I downloaded this book with a bunch of other freebies off of Amazon and had my eye on it, not really sure if I wanted to read it or not since I'd been on a roller coaster of almost intolerable books as of late, but when I saw this book on my newsfeed, I thought to give it a shot. And I'm so glad that I did!

The book for me starts off slow and mostly uneventful (for me anyways). I do enjoy first love stories but not if it begins with insta-love between the couple. I was willing to reserve judgement on Gwen as we'd really yet to see her character grow and develop, but I almost had an instant dislike for Caleb because I felt he was somewhat creepy with his almost manic behaviour. Not to mention, I wasn't a fan of his mood alleviating when he would get ill cause Gwen would have to look after him or for the fact that he had pressured Gwen into having a baby when she wasn't ready. Caleb to me was a needy little boy.

Its not until Nathan enters the scene that I feel like the story picks up for me. From the get go, you know there are some dark and underlying issues that he's struggling with. Reading the interactions between him and Gwen when she first moves in, I kinda got a Rochester vibe from him, and couldn't help but laugh at some of the things that he would say, though my brows would rise at some of the other things he said and did.

And boy, let me tell you about the heart ache.

I'm not gonna lie and say I didn't cry in this book. Nathan is such a tortured soul and the heartbreak I felt for him while reading was enough to have me whimpering and lying in bed all day, not even bothering to leave the room until I had read every last dark secret of his. While I had my suspicions, actually reading about it had my heart hurting for him. But it wasn't just that, my whole heart ached for both Nathan and Gwen and the situation that they found themselves in, not because I found it impossible for them to be together because he was the brother of her dead fiance (I actually thought Gwen was being a bit stubborn in using him as a shield), but because with all these issues and an unwillingness both in Gwen and Nathan to talk to someone about their demons, it would always lie between them and stop them from grasping the happiness they so desperately need.

Overall, I found this a totally enjoyable, four and a half star read. The only reason why I'm not rating it a full five stars are for the glaring mistakes within the book that took away from my reading pleasure. Normally, I can overlook minor mistakes, but it seemed that every time the book mentioned someone 'standing' or 'sitting', it would mixup the tenses. Not to mention, using 'petrol' to replace 'gas' made no sense at all, especially as it was colloquially referring to a bodily function. There are other similar mistakes but you get the gist of what I'm saying.

Other than that, this book was amazing. I would totally recommend it to everyone and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.