Let me preface but saying I really, really wanted to love this book. It's a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers, kind of taboo (in that is dead best friend's fiancee), kind of second-chance romance with what should have been emotional heart. These are all the tropes I usually eat up but I struggled my way through this one. Which is a shame because I was so excited getting approved for the arc once I read the synopsis.
I'll be honest, there were certainly aspects I enjoyed but I found myself wanting to abandon the book altogether about 5 times mid-reading.

So what did I like?
- How it handled the aftermath of losing a loved one, and much of the grieving process and how the way in which people will cope with grief will vary.
- There's a few passages that I've highlighted and made note of (coincidentally all relating to grief) that I know I would like to come back and reread time and time again.

What did I not particularly enjoy?
- The main characters. I felt zero connection to them and that's always a dealbreaker for me. Charlie and Becca were unlikeable, unbearable, incredibly juvenile at times and often selfish (not remotely in a good way) and it just got to a point where I found their constant bickering so tiresome, that by the end I was completely over it and rooting for no one.
I can read a 'dead best friend's fiancee' trope if it's done well, but done well in 'Ten Years' it is not. I felt completely blindsided by their romance, I just don't think the seeds in terms of their chemistry were planted well. As a result, I had an awfully difficult time believing their chemistry, that they even liked each other, let alone loved each other.
- For a book that spans over 10 years, the pacing was so off. Ten Years failed to gain any real momentum and so it ended up feeling pretty lacklustre overall.
- Highlighted passages mentioned above aside, while the writing was often beautiful, it felt like it lacked any real character/personality, which probably contributed to the zero connection I felt for the characters.


I'm afraid this one just was not for me.

TEN YEARS
by Pernille Hughes
HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter
Pub Date: Aug 18

Three friends: Ally, her boyfriend Charlie, and Becca.

One death: Ally. And two enemies since uni, when Charlie and Becca met and began hating each other.

But make that enemies who over ten years grow closer, as they remember their beloved friend by completing her Bucket List, and as they scatter her ashes along the way.

The big question: Do they share enough besides their love of Ally to become a couple? Can enemies ever really fall in love?

Dear Romance Readers, if I know anything, I know that Ten Years will have you rooting for Charlie and Becca as much as you've cheered on any literary couple. I certainly did and am so thrilled I had a chance to read this lovely book. You will too!

Thanks to the author, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

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I’m not ashamed to say I shed a few tears whilst reading this book. The grief must both process is huge and it was quite refreshing to see from the point of view from a best friend. Everyone expects a fiancée to be sad but losing your best friend must be absolutely devastating. Especially if you don’t have family support.
It was a beautifully written story and I was utterly hooked on the bucket list and could also totally understand Becca’s feelings in particular when she discovered the logic behind the tasks.
A fabulous story that I promise will make you smile as well as cry. The sign of a good book!

I’m afraid this one wasn’t for me. I found the writing style and the overall narrative between the characters to be too cliched, and just a bit,,,unbelievable, I think. It reminded me of a bit of a Hollywood rom-com. Just not for me, but thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the chance to read this!

I thoroughly enjoyed the slow burn enemies to lovers of this book. The pacing really squeezed out every ounce of tension and chemistry between the two. I also loved seeing their growth over the course of time and how they grew into each other.

Following the death of Ally, her best friend and fiancé are given the task of completing her bucket list together. The book begins with Becca and Charlie (best friend and fiancée of Ally respectively) loathing each other’s company so the thought of completing the list together is unbearable. As time goes on, feelings change as enemies become lovers. I thought this book was an easy and predictable romantic read which covered themes of grief really well and the characters felt very real.

I found this a slow burner - it slowly drew me in and in the end I did enjoy it. Ally - fiancée and best friend - died of cancer leaving Charlie and Becca with a bucket list of activities to accomplish over the next 10 years. Their relationship changes from thinly disguise contempt to friendship to something more. Both have to learn about themselves and each other and see Ally more clearly.

The outcome is inevitable but the journey there poignant.

I liked the two main characters and felt empathy for them as they moved on in their own way after her death until they could remember the real Ally without sadness and could begin to live again.

DNF at 37 % I really, really wanted to like this book, I really did. But the plot did not just work for me. 😭

This book is a 5/5 hands down flawless piece of art.

Just WOW. I'm not sure what I was expecting - but Ten Years exceeded my expectations and then some.

This was one of those rare instances where the dislike you have at times for characters isn't because of shoddy writing or poorly thought out characterisation. It's because Hughes has written such realistic three dimensional characters filled with all the human flaws we all carry and possibly relate to a little too much.

I really enjoyed the yearly check ins to their lives to see how Charlie and Becca were growing (or not, as was the case in some years). It was a little bit like the movie (I haven't read the book, please don't come for me!) One Day - only with the tragedy firmly at the front of the book, not the end (thank goodness).

All in all, this was definitely the book for me - and I am now on a mission to read all of Pernille Hughes' previous books!

10 years follows Becca and Charlie completing bucket-list tasks on behalf of Ally , the best friend and fiancée who has passed away following a cancer battle. The thing is: Becca and Charlie can’t stand each other.

It’s a typical enemies to lovers, the characters are annoying but likeable enough for you to get frustrated at them for not getting their act together sooner. This will they/won’t they did slightly feel a little dragged out at times and I was left wanting a little more development elsewhere in the plot- would have been great to have more of Ally’s mum.

