left her fiance at the altar (shortly after having sex with her) without telling her or expressing that she didn't want to keep living in New York, then the fiance apologizes to her and leaves New York to be with her. Once she actually puts her big girl pants on and tries a music career of her own, it just works out and she's successful.

 

I did like the side characters and the dog.