Ten Years by Pernille Hughes is an emotional story of love and loss and love again. And the journey is one that I’ll not soon forget.

Becca and Charlie are sworn enemies, but they have one shared love, and that is Ally. Ally is Becca’s best friend and Charlie’s fiance. When Ally dies after a tragic illness, Becca and Charlie go their separate ways and hope they never see each other again. But, on the one-year anniversary of Ally’s death, they are summoned by Ally’s mother, who tells them of a bucket list that Alley wanted them both to complete together. It’s only their shared love for Ally that make them agree to do the bucket list. And for the next several years, they meet up to complete one more item off the list.

This book started out emotional and very sad. It starts with Ally’s death and funeral and sets up the animosity between Charlie and Becca. It also demonstrates the love both Becca and Charlie had for Ally. I will admit it was a bit of a gut punch to read those first couple of chapters. The death of someone so young with so much love around her, even if she is a character in a book, is just very sad. The author pulled me in right away with this emotional start to the book. But as the book progressed and the characters started to heal, and so did I.

To say this is a slow-burn romance is an understatement, however, that is exactly what this story required. I never would have believed these two would get together soon after the funeral, they both needed time to process their feeling, and most importantly, they needed to grow up. I could tell early on that Becca and Charlie had a spark between them, and as they grew more comfortable together, I enjoyed their humor and banter.

The bucket list items were a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the way each of these characters reacted to each of the tasks, it also gave them a reason to meet up in person at least once a year.

I highly recommend Ten Years to anyone who loves romance. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Over ten years, two people find themselves searching for the remedy to cure a broken heart after the loss of their beloved best friend and fiancé. It is a long road of heartbreak, self loathing and lost opportunities to reclaim what the heart desires.

This book was a little slow going, and the last half of the book saved the story. I enjoyed witnessing the characters growth over the years, especially Becca and her bitchy self. To have them see what's been right in front of them for the "Awe Ha" moment was profound in the story. Ten Years is an emotional, coming of age story about two friends who let grief rule there world until they can forgive and let go to move forward.

Thank you HarperCollins UK | One More Chapter for the #gifted copy of this novel.

This was a very emotional book, I felt sadness, joy, and anger while reading it. The premise of a woman's fiancé and her best friend completing her bucket list, after her death, was a fun way to do the old enemies to lovers trope and I was so here for it. You could feel both Charlie's and Becca's love for Ally throughout the book and there was certainly plenty of chemistry and I was definitely cheering them on.

I loved the growth of both characters throughout BUT Becca finally won out. I didn't like her very much at first but by I ended up feeling like she could be my friend. That speaks well to the author's ability to provide character development.

Both Charlie and Becca were very realistic in their behaviour, internal dialogue, and feelings towards one another. What surprised me most is how well I got to know Ally through the people who mattered to her most, this is a character that is dead so that's very impressive. For a book with such a melancholy plot, it was quite funny and hopeful.

Ten Years
Charlie finds his happy ever after when he meets Ally at uni. The only fly in their perfect relationship is Ally’s best friend Becca - and Ally’s terminal cancer diagnosis.
Charlie and Becca must fight through their grief, when all they seem to be able to do is fight each other. 10 years is the story of two people trying to work out how to grieve for Ally, how to move on and how to find closure. Becca and Charlie try to put their differences aside to complete the bucket list Ally never got to complete. This is the second of Pernille’s books I have read and there were some great twists and turns that kept me entertained all the way through. It was sad, it was funny, it was a lovely read. The bucket list was great, and I’ve added some new words to my vocabulary. If you love Anna Bell you will love Pernille Hughes.

Becca and Charlie met at university and have always hated each other, only brought together by their mutual love of Ally.
Ally was Charlie's fiancee and Becca's best friend, but she died and now they're both completely brokenhearted.
Once the funeral is over, they're glad that they no longer have to have anything to do with each other again.
Except Ally wrote a bucket list that she wants them to complete together, taking a little bottle of her ashes with them to spread in each place.
As they complete Ally's list over ten years, can Becca and Charlie see past their disliking of each other and be united for the sake of their love for her?

