Not impressed (*contains spoilers*)

This book had so much potential and so many options of ways to take the story. I’m disappointed that this author chose a very frustrating and unhealthy way to tell a love story.
In what world is it expected to quit college, move home, and take care of your ex-girlfriend (who cheated on you and ended up pregnant) and her baby??!!! Making Sutton the bad guy because she moved on after having her heart broken is ridiculous! Not once did I hear someone say it was not Sutton’s fault and she shouldn’t feel bad. Instead it was expected by everyone, including herself, that she did something wrong and it was her fault her girlfriend cheated on her.
And, never addressed, was the issue that she was going to get back into a relationship with someone who had already cheated on her once before. No, instead Sutton is portrayed as an abandoner. What about the guy who got Kate pregnant??!! What about Kate giving up on Sutton after only a few months apart??!! How about making the actual problems the conflict of the story???
So disappointed in this!

20 people found this helpful

Lots of problems, disappointing and boring

Problems in this book include lots of intrusive "advice" from various side characters that just feels annoying, the weird way the book seems to accuse the woman who broke up with the cheater of abandonment and of somehow being against the kid, the trans character who seems to be a pointless add on who adds zero of any interest to the story, and the fact that hardly anything ever really happens because we are mired in so much dull repetition.

Seriously, the only thing I liked about it is the description of the food the father cooked. It's too bad, because the premise had promise. I like the idea of reunions and second chances, I love lesbian love stories, etc. - but this was just bad.

11 people found this helpful

It Was Ok

I liked the story but I just thought that the author didn't cover Kate's cheating very well. It was mentioned only in passing but never really discussed in any real detail. Sutton comes back from college during Christmas break and Kate's 5 months pregnant? The math just don't add up. Loved Kate's daughter Harbor.

3 people found this helpful

Early Surprise..

Super excited for audio was released before the book, I knew it was going to be another great story by Aurora Rey based on the description. Just an added bonus to have Keira Grace do the audio. Without giving to much away, Harper, Kate’s daughter is the sweetest thing. Enjoyed listening to Kate and Sutton reconnect again. Story once again proves true love never dies. Highly recommend, story is beautifully written and Keira Grace narration makes the story flow perfectly.

3 people found this helpful

Delusional!

Kate is delusional and toxic. Why is the cheater in this relationship playing the victim. She claims that Sutton runs from serious conversations, but she was the one who decided to sleep with someone else instead of talking to her girlfriend. This book is all about a one sided unhealthy relationship. Why is Sutton apologizing for Kates mistake. So bad.

2 people found this helpful

Put the blame where it belongs.

There are some spoilers below and some, ok maybe a lot of frustration on how one of the characters is portrayed.

Keira Grace did a very nice job narrating this book. I would gladly listen to her again.

While the book is well written to me it does not really address what I find to be the biggest issue between the two main characters.

One reviewer called this a low angst romance. Considering the topic of not only cheating but getting pregnant in the process and expecting your partner to stick around to me is anything but low angst.

First off there is no problem with forgiving someone for cheating…once. The likelihood that I would is pretty darn low but love makes us do some weird things. I think it is wonderful that these two women despite one of them cheating on the other and getting pregnant in the process find a way to get back together and that Kate is given a second chance.

In the prologue Sutton considers going to a university closer to home so she can be home on weekends but decided Sutton will go to the school she has nearly a full scholarship to. Sutton will be gone except for summer and Christmas vacations. During the time Sutton is away at school Kate cheats on Sutton and gets pregnant. Sutton and Kate were teenagers at this point but even at this age being cheated on is not something to just overlook. I hate that Sutton is made to feel she has any reason to apologize for the situation or her actions because of it.

It is obvious Kate and Sutton have unresolved feelings for each other whether they have wanted to deal with those problems over the past ten years or not. For Sutton to be upset and heartbroken over what Kate did is totally understandable and I cannot imagine how devastated I would feel if the one person I love more than life itself cheated on me and got pregnant. I feel that this would make me believe that my love was not returned. Love is not something that is there one minute and gone the next but could I ever trust that person again? This book never really shows the devasting emotions that Sutton must have gone through or the potential issues of trust. Yes, ten years have passed and Yes Kate and Sutton have a short talk in a parking lot and Sutton tells Kate that she had broke her heart and Kate responds that her heart was broken too as if it was Suttons fault. At this same time Kate says she is sorry but she never accepts any blame.

