This story was hard for me to read. It brought out a lot of emotions while reading. It's about a twenty something girl and boy, Kailey and Cade, who meet in 1996 and fall madly in love. Then after two years, Cade disappears and is never seen again. This breaks Kailey. Fast forward to 2008 and Kailey is getting married to Ryan. They built a wonderful life together but something is still missing from Kailey's life. Then one night after dinner, Kailey sees a homeless man who is being chased away and she goes over to offer him her leftovers and when she sees his eyes she realizes it's her ex boyfriend Cade who just disappeared. She makes it her mission to help him get his life back. Feelings from years ago resurface and Kailey doesn't know how to process them. She is torn between her old life and new. The story that unfolds is breathtaking. It truly touched my heart. And changed the way I feel about homeless people. This is a book not to be missed. I am so glad I read this. It's one of those books that stick in your head long after reading. It will have you reeling from many thoughts and feelings, good and bad. I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book.

I'm a big Sarah Jio fan, and this book was no exception. But first, can we take a minute to swoon over this GORGEOUS cover?! I LOVE a beautiful cover! This book was beautiful, heartbreaking, and emotional. My heart broke for Kailey and Cade throughout the book.

If you're familiar with Jio's work, you know that she loves to add a historical or past element to her books. This book followed the same format--as Kailey tries to help Cade in 2008, the chapters alternate to their relationship back in the late 1990's, ten years earlier. I'll admit at times this made me frustrated because I really wanted to know what happened in 2008--but it definitely kept me reading the book! I did enjoy the 1990's story, I was just eager to know what happened in general. This book sucked me in and kept me up late reading!

This was definitely one of my favorites of Jio's--if you haven't read her books, I highly recommend them!

I didn't love it. I wanted to . Because I've really enjoyed Sarah Jio's work in the past. Just not this time.

There were some plot points that needed to be fleshed out a bit more.
A bit formulaic at times.
Towards the end, just wanted it to be over.

A good read about love that was, love that is, and the power of the choices our heart needs to make. A quick read.

A beautiful story about love, loss and second chances. I love the backdrop of 1990s Seattle for part of the story. Brought back good memories of being a teen who loves grunge! The characters are very compelling, as well, making for a very enjoyable read.

I have loved all of Ms. Jio's previous books but this one was sadly a disappointment.

This is an entertaining chick lit book for every woman who's ever wondered what she would do if a past love showed up in her life again. And haven't we all wondered that?

The characters are realistic (though maybe too good to be true) and the story is unusual enough to be intriguing. The city of Seattle plays an important part in the story and for anyone who has been there, adds another layer to the story.

It's an enjoyable read with a few twists along the way - right up to the inevitable ending.

I so enjoy her books, have read them all, but this one felt a bit formulaic. Somewhat predictable, but not a bad read overall

This is the story of the relationship between Kailey and Cade in the past. And it is also the story of the relationship between Kailey and Ryan now. I enjoyed the way the story was written. I felt that Kailey's character in particular was fully developed. Kailey's emotions and actions were portrayed in very good detail. Kailey's past suddenly forces itself into her future life. I found the story very emotional. The story explores true love and loss. It also lets us see the city of Seattle and the world of the homeless. This would be a good selection for a book club. There are some unanswered questions that would be good topics to discuss.

This book called to me on Netgalley. It is set in Seattle and told in alternate times of 1996-1998 and 2008. With he setting of Seattle and the 1996-1998 scenes involving the Seattle music scene, I was captivated.

In 2008, Kailey is engaged and a journalist working on a story at odds with her fiancé's business interest. She sees a homeless man on the street and recognizes him as her first love who disappeared 10 years ago. Kailey tries to save Cade and piece together what happened while balancing her relationship with Ryan. It touches on aspects of homelessness and social issues.

My only complaint was I loved it so much that I could have used more depth.

Ballantine Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Always. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Kailey Crane is engaged to Ryan Winston, whose family are prominent members of society. With her job at the Herald, Kailey's life is world's apart from her humble beginnings. A chance encounter one evening after a fancy dinner puts Kailey face to face with Cade, the former love of her life, who is now destitute. With help and encouragement from her best friend Tracy, Kailey makes it her mission to get Cade the help he needs. Will she jeopardize her future with Ryan to live in the past?

The biggest issue that I had with Always was the rushed conclusion. There is a big mystery surrounding Cade's circumstances, that were hinted at but never fully explained. As a major part of the story, I was disappointed that the author chose not to reveal it in the end. The story itself had a fairytale type quality; after all, the odds of recognizing someone after many years of hard living is slim at best. The author does do a good job of highlighting a very important social issue and gives readers a homeless person with whom people can relate. Always was a good read, despite the issues that I have laid forth, so I would not hesitate to read more by this author in the future.

I always enjoy Sarah Jio's books, though this one was a little different in that the 2 time periods it takes place in - the late 1990s and 2008 - are just 10 years apart and told from the perspective of the same character, rather than having a historical story with a different character. The main character, Kailey, has gotten over her literal lost love, Cade, and is engaged to be married, when she discovers Cade is now homeless and seems to not have his memory. Interesting and sweet story, though the end was perhaps a tad pat.