Pernille, you can unclench, I adored this book!
I was very much Team Charlie in the beginning. He seemed to be making sightly more of an effort to be friendly, whereas Becca just came across moody and rude.
But she grew on me, I totally got why she wad the way she was and her family were horrendous!
I loved that it jumped forward a year at a time, making it quick paced, as it didn't leave me too long wondering what the next thing on the list was going to be.
I especially loved when Charlie found Becca unwell in her apartment - not because she was ill, just everything else surrounding that part of the book. 🥰
Also, "I shat myself inside out" is now engraved in my mind of actually lol book moments. 🤣
Such a fabulous story filled with all the emotions, plenty of amusing moments (A train? That goes from the bottom to the top? With passenger people?) and more than a couple of atrocious girlfriends/wives/wankpuffins!

Laughing on minute & then crying the next Hughes definitely knows how to play with your emotions!

I wasn't sure about either of the characters to begin with but boy they sucked me in & had me rooting for them.

I really enjoyed this one

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a story that begins with us meeting Charlie and Becca at Ally's funeral. Charlie was Ally's fiance and Ally her best friend and to say they do not get on is an understatement.

A year later they both receive communication from Ally asking them to walk Snowden together to scatter her ashes. Once at the top their receive further instructions that they need to meet once a year to fulfill Ally's bucket list together in her place.

This book is set over the years where they reluctantly meet up and partake in a range of adventures which had me laughing out loud.

How the story turns out was not something I was expecting or thought I wanted to happen but as it goes I really started to believe in the characters and ended up falling in to their story and journey.

The book was sad, emotional and bittersweet but at the same time was also filled with love, memories and friendships.

I will be recommending this book and looking out for others.

Love, loss and living on

I enjoyed Ten Years by Pernille Hughs, but found it a bit slow moving for my taste. I alternately loved and wanted to shake the two main characters, Charlie and Becca, a mark of great characterization! And, of course the main character who pervades the entire book after her death, Ally, whose character is slowly revealed, warts and all. I am looking forward to reading more by this author!

Thank you to the publisher who lent me a time-constrained e-arc via Netgalley. This review is optional and my own opinion.

The death of Ally, the girl that was a best friend to one and fiance to another, is the only thing that Becca and Charlie seem to have in common, and they're even reluctant to admit that. But when Ally's post-dead bucket list forces them to see each other on the day of her death every year, they're forced to face who they truly are and who they hope to become as individuals and in their shared experiences.
An excellent example of how grief and grieving are and mean something very different for everyone, this is a masterclass in how to give characters room to grow within the story. I looked forward to seeing what each character had been up to and how their lives and personalities had changed from one year to the next and their clashing and support of each other never disappointed me. Seeing these two very different people who saw each other for their true selves beyond the image they showed the world interact in their darkest times and grow with each interaction made for wonderfully sentimental reading.

Very happy thanks to HarperCollins UK and One More Chapter for the phenomenally emotional read!

In Ten Years we join Becca and Charlie navigating the years that follow them losing their best friend and fiancée respectively, Ally. As it transpires their love for Ally is essentially the sum total of their common ground which is unfortunate for them as Ally's last request was for them to complete the bucket list she was never able to.

Thus Becca and Charlie are thrust together in Hughes' fresh take on the 'enemies to lovers' trope which feels so brand new that forces you to question at times whether it will be these two who end up together... Will it be? You will have to find out for yourselves.

Becca is feisty, headstrong and thick-skinned as they come. Charlie is privileged, indecisive and has a go with the flow attitude which leads to instant fireworks... Fireworks in terms of non-stop arguing and generally getting on each others wick. I took an instant like to Becca's endearing salt of the earth attitude. She holds no punches and takes no prisoners. On the other hand I didn't warm to Charlie and this is definitely intentional by Hughes who has crafted realistic, flawed and sometimes raw characters which is really refreshing. The readalong group was definitely divided in their opinion on these two!

My like for this story grew the more I got to know and understand Becca and Charlie. This was an entertaining read which I recommend as something different from the run of the mill contemporary romances which was reminiscent of David Nicholls' One Day.

A really good read. Predictable but enough will they/won't they to keep you guessing. I loved the idea of Charlie and Becca doing tasks together because Ally, Charlie's fiancee, Becca's best friend had made it her dying wish. A lot of fun in the banter around the tasks, and I loved the familiarity. Good fun read even though it was dealing with the aftermath of the premature death of a young woman. #netgalley #tenyears

I really wasn’t liking either Becca or Charlie. But as I read more and learnt more about each character and understood them and what Ally meant to each of them I did actually end up liking both of them.

I really loved the bucket list idea and seeing how Becca and Charlie had changed each year when they came to doing the next bucket list challenge.

