Aurora symbolises hope and persistence during the most difficult circumstances that anybody can endure in life, and I found myself feeling truly connected to her character and her journey. You didn’t survive someone taking a wrecking ball to your existence and not have thousands of fractures to live with the rest of your life. And that scene where she stood up for her mother in law and just kept talking and getting it all out? there may be too much slow and not nearly enough burn and steam as i wouldve liked, but i was absolutely a sucker for the growing intimacy and all the tender moments between the MCs. He was a grump around Ora for half the book and when he smiled and laughed for the very first time in this book I nearly feinted, a drama queen much.

yeah, he didn't want her there because his son, Amos secretly allowed her to rent their garage apartment. When Aurora went on that hike alone and made it back later than planned and then she saw Rhodes coming her way, he drove two and half hours just to check on her, because he was worried. An other point I loved about this story; we are fully invested —attached to her— in our female protagonist’s life and brain, feelings and the fact that we don’t know what’s going on in Rhodes’ mind and what he’s thinking about and still be absolutely convinced that he’s THE ONE for her and that they’re soulmates and end game, is still one of my favorites part after every reread. Between all fun times with Aurora living in the garage, to watching the friendship turn into more, and seeing all of Aurora's secrets come to light, gah! I debated writing a review for this or not because I was unsure how I felt about this, but I think rating it 2 stars is enough.The way Kaden used her songs about her mum for his own benefit not giving her credit or his mum counting her birth control pills to make sure they wouldn’t have a child together. While usually this would get really get old, really quickly in a book, the author did a fabulous job of making her super likeable and I couldn't help but cheer her on from the sidelines. Aurora's journey is filled with many heartfelt and hilarious moments, just as much as there is raw and real discussions surrounding loss, grief and mental illness. I’m still personally processing this in my own life, so reading stuff like that always feels like a sign of some sort.

Character-focused books are my favourite things ever, and that also probably explains why some plot preferring people loved this novel a little less than me. Because just like all of her other books, I adored this book and fell absolutely in love with the main characters. They are the sweeteest and I just want to wrap them all in a blanket and protect them from wild animals.

and the fact that this book has found family/home trope, small town, a dilf and his cute adorable teenage kid, slowburn (no, like, this is VERY slowburn guys), grumpy/sunshine trope? Trigger and content warnings include: grief and loss, death of a parent (off-page, past), estranged parent, discussions surrounding mental health and depression, minor injury and blood, mention of infertility (side-character). In my opinion, the romance actually developed a lot quicker than I thought it would, so that was the only quibble I can point out. You can feel all along reading that there’s a lot of work from the characters to the world building behind her books, I just have a feeling during devouring them that there’s a world surrounding her protagonists and more to them than what their story is relaying or telling I don’t know if this makes sens but it does in my head,lol.