I though the book explored grief in such a touching way and I expect this book to be very popular.

This was a cute novel following Charlie and Becca drawn together after their respective fiance and best friend passed away. The twosome rarely gets along, but after a dying wish from Ally to spread her ashes in various places, Becca and Charlie are drawn together throughout the years. Through breakups, new jobs, apartments, their dislike for one another begins to explore another path.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this novel.

Must say this is not a book for me. I tried so hard to read it and like it but managed to finish it by skipping through quite a bit of it (which seems pointless and is like cheating!).

A love story of sorts which is slow, boring and a bit tedious. The characters were okay but did really draw me in to their stories so they seemed one dimensional. For me this was not the most entertaining or enjoyable book I've read lately but for others I can see why they would like it.

Two people who do not like each other, forced together to do a bucket list for her best friend/ his fiancee. A message from the grave almost!
Good story but a bit slow at the start, liked the way that Charlie and Becca came together and fell out in the ways they did, Wonder if there will be a follow-up.
Thank you netgalley

wow!
Hughes had me in tears from the very first chapter. A very emotional read from start to finish, but it touched on so many important topics and the author dealt with them all very well.

Definitely looking forward to the author's next release!

This book was pretty slow and I feel like some things definitely could’ve been taken out and we could have achieved the same plot. I liked a lot of elements of this book but I feel like put all together it just didn’t work for me. The characters were interesting on face value but as the story continued and the plot development they started to feel stagnent and lacking depth. The ending could sorta make this book worth it but overall I feel like many won’t stay until the end.

I found this book too long, due to the plot being dragged out. It's an interesting and difficult topic to cover the best friend dies and you end up with their boyfriend's trope. and I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was faster paced. I admire that the writing was beautiful, just too long for me.

Charlie and Becca have lost Ally; Charlie's fiancee and Becca's best friend. Dealing with their grief takes very different paths until they realise they need to work together to fulfil Ally's last requests. Over the next several year we bump into them as they try to navigate their relationship without Ally holding them together. An engaging read that doesn't offer anything dramatically new but is well written and entertaining.

This book left me feeling mentally exhausted. 

The premise of "Ten Years" is that Becca and Charlie are enemies who hate each other's guts but share a common point of contact with Ally, who is Becca's best friend and Charlie's fiancé.

Ally tragically dies from cancer right at the start of the book, and Becca and Charlie are left to fulfil her dying wishes and bucket list. And then they fall in love.

There are some great parts in this book that I really enjoyed; the main characters doing the bucket list tasks and the nicer banter they sometimes have.

But.... 

This romance book honestly gave me whiplash. Going from absolutely hating each other, bickering constantly, never getting on, to suddenly falling in love didn't feel believable at all. I can't get my head around falling in love with someone who you constantly want to fight with and who you have such a bad history with. The story could have worked without it, where they overcome their differences for Ally's sake and become better people without the tacked-on romance.

The characters around the 50% mark seemed to go through personality changes, which was more jarring than a gradual "getting older and wiser, learning from their mistakes." The book uses "cosmic luck" or "opportunities present themselves and you should grab them" throughout the book, so much that it starts to become annoying and a cop-out to explain why things happen to the characters.

For example:- Becca, who wants to be an actress, never lands leading roles in any auditions, jumps from crappy job to crappy job, has no money. This makes up about 60% of the book. She then decides to write her own TV show premise based on her life and staring herself, and it immediately gets picked up, becomes a hit, wins awards, earns her fame and money, etc. At this point, Becca goes through her personality change, losing most of her attitude problem and starting to actually act like a semi-decent person.

While Becca is brash, argumentative, and always looking for a fight, Charlie, for the most part, is very passive and, at times, a little dull. However, at least his character development was more gradual and came with the realisation that he needed to change. 

Honestly, I went through parts that made me go, "Aww, this is nice. They finally got their act together and started acting like adults", and then they started their bickering again, and I had to stare off into the distance for a while to calm down my internal screaming.

I was so glad to finally come to the ending... only to be hit with a plot twist. Honestly, I feel so cheated right now.

3 stars: it was okay, and fairly entertaining once you accept that the main characters are both adult-sized toddlers.

“Ten Years” is a beautiful book of loss and love, entwined lives and unknown futures. It was both funny and endearing. Charlie, Becca, and Ally became part of my thoughts and I found myself thinking about their story at times throughout the day, eager to return to the book.

A realistic, honest look at grief and the complex ways it takes hold of one’s life, this book was fresh and engaging. Love isn’t always a linear path, and the author weaves a beautiful story of loss between family, friends, and lovers.

Thanks to one more chapter, and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy of Ten Years.

Ten Years by Pernille Hughes is described as a romance, however, I wouldn't really call it that. The romance part only happens way past the 50% mark of the book, which made it a little rushed and I had a little trouble connecting with that plotline.
My favorite part of this book was the way it dealt with grief. Losing a loved one is never easy. Everyone deals with it differently and, sometimes moving on seems so far-fetched that we don't seem to wonder what is next.
In this book, we see how Becca and Charlie coped with grief, how they overcame it and opened themselves to love once more.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and easy-to-read book that covers a very important theme.