The main problem I have with this book is that it appears to me that the author is trying to put most of the blame for this teenage breakup on the wrong character. Sutton did not cheat, Kate did. Sutton did not get pregnant, Kate did. In no way is the child (Harper) at fault and the child should never ever be blamed. The child did not go eff some guy Kate did. Sutton in no way blames Harper or shows anything but kindness to the child. It is understandable that Kate looks at the end result of her cheating being the greatest thing in her life due to her child coming into the world and her love for that child. It is understandable but she should admit to Sutton that her cheating was wrong but still point out that her child is the greatest thing in her life but she never tells Sutton it was her fault not Suttons.

Why did Kate cheat? Toward the end of the story we find out that Kate cheated because she was lonely. Sutton was away at school and Kate cheated because she was lonely! In her own words toward the end of the book Kate says, “sleeping with Randy was stupid and impulsive and an attempt to make the loneliness go away.” She also admits she was afraid. Still not really accepting any blame.

Did Sutton have a good reason to breakup with Kate? Yes, she did. Kate cheated on her. Sutton still loved Kate even then but felt because of Kate cheating that the love was not reciprocal.
Does Kate have a good reason to blame Sutton for the breakup? No so why does she do it? Kate appears to me to be the type of person who throws blame off onto other people but never wants to accept any.

It was an OK book

I liked the last part of the book much better than its beginning. Narration was OK as well.

Good enough to keep me listening!

I liked the story line a lot, it kept me interested and the sex was definitely got. My only problem was the at times the narrator seemed almost automated!

Low-Angst Rey is On Point, As Usual

Oh, how I love lower-angst romances, and oh, how I love how Aurora Rey handles them.

A second-chance romance, this one put bisexual Kate and lesbian Sutton back into each others' orbits after ten years of a seriously bad break-up: one where eighteen year-old Sutton had left for college for four months and returned to find seventeen year-old Kate was pregnant kind of bad. Huge, and for teenagers, definitely not an easy thing to navigate.

Fast-forward those ten years, however, and single-parent Kate has her life in a pretty solid state, working for her family at the local hardware shop and raising her kid and making jewelry on the side, and Sutton—whose father wanted nothing more for her than to leave the "podunk" town and live up to her potential—has done just that, with a great career and important position she can, luckily, put on hold for three months while her father has knee replacement surgery.

It's a small town, and it's not long before they bump into each other, and... well. Both remember the sharp pain of the past, but it's been ten years, and the ten years between seventeen and eighteen to twenty-seven and twenty-eight are a lot. This is where, I think, Rey's characterization really shone the most here. Of course the two reacted terribly to Kate's betrayal and Sutton's resultant cut-and-run, but they're not those teenagers any more and it's clear there's still something between them. Harper (Kate's daughter) is also a lynchpin to the framing of the choice in Kate's past on many levels: she understands it as a mistake that hurt Sutton, but it also led to Harper, who is a singular joy in her life, and thus she can regret it on some levels, but without wishing it had never happened. While I know a lot of readers nope out of a book when any cheating is involved, this is teenaged cheating and a decade in the past, and while it definitely shaped the two women (and left both worried in very specific ways about repeating patterns) the end-result fed into characterization, not angst or trauma.

This was a wonderful audiobook companion for the last few weeks while I walked the dog, and I'm going to miss it. Kate Chilton did a wonderful narration as always, and I hope I get to return to this small Lousiana town some time in the future with more Rey books, as the cast of supporting characters—even the parents, who I wanted to shake multiple times—was a nice, atypical touch for small-town nowhere. Kate's trans brother, Harper herself, two nearby older lesbians Sutton works with... it all felt connected in a way I love to read.

Hmmm....

I typically really enjoy an Aurora Rey story, but I’m afraid this one was pretty boring for me. I didn’t love the narrator, though she had good moments. As did the book, but not enough. I have to admit to not liking Kate; one of the MC.
This experience will not prevent me from seeking out future Aurora Rey books, however.