I really enjoyed this book . I was able to relate to the characters and it dealt with such important issues. It opens your eyes to the reasons many people could end up homeless . I would highly recommend

Running into an ex boyfriend and discovering he's homeless: that premise intrigued me, which is why I picked this ARC from Netgalley. Unfortunately, the premise proved more of a sensational hook than a promise to explore homelessness in any great depth. Twelve years after her beloved but troubled boyfriend disappeared from her life, Kailey Crane runs into a homeless man outside a restaurant where she's been having dinner with her too-good-to-be-true fiancé, Ryan. She recognizes the man as Cade, her ex, but he runs off before she can talk with him. Kailey spends the rest of the book tracking Cade down, and trying to help him after she finds out that he is suffering from TBI (traumatic brain injury), all the while hiding her efforts from Ryan.

The story alternates between the present and the past, the past showing the development and then the falling apart of Kailey and Cade's relationship in 1996, the present (2008) showing Kailey's efforts to track down and help Cade. In neither set of chapters did the author give us a strong sense of Kailey as a character or a person, or of Cade, which made it difficult to care that much about either of them or their romantic relationship. Or to understand just why she doesn't tell Ryan anything about what's been happening. Without that understanding, Kailey comes across as a too-stupid-to-live kind of protagonist, not at all appealing. And the suspense plot ends up falling pretty flat in the end. Not a satisfying read.

I love your book. It's so sweet. Very different from the others love story. Always is beautiful. Hard to stop reading when you begin.

I've read and enjoyed several books by Sarah Jio before, so I was excited when I saw she was releasing a book this month. Her books are always fairly light and quick, and they're great after reading heavier things as a way to relax a little. That said, I didn't find this as enjoyable as I'd hoped, and I ended up giving it three stars.

Always is the story of Kailey Crane and Cade McAllister, sort of. It switches between their time together in the 90s and her life today, where she's engaged to a man named Ryan and where Cade, it turns out, is homeless and can't remember who he is. This seems like an interesting plot element, and it is, but it's not as exciting as you'd hope. I think this is in part because we get bogged down with Cade and Kailey's unnecessary backstory.

Throughout the book, I sort of skimmed through the sections that happened in the past. Normally, in a split timeframe book, those parts are my favorite, as I love seeing how the past and present intersect. In this book, though, I found the sections in the past to be boring. It would have been just as easy to insert a paragraph talking about how they were in a relationship, and then Cade had some kind of breakdown and disappeared. It just didn't add much to the book to continue switching between the past and the much more interesting present.

I really enjoyed the parts of the book set more recently. I liked seeing that Kailey stuck to her values and beliefs to help Cade, regardless of how it might affect her relationship with Ryan. I liked the suspense of wondering whether Cade would regain his memory, and if so, would we ever find out what caused his memory loss to begin with. These bits were interesting and enjoyable, and they reminded me why I liked Sarah Jio in the first place. I just wish she'd stuck with the more compelling story and ignored the parts that didn't matter.

Always is a light, quick read, and I did enjoy it, even with its faults. If you're looking for something like this, go ahead and give it a try, and don't feel too bad if you skim through the less exciting parts. If that would seriously detract from your enjoyment, though, I'd skip this one. I gave it three stars.

*ARC from Ballantine Books via NetGalley

I'm a fan of Sarah Jio and I loved her books, but this one not so much. There are so many questions left unanswered, such what happened in all those years Case went missing, and the storyline was a bit too melodramatic. I was hoping for more, but this was just an okay read for me.

I adore second-chance romance novels and this one did not disappoint! Jio lead a steady trail of intrigue and desire while her unique voice kept me flipping through the pages.. While I still have a few unanswered questions, I was more than satisfied as the story came to a close. Also, the secondary characters were excellent and I hope they will get their own book someday!

I really liked the premise of this novel - I'm always a fan of stories of lost love. The premise of this one was right up my alley - a soon to be married woman encounters someone she used to love on the street ... and he's homeless. As she tries to understand how he came to be on the street, she uncovers a lot of interesting information. This is a novel of suspense as well as a romance. You learn about her past relationship as well as her current relationship and watch her as she begins to try to put all the pieces together. I found it to be sweet and it kept me interested. It's not what I'd call great literature but it was a quite nice story with interesting characters. I love how it took place in the 1990s in Seattle. Definitely a time frame that I can relate to as I came to age in the 1990s. I'm seeing a lot of mixed reviews among friends but I think I particularly related to this one given the time frame and the fact that it focuses on someone coming to terms with a previous relationship. Personally, I really enjoyed this story and these characters. I think it was pretty interesting and I enjoyed my time in the world that Sarah Jio created with this novel.

Sorry, but I didn't like this as much as her previous books. I thought the main character was so weak when we need more strong female characters. I felt she should have been honest with her fiance and when she made the decision to help her ex, she never should have denied him in front of her fiance and future in-laws. The medical details could have been more thorough (recovery from TBI requires more than a good doctor, meds, and frequent scans and it's so much more than just getting your memory back).