I'll admit that going in, I hadn't read the first one and I was skeptical. I didn't have high expectations but I really liked the summary so I wanted to give it a chance. With that being said, I'm so glad I did because this book is great. I was pleasantly surprised with the flow of the writing, the way everything really pieced together. The characters are engaging, real and raw. Without giving any major spoilers, Ilya is a man who's been tormented too long by his own demons. The struggles he faces, the struggles of each character, come through as something you've gone through yourself or perhaps reminds you of a friend/family. In an almost twisted way, this book reminded me of my own friends and family and the darkest parts of our history.

After believing this would be yet another romance book with triangles, a too pure female protagonist who has never made mistakes or done anything sketchy in her life, and characters without a lot of depth, I was proven wrong. The characters interweave into a rather tragic storyline with heartbreak, death, grieving, and finding a way to live after life has kicked you while you're down. The "then and now" chapters really helped piece together the tragedy without giving away the ending. There are little pieces I didn't like, such as the story with the goldfish as I felt it was just thrown in there and not really necessary but overall this book is a solid read and one I really enjoyed.

Another great romance from Megan Hart. She writes real, honest and emotional romances and with the conclusion to this story she finished everything off nicely.