This is definitely not your usual enemies to lovers story so if that’s what you are looking for maybe this isn’t for you. It does deal a lot with the coping of losing someone important in your life.

I was really rooting for them even if Becca was perhaps a bit harsh on Charlie sometimes.

Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources and One More Chapter for having me on the tour and for my gifted ebook.

What's it about (in a nutshell):
Ten Years by Pernille Hughes is a poignant story of grief, moving on, and finding love where you least expect it.

Initial Expectations (before beginning the book):
From the cover, the story looks like a love story. And the description tells a tale that is potentially an enemy's to lover's tale that with a death of a loved one as the impetus for their changing relationship. Bringing in a death could mean that the story has extra sad and reflective layers.

Actual Reading Experience:
What I loved the most about Ten Years is how it took me on an emotional journey from page one until the end. I shed happy tears at the end, and I never do that! The book starts with the death of Ally, best friend to Becca and fiancé to Charlie. A book that begins with such a moving scene must continue bringing the emotions as the story unfolds, and I felt like it did.

I also enjoyed the realistic depiction of how long it would take two people who loved the same person to allow themselves to fall in love with each other after that person's passing. Their relationship was also full of ups and downs, which is equally believable. Their path to finding a romantic partner in each other was never going to be easy, and it wasn't.

Characters:
Becca is a prickly woman who is determined to make it in acting. She doesn't like Charlie and is not afraid to let everyone know about it. But she loved her best friend, Ally, and would do anything for her even after her passing.

Charlie is a man who tends to avoid those things in life that are hard, including telling anyone significant in his life about his dead fiancé. He is likable despite his failings because of his love for Ally.

Narration & Pacing:
The story is told in 3rd person narration which works perfectly with telling both Becca's and Charlie's tales and going back and forth in the timeline. The pace was moderate to slow, but since I read it in little increments for a read-a-long, I didn't mind this. I definitely think this is a book best read slowly.

Setting:
The setting is in the UK, and the main characters go to different spots in the country and live there. I love how other locations are part of the bucket list plot. I feel like the ever-changing settings fit in perfectly with this story about growing and changing.

To Read or Not to Read:
If you are looking for a story that will move you and have you crying happy tears, Ten Years is just the book you are looking for.

I love an enemies to lovers to trope and this did not disappoint. Charlie and Becca do not get on, this is an understatement! Their story is set over ten years and we follow them on this journey, the ups and downs they face while dealing with grief and the different effects it can have on everyone. It’s both funny and sad, a wonderful array of characters and a good pace kept me hooked.

If enemies to lovers trope is your go-to then this book is for you.
Charlie and Ally have been dating since uni. Becca and Ally have been best friends since uni. Becca and Charlie don’t get along but they co-exist for Ally’s sake, that is, until Ally passes away from cancer, leaving them a bucket list of things to do with her ashes and forcing them to get together once a year and cross an item of the list. Each year as they grew older and distance themselves from their grief in different ways, it changes how they see each other and therefore it affects how they handle the bucket list item. Each year when they went to see Ally’s mom to get the ashes for the trip, she would remind them of how much they each meant to Ally and so that must mean something (that they’re meany to be together)
To be honest, I didn’t feel a lot of chemistry between them a lot of the time. It really didn’t hit til almost the end and then it hit with a major wham! I did enjoy watching them grow and change over the years and seeing them look back to what brought them to this point.
Thanks to One More Chapter and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review

“You can’t hide from grief, it’s in you. You have to accept it and accommodate it to work through it.”

Ten Years by Pernille Hughes is our first book by this Author, and what an absolute blinder of an introduction to her work. We bloody loved it! The way she tells a story with such detail, attention, and visual imagery, as well as the intensity of emotions and the depth of her characters -well- it reminded us of the wonderful Sarra Manning and Lia Louis. It was so good, and we loved pretty much everything about Ten Years!

‘Losing Ally had been losing half of himself. For months he couldn’t work out who he even was without her. Moreover, the Charlie who’d been left behind was miserable, angry, and lost. He didn’t like that Charlie, with his unshakeable cloak of sadness.’

Ally, Becca, and Charlie. A three-clover friendship held together only by Ally suddenly becomes two when Ally passes away and Becca loses her best mate and Charlie his beloved fiancé. Much to their surprise, Ally leaves them with a bucket list of where she wants parts of her ashes scattered. So, what do two people who pretty much ‘hate’ each other do in order to honour the memory of their loved one? Well, they decide to carry out one item from the list once a year to minimise contact. These celebrations of Ally become so incredibly special and creates a bond that grows in strength, year by year. However, old animosity is hard to break but sometimes Charlie and Becca ‘doth protest too much, methinks.’

