Pernille Hughes

The write up on this book loosely reminded me to P.S. I Love You, which is my all-time favorite romance book. So I grabbed a copy. Unfortunately for me, this book fell flat. While the premise was good, the execution wasn’t. Ally and Charlie are engaged. Aly and Becca are BFFs. Becca and Charlie rub each other the wrong way. Unfortunately, they are thrown together to complete Ally’s bucket list after she passes.

I found the characters one dimensional, and frankly boring and not very likeable. The story is slow moving and predictable. I found I had to sit myself down and focus to read because I didn’t feel connected to the characters. The book moved slowly then seemed to fast forward towards the end. Ending was predictable.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.… (mehr)

Becca and Charlie have known each other for years. The death of Ally — Becca’s best friend and Charlie’s fiancé — should mean Becca and Charlie can go their separate ways and not look back. But first they have to complete Ally’s bucket list. Over ‌ten years, Becca and Charlie’s paths collide as they deal with grief, love and life after a devastating loss.

The cover is tender and the premise intriguing (it’s a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers and sort of taboo second-chance romance), but I was about to give up reading it a few times. The plot dragged out a little more than I was expecting, probably because there is a lot of exposition, which ended up to be a tad frustrating.

Even though it was hard to connect with Charlie and Becca, I loved how their lives, the ups and downs, were portrayed, and how each showed a completely different way of grieving, especially over such a lengthy period.

There were also hilarious and/or touching moments throughout the story, including the misadventures Becca and Charlie had while fulfilling Ally’s wishes. Charle is a ‘yes man’ who gets subdued by his other half when in relationships, and Becca is moody and unapologetic, easily pushing people away. But they end up learning from each other to be and do better.

If you don’t give up in the middle, as I was tempted to, the story is nicely rounded off, and I think it’s a cute love letter to second chances.

I received an eARC for free, through NetGalley, and I am leaving this honest review voluntarily.… (mehr)

You know how some books leave you absolutely, completely, and totally satisfied and pleased? Like a delicious dessert or a beautiful sunset? And how you can go back again and again and again and reread any random couple of paragraphs or chapters for a little happy fix? Ten Years is one of those books. In fact, it’s pretty much at the top of that stack of books. How can you get a line like “He looked like hot buttered toast to her Charlie-starved eyes” out of your head? And why would you want to?

Charlie = conflict-avoidance
Becca = bellow until you’re heard

Two people with nothing in common except their love for Ally – his fiancé and her best friend – who died tragically young. Becca and Charlie do have a history of their own, but they don’t have fond memories of it. What they do have in their relationship, even if they are constantly bickering or goading each other, is something authentic with no artifice. Doesn’t matter, though. They get along to the small degree they do only because they both care so much for Ally.

On her birthday they receive an email from the grave from Ally asking them to do one last thing – together – which turns out to be not just one last thing but a series of one last things. Neither one of them wants to be thrown together again, but if they couldn’t refuse Ally when she was alive, they aren’t going to say no to a request from the grave. Even one time a year seems like one time a year too many but they do it out of love and the desire to fulfill her wishes, to do the things she was unable to do. Her mom doles out the tasks and provides the ashes to be scattered.

Charlie and Becca start these tasks reluctantly, dragging their feet all the way, but while they’re doing them, griping, pouting, moaning, and sniping all the way, you get a glimpse of consideration, understanding and dare I say I see something that could be caring there? That had me putting on my detective hat, looking for clues. Have I been missing something? Is there really only hatred between them? Or is that steamy, teasing hint of attraction real? And is it just two different people thrown together out of loss and grief, or the best thing that ever happened to either of them? Is it Ally’s hand manipulating them from the grave or is fate? Is it possible to find true love more than once: “Some days I feel I’ve lived more than one lifetime, so, couldn’t we be right for each other this time around?”

Ten Years is cute, tender, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartbreaking. It’s all mixed together so masterfully by author Pernille Hughes that you feel the snark and the love and the sadness and the irony and the humor and the heat – and the hope – all at the same time. So, so satisfying. I had no idea how Charlie and Becca’s story would end. Of course I wanted a happy-ever-after but with the past affecting so much of the present could that happen? Well, the ending was perfect; I couldn’t have imagined a better one.

So get out your tissues – you’ll need them to wipe away the tears when you laugh so much your sides hurt and when you cry so much you can’t catch your breath – and settle down for a fantastically good read. The only downside is leaving Becca and Charlie.

Thanks to Harper Collins Publishers UK One More Chapter for providing an advance copy of Ten Years via NetGalley for my immense reading pleasure and honest review, and for introducing me to a new-to-author that will be on my automatic buy list from now on. I recommend Ten Years without hesitation. All opinions are my own.… (mehr)