Thank you @NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the ARC of Ten Years in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! What a read!!! The thing I loved most about this book was that nothing was instant. The writing was fantastic. The plot was filled with emotion and realistic, raw feelings. There was some spice sprinkled in too! I would definitely say to check trigger warnings before reading. My only criticism is that Becca's reaction after playing golf with Valerie was a BIG reaction that I felt was a bit out of place, but then later it was explained through Becca and Charlie's conversation. I was blindsided a bit at first though.

This is a different read, not a typical rom-com, and so worth it! #pageturner

Tropes:
lost love
found friendship
found love
enemies to lovers
adventure
forced companionship

The blurb for this book really intrigued me and although the best friends boyfriend trope isn't one that I read alot, this certainly piqued my interest.

Becca and Charlie both came across as immature, selfish and rude to begin with. I won't lie, I struggled to see any good qualities in either of them. Becca even more so was a hard woman to like. I actually thought she was maybe jealous that Charlie had chosen her friend over her as we find out later on that Charlie and Becca had spent one night together before he got with Ally. But actually no, that wasn't it atall. She really was just plain b**chy! I really couldn't see how these two would become love interests for each other!

The bucket list idea of them meeting once a year to fulfil Allys wishes was a great touch. And I really could see them evolving as they both grew and matured over time. I think my favourite part was when they met again in Cannes as I could see a difference in them. Especially Becca.

The subject of grief was also very well written. It was a very relatable, honest account of how much it effects people in different ways. It isn't an easy subject to write about but the author did a fantastic  job.

I would have liked this alot more if the connection between them had grown quicker. They spent about 70% of this book still bickering and throwing insults at each other and I need my characters to progress alittle faster than that. However, I did enjoy this book and am grateful to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

This one was a bit of a tearjerker and definately gave me some feels. I enjoyed it and would recommend.

Becca and Charlie have known each other since their college days, but have also hated each other ever since. The problem was they couldn't avoid each other: they were tied together through Charlie's fiancee and Becca's best friend, Ally. But with her tragic death, they should be able to be rid of each other once and for all.

Until Ally's bucket list pops up...

I have to admit that the emotional pull of the first chapter pulled me into the story and the premise made me interested to see how Becca and Charlie's relationship would develop. I also found the writing good. But there were things that didn't work for me.

The pacing--having the book span ten years, made me wish they'd just get on with it. I know it's the nature of the story itself, but...

It was also really hard to want to stay in the story when the main leads were so thoroughly unlikable. I get, at the very beginning of the book, when their grief was raw, that Becca and Charlie would be a bit abrasive, but I couldn't take it for very long. I came across a review in which it mentions that they seemed more like petty teenagers rather than acting like adults and that's such an apt description for how I felt as well.

Thanks very much to HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter for inviting me to read this title in exchange for a review through NetGalley.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me an ARC of this book!

I actually really enjoyed this book and it made me feel so many things and read the book in almost one sitting because I couldn’t put it down.

I wish I could have a physical copy of it on my shelf already!!

I would firstly just like to say a big thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley who very kindly forwarded me an arc copy of this book, for my Kindle, in return for my honest review.

I had only read the first chapter and already I was an emotional mess! It just pulled me in and full on tugged at my heart strings and from the very beginning I absolutely loved Charlie and Becca and could tell I was going to fall in love with this book.
By chapter three my mind was already racing with all the possible scenario’s and I absolutely love it when that happens!
This book had me running through all the emotions, I have laughed, been on the verge of tears, shared happiness with the two main characters and shouted at them numerous times too…
I loved how the story unfolds around five bucket list challenges and found them really interesting to read about.
Charlie and Becca were both totally different from one another and coped with things in totally different ways. Charlie didn’t like to make a decision and usually left it to the toss of a coin and Becca liked to be independent and do things her own way.
The author’s style of writing was amazing and kept me pulled in right to the very end.
I absolutely loved this book and it enveloped me in all it’s warmth and goodness and I couldn’t get enough of it…..

Ally knew her fiancé Charlie and her best friend Becca would be perfect for each other. They just didn’t know it until years had passed since Ally’s death.
The book goes back and forth between them hating each other to wanting each other. It’s a nice romance story but not really a tear jerker.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

I had not heard of this author before reading this. Book, but I will certainly be reading some more. The book gripped me from the start, and I found it very hard to put down. An unusual twist early in the book sets the scene, and draws you into the rest of the book. Heartily recommend.

What I liked:
❣️Enemies-to-lovers
❣️Characters forced together to cope with a shared grief
❣️France
❣️The humor/Becca’s career
❣️Character flaws/imperfections across the board
❣️Super specific: when one takes care of the other during a really vulnerable time (illness/tragedy)

What I didn’t like at all:
🤬 the swearing was too extreme for me the first 50%
💋raunchy innuendos
🥂 too many scenes building romantic tension were drowning in alcohol. I don’t trust characters’ decisions or thoughts when they are well on their way to becoming wasted.

Content warning: Language, drinking, sex

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Aside from the links below, I also shared this review on Goodreads!

Ms. Hughes is a new-to-me author, so I didn't have any expectations going into this book. It is an enemies to lovers story with lots of feeling and emotions that will pull at your heart. Charlie and Becca can't stand each other, but they tolerate each other's presence because of the mutual love they both share for Ally, Charlie's fiance and Becca's best friend. When Ally dies, Charlie and Becca are both heartbroken, but they no longer have to bear each other's company and they go their separate ways, not realizing that their love for Ally will always connect them. On the first anniversary of her death, they are reunited once again, thanks to pre-planning from Ally, and asked to fulfill her last wish of completing her bucket list. And so begins the evolution of their relationship and they begin to see each other in a whole new light. This was a bittersweet story filled with emotion, not as romantic as I would have liked, but an enjoyable story nonetheless.