“Whatever. This is different. You belonged to her. Me being with you is disloyal, it’s wrong. What would she think?” Loyalty was everything to Becca. He knew that.

This is a superbly written enemies to lover’s romance with a few twists and bags of surprises along the way. It’s a story that looks at friendships and love, examines the celebration of human flaws and differences, with understanding and compassion. It explores living with grief and learning about yourself as well as the importance of self-reflection and growth. Such a wonderful novel that stole our hearts and made us feel everything in Charlie and Becca’s heartbreak, grief, guilt, and love story spanning ten years.

“I’m not prepared to give you up. I love you, and that’s the reason you should say, ‘Charlie, you’re so right, let’s do this’” ….
“What is it you think you’ve stopped? Me loving you? That’s not how that works. Just because you say it can’t happen doesn’t make it so.”

Ten Years read as incredibly real, and we felt as if we knew these characters and were a part of their story. It had bucketloads of angst and tension as well as extreme emotions and passion, with scattered laughter to break up the darker moments. It was a life and love story through ten years of hurt, anger, grief, laughter, sadness, and love. A slow building love story written with sensitivity that perhaps caused it to feel a tad long, although we never felt it to be repetitive. Rather, we needed to know if Becca and Charlie were going to be okay and that they found themselves in a place where they could be happy and settled after such personal tragedy. Find themselves as well as love. What an immense journey, we cannot wait to pick up more books from this Author!

‘They’d been enemies, then mates, then lovers, then enemies again, then apparently mates again, so perhaps…’

It begins with Ally, the person who ties Becca and Charlie together. The final line of the prologue lets you know that what follows is an emotional story, and it is. Becca and Charlie share two things their unequivocal love for Ally and their animosity towards each other. Demonstrated at Ally's funeral, you concede that going their separate ways is best for all, but Ally's bucket list changes everything over the following ten years.

The story is full of emotions that immerse the reader in Becca and Charlie's lives with and after Ally. The author creates flawed characters that draw the reader's empathy as the characters learn to live without the woman they love. The many poignant moments are balanced with humour as Becca and Charlie learn to like and trust each other.

I like this story's characterisation, believable emotion and uplifting qualities.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Ten Years was a beautifully written book about an awkward and painful topic. When Becca and Charlie lose Ally, they both assume that they'll no longer have to suffer one another's company. After all, they only put up with one another for all this time because of their love for Ally. She was Becca's best friend and Charlie's fiancee. However, fate and Ally have other plans. When Ally's mother asks them to consider taking a portion of Ally's ashes to a "bucket list" location together in her memory, it starts an annual tradition that they both agree to see through regardless of their animosity for each other.

Over time, Becca and Charlie start to somewhat care for one another. Not that either of them will admit it. Life moves on and they fight over how things are handled along the way. Becca believes that Ally's memory should always be the guiding star and has difficulty moving forward. Charlie struggles with moving on but throws himself into it. It's just another bone of contention for them that keeps them at odds.

As the years pass, the reader can't help but wonder when these two will realize that they are the two meant to be together. Even though you know that's what the entire book is working it's way towards, you still aren't sure these two can pull it off. There are just so many things standing between them. But if it's meant to be, then things will work out.

This was a unique and interesting storyline. Even though there were times I felt like sitting these two character down for a long lecture, I still enjoyed the way it all played out. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

I adored this book! Initially, I was expecting this to be a lighthearted romance but it is so much more than that. This book alternates between Charlie and Becca’s perspectives and spans across a ten year period. Following the death of Ally, we see her best friend and her boyfriend complete a series of bucket list challenges despite hating each other. As the years pass by, we see the characters grow, develop and mature and we follow their successes and failures as they navigate life after Ally.

The thing I loved most about this book is the journey it took me on and the range of emotions I felt while reading it. Even within one chapter, I could go from laughing out loud to feeling grief or sadness in the turn of a page. The character development was fantastic - I felt like I knew the characters and was really rooting for them to find happiness. Despite the long chapters, the ten year time period made this book feel really fast paced and I just wanted to keep reading to see what happened! I 100% recommend that everyone reads this book - 5*! 🙌🏻

Thanks to One More Chapter for the gifted copy of this book.

A solid 'will they/won't they' romance. This wasn't groundbreaking for me but an easy, enjoyable read.