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Becca and Charlie meet at university and shortly thereafter, Charlie gets together with Ally, Becca's best friend. For the next couple of years, Charlie and Becca grudgingly gets along for Ally's sake. But when Ally dies and leaves them a bucket list of things to do, they agree to set aside their differences and meet up once a year to tick off something from Ally's list.

I'll be honest, I struggled with the premise of Charlie losing his fiancée and Becca her best friend, and then for them to be endgame. It's not an easy task to set yourself as a writer, to convince your readers that Charlie and Becca are supposed to be perfect together, while also selling us on Charlie and Allie.

But I also have to admit, I bought it. I absolutely did, because Hughes takes her time, and it happens very gradually. The characters are allowed to cope with their grief in their separate ways, and it felt really true to them as persons.

It reminded me a little of David Nicholls' One Day, in that the story is about the individual characters and their lives as much as it is about their interactions with each other. I do feel like it was a little too long, but I also get why things needed to happen as they did.

Ten Years is out in August!

Thank you to @netgalley and @harpercollinsuk for the eARC!

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

I think its an excellent book. Very much enjoyed it.

I loved the premise of this book and it was executed perfectly. Pernille Hughes has a lovely, light writing style but she knows how to pack an emotional punch. I enjoyed following the developing relationship between Becca and Charlie - a lovely change, from instalove stories, to watch it happen over years.
With well-developed characters, sparkling dialogue and nuanced conflicts, Ten Years is a must read.

I stayed up till 2 AM, to finish this book! I couldn’t put it down from the second I started reading it! It’s not your typical romance story, which made me love it even more. The writer did such an amazing job describing the characters emotions, that I felt myself crying when I didn’t think I should be. I truly felt like I was in the story. Heartbreaking yet beautiful, this is definitely a must read! I am looking forward to reading more from this author!


Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for this arc!

The synopsis got me interested at first, but I really could not get invested in this book, if I have to be honest. I got bored early on and did not want to continue it. I found the writing and plot not to be what I expected, and didn't leave me wanting to keep reading. DNF.

I was provided an advance readers copy by the publisher, thank you!
I really enjoyed this book! While I've previously had trouble getting into long-term stories, Ten Years was very well done and easy to read! Getting to watch two characters grow (and even seeing a little growth from side characters) was very satisfying, especially when coupled with the stagnation that comes along with losing a loved one. The writing was great, and I found myself especially getting into the dialogue! It was difficult, but realistic, watching these characters come to terms with some truths about their lost loved one. Overall, a very good read that I would highly recommend be added to your TBR!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a trope I had not read before and be warned—this story starts quite heavy on the angst and the topic of grief is woven through the entire narrative.

This is an enemies to lovers story about Becca and Charlie. They lost Ally—Becca’s best friend and Charlie’s fiancee.

Becca and Charlie have a complicated history and have disliked each other for years. They reach an uneasy detente for Ally’s funeral and then find themselves carrying out her last wishes over the course of the next 5 years.

They are definitely enemies at the start—cruel and unkind to each other, exasperated and unyielding. The thawing of their relationship happens slowly, as their mutual love and abiding grief for Ally ties them together in the tasks on their list and they learn more about each other and themselves as the years progress.

Their interactions are often harsh but there are more and more moments as the story progresses where they find commonality and kindness. They both grow as characters.

The story is told in an episodic way, with alternating POV, and time skips to each year they encounter each other. It is useful to note the date stamps for the headings.

The theme of grief and loss runs through the entire book. It is deftly handled and the rawness and loneliness of it is very well written. It permeates the story far more than I’d expect for a romance but it works and is integral to the character’s identities and eventual growth.

There are many lovely moments—hikes, tea shops, festivals. There is romance but it’s muted—the trope of the dead best friend puts a damper on much of the chance to have romantic exposition, particularly as it is a situation the characters struggle with as well. Grief is compounded by guilt.

I found this an engaging read. The characters are interesting and layered but definitely prickly and flawed in an extremely realistic way. Their personal traumas predate their loss of Ally and their stories really dictate who they are and how they act and react. It was very satisfying to have them reach a HEA/HFN.

Spoiler alert: there is a twist at the end that I really did not like and that I could have done without. It completely soured the end for me. I might have rated it higher without it.

3 1/2 stars

i didnt love this book. honestly i could never get over the dead best friends boyfriend trope.
honestly im not a massive romance fan but this 100% was not for me.
i almost stopped reading at multiple points

This is not your typical romcom book, and starts off on a very sad note of the leading characters, Becca and Charlie’s, best friend and fiancé, Ally, passing away. Becca and Charlie are then left to pick up the pieces of their lives. This book jumps between both of their points of view and jumps in time over the years as Becca and Charlie work together to complete Ally’s bucket list. While they start out as sworn enemies, as time goes on things begin to shift between the pair and they work through the bucket list tasks. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a fresh perspective for me and unlike anything else I’ve read lately. This book does focus much more heavily on the grief process for the characters and their growth through that vs. romance however. While their is the element of romance towards the end, even that was viewed through the lens of how they reconcile that with their best friend being gone. I did really appreciate how the author showed how there are so many layers to grief and no one right way to get through what will be a lifelong process ultimately. This won’t be your typical light hearted romance, but still worth picking up and enjoying! Just bring some tissues!